Author's Note: (if you are interested in seeing the art of the ocs in this story, voting in the polls I have else where, or want to get the chapters the day they're uploaded you can find them here at my DA account my username there is george3222)
Koji and Lee charged at each other from across the training field, each one ready to strike. Lee was the first to attack as he did a quick leg sweep, Koji leaps over it quickly forming hand seals. Focusing his chakra he shot a fireball at Lee. Quickly Lee backflipped away as he fireball crashed into the ground. "You will have to be faster then that Koji."
Koji smirked as he turned to his rival, "Are you sure?" Revealing the Koji before Lee was a clone as he vanished. The really Koji leap down from a tree and slammed his hands to the ground in front of Lee. "Fire Style Fire Eruption!" Lee looked down to see a a hole as a stream of fire shot from this hole, moving as fast as he could he leap frogged over Koji and used his Leaf Gale technique. His leg struck Koji's with a quick rotating kick causing him to fall forward.
The Uchiha recovered and threw an elbow as he turned back, Lee took the elbow across his jaw but as he was being impacted he made sure to jab with his right arm striking Koji in the stomach as the two both fell back to the ground.
Clapping echoed in the quiet training field as the two Genin looked over to see Guy walking towards the two of them. "You two show the Power of Youth, even with the next exam coming up you two both keep your rivalry going and strive to get some last minute training in. You two remind me of a young me." He looked to Lee when he said that who had a stars in his eyes. He then looked towards Koji, "And you remind me of my rival as well, one who always pushed me to do better. I'm proud of both of you and look forward to seeing this grow."
"Sensei!" Lee cried out as he quickly stumbled to his feet.
"Lee!" The two men cried as they embraced with each other.
"Come Koji, we need to settle this we can't end this match on a draw." Lee spoke as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve to get rid of the manly tears.
Guy held up his hand, "I'm afraid I can not allow you two to keep going, with the next exam tomorrow and in the Forest of Death you will need all your strength."
Koji sat up and thought about it, "Lee since we can't fight how about rock, paper, scissors?"
"That is perfect because even in a game like this I will not allow you to beat me Koji!" Lee declared fire in his eyes.
Koji laughed softly as the two of them stood across from each other, to keep things fair Koji deactivated his Sharingan. Each of them raised their hand and formed a fist striking a flat palm once, then again, and finally a third time. Koji threw Paper, Lee however had thrown Scissors. Lee cried out in joy, "Yes we are tied at twenty three apiece now Koji!"
Koji smiled as the two shook hands, "I won't let you beat me next time Lee."
Riku was struggling, she had seen Shikamaru play Shogi before but she had not idea what she was getting into. It was a massacre, Shikamaru had Riku pinned in and it wasn't looking good. Asuma had come upon the game was the watching. Riku reached out to move her King but Asuma coughed and shook his head, Shikamaru looked lazily at Riku. She then reached to her Sliver General but again Asuma did a fake cough, this time Shikamaru turned back to his Sensei but he was busy scratching his chin. Riku moved her King and immediately afterwards Shikamaru moved his final piece finishing the game, "Checkmate."
Riku frowned, "What...how are you so good at this?!" she demanded to know.
Asuma just laughed at the pair, "Shikamaru has a lot of hidden skills, he just chooses to not reveal them."
Shikamaru packed up the board and pieces, "I'm heading home." He informed the two Sarutobi and without even a goodbye he was gone on his way back to the Nara compound.
Riku crossed her arms as she watched Shikamaru leave, "You could have shown up earlier."
Asuma looked down at his niece confused, "It would have played out the same way."
"No I mean you could have helped me more, Shikamaru destroyed me...I could have used all the help."
Asuma pats Riku's shoulder, "Maybe next time. Come on lets get back to the clan compound, I'm sure my brother is worried about you."
Riku frowned at the mention of her father, "Worried about his 'investment' more likely." she groaned.
"Hey now, sure your dad doesn't have the same Will of Fire that me and your Grandfather have but he still seeks to support the village." Asuma lit up a cigarette as the pair began to walk together.
"Please, he wants me to not be anything like you, grandpa, or Konohamaru's dad. He wants to trade me off to marry some clan head's kid so he can make money somehow." She pouts.
Asuma rubbed his temples before exhaling a cloud of smoke, "Riku...trust me, I grow up the man. I questioned his choice but I always respected it as his choice to make. He leads the Merchants guild and seeks to keep money flowing into Konoha, but he would never put money over you."
Riku stopped and for the first time in forever glared at her Uncle, "You are wrong! He wants nothing but for me to be some kinda trophy wife!" She was shouting in anger running from Asuma visibly upset.
"Dammit." Asuma tossed his cigarette to the ground but he stopped he knew if he chased after her he would just upset her further, it would be best to let her cool off and try to change her mind later.
Toshiro closed the door to the house behind him but froze as he saw Inoichi sitting in a chair. "A little late to be out with the exams going on, don't you think?"
