Chapter 7
It has been three days now, so it's now the fourth day of the exam, and we still need a Heaven scroll. We haven't run into any more squads at all, which kind of annoys me, after all, my squad isn't the most interesting or entertaining bunch.
We found a river and heard shouting up ahead. "What's that?" I ask.
"Psh, who knows?" Daisuke says. "Now hurry up and catch some fish Setsuki!"
"I'm trying!" I exclaim walking around the waist-height water.
"Isn't water like, your specialty? Can't you deform your body into water and catch a fish that way?" Susumu asks. I sweatdrop.
"Uhh.. I-I was.. um.. s-seeing how strong the current is! Yeah!" I proclaim. They both sigh.
"What?" We hear from up the river. I look but don't quite see anything.
"I need three more, idiot!" Shouts another voice.
"This is really tiring! Why don't you do it!" The first voice shouts. It clicked, I'd know that yelling anywhere.
"Naruto-kun!" I exclaim.
"What?" Daisuke asks.
"Yoshh!" I shout then turn my body into water, speeding along as the current carries me. I reform my eyes to see up ahead. I see a pair of legs and look up and see a blurry shade of bright yellow. It had to be Naruto. I smile and reform my arms, hugging his legs as I get to him, making him fall over.
"Gaah! Sasuke help! Something's got me!" Naruto cries trying to swim to the rocky bank. I kept hold of his ankles while reforming my body completely. "SASUKE!"
"Idiot, it's only Setsuki." Sasuke grumbles, folding his arms. Naruto stops moving, blinks a few times then looks at the water to see me smiling up at him from under the water. He frowns. I jump up and shake my head, making the water fly from my hair and all over him. "Gah! Watch it!"
"Hahaha! That was hilarious Naruto-kun! You were scared!" I laugh. He squints his eyes in a glare at me and growls. I look to the bank to see Sasuke standing there tapping his foot out of impatience. "Sasuke-kun~!" Sakura calls from afar. Sasuke looks back to the giant rock he's standing in front of, Sakura's voice was coming from the other side of it. "I'm ready for the fire! Can you use your Blazing Fireball?" She calls. Sasuke sighs quietly then turns around and starts walking.
"I guess three is fine." Sasuke says as he walks off.
"Huh? .. Wait, damn it!" Naruto shouts, glaring at his teammate.
"Three? Three what?" I ask. Naruto grumbles and folds his arms.
"Fish." He says then looks to a tree on the opposite side of the river, three fish were pinned to it by kunai, they were shaking their tails trying to get free.
"You need fish? I can get fish!" I exclaim.
"Huh? Oh yeah? Prove it! I bet you can't get more than three! Believe it!" Naruto says in that overconfident tone of his. I get anime tears.
"Naruto.. you don't have to be mean." I sob. He sweatdrops.
"Alright alright.. then catch them then!" He says. I nod then go under, see a few fish then spread chakra out into the water, basically catching the five them with the water itself. I stand up, and chuck them to the bank. Naruto had wide eyes. "H-how did you..?"
"Haha it's magic!" I say.
"Oooh! Magic huh! Can you teach me!" He pleads.
"We'll see." I say smirking slightly.
"Setsuki! Stop running off like that!" Daisuke calls as he and Susumu come running and find me and Naruto.
We sit around the fire as the 8 fish are cooking. "I call dibs on two of them!" Susumu says.
"Nah! I do!" Naruto retorts.
"Can it losers." Sasuke says. "It's been four days since the Second Exam started."
"Yeah, you're right." Sakura says, poking the fire.
"The second exam started began around 3pm. We have only about 25 to 26 hours left." Sasuke says.
"A lot of teams might have already finished. If that's the case.." Sakura says. Naruto starts laughing. I saw Sasuke hold up their scroll, which is also an Earth scroll which means attacking them would also be useless. He is staring at it as though he's deep in thought. I see Naruto and Susumu drooling over the fire, both mentally claiming the biggest fish.
Sakura began taking the fish off the fire, and giving them to everyone. Of course two of us will get two fish because there's six of us, and there's eight fish.
"It may be possible that there are no more Heaven scrolls." Sakura says, giving a sad look. Susumu and Naruto grab the two extra fish.
