In time of war, when truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies.
-Winston Churchill

Chapter 21: Bodyguard of Lies

Ibiki waited a few moments as the genin scribbled down their answers to the bonus question. Shikamaru sat at his desk, staring blankly at his sheet of paper. It wasn't as much that he didn't understand the riddle, but he was thinking about its purpose. Ninja weren't textbooks. There was no way that they'd have a test just to make them pass or fail like this. That was for the academy, and now everything had to be done off of instinct. So why would there be extra credit? It didn't make any sense... Could it be graded? But then, what was the purpose of the grade if no ninja had to calculate the velocity of a kunai?

He stared down at his paper where he had written "A Lie" at the bottom of the page. He figured that if he at least wrote it down, he might have the chance to figure out what was going on. A hand reached down to grab his paper, and Shikamaru looked up to see one of the chuunin looking at him pointedly. They looked at each other for a few seconds before the chuunin grabbed the paper and moved on. What had that been all about?

"The last question will be done individually. One by one, you will all enter the side room," Ibiki jabbed a thumb over towards the door behind him, "and you will be asked the question. But keep in mind that if you fail, you will never become a chuunin. This question will be the deciding factor of whether or not you even have the foggiest hope of becoming anything but a genin. I will give you the chance to leave now, but if you stay, know that you might never get another chance." The genin looked between one another and gulped.

"I can't take it! I'm sorry!" A genin shot up from his seat and shook his head. "I don't want to ruin my chances!" The boy's teammates groaned and left the room. The room became eerily quiet as everyone waited to see if their teammates would pull out.

"Then the final part of this exam will begin. We will begin with Aburame. Come." Shino quietly got up from his chair and followed Ibiki into the room. Time passed, and slowly, the room drained of students. The strange thing was that the genin never came back. Shikamaru watched carefully from his chair as each student was led away. They had to be taken away for a reason. Was it a secret ploy or was it psychological manipulation?

"Nara Shikamaru." Shikamaru got up from his chair and glanced back at Kei and Naruto. Naruto flashed a grin and gave his friend a thumbs-up while Kei gave him a single nod. Shikamaru gave a small smile in return and followed Ibiki into the room. Shikamaru noticed how Ibiki glanced back at Shikamaru's two teammates as he closed the door behind them.

"Good job on the riddle. Not many were able to get that one." Ibiki said calmly. Shikamaru held back a curious look. Ibiki was obviously expecting a reaction. Ibiki was never one to give out compliments, so it had to have another purpose. Could Ibiki be a part of the revolution? But how could that be? Ibiki had been one of the Kage's closest allies for many years now! Shikamaru bit his lip slightly. It couldn't hurt to test it though.

"I know. I do wish there were more of us though. You know, the smart ones." Something flashed in Ibiki's eyes. Shikamaru tried to pick up what it was, but Ibiki had already turned away. The man walked across the hallway and twisted open one of the two doors.

"Go through here. You passed the test. We'll get in contact with you later." Shikamaru nodded before ambling through the door. He looked relaxed, but his mind was racing. What was that supposed to mean? Was it an IQ test to see who would be strong in code breaking, or was it what Shikamaru had feared? The door swung close behind him, and Shikamaru looked at the wood nervously. He didn't know what this could mean, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to know.

-TSUME-

The genin all huddled together inside of the room. Ibiki looked up at the wall clock and sighed. "Everyone, get away from the windows. Your next examiner will be coming in soon." Naruto gave the man an incredulous look before edging away from the long paneled windows. A few seconds later, true to his promise, the windows all exploded in a spray. A purple-haired woman shunshined into the room, crouching onto the ground. She stood up and waved her hands in a flourish.

"I am Mitarashi Anko, your fabulous examiner for the second part of the exams! I'm here to make you suffer and wish you were dead. So get ready for the ride, maggots!" Anko smirked cheekily at the gawking students. "I know you all think I'm gorgeous, but the clock's ticking! Let's ditch this all coot and head over to begin thefun stuff." Anko lipped her licks, and a shiver ran down the necks of the genin. No one liked the way she said 'fun stuff'.

