"Are these clones? There's a lot of them." Sasuke murmured.
"You're trapped like rats." The rain ninja spoke.
"Shut up!" Naruto charged to throw a punch at the shinobi, but he phased right through him. "What?!" Naruto fell to the ground and the shinobi clone, started to heal himself when another one came out of the hole that Naruto had punched through him. The second ninja was about to throw a kunai at Naruto, just as he was getting back up.
"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted. He threw some shurikens striking the rain ninja in his arm, destroying his arm. The shinobi regrew his arm and threw a double edge kunai at Sasuke.
"Sasuke!" Naruto cried out. But Sasuke, didn't move from his spot. Yuri frowned, wondering why wasn't moving out of the way. The kunai almost reached him.
"Get down!" Yuri quickly grabbed Sasuke, bending him over and she ducked and the kunai flew past. It nicked Yuri on her shoulder, cutting it and lodged itself in a tree. She glanced down at Sasuke, angrily.
"Why didn't you move?!"
"I couldn't!" Sasuke hissed.
"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out in worry.
"Yuri, are you alright!?" Naruto shouted.
"I'm fine, it's just a scratch." Yuri told him and pulled Sasuke and herself back up again. Then Yuri glanced over at Sasuke's neck, staring at the curse mark in concern. "What's going on with Sasuke's body?!"
More rain shinobi clones appeared and started to surround them. "Give us your scroll."
"If Yuri got hurt does that mean they're shadow clones? But shadow clones disappear when they receive a direct hit. But these didn't. So which is it? Is this genjutsu?" Naruto questioned, getting more frustrated. Then Naruto tried to throw several kunais at the ninjas. "Damn it!"
"Don't! It's useless!" Sasuke shouted at Naruto.
"They are illusions. This is the enemies genjutsu." Kabuto spoke.
"But Yuri's injury is real." Sakura said.
"The real ones are hiding somewhere. They use their clones to attack as a distraction and fire kunais from where they're really hiding at." Yuri told them.
"Then let's find the one's throwing kunais and kick their asses!" Naruto shouted.
"But we don't know where they are throwing it from. Their type prefer these kind of attacks and are weak at Taijutsu and close fighting. The real enemy won't reveal themselves until we can no longer move." Kabuto explained. "All we can do is dodge their attacks for now."
"If that's their plan..." Naruto frowned, staring at the shinobi.
"You got something, Naruto?" Yuri asked.
"Maybe."
The rain ninjas attacked throwing kunais at the group. Naruto, Yuri, Sakura, Sasuke and Kabuto tried to fend them off, blocking the weapons and throwing their own into the trees. They were getting more and more tired and scratched up. Sakura screamed in frustration.
"There's no end to this!"
"Leave it to me!" Naruto began to perform a hand sign.
"Stop, Naruto! Don't waste your chakra! It's pointless attacking them like this!" Kabuto spoke.
"If we defeat all the illusions at once, then while they're returning to normal, the enemies can't throw kunais because they will be found!" Naruto told him. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto made many clones and charged at the shinobis, punching and slamming through them, destroying the clones, while several of Naruto clones were destroyed as well. Just as Naruto finished off the last one, more rain ninjas slowly rose out from the ground.
Naruto panted and fell to the ground, completely exhausted and so did Yuri, Sakura, Sasuke and Kabuto. The rain shinobi clones vanished one by one, revealing the real ones. The three ninjas slowly began to inch closer towards the group. One of them glared at Naruto.
"You. You're the guy who shot my shoulder. I finally found you. Making things so difficult. Lucky for me, I can finally return the favor."
Naruto smirked and suddenly Yuri, Sakura, Sasuke and Kabuto vanished, revealing themselves to be Naruto clones. Yuri, Sasuke, Sakura and Kabuto appeared behind the rain ninjas, cornering them.
"Now you're the one's trapped like rats." Sasuke spoke.
"That was some good thinking, Naruto!" Yuri smiled.
"Good one, Naruto!" Sakura cheered as well. The three rain ninjas backed away in shock.
"How?! Since when?!" one of them spoke.
"Idiots! We finally got you by the tails! Bastards!" Naruto grinned. "The shadow clones was just a trick! It was a diversion while I became the whole team!"
