Of Creepy Grass Ninja, Consent Forms, and Tsunderes
-Of Creepy Grass Ninja, Consent Forms, and Tsunderes-
"Woah, nice place, what is it?" Naruto asked weakly, staring along with the others at a tall, imposing gated area locked up tightly with multiple locks. Or more specifically, the bright, eye catching warning signs stuck all over the fence.
"A peaceful place, where nothing ever goes wrong." Amaya replied sarcastically, squinting up at the big ass trees behind the fence.
"This is the location for the second phase of the exam. It's the 44th Battle Training Zone. But we all call it 'The Forest of Death'." Anko informed, staring back at them with a smirk, ignoring the duo's commentary.
"'Forest of... Death'?" Naruto parroted with a small gulp.
"Sounds comforting... Extremely inviting, if I do say so myself." Amaya murmurs with a nod as Anko's smirk grew wider.
"This whole place just completely creeps me out." Sakura mumbles from her spot next to Amaya.
"It should, they do call it the Forest of Death. And soon, you're gonna find out why." Anko replies, letting out a small huff of a laugh.
Naruto squinted at the older female, placing his hands on his hips as he began to wiggle around. "It should, they do call it the Forest of Death. And soon, you're gonna find out why." He mocked before tuning serious. "Do your worst! You're not gonna scare me away! I can handle anything!"
"So... Looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy." Anko mused, her eyebrow giving a small twitch, before she pulled out a kunai and threw it past Naruto's head. The action earned herself various wide-eyed expressions as the weapon cut a strand of hair belonging to one of the Grass nins. She then appeared behind Naruto, lightly grazing the cut on his cheek. "You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid, are you? Tough guys like you, usually leave their blood all over this forest."
As she spoke to the blond, the others watched as the Grass nin from before creeped up behind her.
Sensing the others presence, Anko spun around with another kunai in hand, glaring up at the Genin.
Amaya's neutral expression quickly morphed into one of disgust as the nin stuck her extremely long tongue out, showing the former kunai wrapped up tightly. 'Okay, that's nasty. Cool, but still nasty.'
"I was just returning your knife." She informs, staring down at the female proctor.
"Why thank you, Grass Ninja." Anko replied curtly, the two entering into a tense stare off. "Ya know... I really only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end." She adds, breaking the silence as she took the kunai from the nins tongue.
The ninja's slimy muscle slowly retreated back into her mouth, allowing her to smile. "My pardon. With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair... I'm afraid I just became a little excited." She said, backing off a few steps. "I meant you no harm." She added, turning away with a small, almost unnoticeable laugh.
"Likewise." Anko replies, staring at the nins back as she walked away.
"And I just became a little freaked out." Amaya muttered, earning a slight amused look from Sasuke and a nudge from Sakura. "What? Don't tell me you guys weren't surprised by that tongue! I mean, what is she? Part frog?" She asked with a light laugh, unknowingly earning herself a glare from the nin in question.
Anko smirked as she looked around at the group. "Seems like everyone here today is quick tempered. There must be something in the air... This is gonna be fun." She muses, her amusement causes Amaya to deadpan.
'Says the one who just threw a kunai at her examinees...' The brunette thought, sharing a look with Naruto as he rubbed at his cut.
Anko walked back to the front of the group and turned around to face them. "Now, before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all." She informed, holding up a stack of papers. "It's just a standard consent form. Before the test, all of you are gonna have to read over this form and sign it."
"What for?"
Anko grinned. "Some of you may not come back from this test. And I have to get your consent to that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility!" She answers, ending it with a loud and hearty laugh. "Now, I'll explain what you'll be doing on this test. Here pass these out."
Naruto took the stack and after taking his own form off the top, he passed the rest along as she continued. "The first thing you need to know is that the test will tax every one of your survival skills. First, I'll give you all the description of the terrain in the practice field. The 44th Battle Training Zone has forty-four locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside. In the center, is a locked tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consists of an anything goes battle, to get your hands on these scrolls." She explains, pulling out two different colored scrolls, one white and the other black.
"Both of them?" Sasuke asks, raising a brow curiously.
"Yes. You'll be fighting to get both, a heaven scroll, and an earth scroll. Altogether, twenty-six teams will be taking part in this test. So, half of those teams will be going after the heaven scroll, and the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll. I'll hand one kind of scroll to each team, and that's what you'll be vying for."
"Okay, so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked again, putting his hands in his short pockets.
"Your entire squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower."
"That means at the very best, half of us will fail. More, if not every team is able to get the scrolls." Sakura mused, tapping her chin with her pointer finger.
