{Author's Note}
I made a considerable grammar error in the last chapter. Hinata covered Kiba's mouth when discussing the alliance made with team 7, not a mouth-to-mouth. I fixed it. Kiba and Hinata aren't together in this fashion.
Anyway, that's all.
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{Land of Fire: Training ground 44: Forest of Death Entrance }
July 7th
Line break.
Kiba stared out over the fence into the dark jungle, shivering at the sight of what looked like a giant snake swallowing a poor Hawk whole.
He gulped and turned to his two teammates, who were, of course, unaffected.
'Nothing gets to those two, I swear!' he thought. Little did he know that they, too, were nervous, just not to the same extent.
It was early morning, the sun barely kissing the horizon, and Teams were arriving one by one, sorted by their sensei, and then left there to wait on the proctors, who, too, would arrive on time.
The Forest of Death was known for being the most dangerous training ground for performing training exorcises for chunin or for testing genin to become chunin. It is a death trap; a single glance was enough to unsettle any Genin, even some chunin.
Sakura shivered at the prospect of having to go in there. "This whole place completely creeps me out," said Sakura.
Anko smirked. "It should. They call it the forest of death. Soon enough, you'll find out why."
Kiba glanced at a wary Hinata and puffed out his chest. "Oh, please! Quit trying to scare us already! So corny, the forest of death? We'll knock this out easy. Right, Akamaru?!"
Akamaru barked in response, and Shino sighed at his loud, enthused response. 'Read the room, Kiba.' he thought with a sigh.
Anko's smirk broadened at that. "Oh? It looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy.'
Both Hinata and Shino were on guard the moment Kunai whizzed past the boy's face. Akamaru yelped at the feeling of a kunai against his back, and Kiba was frozen at the presence behind him.
"You tough enough to handle this? hmm?" She asked in a teasing and threatening manner.
Kiba felt blood trickle down his cheek, the stiffness of Akamaru's fur on his back. He knew If she wanted, she could end him right now, and the fact that a single shift would send her blade into the pup and that Anko's hand wasn't wavering a bit was all the indication that she wasn't playing around.
"You know? Little boys like you stain the forest with the most blood. They're always so messy, and all because they can't keep their mouths shut," she said with a chuckle before giving a side glance to Hinata, who was not far from her. The Hyuuga sent her a death glare.
Anko spun an extra kunai and went to stab a lang-haired grass-nin coming her way, stopping in time to understand the kunoichi's intent.
"My apologies. I only meant to return your Kunai, said the grass-nin as she returned the thrown Kunai over to Anko using her abnormally long tongue, of all things.
Kiba's hair was standing on end as Anko and the creepy lady exchanged veiled threats, and the boy was released, frozen, and thoroughly creeped out.
Naruto smirked at the sight, happy to see Kiba so uncomfortable and on the receiving end of karma for once.
Sakura was just as creeped out, though, shaking her head. 'I thought the forest was creepy, but these guys are even creepier,'
Anko stepped back in front of the class and reached into her jacket. "Now, before we go on with this test, I have something to hand out to you all."
She pulled it out and revealed what looked to be a stack of contracts. "It's just a standard consent form," she said. "Before the test, all of you are going to have to read over this form and then sign it."
A random genin raised their hand. "What for?"
"Some of you won't come back from this test, and I'll have to get your consent for that risk. Otherwise, I'll be held responsible. As a result, signing this is the only way I can let you proceed," she responded.
She looked at Kiba, and the boy winced a bit, making her smile. "Be a doll and hand these out, will ya?" she said with an amused smile.
The boy growled and took a form, handing one to his teammates before handing the stack to another team. Rinse and repeat.
As the genin passed around the consent form, Anko went on to explain the nature of the test.
This is to be a survival test where everyone's skills are put to the test. Anko went on to describe the terrain, showing them what the landscape looks like on a stretched-out map. The Tower's purpose at the center of the field was explained, and lastly, the true goal of the test was explained: obtaining the other team's scroll.
Anko finished her explanation with a smirk, holding both scrolls in her hand. "You'll be fighting to obtain both heaven and earth scrolls. Once your teams have both, you'll need to make it back to the Tower to turn them in. Once that's done, you can consider the second stage of the test accomplished for you and your team. You have five days to finish this test, by the way."
The genin on the field all pondered this information, but the last bit threw them off.
"What?!" yelled a random genin. "Five days out here?!"
Choji quickly raised his hand, equally concerned. "What do we do for food?!"
Anko laughed at that. "Ah, but you see, there are plenty of things to eat. The wildlife and fauna are abundant here, so there's no need to fret—unless... you are incapable of basic hunting and gathering skills, that is."
Shikamaru gave the most extended sigh he'd ever given in his life. 'What a drag! The purpose of this stage is to test our ability to survive behind enemy lines while trying to obtain information. This is crazy!'
Anko smirked. "Well, get behind the curtain and claim a scroll so we can get this thing rolling."
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One by one, a team grabbed a scroll.
Neji stared between a heaven scroll and an earth scroll and grabbed the Earth one instead.
He looked at both Lee and Tenten and placed it within his jacket. "I'll hold on to it until we can come up with a better way to hide it."
The two nodded and followed him out of the veiled stand.
"With these circumstances, there's no way half the teams will pass the test. This is where the culling of the week truly begins." the Hyuuga said softly.