"The moment Naruto released his jutsu, the four of us hid. You genjutsu users got a taste of your own medicine." Sasuke explained. "Naruto, you've used too much chakra. I can take it from here."
But Naruto punched one of the rain ninjas, making him slam into his team, knocking them to the ground. "I'm sick of letting you always stealing the juicy parts!"
Sasuke stared in shock and so did Sakura, while Yuri smiled. "Naruto's come a long way."
"You're pretty good, but we aren't unlucky just yet." He said and made a hand sign and so did his other two teammates. "Now, we'll show you are ninjutsu!"
"Mist Clone Technique!" More clones appeared, facing Naruto.
"A shadow clone?" Naruto wondered.
"No, its just a normal one. But watch out, it might be a trick." Sasuke warned.
Naruto smirked. "So, the real one's in there somewhere. I'll just have to beat them all until I hit the real one!"
"Idiot, that plan won't work." Sasuke told him. Naruto charged at the clones.
"I told you to stay out of this!" He punched one of the rain ninja clones and another and another, but Naruto went through each one.
"Naruto, stop!" Sakura shouted before she saw Sasuke fall to the ground, holding his neck in pain. "Sasuke!" She ran over to him and so did Yuri when she saw what had happened.
"What's wrong?" Yuri asked. Then she saw the mark starting to spread again. "It's that mark again, isn't it."
"Sasuke, you need to stop using the Sharingan!" Sakura pleaded. Naruto stopped when he heard Sasuke scream out in pain. One of the rain ninjas quickly appeared right behind Naruto.
"You shouldn't create openings!"
Naruto was quickly knocked out of the way when Kabuto pushed him and Kabuto got hit in the leg by the rain ninja's weapon. Kabuto fell to the ground, while Naruto quickly got up, running over to him.
"Kabuto!" Naruto was about to attack the ninjas again.
"Stop, Naruto!" Sakura shouted and Naruto stopped in his tracks.
"No matter how many you punch, you won't find the real ones." Sasuke spoke.
"Then where will the real one's attack from?! Normal clones can't attack!" Naruto exclaimed.
"If we knew that then things would be easy." Sasuke retorted, sarcastically.
Three rain ninjas slowly rose out from the ground and one of them struck Kabuto across his nose, scratching it. Kabuto's glasses fell off his face as he fell on the ground. The rain ninja tried to attack again. But Kabuto didn't move. Yuri frowned when she saw that he had a strange look in his eyes and he smirked, like he knew something. Sasuke and Sakura saw it as well. Naruto smirked and slammed his leg into one of the rain ninjas, slamming him into his other two teammates, knocking them out.
"You shouldn't create an opening, right?"
"Thank you, Naruto, you saved me." Kabuto smiled, sitting up.
"Great job, Naruto!" Sakura cheered.
"Yeah, that was some quick thinking!" Yuri smiled, walking over to him. Naruto hummed happily and started to loot through the rain ninjas until he found their scroll in one of their bags.
"I found it! I found it! It's a Heaven scroll!" He shouted.
"Nice one, Naruto!" Sakura smiled.
"We can go to the tower now!" Yuri smiled as well.
The group approached the tower and saw two of Kabuto's teammates standing near the entrance, waiting.
"You're late, Kabuto." one of them greeted Kabuto.
"We ran into some trouble along the way." Kabuto explained to them.
"But it's thanks to you, we got the scrolls!" Naruto said.
"No, that was all you guys. You were great at the end, Naruto." Kabuto smiled. "We are going through this door. Good luck to the both of us."
"Yeah!" Naruto nodded.
Naruto, Yuri, Sakura, and Sasuke went inside and up ahead they saw a large scroll displayed on the wall in front of them. There was also no one else around as well.
"Nobody's here." Yuri spoke.
"So, what should we do?" Naruto wondered as well. Sakura looked up at the large writing on the wall, trying to read some of it, but it was missing a few parts. The others tried to read it as well.
"Something about without Heaven...what does this mean?!" Naruto shouted, frustrated.
"Maybe, it wants us to open the scrolls?" Yuri suggested.
"Do you think it's alright to?" Sakura asked her.
"Well, we're at the tower with both scrolls, like Anko said. I don't remember anything where she said that we couldn't once we're inside." Yuri told them.
