A/N: This fic has officially reached over a thousand in every category. That's…amazing. Jack did most of the work, but I still feel proud of it. Thank you all so much for appreciating this story, even after all that's happened.

I hope you guys are okay with me taking these little three-ish day breaks :)

This chapter will conclude Team Seven's time in the forest, but it won't be uneventful, I promise.

Time for Chapter 25

Enjoy!


Naruto Uzumaki and Satsuki Uchiha were extremely fit individuals. They were lean, they were strong, and they hardly had any excess fat on them at all, Naruto especially. Unfortunately, that did not change the fact that they were heavy. Team Guy had assisted Shikamaru in caring for them medically, but they had opted out and left the moment Naruto and Satsuki's conditions had stabilized somewhat. It was the right choice to make from their perspective, as they had yet to find a heaven scroll three days into the second phase, but it made life difficult for the Nara boy regardless.

Adjusting his grip on both his teammates, who were slung over his shoulders, Shikamaru blinked sweat out of his eyes. He had been alone since the early hours of the morning, and it was nearing noon. He had taken periodic breaks from traveling, but they hardly put a dent in his exhaustion, and he was painfully sore all over. Worse yet, there was the issue of obtaining a heaven scroll. With Naruto and Satsuki effectively out of the picture, it was entirely up to Shikamaru. He was hardly a fighter, though he was capable when required.

He was dead tired, low on chakra, and injured. The odds were massively stacked against him. It was frustrating, and it was unfair. Orochimaru had been completely impossible to predict or prepare for, and how he had managed to infiltrate the Exam in the first place was an open question. Under normal circumstances, it was possible that Team Seven would have reached the tower with both scrolls in hand already. Alas, reality had chosen to be cruel.

'The paychecks are nice, but being a ninja has sucked for the most part.' Shikamaru grumbled within his mind. He much preferred his naps and shogi to vigorous exercise and responsibility, and that preference was growing stronger by the second as he bounded between trees with two-hundred-eighty pounds of extra weight on his shoulders.

After several more minutes, he sensed his stamina reaching its end. He needed to rest, whether it was safe or not. Spotting a creek down below, the Nara boy carefully jumped down from his high point of elevation. Due to having both his teammates in tow, he was unable to roll forward to decrease the impact of the fall. As such, he landed on his knees with painful force.

'Definitely should have taken that one branch at a time.' Shikamaru thought to himself painfully. Standing up again, he slowly walked Naruto and Satsuki over to a nearby tree, where he propped them up in sitting positions. Taking a moment to check up on them, he was relieved to find that they were both still stable.

"You're a pair of old leather boots, that's for sure." he muttered to his unconscious comrades. Taking a cautionary look around to ensure that they were truly alone, Shikamaru jogged over to the creek and knelt down. Five minutes at most. After that, they would resume traveling. Splashing himself with water, the Nara boy washed as much blood and grime from his face as he could manage without irritating his many cuts and bruises. As he cleared the buildup of sleep in his eyes, the unambitious genin blinked several times.

The first two times he opened and closed his eyes, his reflection was entirely normal. The third time, however, his blood ran cold. A second face was present next to his own in the water. A girl with long, dark hair, and a forehead protector with the symbol of Otogakure branded into its metal. Turning his eyes to his left without moving his head, Shikamaru found that there was another person standing next to him.

"You're as exhausted as you look. You couldn't even feel us coming." the girl said. Immediately shooting to his feet, Shikamaru barely managed to catch her wrist before she could stab a senbon into his neck from close range. Seizing her other wrist to limit her options, Shikamaru spun her around and then abruptly released his grip, sending her tumbling into the stream. Immediately recognizing where his priorities were, the Nara rushed over to Naruto and Satsuki, who were unharmed, and in the same positions they had been before.

Drawing his final kunai from his pouch and assuming his taijutsu stance, Shikamaru's eyes quickly darted around the surrounding area. Alongside the Oto Kunoichi who had ambushed him, there were two more genin up in the trees, both male. The first had short, black hair, and appeared to have holes in the palms of his hands. The second was much shorter, with his entire body covered by bandages.

