Chapter 20: Chūnin Exams, Turning Point!

Screeching screams echoed through the forest, prompting the scared birds to fly away in unison. The three genins paused on their steps and shared worried glances with one another. Ino signaled her team to be silent by placing her index finger on her lips. She then pointed downward towards the ground and they got the hint to follow her. She leaped off the tall tree and seconds later they all landed on the ground. Unbeknownst to them, it had been team 8 who had taken down an easy target. And the screeching screams had been victims of Shino's insects.

They each hid behind a different tree and spoke in hush voices.

"Someone's team was taken down." Ino said. There was a tone of urgency in her voice.

"Whoever it was, they weren't playing any games." Shikamaru said, his head tilted upward, almost as though he was speaking to the atmosphere.

"Ugh, I think its best if we avoid cutting our way through trees for now. And we shouldn't stay in one place for too long, you guys heard the scream, right? It was definitely close by." Ino said as she finally came out from behind her tree.

"Then we better pick up the pace." Shikamaru said while he was already walking ahead.

Ino heard a soft thud sound hitting the ground. She didn't need to turn around to know Chouji had given up on physical exertion.

"Chouji what the hell are you doing?" Ino asked, though she already knew the answer.

Chouji had been sitting on the grass with a freshly opened bag of chips which hadn't been in his hands moments ago. As he dived his hand inside the bag of chips, a few of his potato chips fell to the ground. No doubt that some critters were going to be well fed tonight.

"Guys I'm so hungry and tired. Let's take a break." Chouji pleaded while pouting. He felt tired because it had only been over a month since they learned how to climb on trees. And the forest's oversized trees were no joke. It took double the amount of effort to make it through since the leaps in between trees were spaced out tremendously. Therefore he had to use even more chakra to land gracefully without falling. Even though he had a higher chakra reserve as opposed to his teammates, Chouji had to compensate by eating a lot. It sucked.

"What is it with you?! It's only been like five minutes!" Ino said, knowing full well that it's been probably over thirty minutes since they've started. It surprised the both of them to see that Chouji was the first one to complain about exhaustion.

Out of the three of them, Shikamaru had a knack for being able to sense the presence of others. He felt an indescribable flickering feeling as if sensing the chakra of another life form approaching. He narrowed his eyes as he glared towards the direction where he knew the enemies where approaching from. Once he was sure it wasn't his imagination, Shikamaru tensed as he warned his team about the upcoming enemies.

"Ino, Chouji, hide!" Shikamaru hissed in a hush-like voice.

Ino dived into the nearest bush, while Shikamaru didn't even wait for Chouji to make a move. He merely pulled Chouji by the long scarf which his friend always wore and lugged him behind the bush. Moments later three genins from a foreign land occupied the space that team 10 previously did.

Shikamaru felt nervous. He peered through a small opening while still hiding behind the bush. There, on the floor, Shikamaru saw chips remnants.

'Shit!' Shikamaru squeezed his eyes shut hoping to will the chips out of existence with the power of his mind. But it didn't work obviously.

Team 10 waited. And when the moment passed, they all released a sigh they've been holding. Ino and Chouji had been unaware that the enemy left without discovering the incriminating evidence left by Chouji.

'What a drag, I'm assuming this kind of situation will continue for five days straight.'

"Let's take a break and make a plan." Ino said, while flipping from her stomach to her back. She stared at the heavily dense forest which seemed to have no sky and sighed.

"Aa." Shikamaru agreed, while ignoring Chouji who resumed to eating his chips; Shikamaru felt a small grudge building up over the chips incident that had occurred moments ago.

"Shika, you got like the lowest chakra reserve out of all of us, so I think we should travel by foot for now. We'll save most of our chakra that way in case we gotta engage an enemy." Ino said. "And if we travel by foot, Chouji won't have to eat as much." She added.

"What about a battle plan?" Shikamaru asked. Just like Ino, he turned to lay on his back, while Chouji sat up and resumed to eating even more chips.

