Chapter One
"Ne, Sakura-chan," the hyper blonde asked his teammate.
"What, Naruto?" the pink haired girl sighed exasperatedly at him. He'd been trying to get her attention for the past fifteen minutes. Couldn't he just shut up already?
"What do you think the second exam will be?"
"Oh, I don't know. But whatever it is, I hope it fails you forever!" she shouted at him, giving in to Inner Sakura. She'd been doing that more and more, recently.
"Maa! Sakura-chan's mean!" Naruto cried out.
Then again, with Naruto acting like that, having self control like Sasuke's would have been a dream for Sakura. Of course, she'd settle for Sasuke's anything
"Shut up, Dobe," the aforementioned prodigy snapped at him.
"Why should I?" Naruto retorted childishly.
"Because the instructions are about to be given, and I'm not going to fail because of you."
"You wish!" Sakura, Sasuke and numerous others in the nearby vicinity winced at the sheer volume of his voice. "I should be worrying about you failing me!"
"Shut up!" The instructor barked at him.
"Yes, Sir," Naruto complied. The instructor for this exam was Morino Ibiki, quite a change from Umino Iruka in Exam One. He wore a trench coat and his Hitae-ate was tied on his head in such a way that it covered the scars on his bald head.
"Now, this is a test of information gathering skills. You must also deliver a scroll to an unknown destination. Each team will receive a number corresponding with their course. Do not open the scroll you are given."
"Why do you think we can't open the scroll?" Naruto whispered- quite loudly- to his teammates.
"Shh!"
"You three in the back!" Ibiki shouted to the surprised preteens.
"Huh?" Naruto and Sakura asked at the same time, oblivious to whatever the instructor may have said.
"You three in the back. Enter the tent."
"Yes, Sir," the three chorused.
---
"You are Team Two. Your starting point is the shack in the East Konoha Forest. There you will find the clue which will lead you to your next point. Here is your scroll. Guard it well, as you will need it to pass," one of the proctors informed them after they had signed the necessary agreement forms.
"Hai."
"Now, get out. We need to let the next team in."
---
"What do you think is in the scroll?" Naruto asked once they had left the tent.
"Probably nothing," Sasuke responded.
"But, there has to be something in it! Why else would we have to deliver it?" he whined at his teammates.
"It's nothing, Naruto you idiot. Sasuke says so, and he's always right," The pink haired girl sneered at her blonde fan before making lovey-dovey eyes at her crush.
"If anything it would be a trap inside," Sasuke deduced, sliding the scroll into his kunai pouch.
"Of course!" Sakura agreed.
"Hurry up. The sooner we reach the shack, the sooner we find the next clue," Sasuke drawled.
---
"So… This is where we start?" Sasuke asked his teammates. He hadn't expected much- it was a shack, after all. However, he had at least expected four walls and a roof.
"That's what the guy said," Sakura replied, looking under a pile of leaves.
"What's this?" Naruto asked. He had his head in the bushes, looking at a crumbled wall of the shack.
"It's a wall, Naruto," Sakura sighed at her idiotic teammate.
"I know that!" The blonde protested. "I was talking about these scribbles!" Naruto retorted.
"Let me see," Sasuke pushed through. "It's a code," he diagnosed.
"Maybe there's a clue in the scroll," Sakura suggested.
"Yeah! Let's open it!" Naruto agreed.
"Don't open it. There's a jutsu on it that'll punish anyone who opens it!" Sasuke berated his idiotic teammates. At least, he tried to. He only got halfway through his sentence before being turned into a stuffed black rabbit. Next to him lay pink and yellow stuffed rabbits.
---
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," Kakashi began. "I expected better from you. Opening the scroll? You idiots!" He drawled, only a hint of rage seeping through his aloof personality.
"I- I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura cried.
"It made sense!" Naruto protested.
"I tried to stop them," The final member of the squad explained.
"Next time I expect you all to pass," Kakashi ordered.
"Hai, Kakashi-sensei."