"What... Is this place?" Aoi spoke aloud, his eyes widened as they scanned over the caged forest.

"This is the Forest of Death, the site for the second faze of the exam." The proctor stated, a weird gleam in her eyes. "Now-"

Now, if anyone hasn't noticed.. I have a problem with paying attention, even though while zoned out, I still know what's going on around me.

I'm weird like that.

So when I was handed the consent sheet, I signed it without hesitation and joined my team as they stood away from others. "Five days inside there." Aoi mused out loud, a confident grin adorning his features. "I think we'll win."

"Hn. It's not about winning, Aoi. It's about stealth and our ability to follow orders." Itachi sighed, his arms crossed over his chest. I nodded in agreement, catching both boys' attention.

I noticed a few teams from the Mist, they looked weak. I signed. Aoi frowned.

"But-"

"I see," Itachi cut Aoi off, smirking. "Make it easy and go after the weak teams first."

Huffing out a breath, Aoi growled in frustration. "But don't we want a fight?!"

I tilted my head to the side. Pick off the weak teams first. Then, once we have both scrolls, we can do whatever on the way to the tower.

I brushed my fringe to the side as the long hair fell into my eyes. Aoi suddenly grinned. "Got it, Rin!"

"Already everybody! When you've signed your forms, you and your entire team will go behind this curtain and retrieve your scroll. However, if you have either not signed the form, or don't have all three forms to turn in, signed, you won't get a scroll." Aoi raised his arms over his head as he started toward the stand, a skip in his step as he trotted along.

Itachi and I followed, and entered the curtained area. "Forms," one of the chuunin asked. We each held out our papers, and in turn, were given a white Heaven scroll and a nod. "You may go, find a gate." With that said, we began looking for a gate, walking all around the Forest of Death before actually finding one. Gate 17.

"Whose taking the scroll?" Aoi asked, just as Itachi handed said scroll to me. "Eh?! Rin?!" He exclaimed, watching as I formed a handsign and transformed the scroll into a water jutsu scroll, and turned my water jutsu scroll into the Heaven scroll. "You're so smart, Rin!" Aoi grinned, his cheeks dusted with a bit of pink.

"Good luck," the gate person said, arms crossed over his chest.

"Thanks, old man!" The gate persons hand met his face as he turned and shoved a key into the lock before letting the chain fall to the ground.

"Just don't die." He said before shoving the gate door open. We all took off, jumping straight into the trees. Landing on the bark, I glanced back at the gate, only to see it closing.

"Rin-" my gaze snapped to towards the speaker as a hand wrapped around mine. Aoi's gaze was narrowed as he frowned. "Come on." He gently tugged at my hand, leading me toward Itachi who was perched in a tree.

"I have a strange feeling about this..." Itachi glanced at me, his dark gaze flickering toward my hand, which was held tightly by Aoi, before he met my eyes. "Do you sense anyone around?"

I shook my head before stopping myself. "Rin?"

Without a word, I pulled my hand from Aoi's and let myself slip from the branch, landing gracefully on my feet as I pulled out a kunai and narrowed my gaze on one spot in particular.

Throwing the weapon, I nearly jumped when a body slammed into mine, tackling me to the ground. Let's just say.... The forest floor hurts when there's someone twice your size sitting on you.

The blade of a kunai was pressed against my neck, the coldness seeping into my skin and sending a shiver down my spine. I stared up at my attacker, coming face to face with a ninja from the hidden grass.

"Look, a little Leaf ninja." The boy cooed, moving the blade of the kunai to run along my right cheek, just barely pressing into my skin.

"Rin!" I heard Aoi suddenly yell my name, before my attacker was thrown off of me. I jumped to my feet to see the teal haired boy throwing punch after punch to the other nin.

I narrowed my eyes before jumping in, hand grabbing Aoi's arm, then jerking him back toward Itachi and stepping in.

"Girls got spunk," the boy grinned. I lunged, pulling out a kunai in the process and slashing at him. The grass ninja stumbled back, eyes widening.

Taking advantage of the moment, I plunged the blade of the kunai in the ninjas stomach, making him scream in pain. Blood spilled from the wound as he fell to the ground.

Grabbing his scroll, I backed away once the blade was deep.

"Rin.." I glanced back, my eyes meeting Itachi's. "Is that it?"

I nodded, holding up the scroll. It was a lucky find.

Tucking the scroll into Itachi's pouch, I frowned.

Let's go, I signed.

"That was fast... I was honestly expecting more of a fight." Aoi grinned.

I don't own Naruto!! T^T