Please Enjoy and I only own Ami and her unique Justus. The chapters of the story will occasionally combined some episodes in to one
Chapter 5: - Panic in the Forest
"This whole place just completely creeps me out," Sakura stated, uneasy clear in her voice. I looked at the pinkette before turning back to the forest before us and the smirking proctor in front of it.
"It should. We call it the Forest of Death for a good reason, and soon enough you'll find out why," Anko responded. Naruto impersonated the proctor and then taunted her as well, I restrained myself from slap the blonde idiot. "So, looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy," Anko said, a dangerous smile on her face. I took two steps away from Naruto in time to watch a kunai fly passed cutting open Naruto's cheek a little, she then appeared behind Naruto.
"You tough enough to handle this. You're not afraid, are you?" Anko asked, her voice eerily quiet. "Tough guys like you usually leave your blood all over this forest," Anko added on as she licked the blood off of his cheek. However she whipped out another kunai and held it back towards another ninja that was behind her, the ninja held the kunai Anko threw earlier in her… tongue. I shivered at seeing the long tongue.
"I was… just returning your kunai," The ninja spoke despite her tongue protruding from her mouth. Naruto's eyes were wide with fright as he stared at the two women behind him.
"Why thank you Grass ninja," Anko responded. Silence fell around us as all ninja present watched the scene, I could feel the tension in the air thickening by the second. "I really only recommend you stand this close behind me, if you wish to reach a premature end," Anko advised as she took the kunai from the ninja.
"My pardon, with the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair… I'm afraid I became a little excited, I meant you no harm," The ninja apologised
"Likewise," Anko agreed. The ninja walked away back to her teammates. "Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered, there must be something in the air. This is going to be fun," Anko mused. Suddenly I felt a hand grip my wrist, I whipped my head up to see Sasuke there.
"Ami put your kunai away," Sasuke told me. Blinking, I looked down to see that I had, in fact, drawn a kunai.
'When the hell did that happen?' I wondered in my mind as I tucked the blade back into my pouch.
"Sorry, reaction to the tension," I apologised. Sasuke let go of my wrist and stepped away, but his eyes remained trained on me.
"Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all," Anko stated, as she pulled out a stack of papers from her jacket. "It's just a standard consent form, before the test all of you are going to have to read over this form and sign it," Anko explained.
"What for?" Naruto asked. Anko held a smirk on her face.
"Some of you may not come back from this test and I have to get to that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility," Anko explained and she then laughed. Murmurs of panic arose from some of the candidates. "Now I'll explain what you'll be doing during this test. Here pass these out," Anko told Naruto who took the forms and began to pass them along.
"The first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills. First I'll give you all a description of the terrain of the practice field, the 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and a forest inside, in the centre is a locked tower located 10 km from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test, the test consists of an anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls," Anko explained, as she held up a white and black scroll.
"Both of them?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes. You be fighting to get both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. Altogether twenty six teams will be taking part in this test, so half of those teams will be going after the Heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the Earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be vying for," Anko explained.
"Ok so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked.
"You're entire squad must bring both a Heaven and an Earth scroll to the tower," Anko answered.
"That means at the very best, half of us will fail, more if not every team is able to get both the scrolls," Sakura theorised. I nodded in agreement with what she said.
"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh and one more thing the test has a time limit of, you must finish it within five days," Anko finished up.
"Five days out there!" Ino cried out. Chōji asked about food and Anko said there was plenty in the forest.
'Yeah and there's probably plenty of things willing to eat us.' I though as I accepted a consent form and handed it to another candidate. Kabuto confirmed my thoughts.
"That means with these circumstances there's no way half the teams will pass the test," Neji stated. He was quite right, it would be impossible for half the teams to pass.
"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter. So we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover. It will be a challenge indeed," Lee exclaimed.
"Completely surrounded by enemies we won't have time to rest we'll have to keep a constant watch," Sasuke added on to the previous statements.
'Sounds just like life when I was on the run from him.' I thought. After some quips from Shikamaru, Anko went on to explain ways we could be disqualified, this was if we opened the scrolls before reaching the tower, not arriving with all our teammates or without both scrolls. We were then sent off to sign the consent form.
I sat on top of a boulder, as I sighed the consent form. Looking up I saw that they were covering up the stand where we were to receive our scrolls, thus preventing anyone from knowing which team had what scroll.
"Alright everyone, we're going to start handing out scrolls," One of the members at the stand called out to us. The teams began to line up at the stall waiting for their turn, we stepped inside and were handed a Heaven scroll, I slipped it into my scroll pouch and we stood by gate 12, waiting. I noticed a yellow sign hung by the gate saying Warning, you will die.
