Hey there guys...

I was originally planning on writing this in one big part, but it came out sort of slowly, and I did not want to make you guys wait so long, so here is part one. Also makes a bit of a cliffhanger effect. :P
So hope you guys enjoy this. If you read, please leave a review. Peace, people

-Eureka-

Edit: May 6: Minor corrections applied...
 The Desert Test - Part one

The morning sun rose early, over a village that was pretty much completely asleep. The sun crept into the village, and heated the sand, cold after a long night. It was a beautiful morning, with not a single cloud in the sky that could be seen. The empty village streets were swept clean from dust by a strong wind coming out of the north, and the birds were all hovering over the town, pretty much in a standstill against the wind.

Not very many people at all liked to get up at six in the morning, but being the Tsuchikage of the village, Yuki Saiton did not really have a choice. There was always things that had to be done, and it was always better to get them done sooner then later, in his mind. This morning, he woke up at six, as he usually did, but instead of getting out of bed, and trudging off to work, he just lay there, staring at the ceiling.

There wasn't any work to be done today. He had finished all the paperwork he had yesterday, so today, he really did not have to get to his office until when he actually should get there, eight thirty. He sighed, looking over at his wife, Haruko, sleeping peacefully next to him. He sighed again, and rolled over, gazing out the bedroom window, where sun was starting to filter in through the patchwork blinds.

Knowing full well that he would never manage to get back to sleep again, he got up, and got dressed, trying not to wake his wife up. He quietly slid the balcony door open, and snuck out, closing it behind him.

The balcony was pretty much his favourite part of the house, since it got a beautiful view of the village. His house was three storeys tall, instead of the standard two floors, which allowed him to gaze across almost the whole village. He felt like he was a child, sitting on his parents' shoulder, able to just see over the heads of the crowd. Here and there, a multi storey apartment building was sticking up, and a ways away, straight ahead, was the academy, with Tsuchikage Manor on the other side of the cliff. It looked like the front of a ship that had crashed into the village, and split it. If you removed it, the village map would like like a pie, witch someone had taken a piece out of. A gust of wind blew his silvery hair back, and he smiled, as he looked out over the village. Behind him, he heard his wife slide the door shut behind her, as she came out to join him.

"Beautiful day today," she said softly, as she came to his side, and held him. He stroked her black hair, back, nodding slightly.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" she asked, sounding worried. She looked up at him, but Saiton just kept on gazing out over the village, now with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "Her team is the best from the whole school, I made sure of that… But I can't decide what test he's going to give them. He decided to put them through that test, and I can't stop him." He looked down at his wife, who was looking nervous.

"I mean, I managed to get him to come out of retirement, just to head this team."

"Can't you-" she began, but the Tsuchikage cut her off.

"No, I can't. I cannot show favouritism, just because she is my daughter. As a Shinobi, I must treat her like I do everyone else." Haruko laughed shortly, smiling grimly up at him.

"I'm afraid you broke that rule the second you put her on that team. Honestly… Making a team with the three best Shinobi this village will probably produce in decades… It's not reasonable…" She grabbed his hand, and put her arms around him. Saiton put a comforting arm around his wife.

"She'll be fine, you're worrying way to much," he said reassuringly. "I'm sure that team seven will be the first team to pass this test on the first try. I have confidence in Shihiro!" He smiled, turning his attention back to the quiet village. His wife broke from his grasp, and stood beside him, silently observing the village with him, a troubled look still lingering on her face. A black bird, with a red chest flew right up to them, landing on the balcony rail, a few meters away from the two. It observed them silently, but neither of them paid any attention to it.

"But when I imagine what they'll be asked to do…" Haruko started, spinning towards her husband, looking at him imploringly. "They're just kids, and this specific test is usually reserved for the Chuunin exams." She looked at him pleadingly.

The Tsuchikage tilted his head towards his wife, not turning around.

"I already told you, I can't go against his wishes. He was very excited, and eager, when I described this team to him. This test was the first thing he decided on. And besides, they'll all be fine. Shihiro's smart!" he said, trying to be reassuring, but final at the same time. His wife gazed at him for a while, before nodding, and turning back to the village, where the occasional villager could now be seen wandering the street's, or setting up shop. The bird by their side took flight, almost brushing the Tsuchikage as it flew by.

