"Clearly we can't just trust appearances" Sakura said quietly and her teammates nodded.
Team 7 were huddled together on the forest floor after Naruto's impersonator had fled, all were a little shaken but clearly they needed to figure out some sort of plan.
"We need a way to be able to identify each other as who we say we are, and spot any impostors" Sasuke added.
"Okay, so how do we do that?" Naruto asked.
All three ninja fell silent for a minute, trying to come up with something. An idea quickly popped into Sakura's head.
"How about a password or secret code? Something only the three of us know so there's no question of whose an impostor or not" Sakura offered.
"Hn. I like it, and we don't trust anyone who doesn't know it. No exceptions" Sasuke agreed.
"Yeah a password, too easy! How about Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto asked.
"No, it's too easy. You can bet other candidates have probably done their research on us and who our sensei is. Kakashi isn't exactly unknown. Plus Kabuto can't be the only one with information on all the wannabe Chunin" Sakura stated.
"A question and answer code then, similar to the ones we were taught in the academy" Sasuke declared. Sakura and Naruto nodded.
"Well listen up because I don't want to have to say this more than once. The question is: When does an ninja strike? And the response: A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, his weapons lying forgotten in the night. That is when a ninja strikes" Sasuke spoke lowly and clearly.
"Right, got it" Sakura said, the code locked away in her memory. Naruto on the other hand looked completely perplexed but Sasuke didn't seem too troubled by it.
"Can't we get one a little shorter Teme?" Naruto whined.
"No Naruto, that's it. Now I'll take the scroll" Sasuke decided and Team 7 got to their feet.
"Hey Sasuke, hold on – ugh!" Naruto groaned as an unseen object from deep within the forest flew out and sliced his other cheek.
Before anyone could even reach for their shuriken holsters, a huge vortex of wind rushed out of the same part of the forest. All three genin raised their arms to their faces to block the onslaught.
"What is it now!?" Sasuke yelled above the wind but he was met with no response.
The vortex ended as quickly as it had begun, a huge chasm was left on the forest floor. Sakura, like the rest of Team 7, had hidden herself and observed the channel of earth. It stretched deep into the forest where the vortex had begun, past where Team 7 had their meeting and further into the opposite direction.
I wonder if anyone heard our password, Sakura thought as she held her kunai tighter.
Hidden behind a tree, Sakura quickly surveyed her surroundings before stepping out. She needed to regroup with Sasuke and Naruto and fast. Being alone in the forest was not an option, besides the whole team had to make it to the tower.
She had not noticed it at first, but the new ninja outfit Tsunade-sama had picked out for her had many secret pockets and compartments. In both the shirt and pants. In case of anyone watching, Sakura bent down nonchalantly to adjust the laces of her combat boots. In doing so she brushed past one of the compartments sewn into her pants.
Feel the small lump of Team 7's Heaven Scroll, Sakura let out an inaudible sigh before straightening up again. Thanks to Tsunade, anything concealed within her outfit was invisible to any opponent. Taking a few tentative steps towards a clump of bushes, Sakura almost had a heart attack when Sasuke jumped out at her.
Both ninja quickly drew their kunai. "When does a ninja strike!?" They asked, looking at each other carefully for any signs of deception.
"A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, his weapons lying forgotten in the night. That is when a ninja strikes" Both Sasuke and Sakura recited in unison, and relaxed slightly.
"HEY YOU GUYS ALRIGHT? EVERYONE OKAY? MAN THAT WIND JUST-"
"Naruto. Don't take another step, when does a ninja strike?" Sakura asked calmly as the blonde ninja raced towards them.
"Oh right the password, let's see then. A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, his weapons lying forgotten in the night. That is when a ninja strikes" Naruto exclaimed proudly, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hmph, seems fine to me. Wouldn't you say Sakura?" Sasuke smirked.
"Yep, word for word. Imagine that, Naruto who can't even remember the basic components of chakra off by heart can memorise that password" Sakura concurred.
With that Sasuke drew his kunai yet again and threw it at Naruto who dived out of the way to avoid it.
"Well you're sharper than that other guy at least" Sasuke said as Sakura drew her kunai as well.
"What are you guys doing!? It's me, Naruto! I remember you're stupid password didn't I?" Naruto demanded, sprawled on the ground.
"Well that was the whole point, Sakura and I had already decided before the exam had even started what our code would be. We made sure it was something we could memorise and Naruto couldn't." Sasuke snapped.
"Yeah, Naruto's hopeless for remembering lengthy pieces of information" Sakura chimed in.
"So you might as well come on out, party's over" Sasuke said, twirling his knife.
"Well well, clever ones aren't we?" Naruto smiled, speaking in a feminine voice, his eyes changed and a familiar long tongue poked through his mouth and he licked his lips.