'Well that's encouraging.' I bluntly thought as I stared into the forest, it was murky black preventing me from seeing far into the dangerous wooded area.
"Believe it. I dare you to bring it on ninja, I'll just send it right back twice as hard," Naruto bragged as he swung his fists out into the air. I looked at the giant forest before us, the air was filled to bursting with tension as we waited for the signal to be given.
"Alright heads up you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!" Anko cried out and the gates swung open. We stepped inside and looked around the area.
"Well alright! Here we go guys," Naruto called out. We began to move into the forest as the canopies of the trees shrouded the area preventing a large amount of light from getting through.
A scream echoed through the forest and everyone tensed up, whilst I smirked.
"One team down, twenty-five to go," I stated as the other three looked around for danger.
"I do not like this place," Sakura stated. I had to agree, something about this forest didn't sit well with me… something about this felt off.
"Oh come on, it's nothing to be scared of. It's going to be a piece of cake," Naruto argued, confidence bubbled off of him. However he then headed over to a bush and his back was facing us. "Excuse me a second, I really got to… you know," Naruto said. Sakura then rushed over and punched his head.
"Yeah right. Get out of here! What is this a kennel? Not in front of me and Ami you don't, find a bush or something!" The angry Kunoichi yelled at the blonde who quickly darted off into the undergrowth.
"Ah man, that was a lot. I wrote my whole name," Naruto said as he came back. I noticed something off, his shuriken holster was on his left leg and the cut on his cheek was gone,
"You are such a pig! You're really disgusting sometimes, you know that," Sakura complained. However before she could say anymore Sasuke hit him, sending him back into a tree.
"Sasuke-kun it wasn't that bad. Don't you think you're going a little overboard," Sakura protested. However I narrowed my eyes and got into a fighting stance.
"Yeah what the heck was that all about?" Naruto asked but I rushed over and set a kick to his head. He dodged out the way but Sasuke yet in for another attack but Naruto jumped up into the tree area.
I followed after him and aimed a scissor kick at his head, he lunged forward but fell of the branch as a result. He landed hard on the ground and I jumped down next to Sasuke
"Better watch out Sakura, I think they've gone crazy," Naruto called out to the pinkette behind us.
"Yeah you wish. We just struck before you could," Sasuke retorted. He then charged at the blonde with a kunai in hand.
"Sasuke-kun no!" Sakura called out trying to stop the raven haired boy from attacking the blonde.
"Alright then bring it on," Naruto challenged as he charged, also armed with a kunai. They clashed before Sasuke forced him back, I pulled out some shuriken and threw them at the blonde which he barely dodge.
"Sasuke-kun, Ami-san, what are you do?" Sakura asked. We didn't avert our eyes from the blonde making sure to keep track on his movements
"Take a good look at him," Sasuke instructed. Sakura did but she didn't seem to see anything unusual. "Talk! What have you done with Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Sakura and Naruto seemed confused by this question.
"What? What do you mean? I am Naruto," Naruto protested.
"Then what happened to the cut on your cheek?" I asked. 'Naruto' seemed to freeze up as if he didn't know he had a cut.
"I guess you didn't know that the real Naruto got a cut on his face before this test. You also have your shuriken holster on your left leg not your right, but the real Naruto is right handed," Sasuke explained. "Your transformation skill is worse than Naruto's. Tell me who you are!" Sasuke demanded.
'Naruto' was engulfed in smoke and the imposters real form was reveal to be a man in an all white suit, a bandage over his eyes but with holes so he could see and a breathing apparatus over his mouth with a Rain Village forehead protector tied around his head.
"Alright you got me, so what. I'm still going to take your scroll, now hand it over or else," The ninja demanded. I smirked as Sakura also withdrew a kunai. "So which one of you has it?" The ninja asked. None of us gave an answer and the ninja sighed. "Fine then. I guess I'll just have to take you both out," The ninja bragged as he charged towards us.
"Give your best shot," I challenged the Genin as I jumped up. I threw the kunai at him causing him to veer off course, I landed and formed the seals for Horse, Boar, Rabbit, Dog and Monkey. "Lighting Style – Discharge!" I cried out and lighting shot forth from my body striking out towards him.
"What the hell?" He cried out as he barely managed to dodge the attacking lightening. Sasuke then unleashed a fire attack to accompany the lightening, the Genin avoided the attack and jumped up clashing with Sasuke in the air. He then darted off into the trees and both me and Sasuke followed after him, at which point I heard Naruto cry out.
Sasuke threw his kunai down to the bound Naruto freeing him, the Genin then threw knives at us. I pushed Sasuke down but we were met with a paper bomb attack, I was blasted away from Sasuke but I managed to slam the kunai into a tree to slow my descent.