Lee nodded. "And with the days getting longer in the summer, the nights will be shorter, giving us less time to rest. A truly grueling challenge indeed." He said with excitement.
Tenten smiled at the two boys. "We'll do fine here. It's time to start weeding out those who may have what we need to pass.
Neji nodded. "I already know how we'll do that. That's the easy part. What comes after that is the difficult part."
Lee and Tenten listened intently to Neji as they waited for the test to begin.
Meanwhile, Dosu's team sat not far from their new 'allies,' having a small conversation.
"Remember our agreement," whispered Shigure, the team leader of one of the rain village genin teams.
Dosu gave a nod, Zaku crossing his arms as they left.
"Why are we teaming up with those weaklings?" asked Zaku.
"Because if alliances are being made, then we'll need to adapt. The moment an opportunity is presented to betray them for our own gains, we'll take it."
Zaku's smirk returned. "That's more like it."
Dosu then glanced over to where Sasuke's team was residing and crossed his arms. 'I wouldn't have bothered anyway were it not for the fact that someone was trying to assist that team of all teams. We cannot afford to fail in our mission. We will eliminate Uchiha Sasuke!' Dosu thought to himself.
Sasuke happened to be sitting with his team. The three of them carefully analyzed the other genin and came to the same conclusion.
"Ibiki was right," Whispered Sasuke. Stealing information really is a matter of life and death. We don't know which team member is carrying the scroll or what kind of scroll they are carrying. The enemy could engage us and find that both parties are wasting energy fighting over the wrong object."
Naruto snorted, "How troublesome. There's a pretty good chance half these teams won't even have the correct scroll."
Sasuke nodded and stood up when he saw teams being escorted to their gates. "It's time for us to get going. You ready, Sakura?"
"Yeah," the girl responded.
"Team 7! Follow me, please!" yelled out one of the Examiners.
The team followed, ready to get this test out of the way.
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Anko and her fellow examiners stood on the watchtower now, getting ready to signal for them to enter the forest.
The gates were unlocked, the proctors taking a position in the middle.
Anko smirked at finally being able to get this thing rolling. She looked down at the clock, and the moment it hit Ten on the dot, she gave her fellow examiner the signal.
A horn blew, the gates flew open, and all the teams rushed at full speed from all corners of the map. The Battle Royale had finally begun.
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{Land of Fire: Training ground 44: Forest of Death}
{Team Guy POV}
"Lee! Slow down!" yelled Tented.
"Take it easy, Lee. The test has only just begun," said Neji in an amused tone.
Lee looked back and gave a smirk. "That may be! Be whoever our enemies are; I want to find them well before they find us!"
Neji shook his head. "You are such a hot-head. Fine. Be that way."
Neji's eyes developed veins surrounding his eyes, and his grey irises shifted and dilated. "Byakugan!"
They moved like the wind, and all three of them used various maneuverability skills to help them traverse the terrain.
Neji's eyes shifted from right to left as he searched for a team with the scroll they were looking for and put up a signal for them to slow down, which they did.
"What do you see?" asked Tenten.
Neji paused before answering. "A skirmish between at least four... no. Five teams."
"Oh boy! This is our chance to!"
"NO, Lee! No. We will watch from a safe distance and pick off whoever emerges victorious. We play this smart," said Neji quickly.
Lee sighed, a little disappointed, but Tenten put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, Lee. You need to remember that we have an entire stage ahead of us that we need to worry about. I'm positive you'll be able to show off your taijutsu skill in the third stage."
Lee nodded, the fire burning in his eyes in an almost literal sense. "Of course! You're right, Tenten!"
Neji silently thanked the girl for reigning in their enthusiastic teammate and motioned for them to get a closer look at what was going on ahead. An easy victory awaits.
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{Team Asuma POV}
Shikamaru peaked his head from around a tree, watching for any movement or abnormal sound that wasn't typical jungle noise.
He gritted his teeth in anger. 'I hate this already. My paranoia is making me want to punch something,' he thought as he leaned against a tree and looked over his shoulder.
He gave a slight wave, and both Ino and Choji slowly crept out of the bushes they were in.
"I think the coast is clear, Shikamaru," whispered Ino.
Choji looked around and shook his head. "It's so dark here. I can barely see the sky."
"We're on ground level, so yeah. It's bound to be darker in some places." said the Nara.
Shikamaru pulled out the map and took a quick look around. "We should try to head north; we have a higher chance of avoiding the early chaos there. I want to establish a base of operations and set some traps. Good terrain is key."
Ino crossed her arms. "Avoiding combat will lower our chances of getting a scroll. I say we lure someone in and then strike while they are defenseless."
Shikamaru sighed. "Who's supposed to be the brains of this operation again?"
Ino rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying. You're doing that thing again.
Shikamaru squinted his eyes and glared at Ino. "What thing?"
Ino sighed. "Where you hesitate out of fear or duck out of responsibility out of sheer laziness. We can't hesitate, even in a place like this. Like it or not, we can't sit around in some cave all day and hope someone comes to us. It doesn't work like that."
Shikamaru sighed, and she mocked him by imitating his gesture, putting a hand on her hips.
"I actually agree with Ino on this one," said a chewing Choji.