"Saa~ It's gonna be a bloodbath..." Amaya mumbled, crossing her arms with a nod.
Anko grinned again. "No one ever said it'd be easy... Oh, and one more thing, the test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days."
Some went wide eyed at that. "Five days out there?!" Ino asked in disbelief as Chōji gave a fearful look. "What are we supposed to do for food?!"
"Just look around! The forest is full of things to eat. There's plenty to feed all of you." Anko answers, staring at them nonchalantly.
"Yeah but, that's not all the forest has plenty of. There are man eating beasts and poisonous plants in there." Kabuto adds, his comment making Shikamaru groan.
"Quiet down! This is why they call it "survival" you know." Ino scolded, sending the Nara a stern look.
"That means, with these circumstances there's no way half of the teams will pass the test." Neji murmurs, a thoughtful look coming to his face.
Lee nodded. "With the days becoming longer, the nights are getting shorter. So we'll have less time to sleep, less time to recover..." He said, trailing off before giving a bright, sparkly smile and a thumbs up. "It is a challenge indeed!"
Amaya glanced at Sasuke as he began to speak. "Completely surrounded by enemies. There won't be time to rest, we'll have to keep constant watch."
"Depending on the situation, shifts may have to be done in pairs... We're not the only team of four out there." Amaya added quietly, and the boy could only nod in agreement.
"Right. This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test, and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge." Anko said with a nod.
Everyone looked over a Shikamaru raised a hand. "So, um, let's say mid exam, can we quit?"
Amaya snorted at the question and at Anko's disbelieving face as she answered. "Of course not! In a middle of a battle, you can't say "sorry I quit". Well I guess you could, but it's probably gonna get you killed."
"Oh, just great. This is gonna be a drag." Shikamaru grumbled.
"Saa~... Everything's a drag to you, Shika-kun." Amaya called out, earning an eye roll from him as he grumbled to himself even more.
Anko earned everyone's attention once more as she continued to speak. "There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple: If all members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after five days. Number two: If a team loses a member, or if a member becomes incapacitated and can't continue. But most important: None of you, absolutely NONE of you may look at the contents of the the scrolls until you've reached the tower."
"What happens if it just happens to flap open and you read it?" Naruto asks, staring up at the female proctor as she smirked viciously.
"Let me put it to you this way, young man. You. Don't. Want. To. Know." She replies, making the blond groan. "There are times when Ninja will be asked to carry secret documents. The scroll rule is to test your integrity." She informs, leaning back as she relaxed her stance. "Okay, we're done. Each team take your consent form and exchange them over there for your scrolls. After that, each team pick a gate and you'll be let inside. Oh, and I have just one more word of advice... JUST DON'T DIE!"
Amaya sighed as she leaned against a boulder, looking around she spotted a few Chunin putting up a curtain to hide their table from view. She then nudges Sasuke, who was sitting on the ground next to her, with her shoe, prompting him to look. "Looks like we won't know which team has which scroll..." She said with a sigh, causing him to nod.
"Or which team member is carrying the scroll." He adds, looking away to observe the other teams.
At the sound of grumbling and loud stomping footsteps, Amaya and Sasuke advert their attention to Sakura as she makes her presence known. "Saa~ Let me guess? It was Ino again, wasn't it?" Sakura didn't reply, but her deepening scowl at the blonde's name gave the two their answer.
A few minutes pass and by this point, Naruto had regrouped with them, the four beginning to quietly discuss tactics for when the test began.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" A voice called out, abruptly stopping their conversation as they turned to the voice's owner.
"Ah, Hikari-chan. What a pleasant surprise." Amaya greets, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she turned to face the ruby eyed girl.
The ash-blonde haired girl only smiled in fake cheerfulness. "Likewise," she said, locking her eyes on the three behind the brunette, allowing her facade to drop completely. "So, this is the band of misfits you've been grouped with? I almost feel sorry for them." She added, earning wide eyed looks from Naruto and Sakura as Sasuke watched on apathetically.
"Ehe?" Amaya hummed. "That's funny, since you're the tag along that your team keeps around out of pity." She retorts, making the three behind her look in surprise.
Soon enough the two were, quite literally, butting heads. Insults flying as they continued to banter on, and the scene reminded the rest of Team 7 of Sakura's many arguments with Ino.
Eventually, when the two quietened down, they each sent one last glare and turned away with a huff. "Whatever." Hikari spat with a scoff. "I'm glad to see that your okay and well." She said, making Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sweatdrop at the change in attitude.