"I just hope that you're right," Haruko said finally. The Tsuchikage smiled, and gave her a small hug, before turning around, and going back inside, leaving his wife alone on the balcony. He smiled to himself, as he heard the sounds of Shihiro making herself breakfast downstairs, even though it was only six-thirty. Really, she doesn't have to be up for another thirty minutes, at least!

Deidara woke up early that morning, and spent a few minutes just lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. In the pit of his stomach, he somehow felt a sense of impending doom. He was nervous, since he had only met his team mates once, and was expected to pass some sort of test. Test's always made him nervous and this one especially bad, since he seriously did NOT want to be held back at the academy for another year. No, whatever happens, I must pass, no matter what. Not being able to lie still any more, he hopped out of bed, and began pacing back and forth.

He grabbed the bird he had made last night down from his shelf, and gazed at it, trying to make it move again. It's wing began to go up and down, as if it was saying hello to him. He smiled, and waved back at his little work of art, before crushing it into a round ball of clay, and putting it into his pocket.

The announcer had said to bring nothing, but Deidara had no plans of following that. Who will notice a bit of harmless clay, anyway? He smiled to himself, thinking that this new ability of his was already proving to be extremely useful. He sat down, and trained his control, by trying to transform the clay into a wide range of shapes as fast as he could. A shot of excitement came every time he managed to contort it into a new form. Just since yesterday, I've already gotten faster! He smiled again.

After a half hour, Deidara decided to go downstairs. His mother was note awake when he got downstairs, so he sighed, and grabbed a frying pan out of the closet. He quickly fried a few eggs, and ate, all the time listening for his mother. By the time he was finished, it was almost time to leave. He glanced at the clock on the wall for a second, hesitating, before walking up the stairs, and carefully opening his mother's room door.

It was completely dark in there, and at first Deidara was completely blinded by the darkness. He noticed the smell, though; like something old, with hints of gin and tonic. He frowned slightly, as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He looked around. The one side of the room was mainly occupied by a big desk, the top made out of plywood. It was littered with various pieces of clutter, and papers. On the left, there was a dresser, with tons of drawers, but nothing on the top. At the far side of the room, there was a big, double sized bed, with a small shelf over it.

Deidara gasped, biting down on his lip. On the bed, his mother was lying, and beside her, was some shirtless man Deidara had never seen before. The man was laying spread eagled, with his one arm dangling down to the floor. Deidara backed away, shocked, a tear in his eye. He turned, and ran, not stopping until he had slammed the front door behind him. There, he looked back up at the house. He sighed, before brushing off his sleeve, and beginning to walk. He glanced at a clock in a shop window he passed, and realized with a small jolt that he only had ten minutes to get there. He broke in to a run, tearing down the deserted street as fast as he could, as if chased by the long rays of morning sun that had appeared behind him in the street.

He was panting by the time he got to the academy. He looked up at the cliff, and groaned. Classroom twenty… Classroom one is top floor, twenty classrooms a floor…

He shook his head, and ran in the front door, starting up the steps, jumping them two at a time. Apart from him, the academy seemed to be pretty much deserted. I bet none of the other teams had to get up this early…

A clock on the wall told him that there was two minutes left. He jumped three steps, and almost tripped, just managing to grab onto the rail.

There was less then a minute to go when Deidara finally barged into classroom twenty. He opened the door, and jumped inside, where he stood, gazing around, panting. Shihiro and Deimon were both sitting down at opposite sides of the room, both staring at him, as though he had blown his way through the wall. Deidara's eyes widened suddenly. On top of a bunch of desks at the back of the classroom, was a big collection with every type of weapon Deidara could think of: Short swords, long swords, and a whole pouch of various throwable sharp things, accompanied by smoke bombs, and various scrolls, marked things like: Explosive scroll: Only remote detonate. And Great fogs summon; Use with care. For a second, all he could do was stand and stare.

"Good morning," he managed to say, nodding at both of his team mates, before walking to the back of the class, and picking up one of the long swords, admiring the gleaming steel blade, with the smiths name etched into the side. He held it up, and spun it around, smiling as he watched it twirl in his hand.

"You know we weren't allowed to take anything with us, remember?" Deimon said lazily behind him. Deidara spun around, putting the sword back down onto the table. Deimon smiled.

"You wouldn't want to fail us all, would you?" Deidara shook his head, before turning back to the table, examining the things on it, but not touching anything. His notion that Katon Deimon was a jerk seemed to have just been reconfirmed.