"Really, Choji? You t—" Shikamaru said before cutting himself off. "Choji!" Shikamaru suddenly hissed," Why are you eating now?! Save some for later!"
Choji looked innocent. "What? I need my protein. Besides, this is my favorite flavor, and there wasn't much in the bag anyway."
Ino gave the boy an exasperated look. 'How come Sakura lucked out, and I got stuck with lazy bones and fatty here?!' she thought.
Shikamaru was about to scold his friend when he felt a surge of panic run through him, his senses still on end. His first clue of intrusion was the sound of subtle snaps and leaves shuffling from the ground.
"SHHH!" He hissed, dragging Choji into a bush and Ino diving in not far from them.
Ten seconds later, a genin team landed not far from where they were, looking around confused.
"I could have sworn someone was here. I know I heard them." said the tallest one.
"You said that the last time," a girl's voice rang out. "Just give up already and accept that we're on a goose chase. We've got other things to do. Let's just go where the action is. We can pick off an escaping team and take a scroll that way."
Shikamaru grits his teeth in frustration as the team continues their bickering. When he sees Choji's chips on the floor, his world comes crashing down. The girl's foot is literally inches from it.
'Damn! Why does this have to happen now?' he thought to himself, 'why does the worst always happen to me?'
Ino glared at Choji from across the bush, having noticed the same thing.
Choji, on the other hand, looked focused, something that caught them off guard. He looked at Shikamaru and made a shadow gesture, and Shikamaru looked at him like he was crazy. But when Choji started counting down, Shikamaru paled.
Right when Choji made a fist sign and made to get up, Shikamaru was forced to act and used his shadow possession on one target, the tall male. Ino used her body snatch on the other boy, and Choji charged into the female.
The girl whirled around in shock, her teammate wheezing from suddenly being immobilized, and her other partner falling to the ground limp.
She brought out her Kunai and went to strike Choji, but the boy's hand grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her into a gut punch, which caused her to double over in pain.
He then effortlessly threw her over his shoulder, slamming her on her back, knocking the wind out of her, and jumped on her chest, knocking her out cold.
"Ha Ha! We did it!" yelled the large boy.
"Choji! Get the guy before he slips!" yelled Shikamaru.
"Oh, right. Sorry Shikamaru.
Line break.
Team Asuma just finished tying the team up, and all members had their arms crossed and stared down at their prisoners.
Shikamaru was especially cross with Choji but was also admittedly amazed. Same for Ino.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. You were hesitating, and I saw an opportunity. They seemed like cowards, the same as us. They were easy targets," said Choji.
Ino chuckled. "I have to admit, I underestimated you."
Choji nodded, reached into his bag of chips, and finished them off before stuffing them back into his jacket.
Shikamaru turned to the one he presumed to be the leader. "OK. Who has it?"
"None of us. We hid it where no one would find it."
Shikamaru raised a brow. "We'll see about that."
the boy walked up to him and searched him, finding nothing. He searched for his partner, too, and the result was the same. That left the girl.
Shikamaru rummaged through her belongings, pulling out some wire and a couple of Kunai. He tossed them aside and looked for a scroll. He crossed his arms and stood back. "They might be telling the truth.
Ino looked at him and smirked. "How chivalrous of you not to search the girl properly."
The girl paled at that. "W-what?!"
Shikamaru shook his head, "I did search her. Nothing. The scroll wasn't on her either."
Ino glared at him and shoved him aside. She searched the girl's jacket, pulled it off, and found nothing. Then, to all the boy's surprise, she reached down the girl's shirt.
The girl's face flushed, her body going stiff, and she couldn't look away.
Ino's eyes went wide as she reached further into her cleavage and pulled it out with a smirk. "Bingo. It was between her fake boobs."
"Hey!" yelled the genin in anger.
Ino tossed it over to a flustered Shikamaru, the boy barely catching it. He looked down to find that it wasn't an earth scroll but a heaven scroll.
"wrong scroll," said Choji, disappointed.
Ino shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We can still use it as bait. Having a failsafe is good.
Shikamaru nodded, and they turned to leave.
Line break.
{Team Kurenai POV}
'Shit! This was such a bad idea! I thought they were on the weaker side!' thought a senior genin by the name of Jiro. Behind him was his partner, Natsumi, who was running behind him, desperately trying to catch up.
They both came to a halt when Kiba landed in front of them and charged them.
He crossed his arms and was knocked back by a flying kick sent from the boy, being caught by Tatumi.
"You good?!" asked Tatsumi, and Jiro nodded.
"I'm fine. We need to get ourselves out of this mess."
Tatsumi nodded and drew his Tanto. "This guy isn't the issue. We can take him easy. The probl-urgh!"
Jiro whirled to find his teammate falling to the ground, Hinata standing behind the poor boy.
He almost screeched, swinging his kunai as fast as he could, only to find it in her hand. The girl easily disarmed him. He even spun it in her hand, a mocking smirk on her face.
"You really sould have minded your business, Senpai," She said softly in a mocking tone.
Jiro backed up, and Kiba cracked his knuckles. "Yeah. We gave you a chance to walk away, but you just had to run your mouth. Well, the lesson learned was a bit too late.
Akamaru growled and barked in a threatening manner, and Kiba and Hinata prepared to attack.
"Ok! Ok! We're sorry! Please!" the boy pleaded, rummaging and throwing a scroll to Kiba. "Take it and leave us alone!"
