"Wow look at this place. It's huge."
I grinned as we came to an enormous forest that was gated off.
"Crap looks like we are going to have a lot of walking to do."
Aaron said as we got closer.
"So you like it. Good. This is the location for the second phase of the exam. It's the 44th battle training zone but we call it… The Forest of Death."
Anko said to everyone.
"Oo Forest of Death… I bet it's filled with Squirrelies and cute wittle bunny wabbits. I wuv Bunnies."
I boasted being my normal smart ass self when my spider sense went off. I moved my head to the left dodging the kuni that Anko threw at me.
"Looks like we got a tough guy."
She said as she appeared behind me with a knife to my throat.
"Yup, I'm a real toughie. Now how about you get off my back before my sword gets testy and kills ya? It doesn't like being in cramped places."
I said grabbing the knife by the blade to pull it away.
"Hm, Fine."
She said with a smile and walked back to her place to tell everyone the rules, which basically were get another scroll form another team and go here kinda deal. About fifteen minutes after we signed the release form when Midna came up to me
"Looks like someone has a stalker."
She whispered as she gestured to a girl. She was licking her lips with an extremely long tong and was staring at me.
"Creepy."
I replied to Midna and Aaron.
"Why don't you go over there and talk to her?"
Aaron chuckled teasingly.
"Shut up Aaron."
I said rolling my eyes.
"Why not, I thought you liked girls?"
Aaron said ribbing me. Midna glared at him witch made Aaron stop laughing.
"What do you think you're doing Aaron? You know Stuart belongs to me."
Midna said petting my head I purred like a cat had my suit give me fuzzy ears. Though I was ignoring her the girl did not take her eyes from me. I felt like I was being spied on which I probably was. About an hour went by when it was time to start the next part of the exam. We had gotten an earth scroll and though I knew I shouldn't I wonder what was on the inside.
"So what do you thinks inside of this. Maybe it's another backwards test were we are supposed to open it. What do you think Aaron? Maybe we should open it to see what's inside of it."
I asked taking the scroll from Midna as we got ready to enter. Aaron quickly grabbed it back.
"I think its naked pictures of that old guy they call Hokage. Now don't look at it!"
He demanded as he gave the scroll back to Midna. Midna and I gave each other the wow that's gross look. It was not time to start the exam.
"Remember, our plan is to get through this as fast as possible. The sooner we get to the end of this saga the sooner we can find the leader and get back home."
Aaron said as the gate opened and we sped off to find a heaven scroll as fast as possible. It didn't take us long to find some unsuspecting ninja just hopping along. We didn't recognize them so we figured they were the best people to attack. They were leaf ninja and I didn't want to kill them so I just shot them with a bolt of lightning. It was only enough to knock out a horse. They didn't see it coming so I scored a direct hit.
"Wow that was too easy."
I said as I reached into the pouch of a white haired boy with glasses.
"What the fuck is up with the ninjas in this story, wearing bright orange jump suits and glasses."
I said as I looked at eyes of the kid who suddenly came to life. He grabbed my arm and dislocated it nearly tearing it off.
"Agh. Son of a bitch!"
I shouted before he kicked me into a tree. I looked at Aaron and Midna who were now fighting him. I screamed as I put my arm back in its socket and jumped down to join them. I landed right in front of Midna.
"Reflega!"
I shouted as a shell came up around Midna and me, blocking a flurry of blades. The Boy was obviously going for Midna thinking she was the weakest. He was giggling at me as I blocked all the throwing stars. I was surprised to see how fast this kid was. Suddenly a few kuni came from behind us. Midna jumped out of the way but still got hit by two of them. I looked at Midna who was bleeding glowing blood from gashes in her arm.
"Oh you are so fucking dead ass hole!
I shouted as I lunged for the ninja pinning him to a tree with Alastor. All he did was stare at me with a big grin as he went limp. I pulled out Alastor and quickly decapitated the bastard who was still staring at me threw his cold dead eyes. It was just like Kevin from Sin City.
"Damn it Stuart, I thought you said they would be out for an hour."
Aaron panted as he reached into the pocket of the boy pulling out a heaven scroll. I wiped the blood off not wanting to say anything about it.
'What happened he should have been out cold?'
