The team walked silently while focusing on their surroundings. It was late in the evening, but they decided to work in the night since they had enough rest earlier. They needed one more gem, just one more and they could pass the exam. That is of course, if they reach the tower on time. The sky finally became dark and their surroundings were only illuminated by the moonlight. The range they could see was very limited, except Sasuke and Neji who owns the Sharingan and Byakugan respectively. Sakura could only count on her petals, but she felt safe enough with those petals. If she were to fight in the dark while solely depending on these petals, it would be difficult. She has never fought like that before but this gives her the idea to train in such situations so she would be ready if it happens in the future.

"There are a lot of...creatures around us." She was not sure what to call them, but they were certainly not humans.

"I see them too." The boys said simultaneously.

"I don't think you will like them, Sakura." Neji said seriously.

"What are they?"

Neither of the guys needed to answer for her to find out. She already saw it. It was a huge millipede crawling around the tree and it sent shivers down her spine. She was so disgusted—and afraid. A talented kunoichi she is, but she's a kunoichi, a girl. She looked around and they were surrounded by huge insects and pesticides. Her body moved on its own; it backed away until her back knocked the Sasuke's shoulder.

The tigers were ready to transform as they growled at the creatures.

"Are they going to attack us?" Sasuke asked.

"They aren't doing anything yet.."

Sakura fell into silence as she stared at her fears. If she had a choice, she would face Orochimaru again than these things.

"Let's move slowly.." The Uchiha ordered quietly as though the creatures could hear them. They rest of the team nodded and paced slowly while keeping their eyes on the creatures. She was more afraid of the one thing that might pop up and she knew there were more.

A familiar and terrifying sound vibrated in the air and the pinkette freaked out. It was so much louder and simply terrifying. It was out of this world! An enormous cockroach flew above their heads.

Sakura let out a piercing scream and held onto Sasuke for dear life.

The awful insect headed towards them and Sasuke yelled, "FUCK. RUN!" He carried the pinkette and dashed off with the Hyuga who scooped up the three tigers in his arms.

Aka and Raimu hopped out of his arms.

"Aka! Raimu!"

They transformed into their mature size the boys rode on the tigers. Sumire looked at Sakura worriedly; she was still freaked out, especially when all those things were chasing them. Tears pooled in her eyes, she closed her eyes shut, not wanting to see those fearsome creatures anymore.

Sasuke turned around and did some simple hand signs.

"Fire Style: Dragon Fire!"

A stream of fire escaped from his mouth and it took the form of a dragon. It shot up to the gigantic cockroach, then flew down to the other pests. The cockroach burned in flames and it dropped onto the ground, crushing the other giant creatures.

The team flew far away from them until they came across a team from the village hidden in the rain. It was time for another battle so quickly. Sakura was still trembling from the incident before, so the Uchiha placed her on Aka's back.

"Nice pets." The man wearing a black cloak said.

Neji got down from Raimu and joined Sasuke facing their opponents.

"Too bad you won't see them any longer." He smirked. "Baiu, Midare!"

The two boys who stood behind him nodded their heads. They hopped into the air and their umbrellas released themselves from their straps. All of them opened and it rained heavily with needles.

Sumire grew into a bigger size and all three tigers joined together to roar loudly. The vibrations of their roar were so intense that it managed to repel the needles from hitting the team.

The leader of the enemy's team grunted in dismay. "Such cowards, depending on poor animals to protect yourselves."

"Hmph." Neji shot into the air and landed a kick on his shoulder which sent him to the ground. He stood next to the guy's body, "Right."

"Shigure!" His teammates called. Both of them glared at the Hyuga and charged him.

Before they had the chance to, Sasuke gave a hard chop on the base of their necks. They fell on the ground pathetically.

"Great teamwork." Neji complimented and high fived Sasuke with the back of his hand.

"Hn." The Uchiha smiled with pride.

