The next morning Shozouki brought us to what is known as the forty-fourth battle training zone, otherwise called The Forest of Death. The area was fenced off and there were a few seals placed on the chain link fence. It looked like it could live up to its name. I could sense an eerie aura surrounding the forest, but I've felt worse aura's so I wasn't too worried about it.

I was standing with my team, Jiro was slightly behind me and to the right while Mitsuru held the same position on my left. We watched Anko tell the other ninja about the Forest of Death. When everyone's attention was focused on her there was a cardboard box painted to look like a pile of rocks shuffling towards them. Obviously it's someone's attempt at camouflage, judging by their chakra signatures it was a group of three kids. Something felt familiar about them though.

Naruto noticed the box and pretended to walk around without a clue about the box, which I thought was weird, why encourage bad skills like that? Then again they are just kids, maybe Naruto didn't want to be too harsh to them.

He ran back and forth for awhile with the kids following him. Everyone watched him make a fool out of himself. None of us knew why he tried to keep up the charade for as long as he did.

Suddenly Naruto stopped. He pointed at the box declaring, "That's the worst disguise of all time! There's no such thing as square rocks, it's completely obvious!"

"You saw through my camouflage again! You're slick boss. That's just what I would expect from my greatest rival." a light surrounded the box and a pink and yellow smoke bomb went off. When the smoke cleared the three children from the alley were there coughing. "I think we used a little too much gunpowder guys."

"I'm Moegi, the sassiest kunoichi in preschool. Check me out!" the little girl said. She posed with one hand on her hip, she really did seem sassy.

"I love algebra, call me Udon!" said the little boy also in a pose.

Lastly, Konohamaru, "And I'm the number one ninja in the village Konohamaru. When we're all together we're the Konohamaru ninja squad." They all posed together. You know, I bet they get the posing from Naruto…

"Yeah, I knew it was you, what do you want? I'm getting ready to take the second phase of the chunin exam and you're interrupting me. I don't have any time to be playing around with you guys now." Naruto looked like he could care less about seeing them. He had both hands behind his head and looked very relaxed.

"We're not here for you boss!" Konohamaru shouted. "We're on official business!"

"Yeah, that's right." agreed Moegi. "We came here for an exclusive interview."

"An interview huh?" Naruto asked.

"We're here on assignment." said Konohamaru. "To write an article for the academy newspaper. There's gonna be a big time feature story all about the chunin selection examinations."

"Hey, you over there." Anko called looking annoyed. "What are you doing? You're holding up the exams."

"Sorry, but Konohamaru was telling me about an interview for the academy newspaper." Naruto said.

Anko gasped and started blushing. "Yeah, I forgot all about it." She rubbed the back of her head nervously. I wonder if she's always this forgetful, first she comes early to announce the second exam and now she forgets about an exclusive interview? "That's right, Lord Hokage mentioned someone coming to interview me. Everyone take a ten minute break, we'll commence after that. For those scheduled to be interviewed please be courteous to the reporters from the academy newspaper."

Everyone seemed to get comfortable, some even sitting on the ground to wait for the exam. I took my sword off of my belt on my back and stuck it in the ground so I could sit down and lean against a tree. Who knows how long this exam will take, I might not get to rest for awhile. I really just want to get this part done as soon as possible. The final round is really what I'm looking forward to.

Sitting at the base of the tree I stretched my legs out in front of me and then crossed them. Jiro and Mitsuru remained standing, they were far enough away were I couldn't touch them but close enough to make it look like we were a structurally sound team.

I saw Konohamaru look around until his eyes landed on me. He smiled big showing all of his teeth and walked over. "Hey Ketto, would it be okay if I interviewed you?"

"I don't think that's-" started Mitsuru, he stepped toward Konohamaru to try and stop him but I cut him off saying, "Sure, have a seat." I patted the ground across from me and sat up a bit straighter.

Konohamaru sat cross legged in front of me with a notebook in his lap. "Before we start I want to say thank you." he said. "I didn't get the chance to thank you for saving me from that sand ninja the other day. I probably would have ended up in the hospital if it wasn't for you."

"Wait a minute," Jiro butt in. He was kneeling in front of Konohamaru really close to his face. "Are you sure it was Ketto?"

Konohamaru leaned back. "Yes, I'm sure it was her. You're too close!" Konohamaru tried pushing Jiro back and away from him, only Jiro held his ground.

Jiro seemed to realize his closeness and leaned back, he stared at me for a moment and then looked to Mitsuru. I didn't bother looking to Mitsuru to see their facial expressions. They are both probably going through some kind of shock right now.

I scoffed at them, turning back to Konohamaru, I said, "You're welcome. It bothers me that people who are not as strong as others are treated differently. To be a good ninja you have to start somewhere. Everyone starts out weak and they have to grow on their own."

"Those are good words, I'm gonna use that!" he quickly wrote it down in his notebook and then looked back up. "Okay, team Ketto from Kirigakure, why after over a decade of Kirigakure not participating in the ninja selection exams have they decided to start attending?"

I'm not sure why that could be exactly, but I do have a theory. "I believe that the Mizukage plans to start ranking his ninja and we are the 'test run' so to speak."

"You mean ninja from Kirigakure are not ranked, you're all just known as ninja?" he asked seeming a bit shocked.

"That's right," Mitsuru said. "In the past they didn't care about a ranking system, so they didn't use one. I'll admit that it does seem like it would be difficult to determine which ninja would be better suited for each mission. In that case it would make more sense for us to go back to the ranking system. I just think everyone cares more about what they can do for the village rather than caring about a ranking system."

