Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Irony of it All ❯ 2nd Chunin Exam ( Chapter 26 )

geeeeeeeeeeezzz it's been foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr i'm sooooooooo sorry but there's been a lot of things going on!!! and... i was getting bored with the 2nd exam... i was really thinking about just making Rayne faint and skip to the 3rd... but then i still haveta do Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto too so i was like 'bleh i'll just get it all over with' so this one is extra long... 6 thousand something words again!! yay i'm so happy... so if you'all are still reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! so, enough of my blah blah blah, on to the chapter...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 25: 2nd Chunin Exam

 

 

"Rayne...."

"Rayne..." Rayne slowly looked up, a dead look in her eyes. Naruto stared down at her as she rested her back against a tree.

"Sasuke says it's time to eat," Naruto spoke.

She nodded, looking past Naruto to another tree. "Alright..."

As Naruto stood, staring down at her, she glanced up again. "I'll be along in a second." Naruto blinked but nodded a second after. Rayne glanced down at her legs as she listened to him walk away. Now she wore black capris and long black shirt. Her other clothes were torn and bloody and she had decided to change. Sighing, she used the tree for support and stood up. Her back was no longer pulsing but she could feel the wounds under her bandages burn. Closing her eyes for a moment and taking in a deep breath, she began her journey back to camp.

“It's been four days since the second exam started," Sasuke spoke as Rayne walked up. No one paid any mind as she walked over and sat cross-legged next to Naruto.

"We only have about a day left of the exam," Sasuke continued, glancing at Rayne then back to the orange fire that cooked the fish Naruto had captured.

"Most of the teams have probably finished already," Sakura commented.

“I can't wait for the fish to finish cooking!” Naruto thought, drool forming at Naruto's mouth and ignoring the rest.

Sasuke picked up the black earth scroll and stared at it. “Chances aren't looking good....”

“The biggest one is mine...” Naruto continued drooling over the fish. Rayne huff and crossed her arms. “Finishing the exam is such a drag… great, Shikamaru rubbed off me too much.”

"It may be possible there's no Heaven scrolls left..." Sakura said after taking a bite of her fish. Rayne glanced up from her uneaten fish at Sakura as she continued. "There are five days of this exam, and it's the fourth day. That means we've used up 80 percent of the exam already. There are 82 participants, or 27 teams."

"There are 15 heaven scrolls and 15 earth. So that means of those 27 teams, only 15 can pass," Rayne said slowly, glancing from Sasuke to Sakura.

"But remember, Orochimaru burned our Heaven scroll," Sakura reminded her. "So now only 14 teams can pass."

"Not to mention, we don't even know if other scrolls have all been kept intact..." Rayne sighed, placing the stick into the ground that stuck through her uneaten fish.

"We took too long to recover, we need to pick up our pace today if we plan on completing this exam," Sasuke spoke. "The next enemy we face could be our last chance."

Sasuke sighed and stood up. "I'm going to go get some water." Rayne stood up as well.

“Where are you going?” Sasuke asked when she started walking away. Rayne glanced at him for a moment before continuing her walk.

“Scouting,” She replied after a moment. “Don't do anything stupid.” Naruto and Sakura frowned. Sasuke was watching her back while she walked away. From time to time Rayne would just wonder off into the woods for a long time and then returned. None of them knew until a day ago, when they woke up from their sleep earlier than usual to find her gone. When she would return to camp, she could read the hidden concern in her teammates' eyes.

"Wait, Rayne!" Naruto suddenly spoke.

Rayne blinked and turned around to face her blonde teammate. "Hm Naruto?"

"Can I have your fish?"

Rayne sigh while shaking her head, also earning a sweatdrop from the other two teammates in the process. "Yeah, go ahead..."

Naruto beamed and immediately picked up her fish and began devouring. Sasuke and her began to walk away from Sakura and Naruto. Once Rayne got over the sharp rocks that stood in the way of the river Sasuke was going to for water, she would break away from him and travel into the forest a little. The two of them walked in silence, carefully stepping over the sharp rocks. That took about two minutes but finally they stood on solid ground. Rayne hopped a step away from Sasuke and towards the forest. "I'll catch ya later Sasuke."

"Wait, Rayne..." She turned your head back to look at him.

"Stay with me." Rayne almost tripped over her two feet and watched him, eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

Sasuke stared at her with his coal black eyes. "We're going to be setting off soon and I want to make sure you come back with me on time, so not to keep the team waiting."

Rayne's shoulders hunched and she felt the sour feeling of...disappointment. She pouted but sigh. "Fine, whatever." As Sasuke walked over and bent down by the water, she sat on the edge. Sasuke filled the canteen with water as she put your head on one hand as her other hand skimmed the cool water. As Sasuke kept his gaze on the flowing water in front of him, she turned her head to watch his profile.

