Chapter 11: The Forest of Death part I
Naru woke up at 9am the next day and took a long shower, she sighed and came out and pulled her weapon summoning bands on then pulled her white, long sleeve shirt on followed by her black short sleeve shirt that had silver marks around it and the sleeves, she sighed and pulled her baggy blue pants on and strapped her weapon belt on her waist and connected the two pouches on the sides, she began to brush her hair slowly and tied it in a high ponytail and sighed.
"Good morning." Mamoru said, she smiled and walked out to begin making her breakfast.
She sat down and ate with Mamoru, she sighed and got up and began to pack some food and seal them in some scrolls with extra water.
"What should I take?" she asked.
"Use my weapon vest, fill it up with the things that I can wear it." he said, she nodded and walked to the closet and found his vest that looked somewhat like his normal one but it had more pockets on it. She began to seal a few more things in some scrolls then slid them into the vest, she unzipped the vest on him and put the other on and re-zipped it.
"Okay?" she asked.
"Yep." he said, she smiled. "And Naru, if this is a survival test, you know-"
"Don't leave your side." she finished, he chuckled. "I know." she said, he smiled and curled up with her and both waited until almost noon before they headed out towards the training grounds.
There was only a few kids there waiting, Mamoru sighed as he stared at the forest.
"Mamoru, is this-?" she asked and looked down.
"Yeah Naru." he said.
Flashback
"Sensei, are you sure it was okay for me to take this?" Naru asked running and trying to keep up with Mizuki as he tugged her along.
"Yes, you want to pass correct?" he said, she nodded. "Then trust Me." he said, she panted as he slowed down and opened a gate and let her walk in, she flinched as the gates shut. "I'll be right back Naru, I have to check on something and then I'll be right back to take care of you." he said, she nodded slowly and stood there holding the large scroll in her arms.
End Flashback
By time 1:00pm rolled around all the genin still taking the test were gathered at the gates looking in fear at the large, dark forest, they whispered quietly as Anko walked in front of them and smirked.
"Welcome to the stage for the second exam, practice area 44, also known as the forest of death!" she said, they gasped and began to whisper.
"Why do they call it that?" Sakura asked raising her hand.
"You'll soon find out why." she said and smirked, Naru rolled her eyes a little.
"Who cares...?" Naru muttered and sighed.
"You're pretty spirited." she said and shot a kunai from her arm, Naru leaned to the side and it slammed into a tree, Anko smirked and appeared behind Naru making her stiffen a little, Mamoru rumbled a little.
"You're pretty good, but kids like you get killed quickly." she said and cupped Naru's cheek, she shivered a little, Anko looked back and swung around with another kunai pointed to a grass ninja who held her kunai in her tongue.
"Here's your kunai…" he said.
"Why thank you grass ninja." she smiled and took it. "But you should be warned, don't sneak up behind me, unless you want to die." she said with a small glare and huge smile.
"I just get excited easily..." she said. "And you cut some of my precious hair, I couldn't help it…" she said.
'What's up with this examiner?' Sakura thought.
"Will you let me go?" Naru said, Anko chuckled and walked away from her and back to spot in the front.
'It seems this exam is going to be more interesting then I first thought...' she thought.
"Before we start the second test, there is something I have to pass out." she said, a chunin came up with a large stack of papers. "You must sign these forms before you can start."
"What is it?" Naru asked.
"Well, it's an agreement form, you see from this point on, there will be deaths, and if you don't sign it, well then it will be my responsibility!" she said and chuckled, they all looked at the woman like she was insane. "I'm going to explain the test then you will have time to sign the papers if you want, if you don't then you head home." she said. "This test will be the ultimate survival."
'Survival? Sound troublesome already...' Shikamaru thought with a frown.
"First I'll explain the area where this test is going to take place, around this area there are 44 locked gates around it, a thick forest, with a river that runs through it, and a tower in the middle from all the gates to the tower it's 10km." she said. "During this survival test you will be asked to complete a certain task, using your weapons and jutsu's you have, you will complete in a no rule scroll battle." she said and held up two scrolls, one had the kanji for heaven and the other earth. "You will be fighting over these two scrolls, there are 78 people here, which means 26 teams. Half of the teams will get the heaven scroll and the other half will get the earth scroll. To pass this exam, you and your full team must make it to the tower with both scrolls." she said giving a smile.
