Author Input:

Hey guys! Here's the MEGA SUPER HUGE second chapter for u x333.

So this chapter introduces the real Team 7 Kick-ass. (And there's Kakashi! #Bestteacherever)

Sakura is badass.

Have Fun! X333

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Chapter 2

Weakling

"Now" Kakashi motioned for them to follow him, "You guys are sadly mistaken if you think this is a small little written exam that you can study for. Those of you who fully read your entrance paperwork know for a fact that there are some risks involved." He paused, "But enough of me comforting you, let's begin."

"You will be in this forest for a few days, so be sure to survive.

There are three parts to this test", he held up a gloved finger, "Number one, the Intelligence aspect." He held up a second finger, "Number two is the Physical aspect, and then... finally….." he stated, smiling. "Number three, the fear aspect"

Whispers broke out in the crowd.

Fear.

"Unfortunately as your proctor I am only allowed to give you the limited information that the hokage has instructed me to divulge. You will most likely be confused by it, however try and be patient, i'm sure it'll make sense later. He sighed and ran a hand through his unruly spikes. "Here are your instructions, listen carefully.

Firstly you will be separated into groups of three according to your varying abilities. Then you will enter the forest and the exam will begin.

"Your team is given a sealed scroll. This scroll contains a hidden message. Only those with intellect enough can break through the illusion and attain truth. I recommend not opening it until you are well into the forest."

"Secondly, let me warn you that these woods are heavily fortified with various Jutsu many of which will greatly test your physical condition."

"And finally the last part of the test…. Well I think i'll leave that up to your imaginations."

More than one person was paralyzed with terror at this point. An older-looking girl with violet eyes squeaked, "So... does this mean we could die?" Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "It's not likely, but I can't guarantee that you won't be pretty shaken up."

"Shaken up?!" Someone yelled, "Who do you think we are? Yea, we're just kids!" The crowd collapsed into frantic whispering and shouts, but the disguised individual himself seemed rather…. bored by the whole thing, closing his eyes and leaning up against a tree trunk.

"Hey!" A kid yelled at him, "Aren't you gonna say something worthwhile? Some proctor you are!" Kakashi flashed a stern look at the rioting crowd and the teen who dared question him. He straightened up and faced the group. "Enough!" the group hushed, "I have already made myself clear that this is all the information I am allowed to give you. Anyone who feels as if they have made the wrong decision can leave the area now."

No one moved, and the man continued, "Now. I want complete silence as I hand out these number cards. When you get your number you will quietly walk to the entrance with that number marked on it. Do I make myself clear?" There were a few mumbled yea's and grunts. Paying no mind, Kakashi began to proceed with the cards.

Throughout this whole affair Naruto had been frozen in place. Thoughts swirling through his head and making his heart beat faster. Three steps? Intellectual scroll? And what the hell with the sadistic smile when he mentioned the final trial?! He glanced at Kakashi and numbly held out his hand to accept his number card.

number seven was written in bold black ink. Seven. He scanned the entrances and found the gate with a number seven marked on it, already occupied by another teen guy. Not just any teen guy…. Spikes in the back, arrogant smirk, careless posture. There was no mistaking it.

"Hey Jerk!" The blonde ran over and screeched to a halt directly in front the boy. "Hey! You're the guy from earlier!" The other boy slowly opened his eyes and sneered when he saw who it was. He closed his eyes again, indifferent to the world. Naruto screamed internally. First he was late, and then he crashes into someone, and then he gets a psycho proctor with a mask and friggin silver hair, and then as if that wasn't enough he has to take the scary test with the most arrogant, emo, stuckup, assho- "Hi, um sorry i'm a bit late. Hope it wasn't too much of a hold up." The blonde's thoughts were interrupted by a the voice of someone behind him. He whipped around and stared at the third member of their team. A girl, the cutest girl Naruto had ever seen. She was a petite little thing, large emerald green eyes perched above a tiny nose, a small face, framed with soft hair that was a most peculiar shade of pink. Absentmindedly he recalled thinking his proctor's hair color was weird.