Looking at his own watch, he realized that it was only ten seconds left until they were told to be here. He looked around the classroom, and went and sat down at an empty desk, in the middle of the classroom. Looking to his left, He saw Shihiro smirking at the front, looking slightly nervous. He also saw what had to be a scroll, and a kunai on her side, hidden by the loose T-Shirt she was wearing. He smiled, resisting the urge to ask whether or not she wanted to fail the whole team.

Deidara did not have much time to think, though, because at that exact second, the door to the classroom slid open, and their new teacher walked in.

Deidara's first impression was that this man had not slept for at least at least a year. The area around his eyes was sullen, and sunk, with dark shadows sticking up the sides of his nose. His hair was short, ruffled, and jet black, while in the bottom of the pits that were his eyes, were specs of bright green. His outfit was fairly simple, consisting of the standard Jounin outfit: A brown vest, and a belt, holding whatever he may need for battle. The mans sunken eyes looked around the room keenly, taking in his three students.

"All here? Good… You would have all failed, had any of you been late, of course." He smiled smartly to himself, as Deidara's eyes widened slightly, shocked over how close he had been to failing his whole team. The man kept on gazing at them, a small smile playing around his lips.

"Right," he said finally. "All of you meet me at the western town gate in fifteen minutes. Same lateness rules apply." And with that, he merely turned and left, slamming the door behind him. Shihiro looked slightly indignant, while Deidara looked confused. Deimon merely shook his head, got up, and left. Deidara looked over at Shihiro, who shrugged, before getting up, and leaving as well, leaving Deidara there alone. He shook his head, and managed a small smile of amusement. Looks like we got a real fun teacher…

He got up, and went over and picked up the long sword again, twirling it around in his hand, before spinning on the spot, and sending the blade of the sword right through the nearest desk. It cleaved it cleanly in half, not leaving a single splinter on either side of the cut. Deidara gasped, and looked around quickly, before quickly putting back the sword, and leaving as quickly as he could.

------ .--. ------

When Deidara arrived at the villages west gate, about five minutes later, his two team mates were already there. Shihiro was leaning against the small booth were the gate guard usually sat, while Deimon was over on the other side of the road, sitting on the stairs of some old wooden house. Deidara glanced at the two of them, before crossing the street, and sitting down cross legged under a tree that stood beside the border booth. He looked around, not seeing any one else in the streets, or anywhere else. Really, no one was up at this hour. Beside him, Shihiro was ignoring him completely. Deidara was ignoring his two team mates as well, preferring to take out the small ball of clay he had in his pocket again. As he converted the ball of clay into a pyramid, he sensed Shihiro watching him closely. She immediately averted her gaze when Deidara looked over at her, however.

When exactly five minutes had passed, Deidara looked up to see their new Sensei walking down the dusty street. In the red morning sun, which shone directly at him, it was all the more obvious how pale he was. He walked towards them, and then stopped, without saying a word. He surveyed them quietly.

"So," he began, looking around at the three of them, whose eyes were all on him.

"Who brought any weapons today?" he asked, looking around at all of them, before his eyes stopped at Shihiro.

"Anyone?"

Biting her lip, Shihiro sighed, and grabbed the Kunai and scroll out from her belt. She resignedly walked foreword, and threw them to the ground, before crossing her arms, and looking at their Sensei, who was smiling triumphantly.

"Oh yeah, and Deidara," he added, still not taking his eyes of Shihro. Deidara tensed, and clenched his hand into a fist, as he always did when he got nervous.

"Yeah?" he answered," trying to sound calm.

"Got any of that clay of yours?"

The question hit Deidara like a punch, although not a particularly hard one. Of course, the Tsuchikage must have told him about Deidara's ability. Now that Deidara thought about it, it was actually likely that this whole team had been orchestrated by the Tsuchikage himself. What exactly were the chances, otherwise, of the two best academy students, and a "genius" making the same team? It probably would not be allowed, since that team would be so overpowered. He bit his lip slightly.

What exactly does the Tsuchikage expect me to do?

"So, Deidara?"

The voice brought him out of his own little world, and his head shot up, looking around. He caught sight of his Sensei right in front of him. Everyone else seemed to be staring at him. He bit his lip slightly, and pushed his long hair out of his eyes, while smiling.

