QUICK CREDITS: Naruto and the original characters of Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Ringo Hyuga belongs to Sunsetfire of Shinobi Way. Aibara Okinawa belongs to midnight6606. Kagamori belongs to Nina of Warrior Cats 3. Hana, Niigata, Hikaru, and Takako belong to me. MOST of the dialogue by Ibiki Morino and Anko Mitarashi are from the manga translations of Onemanga dot com.
Don't Wither, Don't Wilt ... chapter 7 - The Worst Start
A/N: The Second Test begins! This probably won't end up being the best day of their life.
Note: During this time, Gaara would have been revived by the old lady, and Naruto and Sakura would have been introduced to Sai and Yamato.
----on with the story. xxxxx!
Aibara had always been the easiest to startle. She whipped her brilliant violet gaze to the front of the room just as the ceiling tiles gave way. Without thinking, she flinched and moved past Ringo and Hana. Her Hyuga partner cursed under his breath and seemed to jump a little. Hana seemed like she had been expecting this, and glanced her wonderful silver gaze over to front of the room. Aibara followed the gaze of her raven-haired friend, and saw a woman standing amidst the rubble.
Her hair was styled to suite her wild attitude. It was very dark, but held an almost violet color when the sun touched it. Her gray eyes seemed to be on fire as she stared at the genin, "Quit your celebrating!" The lady barked, "I'm Anko Mitarashi, and I'll be your examiner for the second round! Follow me!"
Aibara blinked in confusion, as did the rest of the genins. Anko's gaze narrowed and a frown pushed her lips down. She sighed, "Bad timing?" Aibara guessed that this had happened before. Ibiki nodded from his corner.
"Just barely," He said in a low voice, "And, I'm not fixing that," Ibiki pointed to the ceiling. Anko sighed and let her eyes dance around the room.
"Eighteen teams?" The examiner glanced back at Ibiki, "Fifty-four kids got past? That's a bit to much, Ibiki. You're getting soft," Anko smirked wryly before returning her frightening gaze back to the genin. Ibiki chuckled a bit.
"We seem to have a good crop this year," Ibiki stated.
Anko merely shrugged, "Well I'll take care of that then," She laughed. The lady moved her hands to her hips and leaned back a bit, "I bet I can cut about three-fourths of these guys out, no problem," The examiner grinned. Aibara felt fear clutch her heart. A cool hand grabbed hers, and Aibara glanced over at Hana.
She grinned, "Now or never, Aibara-chan," Hana murmured in a very comforting tone, "We'll be one of the teams that get through, don't worry," Aibara stared at Hana for a moment, and nodded. She shouldn't get so worked up over this yet, they hadn't even started.
"Now go and grab your supplies, and meet me back here in an hour. Dismissed!" Anko yelled and disappeared.
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The sun was very bright that afternoon. Hana Uchiha found herself holding her hand at her forehead, like a visor. All the genin had been lead out of the academy, where the testing had been held, and were now being lead towards a training ground that she had never heard about. They walked in silence for nearly a half hour before murmurs sounded from up ahead.
"This is it," Hana breathed. And as she did so, she and the rest of the genin were introduced to their worst nightmares. In the clearing that lie beyond the village was a secluded forest where many genin perished. Her silver eyes widened a fraction as she saw a dreadfully looking caged forest.
No genin spoke, and no sound came from the forest. The trees appeared to be ancient, for they stood tall and wide. Vines and moss coated each tree, and practically draped over the trees to darken the forest. Hana felt Aibara shudder next to her, and glanced to see Ringo draping an arm over her shoulder, "Nothing to worry about," He spoke rather slowly, as if he were trying to convince himself. Hana laughed a little, and dodged a mock punch by Ringo.
"Welcome, young Genin, to the Forest of Death," Anko moved to the front of the crowd and turned on a heel to face them. A rush of murmurs ran through the crowd.
"Forest of Death my ass," The blond haired boy walked up beside his childhood friend, and glanced down at the Uchiha, "This doesn't scare me," He laughed. Hana smiled and patted her friend's back and giggled a bit before responding.
"Sure," She murmured sarcastically, "You just keep thinking that Hikaru-kun," Hana smiled up at Hikaru, but he merely returned a frown.
"Aren't you worried at all about the test?" He crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke.
"Well, first of all, we don't even know what the test is," Hana spoke logically, "Second of all, if Sakura-san passed this round, what should we have to worry about?" She laughed a little. All she was trying to do was cheer up her friend. Hikaru still frowned at her, and glanced away.