"Eh? Why are you asking me? Asuma-sensei told us that was your specialty, and to use you like a mule." Ino replied, half complaining about having to do all the planning. "Now that I think about it, I noticed how you've been awfully passive lately...you seem to be going back to the way you used to be before we started the academy. And you've been apologizing a lot on top of that." Ino said suspiciously.

Her lips shifted into a cat-like smile as she thought perhaps Hinata was changing him for the best, when in reality it was his one-on-one talks with Asuma that had been changing him lately.

"I didn't want to waste energy on trying to convince you to go along with my tactics. Besides, Chouji's already come to accept you as the leader when you helped us gathered the information during the written exam." Shikamaru said, lazily.

She was forced to look away from the atmosphere, to take a look at him. Ino wasn't easily moved by many things. But at the time, a small smile broke through as she smiled from the heart. Then she giggled a little.

"Mind reader or not, I feel like I can read your thoughts from where I lay. I know what you wanna say-You want us to avoid confrontation to increase our chance of survival." Ino said.

"That's not you reading my thoughts, Ino. That's you using your critical thinking abilities." Shikamaru said as a matter-of-fact.

"You're right-It must be because of the screams we heard earlier. I think I'm a bit scared." Ino replied.

All three were frowning after her statement was spoken.

"Um guys, what if we can't avoid battle? We should make another tactical plan." Chouji said.

"Hmm..." Ino said thoughtfully. "Well, I noticed earlier how some guys were staring at me like they wanted to date me or ask me out." Ino started. Shikamaru immediately glared over at her due to her suggestion. Ino caught the look and scoffed. "C'mon, I'm such a cutie. With my looks, I could probably talk a guy out of fighting us. All I gotta do is let my hair down."

"I don't think I'm capable of putting my faith on you charming the enemy." Shikamaru said dryly, while trying not to lose his faith in her as their leader.

"Well you should trust me more often! And you probably don't appreciate my beauty because I'm not your type." Ino replied. But she couldn't hide her knowing smile, which Shikamaru noticed.

He raised an eyebrow over this.

When Ino stood, Chouji and Shikamaru knew this was their cue to get moving. And when she moved, the rest of her team followed.

The Chūnin exams had been predicated on the notion that every participant was a genin-level shinobi. Yet evidence suggested otherwise. A Proctor happened to find the body of three dead participants, whom were dumped out at the outer skirts of the Leaf Village; near the Forest of Death. Their faces were missing. When Anko got to the scene, Kotetsu handed her pictures showing the participants whom were slaughtered. That was when Anko recalled a peculiar encounter with one of them. It was a participant with a tongue as long as a snake. He had left an impression on her when he returned a Kunai using his tongue. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. She had to make a decision.

How could she let Orochimaru slip into the test unnoticed? Her cursed seal began to hurt as she barked urgent orders that contradicted the suggestions spoken to her. Izumo voiced that she should go personally and inform the Hokage, for which she replied there was no time. There was a mad man on the loose. She had to end him now. Feeling confident in her abilities as a Jounin, and the fact that she felt like this was her mess to clean up; she informed Kotetsu and Izumo to notify the Hokage, and to send ANBU Black Ops to search for the three imposter while she went ahead.

Anko's thoughts looped around anger and revenge; she clearly had a history with Orochimaru as he had been her mentor who betrayed and abandoned her. When her judgement cleared enough for her to think critically, she took a guess at Orochimaru's goal. He hated the Leaf Village, so perhaps his goal was to eliminate all the Leaf genins. But why now? Could he be seeking a new host, instead? But whom is he after? Mid-range groans escaped her, as she tried to suppress the curse seal. Anko had already cover a fair distance, but she feared she might not reach Orochimaru in time to stop him from whatever his plans were.

At the beginning of everything, team 8 had sheer luck by finding the scroll and eliminating an easy team. But that was hours ago, and now the trees were beginning to burn a fiery color. Soon, it will be dark.