"Don't traumatize them before the exam even begins, Mitarashi-san." Ibiki said neutrally. The genin sighed in relief. "They'll need their wits about them if they're going to survive." All right, perhaps now was not a good time to relax. Naruto gulped nervously and shifted his way through the crowd to be near Kei and Shikamaru.

"Right, right. Whatever you say, oldie. Let the young people handle this, so you can get back to your crutch. I'm sure it's painful to stand like that." Anko said with a flippant wave of her hand. She turned back to the genin and said, "Forth! Glory and death awaits us! Mostly death, but the point still stands." She smiled a sugar sweet smile that made the genin in the room shake.

Anko pushed her way through the crowd to the other side of the room. She twisted open the brass handle and walked through it. The genin all shared looks before moving to follow after the kunoichi. "She's mental." Kiba grumbled, trudging out the door.

Anko led the genin out of the facility and away from the village. The buildings soon fell away to trees and they found themselves walking through a dark forest. "Almost there, kiddos! Hurry it up! It's already annoying that we weren't there thirty minutes ago! I'm growing old here!" Anko called back over her shoulder.

Shikamaru sighed. This was so troublesome. Kei patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. It was nice having someone to commiserate with. Because right now, she felt as if her legs were going to give out from under her. She didn't go on runs for insanely long periods of time. Shikamaru and Naruto did that, or at least Naruto did. She could go fifteen minutes then go have a coughing fit. She just wasn't an athlete and it really showed just about now.

"And here we are!" Anko said merrily, skipping ahead. The lines of trees broke and a tall chain link fence stood loomed before them. Barbed wire circled the top of the poles, adding to the sense of fear that all the genin felt. "This will be where the next part of the exam will be held. Oh yes! I almost forgot!" Anko dug a hand into one of her many coat pockets and pulled out a wad of papers. She dropped the crumpled papers onto the ground before reaching for more in her pocket. After a few tries, she finally seemed satisfied.

"That should be enough." Anko said, looking at the pile on the ground. Her eyes flicked up towards all the immobile kids and she said, "So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and sign them! I'm not babying you, pick them up yourselves. If you want to participate, you have to sign one of those babies." Naruto reached out and grabbed one of the sheets and looked it over quickly. "It's your death waiver. Meaning, if you screw up and get yourself killed, it ain't my fault."

Naruto spluttered and looked up at Anko. Was she serious? By the look on her face, she was very serious. He stared at her blankly for a few moments before he was tapped on the arm. He looked over to see Kei holding out a pen for him. He thanked her and took the writing utensil before sloppily writing his name on the dotted line. He had never been that good at handwriting, and he wasn't about to start now.

Anko walked around to collect all the papers before stuffing the sheets messily back into a pocket. "Good, good. Now let me explain the rules to all you munchkins." Anko walked towards the fence where a pile of satchels lay. She picked up one of the bags and looked carefully over the bags before plucking another one out. She dropped them in front of the students and crouched down beside them. She flipped the tops and pulled out two scrolls from the two satchels.

"This one right here," Anko said, holding up the white scroll in her hand, "is called the heaven scroll. And this other one," she held up the blue scroll, "is called the earth scroll. To finish this exam, you need to get both of them and head to the tower in the center of the arena. However, you'll only begin with one of the scrolls. And whatever you do," Anko paused to glare at all the kids, "don't open it." She dropped the scrolls back into their bags and placed them back into the pile.

"Each genin team will get a single bag. You can decide whether or not to keep the bag or ditch it. I honestly don't care as long as you keep the scroll. You can do whatever you want to get another scroll. Steal it, kill someone and then steal it, run wild. The waivers have been signed, so I honestly don't care crap about it." Anko snorted.

"There are 35 teams left. That means only 17 of ya will be coming out. Or less, depending on how many scrolls each surviving team collects in the end..." Anko trailed off, giving the genin a sly smile. "Give me an interesting show, will ya? It gets boring if nothing happens." She gave a shark-toothed grin before turning back to the pile.