 

 

"Rayne..." She looked up. It was the night after the battle with the sound team; it must have been almost one in the morning. She sat against a tree, away from Sakura and Naruto enough so that she could not be heard, but close enough so that she could still see their outline in the dark. She watched quietly as Sasuke slowly sat down next to her. Question filled her eyes and Sasuke stayed quiet, his eyes set on the moon in the distance. She opened your mouth to ask why he was here but Sasuke suddenly started speaking.

“Rayne...yesterday, when you stopped me..." Her mind replayed the battle yesterday when she hugged Sasuke, making the black markings on Sasuke's body retract to the curse mark. Rayne stared at Sasuke, waiting for him to continue.

"When you stopped me...I...I could feel something..."

"Feel something?" she echoed quietly. He turned his head, his eyes locking with hers. "I don't know how to describe it...but when you made contact with me...I could feel something...something that I've never felt before...like another presence entering my body."

Rayne blinked in confusion. At first she thought Sasuke might be talking about the curse mark, but that couldn't be it. Sasuke sighed and turned his head away. "Nevermind, forget about it."

As she watched Sasuke now, she wondered. What could Sasuke have meant, 'another presence entering him'?

Rayne looked down to her hand in the water. “It came from me? When I I touched him?”

Rayne's eyes knitted in concentration as she tried to understand this. What could-

"Rayne." She blinked and snapped out of her thoughts. Rayne looked up to a now standing Sasuke, full canteen in his hand.

"Time to head back to camp." Rayne squinted ahead before her eyes widened slightly. "I'm seeing a color I shouldn't be..."

Sasuke looked at her strange. The two of them were walking back to Naruto and Sakura and had yet to cross over some of the rocks in her way. "What are talking about."

She gave an aggravated sighed. "YES, I'm seeing a color I shouldn't. There's purple, none of our teams wears purple."

Sasuke squinted forward as well before his eyes widened too. "An enemy..."

She quickly followed Sasuke as he took off back to camp.

~~~~~~

"Man guys, we leave for not even ten minutes, ten minutes and look we come back to find!" Rayne scolded Sakura and Naruto with a frustrated tone of voice.

"You guys are hopeless," Sasuke added.

"Sorry..." Naruto and Sakura muttered, heads bowed. Rayne stood next to Kabuto as he spoke. "You guys are lucky I got here in time. I've seen what happens to people when they open the scrolls. There's a sleep-inducing inscription on the inside of the scroll that will knock you out until the end of the exam."

"You're Kabuto, right?" Sasuke asked from next to Rayne, head turned towards Kabuto. "What are you doing here alone?"

"Look, it's not like I'm after your scroll or anything," Kabuto reassured, turning towards Sasuke.

"Yeah, I suppose. If you wanted our scroll you could have just stolen it from Naruto..." Sasuke commented. "So are you after the Heaven scroll too?"

"No, we already obtained both scrolls," Kabuto flashed the cream and black-colored scrolls. He put them back away after a minute. "I was on my way back to the tower to meet up with my teammates before I bumped into you guys."

Kabuto turned away. "I'm going to go now."

"Wait!" Sasuke called out. Kabuto looked back.

"Fight us."

"A fight?" Kabuto smirked.

"But Sasuke..." Sakura started uneasily.

"You idiot! Kabuto saved our butts and you want to fight him!" Naruto yelled.

"Sush Naruto..." Rayne spoke quietly. Naruto blinked but quieted down.

Kabuto turned fully to face Sasuke. "Are you serious?"

"Gomen but we don't have time," Sasuke spoke.

"You dumbass!" Naruto started again.

"Um...Sasuke, Kabuto did save us. I don't thinking fighting Kabuto is the best way to thank him or anything..." Sakura added.

"Shut up," Rayne suddenly spoke again. As everyone turned to look at her, she continued. "Like Sasuke said before, there is no time."

"It's our only way to survive," Sasuke said.

Kabuto smirked. "That's a lie."

"A lie?" Naruto echoed, looking to Kabuto.

"His heart isn't fully in this," Kabuto spoke.

Sasuke took a step back. "What?"

Kabuto smirked again. "If you truly wanted attack me just to survive, you wouldn't have warned me. You would have just attacked me from behind, like a real ninja would do."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Wow...that's deep."

"But you're honorable for doing so, however," Kabuto said. "And for that, I will show you the proper path to take."

Rayne turned to Kabuto, a bit of surprise in her voice. "Proper path?"

Kabuto turned his back again to lead their group. "But first, put out that fire. It might have attracted enemies by now."

"Are you sure there are any enemies left?" Sakura asked as the group jumped quickly from tree to tree.

"I'm positive," Kabuto spoke. "And do you know the best way to a fight in an open forest such as this?"

"Ummm...no?" Everyone waited for Kabuto to continue.

"With only a day left, most examinees will be at the center of the forest, the tower, hoping for a fight," Kabuto explained.

"So we're bound to run into someone there with the scroll we need," Sakura said.

"Well that's a part of it," Kabuto said, glancing back at Sakura.

"We can't be the only ones thinking of this; there's probably a bunch of teams waiting for someone with a scroll, us," Rayne realized.

"Yeah but there's still another part," Kabuto spoke.

"So what's the third?"

"We have to think about the "collectors" in the exam," Kabuto said.

"Collectors?" Rayne and Naruto questioned.

"Collectors are teams that wait outside the tower for the soul purpose of gaining scrolls they already have. Then they can use these extra scrolls for bargaining chips should they run into other opponents or they can destroy the extra scrolls so less teams can pass."

"Lovely..." Rayne muttered.

"I see," Sasuke suddenly spoke. "That's why you brought us with you. You didn't want to travel alone."

Kabuto spoke. "That's right. I'm scared shitless."