"So, 13 teams will get the heaven and 13 will get the earth, so half of us will definitely fail." Sakura said.
"Correct! But there is another catch! There is a time limit. This exam will last 120 hours, exactly 5 days." she said.
"FIVE DAYS!?" Ino said.
"What about food!?" Chouji yelled, Shikamaru shook his head at his friend's worries about food, not his life.
"You're on your own on that front, but the forest is full of food, you just have to watch out for man eating beasts, poisonous insects, and poisonous plants! Piece of cake!" Anko said laughing, Naru's eye twitched a little. "As I was saying, the possibility of 13 teams passing is very unlikely, because as the days go on, the distance to the goal will become further and the time to rest will become shorter. And since the area is crawling with enemies, you won't be getting much sleep... some of you might not make it out of here alive." she said, they murmured, Naru panted quietly her heart beating faster and harder, Mamoru let his tail tickle her making her relax and rubbed his head.
"Now, time to talk about what will get you disqualified." she said and held up her one finger. "One, those who don't make it to the tower with both scrolls within the time limit." she said. "Two, those who lose a teammate or if someone's teammate is killed." she said.
"Question, can we just quit in the middle of something?"
"No! You can't just say I give up in the middle of a battle!" she said and rolled her eyes. "Another rule, which is the most important rule, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it to the tower." she said.
"What happens if you do?" Naru asked.
"There will be a surprise that you won't like." she said. "See a chunin or jounin will be asked to handle classified information, this is to test your trustworthiness." she said. "That's for the explanations, sign the papers and you and your team come to the desks to get checked in and get your scroll, after that pick a gate and wait." she said, they each took a paper and walked off to think about the test, Naru sat next to Mamoru, he looked at her.
"Naru?"
"I'm just thinking, last time I was in here, I almost lost my life, now there is practically a promise that I could..." she said.
"You'll be fine, I won't let that happen." he said and put his paw on her hand, she smiled and nodded at him.
"Naru?" Hinata said walked up she looked up in her direction.
"Hey Hina…" she said.
"Are you gonna do it?" she asked and sat down.
"Yeah." she said. "You?"
"I was almost thinking of not but then it really won't change or help me to quit." she said, Naru nodded. "Here, let me help you." she said and put the pen on the line so Naru could sign it, she signed it and nodded.
"Naru." Sasuke said coming up, she looked towards him.
"Yeah?"
"You ready?" he asked, she nodded and got up, Hinata followed her and they walked towards the front where they found their teams waiting, Shikamaru bumped her a little.
"Good luck." he whispered, Naru smiled.
"Thanks, you too." she said, Ino looked at Sakura confused and she shrugged.
They all lined up by the teams and waited as they walked to the desk, they pulled a curtain all the way around the desk so no one could see in.
'I see, so you can't tell which team will get which scroll, or even who is carrying the scroll. It's as Ibiki said, in this test, we'll be risking our lives fighting for information, everyone is an enemy, everyone is determined, so it's a no brainier that there will be killing.' Sasuke thought.
Each team got their scrolls and headed out, team 7 picked gate 12, team 8 was at gate 16, team 10 was ate gate 27, the sound team was at gate 20, Kabuto's team was at gate 38, and Gaara's team was at gate 6.
"We'll go after the rookies first, since we're allowed to kill now." one of the grass team members said.
After all 26 teams got their scrolls and had their gates, Anko jumped to the gates and looked at the clock, it finally turned 3:30.
"THE SECOND TEST OF THE CHUNIN EXAMS BEGINGS NOW!" Anko yelled, the instructors each unlocked the gates and the teams raced into the forests and disappeared into the woods.
"We're going after them. Don't forget." the woman from the grass team said, they nodded.
Team 7 jumped through the trees, Naru held Mamoru's collar as they continued on, her hair blew back from the speed.
"Let's stop for a second." Sasuke said, they jumped down to a clearing and checked for enemies or traps.
