Please Don't Leave Me

The Chunin Exam Stage 2: The Forest of Death

(Kazumi's P.O.V.)


"This whole place just completely creeps me out" said Sakura holding her hands to her chest
"It should. They call it the Forest of Death. And soon enough you're gonna find out why" says Anko smirking at Sakura but Naruto was not amused and stuck out his butt putting his hands on his hips mimicking Anko

"They call it the Forest of Death! And soon enough you're gonna find out why! Do your worst, you're not gonna scare me away!! I can handle anything!" he yells at her as she smirks
"Well, looks like we got ourselves a tough guy" she says before shooting a kunai past his head scratching his cheek and Anko was right behind him
"Hmph, are you sure you can handle it? Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest" she says taking out another kunai as someone peers over her shoulder holding the kunai with his tongue holding it out for her to take it.
"I was..just returning your knife" said the person behind her with a huge smile on her face.
"Why thank you grass ninja. You know, I really only recommend you stand behind me if you wish to reach a premature death" said Anko taking her kunai putting it back in her pouch
"My pardon. With a sight of blood on your blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm" she says with a slight smirk in her voice. She walked past Sakura and went to her squad with Sakura trying to avoid her as she passed by and Naruto not thinking about what just happened stuck his tongue out it's full length trying to see how far it will go.
"Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered. There must be something in the air. this is gonna be fun" she says smirking at us
"Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all. It's just a standard consent form, before the test all of you are gonna have to read over this form and then sign it"
"What for?" asks Naruto
"Some of you may not come back from this test, and I have to get your consent to that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility. Ha ha ha ha. Now, I'll explain what you'll be doing on this test, here, pass these out. The first thing you need to know is this test will test every one of your survival skills. First, I'll give you all a description of the terrain on the practice field. The 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside, in the center is a locked tower. Located 10 km from each gate, it's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consists of an anything goes battle, to get your hands on these scrolls" she says pulling out 2 scrolls showing them to us
"Both of them?" asks Shikamaru
"Yes. You'll be fighting to get both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. All together, 26 teams will be taking part in this test. So half of those teams will be going after the heaven's scroll. And the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be looking for" she explains
"Ok, so how do we pass the test" asks Sasuke behind me
"Your entire squad must bring both the heaven and earth scroll to the tower"
"That means at the very best half of us will fail. More of not every team was able to get both the scrolls" says Sakura
"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh, and one more thing, the test has a time limit. You must finish it within 5 days"
"5 days out there?!"
"What are we supposed to do for food?!!" asks Choji desperately
"Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat. There's plenty to feed all of you"
"Yeah but, that's not all the forest has plenty of. There are man eating beasts and poisonous plants in there" says Kabuto
"Aw maaaan!" complains Choji
"Quiet down, this is why it's called survival you know?" says Ino
"That means with these circumstances there's no way half the teams will pass the test" said Neji
"With the days getting longer the nights are getting shorter, so we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover. It is a challenge indeed!" says Lee smiling
"Completely surrounded by enemies, there won't be time to rest while we have to keep a constant watch" says Sasuke
"Right, this test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test. And I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge"
"So, lets say mid-exam , can we quit?" asks Shikamaru raising his hand
"Of course not, in the middle of a battle you can't say 'sorry I quit'. Well, I guess you could but it's probably gonna get you killed"
"Ohh just greeat..This is gonna be a drag" says Shikamaru
"There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple, if all 3 members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after 5 days. Number 2, if a team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and can not continue, but most important none of you, absolutely none of you can look at the contents of that scrolls until you've reached the tower"
"What if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" asks Naruto
"Let me put it to you this way young man. You. Don't. Want To. Know" she says as Naruto groans
"There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents, the scroll rule is to test your integrity. Ok, we're done. Each team take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scroll. After that each team pick a gate and you'll be lead inside" she points over to a small hut with people waiting for us
"Oh, and I have one more word of advice. Just don't die!" she says going in another direction, Sasuke nudges my shoulder and I follow him to a big rock and sit down reading over the form and pull out a pen signing my name. I see they're putting up a curtain blocking the view from everyone else, noting that it's pretty obvious they want us to not just know who has it but figure it out and go for them to retrieve the scroll. I hear foot steps and Sakura comes over looking a little worried and somewhat agitated, she comes and sits next to Sasuke until someone comes out announcing they're handing out scrolls, we head to the line and in 10 minutes we walk in and exchange our papers for our scroll that Sakura chose to hold. We walk to gate 12 and already Naruto's getting in the spirit
"Believe it! I dare you to bring it on ninja, I'll just send you right back! Twice as hard!" he says punching the air but the person blocking the gate takes out a key unlocking it letting the lock fall to the ground
"Alright heads up you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!" yells Anko as the gates open, Naruto was the first to charge in followed by me, Sasuke, and Sakura behind him.
