It was the morning, I hardly slept a wink... Especially after that incident with the book catching on fire.

Oh how I wished I read the book before Tomoko did, then she'd might have some answers to her past. There wasn't a doubt in my mind, it was the vambrace that activated the flames.

Naruto's loud snores echoed through the living room, which became our make shift bedroom for the evening. I stared up at the ceiling, wondering if there was any way to actually shut the idiot up. But that would mean waking him, causing even more noise. Not being able to handle the dope's annoying wheezing any longer, I got up from the couch, dressed for the day and headed upstairs.

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" Chimed Sakura as she exited Tomoko's bedroom, "good morning!"

"Yeah good morning" I replied "is she awake?"

Sakura shook her head, "she didn't sleep well last night..."

"After what happened, I can't say I'm surprised."

Sakura pulled a worried expression, and stared back at the door "Sasuke-kun, why do you think this is happening?"

I didn't answer her, because even if I could take a guess... I couldn't think of any particular reason why.

"It really isn't fair is it?" Stated Sakura sadly, "over these past few months, I've really gotten to know her a little better."

I raised my eyebrow at her, what was she getting at?

"She's a good person" she asserted "she brings out the best in people..."

I stared down at my feet, "she's always had that gift."

Sakura let out a questioning hum.

"It's hard to explain, but for as long as I can remember she has had this unique ability of getting past people's defences."

Sakura blinked, not really sure what to make of this "now that I think about it, she was able to get that sand ninja's attention without really doing much."

"Exactly" I confirmed. "It's her greatest strength, but also her weakness."

"What do you mean?"

I scratched the back of my head "as impressive as it is, it's not always gonna help. In fact, its already caused her problems... Tesuya knows what he's doing, and he seems to know Tomoko better than she does herself." I couldn't help but clench my fist "I'm sick of all the secretary, stuff like this really pisses me off!"

Suddenly, Haruo's door swung open, and out walked the man in question, looking very groggy.

"Oh sorry Haruo-kun!" Sakura gasped "were we too loud?"

Haruo waved his hand dismissively "no, no. I had to get up to pick up those mountain ninja..."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Sakura go wake up Naruto, we're leaving."

"Oh okay" Sakura replied slightly stunned at my harshness. As she disappeared down the stairs, I kept my eyes set on Haruo.

"So did you find what you were looking for?" He asked cooly.

I jolted slightly, how did he know?!

"The smell of burning paper gave it away" he answered my silent question.

I tsked under my breath, "I'm going to wake her up." I turned my back to him and placed my hand on the door handle.

"Sasuke!"

I paused my actions, freezing on the spot.

"You have to understand, All I'm doing is protecting her."

"You've got to be kidding me!?" I spat, my glare burning holes into the door.

"I know you must think I'm just being an over-protective older brother, maybe that's what I am" he confessed. "But please, listen to me when I say... If she continues to chase her past... She'll never be the same again. If you care-"

"What will happen? What will change?" I demanded turning to face him "can you at least give me the decency to tell me that?"

Haruo cringed, and replied with a very hesitant no.

"Typical!" I snapped.

"It not like I don't want to, believe me! I wish I could be open about this" Haruo shot back defensively "but I can't... its... too dangerous."

Finally getting fed up with his excuses, I snapped.

"She's keeps seeing a woman covered in blood!"

Haruo threw me a baffled look, "what?"

"Every time she tries to remember her past, she sees a woman covered in blood... And it's getting increasingly worse. If you were around more, you'd notice that! But you're not, you're as secretive as ever!"

Not wanting to argue anymore, I opened the door and entered the room, leaving a very shocked Haruo in the hallway.

"Wake up."

I began to stir from my slumber, groggily I sat up up a stretched my arms.

"Wha... What's going on?" I grumbled.

Opening my eyes, I saw Sasuke staring at me from my doorway.

"Idiot, its morning... we have the second exam today?"

Glancing at the time, I did a double take... it was now nine am...

"SHIT!"

However, in my panic I ended up losing my balance and crash landing onto my hard wooden floor.

