~*****~

I clasp my hands together. 'Dragon-Tiger-Hare' "Water Style! Raging Waves!" My cheeks fill up and I blow a heavy stream of water.

"Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Sasuke shouts in unison. With both my water jutsu and his fire jutsu, the enemy ninja has no choice but to take to the air. Sasuke meets him mid flight and their kunai's clash against each other. Sakura and I follow their battle, and an explosion goes off in front of Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" I call, running faster to get to him. The ninja appears behind him, demanding the scroll. I lift my hand again. "Water Style: Water Bullets!" I spit large projectiles of water, making him jump upwards. I keep shooting as Sasuke leaps upwards and buries his kunai into his gut.

"Are you alright?!" Sakura shouts.

"Don't just stand there, Sakura! This guys not alone!" Sasuke snaps back. "Watch out! The others could strike any second now!" The ninja kicks away.

"I wish! I came alone so I didn't arouse any suspicions! Big mistake!" The ninja grunts, jumping away with pained grunts. Sasuke landed as I ran up, panting lightly.

"You good?" I ask, palming his shoulder. He nods and stands up, staring at me with those eyes. "God, do you have to look cool right now? Come on, we need to think of a way to tell if we're really us if we get separated again." I state, tugging on his hand.

"Yeah. Definitely." Sakura and Naruto meet us in the middle and we all take a seat. "That proves we can't just trust appearances. We have to come up with a way of knowing if each of us is who we say we are." Sasuke starts. "And not some impostor using a transformation jutsu."

"Mm-hmm." Naruto hums.

"Alright." Sakura agrees. "So what do we do?"

"We need a password." I shift to sit on my knees, crossing my hands over my lap.

"What kinda password?" Naruto asks.

"A secret one. Something known only to the four of us." I state. The hairs on the back of my neck twitched upwards, and I immediately knew we were being watched. "And don't trust anyone who doesn't know it. No matter what." Naruto and Sakura both nodded silently. "Okay, listen closely, cause I only wanna say this once. The question will be; 'When does a ninja strike?'. And the response is; 'A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops it's guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment, for a ninja to strike.' Got it?" I ask, smirking at Sakura.

"I got it." She jeers.

Naruto had this look of being lost on his face. "... You got one... a little shorter?" Naruto asks.

"No, Naruto." Sasuke sighs. "That's it."

"Ugh, come on. What's wrong? Didn't you get it? I memorized it, easy!" Sakura bragged.

"Ah, yeah, sure. I got it!" Naruto says nervously. "No problem! I just thought it was gonna be a pass-word. Not a pass-speech!"

"Alright then..." Sasuke hums, standing up. "I'll take the scroll." He hums, looking to me.

"Sure." I reach into my pouch and pull out the scroll.

"Ah, wait a minute, Sasuke- Ah!" Naruto exclaims in pain as a needle flies by, slicing his other cheek. "What was that?" He questions, gazing into the dark woods. The sound of wind whistling echoes throughout the forest, and then turns into a tornado, pushing me into Sasuke. I grasp onto his shirt in shock as the wind blows each one of us away. Sasuke and I hide underneath a bush as we regain our footing.

I flinch and we both leap out of the bush, staring at Sakura. "Sakura!" I exclaim.

"Sasuke! Ren! Thank goodness! What was that?" She calls, trying to take a step forward. We immediately pull up our kunai. "Stay there! First answer the question! When does a ninja strike?" I snap.

"Oh!" She nods quickly. "A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike." She recites perfectly, just like I had expected her to.

Sasuke and I both sigh. "Good." Sasuke hums.

We hear Naruto approach, panting lightly. "Heeyyy! Whats up! Y-You guys okay?!" Naruto asks loudly.

"Don't come any closer!" Sakura snaps.

"Huh?"

"What's the password?"

"Oh, sure! No problem!" Naruto chimes, reciting the password perfectly.  Sakura lets out a sigh of relief. Sasuke chuckles and throws his kunai at the Fake.

"What was that?! You coulda killed me!" The Fake cries.

"Gotta hand it to ya, you're quicker than the last one!" Sasuke comments.