~~~~~~~

By now it was dark out, the full yellow moon hanging in the sky like a stray streetlamp. Team seven stood still in the clearing, staring up at the outline of the tower.

"There it is..." Sakura spoke quietly. Suddenly, Rayne tensed up, sensing something. She turned behind her. "An enemy?"

Naruto quickly took out a kunai and flung it. With a thud, they all watched as the kunai pierced the head of a bug and stuck into the tree. Rayne walked over to the bug slowly. It was a centipede, a big as the tree trunk itself.

"Just a centipede." She said calmly.

"Just a centipede? That things HUGE!" Sakura shuddered, eyes white and twitching.

Rayne turned her head to stare back at her. "You don't like it Sakura?"

Sakura twitched. "Who in their right mind would!?"

"Shino."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at you. "Shut up." Rayne smirked and turned her head to stare at the bug once more. Kabuto walked up to Naruto. "Hey Naruto, it was great how you killed the centipede and everything, but we're trying to be stealthy here and it isn't helpful when you're charging through here like an elephant." So the night dragged on, slowly and soon the team had stopped once more. Sakura sat on her knees, panting. "How long have we walked? The tower doesn't seem to be getting any closer!"

Truthfully, everyone was tired as well. Rayne sat in the clearing next to Sasuke, arms crossed. She stared at the tower in pensive thought before she realized. "Maybe that's because..."

"We haven't gotten any closer," Kabuto finished for you. "We've already stumbled into somebody's trap. See..."

Everyone's gaze followed Kabuto's pointing finger until they saw the centipede pierced to a tree, the same one from earlier.

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed.

"So it was an illusionary technique the whole time..." Sasuke realized, frustration obvious in his voice.

"So it seems..." Kabuto confirmed. Rayne growled. "We were walking in circles this whole time..."

"They made us walk in circles and waited for us to get tired. Then they'll attack..." Kabuto spoke, sweat running down his face.

Laughter rang out in the clearing. "Welcome." As the group stood in a circle, ninjas in black started appearing all around them.

"What a fair fight..." Rayne muttered sarcastically as dozens of ninjas surround the team.

"There's too many of them..." Kabuto agreed. "They all seem to be replications..."

Sasuke took out a shuriken. "Replications huh?" Naruto scowled and ran forward, punching one of the ninja, but his fist went straight through, as though traveling through ink. His eyes widened as he fell to the ground and the missing half of the ninja's body repaired itself.

“What are these things...” Sasuke scowled.

"What's going on!?" Naruto questioned outloud.

"Naruto! Behind you!" Rayne yelled as the ninja Naruto had just attacked raised a kunai. Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan and threw three kunai at the ninja, stopping its attack. Slowly, the ninja turned to look at Sasuke and raised a double sided kunai at him. Rayne looked to Sasuke but he wasn't moving. Instead, Sasuke's eyes widened.

"Sasuke..." Rayne slowly spoke. The kunai was released. "Sasuke!" Quickly, she pushed Sasuke to the ground, the kunai grazing her shoulder. She rolled herself off of Sasuke, sat up and winced. She looked to the wound on her shoulder as blood dripped from it. Sasuke continued to lay on the ground, eyes wide. “W-what happened? My body...it couldn't....”
Rayne looked down to Sasuke who seemed shaking with shock. With a look of worry, she grabbed is hand and pulled him into a sitting position. She looked into his crimson eyes in concern. "Are you okay?"