I thought to myself as I wiped of Alastor.
"Whatever Aaron at least we got the scroll. It's not his fault that they were stronger that he expected."
Midna said looking at the severed head which was still smiling.
"Yeah I guess your right… I wonder who this guy was. Let's see… Kabuto Yakushi."
Aaron read aloud as he looked at the ninjas ID.
"Whatever. Let's just get out of here. I don't feel like camping out right now."
I said as I buried the body and stuck in a little wooden cross Aaron made that said his name. I was still pissed off so I added that ass hole with glasses in little print. We kept on going now that we had finished. When we heard a cry for help and me being a curious little guy decided we needed to go check it out. We soon came to a clearing where the sand ninja along with three other people were. We arrived to see a writhing mass of sand engulfing one of the ninjas who looked terrified. The sand then crushed the guy. The other to pleaded for their life and there scroll without a fight. He took it and then proceeded to killed them as well.
"Wow, who's that?"
Aaron asked as we left them behind. Not wanting to fight anyone we didn't need to.
"What was his name again…? Gaara of the Funk I think."
I asked not remembering what he said to Sasuke.
"The desert Stuart, his name was Gaara of the Desert. Gaara of the funk sounds like a bad parody name."
Midna said as we came to a large tower in the center of the arena. We walked in to find it was empty. After a few minutes of looking around we realized we needed to open the scrolls here.
"No Aaron, we don't wanna see old people porn…"
I yelled as he opened them up and set them on the ground. They exploded into a bunch of smoke. As it settled the image of a man became easier and easier to see. He had his face hidden behind a book.
"Kakashi, how's it going?"
I said recognizing the spiky white hair.
"What, done already? Hum...I must say I'm rather impressed. So you pass. Looks like you get to wait for four more days. Have fun now if you don't mind it's the good part."
Kakashi muttered before poofing off again.
"Well that's was odd."
Midna said as we were joined by three more people along with a little dog.
"Puppy!"
Midna and I squeed as we ran up to it and started to pet it. We talked with Kiba's group for a little while before the next set of people came. It was the Gaara kids group. No one said a word as they walked by. It was an odd feeling to have this kind of tension because of story character. It was like he was hiding something.
'What up with that guy? There's something not quite right with him. Even his team mates seem on edge around him.'
I thought as I watched Gaara's group leave. No one felt like talking much after he had come. But later we forgot he was even here. The days went by slowly but soon the final day came. There were twenty one people that made it including us. All the newbie ninja had made it along with Lee's group. There was Gaara's group along with one of the sound ninjas group. It was a long and boring speech but finally the third proctor came.
"I'm Hayate Gekko (Cough, cough) I have something to say before we move onto the third stage. We have to have preliminary round. (Cough, cough)"
Gekko muttered with lots of coughing. He asked if any of us would like to give up. No one did so we started.
"All right then, we will begin the preliminary round. This round will consist of one on one, individual combat at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are twenty one of you left so that means we will need ten matched and one of you will be lucky enough to get an automatic entry. The surviving candidates will move on to the third stage of the exam. For the rules there are none. You will fight till one dies or conceits defeat or is rendered incapable of wining the contest. Naturally those who are losing are urged to concede defeat promptly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore I as Procter I am granted a certain amount of leeway in judging a match. (Cough) I might occasionally intervene if a match seems hopeless, to save as many lives as possible. Now it's time to revile what fait has been chosen for you."
Gekko said then a computer screen appeared on the wall.
'Wait they have computers, but they still use birds instead of phones… what the fuck?'
I thought as Hayate went on.
"If there's nothing more to say let's begin. In a moment the names of the first two opponents will appear."
And moments after he said that Aaron and the sound ninja with the broken arms name were called up. Aaron watched as Midna and I walked up the platform. Aaron began to take out Demix's sitar. It didn't really make sense how he had it seeing is it was part of Demix in the first place so I made a mental note to ask Aaron how he got possession of it.
"Hey Mid, check this out. That sitar can be pretty wicked… let's see if Aaron has what it takes."
"What kind of music do you like?"
Aaron asked as the room stared. But the ninja didn't answer he just shot a sound wave at Aaron. Aaron ran a pick down the strings making an even stronger blast of water completely stopping the attackers and said.
