Reina's P.O.V

I glanced around, Atsushi went out to scout for enemies and he hasn't come back yet. I sighed. We will have to move on without him, he'll be able to find us by our chakra. I know it.

"Are there really enemies still around here?" Sakura asked, nervously glancing side to side.

Kabuto nodded, "Yes, there's no mistake. The tower is in the middle of this forest. That means when the set day of the test is here, the area which the tower is near, is the easiest place to gather scrolls." Kabuto explained.

Seems like it won't be so easy for us to get past then. I glanced at Kabuto, "Basically, now that the test is about to end, most of the remaining teams are camping the area around the tower, where most teams who have completed the task of gathering the scrolls will go?" I stated, wanting a confirmation, as I leaped from branch to branch.

Kabuto nodded, pushing his glasses up a bit with his index finger. "Exactly. We should expect traps already set up for our arrival." He said.

"Oh, so there must be a lot of enemies waiting to attack us, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, keeping a steady pace.

"Yes... however, there are collectors as well." Kabuto muttered, lowly.

I rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean by collectors?" I asked, wondering if by collectors he meant what I was thinking.

Could these collectors he's speaking of be people who collect a abundant amount of a certain object? In this case, the scrolls?

"There are teams of people who already have collected the amount of scrolls needed to pass. However, they don't enter the tower and turn the scrolls in. These certain people stay around the tower, fighting other teams for more scrolls. Then leaving some more teams to lose. Most of these teams are very conceited." Kabuto explained.

Sasuke chuckled lowly from beside me, he gave Kabuto a smirk. "I see, it seems like I know understand why you decided to help us..." Sasuke mused, "You're scared, aren't you?"

I almost burst out in laughter at that. Kabuto? Scared? I highly doubt that... this nerd here seems strong enough to handle some teams camping the tower. Now that I think about it, I really don't like that fact of Kabuto helping us. He still gives me that aura that makes me shiver. He's no good.

Kabuto glanced at Sasuke and simply stared at him for a few seconds. "That's right, I am." He replied.

I merely blinked at Kabuto. What an idiot.

_________________

I bent over, my hands resting on my knees. The sun was dissappearing, night was coming very, very quickly. It felt like we've been going in circles non-stop. Something was off... but what was it?

"Now then, the tower has come into our view. From here on, it's going to get hard." He stated, looking off in the distance.

I nodded tiredly, my eyes were shutting on their own will. I haven't gotten any rest for awhile now, and it was getting to me quickly. At this rate, I'm only going to bring down my team...

"An enemy?!"

I was brought back to my senses at the sudden scream. I grabbed a kunai and spun around, facing Naruto.

"Where?" I asked, looking around.

The only thing I happened to spot was a giant centipede stuck to the tree by Naruto's kunai. At least it was dead...

"Oh, it's just a centipede." Naruto muttered, lowering his hand.

We continued our little journey, stopping every one in awhile to examine our surroundings.

"Look." Kabuto said, pointing at a tree where dead bodies hung.

I frowned at the small scene. All the bodies had kunai's impelled all over them, it looked like they fell for a trap of sorts. So, what Kabuto explained earlier was true, there's traps everywhere. We need to watch our steps.

"Kabuto, I'm guessing this was one of the traps you spoke about." I stated.

Kabuto glanced at me, "Yes, and it'll only get even worse the farther we go." He pointed out, walking ahead with me.

I looked at up the sky, examining all the trees to see if anyone was watching us. There wasn't anyone I could spot. Good. Suddenly, my foot caught onto something, and I began to fall forward with a yelp. From the corner of my eye, I saw string.

It's a trap!

As I fell face first to the ground, kunai's came flying at me. Turning over, I gasped and covered my face, ready for the pain of the impact. Nothing ever came...

Peeking my eye open, I spotted Kabuto take the hit for me. There was a small poof-like sound and he vanished. I sighed in relief. 'Dear Jashin... he used a substitution jutsu.'

Naruto ran over to me with worry filled eyes, he lifted me and embraced me tightly. "Be careful, dattebayo!" He scolded, squeezing the living day lights out of me.

I gasped for air and pushed Naruto away, a light butterfly feeling filling the pit of my stomach. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I should've watched where I was going... I'll be careful from now on." I said.