"Well, I guess you caught me," he said, while smiling. He put his hand into his pocket, and closed his eyes. He pulled the clay out of his pocket, and held on his palm, stretching him arm out. He opened his eyes, and gasped, exhilarated. Sitting on his palm, gazing out at everyone was a little bird, whose head was turning back and forth. He smiled triumphantly to himself. I've gotten much faster, just in these two days…

Both of his team mates were staring at the little bird on the palm of his hand. He saw Deimon flash a look of surprise, before it was quickly washed away, and replaced with a tiny smile. Shihiro's look remained completely unreadable; she betrayed nothing at all. Their Sensei laughed a bit, nodding slightly. His sunken, green eyes were fixed on Deidara, and his bird.

"So that's what the Tsuchikage was talking about," he said quietly. Deidara's smile faded slightly. Their Sensei nodded again, before turning around, and facing Deimon, a strange look on his face. A mix of amusement, and disappointment.

"And you?" he said quietly. "I know that you must have something up your sleeve." He reached out his hand, as if demanding to see exactly what it was. Deimon just looked at him sourly, before sighing, and walking foreword from where he was standing across the read. He pulled out a small piece of paper, barely bigger then Deidara's hand, which seemed to be marked with a variety of black markings. Deimon held out the paper, displaying it to their new Sensei, who nodded slightly, gazing down at the paper intently. Then he motioned for him to put it away, and looked around at the three of them.

"You were told to come to this test completely unprepared. With only your clothes, I believe the message was," he said slowly, and quietly, shifting his gaze in-between the three of them. Deidara just looked at the ground, biting his lip, while none of the others said anything.

"Very well… Ok then, you all pass again," he said simply. Deidara's head snapped up to look at him, not sure if he had heard correctly. The other two were also looking at their sensei, Deimon looking surprised, and Shihiro smiling ever so slightly. Their sensei looked between them, as though surprised by their reactions.

"It would be directly irresponsible to come to a big test like this without anything… It can't hurt, and what if this was a trap of some sort?" He looked between them smiling.

"Name's Satou, by the way," he added offhandedly. He turned, and began to walk out the gates. Deidara quickly got to his feet and followed behind him.

"And now… On to the actual test," Satou said cheerfully, leading the way. Behind him, Shihiro was smiling, looking satisfied for some reason. Deidara was fidgeting, looking nervous, while Deimon looked as though he was eating a lemon.

Satou left the town through the western gate, and lead them out into the desert. Behind them, Deidara could see that his view of the village was beginning to get distorted by the heat already rising off the sand. The dusty apartments swam in his view, each looking as though they were about to fall down. Directly in front of them was an ancient forest, about a mile away. It started suddenly, with a clear line where the desert suddenly ended, giving way to huge, thick trees, with gnarled branches, and gigantic leaves.

The sun seemed to hate the three of them that day, because even though it was still early in the morning, it was already attacking them with all it had, beating its hot rays down on their red necks, and melting Deidara's clothes while he was still wearing them. It covered the whole desert with its heat, not leaving even a single spec of cool shade. The shady forest seemed to Deidara to be hundreds of miles away. He brushed his hair out of his eyes, and continued, noticing that the other two were sweating as well. The only person who did not seem bothered at all by this attack, was Satou. He was not even breaking a sweat, even though his clothes were about twice as thick as any of theirs. For some reason, it annoyed Deidara, as things so easily do when you are hot and burning.

Suddenly, Satou stopped. He spun around on the spot, facing his three students. They all stopped, Deidara looking around. He could see absolutely nothing special about this spot. It was just the middle of the desert. He squinted in the sunlight, looking around.

"This is the spot," Satou announced. He paused for a second, before reaching into his belt, and pulling out three scrolls, and holding them out in front of them. One was red, one green, and the other white, each with a black stripe going through the middle. They all stared at them.

"This test is built up like a mission," Satou started, smiling cheerfully. "It's like a practice mission, so to say, so complete it as you would a regular mission. The objective of this mission is to deliver these scrolls!" He smiled, and handed them a scroll each. Deidara got the red one. Shihiro instantly put her scroll in her belt, securing it in the safety of her pouch. Satou smiled again. Deidara felt a small pang of nervousness. There was something strange about how this man smiled. He did it too much, and it looked strange, what with his tired eyes. He glanced down at his scroll, but was quickly brought back by Satou speaking again.

"To complete the mission, take every single one of these scrolls to the place marked on the map." With that, he suddenly produced a paper map out of his sleeve, and shook it open. There, in the middle of the ancient forest was a place marked with a big red X. With a flick of his wrist, he rolled the paper back up, and gave it to Shihiro, who smiled politely.