The new girl walked over and held out her card. "This is the seventh entrance right?" Naruto nodded at lost for words. Someone with her build and temperament? At a ninja academy? He squashed his bubbling thoughts and extended his hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the soon to be hokage and currently, single." He winked at her. The girl laughed, a high, sweet sound. She shook his outstretched hand and replied, "Sakura, my name is Sakura Haruno."

Sakura. Cherry Blossom. The name suited her.

She stared at the blonde, blushing a bit. Or, at least, that's what he thought, until he saw her gaze resting not on him, but on the dark bastard behind him. *Intense eye roll* Said bastard glanced at the girl and back at Naruto. Then he smirked, straightening up and walking over to the two of them.

Standing next to Sakura, he was a daunting figure. Towering over her, a whole foot taller. Contrasting her appearance like night to day.

Naruto glared, "Got something to say Chicken-Butt?" The other boy casually ignored him and glared at the small girl instead.

"I found it hard to believe I was paired with a brainless idiot, but this is even worse."

The blonde interrupted him angrily, "You arrogant jerk! Lay off her! The dark teen gave him an icy glare. "I don't want weaklings on my team. Just see to it that both of you stay out of my way, I don't have time to meddle with you."

Sakura paled, Naruto looked at her nervously, this bastard might make her start crying or something!

"Don't underestimate me." A hardened voice.

Both boys stared at her. But she was staring across at the horizon. Did she even say it? Naruto couldn't give much thought to the statement because at that moment there was a loud *clang* behind him. The silver gates were opening.

The first thing he noticed was the cold. Heavy and still. Seeping from the forest with deadly intent. Kakashi came over to gate seven and handed Naruto the detailed scroll that, if he recalled properly, was supposedly to test their intellect. The silver-haired man motioned them to proceed through the gates. The blonde thought he saw his gaze linger on their team a little longer than the other squads, but, then again he was so nervous his mind could have been playing tricks on him.

When their proctor had moved onto team eight, Naruto glanced at the the others and stepped through the silver gates.

And then everything went black.

"W-What happened?!" Naruto whipped around in the dark, empty, blindness. "Sakura! Bastard! Where are you guys!?" Suddenly he felt something bump into him.

"AHHH! Who's there! Show yourself!"

"Shut up loser, it's me."

"Bastard! Where's Sakura?"

" She's Next to me."

"Ouch that's my foot!"

"What should we do?"

"You could shut up."

"Hey guys", Sakura's soft voice echoed in the empty space, "Try closing your eyes to find the doorway."

"And what good would that do, pray tell?"

"Yea Sakura, were kinda already blind enough…"

"No silly, ninja use combined physical and spiritual energy to sense their surroundings right?"

"It's called Catra!"

"It's called Chakra idiot."

"Why you little $*#%-!

"Shhh Naruto, but yes, Chakra is the key. Maybe if we tried focusing our attention on the inside instead of the outside, we would have a better chance of finding a way out. But it's just a suggestion of course."

"Wowwwww, not only are you super cute, you're really smart too Sakura-chan 3"

"Shut up and concentrate dobe."

"Quiet both of you, concentrate on your inner energy, search for an abnormality in the flow..."

Naruto closed his eyes and and calmed his thoughts. He imagined flowing cerulean energy coursing through his body, then… a room…. empty but…. In the far corner…..a… a...

"A doorway! Guys I see the exit!"

"Hn."

"Awesome job Naruto! Now let's try walking over to where we sense an opening."

The three teens jogged over to what now appeared to be a small sliver of light, growing bigger by the minute. Naruto squinted in the dark at the rectangle they had discovered in the distance. The light grew brighter and brighter the closer they came until he and his teammates were shielding their eyes from the brightness. After the light diminished a little, they discovered that they were looking at what seemed like a doorway into the thick of the forest. They had found it.

Both boys began to walk towards the rectangle of light. "WAIT! What're you two doing?" Sakura shouted, "That could be trap for all we know! Check first before one of you gets killed!"

Naruto turned to her and grinned sheepishly, "Heh heh, sorry Sakura-chan, I guess I should've been more carefull."

The raven-haired boy said nothing to her but his glare was so cold it could have frozen hell over. Twice.

The pinkette glared back, anger making her green orbs seem to glow in the faint light.