Shino paused, his eyes were hidden by his sunglasses, but nevertheless the rest of his facial muscles shifted to an expression of shock. One of his chakra-leeching insect died in the strangest ways; chakra overdose. His father told him that chakra overdose is said to happen when used against an S-rank opponent.

Shino gulped.

Quietly shuffling around Shino, whom had never looked so out of it, Hinata and Kiba finally decided to break his musings. Shino spoke of the bad news that he received from a friendly insect in passing; which hadn't been one of his own. The insect communicated extra information that forced Shino's hands out of sight; and into his pockets to prevent his team from seeing him completely shaken up.

An S-rank Shinobi was roaming in the Forest of Death. His target was the Uchiha. Shino thought of how incredulous it was that his involvement would force a powerful Shinobi to take a small break to recover his lost chakra that was leeched out. If he had to take a guess, it was that the S-rank enemy needs a large amount of chakra to use a complicated technique to harm team seven, which might explain why the enemy might've decided to rest. Unbeknownst to Shino, said S-rank Shinobi was in a weakened state and was racing against time to snatch a body-which met his criteria-to be his new one.

The friendly insect in passing warned him to take his companions and run. And to get to his destination as soon as possible.

A veil of fear fell over them after Shino relay all this information to his team. After some brainstorming as to find the identity of the threat; team 8 came to realize it was probably one of the legendary Sannin that was out there. They concluded this because Shino explained how his bug died of chakra overdose, and that the friendly insect in passing mentioned something about witnessing the Shinobi turn into some sort of snake. Using the knowledge they learned during history class, they concluded that the enemy's name was Orochimaru. Out of the three legendary Sannin, Orochimaru had been the one who defected from the Leaf Village; as he turned out to be evil from the very beginning.

It was a tough decision to elect; should they turn back and warn team seven that a psycho S-level Shinobi was after them? Or should they keep heading straight for the tower and hope for the best? Kiba was gritting his teeth and avoided Hinata's troubled-looking expression. While Shino stood; facing the direction of where he knew team seven were located due to his tracking bug.

Naturally, Shino remained quiet, resolved to face whatever decision his team decided upon. But even though that was what Shino thought he would do, he subconsciously took a step forward, while still facing the direction of where team seven was estimated to be.

His subconscious movement spoke volumes of where his decision stood. For reasons unknown to Shino, he sought to intervene. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he was already involved and had too much information inside his head not to do anything. Or perhaps it was because the exam no longer seemed as important when there was a mad man on the loose with plans that were probably bigger than his own life.

The guilty look in Kiba's eyes vanished and was replaced with a serious one coated with determination. He placed Akamaru inside his coat. Hinata's face, which looked like it was drained of blood, still remained. But deep down she knew she wanted to help Naruto and Sakura in any way she could. If they were to warn team seven, maybe they'll be able to save them. Without wording it, they each felt a similar resolve to intervene and aid team seven. Their actions wasn't about what was right for them. It came to be about what was right for their village. It was hard to ignore an event like this even though they knew they were probably going to die. If they could only weaken such foe, surely their death would contribute to the greater good.

Shino doesn't know why this memory surfaced within him.

It was a memory of when he was younger, and an elderly man named Danzō tried to recruit him to his organization called Root. But his childhood friend, and adopted brother, Torune, offered himself so that Shino could have chance to forge a bond. Torune was projecting his desire knowing that it wasn't possible for him to ever truly have friends; he wasn't born typical, Torune could kill even with a physical brush of his skin. Thus, Shino vowed to try his best to hold onto the feeling of wanting to come out of this alive; out of respect for Torune's wish.

A nod of command was given by Kiba, and team 8 set out to find team seven.

The first night out in the Forest of Death was their worst night. Every leaf that moved, every breeze that blew and every bush that shook, gave rise to goosebumps. Team 10 had never been on a camping trip without their sensei. So it was their first time alone.

The three huddled together under an oversized tree which had a giant root arched like an entrance. And through the arch was a space enough to fit the three of them under the tree.

