Prologue / Part III

Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death, was approximately 300 kilometers of poisonous plants and man-eating beasts that had somehow been contained by a relatively small and flimsy steel fence. The trees in the training ground were large, even to the standards of Konoha shinobi, and the forest itself was masked in an ominous aura.

The four trekked in complete silence through several other training grounds on the edge of the village to arrive at the Forest of Death. The Inu-masked ANBU seemed to be reading a book of some sort. Sakura was struggling under the added weight of the flak jacket and armguards, and by the time they had arrived at the training ground her breathing was composed of ragged gasps and a few coughs. Naruto spent the entire trip quietly playing with his garrote wire: pulling it taut, releasing it, and then watching it rewind itself into the armguard, repeat. He was mesmerized with a sort of morbid fascination. Sasuke was running through his kunai and shuriken accuracy drills in his head, he wanted to prove to their 'Taichou' that he was the best and therefor was worth all of his attention. The other two could fend for themselves, he needed power.

At one point they had crossed through a training ground from where they could see Team Eight, having a picnic with their sensei. The ANBU officer had forbade them from going over and greeting their fellow Genin. No one complained.

Sakura couldn't help but feel slightly nervous when they finally arrived. After all, watching a man that had already beaten her twice take out a kunai and cut through the locks of the training ground fence didn't really inspire her confidence.

Neither did it inspire her confidence when the aforementioned man pulled out two ropes and proceeded to tie her to her teammates. Strangely enough, none of them commented. Sakura was sure Naruto would have something to say about all of this, yet he was mute. She would have said something herself, but she was too busy trying to get fresh air in her lungs after that hellish walk. She didn't know how her teammates were able to move around in the outfits they had been ordered to wear so easily. It was impossibly hot outside, and the flak jacket was quite heavy.

The ANBU officer had tied them together at the wrist, with Sasuke in the middle. Sakura was on his right and Naruto was on his left. Sakura was too busy catching her breath and too scared of the menacing woods in front of her to even enjoy the fact that she was currently tied to her longtime crush—something that she was sure to brag about to Ino when she got back.

Kakashi took a step back to admire his handiwork. Minato had put Kakashi, Rin, and Obito through a similar exercise when they were first placed on a team together. Of course they had just gone through D-ranked missions around the village, but that was before the war had picked up and they forced on to the front lines. There were no D-ranked missions during times of war. Teamwork was trial by fire.

Nothing brings people closer than going through hell together. And Kakashi planned on providing Team Maggot with just such an environment.

"You three are going to go into the forest and bring me the corpses of three giant tigers. If the rope breaks you three will be punished." Team Maggot gulped, they did not want to know what kind of punishment their crazy Taichou could dish out. "You have until nighfall. Go."

The three set off. Or at least, they tried to set off.

Naruto began at a full sprint, Sasuke at a walk, and Sakura stayed completely still, staring contemplatively at the woods behind the fence. The result was the unceremonious collapse of all three Genin. Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He could imagine Gai going off on a tirade about 'youth' after seeing such a display.

"Naruto you baka!" Sakura yelled, rubbing her shoulder as she got up.

"Heh, sorry Sakura-chan." Naruto flashed her an apologetic smile, before turning his gaze to Sasuke and glaring at the moody boy. Sasuke glared right back.

Sasuke was tempted to inform Sakura that the collapse was just as much her fault as it was Naruto's, but he decided better of it. She had probably already come to that conclusion herself, and was yelling at Naruto to satiate the frustration she felt with herself. Sasuke could tell from the way that Naruto was looking at him that Naruto had come to the same conclusion, and wanted Sasuke to point it out. Naruto might be an idiot, but Sasuke knew first hand that the blond was good at reading people. Sasuke's glare told Naruto that he knew what Naruto wanted, and that no good would come of saying anything.

Sasuke supposed it was because they had both spent the majority of their lives alone that he and Naruto were able to so effectively communicate with each other without a single word. Once they had gone on a camping trip as part of their wilderness survival training for the Academy. Through luck-of-the-draw Naruto and Sasuke had been paired up together. When they got to their campsite, Naruto and Sasuke had only shared a single glance before Naruto went to the river to catch fish while Sasuke gathered tinder and lit the campfire.

