The forest turned out to be much larger than they had imagined. The two eleven-year-olds were growing very frustrated with the lack of opponents they faced. Even Akira was confused. All of the chakra signatures that she could feel were weak, meaning they were very far away.
"Feel anything yet?" Yuhi asked from behind her.
Akira jumped to the next tree, effortlessly keeping up her speed. She shook her head. "Nothing."
Something Kakashi had said had been drifting around in her mind for a while now. Don't let your guard down around those sand shinobi. Now that she thought about it, the chakra signatures she had been feeling for a while were only those belonging to members of the leaf village, and one sand team on the other side of the forest. She hadn't felt anything around them since they left the gates. That couldn't be right though. Where was everyone else?
"Guys, this is weird. I've got a bad feeling about thi–"
Yuhi was cut off by a kunai slicing the air right in front of her. It left a small cut on the bridge of her nose. The three of them stopped cold, landing on a thick branch. They joined together, forming a circle with kunai at the ready and backs to each other in a defense position. A peal of laughter emanated through the forest around them.
"What the hell? Akira, do you sense anything?" Somaru asked in a low voice.
"Still nothing. They must be suppressing their chakra." It made sense now. Why she couldn't sense them, but they were very clearly there.
"Aw, is the little girl scared because she can't sense us? Poor thing." A cold voice rang out from around them. It sounded as if it were coming from everywhere.
"Where are they?" Yuhi growled.
More laughter. "Why don't you just give us your scroll, and then we will be on our way. We won't even hurt you too badly."
Akira tightened her grip on her kunai. They had no way of knowing what type of scroll the other group had. Or even how many enemies they were facing. They had to get to the ground. They were too vulnerable from every angle up here.
Akira started to voice her thoughts. "Guys–"
"Let's go." Yuhi leaped off of the branch, propelling herself downwards toward the ground. Somaru leapt in a different direction, leaving Akira alone on the branch. She flipped backwards off of it and kunai pierced the bark at her feet. She was in a freefall towards the ground now.
Akira landed on a branch below her, and leaped towards another one just as a kunai with a paper bomb attached blew up behind her. She grabbed the new branch with her hands and used it to swing herself towards the ground. She hit and rolled, coming up in a crouch. She made three hand signs, then slammed her hands against the ground.
"Mud wall!" She yelled. A wall of rock rose up in front of her, just in time. Four kunai with paper bombs attached slammed hilt-deep into the wall and exploded. The blast seared the leaves of the bushes around Akira. The heat made her skin dry, cracking her knuckles.
Yuhi and Somaru dropped down to the ground beside Akira, protecting her backside.
"Those were some powerful paper bombs!" Somaru said, sounding slightly out of breath.
Akira nodded. "They sure were. Get ready for the next assault. I still can't pinpoint their location, but there has to be more than one enemy. You can't do ninjutsu or genjutsu when your chakra is suppressed, but you can still use taijutsu. They're going to try to overpower us with numbers."
Suddenly, a sand shinobi appeared in front of the three of them. "Very astute observation. I see we were right not to underestimate you, little one."
The shinobi was tall, and looked to be about Kakashi's age. He glared down at them, brown eyes carefully watching their movements. He had two long swords in his hands, the blades glinting in the sunlight. He smirked at their angered expressions.
"Why don't you just hand over your scroll, I'll kill you, and we can get this all over with." He said slyly. An evil looking smile twisted his lips.
Two more sand shinobi landed on either side of him. One landed on the wall above their heads, and two more to either side of the wall. They were boxed in.
Akira bared her teeth in frustration. They were facing not one, but two full sand teams. This was going to be interesting.
"Well guys, I guess we get our challenge now." Somaru said. He stood and faced the one who had spoken to them. Akira and Yuhi followed suit. He raised his kunai and pointed it at the leader's chest. "If you want this scroll so bad, you'll have to fight us for it."