"What is it?" Naru asked.
"We need a plan, we can't just go jumping through here, or we'll be taken down in no time." he said.
"So what do we do?"
"Well I think if anything we-" he was cut off by a smoke bomb hitting the ground, they coughed and jumped back from the smoke and looked around, a boy stood there in a white outfit with a breathing mask on his face.
"Give me the scroll and no one gets hurt kids..." he said and chuckled pulling out his kunai.
"Oh please." Sasuke said and launched forward towards him, he dodged and Sasuke skidded and kicked the boy in his back, he groaned in pain and swung around, Sasuke cursed as his kunai caught his arm, Naru gulped and waited.
"Which of you has the scroll?" he said and pulled out a series of kunai and jumped in the air, he flung them and Sakura screamed running behind a tree, Mamoru dodged and Naru groaned as one cut her cheek, she growled and got off of him.
"Sasuke, move." she said, the Uchiha frowned, she sensed him still standing in her way. "Move or be hit." she said and pulled her fan off her back, he growled and jumped back just as the boy jumped down, Naru roared and swung her fan, he cried out as a large gust of wind slammed into him sending him backwards crashing through two trees and finally slamming into another one and slumping down, Naru sighed and put her fan back on her back.
"Whoa..." Sasuke said staring in shock.
"Let's get out of here before his teammates comes." she said, he gulped.
"How did you do that?" he asked as they took off.
"I studied." she said with a shrug.
"Show me!"
"I can't." she said.
"Why?!" he snarled.
"If you haven't noticed we're in the middle of a test!" she barked. "Put your ego away and let's get this stupid scroll and get to the tower." she said with a glare, he gave her a glare back then gritted his teeth, while Sakura watched both of them nervously.
"I'm not going to listen to you dope... you're not my boss." he said.
"I don't care, but right now we need the whole team!" she said. "So suck it up and let's go!" she said, he growled quietly but continued on with her.
30 minutes later they took a quick break, they were a little beaten up from the tree branches and thorns but everything had been quiet.
"I was thinking..." Sasuke said, they looked at him. "Maybe we should make a password, just in case we get separated."
"Like what?" Sakura asked.
"How about a question." he said. "When does a ninja strike? And the answer is, a ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lay forgotten in the night, that's when a ninja should strike." he said, Sakura nodded.
"So, you wanna use a question that's a common ninja knowledge?" Naru said, Sasuke growled a little.
"Well what do you have in mind?!" Sakura snarled, Naru sighed.
"How about something that only us three would know?" she said with a shrug. "Something only we would know." she said.
"Like?" Sasuke said.
"Well -" she was cut off by a large gust of wind shot out slamming into them sending them in different directions, Sasuke crawled under a bush panting.
'What now?!' He thought.
The three grass ninja's jumped in the clearing. "Search around, I'll catch up." the woman said, they nodded and disappeared.
Sasuke slipped backwards but jumped when Sakura came out. "Sasuke!" she said relieved.
"Stop! What's the password!" he said pulling out a kunai, she blinked. "When does a ninja strike?"
"Oh! A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lay forgotten in the night, that's when a ninja should strike! Although we didn't decide if that was it or not" she said perfectly, he sighed and nodded. "What happened to Naru?" she asked.
"I don't know..." he said looking around. "We need to get out of here and find her."
"Guys!" Naru called, she ran up and panted, Sasuke looked at her.
"What's the password?!" Sakura said.
"Huh? Oh! A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lay forgotten in the night, that's when a ninja should strike." she said, Sasuke's eyes narrowed and Sakura sighed.
"And you don't have a problem?" he asked, she shook her head with a shrug, Sasuke pulled out a kunai and flung it, Naru yelped and dodged hitting the ground.
"What the hell Sasuke!?" she snarled in anger.
"You're not Naru."
"What?!" she said.
"Sasuke! She got it right!" Sakura said.
"Yeah, but the real Naru protested me using this password as you had said, the real Naru wouldn't dodge my attacks like that, and if you are the real Naru, then where is Mamoru hmm?" he said, Naru smirked and her tongue, which was longer than normal, came out licking her lips, she chuckled.