"What are you talking about?!" Sakura exclaims. "What was wrong with that? He just got the password right! Word for word!"

"Exactly." I say to her, getting in front of her to guard her. "This is Naruto we're talking about. Do you really think he had that password memorized?" She gasps in realization. "That's not the Naruto we know. He'd never get that right, not in a million years."

"You'd have a better chance teaching it to a hamster." Sasuke adds.

"Oh, right. You've got a point." Sakura comments.

"Besides, you saw the way this guys moved when he dodged my attack. That was definitely not a Naruto move. Alright! Come on out! Whoever you are! Party's over!"

The Fake stares for a second before smirking widely. I shivered at that look, especially when his tongue swiped out over his lips. "Aren't we the clever one." The Fake says in a woman's voice. In an explosion of smoke, the transformation jutsu wears off. And in it's place, a woman stands. The one from the gate. With the really long tongue. "Tell me. If your teammate is really that dimwitted, why would you come up with a password he'd never be able to remember?"

"You see, it wasn't meant for Naruto. It was meant for anyone who happened to be listening in. It was meant as a trap." I explain. "And you stumbled right into it."

The woman pulls off her hat. "I'm impressed. You certainly haven't dropped your guard, have you?" She hums. "This promises to be very entertaining." Her tongue slips out of her lips and swipes over her lips again.

'What a freak! God, she creeps me out! Why can't this be a normal exam with normal people! And where the heck is Naruto!' I grasp onto my wrist, digging my nails into my skin to calm myself down. The woman pulls out her scroll, and it just so happens to be an Earth Scroll.

"Ohh. You'd love to get your hands on our earth scroll, wouldn't you? It would go so nicely with your Heaven Scroll." She jeers, holding up the scroll. Her tongue swipes out and wraps around the scroll. And. She. SWALLOWS. IT. I start shivering again. "Well... When this is all over... One of us will have both scrolls...." All three of us gasp. "And the other will be dead...."

My vision warped. Blood went everywhere. I watched in horror as my home village is encased in ice, with my mother screaming in agony as the frost burns away any tissue and skin on her body. I scream in terror as the image of a large squid appears over the city, it's eyes glowing a bright blue. It pulls me apart, tearing me limb from limb. The vision ends and I'm shivering, staring deeply into the ground. Tears started to spill from my eyes as I started palming my limbs and body. 'Don't be afraid.... I won't let it hurt you....' I hear a soft voice rasp in my head. The shivers increase tenfold as I feel a slight burn at my stomach. Whimpers escaped my throat, and then, my world shifts. 'The seal is broken.... we are one and the same, child... use my powers for your own gain....'

~*****~

A hand pats at my cheek tenderly, bringing me to my senses. I blink away the tears still building up. I stare at Sasuke in front of me, my lower lip trembling in fear. "S.... Sasuke?" He sighs out in relief, letting me leap forward and bury my head into his neck. He pulls me away after a second and looks over his shoulder, shivering in fear. Sakura starts tapping my shoulder as Sasuke keeps a grip on my arms. I look over and my eyes widen. I start tugging his shirt, whimpering in fear. "Sasuke! Watch out!" I scream. He looks back quickly at the large snake right before us. The snake lunges forward and bites into the wood we were just at. I leap away with Sakura, shaking my head to try and dispell the fear coursing through me. We land on a thick branch, watching the snake coil upwards.

"No! Stay away!" Sasuke screams at the snake coming for him. I grit my teeth and grasp onto Sakura's hand.

"He's losing it!" Sakura starts to shiver against my back, grasping onto my kimono. We gaze down at the snake, silent horror etched onto our faces as the woman from before cracks through the skin of the snake.

"I sense your fear and desperation." The woman hums lowly. "It's only natural. The prey must never let down it's guard. Not even for a moment. In the presence of it's predator!" The womans body stretches and sliters up the trunk like a snake, going in for the kill. Sasuke screams in terror. But just as the woman is just about on him, kunai and shuriken peg the wood before her. I gasp out in shock, looking upwards and sighing out in relief.

"Looks like I came just in time!" Naruto calls out. 

"N-Naruto!" Sakura and I yelp happily.

"Oh, and by the way! What was that password again?"