The sand shinobi grinned. "It'll be an honor to take down the famed red shinobi team from the leaf."
"So he's done his research." Yuhi muttered.
No wonder why they knew to hid their chakra signatures from me. Akira raised an eyebrow. Maybe this exam would be fun after all.
Somaru smirked. "You know us then. I'm sorry, I can't say I can return the introduction. Perhaps you can provide that for yourselves?"
The leader snarled and raised his right sword to point back at Somaru. "You dare mock us? We are the best sand genin the land has to offer. My name is Teku, and we are the suna oni six."
Akira rolled her eyes at the dramatic introduction.
Somaru shrugged. "Doesn't ring a bell."
The other sand shinobi gripped their weapons tighter in frustration. Teku snarled. "We will crush you!"
"I'd love to see you try!" Somaru said with a grin. Teku ran at him. "Akira!"
Akira took that as her cue. She made two hand seals and dropped to the ground again, slamming her palms against the ground. "Quicksand trap!"
The chakra strings that she had carefully been spinning through the earth under their opponents during their conversation slashed through the rock in a series of quick successions. Water pooled from far below the earth, creating quicksand when it mixed with the destroyed ground. Two of the sand shinobi were stopped in place as they started to sink into the ground. They threw their kunai at Akira, but Yuhi easily blocked them. Teku and the other three had managed to leap into the trees above them, while Akira, Somaru, and Yuhi stayed calmly on the ground, unaffected by the quicksand. Akira was glad they had practiced this.
Teku sneered at them. "That was a nice move. But you can't catch all of us like that. And now we know how to counter you." He aimed his comments at Akira.
The two sand shinobi that were caught in the quicksand were still shrinking, fighting to try and escape. They were up to their knees now.
"Teku! Release the suppression jutsu!" One of them yelled at their leader.
"Not yet. Not until we finish her off." He responded coldly, glaring at Akira. "Besides, if you two were weak enough to fall for that jutsu, then you don't deserve to be in this fight."
Well that was rude. Akira rose to her feet. "If you want me that badly, come and get me!"
She drew a kunai to defend herself with.
Teku sneered at her. "As you wish."
Two of the sand shinobi threw kunai with paper bombs at them. Akira and her teammates scrambled, splitting up to avoid the blasts. Akira kept her eyes above her, floating above the quicksand on her chakra. She held her kunai up once again and got into a defense position.
"Teku!" The other stuck shinobi yelled. They were up to their waists. They seemed to be sinking even faster now. Akira was using her chakra strings to pull on their feet to speed up the process. If she could just get their arms trapped they wouldn't be able to move at all.
Another wave of kunai were thrown at her. She jumped backwards and threw her own kunai, causing the sand shinobi to scramble. But they forgot that they didn't have their chakra to support their landing. Most of them landed successfully, dodging her attack. One of them slipped off of his branch and fell into the quicksand below, landing on his back.
He yelped as Akira's chakra strings caught ahold of him and started pulling him downwards by his limbs. His hands disappeared into the earth, as well as his feet.
"Teku, please!"
The other two shinobi were desperately trying to free themselves. They were in up to their elbows, and their arms were being pulled under now as well.
"Ugh fine!" Teku held his right hand up in front of him. "Re–"
He was cut off by Somaru slamming into his back from behind. Yuhi appeared in the trees as well, and started her attack on one of the other still standing shinobi.
Teku and Somaru started a fight on the branch they were on, swords against kunai. Yuhi was taking care of the other two.
Akira made her way across the quicksand to crouch down in front of one of the original two stuck shinobi. She cocked her head to the side and stared into his eyes menacingly.
"You have two choices right now. Tell me who has your scrolls, or I will pull you down so far into the earth that they will never find your bones."
The boy's eyes widened. He couldn't have been more than Somaru's age. He was the youngest of their enemies at the moment, and Akira had targeted him for a reason.
