Tale of the Setting Sun.

Chūnin Exams III

Chapter 10: "Dark Clouds Approach"

When Naruto opened his eyes, he was momentarily disoriented by the glowing blue lights around him before he remembered where he was. They were somewhere deep under Sunagakure, in the midst of the maze of the second test. They had figured out how to get water, food, and had found shelter for the night. Now, they would have to decide how to fulfill the second set of requirements of the exam: Obtaining another team's number plate while protecting their own.

As he grew more alert, he was shaken out of his thoughts when his nose picked up the aroma of roasting meat wafted through the air. His stomach growled, and he got up, sniffing the air. Turning around, he saw Mayu sitting beside a small makeshift campfire; from the looks of it, she had prepared breakfast as they slept. Much of the color in her face had returned, and judging from the small smile on her face, she certainly felt better. She was currently turning several stone sticks skewered through meat and what looked like yellow vegetables over the flickering fire.

Naruto sat down on the ground besides Rai, who gave him a nod but otherwise – to his relief – made no indication of the conversation they had shared the previous night. Instead, sharing identical looks of gratitude as Mayu offered them their portions, they dug in. It was quiet for several minutes as they ate, watching the shadow of their fire dancing on the moss-covered walls.

Finally, Rai spoke up. "Now that we're rested and all," He viciously tore a chunk of meat off of his stick, "Ish shtime to shake outh some rootkies, yeah?"

Mayu frowned. "That's disgusting."

Rolling his eyes, Rai began to chew even more noisily than before.

Ignoring them, Naruto decided to dive straight into business. "It's been about thirteen hours since the test began, leaving us with just under 110 hours. We can either wait for the last two days, or strike fast and finish early. If we wait it out, it's likely that we'll get our choose of the pickings among the weaker teams still remaining."

"But the ones who still haven't passed at that point might be more desperate...more dangerous," Mayu pointed out, her pink face tinged with worry. "And on top of capturing another plate, we also have to start thinking about reaching the surface, right...?" Trailing off, she turned to Naruto searchingly.

It hadn't escaped his notice how Mayu had begun to speak up in their discussions; it was a welcome change to the wall he'd once felt like he was talking at.

"Desperation breeds desperate measures," he said. "So we should try and finish this quickly and early. And like you said" – Mayu's face brightened – "it'll be best to start mapping out the maze while keeping an eye out for enemy teams and booby traps. Every time the tunnels diverge, we'll mark the path we took, and if we come across it again we'll take the other path."

Sweeping sand over their campfire, they quickly concealed all signs of their overnight presence. Working under the assumption that Neji would have used his Byakugan to choose the best possible route, they then left the blue cavern through the same tunnel Naruto had seen the rookies go through the day before.

As the dimly lit pathway rapidly decreased in diameter, they were forced to walk closer together. Naruto felt Mayu shudder, and picked up their pace. Soon, however, they stopped, as the tunnel forked into two different paths: One widened out and sloped upwards, while the other narrowed and sloped downwards.

"So...which one will it be?" said Rai, eyeing the two paths. Mayu wordlessly edged towards the wider path, making her preference obvious. "Yeah, but...that's exactly what they'd expect us to take, right?"

Without responding, Naruto positioned himself directly in the middle of the fork and closed his eyes. He raised both of his arms – and then a moment later, opened his eyes. He began to head down the wider path, and motioned for his teammates to follow him.