Kiba was surprised by the cowardice of their enemy and looked at Hinata for instruction.
She gave something akin to an evil smirk as she leaned against the boy, her finger pressed against his rib. "what happened to those slick comments about raping my corpse?"
The boy paled and went to prostrate himself, but he felt her chakra run through her finger, and it became harder to breathe. "Don't move. If I decide, I can burst your lung open, so let's take things slow. I want you to lead us to your partners. There was another team tracking us, and you were helping them. Show us where they are."
Jiro nodded slowly, his face turning a purple-ish color.
She released him, and he fell to his knees.
It wasn't long before Shino landed not far from them, a body on his shoulder. "It seems they were allergic to my swarm," He said in his monotonous way. "I couldn't save her."
Jiro's eyes widened, watering at the site of his crush reduced to a corpse thanks to some bug boy.
Hinata sighed. 'Not what I wanted at all. I'm not trying to weaken our village by killing our own. Yet with how they were talking...'
"Don't stress about it, Shino. This fool made it clear that he'd have done worse to us. Leave her for the wild."
Shino nodded, and all three stared at the scared senior genin. "Lead the way," Shino said.
Line break.
{Team Kakashi POV}
It was only an hour into the exam, and already they were forced into the thick of it.
Sakura was dashing through the forest at high speed. Kunai whizzing past her at high speeds.
She jumped between the branches of the giant trees, taking timing and trajectory into account as she used them as cover mid-leap. She was untouchable.
In her head, she was thanking Kakashi for his one-on-one with her. Evasion was significant because she wasn't as skilled as Naruto and Sasuke.
Who was she running from? Two-leaf genin, seniors by two years who'd taken the exams last year and had no intention of losing this year.
One was a boy, and the other... she wasn't sure, given the masks they wore and the lack of assets on them. It didn't matter. Unfortunately, her team got separated. They got singled out, and because of it, an opening skirmish between four teams played out between hers and three others.
She went through her pouch and reviewed the tags Naruto had given her, thankful that he was a resourceful sealing master.
She planted tags around the battlefield, and they would burst, creating a fog that was especially hard to breathe in.
The two men behind her noticed this and got annoyed. "Really, little girl? Smoke bombs? You're going to have to do better than that!"
She gritted her teeth and thought the same. 'Couldn't you have given me something that would pack a punch, Naruto?! What do they even do?! They barely hide you! He told me to use these in tandem with this red one. I don't understand how he expects me to shake these guys! You put too much faith into this!'
She calmed herself and focused on getting out of this situation.
She knew she couldn't continue to speed in one direction, so she circled around, throwing multiple projectiles to catch her opponents off guard.
"Watch out!" yelled the masked one, who she was sure was a female now, and then she zipped into cover.
Her eyes widened at the chance given, and she dashed to the ground level, using the hiding like a mole jutsu as taught by Kakashi, but not before tossing the red sealing tag in the air like she was told.
She burrowed until she was sure he was safe and activated the tag. What ensued would wake the whole forest up.
Line break.
{Neutral POV}
Every genin felt or saw the result of Naruto's seal on Sakura. A wave of nasty air would hit them, and then, before them, a wave of igniting flames would come rushing in.
Any team caught up in this was burnt alive, whereas others who were lucky to be just outside of the radius felt the heat and were forced to flee out of fear and confusion.
There was no sound from the sudden gas flame, so the sudden ignition caught many off guard.
This resulted in all teams getting separated and losing track of any opponent that had been trailing them. At least anywhere this event went on.
both Neji and Hinata saw the wave first and were wise to stay back, and Shikamaru's team just happened to be on the other side of the map.
"What was that?!" yelled Tenten as she peaked around her giant log.
Neji shook his head. "I'm not sure. Whatever it was, three teams have been eliminated thanks to it."
Lee turned to Neji in shock. "Huh?! Really?! Who could have performed such a devastating attack? It's barely been an hour!"
Neji wanted to know the same thing. "Time to get a little closer to find out. We'll circle around all of this and see if we can jump ahead on this mystery before they get the jump on us."
Lee nodded and made to follow while Tenten looked up at the towering and burning trees.
Her eyes widened when realizing the scale of what just happened. 'Was this really the work of a genin? or...' She thought to herself before shaking her head. Now was not the time.
He chased after her teammates and decided to find out.
Line break.
{Team Kakashi POV}
Naruto and Sasuke both rushed to where the blonde claimed Sakura was, hoping to get to her before something went wrong. When Naruto saw the fog, his eyes widened, and he tugged Sasuke's shirt.
"Hang on! Don't go in there!"
Sasuke looked at him, confused, and before he could ask, a heatwave blasted both boys back, and they hurried back.
Naruto knew they were screwed and laughed, clasping his hands together in a hand seal Sasuke recognized.
The Uchiha dot close to Naruto right as a sea of flame washed over them, engulfing the barrier completely.
"What the?! What's happening?!" Asked Sasuke.
Naruto shook his head. "She overdid it. I told her to plant some seals dhat housed the toad oil mist jutsu, and I planned oto haveher use a basic paper bomb to create a chain reaction. But I think she mistook it for smoke."
Sasuke's eyes widened as the barrier was now covered in racing cinders and smoke. "Why didn't you tell her it was oil?! She could be dead!"
