A/N: Thanks to Alli at Sora-Sorry Roxas and DutchyPuppy for the reviews :D The continuation of last chappy. Will they pass the test? Find out XD I'm updating super quick because along with the loverly ninja-ness I'm enjoying writing a little more :D plus I just love this test. I figure that not everyone does the bell test so I wanted to do something different that still shows teamwork. Hope you guys like it :D
Shinobu POV
"Kiba! Don't jump!" Shinobu shouted, catching him off guard. "Look at the outlines. You have to land on your hand!" She shouted. Shino groaned quietly beside her. It was her guess that he wasn't good at this. But she wasn't sure if there was a way to help him. She sighed rubbing her temples.
Everything about this made you think, overanalyze. Not only was she worried about herself she had to look out for her comrads. It was more difficult than she expected. She looked at the signs on the pillars. After the one she was on it was hand, foot, hands, foot, feet, hand, foot, hand, hands, feet, hands. Hands being the single pillar at the end. Maybe she could go down her own line of pillars, then go back for Shino? Or maybe he could switch over pillars, if they could only be used once she could try to leave her feet symbols for him.
"Hinata.." She started but was stopped with a curt "I-i'm on it." The girl caught on quick.
"It looks like each one c-can be used only once. T-then it'll change colour, r-red I think. If y-you land on a red one it w-will explode." She explained.
"Ok.. Shino.. see how ours are almost opposite? Every time I have one that has a hand symbol you have a foot symbol." Shinobu told him. Shino nodded, for being their first test or anything together they seemed to understand eachother. He didn't ask if she was sure or if she could do it. He just believed in her and thanked her.
"Now the only problem is going to be the last stone.. There is only one at the end. Once we leave it we can't touch it again so who here is good at handstands?" Shinobu asked. Nobody moved. Shinobu sighed. "I got it, but you're all learning hand stands and stuff when we're an official team." She said, sure that they'd make it. It seemed to boost their moods a bit because even Hinata was grinning now.
"We need to go at around the same time. I can't hold a handstand for several minutes so I need to have you guys just behind me." She explained earning a couple of nods, the moment she started the rest of them followed, she and Shino were weaving back and forth so that he could use his feet. He'd have to learn but they had a time limit and she wasn't going to risk his safety right now. Her wrists were a little sore but she kept flipping back and forth getting one chance to stand at the end where they all had feet outlines before she was in a hand stand, knees bent into a flat surface. If she was lucky she wouldn't loose her balance. She felt Hinata quickly push her knees down as she flew by quickly followed by the others. She bounced once or twice before getting the right momentum to flip off and land on the other side where there were no more explosion tags.
"H-how long do you think it's been?" Hinata asked.
"I think it's been around half an hour." Kiba said, hands on his knees as he took a couple of deep breaths.
"Do we have time for a break?" Shinobu asked, sitting on the ground while rubbing her wrists.
"A quick one.. if needed one of us will carry you." Shino spoke, she couldn't believe how quickly they were getting long. They all had realized they'd be together for a long time and that these friendships would last the rest of their lives. They weren't going to be cold or distant because they knew they had to trust each other to pass.
"I'm good.." Shinobu took a deep breath. "Let's go." She got up and started making her way forward there was a hedge maze just taller than them.
"How are we doing this one?" Kiba asked eyeing the maze.
"Does anyone have fire jutsu here?" Shino asked. I quickly nodded. "We should go in groups of two. One with me and one with you. If you burn the bush every once in a while with arrows in the direction you came from you can't get lost. I'll leave my bugs every few feet. If either group gets to the end, do a jutsu to alert the other group and show them which direction to go. There is probably only one route so the group still in the maze can go back and follow the other groups trail. Cross out your arrows if they lead to a dead end and they backtrack." He told them and Shinobu was very happy they were on the same team.
"I-i'll go with Shinobu." Hinata said and they all entered in the maze. Shinobua and Hinata went to the right and it wasn't long before they couldn't even hear their teammates voices.
"Hinata, you might want to back up a little bit." Shinobu warned, forming some hand signs before performing her jutsu with less chakra so it would less a scorch mark pointing in the direction they were walking. They spent a good five minutes doing this before Shinobu froze.. there were scorch marks ahead of them already.
"Shinobu... I t-think we're in a genjutsu." Hinata stammered.
"Ya.. I do too.." Shinobu muttered before releasing it, confirming their suspicioun. After that it had only take a couple of moments before they were outside the maze. Shinobu looked around to see that their team hadn't made it out yet.
"We have no way of letting them know it's a genjutsu but we can send a jutsu to show them the way." She said, taking a big breath before releasing a large fireball into the air. Kurenai's eyes widened as she watched. Genin weren't supposed to have enough chakra for jutsu like that. After the jutsu was over she watched the entrance for a good five minutes. They weren't coming out.
"We need to go back in and get them." She muttered before walking back towards the maze. She was about to enter when she was pushed away by what appeared to be an invisible force.
"What was that?" Shinobu looked shocked.