"What do you mean, Sakura?" Sasuke inquires.
"Four out of the allotted five days for the Second Exam has already passed.. That means that we used up 80 percent of the time for the exam already. Total participants, 84. Or 28 teams. There are only 14 Heaven scrolls and 14 Earth scrolls, and only 14 teams can pass. On top of that, you remember, right, Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura explains then looks at Sasuke. "That Orochimaru guy burned our Heaven scroll." Sasuke nods.
"Wait, Orochimaru?" I ask.
"Yeah, really creepy guy." Naruto says.
They explain to me how they were attacked by this really powerful ninja who is said to be Orochimaru. Susumu and Daisuke shiver at the details, I become utterly freaked out about the whole tongue expanding thing.
"Yeah.. then he burned our Heaven scroll. So, that means when he did that, only 13 teams can pass now. Also, there's no guarantee that the other scrolls are safe." Sakura says.
"After we split up from the other Konoha guys, we used two days to recuperate from our wounds. We'll need to increase the distance we move in a day. The next enemy we meet could be our last chance." Sasuke says, then stands up. "I'll go get some drinking water." He says, holding a small piece of bamboo tied to a string, then starts walking off. Naruto reaches for the scroll Sasuke left there.
"Hey, hey." Naruto says, raising a hand to the side of his face and then speaks in a hushed tone. "I have a good way and it doesn't require us to fight."
"What?" Sakura asks. Naruto grabs his weapon pouch and tips out three scrolls, one blue, red and green. "Are you going to...?"
"Yep. I have a lot of scrolls with me." Naruto says, picking up the blue one. A ninja technique manual, a poison manual and a note-taking one. If we edit these to make it look like the Heaven scroll.."
"Wait!" Sakura says, extending her hand out as a stop sign. "Even if you do that, we don't know what's written inside. If the examiner takes a look inside, she'll find out right away! Idiot!"
"But I thought it was a good idea.." I say, patting Naruto on the back to cheer him up.
"These probably have some sort of passwords on them, and you won't know what the password is until you get both scrolls." Naruto says. "In other words, we need the password to pass. It's got to be something like that."
"Wow you're actually smart Naruto." I say. He glares at me.
".. So what do you think guys?" Naruto asks.
"We don't know what's inside." Sakura mentions. "So there's no point in making a fake, dumbass!" Sakura yells. Naruto went to retort but lowers his head in defeat. "Geez, I though you were going to say something better since you were so confident.. You didn't think enough."
"B-but what if we can predict the contents?" Naruto asks.
"Oooh! I love predicting things!" I exclaim, however, my remark went ignored.
"This Earth scroll," Naruto says, holding it out to Sakura.
"Are you planning to..?" Sakura asks.
"We'll try opening this scroll." Naruto says. Sakura punches his over the head.
"NO!" She gushes. "Did you forget the rule, you idiot! She told us not to look inside the scroll until we get to the tower!"
"But we're in trouble at this rate, right?" Naruto asks, getting anime tears and holding his head. Sakura lost her temper and became serious, pondering on his idea.
"I really don't think you should.." Susumu says.
"But we gotta try!" Naruto says.
"Quit trying to break the rules baka!" I say then go to hit him over the head then I stop and think. "But then again.. no on will know right?"
"Exactly!" Naruto says then points at me. "See? She makes a good point, believe it!" Naruto holds the scroll, we all watch eagerly, and nervously as he brings his other hand closer slowly to open it. Naruto gulps and sweat drips from his forehead. Naruto put his thumb on it, ready to unwrap it. He begins to slowly unravel it with his thumb, our heartbeats all sped up. Naruto starts to shake like mad and hesitates as he goes to open it more. Just then someone put a hand over Naruto's hands. I jump 10 feet in the air screaming. I hate it when people just come out of no where like that.
"You shouldn't do that." The person says. I stood there breathing fast from shock, then realize that the person is that Kabuto guy. Sasuke came running, then went to attack Kabuto, but Kabuto jumps to the side. "Hey, calm down, I mean no harm." Kabuto says. We all stand up.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asks.
"Geez, you're such a hopeless guy." Kabuto says, talking mostly to Naruto. "You shouldn't have done that.