Naruto waved it off. "She's fine. I told her to get to the best cover she could find. As for why I didn't tell her, we were in combat."
Sasuke huffed and shut his eyes when the barrier collapsed prematurely, having sustained too much damage to keep its form. Both boys grunted and winced at the heat rushing at them.
Naruto clasped his hands together and performed a weak wind jutsu that parted the sea of smoke and cleared a path for them.
Both boys charged in, Naruto leading the way.
They were surrounded by smoke, and the sound of flames ringing out in the air was that of a large-scale forest fire.
They came across her two opponents lying up against a tree, burnt beyond recognition.
Sasuke winced back in shock and decided to inspect them as Naruto looked around, coughing from all the smoke he was taking in.
The sound of Sakura coughing rang out, and the boy helped her out of the ash.
Sakura took a breath to get air and clung to Naruto, completely winded from her panic.
"O-oh, my god! I almost died!" she said in panic and anger. "Why didn't you tell me it was flammable!"
He sighed and picked her up, carrying her piggyback. "I was in combat. There was no time to explain."
Sasuke landed nearby, a destroyed scroll in his hand. "We need to get a move on. This place is coming down."
Naruto nodded, noticing burning branches were falling from the sky. "Yeah, let's get out of here."
Line break.
{Land of Fire: Training ground 44: Forest of Death Entrance }
"Holy shit!" yelled Anko excitedly. "Are you serious?!" she asked Kotetsu.
The man nodded, put off by her excitement. "Y-yeah. It was just a genin team."
She burst out laughing and shot up from her wooded chair, stretching. "Which one? Who's in possession of such destructive ninjutsu?"
Kotetsu shrugged. "I have no idea. All I know is that the forest is burning now and nmust be removedbefore it leaves the training ground."
She sighed and nodded. "Well, I suppose this means I'll be skipping my early lunch. Man, it's only Eleven, and things have already kicked off to such a scale."
Kotetsu sighed and followed her, barking orders along the way.
Line break.
{Land of Fire: Training ground 44: Forest of Death }
{Team Kakashi POV}
"That was a disaster, said Sasuke, washing the ash off his face. "Their earth scroll was destroyed."
His two teammates were doing the same, trying to shake off what just happened.
"I can't believe how quickly everyone turned on us," sighed Naruto.
"That's what happens when everyone recognizes a larger threat. You dropped two of them too fast. It's why I said to slow it down and ease up on the ninjutsu," responded Sasuke.
Naruto had to admit that Sasuke was right about that one. They were supposed to be wolves in sheep's clothing, and he showed his fangs way too quickly. This isn't the stage to show off like that.
Naruto flicked the water off his hands and walked over to where Sasuke had set the scroll down, disappointed to find it so burnt up that it was too damaged to turn in.
Sighing at the sight, he waited for his team to finish their self-check-up before deciding what to do next.
"How many of those oil seals do you have?" asked Sakura out of the blue.
"Whatever I gave to you. It was all in my pack.
Sakura stiffened. "So… No more then?"
Naruto turned around, a look of shock on his face. "You used all of them?!"
Saura waved her arms at him. "I was in a state of panic! You should have told me what they were! I thought it was smoke!
"Put a cork in it already!" hissed Sasuke, irritated with the arguing. "We don't have the time to argue about something so trivial."
Naruto sighed and nodded. "So what now?
"Simple. We find another team. This time, we won't be doing a three-on-nine skirmish, said Sasuke with confidence.
Naruto smirked. "I'll get on it then."
The boy got into a meditative position and closed his eyes, getting a feel for their immediate surroundings.
He pushed his senses further antil he found what he was looking for.
"There's a lot of activity to the north of us. We'll find someone there."
Sasuke nodded. "Good. Let's head out then. No time to waste."
Both genin nodded, and they sprinted into the trees, searching for their prey.
Line break.
{Team Gai POV}
Two hours later.
"What do you see?" asked Tenten.
Neji's eyes were narrowed. 'It couldn't be them. It just couldn't! And yet... ' he thought to himself before he gave his response.
"I think I see him. It's just the leaf rookies."
Lee looked at Neji with surprise, and Tenten frowned, "You're not thinking..."
Neji waved it off. "This only proves that what happened was some kind of freak accident that they just so happened to survive. A collision of two destructive jutsu from a more experienced team must have occurred. This has nothing to do with them."
"If you say so, Neji," Tenten responded. "So since it's just them, what do we do? Get the jump on them?"
Neji nodded, but right as they began to make a move, He Saw Naruto look directly at him despite the distance between them.
"Wait!" yelled Neji, putting his fist up.
Both teammates stopped, and Lee groaned uncharacteristically. "Neji, What is the problem?!" the spandex-wearing genin asked, annoyed at being teased of a potential fight.
Neji's eyes narrowed when he witnessed Naruto tap Sasuke's shoulder. When Naruto pointed right in this team's direction, Neji decidedthen and there: "We'll hold off on them. They have a sensor. There are two safer options around us that we should focus on instead."
Both teammates were surprised, but they followed his lead and dropped onto the lower part of the tree before deciding to go east instead.
Line break.
"Well, now. That's... disappointing," hissed the female kusa-nin, her snake-like eyes glaring out at the flames. "It seems we'll need to wait before we can snag our prey."
