"AHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed, sitting up on the ground, holding onto his knee. "Huh?" He jumped, his eyes widened as he saw Sasuke crouched over me, Ino was holding Lee's arm. The grass ninja! "Quick! Everybody get down! Where could she be hiding?!" Naruto crawled around on the ground, "Naruto?" Sakura looked back at him over her shoulder. It's about time that lazy fool woke up. Ino sighed, shaking her head. Choji poked him with a stick, "Huh?" Naruto looked up at them. "Man, you're one of a kind, that's for sure." Shikamaru scoffed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "And I mean the kind that gets on my nerves." Shikamaru looked down at him, "Gnnnnn!" Naruto was fuming, "(Y/N)!" He shouted, crawling over to me and Sasuke. He stopped, looking down at me. "Hey, what's wrong with (Y/N)?" He asked, peering over Sasuke's shoulder. "Go away, loser." Sasuke didn't bother to look at him, he slowly petted my hair. "Wha-" "It's alright, Naruto. (Y/N)'s just fine." Sakura put her hand on his shoulder, he turned around to her. "Huh?" Naruto looked up, "Sakura! Something serious happened to your hair!" Naruto gasped, pointing at it. "Oh, that's all?" She smiled, touching one of the rugged ends. "I just wanted to...to change my look. I like it better long, but when I'm out in the wilderness like this, and I'm moving around all the time, it gets in the way too much." Sakura smiled, "Hm." He nodded, Shikamaru and Choji walked over to them, Naruto turned his head to them. "So, what's your story? Why you guys here in the first place? What's going on around here? Why's (Y/N) knocked out?" Naruto asked, his fists clenched. "Explaining everything to you is going to be such a pain..." Shikamaru sighed, "Everyone...just showed up to help." Sakura smiled down at the ground. "What?" Naruto called out, turning his head back over to her. Sakura's sure putting on a brave face, Ino smiled. Tenten jumped down in front of her, "I'll take care of Lee from now on, Ino." She smiled, Ino nodded, "Uh, okay." She passed him over to her, she violently jerked him up on his feet, shaking his around. "Come on Lee, pull it together! You little runt!" She shouted, knocking him around. He fell on his knees, his eyes starting to open up. "Tenten, is that you?" He called out, looking up at her. "W-What are you doing here?" Lee asked, still a bit woozy. "I came to help out, what do you think?" Tenten sighed, "Wha...W-Where's (Y/N) and those sound ninja guys...?" Lee asked, looking around in a haze. "Sasuke took care of it, don't worry about it Lee." Tenten sighed, "Really?" Lee turned his head over to Sasuke and me, his eyes widened. "Just what were you thinking rushing in there all by yourself? Look at you, you're a total mess!" Tenten shook her head, "(Y/N) was in trouble." Lee mumbled. You've got to be kidding! He should've known he didn't stand a chance in front of all those guys. "That was pretty darn stupid, don't you think?" Tenten slumped her shoulders, "Well, I guess I can't really argue with that." Lee smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Aha! I know you, bushy brow!" Naruto shouted, pointing at him with his tongue sticking out. "HEY! Knock it off, you better not say anything bad about Lee!" Sakura shouted, throwing a flying punch towards Naruto's face, Naruto went crashing towards the ground.

What in the world happened while I was asleep? Everything gone crazy! Naruto laid out flat on the floor. "Naruto's completely out of the loop." Shikamaru sighed, his hands in his pockets. "He's so far out of the loop, he doesn't even know there is a loop." Choji added.

Sasuke stood up, holding me bridal style, Lee watched him closely. "Lee." Sakura called out, "Huh?" He turned over to her, his brow raised. "Thank you. Because of you, I was able to stand up for myself, and because of that, I was able to become stronger." Sakura smiled down at him, he nodded. "Yes. I guess my efforts alone were not good enough." Lee looked down at the ground. "So, Sasuke. You are as good as your reputation. To chase off those ninja you must be very strong. Not like me, I just got beaten to a pulp." Lee turned his head away, Sasuke took his eyes off of me. What's he talking about? He got beaten to a pulp? Is he serious? Are those guys really that strong? Sasuke looked down at him. "(Y/N), the lotus of the leaf village blooms twice." Lee called out to me, I twitched my nose. "Hm?" Sasuke squinted his eyes at Lee. "When we meet again, I will have become a stronger ninja. I promise." Lee's voice was soft as he smiled up at me, "Hmph." Naruto turned his head away, his arms crossed. "Hey, Sakura!" Ino called out to her, "Huh...?" Sakura turned her head over to Ino. "Come on over here, I want to fix your hair for you, okay?" Ino waved at her, eyeing her suspiciously, Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that." Sakura walked over to her.