"Each team must choose someone to pick up your bag. You can pick who carries it whenever you'd like. Feel free to switch it up if you want, just make it snappy. Each pack will have a number on it. Go to the gate numbered with the number on the pack. You'll have five days to make it to the center tower with both scrolls. The fun is going to begin in ten minutes, so take this time carefully!" Anko said cheerily before walking away towards a tower in the distance.

All the genin looked at each other nervously before slowly heading up to receive their packs. Kei went up to grab Tsume's, leaving Naruto and Shikamaru back in the crowd. Naruto looked over towards Gaara and the two met gazes. Gaara nodded at Naruto, who smiled. Even if the two teams met up, they'd avoid fighting each other. They were allies now, so it wouldn't do either of them any good if they kicked each other out of the running.

The maroon haired girl walked back up to them with a pack in hand. "Come on. Let's hurry up to gate 29. We can talk there." She lifted the pack over her shoulder and led the two boys over towards the plaster sign reading: 29. As they stood in front of the gate, Naruto offered to take the bag from her, but Kei shook her head. "We all know I'm too weak to carry this anyways, but they don't." She nodded towards the genin team that had just walked into 28. "Let them think I'm carrying it for now, and we'll deal with it when we get inside."

Shikamaru nodded. "All right. Just put it down if you get tired though." He took notice of the teams around their gate, trying to track where he had seen them before. 30 seemed familiar, perhaps they were Konoha ninja? He wouldn't doubt it, but they were turned away from him, so he couldn't tell. 28 was also from Konoha. A good majority of the passing teams had come from Konoha, but that was to be expected since Konoha had entered 29 teams at the beginning.

He noticed the genin from 28 talking amongst themselves in hushed tones. That wasn't surprising considering what was about to happen, but what was surprising was the fact that the girl kept on glancing at Tsume. Shikamaru frowned slightly. Were they going to try and attack Tsume once they got in the arena? He knew that Konoha would have to defeat some of their own considering they had over half the remaining team count, but he couldn't help but be suspicious. Everything made him suspicious.

He had reported the notes of the papers that his father had written, but he hadn't heard back from the Hokage on it. A part of him suspected his father, but another part had confidence in his dad's loyalty. If anything, his father had probably suspected the traitors and was trying to investigate them, but Shikamaru would never know until it was confirmed. That was why Shikamaru hated the spy business. It was the business of lies. Even the truth had to be coated with a healthy dosage of lies so that no one could see that it was really the truth.

Shikamaru was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a buzzer ringing. Anko's voice came out loud over the speakers, "Listen up, maggots! The fun is going to start in 5!" Kei tightened her hands around the strap of the back and took in a deep breath. "4! 3!" Naruto flipped a kunai out of his pouch and slipped it up his sleeve. "2! 1!" Shikamaru rolled his head from side to side before bending his knees ever so slightly, reading to spring away. "GO!"

The gates snapped open, and Tsume bolted ahead into the forest. They ran for a good five minutes before stopping. Kei had her ears open before shaking her head. She couldn't hear anyone. Kei turned to Shikamaru and tossed him the pack. Shikamaru caught it and flipped the top, pulling out the scroll. It was a heaven scroll. He inspected it carefully before tucking it away into his belt. It was a handy thing, that belt. He had a few explosive tags hidden in it along with kunai and senbon. The best thing was the fact that he could cover it up with his jacket, so it would be hard to notice.

"Give me the bag back," Kei said, holding out her hand. Shikamaru looked at her curiously before it snapped into place. He handed her the bag back, and she slung the empty pack over her shoulder. "It'll make it look like I still have the scroll. I've gotten pretty good at dodging anyways." Kei brushed some of the hair out of her face. "So, what's the plan?"

Naruto looked to Shikamaru expectantly, and said boy sighed. "How troublesome... but we're going to head to the tower. If we don't meet someone on the way, we'll wait outside the tower for people to appear. If they come to the tower, they'll probably have both scrolls already. They will also have probably fought someone on the way, weakening them. We'll jump them then. It makes the most sense."

Naruto lit up, and he bounced up and down. "This is going to be awesome! Let's go and get a head start! The sooner we get there, the better the trap we can make." Kei and Shikamaru nodded in reply, and they set off. Kei and Shikamaru bounded through the trees, shunshining their way through the forest. Naruto did something resembling giant hops, but managed to keep up with Kei and Shikamaru in any case.