A huge cloud of white smoke obscured their view, but as it cleared Naruto's second impostor was revealed as the Grass Ninja from the beginning of the second exam. The one with the long tongue who had returned Anko's kunai knife and given Sakura creepy chills.
"I am impressed, neither of you have dropped your guards. This will be fun huh?" The female grass ninja said before removing her straw hat and licking her lips again.
Ugh this woman is too weird. Where on earth is Naruto? Sakura wondered as she and Sasuke prepared to do battle once more.
At the end of the channel of dirt created by the huge wind vortex was Naruto who had collided head first with a tree. Groaning Naruto rolled himself over onto his stomach and rubbed his head in pain. Sitting up, he spied the channel and quickly looked around.
"Where the heck are Sasuke and Sakura?" Naruto asked out loud.
Suddenly a huge shadow fell over his surroundings, making the forest even darker than it already was. Looking up, Naruto came face to face with the biggest snake he had ever seen in his entire life. It was massive, half as high as the tallest tree in the forest. It's body wound on and on for miles as far as the blonde boy could tell.
It hissed angrily at him before charging head first towards the ground where Naruto sat, moving quickly the blonde boy dodge the massive snake's attack which left a crater in the ground where the ninja had been sitting.
Before Naruto had time to turn around, the snake had already coiled its body around the boy. With one final look at the ninja, the snake opened its mouth and swallowed Naruto whole. It then moved off back into the forest, looking for more prey to digest and taking the third member of Team 7 away from his teammates and their predicament.
Reaching into her ninja pouch, the grass ninja pulled out an Earth scroll. Both Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and the enemy ninja made a noise of recognition.
"Ah, so you need an Earth scroll. I bet you'd love to get your hands on ours" The grass ninja said lifting her Earth Scroll up to her mouth.
In a matter of seconds the grass ninja with the assistance of her tongue had swallowed the entire Earth Scroll down her throat.
"When this is over, I guess one of us will have both scrolls. And the other will be dead" she said, and pulled her bottom eyelid down exposing a snake like pupil.
Before Sasuke and Sakura could even register what she was trying to do, they were rooted to the spot. Their eyes connected with hers, despite the distance between themselves and the female enemy ninja. Sakura felt an icy chill go up her spine; a scene was playing before her in her mind. It showed the story of her death, her ninja clothes bloodied and torn with multiple stab wounds. It was so real, she could feel it. Feel what it was like to die.
She fell to her knees, taking in loud and raspy breaths. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sasuke do the same. That was how it was going to happen; this woman was going to kill them both.
W-what is this? S-some sort of illusion? Sasuke thought. Quickly he felt himself leaning forward and began to throw up out of sheer terror. This was no illusion. It was a promise of things to come.
H-her thirst for blood, I-I can feel it, Sakura thought, involuntary tears of fear streaming down her face.
Digging her hands into the earth she tried to steady herself. Nothing had happened yet, but it would if she and Sasuke couldn't get away.
Reaching a trembling hand towards her ninja pouch, Sakura looked across at Sasuke who was trying to do the same.
W-we need to leave. This woman is death itself
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Naruto bellowed within the large snake as it slid around the tree branches of the forest.
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU SORRY YOU SWALLOWED ME!" he screamed, coated in snake digestive juices, Naruto tried and failed to stab its insides with his kunai knife.
Reaching into his pouch, Naruto pulled out what he hoped could act as a decent bargaining chip. A rice ball he had been saving for lunch. Staring at it longingly, the blond boy dropped it and watched it roll away before dissolving completely.
"AH THIS GIANT SNAKE IS TRYING TO EAT ME!" Naruto cried. Man oh man where were Sasuke and Sakura to help him out of this mess?
The woman chuckled, watching the two genin struggle to reach for their weapons. "You're paralysed by fear" she stated. Sakura couldn't even muster a glare. She was right they couldn't move.
"Sakura let's go, this is no time to freak out. Reach for your kunai; I can see Sasuke he's standing up. You can't leave him to do this alone. You have to move!"Inner Sakura spoke quietly but determinedly.
She always arrived on time, always knew what to say. It had been like this since Sakura was a little girl, Inner was always there.
Finally grasping onto her kunai, Sakura shakily stood up next to Sasuke. Both still suffering the paralysis of fear, they were able to make eye contact with each other. The message was clear.
"We have to leave!"
"Oh how sweet, standing up together to die together. But you already know that, after all you did see it" The grass ninja said in a sickly sweet voice, advancing towards them drawing two kunai knives.
Ugh! I can't believe it, is this how it ends? Eaten by a snake? Naruto asked, reflecting on all the important people in his life. Even Sasuke who he'd never settled his quarrel with.
Settled his quarrel? That's right! They were always completing but never found out who was best! Naruto couldn't let himself die! That would be giving up! They would never get to settle their competition!