He didn't respond though. Akira held a kunai up to his throat, which was now just barely above the quicksand. "I know the quicksand is already crushing you. You don't want to suffocate to death on your own bones do you?"
A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead.
"Tell her Kini," the other stuck one said. "Just tell her. Or I will."
Akira turned her head to look at him. "Where are they?" She demanded.
Kini sighed. "I have one. Teku has the other."
Akira glanced upwards at Somaru and Teku. Somaru briefly caught her eye in between blows. She flashed two hand signs at him with her right hand. He nodded, and continued on in his fight with a little more gusto.
Behind her, Yuhi had knocked another shinobi out of the tree. He landed feet first in the quicksand and sank in up to his knees immediately.
"Damn!"
Akira turned to look at the newcomer to her jutsu just as he threw a kunai at her. She leaned out of the way, and it zipped past Kini, cutting his cheekbone just under his eye. He yelped in surprise. Akira threw two kunai back at the sand shinobi, and since he couldn't move to dodge them they hit their mark. They sank into his elbows, forcing his arms to go limp.
She turned her attention back to Kini. She reached her left hand down into the quicksand, and formed the two fingered seal with her right. She summoned chakra strings into her hand and used them to search his body. She found what she was looking for, in his weapons pouch on his lower back. She pulled the scroll out and pulled it into her hand. As she lifted her hand out of the quicksand with the scroll, Kini's eyes widened.
"How did you..." he trailed off.
Akira slipped the scroll into the pouch on her waist and zipped it shut. "Thank you," she said to him. Then she stood and grabbed Kini's shirt at the shoulder. She pulled him upwards so that his head and upper chest were above the quicksand. He was no longer sinking. She did the same with the other guy too. The last two shinobi that were stuck in the quicksand were no longer sinking either. But despite their struggles, none of them were getting free without help.
"Release!"
Teku had finally released his suppression jutsu. Akira felt all six of their chakra forces come back into her sensory field. Four of them were weakened, but the last two remained strong.
Teku landed on the quicksand in front of her, and swung his sword downwards. Akira smacked the blade aside with the back of her left hand while pulling a kunai with her right. She took note of the fact that he only had one of his swords now. Somaru followed close behind, and attacked Teku from behind.
Teku jumped away from them, back into the trees. Somaru and Akira followed.
A scream came from the next tree over, and Akira stopped following Teku to turn and look. To her horror, Yuhi had been impaled through the shoulder by a sword that the other sand shinobi was wielding.
"Yuhi!" Akira yelled. She leaped from her branch across the gap to land on Yuhi's.
The sand shinobi planted his foot into Yuhi's stomach and pushed, forcing her off of his blade and into the quicksand below. She landed with a thump, the quicksand somewhat cushioning her fall. He turned to face Akira, blade now stained red and dripping blood down the shaft and onto his hands.
Akira watched with disgust as he lifted one hand to his mouth and licked the blood off of his palm, not breaking eye contact with her. He replaced his hand on his sword. He wore a sick smile on his face, as if he relished the idea of tasting her blood too.
"You'll pay for that." Akira growled.
"Try me, honey."
Akira pulled a second kunai and ran at him. He met her halfway, and they started their battle.
The ninja she was facing was much stronger than her. But she had speed on her side, as she was smaller. Most of his blows she deflected, as she wasn't quite strong enough to just stop them outright. He towered over her and her small frame was no match for his brute strength.
She flipped over his back, and swung her left kunai at him. He blocked it with his sword and countered with a stab to her head. She ducked and aimed a kick for his knee. He jumped backwards, but ran at her immediately. He swung downwards, a powerful blow aimed at her head. Akira blocked the blade with both of her kunai, deflecting it away from her. He used his momentum to spin and swing for her side. She flipped over it and charged forward. Her blocked both of her kunai attacks, and deflected the kick she threw to his stomach. He knocked one of her kunai straight up into the air and followed with a stab aimed at her side. Akira jumped upwards to avoid it, doing a front flip and kicking downwards with her right foot. It made contact with her airborne kunai and sent it flying at the sand shinobi's face. It caught him across the cheek as he ducked out of the way, sending a spray of blood onto the bark beneath their feet.