"If you don't want to die, hand over your earth scroll." the bandaged genin called down to him from up above. Shikamaru remained silent as he assessed his situation. He was low on chakra, and even lower on supplies. Not to mention that he was completely cornered. Taking his lengthy silence as coyness, the male Oto genin both leapt down from their perches.

"Don't bother playing dumb. We know you have it. We've been watching you for quite a while." the bandaged boy pressed. Shikamaru's eyes shifted between each of the individual members of the enemy cell.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I lost it?" he asked jokingly, opting to keep his spirits as high as he could in the face of what would likely be his severe injury. When none of the oto genin responded beyond the glare they were already giving him, the Nara boy chuckled.

"Didn't think so." he said with as much humor as he could muster. He then quickly produced a smoke bomb and tossed it into the space between himself and the Oto genin. Bursting the second it touched the ground, the diversion created temporary blindness for all parties involved. Having taken careful note of where each member of the enemy team was positioned, Shikamaru made a dash for his target through the smoke.

The struggle that ensued was brief, but the Nara boy came out on top. When the smoke cleared, Shikamaru had seized the female member of the Oto genin team in a half-nelson with a kunai pressed to her throat. The two remaining Oto boys both stared at him silently.

"Here's how this is gonna work: Either you hand over your scroll and take a hike, or I ruin her pretty face and cut her throat. Up to you." Shikamaru called to them darkly, a new edge to his voice. While such a tactic would have been well outside of his moral range in any other situation, he was desperate. If the gamble paid off, he would effectively be killing two birds with one stone.

"Two-on-one still favors us. Go right ahead." the bandaged boy said with a shrug. The girl immediately tensed.

"Dosu!" she cried out, her voice fearful and rigid. Despite their status as enemies, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for his hostage. She was still a human being, and she was being cast aside by her own comrades.

"Sorry, Kin." the taller boy said. He hardly sounded apologetic. The girl, apparently named Kin, then relaxed and lowered her eyes to the ground. She was conceding. Suddenly finding that he no longer had the heart to follow through on his threat, Shikamaru took a different round. Briefly releasing her from his grip, the Nara boy whipped Kin on the back of the skull with the handle of his kunai, knocking her out cold and sending her face-first into the dirt.

"You guys are pricks." Shikamaru said bluntly, stepping over the Oto kunoichi's unconscious body and preparing himself for a fight he likely couldn't win. The bandaged genin, having been called Dosu by Kin, then raised his right arm. It appeared to be armored, with strange holes dispersed throughout it. A horrific screeching noise then ripped through the air, assaulting Shikamaru's eardrums viciously.

Though he did his best to cover his ears and shield himself from the crippling frequency, it was to no avail. Dropping to his knees, the Nara boy grit his teeth and squeezed his head. He was completely subdued by nothing but sound. As he attempted to muscle his way back to his feet despite the pain in his head and the blood trickling from his ears, Shikamaru was struck in the shoulder by a compressed blast of air. It hit him like a bullet, breaking his skin and puncturing his body. Coughing up a generous sum of blood, the shadow user dropped back to his knees.

The screeching noise stopped soon after, with the comparative silence coming as a blissful release from the torture Shikamaru had endured for nearly a minute straight.

"Put one through his head, Zaku. Let's be done here." Dosu said, earning a defiant glare from the Nara. The taller boy, having been identified as Zaku, nodded and made his way over to Shikamaru briskly. Grabbing him by his tied-up hair, Zaku pressed the palm of his hand into the shadow user's chin.

"We'll just have to find your scroll without your help, I guess." he said coldly. Sensing that the end was near, Shikamaru sighed and looked to the ground. He had made a solid run of things. Unfortunately, it was over. Expecting to feel his skull be punctured by another thin blast of air, it was to Shikamaru's great surprise when he found himself very much alive in the following moments. Bringing his eyes back up from the ground, the Nara boy was greeted by an unexpected sight.

