We were given two hours, before we had to head to the group challenge meet up. Kiba told me its called the Forest of Death. It didn’t make me feel any better, it made me feel more nervous than I already was. The name made me feel afraid, what was inside the gates. I ate a quick snack, I can’t afford to waste time. We passed the written exam, and now we have to pass the group challenge. I walk quickly to the outskirts of the village, the fenced area was outside the walls, near one of the training field. I felt nauseous as I saw the barbed wired fence appear in the horizon. The buzzing was loud, and a sigh read caution high voltage. This made my heart beat quicken, what was inside that they had to keep in? Or keep out?
Hinata and Kiba are already there when I arrive. They checked our team in the register already, all we can do now is wait.
“I thought you got cold feet and decided to bail on us. Glad you’re in one piece.” Kiba pets Akamaru’s head. I ignore his sarcasm. The teams begin to gather around the main entrance. The wind is blowing, and the trees bend with the air current. It made the forest look alive, and menacing. Hinata hasn’t said anything, her mind was somewhere else, maybe she is too focused to notice my uneasiness. We wait for ten minutes, before a ninja steps forward. He is not tall, but not short either. His brown hair is cut short, and his head band is wrapped around his waist. He wears the normal clothing of a ninja, his golden eyes, are bright with excitement.
“Well there are a lot of less of you this time around than last time. My name is Sho, and I will be your proctor for the group tests. Before I go into detail, you’ll have to sign this paper. We are not responsible for your safety, of course. Whatever happens inside the fence, happens. This consent form must be signed before you are assigned a gate. I’d like to point out that not everyone who enters these gates comes out. All fair in game.” He hands out the pieces of paper.
“The rules are simple. Each team will be given either a heaven scroll, or an earth scroll. Your objective is to have one of each, before time runs out. You have five days to complete this goal. You can not open the scroll, until you go the tower that is located ten kilometers from each gate. If your team fails to do so, they will not go to the next round,” Sho says.
If I go in, will I come out? I didn’t give it much thought, if I would, then I’ll only doubt myself and my teammates, and I can’t afford to do that. I sigh my name on the dotted line, and give it to the ninja who are seated at the table. Kiba and Hinata turn theirs in too.
“All right, your gate number is 7. There will be a ninja there to instruct you when it is permitted to enter.” The ninja points us to the direction of the gate. Every step is closer to the beginning of the battle, you take deep breaths, and stretch my fingers. In the face of danger, you must be aware of your surroundings, you can’t freeze any longer, I think to myself. Akamaru even seems tense, the forest looks intimidating, and I can’t help but wish I was somewhere else at the moment. A ninja stands and watches his clock, we are minutes away from entering. He hands us a scroll, Kiba takes it, and puts it in the pouch before I get to see what type we have. I watch as Hinata closes her eyes, and puts her hand over them, like she’s trying to quickly rest them before battle. Kiba is a little jumpy, seething with enthusiasm. He’s ready to go at a moment notice, I wish I had his confidence.
The ninja standing next to us, moves closer to the gate, and watches as the last few seconds tick by. He loosens the bolts, causing the noise of clanking to fill the air around us.
“Good luck.” He says, before he opens the door, thats our cue to enter, Kiba leads the way, with me in the middle and Hinata at the end. We came up with this formation three days ago. Hinata would be better at the rear because of her field of vision, Kiba would lead the way because of his sense of smell, while I was stuck in the middle, doing nothing too important. If we are attacked, I am responsible for shadow clones to increase our numbers.
The trees are slippery with moss, and brittle due to old age. The leaves are full, and provide great cover, Kiba leads us higher, away from enemies eyes. The higher we go the more likely we can spot enemies before they spot us. Hinata’s eyes are a great help, she’ll be able to see which scroll the enemy has, and we can decide to avoid confrontation. It’ll keep our chakra preserved and ready for battle when its necessary. I keep telling myself that I’m useful, but I don’t feel like it. They are crucial to success while I just tag along. I shake that thought away, I don’t need negative thoughts now.