"Well alright! Here we go guys!" yells Naruto, a good 5 minutes passed by and to our relief there was no one near us. None that I could smell anyway, but after another few minutes we hear the screams of someone coming from behind us
"That sounded like someone screaming. I don't like this place at all" said Sakura
"Oh, come on. It's not something to be scared of, it's gonna be a piece of cake" says Naruto
"Excuse me a sec, I really gotta, you know" he says going to a near by bush unzipping his pants but Sakura hits him on the head before he can go too far
"Yeah right! Get out of here! What is this, a kennel?! Not in front of me and Kazumi you don't! Find a bush or something!" she yells pointing to another bush far away from the trees. Not wanting to get hit again he goes to a tree and I hear him coming back, I sniff the air and that guy is not Naruto, Naruto smells like ramen and milk, he smells like tofu and garlic
"Ah man, that was a lot! I wrote my whole name" he says
"You are such a pig! You're really disgusting" Sakura says as I took out my katana and flashed behind the fake Naruto holding my katana at his neck
"Kazumi, it wasn't that bad. Don't you think you're going a little overboard?" she asks unaware of the situation and Sasuke nods his head at me in understanding
"Better watch out Sakura, I think she's gone crazy" he says trying to get out of my grip
"Yeah, you wish. She just struck before you could" says Sasuke
"Kazumi, what are you doing?" asks Sakura
"Take a good look at him. Talk! What have you done with Naruto?" he demanded
"What? What do you mean? I am Naruto!"
"Then where's the cut on your cheek?" he demanded as the fake Naruto gasped knowing he wasn't accurate at the small details
"I guess you didn't know the real Naruto got a cut on his face before this test, you also have your shuriken holder on your left leg, not your right! But the real Naruto is right handed. Your transformation skill is worse than Naruto's, tell me who you are!" he says again as the fake Naruto is getting annoyed and released the jutsu
"Alright you got me, so what? I'm still gonna take your scroll, now hand it over or else" he demands leaping out of my reach onto a tree trunk as I hear Sakura take out another kunai to protect herself
"So, which one of you has it?" he asks
"Hmph, fine then I guess I'll have to take you all out" he says running at Sasuke and Sakura and Sasuke jumps in the air making rapid hand signs
"Fire style:Phoenix Flower jutsu!" he yelled and over a dozen fireballs come at him but he dodged them all and jumped at Sasuke clashing kunai's at each other. He leaped away and Sasuke must've seen the real Naruto and threw a kunai at the ground
"Hey get me out of this!!...Thank you!" he says as I roll my eyes at him
"Better keep your mind on the game!" the person yells throwing kunai and shuriken at Sasuke who grab a piece of a log holding it in front of him throwing the log away as the boy ran out of kunai knifes but one of the kunai knifes sizzled and blew up in a mass of smoke and Sasuke is falling to the ground and I
"Sorry this is one test you fail. Now hand over the scroll or you die" he says coming up behind Sasuke but I jump in front of him and his kunai clashes with my katana holding it in place neither of us moving I reach out taking the handle and grab the hidden thrower:

taking it in my other hand slashing at his chest and it slides across his chest already leaking blood and he grabs his chest putting pressure on it to calm the bleeding giving me the chance slashing my katana so the kunai knife in his hand is thrown across the field being thrown into a tree as I bring my katana back and slash again at his leg making him lose balance and I kick him aside and he falls to the ground and starts grunting in pain, I walk over to where he is and he's trying to get back up to his feet but I swipe his feet under him and he falls to the ground. Putting my hidden thrower back in my katana I bring my katana to his face a few inches from his nose.