"Also, I think the Mizukage wants to have better relations with our allies by having us attend the chunin exams." I added. "Right now we seem more distant from everyone, which I guess in a way is true. We are not exactly the best with showing our emotions, especially those of us that come from the time of the Bloody Mist."

"I've heard about that!" Konohamaru exclaimed, "Could you explain that a bit more for our readers?" He was poised to write down what we had to say.

I looked to Jiro and Mitsuru seeing their solemn looks deciding against it. "I don't think that would be best. Some of us don't want to be remembered as the Bloody Mist even though we can't escape from what we are."

"Okay then, next question." he casually brushed off our unwillingness to talk about the Bloody Mist. "Being that you are the first team from Kirigakure in over a decade why do you personally want to be a part of the chunin selection exams?"

Jiro looked to me asking for permission, I gave him a nod and he answered Konohamaru's question. "My name is Jiro Matsuo, I decided to participate in the chunin exams because the Mizukage said Ketto needed a team and I wanted to become the first ninja in my family to officially be given a rank. I want to be known as the stronger one so that maybe they will respect me more instead of pushing me around."

It seemed like Jiro was finished, "Mitsuru you can go next." I said choosing to go last.

"Alright," he replied. "I'm Mitsuru Onishi, I'm also here because Ketto needed a teammate, other than that I think it's important for the land of Water to progress as an allied country we need to have some organization and good relations with the other allied countries. Mainly I'm here because my generation is the future of the Mist and I want to make a difference."

Konohamaru finished scribbling and looked to me, "And you Ketto? These two are only here because of you. This must be your first time working together if you were only placed on a team for the exams."

I nodded my head to show that was the case. "I am Ketto Momichi, I am participating in the chunin exams because it is one step of many to me becoming the next Mizukage. I want to show the people of the land of Water that I am not a demon and that I am someone worth caring for. I also want my uncle to be proud of me, he raised me since I was a newborn and I want him to know that I am grateful to him for raising me as his own child even though he hardly has any time for himself."

"That's amazing!" Konohamaru exclaimed, "Can I include your uncles name for a more heartwarming affect on the readers?" he was poised with his pencil hovering over the paper.

"I guess so," I shrugged my shoulders. "He is the current Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi."

"You're part of a kage family? Me too!" Konohamaru exclaimed excitedly. "My grandpa is the Third Hokage!"

"Ketto you're the Mizukages niece!" Jiro shouted. No one was around us to hear Jiro shouting. They gave us some space when they saw we were going to be interviewed. Jiro looked shocked, his dark brown eyes were widened and there was a look of disbelief on his face.

"We knew the Mizukage had a niece, we just didn't know it was you." Mitsuru added. He also looked shocked, only he was doing a much better job at containing his shock. Seeming to realize something he also said, "We should have been calling you Lady Ketto this whole time."

"Oh my gosh, you're right Mitsuru!" Jiro agreed. He bowed forward on his knees, his arms stretched out in front of him with his brown hair falling into his eyes. "I'm so sorry Ketto, we've been so distant and cold towards you for being the Demon of the Mist, but you're part of the kage family! We should have showed you some respect because of that. We'll call you Lady Ketto from now on, I promise!"

"Uh.. That won't be necessary. You can just call me Ketto." I didn't quite know what to do, I've never had anyone bow down to me before, it kind of made me feel uncomfortable. I shifted in my place a bit as if that would get Jiro and Mitsuru to stop staring at me.

"No, as being part of the kage family you deserve our respect." Mitsuru said. "We'll call you Lady Ketto because that's your title." It was said as a finality, this isn't going to be up for debate.

I sighed knowing there is probably no way I'll be able to get them to change their minds, they both seem settled on calling me Lady Ketto from now on. I suppose in Kirigakure the kage family is a big deal. The kages have all come from the same family, while some may have different last names they are all of the same bloodline. The first Mizukage, Byakuren was a Karatachi. The second was Gengetsu Hozuki, whose mother was a Karatachi. The third, Shojuro was deceased by the time uncle Yagura became Mizukage, he was uncle Yagura's great uncle or something like that. I remember reading somewhere that he had black sclera and no pupils. It was never really explained why that was, though I wonder if it had something to do with his abilities. I'm not certain of his abilities either, I just know that he was strong enough to be named Mizukage and before that he was an anbu that worked close with the first Mizukage.

In Kirigakure, as a way of keeping the Mizukage's in line and preventing the jinchuriki from going against the village the host would be of the kage family. They were also seen as the only ones strong enough to contain the tailed beast, so the Mizukage would be the jinchuriki or a member of their family would be.

All of Kirigakure believes uncle Yagura is still the three tails jinchuriki, mainly because he still possesses some of Isobu's chakra, but that is just fragments of Isobu's chakra. Being that uncle was the host for several years that chakra fused with his own, so everyone would still believe he is the jinchuriki. All of my chakra is sealed away with seals placed on each of my forearms and shins. I keep them covered with bandages at all times. To everyone it would appear that I have absolutely no chakra, as far as they know I have excellent concealing abilities or they'll just believe that I don't have any.

"Is that all of your questions?" I asked Konohamaru.

He stood up and brushed the dirt off of himself. "Yup, thank you Lady Ketto." he bowed and rushed off to his friends.

"Great, another person calling me a lady." I crossed my arms and threw my head back against the tree trunk. "Only uncle's closest advisors call me Lady Ketto."