"Remember, this mission is completely essential." he said, suddenly completely serious. He looked at each of them in turn, before saying, "Time is of the essence!"

Then he smiled again.

"Well, good luck," he said.

And he was gone. He just disappeared into thing air, without making a single sound. Deidara almost shouted out loud when he was suddenly staring at just air. Shihiro looked surprised as well, while Deimon just stood there, arms crossed, surveying the place where Satou had disappeared thoughtfully. With a single movement, he pocketed his scroll, and turned around, ready to go. Deidara was beginning to feel nervous again.

This is too easy, so far. There's got to be some sort of major danger in those woods, or else it would not be a test at all. Is this some sort of exercise, to see who can finish the obstacle coarse without dieing? His heart rate sped up a little. He was about to say something, but Shihiro beat him to it.

"Wait," she said, motioning at Deimon. He stopped, and turned around to face her. Deidara turned to Shihiro as well. She brushed her red hair back with a flick of her hand, and smiled, as if she knew something they did not. Deimon rolled his eyes at seeing her smile. Deidara just stood between them, not being able to decide what to do.

"If you leave, and we each go our separate ways, we'll fail," Shihiro said. Deimon raised his eyebrows.

"Will we now?"

"Yes we will," Shihiro said, sounding exasperated. "This isn't an individual test. Why do you think that they put us in teams in the first place?"

"Teamwork," Deidara said quietly, looking from Deimon to Shihiro.

"Exactly," Shihiro said, glancing over at Deidara, before continuing.

"Since we are in a team, we have to act like a team. My father tells me this all the time. A ninja is not truly strong on his own," she recited. "It is only as a team, that we will succeed, don't you see. Ill wager that if you run away from us now, Satou will pop right back, and tell us we've failed."

But he won't, Deidara suddenly realized. The mission was top priority, and as long as they completed it, it did not matter what they did. He kept his thoughts to himself, however, and listened to Shihiro. It would of course be a lot easier if the three of them stuck together. He barely had any clay to fight with.

On Deidara's left, Deimon was still looking sceptical.

"I think he made it pretty clear that this is a race, when he said Time is of the essence, he said.

"But even so, it'll be easier with three people then if we are each alone. I mean who knows what kind of things we may encounter in that forest. None of us have ever been there." She turned to Deidara.

"What do you think?"

Deidara was slightly taken aback, and he could almost feel Shihiro looking at him questioningly. He looked down slightly.

"I think you're right," he said quietly, before looking up.

"It'll be faster, and safer with three," he continued, louder this time. "The mission is failed if we can only bring one, or two of the scrolls. We have to stick together!"

Shihiro smiled at him, and nodded. Deidara felt himself go slightly red, although it may just as well have been the sun. Deimon looked at the two of them, before nodding as well, in a way that seemed to say: "I guess so."

"Let's go then," Shihiro said, drawing out the map, and showing it the both of them. Without another word, the three of them turned, and began running towards the deep, cool forest. As they were running, Deidara smiled. He had just thought of something. He took the scroll out of his pouch, and put it in the safest location he could think of. He stuck it into his pocket, and slowly, his clay crawled up the side of the scroll, laminating it in a thin layer of his clay. Now, it was inside his chakra. How much safer could it be? He put it back into his pocket.

He smiled again, before upping the pace a bit, wanting to get to the cool shade of the trees as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the trees did not seem to want to come closer, although that was probably just the sun playing a mean trick on him. Deidara scowled, suddenly wishing they had been made to do this in the middle of the night in stead Or any other time, just as long as he did not have to deal with the evil, evil sun.

They stopped when they finally reached the forest line. Deidara gazed at the trees in wonder. Up close, it was an amazing sight. These huge, towering trees just appearing out of what meters before had been dusty desert. The way the forest seemed to be an impenetrable wall of foliage, trees, and fallen trunks. In the top branches of the tallest tree Deidara could see, a flock of black crows were sitting, enjoying the sun. Suddenly, a gust of cold wind came out of the forest. Deidara shivered. Even with the beautiful specs of sunlight filtering through the tree branches, creating sunlight patches, and little lakes of light, the forest looked ominous to him. He shook himself a bit, and turned his attention back to the mission on hand. Not a second of concentration lapse could be allowed.