Sakura sat on her knees, Ino was evenly cutting the jagged strands of hair with a kunai. "That sneaky little troll, hugging him like that, curse you (Y/N)." Ino seethed, "Yeah, but it doesn't matter." Sakura looked at Ino from over her shoulder. "Huh?" Ino raised her brow. "Lee's (Y/N)'s boyfriend, Sasuke's still free game, well, not for long, that is." Sakura gritted her teeth, but there's no denying it, Sasuke is in love with (Y/N). Sakura looked down at her lap, a ping going through her heart.

Sasuke Uchiha, Neji glared down at him, his anger starting to cool down, at any rate, he's a strong opponent. I'll take him down, no matter what. (Y/N) doesn't belong to him.

"Grrnnnnnn..." Akamaru whined, quivering on the ground, Kiba was knelt down to him. "Hey, Akamaru, you okay?" Kiba asked him, softly petting the top of his head. "Is he still shaking? He's been at it for half the day already." Shino sighed, peering down at him through his glasses. "Akamaru..." Hinata bent down to him, worry etched on her features. "I don't blame him, not after what he saw." Kiba sighed, thinking back on it.

"Haha! I know we'll be the ones to survive this! Right Akamaru?" Kiba grinned, looking down at his furry friend. "Arf!" Akamaru barked in agreeance. "Of course, it's luck enough for us, that the people we caught in that trap hand an earth scroll. And now, we're going to be the first ones to reach the tower!" Kiba shouted with a grin, Shino crept up closer to him, hopping from branch to branch. "Don't get overconfident, that's a dangerous mistake to make." Shino warned him, "No matter how small a bug is, it still has to guard itself at all times. We have to make sure that we don't encounter any enemies, that's the only way to be safe." Shino explained, Hinata started to pick up the pace. "Yeah, I know that, Shino! But as usual, you've got to say it in a weird way. Bug nerd!" Kiba shouted at him, running in front of him. "Yeah...but...Kiba. What Shino said...he does kinda have a point." Hinata whispered, "Yeah, I know, just come on!" Kiba shouted back at her. I sure hope that nothing bad has happened to (Y/N) out here, Hinata sighed.

Kiba shot his head up, an unfamiliar scent making it's way into his nostrils, he stopped on a branch. "Hold on, guys, we have to stop." Kiba crouched down, waving his hands in the air. Hinata and Shino crouched down next to him, "Why?" Shino asked him, staring at Kiba in an odd way. "We're being careful not to encounter any enemies, right?" Kiba turned away from Shino, looking over at Hinata. "Alright, Hinata. I want you to check out a kilometer ahead, in that direction." Kiba pointed at the trees in front of them. She nodded, standing back up. "Here it goes." Hinata clasped her hands together, "Byakugan!" Hinata opened her eyes wide, quickly scanning around the area, she stopped on someone. "Yes, there's somebody there alright." Hinata nodded, Shino put his head down onto the tree branch, pressing his ear down onto it. "Sounds like there's six people." Shino put his head back up. "Alright, let's check it out!" Kiba grinned, "Huh?" Hinata jumped. "Kiba, what are you talking about?! We are not going to do that!" Shino glared up at him. "Why not? The proctor only said that we needed a heaven and an earth scroll, she didn't say we couldn't take more than that! If we take more scrolls, then there will be less going around. That means more teams will be cut out of the competition!" Kiba chuckled, "B-But!" Hinata waved her hands worriedly. "Look, at first, we'll just check it out, okay? If it looks too dangerous, we won't battle." Kiba nodded, bending his knees. "Now, come on! Let's go!" Kiba shouted, jumping onto another branch. "Uh oh..." Hinata whispered. "He's the kind of guy that even the hungriest of insects would avoid." Shino gritted his teeth, chasing after him. Sighed, Hinata was close behind.

The three of them hid in a bush close by, Akamaru was shaking on the ground. "What's wrong, Akamaru?" Kiba asked, looking down at him. "What happened? You just stopped all of a sudden." Hinata asked, her voice a soft whisper. Akamaru crawled back up Kiba's jacket, burrowing close to his chest. "Yeah, something just spooked the little guy." Kiba petted him gently. "W-What scared him?" Hinata asked, "I have no idea. Akamaru is able to sniff out the level of an enemies chakra, but man, I've never seen him this scared by it before." Kiba hugged Akamaru close. "Who ever those ninja up ahead are, they aren't normal guys." Kiba gulped.

"Do you believe the nerve of these sand village kids challenging us head on?" A rain ninja scoffed, "Yeah, they're a bunch of fools." His teammate grinned. Gaara stared them down. "What's he thinking? He's way too little to bring down an opponent who's that big." Kiba whispered, shaking his head. Akamaru growled, "Huh?" Kiba gasped, "W-What did Akamaru say?" Hinata asked Kiba, "That that kids big trouble." Kiba sighed, Hinata turned back to them. They all look like bad news to me, they look really strong, Hinata thought, holding her hands together tightly.