I noticed Sasuke wince slightly at my landing.

"Ow" I moaned rubbing my head as I sat up. I glanced at my best friend, who just stared at me boredly. "I'm alright by the way, thanks for asking!" I snapped slightly.

"Of course you are, now hurry up!" he ordered.

I gave him a suspicious look "what's got you all grumpy?"

"Nothing" he quickly answered "I just didn't sleep well last night, the Dobe's snoring drove me nuts."

Knowing that Uchiha scold, I knew it would be best not to press him further... even when I knew he was flat out lying.

I mean come on, he spent practically a month in the same room as Naruto on the last c-rank mission, and didn't complain about his snoring once.

I'm calling bullshit.

"Okay I'm up!" I snapped shoving Sasuke out the door "but you have to get out of my room!"

I didn't give him a chance to remark, as I slammed the door in his face.

After finally getting ready, we set off to the second exam. It wasn't long till we saw a mass crowd of people, familiar faces from yesterday.

"Alright!" beamed Naruto as he punched his palm "I'm so ready for this!"

I couldn't help scan the area for Tesuya and his team, as I adjusted the vambrace on my arms.

They were no where to seen, which made me uneasy. But I couldn't dwell on that right now, as I saw the second examiner, Anko, approach.

"Right then!" she yelled out "Participants of the Second Chunnin exam are to follow me to the location!"

She then point at us "Anyone who strays from the group will be terminated from the exam!"

Not another word was said as she led us to the location, in my opinion, Anko was ten times more scary than Ibiki.

After a couple of minutes, we finally reached the destination.

"What..." I heard Naruto gasp "what is this place?"

I too couldn't help but ask that question in my head. Before us was a heavily guarded fence, behind it, a never-ending scenery of dark, massive trees. All that could be seen was shadows, greenery and slight movement of wildlife. The sun's rays and warmth, was completely blocked out by the large branches, giving off a very cold chill down the spine.

"This place is where the second exam will take place" Anko announced, "The 44th training area... Also known as the Forest of Death."

I raised my eyebrow, "what a charming name."

"This sure is a creepy place" Sakura cringed, Sasuke didn't say anything and Naruto continued to stare at the forest.

Anko smirked "you will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death."

Naruto scoffed, and stuck his butt out, he then presumed to mock Anko in a high pitched voice and wiggling his butt back and forth.

'Here we go...' I thought tediously

"There's no point in trying to scare us like that!" he declared "I'm not scared at all!"

There was an uncomfortable silence, only Naruto was too dense to realise it.

"Really?" Anko said with a very fake, pleasant smile, "You sure are energetic."

But suddenly, she produced a kunai and flung it in Naruto's direction. Thankfully, it just missed him... or so I thought when I noticed a trickle of blood across his cheek.

"Boys like you die the fastest."

I only just blinked, and she was suddenly behind him

"So fast..." I breathed.

Anko used her finger to wipe away some of Naruto's blood. "After spilling out that red blood I love all over the place" she chimed.

A shiver went down my spine, "and people say the forest is creepy."

Again she had another kunai in her free hand and went to throw it behind her, but she was stopped by a... tongue?

I couldn't stop my eye twitching as I watched Anko interact with this other ninja. From what I could see it was a girl, maybe a few years older than me? Most of her face was shield by her straw hat, but she had long, straight dark hair and a very, disturbing long tongue.

"Here's your knife" the tongue ninja offered, who actually turned out to be a boy. Naruto had a very freaked out look on his face, whilst Anko just smiled and said thank you.

I was just amazed he could still talk clearly with his tongue sticking out...

I notice the weirdest things sometimes.

The examiner and examinee had something of a stare down, till Anko warned her not to stand so close behind her, unless she wanted to die young.

Anko took the knives back, and the ninja retreated his tongue.

"Well..." mr long tongue sang "I get itchy when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little excited."

He then apologised and walked back towards his team, and towards me...

As he walked past, she glanced me a strange look, as if he was analysing me. I narrowed my eyes and stared right back. I moved out of his way and he continued walking, pretending I didn't exist.