"Sorry.." Sakura says.
"Those who break the rules will be forced into a situation where they must retire. In the previous Exam, the scrolls were made so that those who opened the scroll will see a sleep-inducing inscription. So they'll remain in this forest until the Exam ends." Kabuto says.
"By the way, you're Kabuto, right?" Sasuke asks. "What are you doing here alone?"
"It's not like I was after your scroll or anything." Kabuto says, turning to him. For some reason, I seriously felt close to this stranger.. I just.. didn't know.
"Right.." Sasuke says, a look of utter disbelief on his face. "If you wanted to, you could've stolen the scroll from Naruto back there. So are you after the Heaven scroll too?"
"No, I already have both." Kabuto says then pulls both a Heaven and Earth scrolls from his pocket. I gasp in awe.
"We've only managed to get two Earth scrolls.." I say. Kabuto looks at me smiles.
"Well Setsuki, I can help if you like." He says. I raise an eyebrow. Seriously he's a stalker.
"... Answer me. Why are you here alone?" Sasuke inquires, glaring at him.
"Well, a lot happened, but I was headed for the tower to meet up with my teammates. Well, excuse me, now." Kabuto says then turns around and begins to walk away.
"Wait!" Sasuke calls. Kabuto stops and looks back. "Fight us."
"Fight?" Kabuto asks, getting a slight smirk.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks.
"You idiot! Do you know what you're saying?" Naruto questions.
"Are you serious?" Kabuto asks, turning around to face us all.
"I'm sorry but we don't have time." Sasuke says.
"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto says, pointing at him. "Kabuto-san helped us!"
"Sasuke-kun, I don't think that's appropriate, either.." Sakura concurs.
"Shut up." Sasuke hisses. Sakura seemed pretty shocked, being told to shut up. "We don't have much choice. I told you before.. This is the only way we can survive in this forest!"
"Hm.. that's a lie." Kabuto says.
"A lie?" Naruto and I ask in unison. Kabuto smiles at the two of us.
"You're not as prepared as you say you are. If you wanted to be more serious about this exam, why did you need to challenge me? You could've just attacked me when I had my guard down instead of declaring a challenge. That's what a ninja is supposed to do." Kabuto says, pushing his glasses up.
"Th-"
"Hey! You got new glasses!" I exclaim, pointing to Kabuto's glasses. He blinks.
"Yes.. I did. How observant of you." Kabuto says, he then faces Sasuke again. "I don't blame you for challenging me though. That's why I shall tell you what path to take. But.." He says, then begins turning around. "Lets talk while we walk. The bonfire's smoke was carrying the smell of grilled fish. If we stick around, wild animals and enemies will come after us."
"Will it stall for time if we put it out?" Susumu asks.
".. Possibly, but I cannot promise anything." Kabuto says.
"I'm on it!" I exclaim then run over to the fire. I perform a few hand signs. "Water Style: Water Gun." I say then spit out water from my mouth like a water from a hose, and put the fire out.
"You know, instead of using your chakra, you could have just got a bucket and filled it with water from the lake, idiot." Sasuke says.
"Oh leave her alone, you know what she's like." Daisuke says.
"What?" I ask.
"Hn, good point." Sasuke says.
"What?" I ask again.
"Nothing lets go." Sasuke groans, then we follow Kabuto.
We jump at a fast speed through the trees. "Are you sure there are enemies left?" Daisuke asks.
"Yeah, I'm sure of it. You just need to think a little to understand." Kabuto replies. "In a jungle battle like this or in an open forest, do you know the cleverest way to fight?"
"Yeah! You knock 'em all out! Duh!" I say. Kabuto chuckles.
"No, not quite what I meant, Setsuki." Kabuto says. "You see, the goal of the examinees is the tower at the center of this forest. That means on the last day, the easiest place to get a scroll is around that tower."
"Oh I get it! So we're going to lay in wait." Sakura says.
"Clever." Susumu says. "That means we're going to go after the teams that have both scrolls and are heading for the tower."
"That's one-third correct." Kabuto says. "That means you're not the only one thinking that. People who thought of the same idea should have traps set up around the tower."