"Alright everyone, time to get started!" Anko shouted. I pushed myself off of the tree and grabbed my sword to reattach it to my belt. Jiro got off the ground and Mitsuru stopped leaning on the tree. "As I said, this is the Forest of Death and this is where your second exam will be."

"Forest of Death, whatever, I'm not scared. Bring it!" yelled Naruto.

"So, it looks like we got ourselves a tough guy." with her eyes narrowed and a smile on her face, Anko threw a kunai at him just missing his cheek. Then she appeared behind him. "Are you tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you? Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest." Anko grabbed another kunai and turned to block another one that was coming at her from behind, this other kunai was gripped with a tongue that was elongated to stretch over to her. The two kunai never clashed, there was no hostile intent coming from the girl that held it. The act itself was kind of creepy, but she wasn't threatening Anko.

"I was just returning your knife." the girl said. Her voice was more raspy than anything I've ever heard from a girl.

"Why thank you Grass ninja." They stared at each other for a moment before Anko added, "You know, I only recommend you stand this close if you wish to reach a premature end."

Anko took the offered kunai and the tongue retracted into the girls mouth. "My pardon." she said. "With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair I'm afraid I've just become a little bit excited. I meant you no harm."

"Likewise." Anko replied. The girl walked away from Anko to rejoin her other teammates. The whole encounter was weird. "It seems like everyone here today is quick tempered, I wonder if there's something in the air. This is gonna be fun." Anko walked back to the front of our group and turned to face us. "Now before we begin this test I have something to hand out to you all." She withdrew a pile of papers from her trench coat. "It's just a standard consent form. Before the test all of you are going to read over this form and then sign it."

"What for?" Naruto asked.

"Some of you may not come back from this test and I have to get your consent to that risk, otherwise it would be my responsibility." she started laughing. She didn't say it, but she must be expecting some of us to either meet an end by the creatures in the forest or kill each other. "Now, I'll be explaining what you'll be doing on this test. Here pass these out." she handed the consent forms to Naruto. "The first thing you need to know is that this test will test every one of your survival skills. First, I'll give you a description of what you're going to see on the practice field. The forty-fourth battle training zone has forty-four logged entrance gates, there's a river and a full forest inside. In the center there's a locked tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll under go the survival test. The test consists of an anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." She produced two scrolls from within her trench coat.

"Both of them?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, you'll be fighting to get both, a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll. All together twenty-six teams will be taking part in this test. So half of those teams will be going after the Heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the Earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, that's what you'll be vying for."

"She's implying that if we want, we can kill each other to get the other scroll." I said quietly, only my teammates would be able to hear me.

"We are not going to kill anyone." Mitsuru said, he didn't even look to me.

"I didn't mean that as a suggestion, I was just shocked that someone who is not from Kirigakure would suggest that."

"Your entire squad must bring both a Heaven and an Earth scroll to the tower." Anko said, "Oh, one more thing. The test has a time limit, complete the task within five days."

"Five days?!" exclaimed the loud blonde girl from the first exam.

"What are we supposed to do for food?!" shouted her teammate. He looked a bit bigger than most of the other ninja here. I honestly doubted he could make it.

"Look around, the forest is full of things to eat." Anko encouraged. "There's plenty to feed all of you."

"Yeah, but that's not all the forest has plenty of," Kabuto said. "There are man eating beasts and poisonous plants in there."

"Aw man!" whined the fatter kid.

"Stop it, this is why they call it survival you know." the blonde said to him.

Seeming to remember Anko said, "Right, this also tests your endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge."

A lazy looking boy with spiked hair in a ponytail raised his hand. "Say we take the exam, can we quit?"

"Of course not. In the middle of a battle you can't say 'sorry I quit'. Well I guess you could, but it's probably only going to get you killed." Anko said with a smile.

"Great, this is gonna be a drag." he moaned.

"There are also some ways you could be disqualified. The first is simple, if all three members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls in five days. Number two, if the team loses a member or a member becomes incapacitated and can not continue. But most importantly, none of you, absolutely none of you can look at the content of the scrolls until you've reached the tower."

"What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto asked.

"Let me put it this way little man, you don't want to know." Anko emphasized the last part of her sentence. "Sometimes you will be asked to transport confidential documents, the sole purpose is to test your integrity. Okay, we're done. Each team take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scroll." she pointed to a wooden stand placed by one of the entrances to the training grounds. "After that each team pick a gate to be let inside. One more word of advice, just don't die!"

With everything having been said, all of the teams distanced themselves from each other to start strategizing. Mitsuru, Jiro and I stayed by our tree to fill out our consent forms and talk.

"I'll carry the scroll." I declared.

"Fine by me." Mitsuru said, "I was going to suggest that you carry it anyway, but where are you going to hide it?"

"I wasn't planning on concealing it. I was thinking about just tucking it into the waistband of my leggings, everyone will be able to see it, but no one will get close enough to actually get it. As if they could get close enough. " I said.

"You want everyone to be able to see it?" Jiro asked with uncertainty.

"Do you really think anyone will be able to get it from her?" Mitsuru questioned him.

"Fair point." he replied. "So any ideas on what we are going to do once we get inside the battle ground?"

"I have an idea." I started, the two boys looked to me to continue. "I can perform the Hiding in the Mist technique to surround the whole battle ground. I can make the mist so that it causes everyone to hallucinate and get lost. The mist already exists, so it won't take too long for me to fuse my chakra with the water particles and make the mist thicker."