I wasn't one to back down from a stare off, but I wasn't getting good vibes from this guy. So I decided to just put it to rest for now.

"It looks like there are a lot of hot-headed people here today" Anko stated "This is going to be interesting."

Naruto glared at her as if to say 'you have no room to talk!' I couldn't help but think the same thing.

Anko stepped away from my teammate and walked towards the fence. "Before we begin the second exam" she began as she turned to face all of us. "I'm going to pass these out to everyone." She then went into her coat and pulled out sheets of paper.

Anko explained that everyone taking the exam must sign a consent form. Naruto questioned as to why.

"From here on, people will die" she replied."Therefore, we need people's consent before we continue." She then laughed and stated that if we didn't, she'd be held responsible.

"So we're basically giving permission to get killed" I remarked "stupid catches!"

"Now!" Anko announced "I will begin the explanation of the second exam."

She pointed the papers at Naruto to take from her, which he did and started passing them around.

"To be concise, you will all go through an extreme survival match" she explained.

'That's a romantic way of putting it' I thought sarcastically.

Anko pulled out a scroll to explain the training area's geographical features. "The 44th training area is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances" she told us. "There is a river, a forest, and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 km away from the gates."

She then illuminated that inside the limited space, we would have to go through a certain survival program. Which consisted of...

"A competition where anything goes, over these scrolls" she finished, and showed us all a white scroll, and a black one.

The white scroll was called The Scroll of Heaven, whilst the black was named The Scroll of the Earth. Anko told us that we would be basically fighting over them.

"26 teams in total passed the first exam" she detailed "half of those teams will get the Scroll of Heaven. The other half will get the Scroll of the Earth."

Oh I get it, we get given one of the two scrolls within our team, and we must fight other teams to obtain the other.

"And?" spoke Sasuke for the first time since leaving my house, "what's needed to pass?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I stated more than asked, "we need to bring both scrolls to the tower with our teammates."

"In other words" Sakura simplified "the 13 teams, or half the people here, that get their scroll stolen will fail."

"But it need to be done within a time limit" Anko added in.

I huffed under my breath, and prepared for the worst.

"This second exam has a limit of 120 hours" she said as she put the scrolls into her coat, "or exactly five days."

"Five days!?" Ino suddenly shrieked.

I then heard Chouji wail out something about food.

"Scrounge it up yourself" she simply replied "the forest is a treasure box of nature, there should be plenty of food."

To be fair, the prospect of having to find our own food did bother me, in fact, Mountaineers thrived in this kind of environment. Afterall, we are renowned as 'Nature Folk.'

So really, myself and Tesuya's team had a slight advantage with this area.

Kabuto, who I actually forgot was here, felt the need to remind us that there are also man-eating beasts, poison bugs and poisonous plants to watch out for.

"Oh no..." Chouji whined.

"Stupid" Ino criticized "that's why it's called a survival."

"Also" I heard Neji say behind me, "it is not possible for 13 teams, or 39 people to pass."

I cleared my voice "its actually 40."

Neji threw me a puzzled look, so I reminded him that I was in a four man team.

"Oh..." was all he said, with a slight blush in his cheeks.

I dismissed his mistake "don't worry I'm not insulted by it or anything."

"I never said you were!" he snapped but then caught himself, and apologized clumsy.

I felt a wet drop form in the back of my head 'why are you saying sorry?'

"As time passes, you will be required to move more" Lee stated, changing the subject. "So, the time to rest your body will become shorter. This seems quite rough."

"And we're surrounded by enemies" Sasuke added in, "We won't be able to sleep in peace."

Anko let loose a "hn" sound, and declared that people will get hurt in the process of fighting over the scroll, and that those who cannot bear the program's strictness will reveal themselves.

"Excuse me?" Called Shikamaru "can we quit in between?"

"As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam" Anko answered sternly, and then added in a pleasant tone that we would spend five days in the forest.

"Just as I thought" Shikamaru groaned "how troublesome."

"While we're on this topic" Anko piped in, "here are the conditions that will fail you."