Toshiro had a visible bead of sweat trail down his face as he nervously answered his uncle, "Y-yyy-you are right sir." He stuttered at first as he stood up straight.
"Toshiro you know I care what keep you out?" He asked simply.
"Well...I...I think I found the one." He answered as he raised his fist as he made his statement.
"Toshiro you say that ever other week." Ino teased as she passed by.
Inoichi leaned forward and motioned for his nephew to come closer to him, the young Yamanaka walked closer. "What was she like? Tell me her name?" he asked kindly curious as to who caught Toshiro's eye this time.
"Well her name is Temari and she is from the Village Hidden in the Sand." he answered.
Ino snorted, "That's it? You know her name and where she is from? You have to know more about her then that."
"I know! I just need to get to know her more, but there is something else. She saw through my rose game." Toshiro smiled as he held up the stem of the white rose he had given her to put in her hair. "
Inoichi laughed softly at this, "You are just like your father when he was younger. Now both of you get to bed, the next exam is tomorrow morning."
Riku finally stopped running as she took leaned again the railings of the bridge she was standing on, she still had the frown as she looked at her reflection down in the slow moving water below her. She felt hands wrap around her waist as she was pulled into a large set of breasts. "Now I hate it when my students look sad, whats wrong?"
Riku struggled against her Sensei before she was set down, "I just want my dad to let me choose my own life." she mumbled.
"Isn't he thou?" Hitomi asked as she crossed her arms. "If he wasn't letting you choose then why are you a ninja now Riku?"
"I..."
Hitomi had a stern look on her face, she knew when to be a friendly and nice sensei and when to be firm. "Dear it may seem to you that he is controlling but look at what you are doing right now. You are taking part in the Chunin Exams."
Riku looked away from her Sensei, "Good because now I am going to have to punish you for being out to late with something so important happening tomorrow morning." She had a sadistic smile on her face. "And don't think I didn't notice you Koji!" She turned suddenly and Riku poked her head out from the side of Hitomi to see a guilty looking Koji attempting to sneak past. "Hmmm a few nights of training with Guy will work."
Riku and Koji looked confused, "Ummm Sensei how is that a punishment?" Riku asked.
"Yeah, I mean I train with Lee all the time and he has nothing but praise for Guy."
Hitomi smirked, "You will find out once the exams are over, now get home." she laughed now and patted them on the shoulders.
The following morning all the students still in the exam meet up outside of the Forty Fourth training ground otherwise known as the Forest of Death. Anko stood against the chain link fence that surrounded the training ground. "This is the location for the second phase of the exam, it is the Forty Fourth Training grounds but we call it the forest of death."
Everything was quiet until a box that was poorly made to look like fake rocks began to follow Naruto as he would run and stop to look at it. Finally he confronted the box and pointed to it. "That is the worst disguise ever everyone knows there aren't square rocks!"
The box explodes into three color smokes as three academy students pop out and introduce themselves. Anko explained that the Hokage had agreed to have some of the academy students interview some of the people who were in the Chunin exams. After a short ten minute break to give the students time to ask the various members Anko spoke up again.
Naruto mocked Anko and pointed to her, "Do you worse I can handle this forest and anything that is thrown at me!"
"So looks like we have ourselves a tough guy." She smiled before throwing a kunai that just gazed his cheek, then using the body flicker vanished and reappeared behind him, she began to whisper to him. "Tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid or anything?" Placing her hand on his other cheek and pulling him close she spoke menacingly but still that same smile on her face. "Tough guys like you tend to leave all of your blood in that place."
Another ninja had picked up the kunai and moved closer the tongue from their mouth was strangely long. Anko sensed this ninja coming close and readyed another kunai turning for a fight to see the kunai held in a position to return it to her.
After a short exchange Anko laughed, "Seemed everyone here is short tempered. This is going to be fun." She walked back to her original position in front of the fence and pulled out a stack of papers from her jacket. "These are a stand consent form, before the test you will all need to read over this form and then sign it."
Again Naruto was the one to speak up, "What for?"
"Some of you will not come back from this test, and I have to get the consent for the risk. Otherwise it would then be my responsibility" Anko answered again laughing at something so dark. "Now I will be explain what you are doing for this portion of the test...pass these out." she ordered Naruto as she held out the stack of papers to him he took one and passed it on. Once he took them she began to speak again.
"The first thing you will need to know is that this exam will tax everyone of you survival skills." Anko unrolled a map of the forest. "The forty fourth training field has forty four locked entrance gates, from the north a river beings and towards the southeast it splits into two paths. Other then the river most of the training ground is covered in a thick forest. In the center is a locked tower located ten kilometres from each entrance. It's in this area you will undergo the survival test. This test is rather simple, it is an anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." She raises up a blue scroll marked earth and a white scroll marked heaven. "Now all together there will be twenty eight teams partacting in this exam, so half of the teams will be going after the heaven scroll and the others will be going after the earth scroll. I will soon hand out one of these scrolls to each team and that is how you will know what scroll you will be going for."
