Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 15: The Second Exam

Ayuda's P.O.V

We watched as the chuunin – who stood in between us and the gate – grabbed the padlock and inserted the key. He unlocked the chain that held the gate closed. He did not open the gate afterwards; instead, he spun around and looked back at us with his arms crossed over his chest. We all knew that he was waiting for Anko's order.

I took the opportunity to grab a scroll out of my hip pouch. No, it's not the scroll of Heaven, but the scroll where I kept my bow and arrows in it. I crouched down while unrolling the scroll and placed it on the ground. With my hands forming a hand sign, a puff of smoke erupted lightly on the surface of the scroll. In a few seconds the white smokes diminished into thin air, revealing my bow and arrows lying on the surface. The arrows were neatly arranged in the quiver.

(A/N: For those who don't what the quiver is, it is a container for holding arrows, bolts, or darts.)

I picked up the quiver and wore the straps around my upper body, making the quiver secured to my back. I then picked up my bow. As I clasped my fingers around the smooth wooden bow, I felt a wave of confidence and intrepidity surged into my entire form. If you guys think that there is some kind of spell casted onto this bow to give positive energy to those who touch this, then you're absolutely wrong. I got this energy whenever I held my bow because I felt much safer when I have my bow in hand. Some of the things that accompanied me since my childhood up until now were my bow and arrows.

After attaching the bow on my back, I reached down to pick up the empty scroll from the ground and put it back into my hip pouch. I spun around and waited for the gate to open. The three of us along with the chuunin remained in silence as we waited for any kind of sign that might indicate the start of the Second Exam.

That's when we heard Anko's voice loudly, "We will now begin the Chuunin Selection Second Exam!"

The chuunin in front of us suddenly vanished as the gate flew opened widely by some invisible force. The three of us wasted no time and sprinted inside the forest without delay. After running in the forest for about one minute, Kaito lifted his right hand up, signaling us to stop. We slowed down our movements until we halted and we stood in a circle.

Kaito spoke up solemnly, "I think it would be best if I communicate with some birds first."

I remained indifferent, unlike Kazuki who raised a perplexing eyebrow. He demurred, "Why?"

"We have to be careful of which opponents we should choose to attack," answered Kaito, "For example, we have to avoid the teams that we know are stronger than us, such as Gaara and Neji Hyuuga... and Rock Lee. They are ones we should avoid at all cost."

I simply nodded my head to indicate that I understood of what he meant. Even though I had taken a liking on Gaara and I badly wanted to see him again, I was also deeply aware that he's stronger than us. I concurred willingly with Kaito about the fact that we should avoid him to prevent any casualties. Kazuki questioned, "So? What does that have to do with communicating with birds?"

Kaito chuckled lightly, "By communicating with birds, I can find out of where other teams are located at. They could give us some directions too. It'll make our mission on finding the Earth scroll easier."

"Do what you have to do," I said, giving him my consent.

Kaito beamed at me, revealing his straight, pearly teeth, before he turned around and whistled professionally loud. His high-pitched whistle was heard echoing all over us and it gradually faded into silence with each passing second. We stood in silence for two seconds when two birds suddenly emerged from trees and flew down swiftly towards us, especially to Kaito.