Her two teammates nodded in understanding.
Thanks to the fires, Chunin were now active in or near the forest to ensure it didn't escape beyond the training ground.
The scale of the flames wasn't even an issue; it was its rate of growth and how much oxygen it consumed to do so.
The team would have to wait until they are vulnerable before they can strike. Otherwise, they'd know something was amiss with the nature of their team. Especially Anko.
"We have five days, you two," she hissed. "let's go somewhere safe until we can move on our prey."
They both nodded and followed her through the trees.
Line break.
{Nightfall}
{Team seven POV}
They hadn't seen action since the skirmish that ended up with a small forest fire.
Sasuke wasn't happy with that. He didn't want a day wasted on idleness when they needed to find the scroll before there were none left to claim.
Sakura and Sasuke sat in front of a lake, having just purified some water using their campfire.
Naruto was out hunting for some food so they could eat. They were in a good position, and Naruto insisted that they save their rations until the time came when they absolutely needed them. Hunting was better for them anyway.
This was the time to stock up and take advantage of their surroundings.
The night sky was clear, and the air was calm.
"You've improved," said Sasuke quietly.
Sakura turned to him, surprised. "Huh?" she said comically, resisting the urge to cringe at her stupid response.
"You've improved as a shinobi. I'm glad you aren't deadweight and even a little impressed.
She beamed, but he shot her a look, "Don't start. I'm telling you this so that you understand that you aren't the same academy girl from before. You've changed a little. Keep it up and don't falter." he said with a warning.
"Yes! Of course!" she responded, unable to help the smile that came onto her features.
He sighed at that, 'I hope I didn't just dig my own grave.' he thought to himself, hearing the girl chatter away with herself in joy.
Sakura suddenly got up. "I'm going to take a quick dip in the water. It'll help clear my head and get rid of the ash smell I have."
Sasuke waved her off, and before she could disappear, Naruto landed near them with a bird in hand.
"I couldn't find anything bigger, but-" Naruto suddenly jumped away from a kunai Sasuke threw as he stepped forward.
"stay where you are," growled Sasuke.
Sakura looked surprised at the sudden action. "Sasuke, what's gotten into you?" she said as she got closer.
Her eyes suddenly widened at the sight before her before they narrowed.
They both glared at Naruto as the boy put his hands up.
"chill, guys! I'm a friendly!
"no, you're not. Naruto's not jacket is torn, you moron!" said Sakura harshly.
The imposter scowled in frustration. He couldn't get any details from his vantage point and hoped these rookies would just fall for his disguise, especially if he brought back some game to distract them from any errors in his disguise. He was wrong in that.
The imposter's henge faded to reveal a ninja in a full-body suit and what seems to be a respirator/Voice changer.
"Give me the scroll, and no one will get hurt," Threatened Oboro.
Sasuke stared at the rain-nin and itched for his holster, the other boy doing the same.
Sasuke smirked at Sakura's disappearance, knowing she was using the shadows to find an opening.
Oboro's hand blurred to his house, and he threw a flurry of shuriken, Sasuke doing the same.
The projectiles collided as they rushed into one another, clashing their kunai. Each boy pushed the other away before they rushed at each other again, their attacks becoming faster as they sized one another up.
It started slow, their jabs careful and precise before kicks and punches were sent as well, mixing their fighting styles into the mix. And when Sasuke caught Oboro's arm and spun to elbow him in the face, he knew who was superior in taijutsu and started going all out.
From then on, Oboro was on the defensive, swinging for dear life as Sasuke's arm blurred in his eyes, easily catching every attempted counterattack.
Oboro bent away from a sudden thrust of the kunai, and his eyes widened when he saw Sasuke spin it in his hand and bring the blade down on the boy, slashing the suit across the chest and drawing a thin cut that made the rain-nin hiss.
Oboro stumbled back, a hand going to his cut. 'shit! This kid's good!' he stressfully thought to himself, trying to jump back and away from Sasuke.
Oboro gasped when the Uchiha's speed was put on display, the boy closing the distance as fast as possible, and Oboro was forced to deflect two more strikes from Sasuke, receiving a punch to the eye during the exchange,
He jumped away, realizing that taijutsu was obviously not in his favor, and opted to throw kunai down at Sasuke as he retreated into the trees.
"you're a dead man, you little bastard!" shouted Oboro as he threw a flurry of Kunai.
Sasuke twisted and beautifully deflected what Oboro threw at him, speeding past a branch that blocked the ones he didn't have time to block. He caught the last kunai, spinning it in his hand.
Oboro's eyes narrowed, but then Sakura jumped onto his back and rammed her kunai into his side, enticing a scream of pain to rip from his mouth.
He tried to grab the girl, but she twisted them and kicked them off of him, sending him to a lower branch on his back.
He groaned, stunned by the sudden damage, which left him open to Sasuke's drop kick to the chest. He was sent through his branch and spun down to the ground, where he hit it with a sickening crunch.
He groaned, struggling to move. Sasuke landed on the boy's back, his knee slamming into his back, and an audible snap resounded, followed by a scream of pain.
Sasuke gritted his teeth. "give it up. We have you now,"
Oboro was in too much pain to talk and just let out a strained laugh before reaching behind, but Sakura grabbed his wrist and, with a heavy heart, twisted it until she felt it snap.