"Kazumi! Be careful, it's most likely he didn't come alone, be on the look out!" Sasuke says from behind me and I look over at him as the boy jumps in the air only for Sasuke to activate his sharingan and throws a kunai at him that the boy dodges but Sasuke is right in front of him and uses his other hand to punch him in the stomach
"Are you alright?!!" asks Sakura
"Don't just stand there Sakura! Chances are this guy's not alone, watch out! The others could strike any second!" he yells at her and she nods looking around her
"I wish, I came here alone so I don't arouse suspicion..big mistake" he says running away trying to keep his balance jumping for the trees
"That proves that we can't just trust appearances. We have to come up with a way that each of us knows who we say we are"
"What about Kazumi? Can't she smell them and tell us who they are?" asks Sakura
"Kazumi is a big help but if someone were to make a copy of her and she wasn't really around we can't be too sure if she was the real one" replied Sasuke and Naruto looks confused right now
"Alright, so what do we do?" asks Sakura
"We need a password"
"What kind of password?" asks Naruto
"A secret one, something known only to the 3 of us. And don't trust anyone who doesn't know it. No matter what. Ok, listen closely because I only wanna say this once. The question will be: When does a ninja strike? And the response is: A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike. Got it?" he says as I feel a presence above us, he smells like dirt. Almost like they lived under ground, but it smelled like that one lady who was handing Anko her kunai back with her tongue. None the less I nod in understanding
"I got it" replies Sakura and we all look at Naruto
"You got one a little shorter?" he asks
"No Naruto, that's it"
"Come on, what's wrong? Didn't you get it? I memorized it easy" brags Sakura
"Y-Yeah, sure...I got it..no problem. I just thought it was gonna be a password, not a passpeech" he says
"Alright then, I'll take the scroll" he says and we look at him
"W-what, Sasuke..OW! What was that?" asks Naruto as it looks like he was pricked by something but a powerful wind jutsu comes right at us and we hold our hands in front of our face trying to block the dust and bugs from getting in our eyes. Before the jutsu cleared we jumped in hiding spots and I was perched on a tall tree looking down at our enemy
"Alright, you two fan out into the woods and keep your eyes peeled. I'll handle this one alone" said the person in front of us, and like I thought before it was that lady we met with Anko and she had 2 people at her side and they jumped in different directions. I jump from my tree and I see the lady transform into Naruto before frantically searching trying to find Sasuke and I don't see the real Naruto. I jump from my hiding spot and they both glance at me before taking out a kunai knife waiting for me to attack.
"What is the password?" demanded Sakura
"A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapon lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike" I say and they sigh in relief and the fake Naruto comes over to us talking like crazy, he's observant and has the details the other person didn't have. Almost everything is perfect, but his smell isn't right at all.
"Stop! Don't come any closer! What's the password?" asks Sakura
"Oh, ok no problem. A ninja waits until the time is right--" he starts but now I have enough proof to know he's not the real Naruto and I launch at him with my katana in hand slashing at his chest but he dodges every one of my slashes and jumps away.
"Kazumi! What are you doing? He was doing everything right!" she yells at me
"That's the problem Sakura. Did you really think Naruto could actually remember that? I'll give it to this guy, he's quicker than the last guy" he says and Sakura looks at us again finally understanding the situation
"Aren't we the clever one?" and his voice changes back to the lady and licks his lips while smirking
"Tell me, if your team mate is really that dimwitted, why would you come up with a password he's never be able to remember?" she asks tilting her hat
"You see, it wasn't meant for Naruto so much as for anybody who might happen to be nearby trying to eavesdrop on us. It was meant as a trap and you stumbled right into it" he says smugly and the lady takes off her hat
"I'm impressed. You certainly haven't dropped your guard have you? This promises to be very entertaining. Ohhhh, you'd love to get your hands on our earth scroll, wouldn't you? It would go so nicely with your heaven's scroll. Well, when this is all over, one of us will have both scrolls" she says as she grabs her scroll from her pouch and shoves it down her throat swallowing it whole.
"And the other will be dead" she says and I can feel myself getting ready, I lunge at her and I'm a good few feet away but catch a glimpse of her eyes and I stop dead in my tracks as I see myself standing there when I'm being struck with kunai knifes and I start to fall to the ground blood coming out everywhere and I had to scream out loud, it was terrifying. But because of that fear I start to fall to my knees and stagger to the ground breathing heavily and my heart is beating rapidly and if it was any faster I would be having a heart attack.
"My my, I haven't even heard you speak once since you got in, and now I get to hear your screams. How delightful" she says and creeps over to me, I feel cold and clammy hands on my shoulders making me flinch, but she chuckles in my ear and I shiver in horror. She lets go of my shoulders and I'm still shivering in fear that if it wasn't for me seeing her hands move I would've thought she was still there. She smiles widely before she kicks me in the face and I'm sent to the tree behind her and I was slammed a growing trunk before I hit my head feeling blood coming from my head slowly dripping down my face. I can feel some of my fear leave my body but I realize I wasn't so terrified when I hit the branch of the tree, the pain was worse than the fear. The only thing I can do now is wait until my body can move in it's own so I can grab my katana which was a few feet away from me. I reach out my hand shakily and I can feel the cold handle in my hand as I bring it back to me slowly.
