Author's Note:
I do not own Naruto. Also, I will be updating even more slowly now that I have to do my actual school work. On the bright side, I can go back to updating quickly when I have finished.
Chapter 18:
"Alright maggots, each of you sign one of these release forms so that if you die it's not our fault." The crazy proctor, Anko, handed each of the prospective chuunin a slip of paper, "When you're finished signing away your life, hand me the papers and I'll tell you what the next test is."
The students paused to look over their papers after she mentioned their lives, but, only finding a standard release form, signed it anyway. When all of the assembled finished handing in their forms, Anko looked about to speak again.
"Gaara-chan! I was so worried when I didn't see you in the other section of the exams." Instead of Anko's voice, Kitsumi's rang out over the crowd, "Where were you three?"
Before they could reply, a kunai flew towards Kitsumi, who was attached to Gaara, only to impact a small cloud of sand.
"Pay attention maggots! Now, the second part of the exam is to—" She was cut off as a tongue brought a kunai very close to her face.
"You dropped your kunai." The tongue's owner, an Kusa ninja, managed to say even though his tongue was over a foot out of his mouth. Anko just knocked the kunai and tongue away from her and continued her speech, although she was slightly less confident and crazy.
"Each of you will be given a scroll of heaven or a scroll of earth." Anko held up a white scroll and a brown one respectively, "In the forest behind me, you will have seven days to collect the other scroll, and make your way to the tower. Should you fail to collect the scroll, or should even a single member of your team fail to make it to the tower, you all will fail. Any questions?" Seeing none, she began to pass out the scrolls.
"Gaara-chan! No one was here to threaten me." Realizing she was finished, Kitsumi resumed her conversation with Gaara.
"Kit-chan, not here. There are people." Gaara struggled to sound menacing, then in a softer voice only she could hear, "We need to talk in the forest. Meet my team inside the gate."
"OK" Kitsumi whispered back, before saying in a much louder voice, "Fine then!" and stomping off.
"What are you two anyway?" Hinata whispered softly when Kitsumi had come back.
"Arch-nemeses." Kitsumi replied, the seriousness in her voice was betrayed by the sparkle in her eyes. Anko interrupted the conversation by handing the team a heaven scroll.
"Alright take your places one of the gates into the forest." Anko addressed everyone after handing off the scroll, "Ready? Go." The gates into the forest opened simultaneously, and all of the students rushed through.
Kitsumi had her team follow her through the foliage, knowing that Gaara's team was up ahead. They followed easily, not having any better idea of where to go. A few battles rang out around them, some teams apparently thinking to defeat others before the game of hide and seek began in full.
Some hours later, after the teams had spread out a bit, Kitsumi led her team to meet up with Gaara. When they finally saw who they were meeting, both her teammates and his were slightly on guard.
"Sis, why are we meeting them?" Naruto looked suspiciously at the sand team, recognizing Kankuro and Temari.
"Yeah," the painted puppeteer returned the suspicious look, "Why do we need to meet them Gaara?"
"Mother" Gaara didn't answer either question, "does not like the Kusa ninja. She wants me to... kill him." The hollow look that had been absent from his face returned during his pause, but he quickly shook it away and continued, "Also, the invasion--"
"Gaara!" Temari looked at him in confusion.
"Tell them, he's not father." Gaara's answer, although it seemed completely irrelevant, prompted Temari to soften her expression.
"Suna and Oto plan to attack the village during the exams. That's the reason Gaara, Kankuro, and I are here. Also, the team from Oto, the Kazekage, and Baki, our Jounin-sensei, will participate in the attack. Although since I'm telling you this, I think Gaara doesn't plan to participate."
"We will not." Gaara removed a scroll of earth from his pack, "What scroll do you have? We have two earth scrolls."
"Heaven." Kitsumi replied before Naruto or Hinata could tell her not to. Gaara tossed her the scroll, and then he and his team sped off.
"Well, we have our scroll, should we head to the tower?" Kitsumi turned to face her companions.
