Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21

Chapter 39

A large group of genin stood in a clearing near a large group of mountains a few miles outside of Amegakuru. A female Ame jounin stood facing the group, a clipboard in her hand. "The Amekage sends his regrets for not being here. He had business to attend to," she said. She paused to clear her throat. "This is where you show us what you're really made of. You've all passed the information-gathering part of the exam and shown your fighting prowess in the arena. Now it's time to demonstrate your leadership skills."

Naruto's stomach was twisting into knots but at the same time he was excited. Somehow he had a feeling he was going to pass this time.

"This will be different than previous chuunin exam finals. They have finally been changed to make sure leadership skills are focused on. You will be divided into two groups. Each group will be given a base to defend and will be accompanied by a jounin examiner. Your goal is to capture the scroll hidden in the other team's base. If your team loses the exercise you still have a chance to become a chuunin. We are looking at your performance during the exercise-winning is not a requirement but we do ask that you try your best. The box next to me contains blue and green cubes. The color cube you pull indicates the team you will be on. Please form a line and take one cube from the box." The jounin stepped to one side and the genin stepped up.

One by one they all took a cube and when the selection process was over Sakura looked longingly at Lee, who was not on her team. Her team did consist, however, of Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, Kankuro, Nao and Chouji. On the other side were Naruto, Lee, Hinata, Ino, Tenten, Temari and Neji. Both teams also had an assortment of genin from other countries.

The Ame jounin unfolded a map and laid it out on a stone table in the center of the clearing. "Blue team, you will be in the base on the east side of the mountains," she said as she handed a copy of the map to Kankuro. "Green team, your base is in the foothills on the west side of the mountains," she said as she handed the other copy of the map to Naruto. "This exam will require not only leadership skills, but teamwork as well. The exam will continue until one team is the victor. You have two hours to reach your base, secure it and come up with a plan of attack. Have one person stand guard outside to watch for the flare that will signal the start of the exam. Good luck and you may now head for your base."

The genin all nodded and began to move out.

"So when do we make our move?" Kisame asked his leader.

Pein looked at his subordinate. "When Tobi lets us know Naruto is in a situation where we can capture him without too much trouble."

Kisame cocked an eyebrow. "It's not like we can't take out a bunch of genin."

"You're forgetting all the jounin here right now. Not to mention the Kages. And many of the shinobi taking the exam may be genin in rank but are nearly jounin in power," Pein replied.

Kisame sighed. "I just prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around. It's not my style." He glanced backward at his sword. "Besides, Samehada hasn't had anything to snack on in days."

"What a dump!" Kiba complained as he looked over the blue team's 'base'. It was a cave nearly two hundred feet up the side of a cliff that had been outfitted with a large wooden door.

Kankuro stepped forward. "It doesn't matter what it looks like as long as we defend it well."

Kiba rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said as he stalked off through the entrance.

The examiner shook his head and scribbled something on the paper on his clipboard as the rest of the team went to check out the inside of their base.

"It's certainly not much," said a female mist genin with dark green hair as she stared at the heavy wooden door situated in the side of the large hill.

Naruto grinned. "Doesn't matter, cuz we're gonna kick ass!"

The team walked into the base and a male genin with an orange swirled mask and an Ame village headband walked up next to jounin examiner. "He's an interesting person," he remarked.

"Agreed," said the examiner with a smile. "You'd better get inside, uhhh.…" she said as she looked through her list of team members, "...Tobi."

Tobi nodded. "Okay."

Kiba would have killed to see what the examiner was scribbling on his notepad. He couldn't help but wonder if his earlier outburst had cost him some points. He glanced at him one more time and turned back to the conversation at hand. "Sasuke should be the lookout."

Sasuke glared at him. He felt being a lookout was a waste of his skills. "And why's that?"

"Because you have the sharingan," Kiba said as though it should have been obvious.

Shino decided to put a stop to the debate before it became a pissing contest. "My bugs will be the lookouts. There are many of them, which will give us an advantage."

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "You should send them out now then."

Shino nodded and raised his arms level. Bugs flooded out of his sleeves and left for the outside of the base.

Naruto glanced around the cement room they were in. They had had to take several tunnels to get to it so he knew the maze effect of it all would offer at least some protection from invaders. "We should set up some traps outside and then decide on how we want ta set up the guard rotation," he said to the entire group.