"You're paralyzed with fear" she says in a smug tone and beyond her I can see Sasuke starting to stand up, I look back at Sakura and she can't move a muscle unless she was shaking in terror. I grit my teeth and take out my hidden thrower and stab myself in my upper thigh feeling the pain come to my body and I grunt in pain before taking it out attempting to stand up as I see Sasuke trying to do the same, having more luck than me standing on his feet as I'm holding myself up by my knees
"Very good..Now what happens?" she asks and Sasuke is frozen in place and isn't moving, she grabs 2 kunai's out of her weapon pouch and start walking over to them
"Don't worry, I'll make it quick. But I don't have to tell you that do I? You've seen it with your own eyes" she says walking closer and out of instinct I launch my hidden thrower and aim for her head but she catches it mid-air and turns to face me and I'm breathing heavily and I try more to stand up almost able to stand up straight.
"Well, well. Seems I underestimated you, I thought you would be on the ground begging for mercy right now. Perhaps I should make your end come first" she says and instead creeps over to me as I widen my eyes and try to back up but I can't make my body react so I can't even move.
"Although, I expected you to be more of a challenge...how disappointing" she says looking at Sasuke then back at me
"Sorry, but this is where we part ways" she says and tosses the kunai at me and I feel myself being lifted off the ground and I'm tossed over someone's shoulder and I see the kunai was stuck in the tree I was leaning against. I was placed on the ground slowly and I looked up to see Sasuke panting hard with Sakura being put down also and she's trying to help Sasuke but he isn't listening and puts a hand over her mouth instead. I pant hard and try to sit up but I see it getting dark and when I turned around there was a huge snake glaring at us and I let out a small shriek which made Sasuke turn around and saw the snake. He grabbed my waist and they jumped away with the snake slithering around a tree snapping at us.
"No! Stay away!" Sasuke yells taking out kunai and shuriken throwing them at the snake and it hisses in pain before dropping dead on a branch and Sasuke puts me down on a branch
"Can you get up?" he asks and I try getting up but I feel myself wanting to scream in pain but stand up none the less and I nod to him telling him I was alright. We turn to look at the snake and the part of the snake is cracking open and out of it's stomach comes that creepy snake woman smirking at us.
"I sense your fear and desperation. It's only natural, the prey must never let down it's guard, not even for a moment. In the presence of it's predator" she says cackling and the bottom half of her body turns into a snake's tail and she's slithering up the branch and comes right at me and Sasuke as he shouts in horror but kunai knifes and shuriken come out of nowhere and stop her in her tracks and on another tree branch we see Naruto standing high and mighty.
"Looks like I came just in time!
"Naruto!" says Sakura happily
"Oh and by the way, what was the password again?" he asks and I roll my eyes but still find myself smile at his timing.
"Forget it, I know it's you. You made it!" says Sakura
"Naruto! Get out of here! What were you thinking?! You don't know what you're up against! hurry! Go now! While you still can!" yells Sasuke and I can see he's still somewhat shaking and I can see fear in his eyes.
"So Naruto, you managed to escape from my friend. Well done" she says
"Ok! Ok! I don't know what's going on here, but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that! So you just better slither back into your hole snake lady before I make a pair of shoes out of ya!" yells Naruto pointing at her
"You can have it!" Sasuke says and we all turn to him in curiosity and see him dig into his weapon pouch taking out our scroll.
"The scroll right? That's what you want?Alright then, take it and leave us in peace!" he yells and we all gasp and we can't even believe that Sasuke is going to give up his scroll and risk the chance of not becoming chunin.
"Sasuke! Are you crazy or what?! We're gonna just hand the scroll over to the enemy?!! No way! What's wrong with you?!!" Naruto yelled from his branch
"Shut up and stay out of it!" Sasuke yelled back
"Very wise, very sensible. Sometimes the helpless prey if they are to save their own skins realize that their only hope is to distract the predator with something even more precious" she says licking her lips
"Take it" he says and throws it to her and she's ready to catch it but Naruto jumps in and catches the scroll
"Stop being the hero Naruto! Just stay out of this and leave it to me!" he yells but Naruto just turns around and punches him in the face and Sasuke is sent to another tree and catches himself on a nearby branch
"Stupid fool! You don't know what you're doing!" he yells
"I may not know the password, but I know who I am. You're the one I'm not so sure about, how do we know you are who you say you are?" says Naruto as I look at him in shock thinking I never thought he would do this to his team mate.