"ARGH! OK! OK! I GIVE UP!" Oboro yelled as loud as he could, which caused the birds to fly about in the trees.
Sasuke sighed at that. He searched the boy as much as possible but found nothing.
"Your team. Where are they?" growled Sasuke, his blade pressed to the back of his neck.
"I don't know. We split up to cover more ground," the boy croaked in response.
Sasuke twisted the broken limb, and the boy yelled in pain. "No games!" he warned, twisting again.
"I'm serious! I have no idea! We went separate ways, and I haven't seen them since!" yelled the boy desperately.
Sakura crossed her arms. "Well, surely you all agreed to meet up somewhere. Tell us. Or we'll keep twisting limbs." she said with an uncharacteristic harshness that made Sasuke smile.
"You heard her. Talk."
Oboro tried to look at her, but Sasuke kept his head still.
Oboro let out a groan. "Do you have a m-map?" he wheezed.
Sasuke nodded, having grabbed one on their way to follow the proctor.
He set it in front of him. "point to it." he said sternly.
"H-here," he stammered, pointing at a spot close to their position on the map.
Sakura snatched it up. "that's all we need. How long ago did you agree on it?"
Oboro looked back up at her, his anger and frustration now a mixture of pain and sadness.
"A-a couple of hours a-ago," he answered with a weak stutter.
"And was there a time limit set?"
He nodded.
Sasuke twisted his arm, and the boy groaned again. "when?"
"when the moon is at its highest! Stop twisting it!" the boy pleaded.
"That's a couple more hours from now," Sakura whispered, which made Sasuke nod.
"What type of scroll do you have? Heaven or Earth?." asked Sakura.
"Earth," Oboro said before he suddenly grinned at them. This isn't over. They are strong, stronger than me."
Sasuke snorted, "Good. You weren't even a warm-up. No ninjutsu and no Sharingan. I bet they'll be ashamed of themselves to lose to a pair of rookies. I know I would be." The Uchiha said before knocking the boy unconscious.
They then proceeded to tie the boy up, tying him up using wire.
They added his ration to their stockpile and decided to wait until the moon was in position and to plan on how they'd get the scroll out of him and his team.
Sakura looked down at her hands in guilt. "I... umm."
"Don't do that, Sakura," said Sasuke. I know torture is hard. But remember, we needed to get a scroll to proceed, and he wasn't going to tell us anything else. Don't shy away from this because you'd be worse off if it were the other way around."
She shivered at the thought. It was her worst fear, being captured and potentially molested. "OK...
They were suddenly greeted by a landing Naruto, and both were on guard. That was, of course, when they saw the giant Elk on his back.
"A little help, guys," he said as he set it down, "This should last us for the entire test, so let's break it down into bits that can be put into a storage seal. We can cook bits of it as we go along," said Naruto, proud of his work.
Sasuke shook his head and chuckled. "Well, now. This eliminates the need for food. We're dominating, you know," he said before turning to look at their new 'guest.'
Line break.
The next day.
Naruto was let in on everything that went down while he was away. The blonde knew they were in combat, having sensed it from where he was. It was the circumstances that caught him off guard.
The team showed up to where Oboro claimed his team would be, and the result was one-sided.
Neither of them stood a chance, and fearing they would end up like Oboro, they opted to trade their teammate for the scroll.
There was no deal. Sasuke had no intention of trading anything with unknown shinobi and decided that a victory was better.
In the end, they got the scroll and completely ruined the chances of the Oboro's team passing, breaking bones to leave them vulnerable for the next five days, all without the aid of any real jutsu.
Naruto shook his head in amusement as they proceeded with the task at hand. They snacked on a piece of cooked Elk, the flavor exploding in their mouths.
They had a night's rest, about five hours or so, and were ready to make it to the Tower for some rest. That was until Naruo felt something very wrong.
"Guys. There's a large animal-like chakra following us! And it's... It's Coming fast!" yelled Naruto.
He shoved Sakura out of the way of a massively strong blast of wind and got hit. The blast of wind was so powerful that it kicked up the dirt beneath them, uprooted the smaller trees of the forests, and sent branches flying everywhere.
Sasuke was also sent flying back, though not near as far as Naruto.
Sasuke grits his teeth as he tries to hang on to something, anything he can grab onto, and it is a fruitless endeavor, for he is eventually sent tumbling back down.
"What the hell?!" He hissed.
"Sasuke!" shouted Sakura as she struggled against a tree to get closer to the boy.
Eventually, the gust died down, and they let out a breath. "What was that?!" Sakura asked.
The boy couldn't answer her. It was definitely a jutsu and a powerful one at that.
"Where's Naruto?' asked Sasuke, more worried about that than his own well-being.
"He got caught in it. He tried to protect me. It hit him full force..."
Sasuke shook his head, "We need to find him and make sure he's Ok."
Sakura nodded and looked back from where the blast originated, a creepy feeling crawling up her spine.
She gulped and tried to focus on her breathing. She pushed herself to her feet, using the tree to get back up.
"You guys, Ok?!" asked a voice from behind.
Sasuke and Sakura turned back to see it was Naruto, and Sasuke grits his teeth at the sight, throwing a kunai at the boy's feet. "Don't come any closer!"