Tobi nodded. "Sounds good to me," he said in a voice that seemed a little gruff for his age.

A female Mist genin cocked an eyebrow. "I think we should decide who our leader is before anyone makes suggestions," she said with a warning tone.

Naruto frowned. "We're supposed to be working together."

The Mist genin folded her arms. "How are leadership skills supposed to be shown if no one is chosen to be leader?"

"I think the point is to see who emerges as the leader type, not to vote on leaders right out of the gate," Temari said.

A Rock genin nodded in agreement. "I think blondie here.…"

Naruto interrupted. "Naruto," he said with a slightly insulted expression at being called 'blondie'.

"Sorry. I think Naruto has a good starting plan at least," The Rock genin finished up.

Nods of agreement were seen from all members of the team and so even the Mist genin sighed in capitulation.

Nao frowned at the darkening sky. "Shouldn't they have started it by now?" she asked Sasuke as they stood outside, watching the horizon.

"They're probably going to wait till first light," Sasuke answered.

"We better get some sleep then," Nao said.

"If we're gonna sleep we'll need to do it in shifts just in case," Chouji said as he appeared from the shack on the mouth of the cave.

"I think Shino's bugs will be a good enough alarm system," Sasuke countered.

Chouji's mouth twisted in thought. "I guess."

As the first rays of light began to peek over the mountains a lone bug raced along the tunnels back to her master. She landed in Shino's right ear and made a frantic clicking sound.

Shino's eyes fluttered open and his eyes looked toward the right. After a moment of listening to his insect companion he nodded. "I see. Arigato." He stood up and the bug flew away as he began to wake the rest of his team.

Ino's eyes drooped as she watched the sky. She was the last one voted to be on watch and consciousness was beginning to escape her when she saw a trail of smoke as a huge flare screamed across the heavens and exploded at its zenith. She shook off her exhaustion and bolted into the base. She ran into the main chamber yelling. "It's time! It's time! Everyone, get up!"

The rest of the green team began to stand up as quickly as their sleep clouded minds would allow. "Aw man, Ino," Naruto grumbled as he got to his feet. "You woke me up out of the best dream."

"What was it about?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked at his girlfriend and blushed. He cleared his throat. "We don't have time for that," he said quickly.

Neji cocked an eyebrow but let it drop. "Naruto's right. We need to get moving."

"We'll need a field team and a guard team," A male Waterfall genin said. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"Well, either Hinata or Neji should be in the field team. We'll definitely need the byakugan out there," Naruto said.

"I will volunteer for guard duty," Neji said, figuring there would be a better chance for action nearer the enemy's prize.

"Okay then, Hina-chan it is," Naruto said with a smile. "I want to be in the field team. Lee, how bout you? We'll need your speed."

"Of course, Naruto-kun," Lee replied with his trademark 'nice-guy pose'.

"I will volunteer for the field team," Toby said, stepping forward.

Naruto smiled. "Okay."

A Waterfall genin spoke up. "I have a kekkei genkai that could be useful."

"What is it?" Temari asked.

"I can hear over large distances," he answered.

"Works for me. What's your name?" Naruto asked.

"Tsuyoshi," the Waterfall genin answered with a small smile.

"I suggest Ino for the field team as well. Her body switching jutsu may help remove a few guards," Neji offered.

Naruto nodded.

"That makes six for the field team and seven for the guard team. I think it's a good balance," Neji said.

"Let's go everyone," Hinata said cheerfully.

The blue team's field unit held their collective breath as they waited for inner Sakura to return. They had decided that since the early morning afforded them a lot of shadows that Sakura's kekkei genkai would be the best way to scout the enemy's base. A barely discernible whisper in the wind was all that announced it had returned. Inner Sakura landed in front of the group and gave its report. "I saw two outside and I suspect there are more within."

Sakura frowned. "Who's on the outside?"

"Neji and Temari," Inner Sakura answered.

"Thank you," Sakura said and then released the jutsu. She turned to the others. "This is bad."

"Why?" Nao asked.

"If Neji's on the outside there's a good chance we've already been seen," Kiba replied with a slight growl to his voice.

"How could he see us?" a female Sound genin asked. "We can't even see him from here."

"It's his kekkei genkai," Sakura answered. "He can see through solid objects."