She listed the following:

A team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower will all fail.

The team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail.

You are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until reach the tower.

"What happens if you look?" Naruto questioned.

"That's a surprise you'll see when you look at it" Anko teased.

Naruto sighed in a confused tone.

"Basically, don't open it" I told him "ever!"

"If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents" said Anko, "It's to determine your reliability."

So reliability, survival and teamwork are what we are being tested on. As well as our ability to complete a mission within a time limit, and in a high pressured environment.

'This isn't going to be easy.'

"That's it for the explanation" Anko concluded and pointed to the shack next to her, "we will exchange three consent forms for one scroll at that hut... and after picking our gate entrance, everyone will begin at the same time."

She then sighed loudly "here's a last piece of advice. DON'T DIE!"

We were given half an hour to fill in our forms, as well as to prepare ourselves. Most people broke off into their teams, my team however seemed to disperse... well... not all of us. Myself and Sasuke decided to perch ourselves against a large rock, whilst Sakura and Naruto disappeared somewhere.

I scanned the form's information, "quite intense, isn't it?" I noted. However, I didn't get an answer.

"Sasuke?" I called looking at him, it was then I noticed he was staring at the hut. Following his gaze, I noticed that the Chuunin began to cover it with a curtain.

So there cover the desk so we don't know who gets what scroll, hence why we have to fight each other. I guess Ibiki was right, when it comes to gathering information, your life is really on the line.

"This is the real deal."

Sasuke turned to look at me "are you getting nervous?"

I pondered for a moment, "a little, but the not because for the exam..."

"you're worried we'll run into Tesuya" he confirmed my thoughts.

I didn't reply, instead I just hugged my knees to my chest.

"I can't promise that we won't face him" he told me "but I can say is that if we do, we'll all be there to help you, alright?"

I nodded, feeling a little more reassured. Turning my head slightly, I noticed Sakura walking along.

"Oh no..."

"What?" Sasuke asked,

"Ino and Sakura, that's never a good combination."

I couldn't hear what they were saying, no doubt it was hurling insults at each other. It didn't take long for them to start growling and glaring at each other. I also noticed Shikamaru and Chouji not far away, staring at the two in fear. Eventually, they both walked off in a huff.

"Those two are so annoying when together" Sasuke complained.

My eye twitched "its because of you they act like that?"

"Huh? Did you say something?" he asked.

I shook my head and told him to forget about it.

The curtain from the hut was pulled back, a male Chuunin poked his head out. "It's time to trade your forms for a scoll" he announced and went back behind the curtain.

"That's our cue!" I chirped pushing myself to my feet, Sasuke soon followed.

"Five days in a forest, with people wanting to kill you... sounds like a perfect setting! Wouldn't you agree Kendra?"

I turned around hastily to see Tesuya and his team standing there.

I narrowed my eyes at him, and clenched my fist. "I'm not scared of you..."

This caused him to chuckle "of course you are! Look at you!" he jeered.

Okay so I was scared, I couldn't stop my shaking and my heart was pounding furiously.

His female teammate giggled menacingly "look at her little friend, he's so cute when he's angry."

I turned my head to see Sasuke with a very ticked off expression on his face, and if looks could kill... Tesuya would be in a million pieces.

"Come on Sasuke, save it till the exam" I told him as I grabbed his wrist and dragged him away. But not before hearing Tesuya sing...

"I can't wait to get my hands on you... it is going to be a lot of fun."

I tried to ignore the uncomfortable shiver down my spine, however I didn't manage to get as far away from him as I could, and met up with the rest of my team.

All four of us went behind the curtain and handed in our forms, thus receiving a heaven scroll. We where then instructed to go to the gate that was given to us.

We followed the Chuunin to our gate, with read clearly the number twelve and waited.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled with optimism "I'm not gonna lose! We'll beat those who get near us first!"

"Please stop punching the air" I lectured "you need to save up as much as energy as you can."

Finally, the chains were unlocked, and Anko announced that the second exam had now begun!

The gates flew open, and me and my team prepared for our biggest challenge so far!