"Y-You were down for the count a minute ago." Zaku stuttered in confusion as he was forcibly pulled up to his feet. The intervening force was Satsuki. Somehow, she was awake, and very much alive. Before any comment could be made by either side, the Uchiha girl hurled Zaku toward Dosu by the wrist, who jumped back and allowed his teammate to crash to the ground. Slowly rising to his feet again, Shikamaru looked Satsuki up and down. She looked normal for the most part, save for one detail.

The marking on her neck was spreading, and rapidly at that.

"How hurt are you?" she asked, her voice rough and abrasive. The Nara boy felt a chill run down his spine. Something was deeply wrong with her. She had always been volatile, but the feeling emanating from her at present was downright murderous.

"They did a number on me." Shikamaru replied honestly. Satsuki, whose face was now half-covered by the marking, The Uchiha girl nodded and began a slow advance toward Zaku and Dosu. An aura of purple and black chakra surrounded her outline, with tendrils of energy rising off of her frame periodically. The air seemed to deaden around her as she walked.

'Whatever this is, Orochimaru is behind it. This is totally new.' Shikamaru thought to himself. Whatever was about to happen, no outcome other than disturbing violence seemed unlikely. This sentiment was quickly proven to be accurate.

"Whatever you're on, it isn't enough to help you." Zaku hissed, aiming his palms in the oncoming Uchiha's direction. He then fired several blasts of compressed air straight at her. In a feat of inhuman reaction-time, Satsuki easily leaned to her right, dodging the first two shots entirely. She then raised her right hand, catching the third shot in her palm before it could strike her face. Much unlike the experience Shikamaru had suffered through, the air wave did not damage Satsuki in the least.

Seeming to become instantly desperate when his most trustworthy weapon failed him, Zaku made the unintelligent decision to engage the raven-haired girl directly. Effortlessly evading the Oto genin's crude swing for her jaw, Satsuki kicked out Zaku's lead leg and sent him stumbling past her. Before he could fully tumble away, however, the Uchiha girl caught both of his wrists from behind.

"You seemed confident in these arms a minute ago." Satsuki said, slamming her foot into Zaku's upper back and drawing a cry of pain out of him. She then began to apply pressure.

"Let's see what snaps first. Your arms, or the self-control keeping me from breaking your neck." Satsuki declared sadistically. Shikamaru's eyes widened. Well and truly, his teammate was out of her mind. Something in her had snapped. As the Uchiha girl added more and more pressure, Zaku began to scream. The louder he got, the harder Satsuki pushed. Eventually, after a painstaking game of tug of war between Zaku's joints and Satsuki's leg strength, the Oto genin's arms detached from their sockets.

"Guess it was your arms, then." Satsuki said in an ice-cold tone. She then kicked the prostrate Zaku in the gut, sending him flying into a tree behind Dosu, whose eyes were wide with terror. Her predatory gaze then shifted to the bandaged boy.

"I think I'll break your legs instead." she said menacingly. She then took a step forward. Sensing what was to come, Shikamaru made a hand sign. In a move he knew to be greatly risky, the Nara boy attached his shadow to his teammate's.

"That's enough, Satsuki." he said cautiously. Despite being ensnared in the Nara boy's jutsu, Satsuki glanced back over her shoulder with great strain.

"Why are you stopping me?" she asked dangerously. Pursing his lips and maintaining eye contact despite the fear welling up within him, Shikamaru held his ground.

"There's no point in maiming him. He's about to bolt, anyway." he reasoned. The Nara then felt her strain against his control, causing him to tighten his grip as much as he could with what little chakra he had.

"I said no." he hissed. Satsuki then eyed him again, visible contempt burning in her dark irises this time. Before she could speak, Dosu scrambled. Retrieving the battered bodies of his teammates, the Oto genin sprinted off into the forest, disappearing from view a moment later. Once he was gone, Shikamaru retracted his shadow from Satsuki's.

Turning around slowly to face him, her face largely tattooed across its entirety, the Uchiha girl stepped forward, just barely encroaching on Shikamaru's personal space.

"It's always the same song and dance with you." she growled. Knowing exactly what she was referring to without a need for clarification, the Nara boy shook his head.

