Chapter 9: Death Awaits...?-Part 2

Haruo's team was one of the fastest teams in there besides Ray's. Haruo wanted to get a head start on this exam, get the Heaven scroll that his team needed, and get to the tower in the middle of the forest before the five day limit was up. And before I go crazy, thank you very much. He angrily thought. He had been listening to his younger sister Ayane talking about how she was going to toy with her enemies before she killed them, and frankly, it was starting to seriously get on his nerves. He was starting to wish that he could tell her to put a sock in it and kill her before she had a chance to respond. He was starting to regret coming to the Chunin Exams with her. He felt like he was going to lose his marbles way before this stupid test was over.

There was only one thing keeping him from going insane, and that was his younger brother Lee. He was the most sane one of the bunch, and Haruo had to admit, he was slightly envious of his brother. He never said anything about it, though. He loved his brother too much to say something vile like that to him. He had noticed that he had been abnormally quiet for the past hour, and it was beginning to concern him a bit. Sure, Lee was always the quiet one of the group, not really having much to say in a conversation, but him being this quiet was unusual for him. He glanced over his shoulder for a moment and noticed the puzzled look on his brother's face. He turned back around just in time to avoid a hanging branch. Damn branches... He wanted to ask Lee what was bothering him, but was too focused on how to make his sister shut the hell up at the moment.

He stopped suddenly and jumped straight toward the ground. Lee and Ayane noticed this and did the same thing Haruo just did. The three landed on the ground in crouching positions and stood up. Haruo surveyed his two siblings, judging their current positions and expressions on their faces. Lee still looked puzzled like a kid trying to solve a complicated mathematical equation, and Ayane looked just as happy as a kid who had gotten a large lollipop for their birthday. He bit off whatever personal things he wanted to say to his younger sister and cracked his knuckles in order to get their attention. Once he had their attention, he cleared his throat and began to speak in his calm voice,

"Alright, here's the situation we face now. We're about an hour into the test and we haven't seen a single soul besides each other. However, it is a big forest, so that has to be expected. We also need the Heaven scroll if we're going to even have a shot of getting into that tower and continuing on with these exams. We need to locate a team that has the scroll we're looking for, take it, and make it to the tower before the five days we have are up. We need to know that everyone else is an enemy and should not be shown any kindness or mercy. Also, we are not to split up for any means unless I say so. Got it?" Ayane and Lee nodded simultaneously. Haruo calmed down a bit and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. However, this was going to be a very bad mistake. He suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand vertical and tensed up.

"Ayane, Lee! Looks like we've got company! Cover each others' backs now!" Lee and Ayane understood immediately and stood back to back with Haruo. Just then, three shadowy figures came out of the trees and surrounded them. Haruo quickly judged the one in front of him and assumed from the amount of muscle he had that he could use earth style jutsu. And it seems me using earth style jutsu is pointless, since our attacks would just cancel each other out time and time again. I'll have to use lightning style. Ayane got the female of the group of attackers, from what she could tell. Lee got the other male of the group and was pretty nervous about the guy in front of him. It looked like the guy was ready to rip his guts out on the spot for just being there. He glanced over at Haruo and whispered anxiously,

"What are we going to do? I think we're ready to kill us for just existing."

"We have to fight them off. It's the only way we're going to have a chance of surviving, Lee."

"Yeah, you might want to listen to your buddy there, shorty." The enemy facing Lee said in a mocking manner. Excuse me, but he's my brother, you dip. It's clearly noticeable! Aren't you looking at us?! Lee had to bit his tongue just to keep these words from escaping him and possibly getting into deeper water than he was already in. The enemy's buddies started laughing at this comment. Haruo took this opportunity to weave some signs and kneel down, slamming one of his hands down in the process.

"Chidori Stream!" Just then, several bolts of lightning raced from Haruo's hand and toward his assailant. They noticed, but not in time. The ground bolts reached the person's shins and gave them a good shocking. They were shocked somewhat horribly and fell down after Haruo stopped his technique. A smile danced its way onto his lips when he saw his foe fall flat onto his face. The two other ninja were horrified at what just happened.

"What did you do to him?!" The female ninja shrieked.