Once the entirety of Team Maggot was up and ready to set off Sasuke spoke. "Start at a walk, we need to adjust to being attached like this. I can't do all the work the work this time so you two are going to have to pull your weight." Sasuke really didn't like the idea of taking responsibility for the two idiots he called teammates, unfortunately for him, that was really his only option at this point. Naruto was about as physically strong as him, and their wrists being tied together meant that Sasuke would have to move the weight of Naruto's arm and his own. All three of them had different combat styles, and would be fighting for control of the attached arms instinctively. What was worse was that both of Sasuke's arms were attached to his teammates, whereas both Naruto and Sakura had a free arm, he had none. He would either have to overpower them constantly, or have them relinquish control of one of their arms for his use. Both of these options were unsatisfactory.

Sasuke supposed that this exercise was for his sake, the Inu-masked ANBU was trying to teach him that an effective leader is defenseless unless he has absolute control over his subordinates. Or maybe it was something else, Sasuke could worry about that later. For now, he and his teammates needed to get adjusted to being tied together. If they couldn't figure it out fast, killing a giant tiger wouldn't be their primary concern; it would be survival.

"Asshole." Naruto grunted. Still, he began to walk. Sasuke followed Naruto quickly, synchronizing with his pace. Sakura followed too. The first several steps were awkward, as the natural sway of the Genin's arms was cut short by the tightly tied rope. Sasuke was impressed at how quickly Naruto was able to mirror his walking pattern, allowing their attached arms to swing naturally. Sakura figured it out soon after, and the three were able to walk comfortably.

The forest was alive with the sounds of birds crying, leaves rusting in the gentle breeze overhead, the wild shouts of beasts vying for territory or water or food, the never diminishing feeling of being hunted. All three of them were on edge, all painfully aware of how vulnerable they were. Naruto had never seen a giant tiger before, but if the size of the trees in the dangerous training ground were any indication, they were going to be pretty tough. Naruto would feel anxious about fighting one alone, but being handicapped like this, he couldn't help the nervous sweat that trickled down his cheek and dampened the cloth of his forehead protector. He felt somewhat sorry for Sasuke, he realized that his rival had even less control than he did.

Naruto wouldn't let his teammates die. It didn't matter what he had to do, he wouldn't let them die. Even if Sasuke was an asshole, Naruto would protect him—and then demand Sasuke admit his inferiority, and then Sakura would proclaim her love for him, then Hokage. It was a rock-solid plan. Naruto chuckled to himself, amused by his daydreams, but quickly stopped when he saw his teammates staring at him.

Only they weren't staring at him. They were staring past him, and upon realizing this, Naruto turned and found himself practically face to face with a massive bear. Well, he was actually several meters away from said bear, but he swore he could feel its breath as if it were inches away.

"Shit."

The bear charged.

Immediately Naruto formed the seal for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and Sasuke formed tiger seal for his Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. Or at least, they both attempted to form the seals for their respective jutsu. They fought for control of their 'shared' arm, and before either side could claim superiority and complete their jutsu the charging bear had reached them and knocked them to the ground with a vicious swipe.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura tumbled to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs. The rope remained firmly in place, much to Naruto's dismay as he had fallen over Sasuke, causing his shoulder to dislocate. Naruto was surprised to find that the bear's claws had not pierced his flak jacket, and that the only injury he had sustained had occurred while falling. Still, the pain of a dislocated shoulder was nothing to laugh at, and Naruto found himself momentarily crippled.

The bear towered over them, it opened its jaw and bared its impressive set of razor-sharp teeth. Naruto tried to dive out of the way of the incoming bite, but Sasuke was immobile on the ground, anchoring Naruto as well, and Naruto's desperate pulling only intensified the pain in his shoulder. Naruto stared death in the face as the bear's mouth enclosed itself on his skull. Naruto felt its slobbering tongue and could feel the points of its teeth piecing the flesh of his cheek and neck.