"That was close, huh." Kabuto mused, walking out from behind a bush. "I told you it would get even worse the closer we got to the tower."

Sakura suddenly fell to the ground with a groan, "I'm done! How far have we walked? No, how long?! The tower doesn't seem to be getting any closer! We've been near it and running towards it, but it hasn't moved an inch!" She shouted, getting agitated every second we stood still.

I examined our area, just to the right of us was the exact same centipede Naruto killed. So we have been walking in circles this time. I clicked my tongue and glanced over at Sasuke, even if I didn't want to speak of him.

"Sasuke, are you getting the same vibes I am?" I asked, knowing what we were in.

He nodded. "Genjutsu." He stated.

"So it seems like we were lured into a Genjutsu. It's a perfect way to exhaust your prey, bringing down their physical strength like nothing. We are most likely being watched. The enemies should be arriving soon." Kabuto mused.

Amazingly, Kabuto, Sasuke, and I, were right on spot. A good amount of enemy clones surrounded us in a matter if seconds, but what caught my eye is how they got here. The clones came out of the trees and ground. I glared at the man infront of us. He was the idiot who attacked us right in the beginning of the test; the fool who acted like Naruto!

Naruto ran at one of the clones, aiming his fist at their stomach. My eyes flew open as his hand went straight through the clone, black goo dripping of his fist. Where Naruto's hand entered the clone, came yet another clone. They started to box us in, leaving us with no exit.

From what I can see, if we hit these stupid clones, they'll only multiply. A kunai was thrown at me, I stood still in shock. The kunai cut my arm and blood oozed out of my wound. This... shouldn't this be an illusion? What was happening?!

"Hey, Reina. Since you got cut, doesn't that mean these are actual shadow clones? Like mine?" Naruto asked.

I shook my head, confusion running through my veins. "No, these can't be shadow clones. Your clones would dissappear when they were hit, but these are taking a direct hit and multiplying." I stated, "There's no way these are orignal clones or shadow clones."

"Then... what is this?! A Genjutsu?!" He shouted.

"I have no clue." I replied, running at one with a kunai.

"Stop! It's futile!" Sasuke suddenly yelled. "It's the enemies Genjutsu."

"But, Sasuke... Reina's wound is the real thing." Sakura stated.

"No, it's as Sasuke says. The enemy is hiding somewhere and coordinating their attacks with movements of the clones. Another reason why they're attacking from another location. They won't come out untill we are exhausted and no longer able to move." Kabuto explained, causing my eyes to widen.

They began hurdling kunai's at us non-stop. I managed to dodge most of what was thrown at me, but some still nicked my skin. Naruto pushed me into a bush, he quickly made a shadow clone that looked exactly like me. 'Naruto...' I thought, shocked.

I watched in pure amazement as Naruto attacked each one of the enemies head on, beating them till they were black puddled littering the ground. I can't believe that Naruto managed to make us each a clone while the enemies were distracted by his clones. He really is growing and getting stronger. I feel, no-- I am proud of him.

After a few more minutes of watching Naruto attack these buffoons, they finally released all their clones. Now we were able to come out.

"Nice job, Naruto. I didn't know you had this in you." I applauded, smirking at his achievement. I could tell Naruto was beyond exhausted. "Why don't you rest a bit? You look pretty tried."

Naruto seemed to ignore me. He stood up and swung his fist at one of the enemies, knocking all three of them to the ground. I was flabbergasted. How does he get all this energy? He shouldn't even be standing right now.

"No way! I'm not going to have my spotlight taken away from me again!" Naruto exclaimed, panting rapidly.

I smiled. 'Oh, Naruto. I should've expected this outcome from you.' I thought to myself.

However, the rain ninjas weren't done. I wanted to go up to them and choke them to death, but I couldn't. Going head on could be a grave mistake. They all made a hand sign.

"We're running out of time. Well show you our ninjutsu." They said, "Ninja Art: Fog Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto panted, and I frowned. "More clones?" We asked.

"No, their regular clones this time! But be careful, he's up to something!" Sasuke shouted.

"If they're clones, then there has to be a real body! I'll just kick their butts till I run into the real one!" Naruto shouted, charging head on.