"Music hater hum. Maybe I can show you something you like. How about some rock. Let's see what might you like… oh I know how about a little… TROGDOR!"
Aaron said before rocking out to the Trogdor song. Unlike me he didn't trash talk nonstop because he was sing along. Aaron had complete control over water when he was playing that sitar. It danced and swirled around him like it was a rock concert. Midna and I couldn't help but laugh. Aaron was kicking ass with the Trogdor song. The blast of water hitting the ninja like rockets along with visible sound waves that broke the stone floor as they hit them made it rather amusing. Every time they hit they must have felt like being hit by a mallet. It was over fast and just around the end of the song.
"Wow Aaron very impressive."
I applauded to Aaron, who had a stupid grin on his face,
"Yes, such a beautiful song."
Midna added on.
"Too bad I couldn't just have sat up here and played though"
Aaron complained. The next two matches were pretty boring ones. Next up was Sakura against Ino then the Chung lee Tenten girl verses the fan girl Temari. Next up was Midna verses Shikimaru.
"Great I have to fight the mystery girl. What a drag."
Shikimaru moaned as they walked down to fight each other.
"I was just bout to say the same thing."
Midna said as she stepped down to the arena.
'Sucks for him, he has no idea how boned he is.'
I thought to myself as they got ready to fight. Soon as it started she began her attack. Once again her fighting style was a lot like a dance with how elegant it was. His way of fighting was almost the complete opposite of hers. He did easy and uncomplicated moves as possible. Midna kept on her tows not letting him get an attack in, Midna looked like she was enjoying herself when she was attacked by his shadow. She stood there frozen in the same position and couldn't move it seemed.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu..."
He said with a smirk
"Oh noes whatever shall I do now? Eee hee!"
Midna gasped mockingly as she slipped into his shadow. Before he could realize what she had done she came up from under him and did a leg uppercut knocking him unconscious.
"Nice try kid. You just got unlucky that I was the one you fought."
Midna said as she walked back up to me. After every one but three people had gone including Gaara, Rock Lee and myself the time came. Finally my time came when mine and Gaara's name appeared on the screen. Everyone but Midna, Aaron and looked worried. Midna and Aaron watched calmly as I turned to face Gaara. He was staring coldly back at me. It was like I was looking into the eyes of a demon. I looked deeper into his eyes thinking of the old saying that you can tell a lot about someone just by looking into their eyes. After looking for a few seconded I thought I saw deep within his eyes a glimmer of sorrow.
'What the fuck is wrong with this guy? It's gonna drive me bat shit crazy if I don't find out.'
I thought as the match began. Gaara didn't move. The only thing he did was uncorking his gourd and let the sand poor out. I threw Alastor into the ceiling not wanting to kill the kid if didn't have to. I was becoming overly curious about the kid and decided it was time to find out more.
"So what your story?"
I said as neither of us moved. I asked again but he didn't move. Suddenly my spider sense went off. I jumped as the sand closed around me. I barely escaped it and landed on the ceiling. Gaara was getting an evil grin.
"I need more blood! I need to kill! I need to feel alive!"
He screamed like a mad man. I could feel his blood lust.
"Looks like someone needs to get an ass whoopen'."
I said before bounding down at him. I was quickly blocked by the sand but easily got around it. I gave him a left hook to the chin knocking him into a wall.
"What no one has ever hit me... What's this? It's warm."
He said as he felt his bloody lip. He looked shocked as he screamed
"It's blood! It's my blood!"
He looked as if he was going into shock as he started to breathe heavier and heavier.
"Yeah, you're in a fight your probably gonna start to bleed, what's your problem?"
I said as he started to coat himself in his sand.
"You've done it now, you gotten him worked up. Now we are all gonna die."
Kankuro yelled seeming worried,
"What are you talking about?"
I asked Kankuro but was answered by Gaara himself.
"You said you wanted to know my story I'm not like other people."
Gaara then proceeded to tell me about his past and how when he was a just a baby his father put a demon in him. He even killed his own mother.
"The demon inside me thirsts for blood and you've gone and awakened him…. You don't know what it's like to have a demon inside of you, what it's like to be ostracized as a child. There's no way you even image what that's like. Not being accepted, having no one and no reason to live. Now the only way to feel alive is to kill. As long as I am alive I will keep killing."