'So this is death.'

Suddenly, the bear retreated, its teeth pulling off hunks of Naruto's flesh as it reeled back. A kunai was lodged in the bear's left eye. A glance to his right revealed that it was Sakura who had thrown the kunai, and was reaching into her pouch for another. Naruto didn't think twice, he reached into his pouch with his free hand and pulled out a kunai of his own, then charged the still recovering bear with all his might.

He gasped as the pain in his shoulder flared, his momentum had pulled Sasuke and Sakura up from the ground and, through sheer force, untangled them. His dislocated right shoulder carried the weight of his two teammates as he charged. His gasp of pain transformed into a scream of rage.

Naruto stabbed madly at the bear, blood from the wounds on his face had almost completely obstructed his vision, and he was attacking on instinct alone. He stabbed into the bear's neck, pulled his knife out, and then stabbed again. It took him a second to realize that Sasuke and Sakura were stabbing at it as well. Naruto could barely distinguish their cries from his own as they tore at the massive beast's flesh with all their might.

Sasuke called out to Naruto. Naruto didn't understand what Sasuke said, but he found himself reaching towards his limp arm and pulling out the razor wire in a motion that had already become natural for him. Before Naruto could think about what he was doing with the wire he had thrown his left arm over the bear's head then pulled back, locking the wire around the beast's massive neck. Naruto's vision had become completely obstructed at this point, all he could see was the sticky dark red substance that tasted surprisingly like copper.

He pulled the wire taut. He felt the bear's body shake violently, as if it had finally realized death was coming for it. Then it began to flail. Naruto could hear blood gurgling in its throat.

He pulled harder. He noticed that it was Sasuke's arm that kept his own in place, allowing the wire to tighten. He could feel the bear's muscle and tendon tear.

He pulled harder. He was aware that he was still screaming. His voice completely drowned out those of his teammates. Had they forgotten the lust of battle?

He pulled harder still. Sasuke must have noticed that his shoulder had been dislocated, he was hitting Naruto's arm as if he were trying to relocate it.

Naruto pulled harder still. He heard a shout, incomprehensible nothings, they were drowned out by the heat of battle.

He pulled harder.

He heard a sickening pop, then a wail and whimper, then the shouting again. It was his name.

Naruto. Naruto. Naruto!

"NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto stopped. He dropped his hold on the surprisingly loose wire and couldn't help but relish in the satisfied feeling that he got whenever it rewound itself. Naruto waited until he heard the little 'click' that finally announced that his wire was all the way back into place. He looked at Sasuke, but he couldn't see anything. Then he remembered the blood, and began to wipe away at his eyes with his free hand. He blinked several times and was taken aback when he finally saw the dark expression on Sasuke's face.

Then he remembered the bear. He looked down and immediately wished he hadn't. Separated from the rest of its body, the bear's head rested on the ground, its visage contorted in agony. There was blood everywhere. There was blood on the ground, on Sasuke, on himself. On Sakura.

Sakura had fallen to her knees. She was covering her face, Naruto absently noted. Naruto stared at Sakura in complete silence for what could have been either years or a few seconds. Each of Sakura's sobs reminded Naruto of something, he wasn't quite sure what. It was like every muffled cry was a knock on the door. The door to what? He wondered. Sasuke was staring at him too. They were still very close.

Then he remembered the pain. As his adrenalin faded, the fiery pain in his shoulder returned tenfold. Naruto growled and clutched at the aching joint. Sasuke, the dark expression still on his face, gently lifted Sakura up to her feet.

"We have to relocate Naruto's shoulder. We are going to run at that tree, Naruto, try to hit the very top of your shoulder on the trunk."

Naruto nodded, not quite understanding what was happening, but his body moved on its own. Sakura seemed to have shaken herself out of whatever had come over her.

The three took a second to compose themselves.

Then, without any indication, they began running at the designated tree in unison.

It took two tries before Naruto's shoulder finally popped back into place.

