A/N: So.. I know what you're all thinking. "Where were all those promised updates? It's been weeks!" My response? Life's a bitch. I've been getting ridiculous amounts of 8-10 hour shifts recently and I'm in school. My dance studio is bugging me for money I don't owe and my little cousin kicked my dog. Oh and I've been sick for 3 weeks. :D the joy. I'll start normal updates again now, gomen for all of you who were waiting.


Shinobu POV

The woman broke through the glass, her loud introduction shocking everyone except for a specific four sitting in the room. Shinobu shook her head.. she should have known better.

Anko.


"You guys! This is no time to be celebrating!" Anko's voice resonated, and while she was supposedly talking to the entire group it felt like the message was meant for them. It honestly gave Shinobu a bit of a chill, a foreboding sense of worse yet to come. If Anko thought there was no time for celebrating.. it meant they hadn't seen the half of it yet.

"Eh? What are you doing here?" Kiba yelled out in what sounded like consternation. Anko scoffed but went on with her speech.

"I am the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go!" She yelled, throwing her fist into the air. Sometime she reminded Shinobu of Naruto. Their personalities were very similar.. except.. Anko's tended to hold a creepier aura.

"Follow me!" She tried again, watching the room as everyone's faces morphed into disbelief, confusion or bewilderment. Shinobu could see Ibiki murmer something but she couldn't make out what it was from the distance they were at. Out of no where Anko let out a small, squeak of an outburst before glaring at Ibiki.

"Seventy-nine? You left twenty-six teams! The test was too easy this time!" She scolded.

"This time.. there are a lot of outstanding ones." He grinned slightly.

"Bah, that's fine. I'll at least cut 'em in half in the second test anyway." She grinned, well, it was more of a viscious smirk, but her eyes were bright as if she were smiling. Or maybe she was just happy at the thought of morbid things, the idea wasn't all that far fetched to Shinobu. The room itself felt like it tensed as everyone heard that last sentence. There had already been a lot of people to leave, how much more were they going to cut the group down?

"Aah.. I'm getting excited." Anko grinned and Shinobu couldn't help but think she was trying to creep them out on purpose. They had never been told the exact limitations of the exam after all, maybe this was all part of it too? "I'll explain everything once we're changed places, follow me." She finished.


It wasn't all that long with the speed the group was traveling at before they entered a rather bare area outside of Konoha. On the edge of the bald patch there was a tall fence which seems to curve around a large forest. It had to be at least ten feet high. Right in front of them was a large gate, chained shut, which sported a large white sign. The sign read "Danger, Stay Out!". The forest itself appeared to live, the noises of animals, or rather, beasts coming from beyond the fence echoed in her ears. The branches of trees seemed to crawl and move. Something told her that the fence was not actually designed to keep others out of the area, but to keep other things in. If this was where their second challenge was she could only hope it wasn't going to be overnight.

She had in no way prepared for a camping trip. When she thought of the chunin exam she had expected something similar to their two previous exams. The bunshin test, to see if their skills were adequate for their ranking, and the obstacle course which proved their teamwork and on the feild skills were also good enough. Then again, if she thought about it, this forest would be similar to the hedge maze they had encountered in their obstacle course. Both that and the forest were Anko related. Anything Anko related seemed ready to kill, maim or seriously injure them.

"Welcome to the stage for the second test, area forty-four." Anko grinned slightly, introducing it as if it were the set for a movie or a concert stage instead of a potential death bed. "Also known as... the forest of death!" She chuckled slightly at the agape mouths of many of the now frightened genin. She could happily do this as a job for the rest of her life, or at least, that's what Shinobu thought.

"This is creepy.." A voice murmered and Shinobu turned around to see Sakura clutching her hands together, standing inbetween Sasuke and Naruto. Shinobu hoped that she wouldn't slow down the other two and get them hurt or anything.

"Bah, you'll find out soon. Why it's called.. the forest of death." Anko's face turned deadly serious and Team eight exchanged glances, even while training under the woman they couldn't understand what she was thinking. She's too unpredictable.