They made their way through the forest, listening carefully for the sound of an enemy team. Surprisingly enough, for the first hour, nothing happened. Shikamaru found it curious considering that 28 had been so furtive at the opening gates. He didn't share his worry to his teammates because the chances were high that he was just paranoid. He still couldn't shake that feeling that they were being watched though...

Shikamaru closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the forest. He heard the twittering of birds, the sound of Tsume's rhythmic steps across the branches, but there were a few sounds that were out of step. Shikamaru's eyes flashed open and he looked down at the ground where Naruto was. He counted the sounds of Naruto's steps and then listened again. They were being followed. "Kei-chan, we're being shadowed. We need to get on the ground and tell Naruto-san without causing a disturbance."

Kei's eyes widened, and she nodded. They both landed on the next branch before propelling off to the ground. They landed in front of Naruto, stopping the blonde from taking another leap ahead. His eyes spelled his confusion before he read their faces. Naruto's expression changed to one of solemnness. The three backed into a defensive triangle, careful to make sure that no one was being obviously protected.

"Come out! We know you're following us!" Naruto called out to the darkness. The pounding of footsteps had stopped, and the forest was now silent. For a second, Shikamaru wondered if he had been wrong, but then a black haired woman stepped out from behind a tree.

"All right, you got me." The girl crossed her arms and tilted her head back arrogantly, revealing her Konoha head band. "I have to admit, I'm surprised. I thought I had the timing pretty well down, but I guess not. Oh well. It's not as if you'll live to tell the tale or anything." She sniffed haughtily, withdrawing two swords from behind her back.

"My name is Miyajima Rika! Prepare to meet your doom!" She twirled the swords around her hands and took a step nearer to the trio. She stopped for a moment and thought contemplatively. "Oh yes, I suppose I'm not the only one." A sinister grin made its way onto her face. "Come out!"

Out of the trees burst five genin, weapons at the ready. Naruto's eyes widened. They had formed an alliance! "Split!" Naruto yelled, diving out of the way of the first genin. A red haired boy thrust his spear out towards him, causing Naruto to slide out of the way. Naruto kicked out, sending the boy back a few feet before another came after him.

Naruto rolled out of the way of the brown-haired girl and yelled, "Tsuin Tatsumaki no Jutsu!" A third genin's senbon got sucked up into the vortex, making the tornado a whirling weapon.

"Get back, Sasada-san! I'm going to go all out!" A fourth voice called. Naruto looked up to see a blonde haired boy signing furiously before yelling, "Doton: Doryuso!" Naruto's eyes widened and he looked around wildly to figure out where the attack would come from. He failed to realize one thing: the first rule of being a shinobi is to expect the unexpected. Rocks shifted beneath him and shot forth, stabbing Naruto in the back of his leg.

Naruto yelled in pain, but forced himself away from the spike. He fought to keep the jutsu going, using it to ward away the four genin that were coming after him. Another spike shot up from the ground, and Naruto barely moved the vortex in the way of the rock barb as it shot towards his head. Naruto may not have been one for calculations, but he knew a killing strike when he saw one. Naruto yelled in fury, and dove at them with renewed energy. If they were going to use killing blows, then he couldn't just sit back.

Shikamaru looked over to Naruto, hearing his yell. He gritted his teeth when he saw that four of them were going after Naruto. But why would they be doing that unless... It sparked in Shikamaru's mind. They were targeting Naruto. They must have known that he was a jinchuuriki, and were trying to take him out now because deaths were frequent in the games. They had to know how Naruto was hesitant about hurting his own comrades, even if they were competitors in the exams. Shikamaru growled and shot forward at Rika, who was twirling her blades once more.

She lunged, her right sword coming at him from above with the left headed for his stomach. Shikamaru drop rolled onto the ground, moving past her. As he rolled, he slipped a kunai out of his pack and stabbed into her leg. Rika yelled and tripped forward. She yanked the kunai out viciously before throwing it at Shikamaru's neck. Shikamaru leaned to the side to avoid the kunai and quickly began signing. "Hikari Daichi no Ken no Jutsu!"