"How will we not get lost?" Mitsuru pointed to himself and Jiro.

"Just stay close to me. We can get the other scroll right away from the nearest group to us and go straight to the tower at the center without any problems."

"This should be easy!" Jiro exclaimed, "How long do you think it will take us?"

"With that plan it shouldn't take more than a day." Mitsuru said. "Let's sign these and trade them in for our scroll." he waved the consent form in the air.

None of us had anything to write with so we thought we should go straight to the registration booth, I knew they would have something for us to use. The people manning the booth put up a curtain around the front so that after you had in your consent forms you can conceal your scroll right away. I did exactly as I said I would do, as soon as I got our Heaven scroll I tucked it into the waistband of my high-waisted leggings. The ninja that were at the booth were looking at me with uncertainty, but I didn't really care about what they thought.

As we walked out from behind the curtain I had an idea. We planned to just go after the group that was closest to us and take their scroll, which would have worked out either way but we wouldn't have known what scroll that team had until we already ran into them. I know how we can save time and guarantee that they will have a Earth scroll. I pulled out the scroll and held it in the air, "Attention everyone!"

"Wait, what are you doing?!" Mitsuru whisper shouted to me. This is new, usually he is always calm and collected. I can tell that he's anxious just by looking into his crystal blue eyes.

I brushed him off and continued speaking to the audience I now had. The group of ninja now at the registration booth stepped out from behind the curtain to see what was going on. "We are team Ketto from Kirigakure and we have a Heaven scroll, those of you with Earth scrolls can find us at gate twenty-seven to the north-west. Happy hunting." I finished with a smirk. I tucked the scroll back into the top of my leggings making sure everyone saw. Everyone had varying degrees of disbelief on their faces. My favorite was Kankuro's face, his eyes were so wide I thought they would pop out of his head and his mouth was hanging open. The blonde girl in his group smacked him and looked to be telling him something. Gaara watched me like he did during the first exam, like he was curious. I had to turn away because he wouldn't stop watching me. I started to lead us to our gate.

"I can't believe you just did that." Jiro mumbled. He's never been this put out before.

"I think we need an explanation." Mitsuru demanded. "We weren't planning on hiding the scroll, but why did you announce what scroll we had to everyone? Now we have a large target painted on our backs."

"I just guaranteed that the first group we encounter will have an Earth scroll so we can cut more time off of this exam." I explained with a nonchalant air. I don't care if we have a target placed on us, it will just make this part of the exam more interesting.

"Or we'll be stuck at the same amount of time because we have to face just as many if not more teams." he said.

"I'm not worried about it." I said. "Are you two ready for a battle?" I could feel the growing excitement just at the thought of a battle.

"We're going to have to be." Jiro said, "But yeah, let's show them what we've got!" he raised a fist to the air showing his excitement.

"This will be our chance to show them all what Kirigakure ninja can do." Mitsuru agreed. Together the three of us went to our respective gate. We had an hour before the exam started, but we wanted to make sure we could try and get a feel for the land in our area from what we can see on our side of the fence.

The gate we were waiting in front of opened inviting us to start the exam. When Mitsuru and Jiro didn't move to enter the battle ground I took it upon myself to take the first step. I should have realized sooner that they would only ever follow behind me and never to the side or in front of me. They gave me the leader position so that they could always keep an eye on me. Either that or uncle Yagura told them, including Shozouki that I was to be the leader. I'll probably never ask them though, neither option seems very appealing. They could fear me, which is likely or they could fear uncle, also likely.

Once we entered the battle ground the gate closed behind us. I did the appropriate hand signs for my jutsu, "Hiding in the mist". My chakra started saturating the preexisting mist, making it thicker and harder to see to everyone but me. As the user the jutsu doesn't affect me, but it will affect Jiro and Mitsuru, that's why I told them to stay close to me.

It will take some time for my chakra to spread all across the battleground, meaning that the effects will not be instantaneous. However, it shouldn't take more than ten minutes for everyone to be affected. That also means that people outside of the gate will be affected. I am the epicenter so the mist will span as far as I push it in either direction of me. I really hope this mist makes everything more interesting for everyone.

I heard a kunai whistling through the air coming in my direction. Instead of letting it bounce off my skin that's as hard as a turtles shell, I took a step forward and slightly readjusted my body so that I could grab the hilt of the kunai and swiftly throw it back to the one that threw it. I heard a grunt as the kunai connected with something fleshy.

"What was that!?" Jiro yelled looking around hurriedly. "How did you move that fast?"

"We've just encountered our first enemy." I said.

Out of the mist came a girl from Sunagakure though she wasn't the girl from Gaara's team. She was clutching her right shoulder where the kunai was lodged. It looked to be buried deep and was bleeding through her fingers. At the position of the kunai I would say that's a serious break in her bone.

Following her were two boys, her teammates. They both had brown hair and shared the same face. I would say they are either twins or just siblings that look similar. "Air Bullets!" one of them shouted.

Jiro unsheathed his katana and sliced through the hurtling balls of air coming for him. I deflected with my sword because the blade was big enough to redirect the air back at them. Mitsuru created his water dragon and used the air bullets to freeze parts of it. I've never dealt with ice before, I wonder if it uses more chakra to move it?

Mitsuru's partially frozen water dragon collided with one of the boys effectively knocking him out. Jiro engaged in combat with the other boy who was now using an air blade, it was only the size of a sabre probably due to his limited chakra control.

