𝙇𝘼𝙑𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍. | 𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗢

XXI

THE Forest of Death really did live up to its moniker. After the sun had set it was dark and humid, the air thick with the high temperatures of summer. It was filled with nasty insects and giant centipedes that scrawled over trees and the ground.

And given the fact that it was also crawling with enemy shinobi, it, certainly wasn't the nicest place to be when stranded from one's teammates. Riki looked around her, taking in how quiet and hot the atmosphere was. If she wasn't sweaty from the fear of being killed by enemy shinobi, then she definitely was from the humid air. She could tell that her white shirt was drenched with her sweat, making her grateful that she had brought deodorant with her.

Riki was sat up against a tall tree, hiding herself in its shadow as the trees blocked any shine the moon had to offer. She took out her canteen of water and took a long sip. As she drank she heard a loud shriek from with the depths of the forest which prompted her to put her bottle away.

She had been on the lookout for her team all day, walking around where she believed they were last at before they got seperated. She blamed her horrid sense of direction for not being able to find them.

Eventually she had given up on calling for them. Her voice could easily attract enemies. And that would be game over for her. It would also be game over for her squad too if she managed to lose the scroll. Which reminded her that she was a quite easy target. She was a young girl who was all alone in a forest with an important scroll and quite vulnerable. Anything could happen to her.

She shivered a little at the thought.

She eventually resolved to defend the scroll with all her might. She had her team to think about as well, not only herself. She definitely wasn't strongest out of the applicants, that was a given, but she wasn't so insecure as to let herself believe that she was the weakest out of them. She wasn't stupid enough not to have trained at least a little before entering the exams.

Another scream echoed in the forest and she jumped. She was definitely staying wide awake tonight. Courtesy of her paranoia, of course.

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It was when she was walking around the Forest of Death around noon when Riki happened to finally come across her teammates. It came as a surprise to her as she was so tense from the forest's atmosphere that she hadn't even realised that she was in close proximity to them at all. It seemed that moment was the only time that she was genuinely happy to see her teammates.

Her team wasn't alone, the green boy who liked Sakura (she couldn't remember his name but he was important), his teammates and Team 10 were also at the scene. She didn't take a second to rush over to Sakura and Sasuke who were sat on the floor.

She glanced over the clearing as she looked over the damage. Sasuke was sat clutching his neck and Sakura was sat beside him, her hair all short and choppy and messed up. Naruto lay a little ways from them, unconscious.

"Riki!" Sakura gasped as she saw the tall girl. "Did you just get here now?"

"Never mind me, what happened to you guys? What is going on?" Riki asked, bewildered. She was gone for barely a day and hell just had to break loose?

"Riki, calm down," Choji said from behind her. She could hear him munching on some chips.

"What are you lot doing here? I don't get what's going on . . ." she said as she turned around. She had forgotten that other teams were there too.

"They'll explain in a second. But now we need to wake up that troublesome Naruto. What a drag . . ."

Choji and Shikamaru approached Naruto with a stick and whacked him in the head with it. He immediately woke up and went into panic.