Chapter 9
I yawned. The sun had just came up from behind the mountains, casting multiple shadows all over the town. Before me was a forest, It's trees were over double in size than normal trees, and I could tell that this exam was going to be a danger to all of us.
Lots of the other candidates had already gathered around the meeting place. One group in particular caught my eyes. There was a woman with long black hair. She had a sadistic grin plastered over her face, it caused shivers to erupt throughout my body. Her headband was of the grass.
Everyone was now here and we just stood in silence staring off into the deep, dark forest.
"This place creeps me out!" Sakura stated with shivers from behind me.
Anko chuckled darkly "It should. They call it the forest of death and soon your gonna find out why!"
I stood there baring no emotions, not even feeling a tiny bit scared. This forest would not be the death of me.. others? yeh, but definitely not myself. I chuckled with evil thoughts, catching the attention of some people.
I noticed Naruto with a weird look "They call it the forest of death and soon enough your going to find out why!" He mocked shaking his but, hands on hips. "Do your worst, I'm not going to be scared away!" He then stated, pointing his index finger to the front.
"Looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy" Anko smiled a closed eye smile, kakashi's signature smile. All of a sudden, a kunai was shot right past naruto, scratching his cheek in the process. Anko disappeared and reappeared right behind him. She smirked and leaned forward.
"You think your tough enough to handel this? Your not afraid are you?" She questioned darkly "Tough guys like you usually leave your blood all over this forest" Her hands moved onto Naruto's face, touching his blood. Suddenly feeling blood lust I ran forward and dragged Naruto away from Anko's grasp.
"I was.. just returning you knife" The same creepy grass ninja stated casually. Her tongue was gripping the kunai and boy.. was it long. It reminded me of someone.. but who was it again?
"You know, I really would only recommend you stand this close behind me.. If you wish to die!" Anko took both kunai's. "Pardon, with the sight of blood, I'm afraid I just became a little excited" I glared at her. Her eyes turned to me and I saw recognition flash through them. That's when It came to me.. Orochimaru.. that's who this grass ninja reminded me of. I smirked, which she happily returned.
'I have a bad feeling about that grass ninja.. it might just be that she is actually Orochimaru in disguise, you already know how that technique works' Shiro stated through our mind-link. I nodded but didn't say anything in return.
"Before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all" Anko pulled out a stack of forms. "Just a standard consent form. Before the test starts, all of you have to read over this form, then sign it" "What for?" Naruto asked.. as usual can't wait till everything is explained first. "Well, some of you may not come back from this test and I have to get your consent for 'that' risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility" She laughed. I face palmed.
"I'll be explaining what you have to be doing on this test" She handed the forms to Naruto to hand them out "For this test, you will need to use every one of your survival skills"
I sighed "What a pain in the ass this will be" I muttered to myself, once again earning the attention for the other genin around me.
'Pay attention Milady!' Shiro ordered. I mentally mock saluted her.
Anko explained the most important parts, for once I listened.
'So basically put, we have to steal our opposite scroll and bring them both to the tower before our 5 day time limit is up' Shiro stated nodding her head, probably thinking about whats going to happen. I nodded 'This is going to be so much fun Shiro' I chirped, feeling to excited.
"So.. lets say mid exam.. can we quit?" Shikamaru asked curious. I thought about it and felt like being me and testing it out. I turned to the sound ninja standing next to me and round house kicked him. All was quiet and all you could hear was the 'thud' of when he landing on the ground. He instantly shot up and ran for me. I slowly lifted my arm in the air and said "Sorry.. I quit!" The sound ninja didn't stop, he just aimed a punch at me. I easily flicked it to the side.
Turning to Shikamaru I said "And.. thats the answer to your question" I shrugged and walked over to Naruto's group. Anko smirked at me "You must be Suki.." She waited for my approval, I nodded "Hehe.. My warnings are for you especially. Since your alone out there, your going to have to keep alert at all times" I nodded again and grinned.