The girl charged at me with her good hand raised, "Hardliner Gale Fist!" her fist was surrounded in light chakra. Before she could hit me, I grabbed her wrist and threw her down to the ground and then positioned my sword over her neck.

"Give us your scroll." I demanded resting my left foot on her stomach. I moved the blade to the wound in her shoulder slightly digging it in.

She gave a blood curdling scream at the pain.

"Akari!" her conscious teammate yelled.

"Fine! It's- It's in my right sleeve!" she shouted. "Just please take your blade out!" I reached down to grab it seeing that it was exactly what I planned for, an Earth scroll. I tucked it into the waistband of my leggings along with the Heaven scroll.

I could sense another team very nearby and slowly coming in our direction. "Mitsuru, don't dispel your water dragon yet, there's another team coming in this direction."

"Where?" he asked trying to squint into the mist.

"That way." I pointed to the opposite direction this team of Sunagakure ninja came from. "You should surprise them, no doubt they were probably planning on jumping us too. Jiro and I will join you in a moment."

Mitsuru looked to us for a moment and then nodded his head before he ran off.

I got off of the girl, Akari and let her teammate run to her. "What are we going to do with them?" Jiro asked.

"I need you to absorb their chakra." I said.

"All of it?!" he exclaimed.

The two ninja in question gasped at that. "No, not all of it. Just enough so that they won't be able to follow us. Then I'll need you to give some chakra to Mitsuru after, from watching the two of you practice I know Mitsuru can hold his dragon up to fifteen minutes, but now that it's iced he'll be running out of chakra faster."

"That's a good plan." he said. He walked over to the two Sand ninja and touched each of their shoulders. It took a minute or two, but they struggled to keep their eyes open and then slumped to the ground. Jiro let go of them, straightening himself.

"Him too." I pointed my sword at the unconscious one.

"He's already knocked out. Can't we just leave him?" he asked.

"We can't let him come after us." I pointed out. "What if he wakes up?"

"Alright, but just a bit." he said. He walked over to the other guy and took some of his chakra too.

"That should be good here, let's go help Mitsuru." I jogged to where Mitsuru was to see that he created two water clones that all had a partially frozen water dragon and he was also using a whip made out of water. The dragons were all bombarding the other team of ninja who were also wearing forehead protectors from Sunagakure while Mitsuru wrapped his whip around one of the boys and threw his body into a tree trunk. This can't be a coincidence, can it? Why would the Sunagakure ninjas target us specifically?

Mitsuru was doing a good job tiring them out, but I noticed that his breathing was also slightly labored. I threw my sword into the fray to separate the other boy from the girl. I lunged forward to retrieve my sword and slash it at the boy. He tried jumping out of the way but he was too slow and the blade cut through his abdomen a little bit. It's not deep enough to kill him, but my sword is actually black coral that I created, there are toxins in it that once it enters the bloodstream it will slowly shut down your organs. It's more immediate effect is that it sucks up all of your chakra. I vaguely wondered if this boy and that Akari would survive the poison long enough to get help.

He tried forming hand signs to perform a ninjutsu but was unable to use his chakra. "What-What did you do to me?!"

"Look at your cut." I said. He looked at it through the cut cloth to see that inside of the cut there was a thin line of black poison that already started to branch off into his veins. "My blade is poisoned. It can take anywhere to a few hours to a couple of days for it to completely shut down your organs."

He stood there gritting his teeth unsure of what to do. It looks like he doesn't have any other weapon, he relied solely on his jutsu. He fell to his knees in shock. I took pity on him and reattached my sword to my back deciding to just let him be. "I'm going to die in here?"

"Not exactly, if you don't move around to much it'll take longer for it to spread."

"Lady Ketto, we're ready to move on." Jiro called. Him and Mitsuru appeared in their positions behind me. "Should I take some of his chakra too?"

"No, leave him." I said. I looked behind me to see the other two Sunagakure ninja are unconscious, Jiro must have taken their chakra already.

"What?" Mitsuru questioned sounding confused. "Why would you let him go?"

"Because he needs whatever chakra he has left. He was cut by my blade and was poisoned." I turned to Mitsuru, "It was another Earth scroll right?"

"Yeah." he said holding it up.

"Just as I thought, either way we would have gotten an Earth scroll. Let's go." I started running at a pace that would be easy for both Mitsuru and Jiro to keep up with so they wouldn't get lost in the mist. Together we ran to the center of the forest where the tower is located without any other disturbances. It still took us some time to get to there but we were there within the first day which is about how long we thought it would take.

"You should toss out that extra scroll before we go in the tower." Mitsuru said. "We don't need it."

"Fine." I pulled the extra scroll out of my leggings and wound up to throw it. I spun and threw it with all of my strength. We watched it disappear into the mist, I wonder who will end up with it? "I should probably dispel the mist too." I did some hand signs and a burst of air spanned out from my body clearing the area of my chakra. "I wonder how long it will take for the next team to finish."

"Not sure, we'll see I guess." Jiro said.

I turned back to the tower, there were several doors around the base and all of them had paper seals on them. I picked one and opened the door for us to enter. It was really just a big empty room that looked like it connected to other rooms within the tower.

"There's nothing here." Jiro looked around the room.

"Up there." Mitsuru pointed up at a message on the wall.

"If qualities of Heaven are your desire acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack train you body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are opened together the perilous path will become righteous forever. This, and then there is a missing word here, is the secret way that leads us to today." I read.