Kabuto walked past them, picking up the kunai that has grazed Rayne and examined it. “This is definatly real...it's no illusion”

Rayne looked up as the ninja started to surround her. Letting go of Sasuke's hand, She slowly stood up, making her hands form signs too fast to follow.

"Well Rayne got hurt, doesn't that mean these replications have to be real flesh?" Naruto asked, taking out a kunai and holding it in front of him.

"Shadow replications should disappear when hit," Sakura agreed, looking to Kabuto. "Naruto's attacks went straight through them."

The ninjas took a step closer. Naruto raised his kunai but Sasuke interrupted. "Stop! They're just illusions..."

Rayne looked down to Sasuke. His Sharingan was still activated and sweat was running down the side of is face.

"But Rayne's wound is real," Sakura reminded Sasuke. Rayne glanced to the cut. She finished her hand sign and out popped a small raven. It cawed quietly before touching her cut, healing it.

"No, Sasuke is right," Kabuto said. "The enemy is most likely hiding somewhere. They're attacking us from far away, but controlling the movements of the illusions. They're making it seem like the illusion ninja are attacking."

"Then I'll find these idiots throwing knives at us and beat them to a bloody pulp!" Naruto announced.

"You won't be able to find the ninja's exact location," Kabuto said. "The real enemy won't come out until we can't move any longer. We can only dodge the attacks for me."

"Fine then!" Naruto put his fingers together in a handsign. "Two can play at this!"

"Naruto, don't! It'll just waste your chakra. There's no point in attacking," Kabuto warned.

"If we get rid of all the illusions, the enemy can't attack during the time they return to normal," Naruto objected. "Shadow Replication!" In a poof of smoke, dozens of Narutos stood in a line. The replications ran at the illusions, kicking them. They splattered on the ground only to reform good as new. Yet, the Narutos kept attacking.

"Sasuke....What should we do?" Sakura asked behind Sasuke.

"That bakka..." he glanced to Rayne, who was a few meter away from the group. "We have to fight too."

"But..." Sakura started then glanced at Rayne and Naruto before coming back to Sasuke.

Rayne sighed. "Naruto can't handle this all on his own." Sasuke glanced at Rayne and nodded to himself, agreeing. Rayne then took out a shuriken and ran forward, Sasuke following with a kunai while Kabuto took out a kunai as well and ran forward with Sakura. They all fought, slashing through the ninjas for what seemed like hours. The sun was starting to rise as Kabuto was thrown against a tree. Sakura fell and Sasuke's legs shook until they couldn't keep him up anymore. Rayne dodged another kunai but having no energy, she tripped and fell, whacking her chin on the hard ground. Shakily she got to her knees, putting the back of her hand to her pounding chin. Sakura now sat up next to Sasuke who was kneeling by Kabuto. A Naruto clone hit the ground in front of them and disappeared. As all of them panted on the ground, the illusions broke and disappeared. In their place, three ninja in yellow stood. Sasuke's eyes widened as he recognized one of the ninja as the first fight from in the forest.

The ninja stared at Sasuke. "You're the one who injured my left shoulder, rigth?" He took out a kunai. "I can finally get my revenge."

"Like a mouse in a trap..." came Sasuke's voice.

"It worked Naruto," came Rayne's voice. The ninjas stared at your team but their mouths were unmoving.

"Wh-wha?" the ninjas looked behind them and their eyes widened. The team stood behind them, smirking. In front of them, their bodies disappeared, leaving Naruto all Naruto clones.

"What!? How did they-when!?" the leader of the grass team spoke.

Naruto smirked. "I used the shadow replication to just set up this trick so I could pretend to be everyone from my team." The original Naruto stood, his clones disappeared. Sasuke stood beside Rayne, Sharingan activated, and smirked. "Once Naruto transformed into us, the rest of us were able to hide." Naruto went to run forward but ended up falling to his knees.

"Naruto!" Sakura called his name.

"Naruto, you've used up too muc chakra, I'll do the rest," Sasuke spoke. Suddenly, Naruto ran forward, punching one ninja in the side with such force he rammed into the other two ninja and they all fell in a pile on the ground. Naruto smirked. "I'm not gunna let you take all the good parts after I did the hard stuff." Sakura stared at Naruto, mouth open slightly. “Is that really Naruto? He sustains that many clones then has so much force behind his punch?” Rayne just smirk. “He's improving...” The ninja sat up, panting lightly. One stared at Naruto. "How did that kid...."

Sakura stared. "Wow....Naruto...."

Kabuto was in shock too. “He has such great chakra stamina...”

The rain ninja stood up and preformed handseals. "Pretty good but...Ninpou, Obara Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Hazy Replications) In a puff of smoke, dozens of the rain team appeared.

