Chapter 6: The Second Test
"It is a memory test, a strength test, an intelligence test, a speed test, and a deftness test all in one," Tsunade finished looking rather pleased at the wide eyes and open mouths all around her.
"Wow!" said Sakura with wide eyes, "This isn't going to be easy."
"You can say that again," said Lee, also with wide eyes.
"Hey Sakura?" asked Naruto, "What does deftness mean?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, "It means to be precise and accurate in something. Having deft hands means that your hands can be accurate and precise while doing something that requires a lot of concentration, like putting together a ship in a bottle."
"Now you had better listen up and remember this well, because I'm not going to say it again!"
"So is this the memory part of it then?" asked Naruto loudly.
"Shh!" said both Sakura and Lee at the same time.
"No!" shouted back Tsunade. "Now, first your team will choose a color out of this," she said as she pulled a small jar. "You may have been wondering why the ground was painted, well, now you know! The color you draw will be the area of the field you go to. Once you step into this area no one will be able to touch you. It will be your home, so to speak."
"Once everyone has a color they will move to their tables," she indicated the tables on the poles. "You may notice that these tables only have one leg, and you may not have noticed that the tables aren't connected to the leg, but are balanced on top of it. This has a reason, but you'll find that out later."
Naruto looked at one of the tables closely, it was true! The table was just barely on the leg!
"Once all twenty remaining teams are at their tables the test will begin. Each team will be given a test," she held up a piece of paper. "The five questions will be easy, but that's not all there is to it. You will then be required to make your way into the black circle and get these wooden squares," she picked up one square from the pile next to her. Naruto saw that it had something written on it but couldn't see what it was.
"Each square has a letter on it, this one has the letter 'B'. You will have to move these letters from here to your color and use them to spell out the answer to the questions. You will have to remember the answers because you may not take the questions with you. You have to spell the answers out on the table, and you may only carry them one at a time. If anyone has more than one in his/her hand's then he/she and his/her teammates will fail automatically." Naruto swallowed, his also heard Lee and Sakura swallow beside him.
"Also if you knock over your table you have to start all over. And no one may hold onto or touch the table in any way of keeping it level! All your squares will be brought back into the center by me or another instructor, and you must properly balance your table on its leg before you may start again. The first eight teams to finish will move on to the final test."
"Only eight teams will pass!?" exclaimed a ninja from another team.
"Yes," said Tsunade, "Now, there is one other thing. This black circle I am in is a neutral area. Anyone can be in it and anything can happen in it. There are only a limited number of squares, so perhaps a smart thing to do would be to make sure your opponents can't get any squares you might need. Now, I have twenty colors here in this jar: red, blue, green, yellow, pink, brown, white, orange, dark blue, dark green, burnt orange, purple, sky blue, apricot, tan, silver, gold, dark tan, dark red, light purple, and gray."
All the teams came forward and one after the other picked colors. Gaara, Ino, and Chouji were red. Shino, Hinata, and Kiba were orange. Jamus' team picked gold, and the team with the man that had shouted out during Tsunade's speech, grabbed light purple. Another team drew yellow, and another drew dark green. Finally, Naruto reached into the jar. As he did so he could see Lee with his hands together in prayer out of the corner of his eye. Lee seemed to be saying something quietly, but Naruto couldn't tell what. Whatever it was Sakura didn't seem happy about because she smacked her forehead with her open hand in a show of annoyance. Naruto pulled out the small piece of paper. It was bright green.
Lee jumped up shouting, "Hooray! Green, the color of youth! Fortune smiles down on us today my friends!" flames appeared in his eyes, "Thanks to this we will pass this test with no-" He stopped suddenly as Sakura hit him on the head.
"Geez Lee it's just a color!"
"A youthful color," stated Lee which earned him another hit on the head.
They walked to the strip of land painted green and waited for the others to do the same. Everyone was soon by their tables. Kakashi walked up to Sakura and gave her a piece of paper.
"The test has begun," he said, then walked off.
Naruto looked at the first question, it read Genin, Chuunin, Head Ninja, .
"That's not a question," said Naruto.
"No it's a fill in the blank!" cried out Sakura. "The answer is Jounin!"
"I've got it!" said Lee, as he bolted toward the center. Lee made it to the center before anyone else thanks to his speed. He was easily the fastest ninja here. He located a 'U', took it and sped back to Sakura, Naruto was already moving to get a letter himself. He gave it to Sakura and sped back to the center where most ninja were fighting over the letters.
Sakura put the letter on the table, a little too hard because the table fell off the leg. Kakashi came over, took the letter and threw it back to the center.
"Calm down, Sakura," he said calmly. "Slow and steady wins the race."
Sakura nodded, she had already cost them their advantage, because she had underestimated the stability of the table. She calmed down and set the table back up. It stayed! They were back in the race! And just in time too. Both Naruto and Lee came back. But they both had the same letter, a 'J'.
"We don't need two J's!" Sakura raged at them. "You need to talk to each other! Um, also, Lee, I accidently knocked the table over. We need another 'U'."
At that moment another Naruto came over. "Guess what I just got hit in the head with, a 'U'!" he said smiling proudly not knowing how lucky he was.
"Never mind," said Sakura smiling. "Okay, we have two J's and a U. That means we need: two N's, an O, and an I."
"Got it!" said both Narutos and Lee at the same time.
"We'll go for the N's okay Lee?"
"Alright, I will get an I."
"And I'll get the O," said Sakura.