"Um guys…. Aren't we supposed to….. I mean the door…. The blonde's speech drifted off when Sakura flipped her long hair over her shoulder, blushing furiously. Naruto wondered if it was agitation. She pulled a small stone from her pocket and tossed it through the doorway.

Nothing happened.

The rock bounced off a tree in the forest and landed in the grass, unharmed. That seemed to be enough of an answer to Sakura, because she strode forward and walked through the doorway before Naruto could utter a word of warning. Oh crap.

Silence.

"Well? Are you coming?"

The petite girl was standing on a carpet of grass and waving to them in the thicket of trees. Safe. The boy let out a sigh of relief and grinned at the scowling teen beside him.

"She's got a bit more fire than you initially thought huh Bastard? Never would have thought that Mr. Emo would be totally shown up by a weakling…."

The taller boy turned to him, and there it was again. Than unmistakable tinge of red. Vanishing again in a fraction of a second, except this time, Naruto was sure it was real. As if noticing his mistake, the other boy turned away from the grinning youth and walked over to the doorway, stepping through it without a word to either of his teammates. Naruto followed suit, wondering what crazy thing they would encounter next. Even though the dark room was relatively easy. The energetic teen was pretty sure that it wasn't connected to any of the 3 impending trials. The real question was, what now?

"Naruto, if you complain about the walk one more time I will slap you."

"But Sakuraaaaaaaa, how many hours do we have to wander around like this before something happens?" The hyperactive, knuckleheaded, blonde member of the squad was getting bored, and he felt no shame in expressing exactly how bored he was. The three of them had been wandering around the forest for awhile now with no sign of a difficulty or obstacle.

"The scroll."

Naruto and Sakura turned around and faced their other teammate. He'd been silent as a stone during their entire trek through the foliage.

Sakura looked at him critically, "Are you implying that we open the secret message in the scroll now?"

"I think now's the time."

Sakura was about to retort but Naruto intervened, "Mask man did say to open it when we were "deep into the heart of the jungle" or some other trash. I'd say that we're pretty much well into this damn forest."

Sakura nodded her head and the blonde yelled, "Hey! Teme, hand over the scroll!"

"I'm going to read it."

"Let him read it. "

"Huh? Sakura? Why?"

"If we let him read it then maybe he'll tell us his name."

"That's right! The bastard hasn't even introduced himself properly!"

The dark-haired teen glared at them, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, now shut up and leave me alone."

"Okay Sasucakes! Read the scwoll pweese."

Sasuke ignored him and slowly broke the seal holding the thin papers together. The sheets unravelled and fell onto the grass, revealing the hidden message:

Ti si retaerg naht dog dna erom live naht eht .lived eht roop evah ,ti eht hcir deen ti dna fi uoy tae till'uoy .eid tahw si ?it

"…..What the hell's that supposed to mean!"

"Hn."

*THWOCK*

Something whooshed through the air. Naruto fell backwards, a slender silver silver needle pinning him to a nearby tree trunk.

"AHHHH! HELP!"

"Wha-"

" Senbon needles! and there's more coming! Naruto get down!"

"I can't! It's pinned my sleeve-" *RRRIIIIP* The blonde tore his shirt away from the needle and dove behind the jagged rock where his teammates were already crouching, covering their heads with their hands. Sakura eyes were wide with terror, "Wheres it coming from?" But Naruto wasn't looking at her, he was staring at Sasuke.

Sasuke was squinting into the distance. Black swirling. Crimson eyes aflame. "Something's coming."

"S-sasuke y-your eyes!" Sakura stuttered, staring at the raven-haired boy.

"That's not important right now I-"

"Oh yeeeeaaaaa it's not important at all… you didn't just TURN INTO A FREAKIN DEMON!"

"I said that's not important right now. We really need to get out of here, that thing is getting closer."

Naruto leaped up, grabbing Sakura's arm and running into the trees with Sasuke hot on their heels. He turned to his dark teammate, "What did it look like? What's chasing us?" Sasuke frowned, "I couldn't see very clearly, but there's definitely something alive out there, I could see it's chakra patterns." Sakura gasped, "So... you mean the senbon were coming from that thing?

"Yea".

Naruto cursed, "Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, dammit.

"Just don't stop running until we can't hear it anymore."