"Ow! Geez, woman, you're worse than my sister, and she can be pretty loud herself, chum." Haruo said as he was cleaning his ears with a finger. Ayane's eye twitched a little and was cursing Haruo in her mind for insulting her like that. Lee had to catch himself before he started laughing. He didn't want to get punched in the back of the head by Ayane for doing something wrong. Haruo suddenly spoke again,

"And if you're still wondering what I did to your little buddy, well, I'll tell you this. He's just received a shocking that's probably just as bad as sitting in an electric chair being shocked for three seconds or so." The smile came back onto his lips, and then some. The female ninja was getting pissed at him. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a few shuriken. She then threw them straight at Haruo as hard as she could, but were blocked by some kunai thrown by Lee. The weapons fell to the ground in between the group and the female ninja. Haruo turned his head to look at his siblings, and they turned their heads to look at him. A few seconds passed before the three silently nodded their heads and turned back to face the two remaining enemies.

Suddenly, the three siblings dispersed into the forest, leaving the two enemies standing there, confused. The female ninja turned to her scary-looking partner and asked in an annoyed tone,

"Where the hell did they go?"

"I-I don't know! Don't look at me!"

"Then who else am I supposed to be looking at, huh? Your imaginary friend?"

"He's not imaginary! He's just invisible."

"That makes him imaginary."

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yes, it does, you twit! Now help me find those brats!" As the two enemy ninja were bickering, Haruo had positioned himself behind the male ninja in the trees and watched him as he defended himself against his female partner. He had to stifle a laugh when he saw this. Holy crap, they argue like a married couple. That's just hilarious! He shoved that thought into the back of his mind and poised himself for attack. Lee and Ayane were behind the female ninja, staring over at Haruo's position. He noticed them after a minute and nodded. The three jumped out of their hiding places and landed behind the two ninja. Ayane leaned in and whispered to her foe while gripping their shoulders with a very tight squeeze,

"I don't think it would be appropriate to insult your own friend. It'll just lead to bad things. Is this how you express yourself to other people? You release your anger upon them? You treat them like trash? Huh?" Her assailant was getting more and more frustrated the more Ayane spoke. She finally had the guts to turn around and whisper with venom,

"You're going to die here, bitch."

"Ooh, am I? I'd like to see you try."

"Wha-" Before she could finish her sentence, a pang of pain started from her upper arm and spread through her entire body like a wildfire destroying a dry field. A loud scream was emitted from them as they fell down, clutching their arm like it was falling off. Ayane turned to look at her younger brother Lee and raised an eyebrow, bewildered as to what he just did. Lee took the opportunity to answer his sister's unspoken question,

"I basically injected a poison into her system. It won't kill her, but it will paralyze her for some time." Ayane nodded and knelt down, rummaging through the woman's pouch. She grabbed onto something and pulled it out. It was a Heaven scroll, the thing that they were looking for. Bingo! She glanced over to where the other male ninja was and noticed that neither the enemy or Haruo were there. Where could they possibly have gone? Geez, Haruo-nii, you're really difficult to understand. Sometimes, she just had no idea as to what her brother was doing when they weren't looking. Le was wondering the same thing and hoped that Haruo was not getting himself into a situation that could potentially get him seriously hurt or killed. That sent shivers up and down his spine and put goose bumps on his skin. Ayane did not notice this development in her brother and stood up.

"We should try to find Haruo as soon as possible and report our findings."

"Yeah, we should do that." As soon as he finished talking, a flash of lightning came up behind them and a howl split the air just as much as the lightning. Ayane and Lee nodded to one another and swiftly ran in the direction of the flash. When they got there, they noticed Haruo standing there in the middle of an open patch of land, blood covering almost half of his left arm and the male ninja flat on his face, a hole in his chest where his heart used to be. Lee took a few seconds to pray for the dead man before he joined his sister in walking to Haruo.

"Hey, bro! We've got good news!" Ayane shouted. Haruo glanced over at his siblings and his expression lightened up a little, but still remained apathetic.

"What?" He replied.

"We've got the enemy's Heaven scroll! Now we just need to get to the tower!"

"Good job, you two. I'm proud." Ayane smiled big and hugged Haruo, despite the pep talks he had given to her about not touching him after a battle, and Lee stood to the side, watching his brother and sister with a small smile on his face. Haruo had pushed Ayane off of her and was scolding her about hugging him right after finishing off an opponent. Lee had to suppress a laugh when Ayane pouted. She could be so cute sometimes. He looked up into the sky and noticed that the sky was beginning to grow dark. However, instead of saying something, he simply stood there, watching the colors in the sky blend into the midnight blue that he loved so much. Now, they could focus on one thing; getting to the tower alive and in one piece.

Haruo's team have gotten their scroll and are about to head for the tower. But, what about the other two teams? What are they doing? Find out in the next chapter coming soon!