The Sound genin's eyes widened but then looked confused. "But then why hasn't he alerted the others on guard?"

"He's probably waiting to see what we do," a male Rock genin answered.

"Sakura," Sasuke said. "Do you think inner Sakura could manage to sneak up on him?"

Sakura shook her head. "He would see the chakra signature easily. I think our best strategy would be to create a distraction of some sort."

"I could try a genjutsu," the Sound genin offered. "They're my area of expertise."

"But what kind of illusion would work on someone like Neji?" Sakura asked to no one in particular.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Lava.…"

Kankuro's eyes narrowed. "Lava?"

"Tenten told me about it a few months back. Neji has an extreme fire phobia. He's managed to deal with it for the most part through immersion therapy but Tenten said that when they had to cross the volcano he froze solid. They had to help him back from the edge," Sasuke replied.

"Works for me," Sakura said. "What's your name?" she asked the sound genin.

The sound genin smiled. "Kagura."

"Okay, Kagura. How close do you need to be to your subject?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe about another fifty yards," Kagura answered.

"That's all?" the Rock genin commented in surprise. "You've got one hell of a range."

Kagura smiled wider. "Like I said; Genjutsu is my specialty."

Neji managed to keep his mask of calm as he watched the group of enemies nearly four hundred yards away but he was starting to get impatient. What were they doing? They hadn't so much as twitched a muscle in the last fifteen minutes and that bothered him. As he was thinking he began to notice the ground around him waver and very quickly he was standing on a tiny rock island in the middle of a sea of lava. His eyes went as wide as dinner plates as his muscles stiffened. He felt like he couldn't breath. It didn't matter that his conscious mind knew it had to be a genjutsu, it was his subconscious that was in control.

Temari looked on with confusion at her comrade's sudden change in demeanor. "Neji? Neji are you alright?" She reached out and touched his shoulder. "Oi." When she didn't get a response she turned her attention to the forest in front of them, scanning it for the other team. This had to be an enemy jutsu. Mostly likely a genjutsu she thought. She turned around briefly and swung her fan toward the open cave door, sending a gust of wind inside to alert her team mates. Within seconds the rest of the guard team appeared.

Under his mask, Tobi cocked an eyebrow. "They only left one guard outside?" he remarked in a dubious tone.

Naruto frowned. "Trust me. Having Shino out there is the same as having a couple hundred guards. He has these bugs that go scouting for him."

"Bugs?" Tobi asked.

"They live inside his body," Ino replied, making a disgusted face.

Tsuyoshi winced at the idea of insects living in someone's body. "I can try listening for the bugs," he offered.

"Unfortunately they're so small I don't think it would be all that helpful-even with your kekkei genkai," Hinata said with apologetic expression.

Tsuyoshi frowned in disappointment. He had really hoped that his presence would have been more of an asset. He'd even kept his kekkei genkai active the entire mission but his chakra reserves were running low and now he was afraid he would become a burden instead. Suddenly he picked up on a sound to his right, then one from the front and still another from his left. His eyes widened. "His bugs already gave him our location...We're surrounded."

"What?!" Lee said with wide eyes.

Naruto looked around them but saw no one. He set his jaw. "Where are they?" he asked.

"One on each side and one in front," Tsuyoshi replied. "They're about a hundred meters away."

"Nice work, Tsuyoshi," Naruto said with a smile.

In a tree not far away an Ame jounin nodded in approval and added points to Naruto's score.

"Should we go to them or wait for them to come to us?" Lee asked to no one in particular.

After a moment Naruto smiled. "We're gonna let them come to us," he said. "Hina-chan. You remember our mud fight a few months back?"

Hinata blushed a little. "Y-yes."

Naruto's grin grew wider. "You remember how you won?"

...TO BE CONTINUED

I've lost all but one of my beta readers so if anyone would like to volunteer as a beta please PM me.

And now on to why it's been seven months since my last update. This has been a very bad year for me. A week or so after my depressive disorder relapse I lost my favorite aunt to cancer and just when I was starting to feel better I lost my grandmother and then another aunt the day after my grandma's funeral. So I really haven't felt like writing.

I decided to change the way the chuunin exams operate because not one test in the exams from the manga seemed to be about leadership skills to me. And I'm sorry for skipping over the preliminaries but I felt it would have been a long string of useless fights that really wouldn't advance the story.

Take care everyone,

Song