We stop on a wide branch, Kiba takes the scroll from his jacket, looks like we got a heaven scroll.
“Okay, Hinata, use your byakugan to see if any enemies are nearby.” Kiba orders and Hinata complies. The veins near her eyes pop out a little, and she focuses on our surroundings.
“Looks like we are alone in this area,” She replies.
“What do you want to do Kiba? Be on defense or offense?” I asked. I was more comfortable with them coming to us rather us going to them, but Kiba was our team leader it was his call. He thinks for a minute, “We’ll be on the offensive.”
I nod anyways. “Hinata, while we are moving, look out for an earth scroll. We need to get out of this forest as soon as possible, so the sooner we get the scroll the sooner we move to the third stage,” Kiba says, as he begins to weave his way down the tree branches. So far we haven’t encountered any danger, but the voices of the forest were getting restless. Creatures scurried to one tree to the other, the forest is active every minute of every day, and I was dreading for night fall. The shadows come alive in the night.
We move to the edge of the east fence, where Akamaru smells ninja. We stop far enough, where they can’t sense us, but close enough where Hinata can see if they have the earth scroll. A small smile appears on her face, “they have an earth scroll. The one on the left with the black short hair, and purple vest. He has it in his shuriken holder”
Kiba begins to tell us our attack formation.
“Hinata, you’ll be in charge of distracting the one on the right, while I distract the one in the center. Kiyoko you’ll get the one on the right, the scroll holder. Out of all of us here you have the fastest and best aim. Throw a kunai that’ll rip the holder off of his leg, and grab it. Use shadow clones to keep him busy.”
“We need to misdirect them. If I use a shadow clone to attack from the other side then they’ll think the enemy is over there.” I point to the trees that was behind them. “They’ll be forced to turn around, and it’ll be easier to strike from behind.”
Kiba grunts in agreement. I make a shadow clone, and I sent it to the other side, now we wait until the kunai hits. They’ll turn around and face the direction it came from. I’ll take that opportunity to throw a kunai at the holder and another shadow clone can sweep in to grab it.
We get just a bit closer, and I can see their forehead protector. They are from the Grass Village. I get a kunai from my pouch and concentrate chakra into it, ready for throwing at a second’s notice. As planned my shadow clones throws a kunai from the shadows, the ninja get on their guard as the turn to face my shadow clone. I almost feel bad for thinking that this is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I throw my kunai at the shuriken holder, its wrapped around the ninja’s right leg. It goes exactly as planned, the kunai skims the fabric, ripping it, and the kunai lands on the trunk of a near by tree. Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata are already in front of their opponents, I make three more shadow clones, and send them to the ninja with the purple vest. The holder is not far from my reach, I grab for it. A kunai flies right by my head. I dodge it, I look back to see that my shadow clones weren’t enough to stop him, his eyes are full of anger, and determination, but so are mine. not angry but determined.
I grab the holder, and tuck it inside my pouch, and grab another kunai, my stance on the defensive. The ninja I’m facing begins to weave his hands, and soon enough fire is coming towards me, I’m lucky I have water nature chakra and not wind. I jump away from his attack, leaving the kunai, and begin to seal my tearing torrent. It forms in my hand, the chakra incorporates with my water based chakra, the ninja takes notice, and tries to move away, he knows his jutsus are useless against me.
“Retreat.” He says, the other two ninjas stop battling Hinata and Kiba, and follow their leader to the safety of the thick forest. I take the scroll from my ouch and give it to Kiba, who puts it with the other scroll.
“Alright, lets get to the tower, we are pretty far from it,” Kiba says. The gates are closer than I thought, I can see the top from through the trees. Its close enough to see the grass on the other side, but the trees are thick in this area, making mobility difficult.
Akamaru barks. Its a warning bark, have they come back again. I put my guard up, Hinata and Kiba flank me. There is no time for me to move back, a fist comes my way. I dodge it. How could Hinata and Kiba not notice them? I feel the air around me move as the fist nearly comes into contact with my cheek. I regain my balance, and look at the ninja who slipped through our sensory specialty. The one who attacked me is a girl, older than Hinata and Kiba, but younger than me, and two boys older than her are at her side. The symbol on their forehead indicates their from the Waterfall Village.