"Too bad, kids. You should've picked your opponents better, now you all are going to die." The rain ninja grinned, Gaara's arms were crossed. "I've heard enough out of you, let's make this quick. I don't want to waste time on this guy, I'm looking for someone." Gaara sighed, "Tch." He gritted his teeth. We don't even know what scroll these guys have, Kakuro turned his head. "Hey, Gaara. Doesn't it make more sense to follow these punks and gather more information first? I-I mean, if they have the same type of scroll as us, we're just fighting an unnecessary battle." Kankuro called out to him, "I don't care. They looked at me the wrong way, so they're going to die." Gaara stared at them intensely, "Well, that's Gaara for you." Mikio shrugged, turning his head the other way. This is exactly why I didn't want to be stuck in the forest with him, Kankuro sighed.

"Tch, if you think you can kill us," The rain ninja grunted, pulling out a handful of large paper paricells, "Then try it!" He shouted, throwing the umbrellas up into the air. Kankuro took a step back, the rain ninja clasped his hands together. "Ninja art, sebon rain storm!" He shouted, "Hm?" Mikio looked up at the air, a rainstorm of needles? He thought, watching as a wall of needles circled around them. "Up, down, left, right. No matter where you go, I can get you. There's no blind spots in this jutsu, it's deadly accurate!" He shouted, raining down needles towards Gaara, he stood still. Mikio sighed, quickly pulling up a wall of stone around Kankuro and Temari. "Ha, childs play!" The rain ninja grinned, "Is that all you can do?" Gaara called out, still standing in the same spot. A cocoon of sand shielding him from the needles, "I-It can't be!" The rain ninja took a step back, "Not one wound. Impossible!" He stuttered, "Alright!" He gritted his teeth, clasping his hands together. He shot more needles down towards Gaara, sand collected them all. "Sebon rainstorm, huh. I've got an idea, let's make it rain blood instead." The rain ninja took another step back, his shoulders shaking.

"Man, his chakra's so powerful! And that sand...can you smell the odor? It stinks..." Kiba furrowed his brow. "O-dor?" Shino asked, looking over at him. "It smells like...like blood." Kiba shivered.

"H-He's creating a wall of sand!" The rain ninja exclaimed. "That's right. It's a defense, and nothing can get through it. He carries around all that sand on a gourd he has on his back, and when he's attacked, he uses the power of his chakra to harden the sand." Mikio explained with a shrug, his hands in his pockets. "It's a jutsu only Gaara can use, somehow it happens automatically, independent of his will. So any attacks against him are doomed to fail." Mikio sighed, "Yeah? Well, we'll see!" The rain ninja shouted, "Just face it. You guys can't hope to defeat Gaara." Mikio turned his head away, "Oh, give me a break." The rain ninja whispered to himself, dashing towards Gaara. Gaara slowly raised his hands together, that punks a dead man, Mikio thought, shaking his head. We warned you not to fight Gaara, Temari put her hands on her hips.

"Sand coffin." Gaara called out, sand slithered up the rain ninja's leg. "Huh?!" He gasped, as it circled around his chest, he struggled to get out of it's hold as the sand held his whole body in place, only leaving his face out. "I-I can't move!" He shouted, struggling. The umbrellas fell back onto the ground. "Let me go!" He screamed. "All I have to do is cover your big mouth, and you'll be dead." Gaara picked up one of the paper parasols. "But that would be too easy and boring." Gaara looked up at the parasol, I wonder if (Y/N) would like something like this, he looked it up and down, holding out his other hand. "GAH!" The rain ninja screamed, the sand slowly starting to crush him, Gaara moved him up into the air, small bits of sand falling down onto the ground. Gaara looked up at him. "Sand burial." He whispered, closing his hand into a fist. "AHHHHH!" The rain ninja screamed, the rain ninja exploded.

Slithers of blood rained down on them, Gaara covered him self with the umbrella. "Great, now it's ruined." Gaara mumbled, "There wasn't any pain, I used more force than necessary so it was over quickly." The other rain ninja were frozen, their teammates blood dripping on them. "The corpses bitter crimson tears flow and mingle with the endless sand, feeding the chaos within me, making me stronger." Gaara shook the blood off of the paracel, but to his dismay it stained. "J-Just take the scroll!" The rain ninja shouted, placing it on the ground. "Go on, j-just t-take it! P-Please, spare us!" He quivered, jumping back from it. Gaara threw the ruined paracel on the ground, he raised his hands, sand climbing up them like hands. Their screams echoed through the forest as Gaara crushed them with ease.