"Umm, I'm not good with riddles." Jiro said sheepishly.

"Something about you tells me you wouldn't be." I muttered.

"Let's open both of the scrolls together." Mitsuru suggested.

"Well, we have both and it looks like that will make everything better for the future, so yeah, let's open them." I pulled both scrolls out of the waistband of my leggings. I gripped the edge of each scroll in either of my hands. I'll be the one to open them just in case anything happens then I'll get hit with it first. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" shouted Jiro.

"I'm ready." agreed Mitsuru.

I tossed the scrolls away from me while still gripping the edges causing them to unroll and then let them gently waft to the ground where I kneeled to put the ends I was holding. At first nothing happened and I was a bit disappointed that we had to get these useless scrolls, but then the scrolls started emitting smoke for a summoning. "Be on your guard!" I stood and grabbed my sword. When the smoke cleared it revealed a ninja with light brown hair and lavender eyes, Shozouki.

"Shozouki!" Jiro shouted, "What are you doing here?!"

"It's a tradition of the Leaf village that once the second exam of the chunin exams is finished the test takers are greeted by a higher level ninja." he explained. He narrowed his lavender eyes at me, "It just so happens that no one else wanted to greet you because of the six unconscious Sunagakure ninja you left behind. They think you live up to the name of the Bloody Mist."

"Technically, I didn't knock anyone unconscious." I said. "I left two poisoned, but the one was definitely conscious."

Mitsuru and Jiro shifted uncomfortably, "Those were us." Jiro said quietly. "I took just enough chakra from some so they wouldn't follow us."

"And I knocked two out with my water dragon." Mitsuru added.

"See, it was a collective effort and we had reason for knocking them out." I said meeting Shozouki's lavender eyes with my grey ones. "We could have just killed them all."

"Nevermind, I'm here to congratulate you on passing the second test. The Mizukage will be proud." I smiled softly at those words, all I want is to make him proud. "Also, your time for completion was," he looked to a stopwatch that he pulled out of his pants pocket, "Forty-five minutes, that's the fastest time ever recorded. The three of you are doing an amazing job of representing Kirigakure."

"Forty-five minutes!" Jiro shouted, "It feels longer than that." he rubbed his chin in thought.

"Probably because of all the adrenaline with fighting and then racing to get here." Mitsuru said.

"I'm sorry to say this," Shozouki started, "but you have to stay here until the exam is over for all of the other participants."

"What?!" Jiro and Mitsuru shouted.

I sighed, "Of course we would." Five days alone with my team, what could happen?

"I'll see you in five days." he said. He performed the hand signs for a transportation jutsu and disappeared in a mist.

I set my sword on the floor and sat down with my legs crossed, I intended to meditate and talk to Isobu. It's calming talking to him, if I ask he will teach me jutsus that I can use with his abilities. Jiro flopped on the floor on his back near me, while Mitsuru went to go explore the rest of the tower.

I calmed my thoughts and my body before I started to meditate. Slowly, I could feel myself falling deep into consciousness to a place that I keep Isobu sealed away. Uncle Yagura said that I'm always supposed to keep Isobu sealed away, that I'm not supposed to give him any freedom. He thinks that if I give Isobu even the slightest bit of freedom that he'll try to escape the seal in place keeping him in my body. After having known Isobu for many years, I know that he is really quite peaceful. He doesn't ever experience blood lust, the only blood lust ever experienced is my own. I won't go out of my way to make someone bleed, but I don't seem to care if I do make them bleed. It's probably from spending so much time around uncle Yagura and Zabuza.

I appeared in front of Isobu's cage. It was really dark in here because Isobu prefers to hide away. All I could see of him through the bars was his one opened eye. In the darkness it looked gray with thin rings of black circling the iris which was glowing red with a ring of yellow gold around the pupil.

"You've come to visit." he stated, his voice sounded rough and harsh, just like his appearance.

"I've wanted to ask again if you will teach me that technique." I said. Recently, I've been wanting to know more about the tailed beast sealed inside of me. Uncle Yagura can only tell me what he has learned over the years of being Isobu's host, so I took to the ancient scrolls of the Mist. Usually access to them is strictly classified, but I gained permission from my uncle. This technique was only ever revealed to the first Mizukage's son, Kuroba, though at some point of his life he started to misuse that power causing Isobu to break through his seal effectively killing Kuroba.

"The first and last time I ever taught that technique to someone he started a war." he rumbled. "I will not make the same mistake twice."

"I will not make the same decisions as he did, I plan on someday becoming allies with other nations more than we are now. It's time we reached a point that all of the nations harmonized with one another. That's what you would like isn't it, peace?"

"I do not believe this technique will help you reach a state of peace." he said. "You can do so with other means."

"I will, it's just that if there happens to be a stronger force than me I would like to have a backup plan." I said. "I wouldn't use it unless if I didn't have a choice."

"No, I don't think you are ready." he said.

A curious look passed over my face. "Does that mean you will teach me when you deem I am ready?"

"You are persistent." he didn't say anything else about the topic.

"I will be patient. Whenever you think you can trust me with that technique, I'll be waiting." I said. I think this is the most I'll be able to get out of him today. It might take him some time to become less tense after the topic I brought up, I'll just have to accept that it will be a slow process getting him to share that with me. "I'll go for today, but I'll try to visit soon." He only grunted in response and closed his eye. I was right, he doesn't want to talk to me anymore today.