"I got it! So that means there are a lot of enemies there waiting for us!" I say.
"Yeah, it's more exciting when there's a handicap." Naruto says. "I look forward to it! We just need to beat all those guys, get the Heaven scroll and we'll be out of here!"
"No, that's only still two-thirds correct." Kabuto says.
"You think too much Kabuto." I say. He just smiles.
"So what's the remaining one-third?" Susumu inquires.
"We have to think of the 'collectors' who appear in the exams like this." Kabuto answers.
".. Collectors?" I ask.
"Even if the tower is really close, you're still not safe in this exam. The special situation gives birth to them. In other words, if they meet an unexpected enemy, they keep extra scrolls and give one to the enemy in exchange for going free. Or by giving friends who are in the same village a scroll they need, they can gain information to get through the remaining exams easier. Or crush those strong ones who will get to the Third Exam. Although you've probably figured out by now they are pretty strong. They are the worst enemies you can meet since they are never satisfied." Kabuto explains.
"Hey I get it, hey! Susumu! That other Earth scroll we have, we could use it in exchange, so then we don't have to fight!" I exclaim.
"Yeah! Lets go find another squad." Daisuke says.
"Yeah!" I concur. "We'll be seeing you guys around!"
"Alright! Be careful Setsuki!" Naruto says.
"Yeah yeah, I will!" I say, then the three of us jump off in another direction.
About an hour later, we saw three people crouched down behind a bush, staring at a grassy bit ahead. "Lets pick on them." Daisuke says.
"Okay!" I say.
"Shushhh!" They both say, both covering my mouth with one of their hands.
"We'll sneak up behind them and give them a surprise attack." Susumu mutters.
"I'm afraid it's too late for that." We hear. We turn on the branch to see the same three on another branch. I look down, they weren't there. They sure did move fast. "You guys better have a Earth scroll." The female growls.
"Wait, so you guys have a Heaven scroll?" I ask. Their expressions became less fierce.
"A? We have two." The female says.
"Hey! I know you!" I exclaim, pointing to the girl. "You're Inuzuka Akakaze."
"Huh? Oh yeah.. you're that girl we met back then.. I thought the scent was familiar." Akakaze says.
"So what were you saying about the scrolls?" Kin asks.
"Hey, they have two Heaven scrolls, and we have two Earth scrolls!" I exclaim.
"You do?" Kazumaru questions.
"Yes we do! Wanna trade?" I ask.
"I dunno, what do you guys think?" Akakaze asks her squad. They both shrug. I face my squad.
"We should totally do it! After all, we're from the same village, thus we're allies!" I exclaim, trying to sound smart.
"Yeah.. Setsuki, you take it over then if you're so 'keen'." Susumu says.
"Yoshh! Gimme the scroll then!" I say, extending my hand. Susumu sighs and gives me one of the Earth scrolls, the one we took from Shikamaru's squad. I take it and jump over to the squad on the other branch. "Here, take this Earth scroll in exchange for a Heaven scroll."
"Okay! Here!" Kazumaru says, and steals Akakaze's bag.
"Hey!" She growls.
"I'm giving her a Heaven scroll! The we can both pass! It makes sense!" Kazumaru says.
"But that doesn't give you the right to take my bag!" Akakaze grumbles then folds her arms. Her dog riding in her jacket barks in concur. Kazumaru pulls out a Heaven scroll and hands it out to me. I take it and give him the Earth scroll.
"Yosh! Now we can both pass!" I exclaim, raising a fist to the air.
"Oh hey, you're that green guy's friend right?" Kazumaru asks.
"Green guy?" I ask.
"Yeah, he like, beat up that Otogakure squad." Akakaze says.
"Oh really? Wow.." I say.
"Hey! Stop the chit-chat! We have a task at hand you know!" Susumu calls.
"Alright alright! I'm coming!" I reply then jump back to my squad. The sun was beginning to set, so we were running out of time.
"We have to get there now." Daisuke says. We nod.
We ran as fast as our feet could carry us, and somehow I am faster then my two squad members. Could it be because I train a lot?
So we get to the tower at early hours, possibly about 4 am. We stop to take a break for half an hour then go exploring around the tower. We found a door with a note on it saying '42'.