"Shadow replications?" Sakura asked.

"No, just normal ones," Kabuto answered.

"Well, if they're just replications, there's only one real one," Naruto spoke, breathing heavily. "I'll just beat up everyone until I find the real one."

"That'll take too much energy!" Sasuke warned.

"Stop trying to interfere!" Naruto argued.

"But Naruto-" Sakura started.

"Sakura!" Sakura stopped and stared at Rayne, She turned is head to stare at her. "Just trust him on this one." Sakura took a step back but after a moment, nodded silently. Naruto then returned his gaze forward and without another word, took off towards the ninja.

"Naruto! It's impossible!" Sakura yelled after him.

"Geeze..." Kabuto muttered and sped out of the bushes. Suddenly, Rayne felt Sasuke tense as Kabuto left. She glanced over but he seemed still. She watched him for a moment before turning back to the battle. Naruto was punching through every ninja but they seemed unfazed.

"Naruto! Please stop!" Kabuto urged as he appeared next to Naruto, but Naruto kept battling.

“Is everyone a fake?” Sakura questioned as she watched Naruto go through every ninja repeatedly. Sasuke breated heavily from next to Rayne. He held two fingers up to is face. “This is the last of my chakra....Sharingan!” Sasuke scanned the replications with his crimson eyes. Everyone was a blue color, except for Kabuto and Naruto. He saw for about thirty seconds before his vision went white and he let out a cry of pain.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed as Rayne turned to see Sasuke falling to his knees, clenching at his neck. Rayne ran over to him silently, kneeling down.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called, running after her. Rayne stopped halfway though, and fell down with a cry of pain.

"Rayne!?" Sakura let out a soft cry. She looked to Sasuke's neck to see the curse mark glowing red. Rayne forced her head up and saw the mark too. "S-Sasuke..."

Rayne let out another sigh of pain and her head bent down. "S-Sasuke...s-stop using your Sharingan..." She breathed heavily as the pain declined a little. She looked up but Sasuke seemed to be in the same amount of pain as before. Sakura looked to both of them with fear. "Sasuke...Rayne?" Naruto looked back at the three.

"Don't let your guard down!" one of the ninja came down upon Naruto with a kunai. Naruto's eyes widened but Kabuto quickly ran through and knocked Naruto out of the way of the attack. A cut formed on Kabuto as the kunai grazed him. Naruto looked to Kabuto then put a scowl on and stood up.

"Naruto! No!" Naruto looked back to Sasuke. "None of the replications are the real one..."

"Then where's the real one attackig from?" Naruto asked.

"If we knew that, you wouldn't be fighting right now..." Rayne spoke lightly, shakily getting to her feet. Suddenly, a replication jumped at Naruto and as he was distracted, a hand holding a kunai came out of the ground. Then, all three came out slowly, revealing their heads and chests. Sakura let out a scream as one of the ninja's sliced at Kabuto and he flew, hitting the ground. The three ninjas surrounded him but for some reason you couldn't see, they backed off. As they did, Naruto's foot made contact with one's head and once again, they all bumped into each other and the three flew, forming a pile on the ground. As Naruto landed on the ground, the replications all disappeared in smoke. He smirked at the fallen rain nin. "Don't let your guard down, huh?"

Kabuto slowly sat up, rubbing is neck sorely. "Thanks Naruto, you saved me."

"That was great Naruto!" Sakura called, now standing a little ways from Rayne and Sasuke.

As Naruto searched the rain nin for a scroll, Sakura stood watching him. Rayne kneeled down next to Sakura as Sasuke sat next to her. Kabuto stood over Sasuke. Suddenly he blinked and spoke. "Hey, how did you get that? It looks like a big bruise..." Rayne glanced over as Sasuke covered the cursemark wit his right hand. He stared up at Kabuto. "It's nothing."

"Found it!" Naruto announced. They all looked over to see Naruto standing and holding a heaven scroll, the scroll they needed. Rayne let out a soft mushroom sigh.






Team seven stood at the big red doors of the tower. Kabuto stood back a little, he was waiting for his teammates. Sakura had her arm around Sasuke, supporting him. Rayne stood next to Naruto, her arms behind Naruto's back, supporting him. Sasuke stared at Rayne, without her knowing, wondering if she was comfortable with the position. Sasuke glanced over at her, causing Rayne to look down at her black sandles. Sasuke continued to stare. “It happened again...another presence....like another chakra...strong. It came from her....” They all looked to the forest as two guys walked out. They wore the same outfits as Kabuto, leading them to believe they were Kabuto's teammates.

"You're late, Kabuto..." one spoke, walking up behind is teammate.