"Where do we go," Deidara asked, looking around the parameter of the forest. As far as he could see, there was nothing close to resembling a path leading in to the forest. Beside him, Shihiro pulled the map out of her pouch, and flicked it open. For a second she stood there, tracing something on the map with her finger, and turning around on the spot. And then she pointed directly in to the forest, straight ahead. They all nodded, and sped off, plunging foreword into the foliage.

The minute Deidara entered the forest; he seemed to leave the angry sun behind. The forest was nice and cool, with only occasional patches of sunlight. It seemed to Deidara as though he had suddenly passed through an invisible barrier, because the minute he entered the forest, everything seemed to go quiet. The only thing he heard was the sound of his own breathing, and his feet pushing off the gnarled branches. For a second he was scared that he had been left behind. But when he looked around, he saw that both his team mates were there, almost right beside him. Deidara was amazed that he had not managed to hear them. He scowled slightly, and strained his ears some more. Perfect for an ambush… This is a test, after all. He looked to all sides as he ran, now on the lookout for anything that moved. A crow in a tree surprised him so much, that he was halfway towards throwing a knife at it, before he realized that it was just a harmless bird. He sighed, and tried to calm down, and think clearly, trying not to be so edgy.

Suddenly, Deidara realized that both of his team mates had stopped, and were standing on a huge branch a few meters below him. He quickly did a 180 in mid air, and pushed right of the side of a tree, landing down on the branch where the other two were standing. Shihiro already had the map out.

"How far is it," Deidara inquired, as he got up. Beside him, Deimon was not looking at the map, but surveying the forest suspiciously. His left hand was shifting nervously against his kunai pouch. Deidara watched him, before carefully looking around. He thought he sensed it as well…

"Its about a mile straight ahead," Shihiro announced. She tucked away the map, and looked up at the other two, who were both surveying the forest.

"What i-"

"Something's wrong!" Deimon said suddenly, holding out a hand to silence her. He kept on carefully sweeping the forest around him. Shihiro looked slightly annoyed at the command, but looking slightly rattled. She quickly looked around.

"Have any of you heard a single animal here?" Deidara asked carefully, looking around at the forest, which seemed to be completely empty, apart from them. The silence was so complete, that it was almost spooky. The other two shook there heads.

"Except for a stupid crow," Shihiro added slowly. She did not have to say much more, however, since at that moment, something white fell down at her feet, right in between the three of them. Deidara looked at it incredulously.

"It's bird poop," he said slowly. He looked around at the other three, before they collectively raised their eyes skywards. It was all Deidara could do not to scream. Beside him, Shihiro's look hardened considerable.

A couple of metered above them, nestled in the trees, and small branches, were crows. Thousands of crows, all looking down at them, eyes glowing green. There were big ones, with talons as thick as fingers, ruffling there feathers impatiently. The whole sky above them was blotted out into the mass of writhing blackness. Around them, a few other splats of white started to rain down. The first move had been made. Beside him, Deidara could hear Deimon breathing shakily.

"Please tell me that isn't a kunai that one bird has in its claws," Deidara said shakily. He could feel his hand shaking, and he quickly jammed it into his pocket, collecting all the clay he had into a ball in his hand. Above him, he could feel the mass of crows bearing down on him, like some hellish cloud.

Beside him, Shihiro had whipped out a Kunai. Deimon was standing completely still, tense, holding out the small piece of paper he had given to Satou. For a short second, absolutely nothing happened, and all that could be heard was the rustle of the leaves in the cool breeze. Then, above them, one of the birds gave out a piercing scream.

Deidara reacted instantly, not quite knowing what he was doing. He saw a glimpse of the crows jumping off the branch, diving towards him, before he had run right down the branch, and was hanging upside-down below the branch. Above him, he felt a few of the crows hit the branch above him. On either side of the branch, crows poured down, smelling him out. One crow flew directly for his eyes. Deidara clenched his eyes tightly shut, as he released all of the chakra that was holding him to the branch. He fell straight for the ground, and he was relived to see that the crows could not follow him downwards that fast. As he was falling, he formed a half seal, and whispered: "Release!"

The branch that he had just been attached to exploded, showering him with little splinters, mixed with a few feathers. Deidara smiled slightly, satisfied, as he spun around in the air, looking for where he was going to land. Suddenly, his eyes widened, as he saw a small pack of crows flying right into his falling path. He pulled his feet up, and shielded his face with his arms, as he prepared for the impact with the bloodthirsty scavengers. It never came.