Naruto gave his teammates a nod of affirmation, then they left in silence. Behind them the corpse of the decapitated bear had attracted hordes of flies, who had quickly set to laying eggs in its rapidly festering flesh. It was tacit that they would never speak of what had happened there. Each of them had failed in their own way, shown weakness that they did not want anyone to know of. Sakura with her tears, Sasuke with his freezing up, and Naruto with his losing himself in the heat of battle. They had seen a side of each other that no one else had. Naruto understood that this was the true beginning of them as a team. Team Maggot.

They walked for two hours without another incident, before finally reaching the river that split the training ground. It was a sound plan, Naruto supposed. Wait for the tigers to come drink, then attack them while their back was turned and their guard was down.

There was only one problem. The training ground was huge, there was no way to guarantee that any tigers would come to the spot they were at, let alone three—the quota set by their draconian Taichou.

"Ne, Sasuke-teme, I like the whole attack them while they are drinking idea, but how are we supposed to get three tigers just waiting like this? I mean, this place is huge and there isn't any guarantee that any tigers will come here at all."

"That isn't the plan dobe." Sasuke replied.

"We are each going to make as many Bunshin as we can, then henge them into dear. We send the deer into the forest and act as 'prey' for the tigers. Have them move in large circles, always coming back to the river and leaping into the water after each loop."

Sakura immediately understood where he was going. "The tigers will chase the 'deer' into the water of the river. Once they are in the water, they will be defenseless and we can easily kill them."

"Oh." Naruto had to admit, that was pretty smart. However there was a pretty glaring flaw with Sasuke's plan. "What about the corpses, we are supposed to bring them back, right? It's going to be pretty damn hard to get the bodies out of the water, especially when we are tied together like this."

Sasuke just looked at Naruto and smirked. "Easy, while our Bunshin go out attracting tigers, we cut down a branch and use it as a dam. Because the tigers' bodies will float, all we have to do is lay a log across the river bank and let it stop the bodies from moving. When we have gotten all three, we can just lift the log up and let the current carry the corpses out of the training ground while we walk next to them. When we get out of the training ground, we just put the log back into the river, then fish the bodies out." Normally, Naruto would have grit his teeth at the satisfied smirk on Sasuke's face, but after the incident with the bear his smirk was actually kind of relieving. It told Naruto that things would go back to normal. Furthermore, it wasn't a bad plan.

"Hai, let's do this!" Naruto nodded at Sasuke and Sakura and brought his hands up to form the seal for Kage Bunshin, just as Sasuke brought up his hands to form the seal for Bunshin, just as Sakura brought up her hands to from the same seal. The result was utter failure.

"Okay you two first." Sasuke said, hoping to resolve the issue before an argument broke out. He could tell his teammates were on edge, hell, he was on edge himself. Naruto and Sakura nodded, then formed their respective hand seals.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Sakura created three perfect clones, then henged them simultaneously into rather majestic dear.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The woods were suddenly full of Narutos. There were at least one hundred blond demon-containers grinning at each other. A second later and they had all transformed into rather sickly looking dear, some more closely resembling abominations of nature rather than any actual animal.

Sasuke coughed, taken about by the sheer number of clones Naruto had created. And what was a shadow clone exactly? Sasuke had never heard of that technique, and he was sure Naruto hadn't learned it in the Academy. He was pretty sure Naruto hadn't learned anything in the Academy.

"On second thought, that should be enough clones." Sasuke said. He didn't fail to notice the satisfied look on Naruto's face. "We will hide in the roots of that tree, when a tiger comes I want each of you to throw one of these at it," Sasuke handed each of them one of his kunai with ninja-wire connecting them to a metal anchor in his pouch. "Wait until it gets into the water, and use your outside hands, I'll use a Katon jutsu, which will follow the wire, to kill it. If that isn't enough, wait for it to try to get out of the water, then we will charge it and Naruto will garrote it while Sakura and I aim for its eyes."

Saukra was pretty impressed with Sasuke's plan, he had really thought the whole situation out. She felt pretty weak in comparison to her two teammates. Even Naruto had proven himself to be pretty strong—he had cut the head clean off of that bear! She shuddered at the memory. Then he had created ten-fold as many clones as she could make. And Sasuke was just well…Sasuke. He was the rookie of the year, and he was cool, and able to come up with brilliant solutions so fast. Sakura didn't really have anything to offer her team.