"I was caught up in some trouble," Kabuto explained, walking over to his teammates.

"Hey Kabuto," Kabuto looked back to Naruto. "Thanks for helping us. Thanks to you, we have two scrolls."

"No, it's because of your great skills," Kabuto told Naruto. Rayne smirked, leaning against the tower wall after letting go of Naruto. “Great, boost his ego. That's exactly what he needs...”

Kabuto exchanged a few more words with Naruto but soon, Kabuto's team waved and walked through a door to your right. Rayne opened the large doors to her entrance and entered with Naruto following, Sakura helping Sasuke through after Naruto and Rayne.

"No one's here..." Rayne muttered as her team entered a large, empty room. Above their heads were two bridges with railings that lead to other rooms. In front of them was a large scroll with words written on it.

"I'm okay now, Sakura..." Naruto and Rayne looked behind them as Sasuke stepped away from Sakura. She nodded and smiled and Rayne rolled her eyes only to discover Sasuke walk up next to her. Rayne pretended to pay no mind and looked up at the large scroll.

"What are we suppose to do?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Maybe it has something to do with the scroll," Rayne spoke, almost to herself. Naruto and Sakura followed her gaze and her group stared at the scroll.

Sakura read. "If you do not possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. If you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. If you open both Heaven and Earth scrolls, dangerous paths turn into safe paths. This is the secret of....it shall lead you on your way."

"What does that all mean?" Naruto asked, looking over to Sakura.

"After 'secret of', it looks like it's missing a word or two..." Rayne spoke.

"It's probably referring to the scrolls," Sakura said. "Maybe if we open them...."

Sakura took the Heaven scroll from Naruto and he held the Earth one. They looked at each other and slowly went to open them. Naruto gulped as he slowly opened a corner. Rayne's lip twitched, “What's with all the drama?” Sweat started to run down Naruto's face making Rayne's eye twitch.

"Just open the scrolls!" The two opened the scrolls to show markings inside. She looked over Naruto's shoulder to get a look at the inside of the scroll. Rayne's eyes narrowed as the scrolls started to bubble and smoke appeared.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "They're summoning scrolls! Naruto, Sakura, drop them!" The other two teammates obliged and they threw the scrolls away from you as smoke started to fill the upper part of the room. As the smoke started to clear, a figure became visible. Sasuke blinked. "You're...."

"Hello, long time no see."

"There's something not right about this..." Rayne muttered, taking a step back, eye twitching.

"Looks like the three of you went through a lot of trouble," Iruka spoke, smiling at the team.

"Wait, why did you appear Iruka-sensei?" Naruto questioned.

"We chuunins are to welcome the examinees at the end of the second exam," Iruka explained. "I was given the duty to pass the three of you a message by chance."

"A message?" Sakura echoed. Iruka dug into his pocket, bringing out a small watch. He smiled. "You made it just in time. Everyone, congratulations on passing the second exam. The team stood, not sure what emotion they should show first.

"I would treat you to some ramen but-"

"Yeah!" Naruto ran at Iruka, tackling him to the ground in a hug.

Iruka's eye twitched slightly. "Hey, Naruto! Let me finish!"

"Yes! Ramen! Ramen!" Naruto cheered, jumping up in down. As Sasuke and Sakura slumped to the ground, Rayne kneeled, staring at Naruto. “Man, how does he have so much energy?”

"Yeah! Ramen! Ramen!"

"Shut up!"

“Oi Naruto, mind giving me some of those energy?” Rayne asked smirking and walking up next to Naruto. Naruto stopped hopping and stared at Rayne, confused which earned a laugh from her.

"Geez...you're still as restless as before," Iruka spoke.

"I see, so if we looked in the scrolls during the exam, what exactly were you planning to do?" Sasuke questioned. Iruka picked up the scrolls they had thrown. "Sasuke, you're as sharp as ever. As you guessed, this exam tests your mission completion ability. So, if you broke the rules and opened a scroll, we were ordered to knock out the examinees until the end of the second exam." Rayne sent a knowing glare at Naruto and Sakura who quickly looked away. Sasuke smirked and shook his head.

"Oh hey, sensei," Sakura looked to Iruka. "What does that text on the wall mean?"

"Who cares!? We passed!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Actually, my other mission is to explain to you what this means..." Iruka spoke.

Rayne's eye twitched. "You almost forgot, didn't you?"

"N-no!" Rayne, Sasuke and Sakura sweatdropped. Iruka coughed. "A-Anyway, this is the principal Hokage-sama wrote that you should keep in mind as Chuunin."

"Principal...?" Naruto echoed.