Over the next few days we mostly kept to ourselves, Jiro was trying to get us all to interact with each other many different times, which is admirable for him. I thought we were honestly going to just use each other to make it to the final round but he seemed to want us to actually come together as a team. At first I was very unsure about it, then after Jiro's constant attempts at conversation I decided to give a reply here or there. Those were opportunities Jiro jumped at, he was constantly trying to keep the conversation going. I was never really good at conversations, the only people I've ever had to talk to were uncle Yagura and the seven ninja swordsmen of the Mist and they are not all that talkative either.

One day Jiro collected some berries and bugs for us to eat, but I didn't have any plans on eating until we got out of this forest. I kept remembering that there were poisonous things in here, but as long as I stay hydrated I'll be fine. I've been on a couple of missions were I wouldn't eat for days and I functioned just fine, only slight dizziness when I would move too fast. So, I was prepared to wait out our time in this tower without food. However, Jiro showed concern for my well being and I didn't know what to do so I ate the food he collected for us everyday, even if it was against my better judgement. As much as it bothered me, I wasn't used to people actually worrying about my well being, and that is the sole reason I ate the food Jiro got for us.

The day before the second stage was going to be over I tried talking to Isobu again. I felt as if I gave him enough time to calm down over my last question. This time I won't even bother asking, I'll try again in a month or so. I don't want to nag him too much about it. Or make him feel as if that's all I care about. He already has difficulties trusting humans.

I appeared outside of his cage, I didn't even say anything to him before he said, "I already told you, I'm not teaching you that technique. If that's why you're here, leave."

"Actually, I came to see you." I said. "I thought you might be lonely being that you're sealed in here by yourself." Sometimes, I felt bad for Isobu. He's only sealed inside of me because he's too powerful to roam about on his own. He's very peaceful, I remember when I was younger and uncle Yagura would have me kill people for him Isobu wouldn't lend me his chakra. I had to rely on my own, unless if I suffered from chakra depletion, then he would give me some of his chakra. It wasn't because he approved of what I was doing, it was only for the purpose of keeping me alive.

"You know child, out of all of my previous hosts you have talked with me the most." he said. "Everyone else thought they could gain my power by force so they would only come to this sealed place with weapons and try to get me to submit to them."

"Even my uncle Yagura?" I asked. I wasn't surprised that he would do such a thing. I've overheard other people talk about the things my uncle has done. While I'm shocked that he would do those kinds of things I understand that he acts like a different person around me.

"Yes, he once brought his staff, the one with a hook on each side. He threatened to destroy my left eye if I didn't let him use my chakra freely." he said. "However, I'm a peaceful creature and all he needed to do was ask to use my power and I would have let him."

"So, if I asked to use your chakra freely?" I questioned.

"I would let you, but your chakra is great on it's own." he said. "All of your years of training has helped to build your chakra. Though if you need some of my chakra, I will give it to you."

I thought for a moment, this whole time I've been relying on my own chakra? I've had a feeling, but I never considered it to be true. I thought if you were a jinchuuriki you automatically gained access to a whole other store of chakra to use as your own. That both chakra signatures somehow combined to become one. I voiced those thoughts to Isobu.

"That could happen over time, it requires the host to be in harmony with their demon." he said. "Our chakra signatures did slightly merge together in the past. Remember the time of your graduation exam to genin?" I nodded my head remembering when I killed all of those other participants in cold blood. "Sometime after your graduation Yagura placed those seals on your forearms and ankles to conceal our chakra. Those seals also reinforce the primary seal that was placed on your stomach from when I was first sealed inside of you."

"Wait, we only slightly merged back then? What would happen if we were to continue to merge?" I asked.

"Your chakra will be sensed again." he said. "I believe if that were to happen then Yagura would place more seals on you to protect you from those that would hunt us for our power."

"What do I have to do for our chakra signatures to merge? I don't remember what I did back then." I confessed. The last time it just happened, I really can't remember what I did for that to happen.

"You must balance the two."

I was stuck, I'm not sure how I balanced the two before. What are the odds it will happen on it's own again? How will I even know I'm doing it right? "Thank you for sharing that information with me. I should be going now, to try and figure that out." I said.

"Wait just a moment, there's something else I want to say." he said.

"What is it?"

"Make many allies, with only allies you will not have any enemies. I would like that very much. I will finally be able to obtain a more relaxed state." he said.

I wondered how this giant turtle demon could reach an even more relaxed state than he is already. Then I realized, he might open both eyes instead of just his left. I glanced around the dark space we usually meet in seeing nothing but darkness and his one eye. I might be able to actually see him one day. I've never actually seen what his body looks like, I only know that he resembles a turtle from the ancient scrolls. I don't even know if uncle Yagura has seen Isobu's form.

"I will remember that." I said, "Until next time."

When I opened my eyes appearing back in the tower in the Forest of Death, Jiro was leaning close to my face. His brown eyes looked a bit worried. "What happened? I've been trying to get your attention, but you were unconscious or something. This is the second time this has happened."

"Sorry, sometimes I get lost in my meditation." I replied.

"Oh, I see." he donned a thoughtful look on his face.

"Jiro," Mitsuru called to him, "Back off of Lady Ketto would you? You're closer than what would be appropriate."

"Hmm?" Jiro looked confused for a minute then scrambled away from me with a blush on his face. "I'm so sorry Lady Ketto! Please don't hurt me!"

"You're fine." I said.