"You think that scares me? That's nothing! I'm not afraid!" Naruto yelled out, pointing at her. Shinobu grinned, good ol' Naruto and his spirited ways. Unfortunately all her really did was attract more attention and set himself up for Anko to knock down. Before anyone could say anything to him, though, he placed his hands on his hips and began wiggling his butt back and forth as he mimicked her last sentence in a high pitched tone.

"Yeah.. You're spirited," she smiled. Shinobu would have laughed if it weren't for the circumstance. She watched silently as a kunai flew right past Naruto, catching his cheek before stabbing the ground. Quickly, like a flash, Anko appeared behind him. "Kids like you are killed quickly." Anko grinned and Kiba shuddered besider her as Anko licked up the blood now running down his cheek. "Spraying that red blood I love." She smiled before her eyes narrowed.

"Here's your kunai." A voice practically hissed from behind her, his abnormally long tongue gripping the kunai, holding it up for her to take.

"Why thank you," Anko smiled, licking her lips. "But you know.. don't sneak up behind me." She said, her voice suddenly dark. "Unless you want to die."

"No, I just get excited when I see blood, also, you cut my precious hair. I couldn't help it." He explained, his tongue disappearing like a snake into a hole.

"Sorry about that." Anko said, watching the guy walk away, the bow on the back of his outfit swaying slightly as he walked. Shinobu sighed, turning to look at Hinata. She was obviously worried about Naruto but now wasn't the time to comfort her or worry. There was nothing they could do but hope the knuckle head didn't screw up. They had to protect their own team before someone else's. Besides, if he did fail Sasuke was still there. The two of them together are really strong, they had nothing to worry about.. she hoped.

"Looks like we have a lot of blood thirsty ones in this test. Hehe.. this should be fun." She smirked. Shinobu couldn't help but deadpan at the irony. If anything, Anko was the most blood thirsty one there.

"Now! Before we start the second test, there's something I need to hand out." She shouted of the quiet murmurs and whispers of the different teams. "You must sign these agreement forms." She explained.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking puzzled. It was probably on behalf of the village, if other villages didn't sign them, then Konoha would be held accountable for their deaths in the forest. The idea was morbid.. but it made sense.

"There will be deaths in this one, and if you don't sign these, it will all be my responsability." She chuckled. "I'm going to explain the second test, then you can sign theses afterwords. Then, each team will check in at the booth behind me." She started, passing out papers. After the rustling of the papers stilled she began talking again.

"Ok, I will now explain the second test. Simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival." She said solemnly. Or.. what appeared to be solemn. "First I will explain the area in which it will take place. Around practice arena number forty-four, are forty-four locked gates. There is forest, a river and a tower in the center. From the gates to the tower is about ten kilometers." She explained pulling out a large paper with a map of the area on it so she could point to things. The smarter teams were jotting down all the details they could whether in the dirt or on paper they had brought with them.

"During the survival in here, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsu, you will compete in a no rules, scroll battle."

"Scroll?" Someone asked, though Shinobu couldn't see who.

"Yes, you will fight over these two scrolls. The "heaven" and the "earth". There are seventy-nine people here, meaning twenty-six teams. Half, or thirteen, will get the "heaven" scroll while the other half will get the "earth" scroll. To pass this test.. your team must make it to the tower.. with BOTH scrolls." She grinned.

"So thirteen teams will lose their scrolls.. half the teams will definitely fail." Sakura pointed out and Shinobu rolled her eyes. Way to state the obvious. Maybe she was just irrateable because of this but everytime Sakura spoke it grated on her nerves.

"But there's a time limit. This second test will last one hundred and twenty hours.. or five days." Anko explained.

"Five days?" Ino screeched from behind them and Shinobu covered her ears. Her outburst was quickly followed by Choji shouting about dinner. Shinobu would bet her life that Shikamaru has thought troublesome at least ten times since this explanation began.