The sand shinobi swung at her side again, and started pressing her backwards with a series of quick blows. Akira had to focus all of her attention on keeping his blade from coming in contact with her face. She jumped over his sword and spring vaulted over his head. She landed and rolled once away from him, narrowly avoiding the wild swing he had made.
"Arg!" He yelled.
He pushed her back until her back hit the main trunk of the tree. Akira ducked low under the stab he made at her head, swinging one of her kunai at his knees. She made contact with one of them, earning herself a spray of blood across the face. He leapt backwards and dropped to his good knee, cradling his bad one. They were both panting from their exchange.
The sand shinobi slowly stood, and surprised Akira when he threw away his sword and pulled out two kunai. She frowned. Now she had two weapons to watch.
They ran at each other again, trading stabs, rolls, kicks, and swings. Akira rolled under his legs and blocked the kunai aimed for her face, aiming her own for the back of his knee. He kicked her arm away and she dove to the side of the branch to avoid a thrown kunai, swinging underneath it and coming up on the other side to launch another attack.
He drew a second kunai again to block her crazy swing and aimed a kick for her head. She jumped and threw her left kunai at him, but he blocked it. She did a back handspring out of the way of his swipes at her. She traded a few more blows with him. The clash of their blades harsh against the otherwise stillness of the air.
Akira was growing more frustrated. She had to go see if Yuhi was alright, but she knew she would have to end this battle before she was able to do that. And in order to win, she would have to use her opponent's strength and size against him.
Coming up with a plan in her head, Akira allowed him to continuously push her backwards along the branch, inching over thinner and thinner parts. The branch started to bow under their combined weight, but he didn't seem to notice. Akira got a good swipe in across his chest when she got inside his attack, which sliced through his shirt and the skin underneath. Blood seeped out of the wound as he swung for her head again. Akira jumped backwards one more time, landing on a part of the branch that was thinner than the width of her foot. She lost her balance for a moment, swinging her arms wildly to avoid falling.
The sand shinobi saw that as his chance to attack. He leapt forward and slashed at her with kunai, catching her left shoulder and leaving a deep gash.
Akira let out a yelp at the pain, and lost her balance again. But it didn't matter anyways. Because there was a sickening cracking noise, and then they were both falling through the air.
Akira landed on her feet and crumpled to the ground, the quicksand cushioning her fall as it did Yuhi's. The sand shinobi wasn't so lucky. He fell flat on his back, knocking the wind out of him. Akira plunged her right hand into the quicksand, manipulating chakra strings to grab him and wrap around his arms and legs.
"Hey!" He shouted in surprise. He fought hard against the strings but it was no use. They were pulling him downward, trapping his arms and legs in the earth with no hope of getting out. "You bitch, let me go!"
"I don't think so." Akira willed quicksand to flow over his mouth and harden, creating a wall that she could no longer hear his shouting through and trapping his head in place.
Akira pulled her hand back out of the ground when he was thoroughly trapped. She held her bleeding shoulder and made her way over to Yuhi, who was laying on the ground surrounded by quicksand, as she had sunk partially in.
Akira dropped to her knees next to her teammate. "Yuhi! Are you alright?"
Yuhi groaned and opened her eyes. Her face was pale and clammy. "Yeah, just bleeding out here." She looked around the trees above them. "Where's Somaru?"
Akira followed her gaze. Somaru and Teku were nowhere in site. Akira closed her eyes and searched for them through the forest. She was surprised to feel that they had gotten much further away then she thought.
"They're about a quarter mile west of here. He's still fighting Teku."
"Teku must be strong then."
Akira nodded. "Let's get you patched up and then we will go help him."