"I-i don't know." Hinata said, focusing her chakra into her eyes. "B-but it's made up of chakra, their are no patterns or chakra routes." She informed Shinobu. The both watched in horror as the invisible force morphed into what appeared to be a black screen. On it, were their teammates. Shino was standing shakily infront of Kiba who was bleeding out on the ground.
"W-what.." Shinobu said in awed shock before attempting to run past the screen only to get hit back again. She tried attacking it but she just got pushed back. She sighed before moving her hands into the all too familiar seals as quickly as she good. Hinata was attacking right now and she needed to make sure they got to their friends in time.
"Hinata. Now! Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Shinobu shouted, letting another fire jutsu hit the screen like figure. She screamed in shock and pain when her skin began to burn. She looked at her hands in horror and saw the burn spreading up her arms.
"S-shinobu!" Hinata cried out, running back to see if she was alright.
"It's another genjutsu! That's us! It only attacks us as much as we can attack it.." She mumbled.
"S-so what would happen if we r-ran out of chakra?" Hinata asked wearily.
"Let's find out. You keep your chakra. If this works, then you need to get rid of it." Shinobu said before facing the other way and shouting. "Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu! Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" She paused taking a deep breath. "K-Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
"A-are you ok?" Hinata asked, obviously concerned. This was her team and she was proving herself fairly useless already.. She wanted to do something to help.
"Y-ya. Thanks." Shinobu grinned at her before walking towards the barrier, she winced as she stepped into the maze but felt no pain except for the burns on her arms.
"We might need your chakra. I'll go get them ok? Could you try to figure out the next part?" Shinobu ask, she trusted Hinata. She had issues with self-esteem but she was strong and she was trying.
"Y-yes. I c-can. Good luck!" She waved before turning around and activating her byakugan. Shinobu sighed and followed the scorch marks back to the beginning of the maze before following the bugs. Whenever she got near one they'd fly in front of her to let her know she was going in the right direction.
"I don't get it! Why can't we find the end! The girls are already out!" Kiba growled in frustration.
"It's because Shino already sent out all his bugs so he can't sense the chakra change. You are in a genjutsu, baka." Shinobu explained with a smirk, watching as they released it. "We went through the same thing but we noticed it." She said, motioning for them to follow her.
"Where's Hinata?" Shino asked in concern.
"There was another jutsu guarding the maze entrance, it causes your own chakra and jutsu to attack you. The only way we could get in was to get rid of our chakra. I didn't want to waste both of our chakra supplies so since I was lower I went in. She's trying to figure out the next part." She explained as they walked out of the maze, both of the boys went wide eyed as they saw the thing behind them. It was showing them in the maze but one of them was bleeding.
"What the hell is that?" Kiba shouted.
"We don't know.. but it caused us to try and get in." She muttered, the image scared her. She didn't want to lose another important person. Kiba looked like he was going to say something but he was interupted by a loud scream from somewhere in front of them.
"Shit!" Kiba shouted before running towards Hinata with Shino and Shinobu hot on his trail. Shinobu wanted to comment on the cussing but it really wasn't the time. When they got there Hinata was facing an enemy ninja.
"Is this even part of the test anymore?" Shinobu growled.
"I d-don't know. S-sorry. I got hit, I d-didn't mean to startle you g-guys." Hinata apologized and Shinobu rolled her eyes.
"Don't apologize, you did nothing wrong. Can you block the guys chakra? We don't want him using jutsu." Shinobu called out. Hinata nodded before setting in to attack. She took a couple of hits and missed some of her own but managed to block the main chakra reserves.
"Shino.. That bug thing you did earlier.. Can you-" Shinobu started.
"Got it." He said, bugs were already moving towards the ninja, chunin by the looks of it, rendering him immobile. She didn't even get to ask Kiba to do anything before he was already beating the living day lights out of the guy. Shino released his bugs when the guy was unconscious. Shinobu felt bad for not helping more but she did her share earlier. They made a good team. They were about to go to the finish line when the ninja stood up before poofing into a cloud of smoke, all four of them going into fighting stances.
"Good job defeating me." Iruka smiled leaving them all dumbfounded. "This definitely tested your skills against an opponent but be careful, not all opponents will be as easy as I was." He warned.
"Yes! We beat our sensei! We're awesome!" Kiba grinned while punching the air. Iruka grew a tick mark on his forehead. Apparently Kiba was the only one who noticed that Iruka had let them win.
"You did a great job." Kurenai appeared with a smale smile. "But it's been an hour and fifteen minutes. You didn't make it in the time limit." She paused looking at them and Shinobu's heart sank in her chest. Kiba looked furious while Hinata looked like she was going to cry.. this was her team.. this was supposed to be her team. Time limit aside they worked together and finished. How could they not pass?
A/N: Aaah the joys of a cliff hanger. I've realized something epic today. I have over a hundred more hits on this than I do for my story "Mirror". Mirror is 21 chapters long. This one is 10. Thanks so much everyone! :D