Shigure struggled a little to get up from the ground and stared at the heirs in anger. He felt insulted to be defeated so easily. The boys stared at him as he stood up in pain. His fist attempted to hit the Hyuga, but it was dodged without a sweat. He continued to throw punches and kicks but Neji backed away in an effort to avoid them.

The two bodies became a puddle of water, only then did he know those were clones. Neither his Sharingan or Neji's Byakugan was activated, so they did not realise. When he tried to locate the other two, he found them nearing the pinkette.

"Sakura!" Sasuke gasped.

Neji's attention immediately drifted to Sakura.

"Focus on your opponent!" Shigure shouted and almost managed to land a punch on the Hyuga's face. He grabbed Shigure's fist and twisted his arm. The casualty screamed in pain. Neji kicked his opponent so hard, he was sure he heard a bone crack and the body flew to crash into a tree. The body dropped onto the ground and the limbs became limp.

He was done here and he needed to go to Sakura.

On the other hand, Sakura recovered from her shock but before the rain ninjas could creep up to her, the tigers were ready to rip their heads off their body. Baiu and Midare trembled in fear at the sight of those huge tigers. They quickly sped off, prioritising their dear cowardly lives. But not before throwing their gemstone onto the ground and begging for mercy.

The tiger with a coat of the night's sky picked up the gem with its mouth and passed it to the Uchiha who rushed here.

"Mission complete."

"To the tower then." Neji said as he walked over to the others.

"I'm sorry guys.." Sakura apologised, but was quickly stopped by the boys.

"We understand."

==

It was finally sunrise after a very long walk and the tower was finally in sight, but the pinkette stopped which caused the others to stop too.

"Something is wrong here. Do you feel that Sasuke?"

"Yes, I see what you mean." He nodded. "This place is very familiar."

"We're caught in a genjutsu."

The three of them nodded at each other and did a single hand sign.

"Release!"

The image of the forest changed into a less denser forest in brighter colours.

"Do you think there will be more traps upfront?"

"We don't have any other way to cross." Sasuke exclaimed.

Sakura gave a proud smile, "Cherry Blossom Style: Fairy Wings!"

Huge petals of the cherry blossom appeared and formed a pair wings on the pinkette's back. The boys were astonished as it was something they had never seen or heard of.

"We can fly there, but I can only bring one person at a time." She explained. "Sasuke, I'll bring you over first.

She wrapped an arm around his waist and he did the same, she started to take off and instantly grunted at his weight which made him roll his eyes. They were hovering high above the ground and Sasuke caught sight of the genjutsu in the forest which circles the tower.

"If we stayed down there, it'll probably take us a couple of days to reach the tower. The genjutsu is everywhere."

Sakura sighed in relief, "I'm glad I created this jutsu when I was young."

"Why would you, anyway?" Sasuke asked.

She grinned, "I have always wanted to fly high into to the sky."

Sakura flew back and carried the cubs because she could not leave them all alone in the wilderness. Once they were safe with Sasuke, the heiress went back to get Neji.

They walked towards a door witch five peculiar shaped holes were engraved on it. The shapes looked similar and Sakura realised they were the shapes of their gemstones. She took the gems out and inserted them into the hole one by one.

The door opened automatically and they were greeted by a Jounin with silver hair.
"Congratulations! Although all of you arrived earlier than I expected, good job!"

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura replied with enthusiast.

"Kakashi sensei, was the Hokage informed about Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. Unfortunately, he got away. We heard from Anko that he came to seek for a vessel and Sasuke happened to be his target." They casted worried glances at the said boy.

Kakashi continued, "However, he changed his mind because all of you were very promising. So please, be careful."

"Of course, Kakashi-sensei."

"You may rest here until the test ends." He said and vanished in a puff of smoke.

They analysed the room and found three bedrooms and one bathroom. The other door leads to a canteen. All of them entered their respective bedrooms and collapsed onto their bed, having their own thoughts.

==

Dedicated to kimberq101 for adding several of my Naruto fanfics to your reading list! I hope you enjoy reading them!

Published: December 2014
Rewritten: 8 May 2018