"You're good." she said in a different voice.
"Alright quit your hiding! Come out and fight!" he said.
'Naru' chuckled and her body became enveloped with smoke, it cleared and the woman from the grass team. "Very wise Sasuke-kun…" she hissed. "This will be more fun then I originally thought." she said and chuckled, she pulled out her earth scroll which is the scroll they needed. "Ah... you'd love to get your hands on our earth scroll hmm... well once this is over, one of us will have both scrolls and the other will be dead!" she said and opened her eyes which were a golden color with slits for eyes, Sasuke and Sakura gasped in horror as they looked into her eyes and saw their death by her throwing kunai at their heads, both fell to their knees in shock and Sasuke tipped forward and emptied his stomach, his body raked with shakes, he fell back and panted looking at her.
Her thirst for blood...it's... its insane... Sasuke thought.
"S...Sakura?" he rasped, but she was staring out shaking as well. She's out of it too...
The woman pulled out some kunai and Sasuke growled quietly, Sasuke moved his hand slowly to his kunai pack, she chuckled and flung the kunai forward towards them.
-*o*-
Naru groaned and sat up slowly and coughed. "What happened?" she groaned and held her head that was pounding. "Sasuke? Sakura? Mamoru?" she called but didn't get a response, she got up slowly and rubbed her sore shoulder and sighed. "Gotta find 'em." she muttered and took a few steps, she heard a movement and turned slightly and gasped as she felt the large body with her chakra. "S...s…snake.." she stuttered in a whisper, it shot out around her, she groaned and struggled to get free, she screamed as she felt it come down and swallow her whole. "NO!" she screamed and tried to fight the pull of it's insides sucking her in, she growled and struggled. "Let me out! Help!" she screamed and punched and stabbed at the snakes insides but it did nothing for her. I'm going to be digested soon, I can't... what about everyone? What will happen? Ojii, Hina, Shika, Moru, Iruka, even Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi! No I can't give up! she thought and struggled to get to her fan but wasn't able to move the right way.
"Okay, let's try this..." she whispered and moved both hands up and panted as her air started to run out, she growled clapped her hand, her chakra flew out in a gust.
The snake rested digesting the meal it just ate, suddenly it shot apart, it's body scattering, Naru stumbled down and gagged and spit up the blood and slime that landed in her mouth, she panted and shook.
"Naru!" Mamoru's voice sounded, she gasped.
"Mamoru!" she screamed back, he jumped down and sighed in relief, he nuzzled her and she hugged with a smile.
"I'm glad you're okay." he said, she chuckled. "Let's get you washed up then find the team." he said, she nodded and held on to him as he led her to the river, she jumped in and washed up and climbed on his back and both took off to find the team.
-*o*-
Sakura panted and looked at Sasuke as they sat in a tree a few yards away from the woman who had attacked them, he groaned and ripped a kunai from his leg and blood seeped into his white pants and bandages.
"That wound is deep! Are you okay?" Sakura asked, he hushed and panted.
'We just barely made it away from her... we got to get farther, she'll kill us if we don't.' He thought.
"Sasuke-" Sakura started but he slapped his hand over her mouth as he peeked around the tree, Sakura saw a shadow and began to struggle and mumble into Sasuke's hand, she jerked it off finally. "Sasuke!" she screamed, Sasuke turned and gasped as a large snake was there, both jumped away before it bit down on them.
"I didn't even notice it! I'm losing it!" he cursed, he looked as the snake came after them, he looked in its eyes and saw the eyes of the woman, he screamed and threw a bunch of shuriken at it, it hit a tree and fell dead, the skin pulled open and revealed the same woman.
Sasuke tripped over a limb and fell back shaking.
"I sense your fear and desperation, it's only natural the prey must never let down its guard, in the presence of its predator!" she said and her body shot out and wrapped around the tree, her body just like a snake and shot towards Sasuke who was frozen in shock, suddenly shuriken shot out and she stopped and looked up, Naru stood on a higher branch with Mamoru next to her.
"Looks like I came just in time." she said and shifted her foot and sighed.
"Naru!" Sakura cheered in relief, Sasuke panted and looked between the two in shock.