Kiba, Hinata, and Shino watched in horror as he murdered them all. "T-This is bad! We gotta get out of here, before he finds and kills us!" Kiba gasped, starting to run away, Shino and Hinata close behind. Kankuro picked up the scroll, a small smile on his face. "We got lucky, it's a heaven scroll. Now, let's head to the tower." Kankuro smiled, turning over to Gaara. "Just shut up." He breathed out, "Huh?" Kankuro's eyes widened. "It's still not enough...it's not enough for me." Gaara turned to the bush, Kiba froze. D-Did he see us? A bead of sweat ran down the side of Kiba's face. "Come on, Gaara, let's just go." Kankuro waved. "Why are you scared? Coward." Gaara looked back over at him, Kankuro walked back over to him. "Look, Gaara. I know this test is not a big deal for you, but it's dangerous for Temari, Mikio and me, one set of scrolls is good enough. It's all we need to pass!" Kankuro exclaimed, looking down at Gaara. "You can't tell me what to do." Gaara stared up at him. "Okay, that's enough!" Kankuro grabbed onto Gaara's shirt. "Sometimes you have to listen to what your big brother says!" Kankuro put his foot down, "It's too bad that I don't see you as my older brother. If you get in my way, I'll kill you." Gaara slapped his hand away, "Hey, guys, hold on. There's no reason to fight." Mikio took a step closer to them, Gaara stared intently at Kankuro, sand circling around his arm. "Gaara!" Temari shouted, he froze, holding onto the cork of his gourd tightly. "Alright, this time." Gaara plugged the gourd back up, turning away from them, Kankuro gritted his teeth. That's why I hate brats. Kankuro watched him walk away, Temari sighed a breath of relief.

"Haha, we're the first!" Kiba grinned, "No, I'm sure I sensed some one here a little while ago." Shino sighed, shaking his head. "More importantly, is Akamaru okay? Poor little guy's been so scared for so long." Hinata rubbed the side of Akamaru's face. "Come to think of it, what did Akamaru say before?" Shino asked Kiba. "Well, I guess he was trying to say that the bigger rain ninja was in trouble because that pipsqueak was gonna kill him." Kiba answered back.

"Just like I thought, there's no other place to go." Mikio sighed, his voice echoed down the hall, the three of them turned towards the front door. "We've already waited half a day, how much longer are they going to make us wait?" Temari sighed, the four of them stepped into the room. Kiba and Shino watched the four of them walk into the room, "Hm." Mikio turned his head to them as they passed, Kankuro smiled smugly, Gaara ignored them. I don't know what that sand village squirt is, but whatever he is, he's too dangerous to mess with. He's bad news. Kiba watched him from the corner of his eye. Where could (Y/N) be? Gaara wondered, continuing to walk forward.

"This is turning into a real mess, but there's no way we can cancel the test." Anko sighed, sitting down on a couch. "What do you mean?" A member of the Anbu asked, his arms crossed. "Sorry to interrupt," Izumo called out, opening up the rooms door. "What do you want?" Anko asked him, she stared at him angrily. "We're talking about something important!" She gritted her teeth. "I'm sorry but, it's this tape. You have to see it." Izumo sighed, "What is it?" He called out, watching Izumo walk over to the TV in the room. Izumo placed the tape in the VCR, he pointed at the screen. "Okay, now, watch this. Pay special attention to the time." Izumo explained, Gaara switched onto the screen, Anko's eyes widened. "But that means..." She whispered, "Yes, these ninja stepped into the tower only a day after the test started, they've completely destroyed the record for finishing the second test!" Izumo exclaimed, "What? That's impossible!" Anko shot up from the couch, her eyes wide open. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, no one's even come close. Those ninja from the sand village are way above genin level, they beat the record above another whole day!" Izumo nodded, "I'm afraid it isn't just that." Anko shook her head. "I don't get it, what do you mean?" Izumo asked her. "It's ten kilometers from each gate to the tower, and in between are ferocious animals, poisonous animals, and not to mention the other ninja! Could they have really avoided all those things? Especially the red haired kid in the front." Anko shook her head, "What's so special about him?" Izumo asked, "I mean, you didn't see?" Anko looked back at him. Izumo replayed the tape, looking back at Gaara. "Look closely at his body, not one single scratch. And I haven't been able to spot one speck of dirt on his clothes." Izumo glared back at the screen, not even I, no, none of the chunin would of made it to the tower with out at least getting a scratch, it's impossible. Izumo watched the screen closely. "He must have some special ability, it's been a long time since we've had such a promising candidate." The Anbu shrugged, "But his eyes are pure evil." The screen switched off.