"Maybe this is where we go in." Daisuke says.
"Yeah.. totally." I agree.
"Well, I've run around, it seems there's 44 doors, each with a number on it starting from one to 44. So I guess they resemble the numbers on the gates we entered in." Susumu says.
"Why are you so smart?" I ask.
"Well.. The Nara clan is supposedly smart." Susumu boasts.
"Yeah yeah." I groan.
"Shut up and lets just go in." Daisuke says, then opens the double doors. We follow him in. It is an empty room and I look around.
"So.. what are we supposed to do now?" I ask.
"Hey look at that!" Daisuke says, pointing to a board with writing on it.
"If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe points. This is the secret of something something. It shall lead you on your way." Susumu reads it aloud.
"Ohh I get it!" I exclaim. They both look at me, full of utter disbelief.
"Oh yeah, then go ahead and explain it, Setsuki." Daisuke says. I scratch my head.
"Nahh, I don't feel like it.." I say. They both facepalm themselves.
"It clearly means, that we have to open both scrolls and.. do... something." Susumu says.
"Yosh! Then lets open them!" I say, then tackle Daisuke.
"Gah! Get off!" He growls.
"Gimme the scrolls!" I nag.
"No!" He retorts.
"Seriously you two, grow up. Geez, Daisuke, gimme the scrolls." Susumu says.
"You're just as bad as her!" Daisuke says.
"I'm not bad! I'm quite the good fighter!" I proclaim. Daisuke frowns at me.
"You're so slow." He groans.
"No I'm not, I'm actually quite agile." I say, feeling proud.
"Get off me!" He shouts.
"Would you two just shut it!" Susumu growls. I sigh and get off Daisuke, and fold my arms.
"Why can't I have the scrolls?" I ask.
"Because we don't trust you." Susumu says. I get anime tears.
"Why?" I whine.
"Because you're not.. erm.. what's the word... uhh.. you're not smart enough." Daisuke says. I blink, he had me there.
"Seriously, stop gawking me." Daisuke says. I look the other way.
"So, this must be some sort of riddle!" Susumu says, feeling proud that he discovered something.
"Well no shit." Daisuke says. Susumu frowns, his ego crushed.
"Well anyway, the message must be telling us to open both scrolls." Susumu says. We all look at the scrolls in Daisuke's hands and hesitate. I wonder if anything bad will happen, like how Kabuto explained earlier. I clear my throat.
"Lets just open them." I say. We all nod and unravel the the scrolls at the same time and lay them on the ground. We notice some sort of strange sign on them.
".. 'Person', 'Jin'? What?" Susumu asks, reading it.
"Wait! They're summonings!" Daisuke says. We stands back, and watch as the funny symbol rises up and smoke starts appearing. Before we knew it, a large cloud of smoke was coming from the scrolls then a small 'poof' could be heard.
As the smoke started to disappear, we could see the silhouette of a person. I squint my eyes to try and see any distinct features on this person. Then the smoke disappears revealing Komaru-sensei.
"Komaru-sensei!" I call, then run over and bear hug my sensei. He sweatdrops.
"Uhh, yeah, nice to see you too.. Setsuki.. Let go now." Komaru-sensei says. I chuckle to myself and let go.
"Where the hell did you come from Komaru-sensei?" Daisuke asks.
"From the scrolls." Komaru-sensei bluntly replies.
"So what's going on? Why are you here sensei?" Susumu asks.
"We senseis are to welcome the examinees at the end of this Second Exam. I was given the duty to pass the three of you a message by chance." Komaru-sensei says.
"And what would that be?" I ask. Komaru-sensei checks his watch.
"Ah, seems you made it on time. Good job." He says. "Now, everyone, congratulations on passing the Second Exam!" I get tears of happiness.
"THANK YOU KOMARU-SENSEI!" I cry out, then bear hug him again. They all sweatdrop.
"Oh yeah, sensei, there's two missing words on that message thing up there, what does that mean?" Susumu asks.
"Oh that? Yes, the next part of my mission is to explain what that means." Komaru-sensei says. "This is the principal Hokage-sama wrote that you should keep in mind as a Chuunin. The 'Heaven' in this text points to the head of a person, and contrariwise 'Earth' points to the body. If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. That means, for example, if Setsuki's weak point is her brain, she should study and prepare for her missions." I frown.