Just below him, Shihiro flashed straight through the pack of crows. Metal flashed for a second, before three or four crows fell dead to the forest floor. Deidara landed on a second branch, and looked up, still on his knees. Shihiro was attached to the side of a tree, right above him, looking around frantically. Deidara quickly looked around, but did not see anything. He stuck his hand into his pocket, checking his reserve of clay. He frowned slightly. Just enough for one more explosion…

"Deidara, look out!" Shihiro suddenly shouted, pointing straight down. Deidara looked down, and saw a crow flying straight up at him, its beak aiming at his middle, around his Kunai pouch. He jumped sideways, just barely avoiding the bird, which went speeding further upwards, breaking through the leaves. He glanced sideways, just in time to catch a glimpse of something black speeding towards him. He just managed to dodge it as well, but not before it took a nibble at his Kunai pouch.

They're going for my scroll, Deidara suddenly realized. He jumped down from the branch he was standing on, down to a thicker branch below him. Shihiro jumped down to it as well, and they both landed back to back, each looking around.

"They're going for the scrolls," Deidara said quietly, just as he slashed away a crow that attacked him from above, sending it flying down through the trees. For a second, Deidara closed his eyes, trying to think. All around him, he could hear the flapping wings. His eyes snapped open.

"Listen Shihiro, we have to gather them all in one place! If we can gather them, I can take them all out at once." He turned his head, and saw Shihiro nod. Her face was sweaty, and stained with droplets of blood. She was grimacing, and Deidara saw that she had a small cut along her side. He nodded back.

She did a front flip down from the branch, and landed perfectly on the ground. The second she landed, she began to run, crows already trailing behind her. Deidara followed, jumping from branch to branch, occasionally slashing down a crow with his kunai. But most of the crows seemed to be following Shihiro. Deidara smiled slightly, as he started shaping his clay in his pocket. Frowning slightly, he also pressed a little extra chakra into it, enough to half the amount of clay he would have to use. He smiled again. Enough for two explosions now!

Suddenly Shihiro stopped, in the middle of a clearing in the forest. Deidara stopped on a branch overlooking it, and hid among the leaves. It would be a real pain if any of crows decided to bother me now…

The crows were swarming around Shihiro now, all drawing in closer, closing in on her from all sides. Deidara bit his lip, as he picked the piece of clay up, readying himself for whatever was coming. He slowed his breathing, and tried to concentrate. If this did not work, it would be a real pain.

Slowly; gently, he released the small clay bird he had in his hands, concentrating with all his might on feeling the chakra as a part of him. He gave it a small push into the air, and watched it glide foreword in the air for a few seconds. Then Deidara grinned, before diving it towards the flock of birds, which were only meters away from Shihiro.

Deidara frowned. The bird did not want to pull up from its dive. A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead, as he struggled to stabilize the bird. At this rate, it will fall short of the pack. The birds were almost touching Shihiro now, and Deidara could see a steely look of concentration on her face; she was waiting until the last possible second.

Deidara gave a small grunt, and below him, the bird flapped both of its oversized wings simultaneously, throwing it back up into the air. Deidara stared at it, exhilarated. He sent it careening towards the birds, laughing as he made it do a barrel roll in mid air. Out of the corner of his eye, Deidara thought he saw Shihiro grin.

And then she was gone!

The only trace that she had ever been there, was a small hole in the ground, exactly where she had been standing a split second earlier. The whole was quickly closed up again, however. Above the ground, a few birds crashed into each other, expecting to catch Shihiro. Deidara grinned.

"Release!"

In the middle of what seconds before had been a swirling cloud of black, there was a huge explosion, enveloping everything in a cloud of fire. Deidara saw it before he heard it, and when he heard it, he felt it. The huge rumbling made his very bones shake. He shielded his face with his arm, and squinted down at the clearing.

Lying all around on the green grass was black feathers, and little red chunks. There was barely a speck of grass left that was not covered in feathers, or pieces of crow, and the trees around the clearing where all spattered. Deidara examined his arm, and recoiled slightly, suddenly feeling slightly sick. There was a piece of crow stuck to his arm. He quickly brushed it off, running his hands over his whole T-shirt, brushing away a few drops of blood.

Suddenly, the branch he was standing on made a loud splintering noise. Deidara jumped to the side, just as Shihiro came up, right through the branch.