"You're on your own." Anko stated, about the food Shinobu assumed. "The forest is full of food, just watch out for the man-eating beasts, poisonous insects, poisonous plants.." She drawled.

"And thirteen teams is not likely. As the days go on the distance to the goal will become farther, and time to rest will become shorter. That, and the area is crawling with enemies, you won't get much sleep." She spoked. "So not only will some fail from losing their scroll, some will fail due to the harshness of the course itself." She smiled. "Now I'll explain what will disqualify you. First, those who don't make it to the tower with both scrolls with in the time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate or those who have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is no quitting in the middle. You will be in the forest for five days. Oh, and one more rule. You must not look inside the scrolls until you make it to the tower." She grinned. Something told Shinobu she should trust Anko on that one.

"What happens if you do?" Naruto asked.

"There will be a surprise for anyone who does." She chuckled with a little wink. "A chunin will be asked to handle classified information, this is to test your trust-worthiness. That is it for explanations, when you're ready, exchange the three forms for your scroll. Or four in the case of team Kurenai. Then choose a gate to get ready for the start." She explained before walking towards the booth herself. Before she entered she looked back at everyone standing there.

"A final word of advice.." She paused, letting everyone's eyes gather on her. "Don't die." She said, but there was no tone of joking in her voice.. she was completely serious. It was silly advice if you thought about it.. someone had to die. It was inevitable.

"Alright, it's about time to hand in your forms!" A man grinned drawing curtains on the booth. Probably to make sure no teams knew what scroll the other teams had, or which team member is carrying it.

"I think Shinobu should carry the scroll.. and we should use disguises.." Shino whispered to the rest of team eight.

"Why?" Kiba asked, his pride obviously wounded.

"If we appear weak we'll have more encounters and chances to get scrolls." Shino explained.

"So can I just go as me?" Shinobu asked.

"Ya, that'll work. As for who holds it, they'll think the strongest person on the team will be holding it. They'll immediately assume Kiba has it, or possibly myself." Shino stated as they entered the booth. Shinobu quickly pocketed the scroll befor the team exited. Shino's phrasing making Kiba grin.

"Yahoo! Survival is our specialty, Hinata, don't go soft on us! We'll definitely do this." Kiba grinned.

"Oi! Examiner!" A random boy yelled out when everyone was gettin assigned their gates.

"What?" Anko asked, eyebrow raised.

"That team has four people, they have an unfair advantage! They should have some other challenge to make things even!" The shouted, earning several nods of agreement. Team eight immediately froze, Hinata looking extremely nervous.

"Yah! Why do they get an extra person!" Another girl joined in.

"Well that's one more person they have to conceal, it's easier to travel secretly in small groups." Anko tried, she didn't particularily want to harm her own team.

"So? They'll get more sleep because they have more people to take shifts, they'll have an advantage in battles because of numbers and now instead of a 33% chance of finding the person with the right scroll we'll only have a 25% chance!" The boy growled, a small smirk underlying his demeaning tone.

"Fine.. Team eight, you'll be split in half. I want half of you at gate 16, the other half at gate 29. You'll be starting roughly twenty kilometers apart." Anko sighed and team eight exchanged glances while the boy looked on, his expression smug.

"Just stick to the plan, we can go in our pairs. Kiba and I will go to gate 16, you two can go to 29. We'll take a right diagonal into the forest, you a left. That way we should meet up along the way to the tower." Shino muttered.

"Alright.. if both pairs try and get both scrolls we can get more enemies out, if not we'll just ambush from the tower." Shinobu added in a hushed tone. They all nodded before going their seperate ways, receiving sympathetic glances from the other Konoha shinobi. They must have assumed it was a death sentence. Naruto just grinned and gave them a thumbs up causing Hinata to blush.

"Everyone follow your instructor and go to your gates! We will start in thirty minutes!" Anko shouted.


Gate 27: Shikamaru, Choji, Ino.

"Risking our lives.. this sucks but we'll have to do it." Shikamaru grinned slightly, thinking about which teams would be best to target, so far Naruto's team seemed like the best. He'd go after team eight.. but Asume wouldn't want that.