"Hey, what the hell is the matter with you!" said a surprised Naruto, jumping back.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed further, his Sharingan coming to life. "You aren't Naruto; I can see it with my own eyes. Whoever you are, cut the crap."
Naruto sighed in frustration before a creepy grin found its way onto his features. "Those eyes of yours could see past it? Or was my transformation just that bad?"
Sasuke didn't respond and held his hand out to stop Sakura from getting too close.
The disguised Naruto gave a grin, and in a poof of smoke, their real identity was revealed.
A woman with long black hair and unnerving green/amber eyes.
"OK, clever little genin. Hand over your scroll or die—your choice."
Sasuke held his kunai, ready for the fight that was to come. "As if. You're going to have to take it.
The Kusa-nin chuckled at first before breaking into a full-blown laugh. "Fine, then. Be that way."
Then they felt it. It was instantaneous, the feeling of their chests being ripped open, their hearts pierced, a kunai to the head. The intent came onto them with a force that dwarfed Zabuza. It was something unbearable.
Sasuke thought he was going to faint. For a moment, he actually wanted to faint—anything to stop the pressure.
And then the pressure stopped. Sasuke could breathe but was on his ass, shivering and sweating.
'is this an illusion?!... No, it's real! Her bloodlust is almost palpable! I saw the moment of my death as though it were set and stone!' thought Sasuke.
The boy looked over to Sakura to call out but found that she was worse off, tears freely flowing. She was on the verge of passing out, unable to cope with the pressure of this monster before them.
The sound of footsteps brought Sasuke's attention to the woman, and the Uchiha stared down the Kusa-nin as she walked a bit closer.
"You're paralyzed with fear. A shame. I was hoping to have a little fun, but with you like this, there's no fun to be had. Your blood isn't as tempting to spill anymore."
"What the hell is she," whispered Sakura as a tear dropped down her cheek.
The kusa-nin brought out two kunai and smirked. "Don't worry. I'll make it quick. Though, you already know that, having seen for yourselves," She said with glee as she got ready to flick two kunai at them.
Sasuke's eyes widened. 'Dammit! DAMMIT! Move legs! Move!'
the boy quickly gripped his own and stabbed it into his thigh, and the next thing Sakura knew, the boy was carrying her away in a panic, the sound of two kunai slamming into where they'd been only seconds before ringing out in her ears.
The Kusa-nin's smirk broadened. 'Oh? Overcoming fear through pain? Not bad, But it may not be enough to survive me.'
Line break.
{five minutes earlier}
Naruto's eyes were wide with shock and slight pain.
He was embedded into a tree, the sheer force of the wind sending him into it at such a speed that it felt as though his chest was going to burst.
He groaned and coughed, spitting out a little blood.
His eyes widened at that. 'Oh, please, let there be no internal damage from that.' He thought as he yanked his leg from the bark, freeing himself.
"Seriously, What the hell? Could that have been a powerful wind user? That jutsu was strong!"
He checked himself, feeling for his teammates' chakras, especially the extra large one with them.
Only then did he understand why he was feeling an extra large non-human chakra, and he gritted his teeth. "Shit, Shit, Shit!" he yelled and dove out of the way of a colossal snake's fangs right on time.
He rolled to his feet, wincing in pain, not having recovered from that earlier attack, and the tail of another snake slammed into his side, sending him up into the air and flying away at a dizzying speed.
'T-Two snakes?! no, wait!'
The boy saw he was flying in the direction of another one of these massive creatures and created a clone.
His shadow clown threw him out of the way just before it could swallow him, and he landed on his belly, sliding across a large branch.
Naruto dusted himself off and glared at the three snakes. But it didn't end with three. No. As he looked up at the trees, seeing the movement and hearing the rattles, his eyes widened. 'I'm in some really deep shit right now.' thought the boy.
He counted about seven snakes and one three-headed one looking right at him. He shook his head, not believing this. These aren't wild snakes. These are summons.
He took a step back and stepped on something. His eyes traveled down, and he saw the forehead protector of a Chunin proctor. There were a few scattered about here. OK. Well. Screwed or not, I'm getting the heck out here, rather you guys like it or not. I'm not gonna end up as some snake crap in the woods." He said silently as he bit his thumb.
He slammed his hand down, and a puff of smoke cleared to reveal a large Toad, Gama.
"Oh? A summons from the apprentice of Jiraiya?" the toad said with genuine surprise. I was in the middle of training our young. But judging from the looks of things, I'm glad you called."
The smoke cleared to show an orange toad with bur marks on its back. He wore samurai-like armor and a scar on his snout. He wasn't a large toad, but certainly large enough to ride or sit on, which Naruto was.
The boy thoughtfully crossed his arms. "I have a... unique situation that needs to be dealt with. Large snakes with a chakra network similar to a jutsu caster—a little more than twenty normal snakes and three abnormal ones—are all trying to kill me. What would you advise?"
"These are His summons. I may be biting off more than I can chew. They are bigger and stronger than me," he said dully. But a smirk found its way onto his face as he drew his large clever. "But I am faster. I hope you can keep up because this will get ugly quickly."
Naruto momentarily closed his eyes, sensing Sasuke and Sakura's danger. Then his eyes shot open, and a Rasengan formed on his right hand. "I'm ready for just about anything at this point. Let's go," he said.
Line break.
End chapter.