Sakura's train of thought was interrupted by a tremendous roar coming from the woods behind them. Just then, one of the sickly 'Naruto deer' leapt out from the foliage and sprinted faster than Sakura thought was possible towards the water. A half second later a giant tiger followed it.

The tiger was twice as tall as her on all fours, and was far bulkier than any animal had the right to be. Each of its teeth were the size of her hand, and looked as if they had been formed for the sole purpose of rending tissue from bone. The creature madly snarled at the fleeing deer, charging towards its prey at an impossible speed.

The tiger was inches away from sinking its teeth into the deer's neck when the slender animal leaped into the water. The tiger followed it in without a second thought. Its snout snapped shut around the 'deer' which was split in half like a twig before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Go!" Sasuke shouted.

Sakura and Naruto simultaneously threw their kunai into the face of the huge tiger, thrashing in the deep river water. Sakura's kunai landed in the tiger's nostril, while Naruto's clipped the underside of its neck. Sakura had to force her left arm to go limp as she felt Sasuke pull it up to his face to form the hand seals for his jutsu. It was an odd feeling to have someone else control your arm like that, and Sakura could tell that the extra weight bothered Sasuke and slowed the formation of his hand seals.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

A giant ball of fire shot at the now frantic animal. The tiger was obviously under extreme duress. It could swim, although was extremely uncomfortable in the water as the liquid nullified its extreme agility—the trait it relied on most heavily to survive in the dangerous forest. Sakura watched in awe as the fire crawled down the wire and lit the tiger's face aflame.

Its pained cries sounded oddly human.

The tiger flailed more and more desperately. Then it stopped. Its body became unnaturally still and it no longer resisted the flames that consumed its face and back, the only parts above water.

Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto stared at the lifeless corpse. It was hard to believe that their plan had worked out so smoothly. It was also hard to stomach how human the tiger had seemed when it was thrashing in the river. Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. Today had already proven itself to be the longest day of her life, and it wasn't even noon yet.

It took them a minute to realize that the tiger was slowly being pulled down the river by the current.

"Shit." Sasuke said. They hadn't had time to set up, or even find, a log to dam the river with.

"I got this." Naruto announced. He exchanged a glance with Sasuke and the dark haired boy relinquished control over his left hand to allow Naruto to form the seal for his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Twenty clones popped into existence and wasted no time in jumping into the river, where they formed a human dam by linking arms.

Both Sasuke and Sakura were shocked to see that their teammate had managed to create solid clones.

"Naruto, how did you learn that technique?" Sakura asked.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled at her sheepishly. "Eh, it's a long story."

"Oh."

"Can we sit down or something, I'm hungry."

"How can you eat after that?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know, I'm hungry." He smiled back at her and she sighed.

"We have to catch lunch first dobe."

Naruto just smiled smugly at Sasuke as he reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out a packet of instant ramen. Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped.

"Well, we still have to catch lunch."

Naruto just reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out two more packets of ramen. Sasuke couldn't help the playful smirk that spread across his face.

"Baka." He said, although there was no malice behind it.

They cooked the ramen in their water canteens. Sasuke had lit some tinder with a small Katon technique, and they had cooked their meals in tranquil silence. Sakura thought it was strange how their silence had changed so much in just a day. That morning, on the way to the training ground, it had been strained, dangerous even. Now the silence felt calm and comfortable.

It was late afternoon before the next tiger appeared. This one noticed the corpse of its fellow beast in the water and stopped on the edge of the river bank.

"Shit."

"We don't have a choice. Go!"

The tiger had turned at the sound of their voices and was facing them.

This time, Team Maggot acted simultaneously. Naruto and Sakura each threw the kunai attached to ninja wire with their outside arms while completely relaxing their inside arms so that Sasuke could perform his Katon technique.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" The technique hit the rapidly approaching tiger less than a second after the kunai had hit. Naruto's had hit the beast's front leg, while Sakura's had impacted the side of the tiger's face, just behind its blade-like whiskers.