The Genin appeared behind Sasuke, but Naruto appeared and threw the kunai at him, causing the Genin to run. Sasuke caught the kunai with his chakra and threw if at the fleeing Genin before jumping up after him, and he managed to stab him.
The Genin fled, having come with out back up, I pushed off the tree and landed smoothly on the ground. We moved out into a clearing and settled down to rest.
"That proves we can't just trust appearances. We have to come up with a way of knowing that each of us is who we say we are and not some imposter using a transformation jutsu," Sasuke stated. The rest of us agreed with this decision.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Sakura asked. We all looked at Sasuke waiting for his idea.
"We need a password," Sasuke responded. It was a good idea, I just hoped that no one was watching us.
"What kind of password?" Naruto asked. We all paid close attention to Sasuke, not wanting to miss anything.
"A secret one, something known only to the three of us and don't trust anyone who doesn't know it, no matter what," Sasuke replied. "Ok listen closely because I only want to say this once. The question will be when does a ninja strike and the response is, a ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night that is the moment for a ninja to strike. Got it?" Sasuke told us. I nodded and Sakura also nodded however Naruto wanted Sasuke to repeat it again, but Sasuke refused.
I tossed the scroll to Sasuke and we stood up, however suddenly the wind became sharper as it slit Naruto's other cheek and then a large gust of wind began to blow, rushing to our area. I braced myself against the howling wind but I still felt my body began to lift up, the wind grew a stronger and I was blasted away form the others, I grabbed a kunai and slammed it into the tree waiting until the wind died down.
I climbed full onto the branch, looking over I saw that the wind had sliced through my skin, causing the small cuts to weep blood. I brushed it off, deciding to handle it later, I needed to find the others. A quite cry caught my ears and I rushed in its direction only to see Naruto be swallowed by a big, slimy, scale, snake. I shivered and crouched down on the branch as the reptile began to slither off.
'Bugs I can handle, monsters I can handle but snakes. Why did it have to snakes?' I mentally cringed, before following after the reptile. I knew I would have to save Naruto before he was digested but I could only do that once the snake stopped moving.
As I followed the snake I kept an eye on the bulge in its' body, as that allowed me to track Naruto's position. I could also here Naruto constantly demand for the snake to let him go.
The creature finally stopped moving and began to fall asleep, I withdrew my summoning scroll and summoned my katana. I took a hold of the blade and began to focus my chakra and I let it flow into the blade wrapping around my weapon then my chakra turned into lighting and I had my Lighting Katana in my hand.
I stood up and jumped down falling straight towards the reptile, I prepared my sword gripping the handle tight in my hand. Suddenly the area were Naruto was began to inflate, narrowing my eyes I held my sword out to the side, when I neared the snake and the bulge inflated even more I spun my body the lighting and the blade sliced through the scales and skin and due to the inflation a small blast of air pushed me back.
I landed on the ground and looked up only to see, thousands and thousands of Naruto. All of them were covered in a green slimy fluid, I looked around trying to find the real one, however the only probably was that Shadow Clones were physical and not illusions.
"Naruto where's the real you!" I called out. One of many rushed up to me whilst the others disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Hey Ami," Naruto greeted, a goofy smile on his face. I could only assume the sight of my unique katana was enough to convince him that it was really me, I nodded before allowing my weapon to disappear.
"Naruto we have to get back to the others. I think that wind was meant to separate us," I told him. Naruto's eyes widened before he nodded and we took off using the trees as a vantage point to make finding our friends much easier.
"STAY AWAY!" A voice cried out. I landed on the branch and looked in the direction the voice came from.
"That's Sasuke's voice," Naruto said. I narrowed my eyes, I had never heard his voice reach such a hysterical pitch, I was worried about him.
"Let's go, I think he's in trouble," I told him. We went after the voice following it until we landed on a branch and looked down at the scene before us.
Sakura was on a branch much lower than us and she was staring at the view in front of us. A snake lay dead in the crook of tree made by a branch and truck, the female grass ninja from earlier was moving like a snake, winding her way around the branch… heading straight for Sasuke who was stock still with fright.
I whipped out some shuriken and kunai, then along with Naruto we tossed the weapons at the snake woman. They landed in the branch shortly in front of her stopping her progress, all of them looked up at us confusion, shock and happiness etched on to their faces.
"Look like we came just in time," Naruto called down to the group. I glared down at the snake lady not taking my eyes off of her.
"Naruto! Ami!" Sakura called out, relief and joy etched deeply into her voice.
"Oh and by the way. What was that password again?" Naruto asked. I wanted to roll my eyes at Naruto's ignorance sometimes.