"Even the easiest of missions can result in death," He muttered briskly before walking away, back to his team. Hana stared after her friend quizzically, and frowned. She had pushed a button, obviously, but she couldn't place what she had said that would have hurt his feelings. As she watched Hikaru's team, she noticed Kagamori glance at her with slightly dulled green eyes.
Hana glanced at the Hyuga who stepped up behind her. Ringo could obviously see the hurt expression on her face, and he shrugged, "If there's anything I've learned about Hikaru, it's that, he's weird," Hana's hurt expression turned into a glare and she pushed him playfully. Aibara jumped up behind him, giggling all the way.
"Maybe it's puberty!" She squeaked. Ringo rolled his eyes and Hana burst out laughing. Hana's soft laughter was cut off by the loud barking voice of Anko.
"Now, before we start the next test, there's something I have to pass out," Her hand reached into the side of her jacket, and she pulled out a stack of papers. The genin looked mildly confused by these, "You must sign these agreement forms. There will be deaths during this test, and if you don't sign these papers, you'd all be my responsibility," At this, she laughed with a wide smile on her face. Hana gulped.
"Now I'll explain the test, and then you can sign the papers. After that, the teams can check in at that booth behind me," Anko spoke and pointed to a wooden booth with two bored-looking chuunin occupying it, "Now during this test, you will attempt the ultimate survival," She then pulled out a scroll and let it drop. A map appeared on the scroll, and she went on.
"This is the map of Practice Area number 44. Around this practice area, are 44 locked gates. Within this area are forests, a river, and a tower in the center. The distance between the gates to the tower is ten kilometers," Anko paused, and put the scroll back in her jacket, she pulled out two more scrolls and began speaking again, "During the survival test in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsu, you will compete in a no rules scroll battle."
She held up the two scrolls in front of her. Hana caught a glimpse of them, and found one had the characters for Heaven, and one had the characters for Earth, "You will fight over these two scrolls, "Earth" and "Heaven". Now there's fifty-four of you here..." Anko did the quick math in her head before going on, "Half of the teams, nine teams, will get the Earth scroll. The other half, will get the Heaven scroll. To pass this test, your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls."
Ringo sighed loudly, "Nine teams will definitely fail, that's not a good number," He whispered, mostly to himself, it appeared.
"There's a time limit. This second test will last 120 hours, exactly five days."
At this, there were many voices of disapproval and shock, "What will we do for food?" One man shouted in the front.
Anko shrugged, "You're on your own. The forest is full of food, just watch out for man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants... So, as you can see, the chance that nine teams will pass is very unlikely. As the days go on, the distance to the goal will become father, the time to rest will be shorter. The forest will be crawling with enemies, you won't sleep much."
The genin were silent now, but you could easily tell how tense everyone had become. Even the feeling was dark now, "So not only will some fail by loosing their scroll, but some will die from the harshness of the test," Anko put away the two scrolls and smiled, "Now let's talk about what will disqualify you."
"First, those that don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit. Second, those that lose a teammate, or have a teammate killed." Anko held up her fingers to one and two, "As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle. Once you're in there, you're in there for five days." The teams nodded understandingly, but the examiner had one more rule for them.
"Oh, you must also not look in your scrolls until you reach the tower."
There was silence until a voice spoke out, "What happens if you do?" Hana glanced to see Kagamori speaking now. His expression was dead serious, and very intimidating.
Anko shot him a smirk, "That's a surprise for anyone who does." She shoved her hands in her pocket and glanced around the genin, "A Chuunin will be asked to handle classified information, this is to test your trust-worthiness. Any questions?"
The genin were silent, "Good. So that's it for explanations. Exchange the three forms for your scroll, and then choose a gate and get ready for the start."
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Everyone had gone off on their own now, to read the papers over. Hana slid down behind a rock. She read over the paper maybe three times, but she couldn't understand what she was reading. Her mind was on Hikaru. It was bugging her greatly, she wished she knew what he had been so bugged out about. She sighed loudly and whacked her head against the boulder behind her.
A rustle in the bushes finally caught her attention. She jumped a bit, but found it was only Kagamori. The pale-skinned boy could be mistaken for the fair skin of an Uchiha, but his eyes were an amazing emerald green which no Uchiha family had ever obtained, "Oh, Kagamori-kun, it's just you," Hana laughed a little. Kagamori stepped out of the brush and kneeled down in front of Hana. For a moment, he just stared at her, which made Hana feel very uncomfortable.