"Right that's it! I'm getting out of this snake one way or another!" he declared.
The grass ninja stared at the empty space where Sasuke and Sakura had been. A little blood was left on the ground but that was all. The two kunai she threw were imbedded in a nearby tree trunk.
"So that's how it's going to be huh?" The grass ninja muttered and prepared to give chase.
In another part of the forest Sakura raised her hand over Sasuke's bleeding thigh. In order to get himself to focus and snap out of the paralysis, Sasuke had punctured his own leg with his knife before grabbing Sakura's wrist and escaping.
Sakura was impressed, she would not have thought of that herself. Now she too had snapped completely out of the paralysis as well and was able to heal Sasuke's leg efficiently. He hissed as she removed the knife, but other than that the Uchiha boy remained silent. Both ninja listened for her, the grass woman. This was nowhere near over; their escape bought them time but not much.
"We need to prepare ourselves, she'll be back" Sasuke said through gritted teeth as he stood up.
Sakura nodded "Where the hell is Naruto?" she wondered out loud.
"I don't know but we could use him right now. This woman is psychotic and more is better than less" Sasuke muttered.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" A cry came from deep inside the giant snake that roamed the forest floors.
The snake expanded to 10 times its own size before exploding and falling to the ground dead. Naruto and his many clones emerged.
"Alright, no time to stand around. Gotta find Sasuke and Sakura!" Naruto declared before running off into the forest in what he hoped was the right direction.
Sakura watched Sasuke carefully. Honestly she was half tempted to ask Sasuke the password again because he was not acting like himself. Clearly the encounter with that woman had shaken him up a lot. His eyes darted everywhere in paranoia. Sakura could detect no chakra signals but suddenly heard a loud hissing. Turning around she saw a huge snake behind her.
"Sasuke move!" Sakura yelled and grabbed her teammates arm before using her chakra to get out of the way as the snake sank its fangs into where they had just been standing.
"H-How did I not see that. I-I'm losing it!" Sasuke yelled out loud drawing the snake's attention as it coiled itself around trees to reach the two ninja.
"Sasuke what the hell is wrong with you?" Sakura yelled as she drew a few ninja stars. Sasuke simply stared at the snake in horror as he saw the grass ninja reflected within the snake.
"NO STAY AWAY!" Sasuke yelled in sheer terror, Sharingan activated and spinning.
Standing in front of him Sakura threw her shuriken which lodged inside the snakes open throat, tearing it to pieces and sending the giant serpent crashing to the ground, presumably choking on the objects.
Sakura looked at her teammate; she had never seen Sasuke act like this. What had that woman done to him? Was it the paralysis? Surely not because she had experienced it too. The pink haired teen had no more time to contemplate this as she watched the skin of the dead snake split open.
"I sense your fear and desperation, prey must always been on guard in the presence of its predator!" The grass ninja said, emerging from the dead snake's skin.
With her long tongue hanging out of her mouth, the woman coiled herself inhumanly like a snake around the tree Sasuke and Sakura were perched on. In the blink of an eye she was mere centimetres away from them. Sasuke yelled loudly and Sakura attempted to shield them both but she had no time to reach for a weapon.
That was until four ninja stars and a kunai knife landed between the two genin and the grass ninja. Sakura looked up and gave a small smile of relief. The third member of Team 7 had finally arrived.
"Looks like I came just in time huh?" Naruto said proudly.
Sakura quickly drew her kunai knife but Sasuke remained terrified and stared at the grass ninja. The pink haired teen was glad of Naruto's arrival; she needed his help now more than ever. Maybe Naruto's spirit and competitive side would snap Sasuke out of his state.
"NARUTO GET OUT OF HERE WHILE YOU STILL CAN! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP AGAINST!" Sasuke yelled at his teammate.
Hmph, so much for him snapping out of this Sakura thought.
"So Naruto, I see you managed to escape my snake friend. Well done" The grass ninja commended.
Sakura glared at the enemy ninja who licked her lips in response. Naruto surveyed the scene, slightly confused.
"I don't know what's going on but you've been picking on my friends and I don't like that. Not to mention you had a giant snake try and digest me! So you just better slither back to your hole in the ground freaky snake lady! Or I'll make a pair of shoes out of you!" Naruto yelled.
In spite of herself Sakura chuckled, Naruto's loud proclamations and threats were somehow soothing to her. She felt like they stood a real chance again.
Sasuke got to his feet, glaring up at his blonde teammate. Naruto's arrival had dug their grave even further. Those threats were going to aggravate whatever this thing was and Naruto didn't seem to know or care.
I have to do something, Sasuke thought as he looked at his two teammates and the 'snake lady' as Naruto had dubbed the ninja. It seemed to him there was only one way out.
"You can have it" Sasuke said loudly and clearly.