"What do you mean? It's him. Don't be so stupid!" says Sakura and I shot her a glare telling her to shut up and listen
"Liar. Liar. You may look just like him, you may sound just like him, but there's no way you're the Sasuke I know! I don't care how tough of a fight you've been through, surrendering, giving up the scroll, when did Sasuke become a coward?! You keep saying 'I don't understand what's going on' but I do. You choked, that's what it is!" says Naruto pointing a finger at Sasuke
"Sad, but true. It doesn't matter, as far as the scroll goes I could simply kill you and take it" he says licking his finger and gliding it down his arm that looks like it's a tattoo, but it also looks like a seal.
"Lets see you try it!" yells Naruto going right at him
"No! Don't! Naruto, no!!" yells Sasuke
"Summoning jutsu" she says and the tree underneath her turns into a giant snake almost as large as the tree itself with it's head.
"Naruto!" yells Sakura
"What a tasty little meal you will make for him. Careful, he likes to play with his food" she says as the snake's tail comes at him and it cut the branch he was standing on and he began to fall
"Naruto!"
"Naruto!"
"Naruto!" I yelled going after him
"Enough playing, finish him off" she says and the snake goes after Naruto again and I'm just about ready to catch him but he kicks the snake in the head and rapidly punches his head. The snake uses it's tongue to push him away, Naruto is ready to come at her again but she opens her palm and blows out fire coming right at him
"Water style: Water ball jutsu!" I yelled and it went right for the flames and they canceled each other out
"Now then, lets see how well you do Sasuke" she says going after him again and I jump on the snake's head and do rapid hand signs
"Water style: Water tsunami!" I yell and waves come right at the snake blinding him as I see my katana on the ground and use a water hand grabbing it bringing it to me, I back flip going to the front of his face and stab my katana in his eye as it hisses in pain thrashing around until it almost makes me fall but I grab a tree branch and Sasuke helps me up
"My poor snake is hurt now because of you, but it didn't take him down" she says and they come at us again, I'm ready to move but I see Sasuke isn't moving, I grab his hand and try to pull him away but the snake stops and in front of us I see Naruto with a kunai stabbing the snake's head
"I..can't..you're not hurt are ya? Ya scaredy cat" he asks remembering what Sasuke said to him on our mission with Tazuna but when he raises his head I can see his eyes are red and they're in slit pupils like an animal.
"Standing there frozen like a frightened rabbit? No way. You're not the Sasuke I know" he says and I can feel Sasuke shaking in my grasp and the snake lady's tongue wraps around Naruto lifting him up in the air
"Hey! Oh man, gross!! Put me down before I yank this tongue out of your head!!" he yells thrashing around and she starts doing hand signs and purple flames come out of each of her fingers
"Five Pronged seal!" she yells and it makes contact with Naruto's stomach and he's crying out in pain and I rush to help him, his eyes turn blue again and he faints but she reached into his weapon pouch grabbing our scroll and by this point I'm ready to kill this freak. I grab my katana and slash at his tongue, I don't cut it off but I drew blood making him drop Naruto into my arms as I take him to another branch looking to see if he's ok.
"Sasuke! What's wrong with you? Ok, say what you like about Naruto, that he's a pest, that he gets in the way, that he's just a kid, but at least he's..he's doing something! At least he's no coward!" yells Sakura and I look at her surprised, she wouldn't ever dare say something like that to Sasuke in her life, but now here she is saying Naruto's better than Sasuke when usually she only supports Sasuke. Something inside of him must've snapped because he was muttering curse words and he was shaking in anger. He only acts like that when...he....Itachi. So that's it, he probably remembers what Itachi said about him, at the time I wasn't there because the Uchiha compound was set on fire and I was trying to get through the smoke to find my way out. (That's what I thought but it just turned out to be a genjutsu) But apparently his words were harsh, he didn't talk to anyone for days, even me. I was worried about him and I wanted to help but he would push me away. I finally reached out to him one day when I yelled at him and left him to think about what I said

'If you really want to prove Itachi wrong then do it! If not you're wasting your time mourning over something you can stop and fix. We may never get our family back, but that doesn't mean we can't prove Itachi wrong, and if you don't want to show him then I'm doing it all on my own' a small voice rang in my head.

I said that to him and at that time I wantednothing more in the world than to kill Itachi, I would kill myself just to killhim and over time I didn't want to think that way but I got Sasuke to at leasttalk to me after that. But his scars from that day haven't gone away, it's allhe thinks of. It makes me sad but I know some day I can guide him away fromthis, he won't like it but I need to keep him away from the path of revenge.His eyes opened again and he activated his sharingan. She makes the snake goaway and she's standing on a tree ready for Sasuke to attack.


Let the real battle begin