"Ok now that were done, each team take your consent forms and hand them in over there" She pointed to an open stand, three people were sitting at it. "After that each teams pick a gate and you'll be lead inside" She sighed deeply then shouted "Oh, and I have one more word of advice. Just don't die!" This got everyone riled up. I quickly scribbled my name down where it was supposed to be and ran to the stand. I handed them my form and they gave me an earth scroll. I grinned and walked out, from being I heard the one who helped me shout "Be careful out there!"
I was at gate 3 and as soon as all of the gates were opened, everyone sprinted inside.
After not even 5 minutes of running I heard a scream "Well, seems as though the hunt has already begun. Lets go Shiro, we still got our scroll to find!" I smirked 'Right' Shrio yelled in excitement. I chuckled and continued on our way through the forest.
All of a sudden a large gust of wind came my way. I jumped just in time so that I wouldn't be blown backwards. I stopped and felt around for any signs of other candidates. Right in front of me I felt Sasuke and Sakura, other than them there was.. Orochimaru..
I sprinted with my full speed and jumped down into the clearing. Being me I noticed Sakura and Sasuke scared out of their wits. He must have shown them something that paralysed them in fear. I chuckled and turned to face the enemy.
"Why, hello there Orochimaru" I smirked at his reaction "Well, well, well.. I havn't seen you in almost 3 years suki-chan! I'm so glad that we get to meet each other again!" He licked he lips, that horrid long tongue of his always freaked me out. The way he said my name.. adding such a cute honorific at the end.. disgusting!
"I'm not!" I sneered at him "I would rather not come within such a close radius of you to be honest" "I know you missed me as well Suki-chan" He chuckled darkly. 'In your dreams' Shiro stated with a scoff. "What are you even doing here Orochimaru?" "I just came on some important business that I am currently attending to" He looked over to Sasuke "Hmm.. I see. So this time your after the youngest of the Uchiha's" I stated casually. He laughed and threw kunai our way. I jumped out of its range just in time, Sasuke had also gotton a hold of himself and jumped away into the forest with Sakura.
"Well, that was rude of you!" I mumbled more to myself than to the snake man himself. I smirked, today was my lucky day. I ran after the others and when I got to them I large snake was attacking. With my speed I sprinted right in front of it and round house kicked it to the side. It fell to the ground unconscious. I sighed. "Suki!" Sakura shouted from behind. "Thanks for helping us" I smiled and walked over to Sasuke. He had a stabb wound in his right leg. I leaned down so that my face was right in front of the wound "Hey! What are you-" I lifted my index finger to my lips, telling him silently to be quiet. I placed my other hand to my mouth and whispered "Inochi No Iki" I breathed out the same, fire like, white, chakra which I had used on Sasuke before, however a much smaller amount. His wounds instantly healed and his chakra returned to him.
I stood up and smiled at their surprised expressions "I was right. You were the one who healed me at the Land of Waves" Sasuke stated. "I don't know what your talking about" I grinned at him.
"What was that?" Sakura asked, she was now sitting down besides Sasuke. I shrugged "I havn't a clue about what your talking about" She was about to protest when I spoke again "Anyways.. Orochimaru is still out there and it's dangerous here, so me being nice as always.. I'm going to help you get away from him" "Huh!? What-Wait! You called her a 'him'. That person was a woman" I shrugged "You'll see sooner or later. At the moment we've got to move. Sasuke help Sakura" He nodded slowly. I smirked and stood again.
All of a sudden, I felt a presence from behind. I took out a kunai, spun on the spot and threw it towards a large snake. I hit it in it's left eye, however it continued it's way towards Sasuke and Sakura "Jump now!" I shouted at them. Sasuke leaped up, forgetting Sakura. I face palmed as he screamed in fright and threw shuriken. The snake collapsed and from inside it came Orochimaru.
"That.Is.Sick!" I stated. He chuckled darkly.
Just as Orochimaru got close to Sasuke, kunai was thrown. I looked up to see Naruto standing in a 'im-so-cool' position, arms crossed. I smirked and jumped away to hide in the trees. I would only come out if I'm really needed. But, at the moment, they're fine by themselves.
I watched intently as their fight carried on. In the end I saw some interesting things; Such as, Naruto. He activated some of his beasts chakra and used it as his own, although I don't think he even knew he did so himself. Sasuke and Orochimaru had fought for quite some time as well, Orochimaru finally shown his true form and Sakura.. well, Sakura just stayed in the same place the whole time.