"Alright, let's open them." Naruto nodded and pulled out the two scrolls. He handed Yuri the Heaven scroll while he held the Earth scroll.
"On the count of three. One, two, three-" Naruto and Yuri both quickly opened the scrolls while Yuri aimed hers away from her. Nothing happened. Naruto and Yuri both opened on of their eyes and peeked. There was some writing on the scrolls but before they could read it, the scrolls started to smoke. Sasuke's eyes widen.
"Yuri! Naruto! Let go of the scrolls!" He shouted. Yuri and Naruto quickly tossed the scrolls and they landed on the floor.
Poof!
Naruto, Yuri, Sakura, and Sasuke's eyes widen in shock when they saw someone familiar standing in front of them.
"You're-!" Sakura stammered, still in shock.
"Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto exclaimed. Iruka smirked.
"Looks like you guys had some trouble. At the end of the second test, it is set up so we chunins can meet up with the exam takers. And I was allowed to be the one to greet you."
"Greet us?" Yuri questioned.
"And made it just in time too. The second test, all four of you pass, congratulations. To celebrate you successful completion of the second test, I'd like to buy you around of ramen, but-" But before Iruka could finish, Naruto slammed into him, hugging Iruka.
"WE DID IT!" Naruto very loudly, completely overjoyed.
"Naruto, I'm not finished-" Iruka tried to speak but Naruto was dancing around, happily.
"WE DID IT! WE DID IT! I'M SO HAPPY!"
"He sure has a lot of energy." Sasuke sighed.
"You sure haven't changed your inability to relax." Iruka smiled.
"I think I get it." Sasuke spoke and looked at Iruka. "If we had opened the scrolls during the test, what were you going to do, Iruka sensei?"
"As sharp as always, Sasuke. As you may have figured out the test's rules is set up to test your ability to perform your missions correctly. If you were to break those rules and open the scrolls, those exam takers would be put in an unconscious condition for the remaining of the test period. Those were my orders." Iruka explained as he told them. Naruto and Sakura's eyes widen and their mouths dropped in shock. Yuri smirked, looking at the two of them.
"Good thing you guys didn't open it."
"Hey, Iruka sensei what's the meaning of the writing on the wall? It looks like there's a word missing." Sakura asked Iruka.
"Who the hell cares?! We passed!" Naruto shouted.
"No. I am here to explain that. This is the motto of the chunin written by the Hokage." Iruka told them.
"Motto?" Naruto asked, confused. Iruka nodded.
"Yeah, the "Heaven" in this paragraph refers to the human mind and the "Earth" refers to the human body. "If you lack Heaven, seek wisdom and be prepared." Take for example, Naruto's weakness is his brain." Iruka smirked. Naruto frowned, crossing his arms.
"Gain knowledge and prepare yourself for missions. "If you lack Earth, run in the fields, seek advantages." So, if Sakura's weakness is stamina, then it's saying you must continue to train hard. And if you have both Heaven and Earth, you can succeed even the most dangerous mission. So, basically all mission become safe and easy." He finished explaining to them.
"But what about the missing word?" Sakura asked.
"The words represent a chunin. The "person" word comes from the scrolls goes there. The last sentence is "these rules will guide a person's extremes." These five days of survival were to test the exam taker's ability to needed become a chunin. And you guys successfully passed that. Chunins are at a rank of military captain you have the responsibility of guiding a team. The knowledge, stamina, and inner wisdom, all are needed for your duties. I want you guys to challenge the next step with this chunin motto in mind. That is all I have to pass on to you."
"Roger!" Naruto smiled and saluted him. Iruka smiled back, looking at each one of them, proudly. But Yuri noticed that Iruka's eyes dropped a little, almost as if he was worried about something.
"Is there something wrong, sensei?" Yuri asked him.
"On this third final test, don't push yourselves too hard. Especially you, Naruto, I worry about you the-" Iruka spoke before Naruto cut him off. Naruto smiled and touched his Leaf headband, pulling it down on his forehead.
"From the moment I received this Leaf headband, I am no longer an academy student! There is no need to worry! And this is the symbol that I am all grown up, right? The part about me never relaxing may not change, but I'm not a kid anymore! I am a shinobi!"