"I've already said my apologies for what I did back then, even if you won't listen. This was different. You're off your rocker. I wasn't about to let you be a murderer. Not like that." he shot back. Satsuki's expression did not change in the slightest, but her dark aura returned.

"I still could be." she said. Shikamaru inhaled through his nose to keep himself composed. He then jammed a thumb at Naruto.

"What would he think of you, if you followed through on that threat?" he challenged. For the briefest of moments, Satsuki faltered as her eyes landed on the blonde's comatose body.

"What makes you think it matters to me?" she countered huskily. The Nara boy snorted and stood up straight.

"You hesitated." he said simply. Short as it was, his reply seemed to cow his belligerent teammate. Focusing now on Naruto rather than Shikamaru, Satsuki pushed past the shadow user, seemingly to reach the blonde. Before she could make it even five feet past him, she fell forward. Catching her inches before her face could hit the ground, Shikamaru turned Satsuki over in his grip. She was unconscious again, with the black markings retreating back to their source. Heaving a sigh of relief, Shikamaru hauled her back over to her original resting place. Once she was settled again, the shadow user began to relax.

"Today just hasn't been your day, has it?"

Whirling around in an instant, half-expecting to see Dosu having returned for a second round, the Nara boy's stomach dropped at what he saw. At the edge of the clearing in which he and Satsuki had battled Otogakure, stood the Genin of Sunagakure.

"This is the third time in a day I've had people sneak up on me, and I'm beyond sick of it." Shikamaru snapped as he stood up to face them. Gaara, who stood between Temari, and a boy apparently named Kankuro according to an attendance sheet Shikamaru had glimpsed during the written test, stepped forward into the clearing, stopping on the opposite side of the creek.

"Don't worry about it too much. We aren't here for a fight. Not that it would be much of one." the redhead said, earning a look of suspicion from the shadow user.

"What else would you be here for?" he demanded, his temper taking control of him. His patience had entirely run out. No matter what they did or where they went, Team Seven seemed to be far too popular for its own good. Gaara smirked and walked across the stream.

"Curiosity, for the most part. Not with you, though. With your fallen teammates." he said, eyeing Naruto and Satsuki intently as he approached. Sensing the imminent danger he was in, regardless of what he had been told, Shikamaru extended his shadow into Gaara's.

"Come any closer and I'll strangle you." he threatened. It was a bluff and nothing more. He hardly had the chakra to manipulate his shadow in the first place, let alone perform an advanced maneuver such as strangulation. Seeming to sense this fact with ease, Gaara tilted his head to one side.

"Maybe my curiosity does extend to you." he said thoughtfully. He then began to take steady steps forward, despite his shadow being possessed. As he strained to control the redhead, blood began to trickle from Shikamaru's nose.

"I've been keeping tabs on your team since we entered the forest." Gaara said, gesturing straight up. Glancing in that same direction, the Nara boy caught sight of a strange floating eye, seemingly made up of sand.

"You were watching us." he hissed. The redhead nodded and halted his advance a foot and a half from the shadow user, who was still making a futile effort to paralyze him.

"I've been struck by just how interesting those two are. Naruto, with his dark strength. Satsuki, with her eyes and fire. Then…there's you. Ordinary." Gaara jeered him. When Shikamaru said nothing, the Suna boy glanced over his shoulder at Temari, who was looking on with an expression that seemed almost sympathetic.

"I could kill all three of you. I really could. But I want something more out of this. So, I'm going to help you, just this once." Gaara said vaguely. Temari then tossed something at Shikamaru, which the Nara boy reflexively caught. It was a heaven scroll.

"Why would you…" Shikamaru muttered, finally releasing Gaara's shadow due to lacking the chakra to sustain control.

"I just told you. I find those two captivating. I want them to make it through this phase. So, I'm ensuring that they do. You, I couldn't care less about." the redhead reiterated, a smirk on his unsettling features. He then turned on his heel and began walking in the opposite direction. Soon enough, he reached Temari and Kankuro. A moment later, Gaara and Kankuro vanished, leaving only Temari.