He slammed his hands on the ground and felt the earth shift underneath them. He wrapped his hands around a growing mound in the earth and pulled. A sword appeared from the earth, and Shikamaru held it protectively in front of him. He only had one strike, so he had to make it worth it. "Really? You're really going to try and attack me with one of my own weapons? You're stupider than they all say." Rika snarled, moving to attack again.

Shikamaru ducked over her first strike and slammed the dulled blade of his sword into her chest, releasing it as he did so. The blade carried Rika back into a tree before cracks developed along the earth. A few seconds later, the shell cracked open and a blinding light flooded the forest. Shikamaru held a hand over his eyes and turned to where he remembered Naruto to be. "Naruto-san! These genin are traitors! They're trying to kill you!" There was no other reason they could be targeting Naruto.

Naruto was the unknown factor in the rebellion. If the Jinchuuriki sided with the Hokage, then it could end up turning the tide. The traitors had to eliminate them while they still had the time and the exams were perfect for that. This part of the exam wasn't proctored. No one would see what happened inside the forest.

The red-haired boy was the first to recover from the light bomb. His eyes widened in surprised from Shikamaru's statement. "We might have let you go before. The container is the only one we need, but now... Now you all have to die!" He yelled, charging at Shikamaru with renewed vigor.

-TSUME-

"What was that flash of light? Come on, let's go and see!" Tenten demanded, snagging Neji by the shoulder and pulling him towards the dissipating light. They hadn't seen anyone in this stupid forest, and Tenten was just about ready to attack a bunny if not just to get rid of the tension. Neji had been as uptight as ever and Lee had been surprisingly quiet. She just wanted something to happen.

She crept through the trees, and hid on the fringe of the battle. Peering around the corner of a tree, she looked at where the three genin teams were fighting. She barely caught the sound of "you all have to die!" being shouted. She started in surprise and turned towards Neji and Rock Lee. "We have to help."

"I agree! Killing people is most unyouthful especially when they outnumber! Come, my youthful companions, we must save them!" Lee moved to enter the fray, but Neji grabbed him and held him in place.

"Think about this carefully! We're going to head into a losing battle for what reason? We'll just get ourselves in trouble if we enter this conflict. It isn't our fight to deal with, so we should just back off." Neji reasoned, crossing his arms. He looked from Tenten to Lee, hoping they would understand where he was coming from. The two teams that were fighting against Tsume seemed to be in much better condition. If Team 9 entered, they'd be fighting to salvage what was left. It was too much trouble for it to be worth it.

"But it's unyouthful to not help them!" Lee exclaimed, earning him a swatting on the back of the head.

"Be quiet!" Tenten whispered. "But I agree. It's not right for us to just leave after seeing this, Neji-san. And in any case, one of the two teams probably has the scroll we need. You can't argue with that, can you?"

Neji looked between the two of them, sighing. "I still don't think it's a good idea, but I doubt I'll be able to convince you otherwise." The other two brightened at that. "Just don't kill them. They may be trying to kill Tsume, but we don't want their blood on our hands. Just go for knockout blows."

Tenten brightened, smiling happily. "Yes! Come on, Lee! Let's go!" She grabbed her bou staff from her back and burst into the clearing with Lee not far behind. Neji groaned and rubbed his forehead. Whatever happened, at least he would be able to say it was not his fault.

"Byakugan."

Author's Note: This week has been very tiring for me. I've been in and out of migraines for the past four days, so I've barely gotten anything done. It's pretty awful, but they should go away soon. I normally have one bad week every month or so, but I'll be better soon.

Thanks to Pokepikachu1 for betaing and correcting my jutsu. xD

Thanks to everyone who continues to read this story every week! I really appreciate your support! (:

Hikari Daichi no Ken no Jutsu| C rank ninjutsu. Create a sword out of the earth. It allows one hit before it cracks and creates a flash of light.
Doton: Doryuso| C rank ninjutsu. Causes spikes and barbs to appear from the ground to pierce the target.