Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Lotus Blossom ❯ Chapter 6

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

(Akimis POV)

I woke up the next morning at 7. I sat up and realized that I was in my bedroom! How did I get here? I remember falling asleep in the Lighting Room. My parents must of brought me back, no one else get to that place. Oh well. I got up and got ready. I happily greeted my parents and brothers, and ate breakfast, not knowing when I was going to eat again.

"So where do you have to meet your team today, Akimi?" dad asked me.

"The Forest of Death." I replied. They gave me worried looks. "What?"

"Just be careful okay? And concentrate on the Exam, not on how you feel about Lee. Alright?" My mom asked me. I nodded, and left the house. I ran out the door to meet Lee and Neji at our required meeting spot...the Forest of Death.....

I walked up to them and Neji approached me. He pulled me away for a moment to talk without Lee around.

"Akimi, you like Lee. Don't you?" he asked. I stared at him surprised, and could feel y face heat up.

"I-is it th-that obvious?" I stuttered. He merely nodded and continued.

"I could tell by the way you were acting yesterday. I've never seen you like that before, and I don't want you to be distracted on this exam. We all need to be focused, here." He told me, and I nodded, not saying a word.

(Lee's POV)

I watched as Neji led Akimi to talk to her. She blushed at something he said, and she looked surprised. For some reason I felt jealous. Neji was talking to Akimi, and she blushed! *Why do I feel jealous? Do I have some hidden feelings for Akimi that I have yet to discover?* I shook the thought out of my mind, but I still couldn't help it. That thought kept nagging at me. Maybe....maybe I have a crush on Akimi? Suddenly, I felt a little less interested in Sakura, and more interested in my female teammate. I decided that I would worry about this after this exam was over. They came back over to me as the proctor began telling us about the exam.

"This exam is a survival test. You will be aiming to get to scrolls." She held out two scrolls for all to see. One was tan, and had the kanji 'heaven' on it, the other 'earth'. "Each team will get one scroll. If you get a heaven scroll, then your target is the earth scroll. And if you start with the earth scroll, you'll look for the heaven scroll." She held out a map of the forest, for us to see. "In this forest, there is a river, and a tower in the center, 10 Kilometers from each gate. Your objective is to get to the tower with both scrolls in 5 days." the Proctor, Anko, told us.

"FIVE DAYS?!? WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSE TO DO ABOUT FOOD?" Some Leaf Rookie asked. His female teammate yelled at him, something about how this is a survival exam. Anko chuckled.

"There is plenty of food in the forest for all of you."

"Thats not all there are plenty of...there are also man-eating creatures in there, and poisonous plants in there as well." Sasuke stated emotionlessly.

This is such a drag...." Another rookie sighed.

"Question!" One kid called out. "What if we decide not to do it? Can we quit mid-exam?"

"Of course you can't quit halfway through the exam! This test to see how well you can endure behind enemy lines. You can't stop half way through a battle and say 'sorry, I quit'. Well, I guess you can, but it's just going to get you killed." The kid moved back, slightly intimidated and Anko continued with the rules.

"There are of course ways you can get disqualified. 1. If you do not make it in the 5 days. 2. If you do not return with the whole team. 3. If one of your teammates becomes incapacitated, or can not go on. and 4. If you peek at the contents of the scroll before you get to the tower."

"What is the scroll opens up by itself and we happen to read it?" Naruto asked.

"Let me put it this way. You. Don't. Want. To. Know." She replied. Naruto started getting all 'you cant scare me away with all your talk' and Anko laughed. "Looks like we got a tough guy. They are always the ones to spill their blood on the ground in there." And she threw a kunai, slicing his cheek, then came up behind him. She started saying something and a grass ninja came up behind her. She was about to attack.

"I just wanted to return your knife." The grass ninja said, holding the knife with her freaky long tongue.

"Why, thank you Grass Ninja." Anko said, taking the knife back. When the ninja didn't move, Anko went on. "I suggest that you do not stand this close behind me unless you wish to meet a premature death."

"My pardon, but I got a little excited by the sight of blood on your knife." Grass Nin said, retreating back to her team.

"Here, take one of these and sign. Then we will begin giving you your scroll." Anko finished, handing us each a consent form. Neji, Akimi and I sat there reading over the papers and then signed our names. The chunin in charge gave us a heaven scroll and off we went into the forest. I was ahead of my teammates.

"Slow down Lee." Neji told me.

"Yeah, we have 5 days here whether we finish early or not." Akimi agreed.

"This is true, but we are surrounded by enemies. I want to find them before they find us." I replied as we jumped from tree to tree. I snuck a peek to Akimi-chan to see that she was staring past me, as if she was thinking deeply.

"Guys...Stop." She told us suddenly. We landed together on the same tree branch.

"What is it Akimi chan?" I asked her.

"I sense chakra ahead of us, a big fight." She replied. Neji activated his byakugans.

"Yes. I see it. Kakashis team seems to be having a run in with some Sound Ninja." He told us.

*OH NO SAKURA_CHAN!* I rushed off before my teammates can stop me.