"You seem upset," He spoke softly. Hana tried to think of a decent comment to that, but merely nodded slowly, "Hikaru's sorry for snapping earlier like that," Kagamori smiled slightly.
"What did he mean earlier?" Hana asked curiously. Kagamori's emerald eyes dulled, and he shook his head.
"Hana-chan, you see about a week after we all became genin, Hikaru's older brother was murdered on a simple C-Rank mission," Kagamori murmured grimly. Hana's eyes widened, and she felt like she had been kicked in the gut. Her poor Hikaru, to have been going through this, "Hikaru adored his brother, he was a great man. His brother died by a Mist rogue, while he was protecting his escort. After that, Hikaru kept to himself. Of course, he got over it eventually, I think because of his baby sister... Hana, are you okay?"
Hana shook her head, "I didn't know, and I treated him like crap when he finally spoke to me again," She planted her forehead into her palm, and found tears working their way to her eyes. The Uchiha felt sick to her stomach now, "I'm terrible," She sighed.
Kagamori grunted in surprise a bit and waved his hands in objection, "Oh, Hana, don't feel bad!" He said hurriedly, "I didn't want to make you feel worse, I just wanted to let you know. It's made him stronger Hana-chan, it's taught him a lot, he's fine and happy now, don't worry. And please, don't cry," Kagamori rambled on with the comforting, and eventually managed to make Hana burst into a gigglefit.
"Okay, Kagamori-kun, okay," Hana laughed and patted his shoulder, "Sorry to freak out on you like that, I'm fine," Kagamori heaved a sigh and smiled.
"Good, but I gotta go. You should hurry up and sign those papers," Kagamori stood and smiled towards the raven-haired girl, "See you soon, Hana-chan," He laughed and walked off.
Hana smiled, and went back to reading the form for about the fifth time.
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Ringo glanced his pale eyes over just as they announced that they were accepting forms. The Hyuga had already signed his, and so had Aibara, they were just waiting for Hana. He noted the closed curtains, and tilted his head, "They don't let you see which scroll they have, and who has the scroll, smart. This will be tough, and dangerous." He glanced over at Aibara, who was lounging peacefully next to him, "We just might die in this one. Do you really want to do this?"
Aibara glanced her beautiful violet eyes over and flashed a perfect smile, "Course I do! Nothing's gunna kill me, I promise you," The white-haired girl laughed and glanced around, "But at this rate, we won't have to worry. Hana sure is taking her time."
Ringo snorted, "My guess is that Hikaru made her upset on purpose, just to sabotage her," He rolled his pale eyes. Aibara appeared shocked.
"He wouldn't though!" She squeaked, "Hikaru-kun loves Hana-chan!" Aibara said, a bit to loudly. Ringo grunted in surprise and glanced at Aibara.
"No he doesn't!"
"Yes he does. You can see the way he looks at Hana-chan!"
"What way?"
"The loving way, duh!"
Ringo laughed, "Well Hana doesn't love him," He snorted. Aibara whacked him across the head, "Ow-!"
"You don't know that!"
"Neither do you-" Ringo growled and glanced over at the booth, "Their goes the good-looking team now," Ringo laughed a little. Aibara stared at him quizzically, and then at Hikaru and his team, and then back at Ringo.
"Huh?"
"Well, just look at Takako!" Ringo pointed as the girl walked in, "Her boobs are giant!" He threw out his arms to this fact and laughed at the expression on Aibara's face, "They have to be like double D's or something!"
"Ringo that's gross!" Aibara whacked him again.
Ringo laughed, "Oh come on, Aibara, you know you're jealous," Aibara blushed at this, "Any girl would want her chest!"
"Not true," Aibara said simply. Ringo raised a brow, "Big boobs are a hassle."
"Really," Ringo said, "So you just like girls with big boobs then?"
"WHAT!?" Aibara squealed and whacked him, "Ringo you're such a pervert!"
Ringo barked in laughter, "I know, I know- Hey, here comes Hana," The Hyuga stood up and dragged Aibara over to Hana, "Let's get going."
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"Gate 28," Aibara murmured, and glanced over to Ringo and Hana, "Why did we choose this gate again?"
"Because, I said so," Ringo crossed his arm over his chest, and looked at the "Earth" scroll they had received, "Hana, you know if you had sharingon, you'd be holding this scroll," He murmured as he stared at the characters.
Hana shrugged, "I don't think I'm ever going to get sharingon, honestly," She sighed, "I was a really weak child, and sharingon would take a lot out of me," The girl fell quiet, and then jumped for her backpack.