Things had just gotten worse. Sasuke was already tired out and I could tell what Orochimaru was going to do next. It was now that I stepped in. Orochimaru's neck stretched towards Saske. Just before it got to him, I kicked it out the way. His head snapped back to his body and he hissed at me, his long tongue swaying about "I don't want you interfering with my plans Suki-chan!"
I laughed at him in a mocking way "If I want to interfere with you, then I will. You'll just have try and stop me won't you?" He scowled at me and lunged forward. I dogded to the right and swung my left arm towards his face. It collided with his nose, letting me hear a satisfying crack. However, I let my guard down in that one second and was knocked into a tree. "Suki!" Sakura and Sasuke shouted in sync. I just nodded at them to let them know I was ok. They didn't look to sure about me fighting Orochimaru.
I noticed Orochimaru's neck stratching towards Sasuke again. I was in a panic and didn't want what happened to me, to happen to anyone else.. so, I did the only think I could do. I jumped in front of Orochimaru and felt a sharp teeth digging themselves into my right arm, just above my elbow. Sasuke stared at me, shock and worry etched throughout his face. I moaned as Orochimaru pulled away, leaving a new curse mark and a bleeding bite mark. "You insolent child. Havn't I given you enough already!?" Orochimaru hissed at me. I laughed darkly "It was either me or him.." I pointed my moving arm at Sasuke "..and I wouldn't allow you to make him go through what I went through"
He scowled "I am done for today. I enjoyed fighting you Sasuke" He glanced at Sasuke and then back to myself "You..!" He hissed "I will be back for you later, I won't forget" Orochimaru then sunk into a tree branch and disappeared from our sights. I let out a shaky breath and fell to the ground in pain. I wanted to scream until I couldn't anymore, but that would just make me look like a weakling.
"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted, her voice was full of worry. Sasuke had collapsed from exhaustion and was now unconsious. "Don't worry Sakura. Find a safe and out of sight place where you can rest. I'll halp you carry them" She nodded, on the verge of crying.
I picked up Naruto and handed him to Sakura, he wasn't as injured as Sasuke so she didn't need to be AS careful as she would if she were carrying Sasuke. I put Sasuke on my back and lead Sakura towards a clearing. There was a large tree at the edge of the clearing and there was a hollow area on the inside where we could lay our unconsioud friends.
When we were all inside the tree, Sakura let out a sigh of relief. I, however, was still shaking from the intense pain flooding throughout my right arm and upper body. "Suki" Sakura started softly "Thank you for coming to our aid. I really appreciate it, If you hadn't then.. I don't know what I would have done" Tears were streaming down her cheeks and I smiled gently "It's ok Sakura. I wouldn't have let anything happen to you guys. You are my friends after all" She smiled in gratitude and lay back.
I crawled over to Naruto and Sasuke's still bodies, slowly, making sure not to upset my aching body. "What are you doing?" Sakura questioned. "I'm going to heal them" I said casually. When I was close enough, I sat and relaxed. 'Shiro, I need to borrow some of your strength' 'I see.. But-' I cut her off before she could argue back 'Just help me' I ordered with a strong voice. I heard her grunt, but she gave me her strength nonetheless.
I breathed in a large breath and whispered 'Inochi No Iki' before letting my chakra flare over them. This time, the white fire was huge. It covered both their bodies, head to toe. After a moment of nothing, all of their wounds began healing, leaving soft, un-scarred skin behind. I slouched on the ground when It was finished. "They're both healed, but they need rest. So, just don't wake them up at the moment ok?" When I said this I got up and headed out from our hiding spot. "Wait suki! Where are you going?" I turned to face Sakura from over my shoulder and gave her a smile "I'm going to go find the other scroll I need" I reached into my kunai holder and pulled out a heaven scroll. Throwing it to her I said "Here.." Sakura caught it and looked at me shocked "Don't worry, It was your scroll to begin with. I just stole it back from Orochimaru" With a wink I turned and left, however not before shouting "I'll meet you guys at the tower. You better be there!"