The three teens sprinted until the sounds of the thing died behind them. Naruto collapsed on the ground, panting. "Okay….. I can't run anymore." Sasuke slumped down next to him, sweat dripping off his forehead. Sakura was laying on the grass behind them, chest heaving. A light drizzle had begun to fall, misting over the area.

The pinkette looked up at the dull, gray sky. "We should find shelter This rain's only gonna get worse." The boys nodded in agreement. (Sasuke's was more of a slight turn of the head) They got up and wandered around for a bit until they came across a hollow, cave-like, piece of rock that the three of them could squeeze into.

Sitting inside the little crevice, huddled together with the loud-mouth blonde and the smoking hot bastard wasn't exactly what Sakura would call a comfortable setting. But it wasn't his attractiveness that was bugging her right now. It was his name. Uchiha. Something. A nagging thought in her brain. Uchiha. If she could just put her finger on it…. Sakura closed her viridian eyes and brought her knees up closer to her chest. It sure was cold in this damn forest.

Naruto looked up and glanced at his two teammates. Sakura had her eyes closed and seemed lost in thought, curled up in a tiny ball. Sasuke was staring unblinkingly deep into the trees, red eyes ablaze. The blonde suddenly remembered the secret message.

"Hey guys! We still have to figure out the words in the scroll!"

Sakura sighed, "We might as well try and figure it out 'till the rain subsides."

Sasuke took the roll of paper out of his pocket and placed it in front of them.

Ti si retaerg naht dog dna erom live naht eht .lived eht roop evah ,ti eht hcir deen ti dna fi uoy tae till'uoy .eid tahw si ?it

Sakura squinted at the paper, "It isn't in any language i've ever seen, but… if you look closely, you can see that some are actual words." She pointed at the four common words.

Ti si retaerg naht dog dna erom live naht eht .lived eht roop evah ,ti eht hcir deen ti dna fi uoy tae till'uoy .eid tahw si ?it

"Dog, live, lived, dna…..do you guys see any correlation?"

"Aa."

"Is that supposed to be an answer?"

"Hn."

"Ookay." (This guy…..)

"Sakura-chan i'm so confused."

Sakura groaned with frustration and leaned closer to the encrypted message, Emerald eyes raked over every word, forehead crinkled in concentration.

Suddenly, her face lit up and she laughed. I get it! It's so devilishly simple! Take a look here.

Ti si retaerg naht dog dna erom live naht eht .lived eht roop evah ,ti eht hcir deen ti dna fi uoy tae till'uoy .eid tahw si ?it

Dog, live, lived, and dna are all common words, however, when you flip them around, they make other common words: god, evil, devil, and "and". If you try applying this to the other words, everything makes sense! The code is impossibly easy!

*Heart eyes* "OMG Sakuwa your so kewl!" xD

"Hn. We don't even know if this works."

"Both of you shut it and let me concentrate. Sasuke, hold down the scroll so I can write properly."The pinkette pulled a pencil from her pocket and unscrambled the first sentence.

It is greater than god and more evil than the devil. eht roop evah ,ti eht hcir deen ti dna fi uoy tae ti ll'uoy .eid tahw si ?it

"It is greater than god and more evil than the devil….. "Wow, deep." 0_0

"I refuse to believe it's that simple."

"Ignore the Teme… he's just jealous cause you figured it out before he did…."

"Shut up."

Sakura laughed, that tinkling sound, cutting through the heavy downpour outside. "You guys don't even know how funny you are when you bicker like that." She smiled to herself as she decoded the rest of the backwards message. It now read:

It is greater than god and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it and if you ate it you'll die. What is it?

"But… Nothing can be more evil than the devil! And what do the poor possess that could be so revolutionary?"

"I don't know Naruto, that's what we need to figure out. I hope that onc-"

Sakura never got to finish her sentence because, at that moment, there was a loud crash and someone appeared from behind the thicket of trees.

Something. Not someone.

A grotesque figure. Clawed hands. A scabbed, deformed head. Eyes, cat-like slits in its skull.

Team seven scrambled to their feet. "There's three of them! What do we do?"

There was only one thing they could do.

They would have to fight.

One on one.

Chapter three coming Monday or Tuesday! R&R!
P.S Anyone know the answer to the riddle? No googling!