I decided I wouldn't visit with Isobu again unless if I was alone. I don't want anyone else worrying about me or even piecing together it was Isobu I was talking to.

"That blonde Sunagakure ninja came by earlier, we didn't know what to tell her when she asked about you in your meditative state." Mitsuru said. He was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling. "She thought it was strange that we couldn't pull you out of it."

"Why did she come by here?" I asked. I shifted in my position, my limbs felt stiff from sitting this way for awhile. I leaned back on my arms and stretched my legs out in front of me.

"She was bored and wanted to walk around." Jiro said. "It is really boring in here, there's nothing to do." Jiro fell to the ground dramatically, face planting the floor.

"If we don't think about it I'm sure our time here will be fast." I said. I moved myself to stand. "Actually, I'm going to throw some kunai. Give me a few characters on the riddle to use as targets." I looked to the riddle on the wall that we first read when we entered the room. It was the only previously marked place in the whole room, I couldn't think of anything else to use as targets.

Mitsuru moved his head to look at the wall. "Um, wisdom, path, forever, and secret."

I nodded my head and walked to a better position with Jiro and Mitsuru out of the way. I reached into my kunai pouch on my left thigh and grabbed four kunai for the places Mitsuru marked. First I separated the kunai between my fingers before I drew my arm across my chest and then swung my arm in front of me, releasing the kunai just before my arm stopped moving. I held my position just in case my movement would have shifted the course of the kunai.

The sound of the kunai hitting the wall is what alerted me that it was okay to move my arm back to my side. The kunai all hit their respective targets, only the one aimed for path was slightly farther to the left than I would like it so I'll try again and build up the difficulty. "Jiro, come here for a second." I said. I had an idea on how to make this more difficult.

"Uh, sure." he replied. I could sense the hesitation in his steps as he came closer to me.

"Lace your fingers together and stand right here." I pointed to a place and he moved there. "I need you to project me up into the air to make this more challenging."

He nodded his head and braced himself. I backed away from him so that I could get a little bit of a running start. From the corner of my eye, I saw Mitsuru move into a seated position to watch. I took out four more kunai then broke out into a run. I used my left leg to push off of Jiro's hand. With our combined momentum I rose into the air much higher than I expected, so I did a front flip with the extra air and then launched the kunai. I didn't really look at were the kunai landed until my feet settled on the ground again. That was when I looked up and saw the kunai has strayed a bit more from their intended targets, but they were still on the very edge of the characters. All except for wisdom, that one flew higher missing the riddle completely. Instead that kunai was right above the balcony.

"That's pretty cool!" Jiro yelled excitedly. "You almost got them all."

"It's not good enough." I said. I grabbed four more kunai. "Let's try again. You threw me up higher than I thought you would so I had to adjust."

"Oh, sorry about that. I do some extra strength training, I've been wanting to learn to dual wield and my strength isn't where it needs to be yet." Jiro said.

"It's fine, like I said, I had to adjust but that's fine. It's a more realistic battle situation." I said.

"If you want I can conjure up my water dragon." Mitsuru called to us. "We could spar with each other while we're waiting for this part of the exam to finish."

"To make it fair it should be one on one fights." Jiro added. "But yeah, that sounds like a good way to pass time."

"I guess we could do that." I agreed. "The two of you can start."

"Actually Ketto," Mitsuru started as he stood up. "Jiro and I have already trained with each other. I would like to spar with you."

"Alright, we can spar." I turned to him already setting it in my mind to not go all out. I don't need to scare them when they were slowly opening up to me. I took another kunai out of my pouch and took up a defensive position with my left arm in front of me and the kunai in that hand. Mitsuru also took a defensive position, but he had both hands outstretched in front of him. Jiro moved to get out of our way and then we began. Mitsuru did a few hand signs and his water whip appeared. He swung it in my direction. I dodged out of the way and moved closer to Mitsuru. He dispelled his whip, because I was too close for him to use it effectively. He pulled a kunai out of his kunai pouch and blocked my jab at his chest. We struggled to gain control of the other, it was difficult to pull away everytime our kunai clashed. Sometimes one of us would pressure the other and others we would go in for the fast jabs. I cut Mitsuru a few times on his arms but he wasn't able to cut me. We fought like this for awhile before I decided I had enough playing around, so I sidestepped one of his jabs and spun to bring myself behind him and then raised the kunai to his neck. He froze, his breathing came as pants while I was slightly out of breath. "Not bad, have you ever thought of taking up a blade? You have the stamina for it."

"I wasn't really thinking about it. I'm better with ranged attacks." slowly his breathing evened out. I noticed his black bangs were sticking to his forehead from the sweat.

"Jiro, did you want to spar with me too?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh sure." Jiro grabbed his katana and took Mitsuru's place. Mitsuru moved out of the way and then our sparring session started.

The three of us ended up sparring together a lot in our time waiting for the second phase of the exams to finish. It passed the time and I like to believe I helped the two of them work on their abilities. Whenever someone would walk by our room they would peek in to see us fighting each other. Sometimes they would stay to watch but more often than not they would leave just as soon as they came once they knew what the racket was.

During the time we spent together both Jiro and Mitsuru seem to be warming up to me, or at least Jiro is for sure. Mitsuru doesn't really seem like the kind of person to show that he cares for anyone. He did seem to try to open up though. Mitsuru's distance from us didn't bother me, maybe in his own way he was getting used to me too? Jiro did most of the talking for all of us, he is such a talker. When the exam commenced on day five I didn't seem to mind them much either.