"Oya, oya? What's this? Does Hikari Takahashi actually care?" Amaya asked, sending a smug smile over her shoulder as the blonde twitched.
"LIKE HELL I WOULD!" Hikari roared, spinning around to point at the brunette in determination. "I just need you to be okay, so that I can kick you while you're down! And that'll happen, when I win in our next sparring match!"
Amaya let out a light laugh and pulled the older girl close. "Saa~ Hika-chan, you're such a tsun tsun! ~" She coo's as the blonde looks away with flushed cheeks and a scowl.
"I'm not! And don't call me that!... I think you're starting to hang around Toshiaki-nii too much." Hikari grumbles with a pout, pushing the brunette off as she started to walk away. "I'll still win, ya know?"
Amaya's cheerful expression morphed into a serious one. "Don't think I'll make it easy for you. I expect you to come at me with everything you've got."
"Hah! Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way." Hikari retorts, sending a wave over her shoulder. "Later."
***
"Sooo... Who was that?" Sakura asked, breaking the silence that formed as they watched the blonde walk away.
"Saa~... She's a distant relative on my Great Grandmothers side. Toshiaki, my older brother, used to rile her sister up all of the time, and it started a rivalry of sorts." Amaya informed, sending the three a smile. "Despite the insults and stuff, Hikari is a softy. A real Tsundere, if you ask me."
Sasuke then sent her a curious look. "She's also in a team of four?" He asked, earning a nod from the brunette.
"Mmn. I haven't met the others, but her sister, Shiori, is her sensei. And I have a feeling that she confronted Kakashi-sensei earlier. They're quite a competitive family."
"Takahashi's are a well-known clan, too, aren't they?" Sakura asked, prompting Amaya to explain more.
"Their clan is completely different than the Minamoto... They specialize mainly in Earth Jutsu, they can do almost anything with it as long as they have contact with the ground." She informed, allowing a smirk to come across her face as she continued. "But you're right about one thing, Sasuke."
"Oh? What's that?" He asked, his own smirk forming.
"This is starting to get interesting."
***
"Alright everyone, we're gonna start handing out the scrolls!" A Chunin called out before adjusting the curtain as he pulled it closed. His statement prompted everyone to line up.
Once it was their turn, they walked in and Amaya handed in the gathered consent forms, in return receiving the heaven scroll. Amaya motioned to Naruto, having decided earlier that he would be the first to carry it, and the Chunin nodded before reaching it out to him.
Eventually they made it to their chosen gate, Gate 12, and began to wait. Listening to Anko's voice as she began to speak. "Listen up! All of the teams have received their scrolls! Everybody go to your gate and wait there! When the gate opens, the test is on!"
Amaya began to stretch and bounce lightly on her feet, warming herself up for the starting sprint. The brunette watching in amusement as Naruto began to rant while punching the air furiously.
"Believe it! I dare you to bring it on ninja! I'll just send it back, twice as hard!" He finished, sticking a fist into the air determinedly, while Sasuke and Sakura could only smirk/smile at the thought.
Soon enough, the padlock and chain falls to the ground, and they could hear Anko's voice once more. "Alright, heads up you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!"
Naruto let out a gleeful laugh. "Alright! Here we go guys!" He cheers as the gate slides open, allowing them to run inside.
-Meanwhile-
Five minutes or so have passed and Anko found herself staring ahead blankly at the training zone. Suddenly, loud screams echo and resonate from deep within the forest and she can't fight back the giggles or the vicious smile growing on her face.
"Sounds like the fun has begun." She hums, staring up at the fenced in area with dark amusement.
Screams sound in the distance, making the quartets run come to a slow stop. "That sounded like someone screaming." Sakura said weakly, stating the obvious, earning herself an eye roll from Amaya.
"Looks like everyone's getting started." Amaya murmured, looking up as a flock of birds fly overhead.
"I do not like this place." Sakura added, looking around warily.
Naruto folded his hands behind his head. "Oh, c'mon! Nothin' to be scared of, it's gonna be a piece of cake!" He reassures followed by a thick silence. "Ah, excuse me a second, I really gotta.. you know." He added, turning around to pee on a nearby tree.
"What are you? A dog, marking its territory?" Amaya mumbled with a scrunched nose, turning her head in another direction, much like Sasuke. Sakura, however, didn't take the boys actions as lightly.
"Yeah right! Get out of here! What is this, a kennel?! Not in front of Amaya and I, you don't! Go behind a bush or something!" She screeched, coming up behind him to wack him up side the head before he could even unzip his pants.
'Saa~... Oh Naruto...' Amaya thought deadpanning, watching as the blond waddled away and into the foliage.