"Head north for three miles, and then head east for another two. That's where you'll find the tower." she said. Before Shikamaru could respond, she vanished as well. Alone once again, the Nara boy stared at the heaven scroll in his hands. They had been bailed out. No two ways about it. By the least likely of people, as well. Choosing to accept his wounded pride as a worthy tradeoff, Shikamaru tiredly trudged over to Naruto and Satsuki.

'Let's get moving, I guess.'


Kakashi's eyes widened as he caught sight of a figure emerging from the brush just beyond the boundary of the tower.

'They survived. Thank god.' he thought to himself as a wave of relief washed over him. Shikamaru had entered the vicinity, with both Naruto and Satsuki slung over his shoulders. He looked several stages beyond exhaustion, and he was visibly injured to a concerning degree. Unlike his teammate, he was also lacking bandages or gauze anywhere on his body. His wounds were raw. Despite his every desire, Kakashi remained in place just in front of the entrance to the tower.

Intervention of any kind by a genin team's assigned jonin within the five day window of the second phase would result in automatic disqualification for the team in question, and after all that they had gone through, Team Seven deserved nothing more than to succeed. It was up to Shikamaru, the last capable member, to take them to the finish line.

'C'mon, kid. Bring it home. Just a little further.' Kakashi silently coached his student. Hardly looking conscious, Shikamaru trudged forward. His eyes were glazed over, and his steps were all horribly labored. The closer he got, the more details the Copy Ninja could identify about the Nara boy's condition. He was bleeding from his mouth, with red droplets falling from his chin periodically, his right shoulder had a grotesque puncture wound that he appeared to be ignoring in order to carry Satsuki, and he had a hole in the cartilage of his left ear.

For a boy who had been labeled a slacker and a waste of talent, Shikamaru Nara was showing an inhuman level of grit. Nothing but a dogged refusal to quit was keeping him on his feet. Step by step, the shadow user took his team closer and closer to passing the second phase of the Chunin Exams. Then, just as he had reached a threshold of just fifty feet from the entrance to the tower, Shikamaru tripped over his own feet and fell forward, dropping both of his teammates in the process. Kakashi's hands clenched into fists as he restrained his urge to assist his team.

For a time, Shikamaru simply laid face down on the dirt, unresponsive and unmoving. After a moment too many had passed, Kakashi prepared to step across the boundary of the tower and enter the forest. Before he could take the action, however, Shikamaru's fingers dug into the soil, and he began to push himself upward again. With painstaking difficulty, the Nara boy rose to his feet. He clasped his hands around the wrists of both Naruto and Satsuki a moment later and began simply dragging them on their sides through the terrain.

Over the course of two inspiring minutes, Shikamaru made his final push for the entrance of the tower with his teammates in tow. When he finally passed Kakashi, he pushed on right past him without even glancing in either direction. Whether he was upset, or simply blind from exhaustion was impossible to tell. The moment Team Seven was fully within the confines of the tower, Shikamaru collapsed to the floor. Before he could collide with the hard surface, Kakashi caught him.

'Out totally cold. He gave everything he had left to give.' the Jonin thought to himself as he propped Shikamaru up against a wall alongside both Naruto and Satsuki. He then looked back to the room around him, which was full of genin and Exam personnel alike.

"Get me a medical team, on the double!" he yelled out to nobody in particular. Within moments, he was granted his wish, with a group of four medical ninja rushing to Team Seven's aid.

"Do everything you can. Be unconventional if you have to." he ordered the medical team, who each gave a curt nod as they split up to assist the cell. One medic each took on the task of healing Satsuki and Shikamaru, with the remaining two opting to tackle Naruto's injuries as a team effort, as his appeared to be the most severe. Over the following twenty minutes, each of the genin were expertely tended to, both with medical ninjutsu and more traditional methods.

Hearteningly, they all showed immediate signs of recovery. Color returned to their faces, and their bleeding wounds finally stopped leaking and began to mend. Of the three, the first to awaken was Satsuki, whose eyes slowly dragged open after being accidentally bumped by her medic.

"Where…?" she muttered, sitting up straight and rubbing her head as she came to. Kakashi gently laid her back against the wall with a light push on her shoulder.