What the…? She must have dug right up the tree trunk!

For a second Deidara, just stared at her incredulously, before jumping back down onto the branch where Shihiro was.

"You can do that?" he asked in slight disbelief. Shihiro smiled slightly, wiping dirt off her face.

"I was about to ask you the same question."

"What?"

Shihiro looked at him questioningly. She was busy tying her red hair back up, since the band had come off during the attack. Deidara smile slightly, noting off-handedly that she looked kind of cute, with her shimmering red hair falling playfully down her forehead and neck, and her pale pink T-shirt that fell over her loosely, flapping slightly in the breeze. A black pattern played across the bottom of her shirt. She looked prettier with even a questioning look replacing the usual cold, or annoyed look.

Deidara almost slapped himself.

"Well, I mean having an exploding model bird made of clay, that can actually fly," she said, turning her head slightly to gaze at him. Deidara felt slightly nervous. How exactly do I explain this?

"Well… That's kinda my special technique, I guess," Deidara said slowly. Shihiro raised an eyebrow. Just then, Deimon jumped down onto the branch right between them, making Deidara start, and reach for his kunai. Deimon did not seem to notice at all. Shihiro frowned at him, as she brushed some hair away from her forehead. Deidara looked over at Deimon, and realized that he was injured. A long gash went up his side, ripping through his shirt, making a long strip of blood right down his side. Deimon did not seem to care. Neither did Shihiro.

"Where were you?" she demanded, crossing her arms. Deimon looked back and forth at the two of them, before smiling.

"Fighting them my way," he responded. Out of the corner of his eye, Deidara saw a flash of black flying towards him. He spun around on the spot, kunai out, ready to cut the crows head off. But then, it stopped. The crow landed softly on a branch, and just stood there, looking at him questioningly. Deidara looked up, and saw five more crows, a few with kunai's, and even one with an explosive tag, just hovering there. He turned to Deimon, who was smiling confidently. He motioned the crow towards him with a flick of his finger. The crow on the branch in front of Deidara took flight, and flew straight over to Deimon, where it landed on his shoulder. Deidara stared in amazement as Deimon then commanded each of the other crows to fly around, before all landing on the ground. As she observed the situation, Shihiro's arms were crossed, and her face unreadable. She just observed, with a slight frown on her face. Deidara winced slightly when Deimon ordered the bird with the exploding tag to go and blow itself up. There really was no point in senseless cruelty like that. Deidara put his arm on Deimon shoulder, grimacing slightly.

"Come on, we need to get going," Shihiro said finally. As she turned around, she stumbled slightly, wincing in pain. Deidara caught a look at her foot, and saw that there was a long gash down her ankle, which had already soaked her sandal in blood. He grabbed her shoulder to steady her, but she held up a hand to show that she was fine, before nodding them off. Deidara nodded slightly, and jumped down from the branch into the clearing. The wind was blowing the black feathers away, but the blood remained. Deidara tried to ignore it. Shihiro appeared beside him, already with the map in her hand. She gazed at it for a couple of seconds, before pointing to Deidara's right. He nodded, and all three of them jumped back into the trees, moving as fast as they could, each eager to get out of this hellish forest. Deidara did not really want to know what else in there wanted to kill them. This had just been a couple of birds, after all. He shivered slightly, and put on an extra burst of speed. Suddenly, ahead of him, Shihiro turned to the left. Deidara stopped suddenly, and looked after her.

Strange…? I could have sworn that it was straight ahead.

Deimon suddenly landed on the branch beside him, and without hesitation, jumped after Shihiro. Deidara merely shrugged, and sped off in the same direction, speeding along to catch up. In the back of his mind, however, something was nagging at him. Something was wrong!

In his mind, he conjured up the image of the map that Shihiro had shown him. He frowned. It had been straight ahead, he was sure of it. He looked over to his right, gazing nervously around the suddenly menacing forest. The trees were dark, and looming, looking as if they wanted to eat him. Deidara started running along full speed, desperate to catch up to his team mates. In an attempt to distract himself, he started to think random thoughts, such as: I wonder why they call this the DESERT test? I mean, this is a gigantic forest. Then he remembered that it was his job not to get distracted during a mission. He had to complete it…

What is going on?

--- ---


Still looking for a betareader, BTW. :P

Kthxbye, have a nice day!

-Eureka- (Again)