Even though they were hungry, food wasn't as important at the time. They figure that could wait until tomorrow when the morning rays breaks through the trees. It goes without saying that Chouji was displeased with this decision. But he never made the suggestion to take the role of going food hunting since it was a ridiculous idea to do it at night.

Chouji vowed to learn how to use sealing scrolls if he survives through the exam.

Very little moonlight was able to cut through the forest, so for the most part it was pitch black. One of Shikamaru's weakness was such; he couldn't make shadows without a source of light. To compensate for this-a perk from being a Nara-he was born with acute senses to sort of "see" in the darkness.

Shikamaru heard sounds of night creatures trying to devour their prey. Their team were exhausted from fighting oversized creatures. But the sounds he heard confirmed that they didn't make a dent in their population. There were still many of them.

He agreed to take the first watch since lately he's been having thoughts about what it means to be a man. While playing Shogi with Asuma, his sensei had been instilling ideas inside his head about his role versus Ino's role on the team-that a lady, even if she's a capable ninja, should always be treated as such. Thus, that's why Shikamaru petitioned Chouji to take the next rotation so that Ino could get most of the sleep. He couldn't wait for the three-hour shift to be over.

"Chouji, are you awake?" Ino asked the darkness.

The scent of moss was strong. Their nose was probably still getting used to it. Maybe it was the smell and the loud cries throughout the forest that was keeping her up.

'I sacrifice my sleep for her, yet she's still awake. Just great.' Shikamaru thought to himself.

He could see that Chouji was sitting to Ino's left, leaning against the earthly roots of the giant tree which they took shelter in. But no response came from Chouji.

"This is unbelievable. How can he just fall asleep so quickly?" Ino continued to speak in the darkness.

"It's a trait we both share. We can fall asleep just about anywhere-probably." Shikamaru answered. He was sitting across from Ino while doing his best to stay awake. "It's what makes Chouji the best cloud-watching buddy one could ever have." Shikamaru yawned. "Anyways, go to sleep Ino."

"I can't. Too much's on my mind." Ino replied.

"Ah. Such as?" Shikamaru asked. Ino had the ability to bait him into caring. Or maybe he just cared a lot but wanted to deny it.

"I'm worried about Sasuke and the others from team Kurenai." Ino said. She didn't need to see in the dark to know that Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Team Kurenai is probably better off than we are, since they're a tracking team. As for Sasuke, didn't you say he's some sort of genius." Shikamaru said indifferently. It'll be a lie if he claimed that he hadn't thought about them at least once. However, the deadly location set him up for morbid thoughts.

"Yeah he is. Everyone on his team is probably holding him back, so I'm still worried." While they were on the subject of Sasuke and team Kurenai, Ino remembered how Shikamaru and Hinata seemed to be close. She figured that Hinata was too shy to ever open up, while Shikamaru was too secretive. So at the time, Ino's curiosity just beckoned her to ask Shikamaru about their relationship. "Hey, how are things going with you and Hinata?"

The darkness was as loud as it could be. The cicadas cried over the death of many fallen preys.

"You better not be ignoring me!" Ino said to the darkness as she nudged-who she thought was-Shikamaru.

During his silence, he had been busy recalling how he finally managed to see Hinata's cheeks change to a red color because of him. But his accomplishment didn't really constitute for anything. Hinata probably walked away thinking of him as a pervert. Ugh, how he wanted the earth to swallow him. Just thinking about it made him feel a familiar feeling of heat rising to his cheeks. He was so uncool.

"Troublesome, so it was really you who saw us." Shikamaru mumbled. "Hinata mentioned that she might've seen someone on the tree." He explained. "At any rate, you got the wrong idea about us since there's no us to begin with." Shikamaru sighed. "And this subject is such a drag to talk about since none of this might even matter in the future." He added, sourly.

The setting. The fear. It morphed and twisted his thoughts.

But he felt a gesture of comfort, as a hand touched his shoulder in the darkness. Ino understood that this wasn't the best time to speak about a future that they might never have. Conversations like these were always foreboding in a way, and bad luck at worst.