"Stay down for now. You guys passed the second phase." he informed her, drawing a look of confusion from the Uchiha girl.

"The last thing I remember is…breaking a guy's arms. After that, I'm lost. How'd we get to the tower?" she asked in a puzzled tone. Kakashi gestured to Shikamaru, who was laying several feet to her left. He was still unconscious.

"Shikamaru dragged both you and Naruto through the front door. He passed out right after." he explained. Satsuki nodded, her eyes a tad conflicted.

"I'll thank him when he wakes up." she said quietly. She then turned her attention to Naruto on her opposite side. Staring at him silently for a time, she then reached out and shook his shoulder, seemingly in an attempt to wake him. When he remained unconscious, she shook him harder.

"Please, let us keep working on him. He'll be alright. He just needs extra attention." one of the two medics tending to Naruto said gently. Though she hardly looked happy about it, Satsuki let her hand drop from the blonde's shoulder. Sensing her distress, Kakashi gave her a sympathetic look.

"It was a close call, wasn't it?" he asked. The Uchiha girl drew her knees up to her chin and balled up on herself.

"We were totally helpless. He was way too much. It…was awful." she said in response. Leftover fear was shaking her frame, and it was plain as day to see.

"You probably figured this out, but the man you faced wasn't a genin." Kakashi said. Satsuki's eyes narrowed, her grip on her knees tightening.

"Orochimaru." she said stiffly. The inflection and tone she had used for the single word she had spoken was telling.

"You never could have been ready for him. That man is stronger than I am. The fact that all three of you are alive is an accomplishment in itself." the Copy Ninja said. Satsuki then let her legs extend out in front of her again.

"How did you find out?" she asked. Kakashi pursed his lips. He had found out entirely too late for his own liking, and if he had it his way, he would be giving several administrators an uncensored piece of his mind.

"Anko Mitarashi's body was found in the forest a few hours ago. Strung up in a tree with a snake around her neck for a noose." he revealed. Satsuki's eyes widened. She then began to shake again.

"He killed a Jonin, and we…" she began, trailing off as she completely lost her voice. Whatever Orochimaru had put Team Seven through, it had been deeply traumatic. Steadying the girl with a grip on her shoulders, Kakashi looked her in the eyes.

"Do you want me to pull the team out of the third phase? You three have been through an immense amount. You didn't get a fair shake. There's no shame in taking care of yourselves." he asked seriously. Satsuki instantly shook her head.

"Shikamaru just about killed himself to get us this far. I'm not throwing that back in his face. It's not even my choice to make on my own." she said firmly, not an iota of doubt in her voice despite her obvious shakiness.

"I'll respect that, then." Kakashi said with a nod. He then reached into one of the front pockets of his flak jacket and produced a key, handing it to Satsuki.

"You guys were the last team to make it. The rest have either been here a while already, or they dropped out for one reason or another. The third phase starts twelve hours after all of the eligible teams are present. That's your room key. Go and take a nap. I'll send the other two down when they're ready." he explained. The Uchiha girl silently rose to her feet with assistance from her teacher.

"Make it quick, please." she muttered, her eyes lingering on her teammates for a moment before she turned around and began to walk away. She hadn't made it far before she glanced back over her shoulder with a puzzled look on her face.

"Up the stairs on the left side." Kakashi called out to her, answering her silent question. The Uchiha girl then resumed her trek toward her temporary residence. As she walked away, Kakashi studied her carefully, uncovering his left eye as he did so. While he had neglected to mention it during their conversation for the sake of keeping her calm, the Jonin had indeed taken notice of the marking on her neck. Now, viewing it with his Sharingan, he came to a puzzling, but concerning conclusion.

'It's…a seal of some kind.'


A/N: I was planning on adding another scene to this chapter, but I feel like changing the scenery too much would make it a bit jumbled, especially since a ton happened here.

Also, to those who have perhaps noticed, Satsuki is a good deal more outwardly emotional than Sasuke. I think it's a fair adjustment to make to her character. As a woman myself, I can attest that we tend to react differently to stress than men, and it often comes out much more visibly.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review if you did :)

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