"Naruto!" I shouted.

"I'll help!"

I grinned. "Atsushi! Where the hell did you go?!" I shouted, holding in my anger.

He grinned and rubbed his neck. "I kinda got lost in this forest. It's pretty big, you know." He muttered, sheepishly.

"Alright, just go and help Naruto and Kabuto!" I shouted.

He nodded and went to help Naruto battle the clones. I sighed. 'Thank Jashin... he came just in time.'

"Kabuto!"

I glanced over at Sakura, my blue eyebrow raised. "Was that Naruto just now?" I asked.

She nodded. "I think so!" She said.

I bit my lip, "I'll go see what's wrong, stay here wth Sasuke." I said, before running off to see what happened.

I spotted Naruto and Atsushi leaning ovee Kabuto's body, for a second I thought he was dead... but Kabuto sat up and held his nose which was bloody.

"What happened?" I asked, eyeing the wound across Kabuto's nose.

"Kunai got to him." Atsushi answered.

I sighed, "We should be happy that it was only a kunai... not something worse." I mused.

__________________

Kabuto's team scolded him for being late. I would have done it too, if it ruined our chances of losing this test. But, he helped us this time... and I'm glad he did.

Kabuto faced us, "We're going though our separate doors. Well then, I wish us all luck." He said, smiling at us.

"Back to you, Kabuto. Oh, and... thank you for helping us back there." I said.

He smiled. "Don't worry about it. Farewell." He said, walking to his teammates.

I walked with my team and Atsushi to the door, I grinned and placed my hands on it. "Ready?" I asked.

Atsushi grinned and placed his hands ive the door as well. "Heck yeah." He said, pushing the door open.  We opened the door and were greeted by a blank white room with nothing but a banner inside.

"What do we do now?" I asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Who knows..." He replied.

"Wait, look at that!" Sakura exclaimed, pointing at the banner I saw before.

"Without heaven...? What's that mean?" Atsushi asked.

"If heaven does not exist, enrich your knowledge and prepare for the chance. If earth does not exist, run the fields in search of an advantage. Open the series of heaven and earth, and the perilous way shall be redressed... this is namely the secret of the one that guides." Sakura recited.

"I have no clue whatsoever on what that means." I deadpanned.

Atsushi and Naruto nodded. "I agree." They said, before glancing at each other.

"It looks like there are letters or something missing here. It probably has to do with the scrolls. I think this means we're supposed to open the heaven and earth scrolls." She explained.

I gulped. "Let's do it then..." I said, glancing at Sasuke. "Care to help?"

I grabbed the earth scroll and Sasuke grabbed the heaven scroll. "Ready?" I asked.

He nodded, "Hn..."

"1... 2... 3..." I started.

"Open it!" Sakura shouted.

Sasuke and I ripped the scrolls open and threw them on the ground. "Take cover!" Atsushi shouted, throwing his body on me as smoke came out of the scrolls.

"Yo! It's been a long time, huh?"

I recognized that voice, I glanced up from underneath Atsushi. "Uncle... Uncle Iruka?" I asked, happily.

Uncle Iruka spotted me. "Reina! How nice to see you again!" He shouted, frowning at our condition. "It appears you all had a rough time out there."

I nodded and stood up with Atsushi's help, "Yeah, we sure did." Sakura said.

"Wait! Why did you come out of the scroll!?" Naruto shouted.

Iruke explained everything and looked at Atsushi. "Who is he?" He asked.

I smiled, and placed a hand on my hip. "Isn't it obvious? He's the one who saved me from dying in this test. He's my hero." I said, earning a smile from Atsushi.

"He's a friend."

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Dear readers,

          Updates for "Lost in Pain" will be much slower this upcoming week, for I have those dreaded finals. I apologize for the inconvenience. I really have nothing else to say. I just hope you understand the situation I'm in, since I won't be able to give you more than one chapter this week... I'm sorry. I hope this update will keep you all satisfied for a bit.

      Sincerely,
                Ezekiel

      P.S: Thank you so much, @Angel_FloweryBlossom for re-reading my chapters and correcting my mistakes. It's very kind of you to do so. I really do appreciate the help I'm getting from you. Thank you.