Gate 16: Kiba, Shino

"We need to move as fast as possible in the beginning. That boy from earlier was right, we can rest up once we're together but we're vulnerable now. If we keep course Hinata's byakuugan will find us." Shino stated, Kiba nodding as he focused on the gate.


Gate 12: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke

"Ok! I won't lose! I'll kick anyone's ass who gets near me!" Naruto shouted, giving the middle finger to the gate. Sakura glared at him while Sasuke stood in silence, trying to figure out the best course of action.


Gate 20: The Sound Nin Trio

Hehehe.. it's finally here.. the chance to fulfill our mission. Dosu thought, smiling under his bandages.


Gate 38: Kabuto's team.

"We'll split up once we enter.. I'll be going after Uchiha's team." Kabuto ordered.


Gate 6: Gaara, Temari, Kankuro.

Of course the other teams.. But I'm also afraid of being with him for five days.. Kankuro thought, warily glancing at Gaara


Gate 41: Neji, Lee, Tenten

I'll do my best! Gai-sensei! Lee thought, his eyes shining with unshed tears.


Gate 15: Mysterious Grass Nin Trio.

"We're allowed to kill from here on out, so it'll make things easier." The one with the long tongue spoke, his teammate nodding.

"So we go after the rookies."


Gate 29: Hinata, Shinobu

"W-we can do this." Hinata smiled, watching Shinobu quickly change her appearance much to the shock of the instructor they were following.

"Yup, I know we can, we just need to move quickly and meet up with Shino and Kiba as quickly as we can. After a couple of hours of travel we should start using byakuugan. We can rest when we're together, we'll have an advantage when it comes to sleep." Shinobu grinned earning a quick nod. Quickly she tied up her hair into one long pony tail, she didn't want it getting in the way.

"W-what should I look like?" Hinata asked, a little unsure of herself.

"Well, you're going to want to mask your eyes since they give away your strength. Maybe we could just go as twins? Try looking similar to me. We're guarunteed to be targeted at least once with this appearance." She stated and Hinata nodded quickly morphing into Shinobu. The only difference being their eyes. While Shinobu's held their deep onyx, Hinata's were tinted from her byakuugan since she didn't want to put too much chakra into the jutsu. Her eyes were a dark purple.

The two watched anxiously as the instructor pulled out a key and began to undo the chains holding the gate shut. They both checked quickly to make sure that their weapons were ready and nothing would hinder them when they traveled.

"The second test of the chunin exam.." Anko's voice echoed around the gates, Shinobu immediately grinned, imagining how loud she would be had they been standing next to her. "NOW BEGINS!"

"Alright.. we can do this.." Shinobu grinned, both girls nodded before swiftly running through the gate.


A/N: And.. I have another cliffy. If I made it any longer we'd hit way over 5000 words because I wouldn't be able to stop. I promise a quick update though, not like last time I swear XD Hope you enjoyed it :D


Neko Morie: OMG YAY! A song :P Thanks so much :D I appreciate it.


Mi-chan1991: School does that :P Omg.. I don't think I could do that... Shinobu.. beaing self-absorbed and duck-butted... omfg.. XD


Alli ate Sora-Sorry Roxas: Gotta love mental images :P Don't die though! Well then magnets suck XD Hurmm... I wonder.. XD


DutchyPuppy: Evil forest indeed :D and yes, I updated, Anko is awesome as are fishsticks.. which remind me of kisame. hope you get better soon!


little firework: I tried to get it out quickly :P life gets in the way sometimes XD thank you.