"We'll get through this." Ino's confidence wrapped around him like a warm blanket on a thunderous night. And after that, Shikamaru didn't hear from her anymore as she tried her best to get some sleep.

While awake, he had a lot of time to himself to reflect about his life. Shikamaru wanted to become a ninja because he thought things would be easier. Seeing how his dad still got to laze around the house gave him the impression that being a ninja was like a walk in the park; though at the time Shikamaru didn't know that his dad often used a shadow clone technique to keep his family company.

But now that Shikamaru was taking steps towards becoming an actual ninja, he saw that the road was very bumpy and was more work than being a civilian. He graduated from a Ninja academy, and felt like he couldn't quit because that would mean he had wasted his mornings on actually getting up to go to the academy.

He felt stuck.

And it brought about uncertainty as he wasn't sure of what he wanted out of life. His mother, for sure, will want him to follow his father's footsteps. He had a vague idea of what his father did for a living. His father served the Hokage and provided strategic advice on how to mobilize ninjas or supplies. Shikamaru knew his father's job was more than just that. But the more details he knew, the less he wanted his father's job.

'I bet it would be nice to die of old age.'

Such thought almost seemed to come out of nowhere. But when he dug deeper, he found the origin. Asuma's father was still alive. And it was rare to see a ninja live to be so old, so the image provided the foundation for the idea of retiring old. Retiring while old meant that Shikamaru would get to marry off his children and even meet his grandchildren. That didn't sound too bad at all. He resolved not to die here. He'll go through this trial with the hopes that it would lead him to the answer about what he actually wanted in life aside retiring from old age.

An hour had gone by, and Shikamaru faded in and out between deep thoughts and alertness. In time, he came to recall a memory which lacked many things. It was a memory from the time at the park, where he rested his head blissfully on Hinata's lap. Shikamaru tried to recall the different smells which the summer breeze carried, along with the sounds of the rustling trees and birds singing.

The smells, the sounds, why couldn't he recall any of it? Perhaps because at the time, it couldn't fit in the same space which she occupied inside his mind. But if he had to choose, he would chose to remember her warmth and her scent, not caring that everything else had to cease its existence just so he could hold on to the memories of her.

Even if it may just be a fleeting feeling that might stay behind with the shifting of the season; being around her made his life slightly more interesting since she was entertaining to watch. Even though he looked forward to seeing her again, what he really craved was to be there to see the kind of person she'll become. Somewhere along the line he admitted he was attracted to her modesty. She's able to easily admit her flaws which made him wonder if she's an organism from another plane of existence.

Wait, Shikamaru always preached about questioning motives, yet he never questioned hers. Why did she always seek to change herself for the best? Where does her motivation come from? He never thought to ask Hinata why.

Shikamaru had been a little distracted of what he saw on the outside. But now he wanted to know more about her. It would be nice to have a look inside her mind and see the area which her dreams resides.

If they ever drift apart, he only hoped that his involvement in her life helped her get to where she wants to be. If it happens that way, he would feel like he had done his part. And if Hinata was just a feint attack to his adolescence heart, he wanted to live through this exam even if it's just to find himself with a blemished and wounded heart.

Such negative thoughts about drifting apart shouldn't be allowed to exist. In fact it'll be a thought he'll never miss. It was the darkness twisting and morphing his views, probably. Shikamaru never realized how safe he felt when when he's surrounded by shadows, or how dependent he was of it. Without it, he feels like a child taken from the protection of his mother.

Shikamaru sighed.

He may have to do something about his shadow-dependency.

Harrison's Wool: Hey guys, guess what, I got hired! I'll probably start working in two weeks. It took long to post chapter 20 because I didn't feel happy with it, to me it felt like a filler. But then I added the scene with Anko and a few narration about team 8, that's when I thought it was ready for upload.

To Julia: "I appreciate what I can get" That made me laugh because that's also my attitude as a reader.

To Guest: I hope I did a good job with this one too!

To Guest: I'm happy you're excited for more chapters!