"Speaking of weak," She rummaged through her backpack quickly, and pulled out three bottles filled with round black pills, "Food pills, enough for each of us," Hana grinned.
Ringo and Aibara took their bottle of pills, and stared at them, "More then enough," Ringo murmured, "Did you bring anything else?"
Hana dove back into her backpack, and brought out a little book," Sakura gave me a book on poisonous plants, and plants you can eat," Hana grinned.
"Sakura-san's a life-saver." Aibara purred and let out a mighty sigh of relief.
The instructor they had followed unlocked the gate behind them, and stared at his watch. The second round was about to begin, and team 5 was definitely ready.
"Hey, Ringo," Hana glanced at the Hyuga as they stepped up to the gate, "Any plans?" Ringo glanced back at Hana and grinned.
"Only one, Uchiha."
The instructor began stepping aside for the team to go through.
"Not one of us will die in this round, sound like a plan?"
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Within the first few minutes, Team 5 heard many screams and traps being set. It wasn't long until the team was far to paranoid. They slinked through the shadows for half a day until they found what seemed to be a wonderful spot. A giant boulder lay like a small mountain in the crook of a hill. It had a large crack down the side, and it was small enough to get in. On the inside it was rather hollow, as if someone was able to dig it out.
"Listen guys," Hana whispered once they had gotten inside. Aibara sat down and sighed. Ringo stood at the crack, his Byakugan was set, and he was ready for any opponent, "We need a codeword, or something, in case people try to pose as us."
Ringo crossed his arms over his chest, "How about, 'I hate life'?" Hana narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment.
"The codeword will be like a test. All you have to do is put the meaning of our names into a little sentence, it's simple," Hana murmured quietly. Aibara frowned.
"Wouldn't that be to simple?"
Ringo laughed a little, "Not at all, it's actually very complicated," He smiled and glanced at Hana, "So do we want to make this base then? The tower isn't to far off."
Hana nodded, "But there's gotta be some rules," She murmured, "First, one person has to be on watch at the front at all times, even if you're by yourself. If we were caught in here, it wouldn't be hard to get killed. And Ringo, you need to take night shift, okay?"
"Why?"
"Because you have byakugan. This place is fine for staying in, but it could be so easily turned against us. We need to be careful."
"Right," Ringo and Aibara said in unison.
"Aibara, you're on watch now. Ringo, you can rest, since it's getting late. I'll find some berries or something for us to eat and be back in two hours. If I'm not back by then, come look for me." Hana said, and glitched off into the tree tops.
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Ringo had fallen into a decent sleep soon after Hana had left. None of them had gotten much sleep the night before, so it was relief to be resting now. But just as he had fallen asleep, it seemed, Aibara was waking him up. He blinked his pale eyes open, and glanced at the white-haired girl, and then around for Hana, "Is it time to eat?" He said in a yawning voice.
Aibara shook her head. Ringo focused on her worried violet eyes, "It's getting dark Ringo. Hana stopped by an hour ago, but she isn't back yet, and she said she'd be," Aibara whimpered. Ringo jumped up and ran outside.
"C'mon Aibara, let's go find her," He barked. The two took off in a flash, and disappeared off into the dusk.
On the cool ground within the hollowed out stone, a lonely "Earth" scroll lie helpless and unprotected.
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QUICK BIO: Kagamori
Birthday: January 25
Element: Lightning
Family: Unknown
Appearance: Shaggy pitch black hair, pale skin, and amazing emerald green eyes. He has a nice build, and is far from scrawny.
Clothing: A button-up black/gray top, and very uncomfortable looking pants that are full of chains ( which hold weapons ), belts ( which hold scrolls ), and just... uncomfortable-looking-ness. VERY SEXY THOUGH.
Guess What?: On the first plot of the forums, Kagamori and Hana were supposed to be very close. They were on a team together, along with Akira ( mentioned in chapter 1 ). When Hana was abducted by the Akatsuki ( you see, on the forums, Hana had to five-tailed beast thinger ), which Ringo was apart of the Akatsuki at this time, Kagamori went after her. Kagamori got very jealous of Ringo when Hana was sitting nice and comfortably in Ringo's room. Hana then saved him from a flying boulder rather newbishly, and probably should have been killed by the impact, but of course, didn't. Their relationships was rather iffy through the rest of that plot, and he actually went on to be a crazy evil dude who ran the Akatsuki. When we started the plot over for a second time, he never showed up again. Nina did a wonderful job at creating a crazy evil guy though.