Awakening Chapter 5 - A Night between Monsters Part 1

The Chunin Exams have begun, how will this Team 7 face against a monster that wants both an avenger and a container this time?

Forest of Death

Team 7 leapt from tree to tree in the massive, deadly forest they found themselves in. The start of the second stage of the exams began around 20 minutes ago according to Naruto, Sasuke counted 10 minutes at the most, Sakura knew that it had been almost two hours since they had last laid eyes on sunlight that wasn't obscured by the thick leaves above them that kept them from the sun's warm embrace.

Even so, she didn't voice her concern out loud, she was too proud after seeing how Naruto and Sasuke had taken the second part in such strife. She wouldn't disappoint either of her teammates, who were leagues above her in strength, speed, all physical things. The only thing she was above them, if barely against Sasuke, was book smarts. Something she discovered wasn't very useful during any of their missions they went on in their career as of yet.

From the simple courier mission they took to the Land of Hot Springs, to the Bandit Raid in the North of the Land of Fire, where she only managed to defeat 3 bandits while the boys both managed to beat 8 by themselves, until they competed as to who could defeat more, where she gave up keeping up with them, or the border control duty they were assigned to a week ago, her smarts were not of any use. Even knowing about the poisonous berries Naruto wanted to eat was dismissed by him after he had told her that he was immune to the mild poison contained in the berries.

The berries could have killed a full-grown cow from the amount that he had eaten, but even her sensei said that she shouldn't worry about Naruto, so she didn't. Until now, he hadn't shown any symptoms from the poison, so she had to believe what he had said.

The real problem was not with Naruto anyway. As far as she could tell, she was the only one in the teams that passed the real genin exams to be a nobody. Until a few months ago when Naruto's heritage was discovered she thought she and Naruto both were nobodies. Two children from a civilian background who had still managed to pass the exams and become a Genin. There was some comfort in knowing that she wasn't the only one who wasn't from a Clan, who didn't have the support of parents who could have helped her with ninja-related matters, comfort in knowing she was still better than Naruto.

But after the wave mission, even before that, she had the feeling that Naruto was stronger than she was. He might not have been smarter, but his determination and his lack of fear and self-preservation made up for it. And now that he was an Uchiha, something that none of the team was really comfortable with or ever mentioned, she was suddenly all alone in a generation of classmates who all came from prestigious clans.

A sudden sensation of being airborne and in free fall jolted her out of her reverie. She realised that she had almost fallen, having misjudged the jump. Luckily, she was saved by a chain of Naruto clones, all linked together and supported by two other Naruto clones above them. Together, they prevented her and the clones from falling to their grisly deaths.

"Sakura, no time for daydreams. Someone could jump us at any moment," Sasuke said as she was lifted back up.

Sakura looked away in embarrassment, not knowing what to say to her crush after she had made such an amateurish mistake - was that what she was? An amateur playing the part of a ninja - "Hey, Sakura!" came Sasuke's slightly raised voice.

With another shake of her head, she turned to the raven-haired boy with a clueless look on her face. "Huh?"

"I said, are you ready to continue?" repeated Sasuke in annoyance. She paused for a moment but before she could answer, Naruto cut her off: "Come on, let's take a break. I think we could all use one right now."

Sasuke turned to Naruto and looked at him for a few seconds before he let out a sigh. "Alright, we have been travelling non-stop for the last 20 minutes, let's take a break." It has been 2 hours and 30 minutes, Sakura corrected in her head, "Let's find a river so we can find some fish to catch."

Before she could say she needed a break, both boys jumped down in free-fall before landing on a tree and running the rest of the way down. Sakura's hands curled into a fist and with a look of frustration, she jumped down as well.

It didn't take them long to set up their camp. A nearby hollowed out tree served as the perfect place to rest. The clones of Naruto were scattered around the area for safety, and their choice of location was a nice spot away from the clearing. Their rations were exhausted, not thinking this trial would last long and coming unprepared, Sasuke and Sakura each had some food for emergencies. Naruto and Sasuke went to a nearby stream to catch some fish, with Naruto luring them out of the water and Sasuke catching them in the air with his kunai, while Sakura went to look for some firewood nearby.

The whole time they were traveling, they were silent, nothing new to them. The whole dynamic of their team was rarely expressed in words, but rather in actions. Apart from sparring and plotting for the mission, the boys rarely interacted with each other. Even Naruto's invitations for dates became less and less or even non-existent, and he was no longer loud when they arrived earlier than their teacher. Instead, he would just sit under a cool shade or something like that and gaze into the distance.

Sasuke was almost the same as he was before the Naruto fiasco. Almost. Now, he actually tries to talk to the boy. On several occasions, he voluntarily entered into a conversation with him. Most of the time, these 'conversations' did not last longer than 5 minutes. Sasuke hadn't been a very social person before or after the massacre, and the discovery of a clan relative wasn't going to magically fix his inability to socialize.

Another kunai sliced through the air, piercing the belly of the fish that had the misfortune to jump into the air instead of swimming away from Naruto. The fish was secured to the cold stone floor at the edge of the river with a heavy 'thud'.

"That should be enough." Sasuke commented and collected the fish, bringing the total to 5. Naruto nodded before he walked through the water in the direction of his dry and warm clothes that were warming up on a large rock in the sunlight.

"Not a bad place for a vacation, actually..."

"This is no time for vacations. We had enough of that before the Chunin exams came around."

They were informed a week before the actual exams. Not something that Naruto would call a vacation, because as soon as they were announced by Kakashi, they were trained to the ground with strength, finesse and endurance. There was not a single minute in which their muscles did not protest in pain. For Naruto, it was worse, having the ability to regenerate meant that he could train more and make more progress in a short time. While it would take a day for Sakura's muscles to grow back and a couple of hours for Sasuke's, Naruto's muscles would grow back almost immediately from the moment they were broken.

It was only a rigorous training regimen that Kakashi had borrowed from Gai that did enough damage to Naruto's muscles to make it take a few hours to grow back. It was not a fun week for Naruto.

"...tastes like dry wood," Naruto observed, taking another bite from his fish. "Would you have liked ramen?" asked Sasuke, rolling his eyes, finishing and grabbing another fish from the pile.

"Not the worst we had," Sakura said and her teammates agreed. The black curry that the old lady had served to them on one of their missions was far worse. Sasuke considered using it as a catalyst for his Fire Jutsu. In the end, he decided against it, reasoning that it would do too much damage to himself to make it worthwhile.

"Alright, clear the area. We have to hurry." Sasuke ordered, burning the sticks they had used for the fish. "Why? We still have a couple of days left."

"3 days is not a 'couple' of days, Naruto. The sooner we get out of this forsaken forest, the better."

There was no protest against the reasoning, and soon enough, Team 7 was back on their feet, jumping from one tree to the next.

Room

Unknown Time

An old man was sitting behind a desk, drinking quietly. The room was dark, more dark than usual.

From the shadows, a younger figure stepped out of nowhere.

The old man was paying close attention to the young man's words.

The young figure was paying close attention to the old man's words..

Silence.

The young man dissolved into a flock of crows.

Room

Unknown Time

A man was sitting on a throne.

A man enters and tells the man on the throne something.

The man listens with interest. He started to chuckle.

'Kukukuku'.