"Let's see how the other teams are doing." Naruto wore a slight pout, "Maybe they need help."
"But what if our scroll gets taken?" Hinata had finally managed to drop the stutter around her team.
"No problem, Kakashi-sensei taught me how to hide it." Kitsumi proceeded to pull out a scroll and brush. She drew a complicated circular pattern in the middle with the kanji for heaven inscribed in it. Around the circle were four other kanji, which were too small to read. After following the first with an almost identical circle for earth, she began to focus her chakra. The others watched eagerly, as the kanji briefly glowed blue and the scrolls vanished in clouds of smoke.
"But we still have the problem of if we lose in battle." Hinata said quietly.
"If we lose, then we didn't deserve to have the scrolls in the first place." Naruto said triumphantly. Deciding not to argue further, Hinata and Kitsumi jumped off to find the other Konoha teams.
Unfortunately, before they found the other teams, trouble found them. A giant blast of air carried Naruto away from the others. Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan, and pointed Kitsumi to the source of the attack, the Kusa ninja from before.
"Damn it Kabuto, you told me that Sasuke-kun would be on her team." Kitsumi's hearing barely picked up the soft curse. Recovering, she turned to face the remaining two members and in a much louder voice, said, "It isss the role of the predator to hunt the prey. You will be my prey in thisss exam."
Neither Hinata nor Kitsumi could muster control to move. Their bodies rooted to the spot, they could only watch as the tongue slid out of the Kusa ninja's mouth, and began to advance on them. Slowly she walked forward, approaching lazily like the hunter she imagined herself to be. As she prepared to make the final step, the one that would bring her tongue to Kitsumi's neck, a rustle in the leaves caused her to stop momentarily, assessing the situation.
"Get your tongue off my sis!" An overly loud Naruto jumped from the branches of a nearby tree, and pushed Kitsumi over. Grabbing Hinata, he carried her into a nearby tree, hoping his sister would recover in time to join them. She did, barely stumbling from the push, and the three bounded off into the forest again. Even though they jumped as fast as they could, the feeling of the Kusa devil followed behind. Just as they began to feel that they were making progress, the foliage in front of them erupted in a purple mass of scales.
"Not you again!" Naruto groaned loudly, barely slowing as he changed his course to impact what appeared to be a snake. Kitsumi and Hinata chose to simply go around, taking an extra leap to bypass the slow monster. Once Naruto had finished using the snake as a springboard, the team met up on the other side, and continued their escape.
Less than an hour later, the team was exhausted, and could run no more. Resigning themselves to fate, they stopped and hid as best they could in a hollow stump. Thankfully, the demon had abandoned them for other easier prey, and did not immediately attack. However the hollow was not uninhabited. The pink form of a konuichi arose from the ground to kick them out.
"Get out! This is where we're hiding Sasuke-kun. We won't take your scroll or anything, but leave us alone." She drew her kunai in a manner that suggested a painful alternative to leaving.
"But Sakura-san, we need to hide out here too." Naruto whined, having decided it was the simplest way to deal with the Uchiha fan club.
"Well find somewhere else to hide. This is our spot." Sakura didn't budge.
"Um... What if others... find you..?" Hinata didn't want to offend the girl with the second worst temper in the village, especially when the one who beat her would probably make the same decision.
"I set traps for them. Be thankful we didn't activate them on you." Sakura sneered, quickly becoming impatient
"Look Pinky-chan! My team and I are staying here, and if you want us to leave, you'll have to force us! So unless you want a battle to attract everyone within the forest, I suggest you let us stay!" Kitsumi's outburst caused Hinata to rethink the order of worst tempers.
"...fine." Worry edged onto Sakura's face, but she quickly banished it and went to tend to Sasuke.
"What happened to him anyway?" Naruto looked at Sasuke. He was covered in sweat, and shivered uncontrollably, but had no visible wounds of any sort. Not even blood stained his clothing to signify harm. All his question got him was a glare from Sakura, and a newly awakened Ino.