"My weak point isn't my brain. There's nothing wrong with it!" I exclaim. The two teammates behind me laugh. Komaru-sensei laughs as well.
"And if you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength." Komaru-sensei says, looking at Susumu, acknowledging the fact that the Nara clan is not only known for it's genius members, but also it's laziness as well. Susumu frowns and folds his arms. "For example, if Susumu's weakness lies in strength, he should train himself every day."
"Yeah! Instead of that boring cloud watching you do." I say. Susumu rolls his eyes.
"And if you have both Heaven and Earth attributes, any dangerous missions will become safe." Komaru-sensei says.
"But what about that missing letter?" Susumu asks.
"It's the letter that symbolizes a Chuunin. The 'human' that was in here goes in there." He says, holding up the Earth scroll where the word 'human' used to be. "The survival mission you took part in these past five days tested the basic abilities of the examinees as a Chuunin, and you guys completed it. Now never forget that Chuunin principal and go on to the next step. That's all I was ordered to tell you."
"Yosh! We passed!" I cheer.
"Now listen up you three. The next exam will be held some place secret. So in two days from now, meet me at Ichiraku's about 2pm and I'll let you know where to go. And be sure to train up in the meantime." Komaru-sensei says.
"Yosh! You can count on me sensei!" I cheer.
The next day I was out of bed just before sunrise, as usual, and after dressing into my ninja attire, I run downstairs to see Takashi was already up. His toast already sitting nicely buttered on the table while he was making himself a cup of coffee. He's so gullible. I run past the table, stealing his toast and bolting out the door before he realizes.
I begin walking down the street when suddenly someone jumps down in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.
"Good morning Setsuki-san!" He speaks, a thumbs up right in front of my face.
"Oh! Lee-san!" I exclaim, smiling.
"You are indeed up early, where are you headed?" He asks.
"To the training grounds of course." I answer. "The Third Exam is in two days from now, so I gotta prepare." I say then take a bite of the toast.
"Indeed you are smart Setsuki-san! Er, may I accompany you there?" He asks. I nod, knowing that I don't have to go there completely by myself. "How was the Second Exam for you?"
"Oh it was a cinch! At the start, we found one of the rookie squads and took their scroll which was another Earth scroll, then on the last day we found a squad with two Heaven scrolls and did an exchange then passed!" I explain.
"Wow, you make it sound so easy." He says, slightly amazed.
"How was it for you?" I ask. He took a breath, I was in for a lot of listening.
"And if Neji and Tenten had not of shown up, I would have been defeated." He says, mumbling the word defeated like he was embarrassed.
"So, Sakura-chan really was lucky you showed up then huh?" I say. "If you hadn't of shown up she'd be in serious trouble! You may have proven your worth to her!" That appeared to raise his spirit. He gets a fist of courage and faces me.
"You know what? You are right Setsuki-san! Perhaps next time she might say yes!" He says. I smile.
"I hope she does!" I say.
"Thank you Setsuki-san!" He says.
"Lee-san, I'll race you to the training grounds!" I say after eating the last bite of my toast. He got fire in his eyes.
"Challenge accepted!" He says, then we both start running. Lee flew ahead, I have never seen someone so fast, then again I remember when he went to get be bandages, he is pretty fast. I had just gotten myself into something that is impossible to win, and even worse, he's way ahead, I'll be alone getting there. I sigh to myself.
Suddenly I was face to face with him, I stop just in time before I hit him. My eyes went wide from the shock. "Setsuki-san, I do not mean to offend you, but you are slow.. I got there and waited but you never came, so I came looking." He says, scratching the back of his neck. I look down.
"Yeah... I'm slow." I say.
"Oh, uhh.. I did not mean to make you sad.. I am sorry, as punishment I will do 5000 push ups!" He says, then falls down to his hands and begins.
"Uhh L-Lee-san, you don't have to!" I say, he looks up at me with that 'are you sure?' expression. I smile. "Yes it's fine Lee."
"Oh, well in that case let us go to the training grounds together!" He says, jumping to his feet. I nod.