XxInuzukaxX: Woooot :D I love french but it doesn't help that I already have a headache DX haha, a review can't suck :P Thank you for 's one of my favourite songs :P I couldn't let a main character walk away on a question. neva'! Hurm.. Maybe it his? There are a lot of red-heads with tattoos on their foreheads after all XD :3 Haha, school sucks but the camping trip was amazing :D


chibichibi98: Thanks! :D I definitely agree, their just so awesome together XDDDDDD mwehehe. Thank you.


xxpaperheartxx: thank you :P I definitely tried my best :D That'll be interesting :P


ThePhoenixOfTears: *looks at review* ... O.o.. *looks again* ... O.o *pulls out leg rest and grabs a cup of coffee then looks again* much better :D lol :D Canoeing and Kayaking are both tons of fun but a load of work on the arms. yay necks :D See .. I'm HORRIBLE with procrastination.. last year I did everything half assed and still did good in school, now I'm actually trying to do all my work but my brain is fighting me on it. It's like it doesn't want me to work :P I'm only worried about grade 12 because as long as I understand everything it's grade 12 that will make the biggest difference in university applications :P Ya, but we also have to remember that it might not be Naruto who changes his mind anymore. Shinobu is here too. Shinobu and Naruto have a lot of things that are a like so there is a big chance that Shinobu might be the one to get rid of the stick *the one up his rear end I mean* lol :P Ya, Naruto definitely does that to people :P 5,7,5 ... like.. I can't even explain past that lol my brain died XD it's all about the syllables maaaaaan *holds up peace sign* :P lol. Yup :/ we need her for the plot -.- stupid future plot that needs mika ... grrr...

Haha, I really don't like that song :P It reminds me of "TGIF" and "SHIT" *that's not a curse* "Thank god it's friday" and "sorry hun it's thursday" loool. I have my moments of feeling awesome but most of the time I wish I lived in the world of Naruto or one of the other awesome books I read. I think it'd be more enjoyable. I definitely like doing that. it's like *sitting in english class while teacher babbles on about stuff i already know* "Miyuki?" "Huh what?" "What's the answer?" "urm.. I don't know.. I was dreaming about saving this little old lady from becoming an excuse of Kakashi sempai." "Pardon?" "... the answer is in medias res..." "Good." "tee hee.. come come paradise." "what?" OH JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND PICK ON SOMEONE ELSE I ANSWERED!" "er... ok then.." well that was random.. o.o... == :P That's the problem though, because things change it gets complicated. I have to figure out what all WILL change. Will Gaara become better? Will someone die? Like... how am I going to do this O.o... so much thought. I love hedley. The singer's voice is amazing. I saw that review XD It made my day :D wooow O.o you passed the limit? holy fudge monkeys! I really appreciated that :) Haha, the competition may be in either one, I'm actually thinking it should be in mirror. The winner will get a cameo :D or something.. not really sure yet XD

Aww.. well I hope your mood gets better soon :( She is actually a lot like Itachi. She has fairly good foresight but she also has very good instincts. Yes, the dread was well placed but I feel the need to bring up something that not many people have thought about yet.. Orochimaru is after the sharingan right? Everyone seems to forget.. Shinobu is an Uchiha too.. mwahahahaha! ;D Neji really needed a dumb moment :D Facepalming and deadpanning are awesome :D Hitami :D The one character who manages to make her way into almost every single story I'll ever write. Yup, that's Naruto for you. Haha, but a kiss seems friendly ;D but ya, interaction between the siblings other than fighting and kissing starts now.O.o.. Itachi being Naruto's anbu guard. Good potentially happen. But.. Naruto and Shinobu didn't become friends until after the massacre. But considering they were both in roughly the same area.. you're too good at figuring stuff out XD Haha, your grammar is fine, pre is before. No clones for Naruto :P but Shino is really nice :D and he knows her well and is smart enough to figure out how to make sure his entire team passes. Naruto.. as much as he'd be a great inspirational speaker.. i never could imagine him as hokage because of all the paper work and brains needed XD Can you imagine him sitting at a desk assigning missions and thinking through which team would be best where?Anko is awesome sauce XD Haha, it's not that small :P Mirror review was EPIC. :D Thanks haha, it ended up being way later *sooo many reviews of my own that I had to write, I had over 20 updates from stories to review too XD* but here we are :D