"Speak for yourself." Yuhi grumbled, giving a pointed look at Akira's left shoulder. But she allowed Akira to help her sit upright and pulled her shirt collar down far enough that Akira could bandage her shoulder. The blade had gone straight through, but thankfully it hadn't hit anything serious. Akira applied a pressure wrap to help stop the bleeding, then helped Yuhi to her feet.
"Let's go."
They left the five sand shinobi right where they belonged: in the sand. They ran through the forest along the ground, Akira keeping a close eye on their surroundings and her chakra channels open. Now that she was far away from her quicksand pit she knew it had hardened back into normal rock, but their opponents were still very much trapped.
As they got closer to Teku and Somaru, they heard the sounds of their battle ringing out across the forest. Then a yell. Followed by silence.
Yuhi and Akira briefly made eye contact with each other, then leaped up into the trees and jumped from branch to branch, going as fast as they could.
When they finally reached the area the boys had been battling in, they were shocked to see how destroyed it was. Tree branches littered the ground, fallen leaves creating a forest floor as green as the canopy above it. Teku was standing over Somaru with his sword point against his chest.
Akira stopped Yuhi from running into the clearing with an arm across the older girl's chest. "Yuhi, wait here."
"What! But Somaru–"
"I know. Just wait here."
Akira dropped to the ground and crouched low behind a bush. She put her hands on the ground and started working her chakra strings through the earth towards the two boys. It was a little early to try out her new jutsu on an opponent, but it was now or never.
"I should kill you right here." Teku seethed. Akira peeked through the branches to look at him. Teku's shirt was ripped off, draped in pieces hanging around his hips from where the remainder of it was tucked into his belt. Corded muscles bulged in anger as he pushed the tip of his sword into Somaru's chest, drawing blood and another yell from her teammate.
Her eyebrows furrowed in anger. She willed her chakra strings to go faster. She was almost done.
"You better do it now then, otherwise you'll never get another chance." Somaru sneered up at Teku. He had seen the girls approach. Teku had not. Which was very unfortunate for him.
With a yell, Teku raised his sword up in the air, pointed downwards at Somaru's chest. Somaru smirked up at him, egging him on.
"Mineral spire!" Akira shouted.
Just as Teku started to bring his sword down towards Somaru, a wicked sharp spire of rock shot out of the ground. It went straight through Teku's chest with enough force to send him up into the air, impaled on the stone. His face had a shocked look on it, and he dropped his sword to the ground a few feet below. Akira slumped sideways in exhaustion. That move had taken a lot of her chakra.
She propped herself up on her right elbow and watched as Teku kicked his legs a few times, then fell limp. His chakra dissipated. He was dead.
Yuhi landed on the ground at Akira's side. "Wow Akira! I didn't know you could do that!"
Somaru limped over to them and gave her a weak smile. "That was a new one. Nice!" He dropped to the ground next to them and leaned against a nearby tree. "It's nap time now."
Akira nodded in agreement.
Yuhi stared at them both in disbelief. "Guys, we can't stay right here! We have to find somewhere safe to go."
Somaru groaned. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Let's get going."
"Did you get Teku's scroll?" Akira asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position.
Somaru wiggled it in front of her face. "Thanks to you. And it's an earth scroll. Exactly the one we needed. Now let's go." He pulled her up by her right arm, and supported her as they walked, Yuhi close behind.
Eventually, Akira felt strong enough again to walk on her own. They made their way through the forest, slipping through the shadows to stay somewhat concealed. Akira's mind was reeling at what she had just done.
She had just killed someone. She had done plenty of missions, and been in a few battles by now with rogue shinobi, but she had never killed anyone. She didn't like the way it felt. She felt as if something inside of her was broken. The way Teku's chakra had faded felt different than how her parents' had. As if all of the anger in his body was solely directed at her, and he was cursing her as he died. It made her feel sick.