"Yes, the 'Heaven' in this text points to the head of a person. 'Earth' points to the body. If you don't possess Heaven, gain knowledge and be prepared. For example, Naruto's weak point is his brain, he should study and prepare for his missions." Sakura giggled as Naruto crossed his arms with a frown. Iruka looked to Sakura. "And if you do not possess Earth, run through the fields and seek strength. For example, Sakura's weakness lies in strength, she should train herself every day." Sakura spit out her tounge and rubbed her neck sheepishly.

"And if you have both Heaven and Earth," Iruka glanced to Rayne and Sasuke. "Any dangerous missions will become safe."

"What about the missing word?" Sakura asked.

"It's actually missing a letter, a letter symbolizing a Chuunin," Iruka held up a scroll. "The letter that was in here going into that scroll. The survival mission you took part in these past five days tested your basic abilities of the examiness as a Chuunin, and you guys completed it. A Chuunin is a commander-class. He has a duty to lead a team. Never forget the Chuunin principal and go on to the next step."



(WITH ANKO)

"How are you feeling? Does the curse seal still hurt?" the Hokage asked. Anko sat on the couch, hand quivering as it clutched at the curse mark.

"It's getting better thanks to you," Anko spoke, looking up to the Hokage.

"Isn't Orochimaru one of the Sannin from the Konoha Legends?" one of the chuunins behind Anko asked. "He's an S-Class exiled ninja from te bingo book that even ANBU can't deal with, right? I heard that he died but...why would he come to the village now...?"

Anko's mouth opened slightly, thinking back.

 

 

 

Anko kneeled on the branch, grasping at her curse mark as Orochimaru kneeled in front of her. "I came to reserve a few from this village..."

"Rayne?" Anko questioned.

Orochimaru smirked. "Not exactly, she is already mine." Anko scowled.

"She will have to come to me, whether she likes it or not. If maybe not on her will, but on Sasuke's."

"Sasuke...Uchiha Sasuke?" Anko murmered.

"The very one," Orochimaru confirmed. "He will come to me for power, and Rayne-chan will follow."

 

 

 

Anko's mind flashed back to the beginning of the second exam.

 

 

 

 

 

"What's your name?" Anko asked Sasuke as he began to walk towards the booth.

Sasuke looked back at Anko before finally responding. "Uchiha Sasuke..." Anko nodded thoughtfully and Sasuke gave Rayne a funny look.

"Well, I better get going," Rayne told Anko, bringing her from her thoughts.

"Hm...oh yes, go catch up to the chosen one," Anko said absentmindedly.

"Chosen one?" Keoko asked confused.

"What? I mean..." Anko quickly cleared up her "mistake" . "I meant Sasuke, your boyfriend."

Rayne's eye twitched. "I don't care for him that way...."

Anko stared at Rayne. Spunk had left her eyes, they turned hard. "You will...."

"Huh?" Rayne asked confused.

Anko shook her head and began to walk away. "Please...I hope you do not realize for a long while...or never at all..."

 

 

 

 

 

"It's mostly likely because..."

"Sasuke, right? And Rayne?" the Hokage asked. Anko looked up, mouth ajar.

"Anko-sama!" Anko looked in front of her where there were radios and two television sets. The voice spoke through the speaker. "We have confirmed that 25 people have passes te second exam. According to Chuunin regulations, we will have to do preliminary matches for the first time in five years."

The Hokage turned to Anko. "We will continue with the exam."


(WITH THE TEAM)

Each team stood in vertical lines next to the other lines of teams. Team seven was inbetween Kiba's team and Neji's team. Ichiro's team was two away from them. Rayne was beind Sasuke with only Sakura behind her. She could feel Ichiro's gaze pass over her once in a while before the Hokage stood in front of all the genin. Behind the Hokage were the sensei's of your teams and to the right and left of the Hokage were the proctors and chuunin.

The Hokage began to speak. "First off, I would like to congratulate you all on passing the second exam."

Anko watched the genin. “There were 82 people who took the second exam, and 25 were able to pass. I said I'd make half drop out but I was really thinking less than ten would be left...”

"I'm hungry..." Chouji complained from behind Shikamaru.

Shikamaru, however, was scanning the group of genin. "There's still this many people left? How troublesome..."

"Sasuke's team passes too!" Ino said with glee from in front of her team.

"They better have, we almost got skinned alive to help them..." Shikamaru looked away but sneaked a glance over to Rayne. She didn't look as bad as when he last saw her. The blood was gone now and bandages covered the cuts on her arms and legs.

"Your team is pretty good," Gai complimented to Kakashi as he watched the genin. "Perhaps they were lucky. But as long as my team is here, they can't go any further."