“She has both scrolls.” Hinata says from behind.
“Why do you need our scrolls if you already have yours?” I ask. We can both go to the next level, why would they go to the extra trouble to get our pair of scrolls too.
Her smile is not genuine, it makes my skin crawl.
“I am not here for the scrolls. I am here for you, Kiyoko.” Her voice is silky smooth. Why are they here for me? What is going on here? I blink, am I seeing things? Her appearance begins to alter, beginning with her hair, it turns from black to brown, and her skin color begins to whiten. Her green eyes turn blue, and her forehead symbol changes, it clicks. The Moon sign is clear on her forehead. She was here for me, like all the other Moon ninja. I know exactly why they came. I watch as the other two ninja discard their disguises.
I thought Lady Tsunade did a background check of every genin who is participating the exams, they must have slipped through. The Moon Village is a small village, and because it is small, ninjas are highly skilled and sent on harder missions younger than they send youngsters here. The sensei in the Moon Academy would spend more individual time with each student due to small class sizes. I know these three ninjas are highly skilled, why would the be sent to capture me if they were not? Though I never went through the regular curriculum, while I was at the academy, I knew I am right. They are probably jounin already, but are disguised as genin, they look young enough.
I take a quick glance at Kiba and Hinata, they can’t intervene. This is my fight, and they are no match for them. I can’t let them get hurt, from my past. I’ll send them for reinforcements, while I fend them off.
“Listen carefully Kiba,Hinata, you two need to go to the towers and inform them that Moon ninjas are here.” I say urgently.
“ We can’t let you do this alone, Kiyoko. Its three of them, and only one of you,” Hinata protests.
“You must! I can’t tell you the importance of alarming Lady Tsunade. Now hurry, and don’t stop if teams get in your way. Run straight to the tower!” I yell at them, always keeping an eye on her. They hear the desperation in my voice, and I hear them run to the tower.
The ninja smiles.
“I don’t think I’ve introduced my self. I am Asami Tsukino.” She stands casually, as if I am not threat. My blood goes cold, Tsukino, that is my surname, and my father’s.”
I keep the bile from rising in my throat. “Who are you?”
She doesn’t give me an answer. “ Father told me to bring you back home. We want you to be part of our family Kiyoko.”
Father? Is she talking about my father?
“Our father married my mother not too long after you left. I believe I am eleven years younger than you. I always thought we could have been close sisters if you hadn’t abandoned us. Wouldn’t you think so, Kiyoko?”
The way she says my name, makes me feel sick. This girl in front of me is my half sister. And as much as I would like to have a family reunion, I won’t let them take me back there.
“You know you were smart to send them off.” Asami smiles, I want to rip that smile off of her face. She had father’s hair color, but she must have gotten her eyes from her mother. She is a beautiful girl, what a pity she is my enemy. “Looks like you won’t be coming with us without force, what a shame, I wanted to bring you back in one piece, but I guess a few broken bones and bruises will be needed.”
“I’ve been thinking about everyone you’ve killed from our village. Father sends them after you, but no one comes back. You’ve killed so many people, well guess what your next.”
My eyes widen, those were the words the cat in my dreams said to me. Will today be my last day alive? She weaves her hand with incredible speed, the two boys behind her begin to seal their hands as well.
“Summoning jutsu.” Asami says. A cloud appears and hides the summon. A purr vibrates the ground beneath me, and soon I see the giant cats she summoned. Was this some kind of cruel joke? There are three cats, and three ninja. The cats are large, and they are fast and flexible. This wasn’t looking good. I wish I knew how to summon, but for now I will have to rely on my shadow clones, and use my chakra amount to my advantage. They can’t afford to use unnecessary jutsus, while I can. I’ll wait them out.
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Chapter notes: continuing the exams. Hope you like the chapter
Chapter end notes: what do you think? Leave comments, likes/dislike, and suggestions. All feedback is welcomed.
Thanks for reading, Until next chapter