The tiger charged right through the flame and closed the distance between itself and Team Maggot in seconds.

"Jump!" Sasuke commanded, and the three Genin leapt back simultaneously. Only the length of their leaps differed dramatically, and once again Team Maggot was sent sprawling to the ground in a tangled mess. The tiger took a second to shake itself furiously, generating enough force to blow the flames off of its now scorched fur.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura slowly stood up, and took up a defensive position. The massive tiger eyed them for a second before leaping into the air landing behind them.

"Holy shit." Naruto swore. That thing had just jumped at least 10 meters like it was nothing.

"Wire." Sasuke said.

The three Genin moved as one. Sprinting towards the beast, who bared its teeth at the approaching youth and swiped at them with a surprisingly fast paw.

"Down!" The three ducked under the swipe and without second thought latched onto the oversized tiger.

Naruto flung his garrote wire over the beast's neck, then pulled it taut in what had become an uncomfortably familiar motion. Sasuke and Sakura clung to the beast's shoulders, stabbing at its neck with their shared arm, both holding onto the same kunai. Sasuke's hand was on the grip tape while Sakura pushed on the butt of the kunai with all her might, driving it even further into the ligaments and muscle on the tiger's neck. Naruto had poisoned himself behind the tiger, squeezing on the creatures sides with his knees to keep himself in place as he pulled the garrote wire ever tighter.

The oversized cat leaped into the air in a panicked attempt to free itself from the onslaught of Team Maggot. Unfortunately for it, the three Genin remained, and the leaping motion had only further driven the razor-wire into the beast's neck, finally severing its jugular.

With a final gurgled call, the tiger collapsed to the ground.

The feline had fallen on top of Sasuke and Sakura and Naruto had to push the lifeless body off of them—which was no small feat in itself. The three Genin were caked in blood, dirt, saliva, and other substances Naruto didn't want to recognize. As the Sasuke and Sakura were standing up the tiger released its bowels. Sakura stared in horror. Sasuke looked disgusted. Naruto just contemplated what he had just witnessed. Then he broke out into laughter. Soon, Sakura joined him with a symphony and even Sasuke was chuckling.

The final tiger came an hour later. It was young and undersized. It died after Sakura's kunai pierced its brain, hitting straight between its eyes. The following fireball was just overkill.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were exhausted after carrying the corpses of the massive tigers back to their Taichou from the spot where the river had exited the training ground. Well, to be accurate, the three of them had carried the smallest tiger while Naruto's shadow clones took care of bringing the other two, much larger, tigers.

They had returned to find that the ANBU officer standing exactly where he had been when they had first left for the forest. He paused as he saw them, then looked at the sky. It was dusk, and the sun painted the sky with gorgeous hues of violet, orange, and yellow. The setting sun casting diving outlines on the underside of the low-hovering clouds that decorated the horizon.

"Good," was all he said. "We sleep here for the night, set up camp."

"Um, Taichou," Sakura began. "What about the Tigers?"

"Oh yeah, those. Well, I don't need them, do whatever you want with them."

Naruto grit his teeth but didn't dare speak up. He knew that their bastard of a sensei would just beat them all if he commented. But still, it hardly felt fair. Why did those tigers have to die? It didn't make sense. He remembered the pained cries, the look of hopeless in their eyes when they finally accepted death. What was the point of it?

He felt Sasuke's hand on his shoulder and looked up. That was strange, he hadn't even felt Sasuke cut the rope. Sasuke had that same dark expression on his face from earlier. Naruto met his gaze, then began to set up tents. Sasuke left to catch some food and Sakura went to gather tinder for a fire.

Sasuke returned soon with a rabbit, which was then staked and roasted over the fire. Team Maggot ate in silence.

The three Genin retired to their respective tents, though it was hours before any of them would catch any sleep.

It had been a terrifying day. They had faced death, and killed, only to satisfy their bastard Taichou. Naruto took comfort in the thought that at least it couldn't get any worse.

If only he knew.