Then they all sped off. Naruto created two more Shadow Clones to use as distractions. However, Kiba attacked one and Akamaru bit the other.
"Heh. Naruto, it's payback time!" he said loudly making seals with his hands. "Man-Beast Transformation!" There was a puff of smoke and now there were two Kiba's instead of one and an Akamaru.
"Ha! Kiba you'd be better off it you changed into the dog! Your just making him weaker by changing into you!"
Kiba snarled at him. "We'll show you!" he said as they charged.
Naruto made six more Shadow Clones then ran off with the other clone. Right now he had to get the N's. He could deal with Kiba later, and Lee was already heading back.
Naruto had to fight his way to the middle, but luckily everyone was fighting everyone else so all he had to do was stay out of the way, and it wouldn't be too hard. Already there were people on the ground, being stepped on and tripped over. It was carnage!
Finally Naruto and his clone made it to the pile of squares. They began to dig through when a kunai appeared in the clone's back. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto looked around and saw the man who had shouted out earlier. He was smiling and holding a kunai.
"Mind if I look through that pile little man?" he asked none too kindly.
Naruto gritted his teeth, and he had just found an N too. Suddenly, the man gasped and fell to his knees. Behind him stood Hinata with her palm in the man's back.
Naruto took this chance to create two more Shadow clones. He gave the N to one of them and made the other look for another N. The man recovered from his shock and kicked Hinata. She fell to the ground. The man stood over her looking very hurt and very angry. He raised his kunai to throw at her, but Naruto punched him in the back of the head before he had a chance.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw his clones sprinting toward the painted grass. He had found the other N. Hopefully Sakura would find the "I" soon.
Sakura dodged the kunai thrown at her jumped into the air. She could see Naruto in the middle, but couldn't get to him. The man attacking her was too good. He followed her into the air and kicked her back down to earth. She landed on someone else who grunted. At least that unfortunate person had broken her fall, but that was the least of her worries. The man above her was now rocketing down, too fast to dodge.
"Leaf Hurricane!" shouted Lee as he kicked the man above Sakura. Sakura gasped as Lee landed right beside her.
"Sakura," said Lee. "Do you have the 'I'?"
"No, that man has it," she said.
"I see. The next answer is chakra. Here," he threw a letter at her. It was an H. "Naruto is returning with both N's and an A. I will retrieve the 'I'. Go!"
Sakura ran as fast as she could. She could already see Naruto with his two clones placing the letters in the pile they had.
Lee assumed his fighting stance. He had to get the "I" fast. He charged at the man, and kicked him in the gut. The man gasped obviously winded, and surprised, he didn't expect Lee to have this much speed. Lee then proceed to kick and punch the man all over his body. Not just for the sake of hurting him, but to find out where he was hiding the letter. Then he hit it. Just above the man's heart.
He grabbed at it, but the man jumped away, panting heavily. He then turned and ran toward the silver strip of land. Lee rocketed after him. If the man made it there then he would be helpless. Luckily Lee was far faster than the man. He reached him easily and tripped him, pinning him down. He reached into the man's breast pocket and pulled out, a C?
"Where is the 'I'?"
The man smiled and reached into his thick hair. He took out the "I" and threw it towards the silver area where his teammate was waiting. Lee's eyes widened and he sprinted toward the airborne letter.
He caught it, but with his toes just barely out of the silver grass. Then he started to fall forward. He was losing his balance! He looked at the man standing in front of him, just out of reach, smiling. Lee then did the only thing he could do. He acted on instinct.
He jumped at the man and used his body as a wall to jump off of. He landed inside the black circle and sprinted toward his own color. He made it to the table to see Sakura carefully placing the tiles on the table. Lee placed his own tile in the pile and left her to her work.
He looked back at the pile. There was a considerable amount more than when he last looked. Then about ten Naruto's came back, each carrying another letter.
"That's all of them Sakura," he said, panting.
"Quiet Naruto!" she said holding a letter, "This isn't easy you know! And if I make a mistake we have to start all over! We can't afford that. Five teams are already done."
"Six," said Naruto. "Kiba's team finished just after I took this last letter.
"Great."
Suddenly, a kunai flew straight at Sakura. Lee grabbed it just in time.
"They're trying to knock our table over!" shouted Lee as more kunai flew toward them. "The seventh team must have finished, now we have all the right letters!" He caught three more kunai, and Naruto jumped in front of another one, vanishing in a puff of smoke. "Naruto, we must protect Sakura!"
Naruto took out a kunai himself and said, "No problem."
The kunai seemed never ending. At one point all of Naruto's clones were killed and he had to make more. 36 ninja, 12 teams, were doing their best to make sure Sakura failed, but Lee wouldn't allow that. They had come too far now to be stopped that easily.
Naruto once again lost all his clones to the onslaught of kunai. It was now a flood of knives. There was no way they would be able to continue this. Then a kunai made its way past Naruto, there was no way to stop it, and Sakura had almost finished. It hit on the arm. She gasped as it jerked her to the side. She was about to crash into the table. It was over.
Then, she stopped. Lee's eyes widened, she had stopped herself from hitting the table by inches, no a fraction of an inch. She placed another on the table just as another kunai streaked by Lee. This time she would certainly knock the table over, but in a blur of orange Naruto appeared by her side and the kunai hit his arm. He grunted in pain as Sakura put the final letter on the table then fell to the ground. Immediately Kakashi took Sakura, Naruto, and Lee and pulled them to safety.
They had done it. On the table were the words: Jounin, Chakra, Mind, Hokage, and Ninja.
The second test was over.