~*****~

"Now then, the tower has finally come into view," Kabuto stated. "From here on is the hard part." Night had fallen by this point all that we could hear, were our own voices and the subtle chirping of crickets that echoed throughout the forest. Just ahead of us was a large, old style tower sticking out of the trees in a probably, if not certainly, cleared out area around it. We all stood around Kabuto, waiting for his next decision.

"All right!" Naruto cheered loudly, fist pumping the air. "Let's go!" A slight shift in the atmosphere had me on high alert. "An enemy already?!" Naruto pulled out his kunai and threw it at the source, not caring to see what the culprit actually was. I inhaled sharply at the size of this centipede that Naruto had pegged with his kunai. I squealed and backed up, hiding behind Sasuke as he snorted out a chuckle. "Huh, it's just a centipede..."

"K-Kill it with fire!" I yelped, shivering behind Sasuke. "I hate bugs! They're so gross and squirmy and could burrow into your skin if they so pleased!" Sakura began to shiver with me, her eyes widening in disgust at the giant bug.

"Naruto," Kabuto spoke quietly, kneeling in front of the boy. "I'd like to avoid inadvertent noises and careless actions from here on. Rushing ahead through a dense forest, making the noise of an elephant, is like telling the enemy in a loud voice that we're coming. We'd definitely receive an enthusiastic welcome."

Naruto's face split into one of worry, thinking about how the enemy could be arriving any second now. "O-Oh, I see..." He said in a much quieter tone.

"For as long as we can, we should probably make our way there slowly, and remain hidden."

Everyone agrees and we depart soon after. Sakura made her way through the grass while Sasuke and I swam in the stream, using a reed to breathe with. Kabuto used his chakra to blend in, while Naruto had gracefully not stuck in a bundle of vines. Kabuto eventually cut him loose. When we finally got to land, Naruto walked straight into a rope hanging from the tree branches above us. Kabuto urged us to look up. Students were scattered along the trees with kunai, shuriken, and all other manner of weapons stuck in their arms, legs, and backs with their possessions thrown around them. They were all unconscious.

"Is it a trap?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah," Kabuto hummed. "It'll get intense ahead from here on."

As we began walking once more, Naruto stumbled upon a hidden wire, setting off a trap and shooting kunai towards him. I clasped my hands together and started weaving signs. 'Tiger - snake - rat - snake - tiger' "Water Wall Jutsu!" A wall of water shoots up in front of Naruto, saving him from the onslaught of kunai.

"That was a close one, huh Naruto?" Kabuto spoke up from besides me. "I told you it would be more intense. Try to be more careful. Ren doesn't have unlimited chakra to protect you like this." He commented.

We carried on, and Sakura was the first to fall from exhaustion. "The tower hasn't gotten any closer." Naruto tried to convince her to be positive, stating that it was just up ahead, but he realized that we should've arrived by now.

"Genjutsu." I state, sighing when Kabuto began to explain that we'd been walking in a circle this entire time to wear down our energy. We were being watched, and they would be on us any second now. Slug like creatures began appearing from the trees, eventually materializing as hundreds of zombie-like shinobi. Clones surrounded us, outnumbering us 100 to 1.

"They've appeared." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"This is the perfect handicap." Naruto added.

The clones ambled towards us like zombies. We all pulled out our kunai to defend. All the while, Sasuke, Sakura, Kabuto, and I waited in the tree line, having already broken the genjutsu a while ago. Our plan was to have Naruto wear down their energy so we could get the jump on them. And it worked like a charm. They came out of hiding. "So, think they'll notice they've been duped?" I hum to Sasuke, earning a shrug. Naruto fought hard, and time wore on until the actual ninja who had been pulling the strings came out to fight.

"You're... the one who injured my left shoulder. I finally found you. You really hung me up." He said, lifting his blade. "Lucky. I can finally even the score." At that moment, Naruto smirked.

"Corner rats..." Sasuke said aloud from the tree lines. I smirked besides him.

"It went well, Naruto!"

"Great Idea, knucklehead!"

We came from our hiding spots, appearing behind the enemy ninja. "What the heck are these guys! This can't be! Since when?!"

"Idiot." Naruto's illusion spoke. "You finally showed your true colors, huh punks?" The four that had been fighting showed their true form with a cloud of smoke: Naruto's clones.

"T-This kid... Don't tell me..."

"The shadow clone is just the prepartation for the trick for me to portray every member of the team myself!"

"At the same time, Naruto lifted the shadow clone," Sasuke explained. "The four of us hid. The Genjutsu users were adversely deceived." Naruto went to walk, but he struggled to stand. "Naruto, you used too much chakra. I'll do the rest."

Naruto, however, had other ideas, getting up to punch the men down in a line. "No way! I'm not letting you take the good parts away from me all the time!"

I smiled at the blonde boy. 'Since when did you improve that much, Naruto... You couldn't even perform the transformation jutsu, let alone manage clone jutsu's and transformation jutsus at the same time...'

"No bad." The men stood up. "But we're still not unlucky. There's no time. This time around, we'll show you our ninjutsu!" They said, making hand signs.

"Ninja art: Fog Clone Jutsu!"

Now there were hundreds of clones, and this time, they were actual clones. "If they're just clones, then there's one real body. I'll kick their butts right and left and center till I run into the real him!"

"You idiot!" Sasuke chided. "That's completely tactless!"

"I'm telling you!" Naruto ordered. "Don't stick your nose in!" The fight started. I raced forward to help out Naruto, weaving a hand signs.

"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!" The water from the trees and ground below us seeped out, forming tangible clones and attacking without hesitation. I could hear Sasuke shouting at Naruto and I for being that reckless, but in the end, Naruto took out the last of them who gathered around Kabuto. I let out a sigh and hunched forward, bracing my hands on my knees as I panted.

"Hey, it won't do to create an opening, right?" Naruto said, his voice low and tired as he wiped his chin.

"Thank you, Naruto. You saved me." Kabuto smiled.

I fell back onto my butt and leaned back as Naruto began searching through their pouches. Sakura knelt down besides me and grinned when I complained about how Naruto spurred me into fighting like he did. "God, and to think I used to be the smartest kunoichi." I stated, earning a shoulder punch.

"You still are! I'm jealous!" Sakura and I began to laugh with each other as Naruto raced back with a scroll.

"Here! Here! I found it! A heaven scroll!"

"Talk about luck." I droned, catching the scroll with a huff. "At least we passed, right?" I started to laugh as Sasuke stared at Kabuto with narrowed eyes. I could feel the uneasy tension rolling off of him.