"Hm?" Kakashi turned to look at Gai. "Did you say something?” Gai's eys turned white and he turned away, clenching a fist. “That was pretty good, rival Kakashi. That attitude is somewhat 'modern' and pisses me off!”

Tenten watched Kakashi. “So that's Gai-sensei's rival? Well, Gai-sensei defiantly loses to him in the looks compartment”

Lee stared at his sensei admiringly. “Gai-sensei is the coolest of all the other teachers! He's shining! Just watch Gai-sensei, I will shine too!”
Zaku glared over at Sasuke. “I'm going to get revenge for my arms, Uchia Sasuke”
Temari's eyes scanned the genin. “Only eight teams out of the original twenty-seven are here...”

Hinata's fingers pushed together as she watched Naruto. “So Naruto passed as well?”

"All the rookies from Konoha are here..." Sakura realized.

"We will now have an explanation from Hokage-sama about the third exam," Anko announced.

"Before the third exam begins, there's one thing I want all of you to know. It is about the true purpose of this exam."

"Why we do an exam with allied nations. To maintain good relations with the allied nations and heighten the level of the ninja. Do not let those reasons deceive you. This exam is the epitome of a war between the allied nations," Hokage-sama explained, letting out a puff of smoke from his pipe.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked from behind Lee.

"If we went back through history, the allied nations right now were neighboring countries that fought each other repeatedly. To avoid wasting military power, those countries decide to choose a place to fight. That was the beginning of the Chuunin Selection Exam."

"Why do we have to do that?" Naruto asked. "We're not doing this to select Chuunin?"

"Yes, this exam does examine those who are worthy of the Chuunin title, but on the other hand, it's also a place where ninja fight and carry their country's dignity," the Hokage explained.

"Country's dignity?" Sakura echoed. Rayne's eye twitched. “So many questions. Lord, this must be dull for those who take this twice a year, ever year...”

"In the third exam, feudal lords and famous people from various countries who may be potential clients are invited here as guests and feudal lords from countries with hidden villages and ninja leaders will see your battles. IF there is a significant difference in power, the strong country will be flooded with jobs. Weak countries will have a decline in jobs."

"So why do we have to fight with the risk of losing our lives?" Kiba asked from next to Naruto.

"A country's power is the village's power. A village's power is the ninja's power. And a ninja's true power is only born in life-or-death battle. This exam is also a place to sow off the ninja power of one's country."

The Hokage continued. "Since this is an exam where you fight with your life, it has meaning. You fight with the dream of becoming a Chuunin."

"But why do you say it's to promote good relations?" Tenten asked.

“NO MORE QUESTIONS! OH MY GOD…!”

"You're not suppose to get confused with that," the Hokage said. "The custom of showing one's life and fighting to maintain balance, that is the good relation in the world of ninja. This is a life-or-death battle for your dream and village's dignity."

"I don't care..." Gaara suddenly spoke. "Just tell us the details of this life-or-death exam."

"Then I will no begin the explanation of the third exam," the Hokage announced.

Suddenly, a man in a jounin vest appeared in front of the Hokage. "Excuse me, Hokage-sama, I, Gekkou Hayaye, the judge, will explain."

"Very well then," the Hokage allowed.

Hayate turned to look at all of them. "Everyone, before I start the exam..."

There was a pause as Hayate brought his hand to his mouth in a coughing fit. After a moment, he continues. "There has to be some preliminary matches to who gets to advance in the main battles of the third exam."

"Preliminary matches?" Sakura echoed.

"What do you mean preliminary matches!? What for!?" Shikamaru questioned, frustrated.

"I don't understand, why can't we just start the third exam with the remaining examinees?" Sakura asked.

"Maybe the first and second exam were too easy, I don't know, but there are too many examinees left. According to the Chuunin regulations, we must decrease the number of participants for the third exam."

Sakura gasped lightly. "Oh no..."

"As previously mentioned by Hokage-sama, there are many guests for the third exam, so we can't have a lot of matches," Hayate explained.

Rayne crossed her arms. “Blah, blah, blah, their needs”

Hayate had a coughing fit again, making your eye twitch slightly. He then continued. "We are limited on time as well. So those who aren't feeling well...." he went into another coughing fit.

"So anyone who wants to quit, do it now."

Rayne's eye continued to twitch. “Man, you sure you don't need to drop out?”

"If you're tired or anything, drop out because the matches will start immediately," Hayate announced.

"Immediately!?" Kiba exclaimed.

"But we just went through the second exam..." Ino spoke disbelievingly.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru complained.

"What about food?" Chouji whined.

“There is no time.” Hayate replied. Against all of her wishes, Rayne looked at Hayate and smirk.

“Bring it on.” She announced confidently.