Gaara growled as he head his head like it was about to explode. All of the sudden everything went black then I reappeared without my body. I was in a city with lots of sand everywhere. I had no idea what was going on when I noticed a few kids playing kick ball. I watched as the ball was kicked onto of a 30 foot wall.
'Well that sucks'
I thought to myself right before the ball flouted down into a child's hand. I looked at the kid and saw a young Gaara.
'What the fuck? Is this a… flash back?'
I thought to myself because with no mouth I couldn't talk. I watched as little Gaara tried to give the ball back to the other kids. He was just being nice but the kids yelled at him and acted like he was an evil monster. From what I saw Gaara used to be nice. To me it seemed like the other kids were the evil ones. Gaara freaked out and started to send sand at the kids. He was stopped by a man. Gaara called out a name and everything went black again. I reappeared in a room where Gaara was standing with a knife. I watched as Gaara raised it attempting to stab himself in the hand. It was blocked by his sand. The man walked in and they started to talk. As they did I felt worse and worse for Gaara. He talked about how he had never been hurt and didn't know what it was like. He held his chest and asked if what he was feeling there was pain. The man comforted him by telling him his sand was like his mom who gave her life for him. The man was his uncle, his mom's brother.
'Man I thought I was a lonely kid.'
I thought to myself as it went to another scene. It was late at night and Gaara was sitting on top of a building. He was crying by himself. I wanted to talk to him but couldn't do anything but watch. Out of nowhere Gaara's sand stopped a flurry of kuni. Gaara sand attacked the man crushing him. Gaara came up to the man crying and pulled off the mask to revile that it was the man. It was so fucked up. The man who had just told Gaara he would always be there for him and love him was telling Gaara how he hated him. A little kid being told he was hated by everyone.
'You ass hole!'
I screamed in my head, but the flash back was over and there older Gaara was. He was started to form a giant arm of sand. It looked like he was losing control of himself. As the sand covered Gaara his team mates began to panic. Gaara was now looking more and more like a monster but I wasn't too scared of a little demon inside someone. After all I fought off hundreds of demon before. I was more irritated at how bad the kid was messed up.
'The writers are pretty fucked up having that shit happen to a little kid. He thinks that he has to kill to feel alive. He needs help… and I'm the one who has to give it to him. It's time for some tough love.'
I thought to myself. I felt so bad for him and couldn't just let him hate the world the way he does.
"Boohoo no one likes me because I have a demon inside me. You're pathetic!"
I said as I dogged his oncoming attacks. The room was being destroyed. And it looked like the older ninja where about to step in.
"Kakashi back off I got this covered!"
I growled right before he stepped in. Gaara was now a giant sand monster, kind of like a raccoon.
"You may have a demon inside of you but I can do you one better… I am a demon! …Well a half of a demon but still!"
I roared as I went into devil trigger mode. The entire room looked at me intently not sure what I was going to do. For a moment Gaara's eyes looked almost human beneath all that sand. There would be only one way to get through to him. I rushed him and kept at pounding away at the sand.
"You're an idiot it you need to kill to feel alive! You say you never had any friends, well maybe if you don't kill every one you meet you might, retard!"
Gaara was helpless to stop me from punching and kicking him into submission.
"How can you be doing this? No one's stronger than me. No get away, get away from me!"
Gaara said panicking as he began to realize he was not going to win. I could see the demon behind his eyes as I said,
"If you need a friend, hell I'll be your friend, just stop killin' people you don't need to!"
I got down to the real Gaara inside of the sand shell and gave him one last punch to the face knocking him out of his sand shell. The entire room fell silent for what seemed like hours. Gaara who lay on the ground and barley able to move looked up at me and with the last bit of time he had before going unconscious and said.
"Why are you doing this? Why don't you finish me?"
"Being alone is a terrible feeling I know that, but you can never give up no matter what. You just got to try."
I replied just in time before he passed out. My match was over. I caught Alastor as it fell from the ceiling. Hayate called my name as victor.
'He better fucking listen to me or else I am gonna kick his ass again.'
I thought to myself as we were told we had now received a break.