Toshrio looked around, 'This leaves us at a disadvantage, we don't know who will be near us or what scroll they will have.'
"And how do we pass this test?" Sasuke spoke now.
"You entire squad must bring a heaven and earth scroll to the tower." Anko answered. "This exam has a time limit, you must be in the tower within five days."
"Five days out there!" Ino shouted.
"What are we suppose to do for food out there!?" Choji panicked.
"Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat." Anko answered.
"Yeah...but that isn't all that the forest is full of, there are man eating beasts and poisonous plants out there." Kabuto chimed in as he adjusted his glasses.
Teammates began to talk to each other about what they can do, Riku pulled Toshiro and Koji close. "So what do you think our best bet is? Play it safe and try to maybe ambush someone near the tower or should we try to fight someone early and risk having the scrolls already?"
"That is if we find someone with a different scroll." Koji said as he looked around at the other genin. "I think it would be best to set an ambush if we don't get the scroll by the third day."
Toshiro nodded, "I agree with Koji, we shouldn't waste time waiting we will need to find someone."
Riku nodded, "Then we will seek out another team, we may get lucky and catch them off guard."
Anko raised her voice, "You can talk what you are going to do later because there is still more for me to tell you. This test is also about your ability to endure behind enemy lines, this is designed to be an extreme test and I'm sure some of you will not be up to the challenge."
Shikamaru raised his hand, "Let's say mid exam, can we quit?"
"Of course not, in the middle of a battle you can't just say sorry I quit." Anko answered her smile returned again, "I mean I guess you could try to quit but you would more then likely get killed. Of course there are some way to get disqualified, first is if your whole squad isn't at the tower with both scrolls within the five day time limit. Second, if a squad loses a member or they become incapacitated. Third and most importantly, none of you are allowed to look at the contents of the scrolls until you have reached the tower."
"What happens if it flaps open and you just so happen to read it?" Naruto asked.
"Let me put it this way kid, you don't want to know. There will be times where a ninja will be tasked with carrying secret information, this scroll rule is a way to test your integrity. That is all now take your forms the station over there and trade them in for a scroll. Then select what gate you will enter from." Anko let out a sigh. "Oh and one last word of advice, just don't die!"
Most of the teams split off with a few people wondering around, Riku sat in the shade of a tree. Toshiro leaned against it with his eyes close, and Koji was sitting on a branch. The trio watched as a curtain was pulled in front of the station to exchange the forms for the scroll. "So that is how it is...we are blind to everything." Riku spoke quietly.
"True but we do have one advantage that only one other team has." Toshiro smirked.
Koji looked down at him confused, "What is it?"
"You guys have me, and Team Ten has Ino. If it comes down to it I could use my jutsu on an animal and and scout out the area with you two hiding and protecting my body." Toshiro spoke quietly and opened his eyes.
"It's a sound strategy at least to give us some intel on where we are." Koji gave Toshiro a nod.
"But there is also the other choice we have, which gate? We should think of at least three numbers to choose from." Riku stated.
"Gate one." Toshiro spoke as he pushed off from the tree.
"I got a feeling about gate thirty six." Koji leap down from the branch.
Riku stood up and lead her two teammates to the station. "I feel gate twenty two will be good."
Koji reached down and picked three blades of grass, "One long, one in the middle, and one short. You two each pick one, whoever ends up with the long one will be our first choice and whoever gets the short one is the last choice."
Riku and Toshiro nodded as they each placed their fingers over one of the grass blades.
"Three...two...one."
Riku and Toshiro pulled as Koji opened his hand to show what he had. Riku has the longest grass blade, followed by Koji, and Toshiro had the smallest. The Yamanaka just crossed his arms, "It's fine I didn't want to go with my gate anyways." he grumbled.
The group was next as the jounin waved them in, Riku handed them the three signed forms and in return they handed Riku a white heaven scroll. Turning to Toshiro she handed it to him, "If someone finds it blow their mind with your genjutsu." She ordered.
He nodded as the man cleared his throat, "Which gate have you three selected?"
"We have chosen gate twenty two." Koji answered.
"Very good, on Anko's words you will make your way to the gate and await for the gate to open."
The three genin nodded and walk out now waiting for the rest of the genin to get their scrolls.
Anko began to speak, "Alright listen up, everyone has received their scrolls so make your way to your gate and wait there. When the gate opens the test is on!"
Koji looked around, the gates were spaced out enough that the next entrance couldn't be seen. "We stick to the plan, we head in a bit and then scout out the area."
Riku had a serious look on her face, "We don't lose, we will show everyone that the three of us are a force to be reckoned with."
The jounin turned his back and unlocked the padlocks and chain on the door, they then were thrown open as the three genin ran through and into the forest of death.