The snake lady looked up, mildly interested. "Hmm have what?" she asked. Sasuke looked at Sakura who was standing in front of him.
"Our scroll, that's what you want right? You can take it and leave us in peace. Sakura give it to her" Sasuke ordered.
"What!? Sasuke you're insane, this snake woman is influencing your decision making skills. There is no way I'm handing this scroll over!" Sakura said angrily.
"Ah so the girl has it, there's something interesting about you girl that I have noticed. Something that goes on inside your head. I heard it back in the clearing, it speaks to you does it not?" The grass ninja asked Sakura in a calm voice.
I-Inner. She/it is talking about Inner. But h-how, how does she know? Sakura thought completely shocked. No one knew about Inner, even she did not fully understand her Inner.
"Hmm well perhaps that is a story for another time then" The snake lady said dismissively. Sasuke and Naruto looked at Sakura, just as confused as she was.
"AH SASUKE-TEME! You can't give this thing our scroll! The Sasuke I know would never give in like this!" Naruto yelled.
"SHUT UP NARUTO AND STAY OUT OF THIS!" Sasuke yelled back and quickly moved in front of Sakura.
"Give me the scroll Sakura" Sasuke demanded.
"Don't give it to him Sakura!" Naruto yelled from his spot in the trees a few metres up.
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!" Sakura yelled.
"Listen here I don't know what you want with us but you're not getting this damn scroll. Got it!" the pink haired teen declared, glaring at the snake woman.
Sasuke yanked her back harshly. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? We're going to die!" he yelled.
One minute Sasuke was on the tree branch with Sakura and the next he was flying through the air. Steadying himself the Uchiha survivor was able to land on another branch safely but turned around angrily. Naruto had jumped down from his spot and punched Sasuke hard.
"I might not know the password but I know who I am. The question is who you are!" Naruto huffed, breathing loudly.
"What are you talking about!? It's me you stupid loser!" Sasuke called back angrily.
Sakura could see what Naruto was getting at, she was sure Sasuke wasn't an impostor. But ever since the grass ninja had attacked them, Sasuke had been acting different.
"Liar! LIAR! You make look and sound like him but you're not the Sasuke I know! Sasuke wouldn't run away from a fight like a coward!" Naruto said and Sasuke stiffened.
Although Sasuke's not an impostor, Naruto's accusations seem to be hitting home and he might just be snapping out of this terrified trance. Might as well help it along, Sakura thought.
"Naruto's right! You've choked! You can't defend your teammates or your own life. And that's not the Sasuke I know either!" Sakura called out and Sasuke whipped around to stare at her.
Drawing another kunai, the pink haired teen pointed one at Sasuke to add effect while keeping the other trained on the grass ninja.
"Your quarrels and scroll do not matter to me! I could simply kill you all and take it!" The grass ninja declared with a creepy tongue flourish.
"Yeah let's see you do it then!" Naruto yelled and charged straight for the snake lady, kunai drawn.
The enemy ninja bit her thumb drawing blood, and rolling up her sleeve to reveal some strange markings imprinted on her skin, wiped her thumb across the markings.
"Summoning Jutsu!" the ninja yelled doing a few quick hand signs.
The same gust of wind that had separated Naruto from his teammates blew once again and the grass ninja was soon standing upon the head of another summoned giant snake.
"Yum, yum! Nothing makes these dumplings go down better than sweet red bean soup!" Anko exclaimed as she ate quietly sitting atop the sentinel's desk outside of the Forrest of Death.
"As soon as I finish my snack I'll see how the kiddies are doing" she said happily taking another big bite of a dumpling.
Suddenly one of the sentinels appeared in a puff of white smoke in front of her. "I'm sorry ma'am but we have a situation" he said in an urgent tone. Anko huffed.
"There are corpses, three corpses!" the sentinel explained.
"Seriously dude? Hello trying to eat here?" Anko said mouth full.
"I think you'll want to see them, there is something very strange about them" the sentinel said before disappearing and leaving Anko to follow him.
"So what's their deal?" Anko asked one of the four sentinels who stood around the corpses.
"Hidden Grass village ninja, registered for the Chunin exams. They weren't just killed either" one responded.
"All their faces are gone as well" Anko observed, a terrified look coming across her face.
"Yeah it's like their faces melted or something" another person commented.
"It's his jutsu, no doubt. Why is he here? What could he possibly want at the Chunin exams?" Anko asked herself, rubbing a spot on the back of her neck.
"Listen up! You need to report exactly what has happened to Lord Hokage. Then you need to tell ANBU Black Ops that we need to convoys in the Forrest of Death stat! I'm going in after these impostors!" the proctor yelled.
"Right!" the sentinels departed immediately.
So you've come to the Hidden Leaf Village, Orochimaru,Anko thought as she entered the Forrest of Death.