Hi again! Hopefully this chapter will be longer than the last as I have peace and quiet to write in for a while. So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

How does everyone like the new cover? I drew it all myself on Paint Tool SAI- I love that program. It's so much easier than Photoshop- and cheaper too!! But enough about that. The cover is showing the appearance of everyone as they are in the book RIGHT NOW. Charlie, Jack, Zoey and Tommy/ Ichigo are all on there, but I'll probably do individual profiles for each of them as well. Well, pictures, at least.

And, I can confirm that there WILL be a sequel. I was indecisive about it before, but I know now. It probably won't be very long, but yeah.

Well, ENJOY! :D

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Tommy/ Ichigo's POV

The trees that made up the Forest of Death were monstrous, the bugs that crawled out of them much... larger than average and the sounds that erupted from behind them so much creepier when heard in real life rather than through an iPod Touch speaker. Of course, Deidara and Sasori- sorry, Daisuke and Sotaro- didn't seem even a little bit worried by all of these very worrying things, so I forced myself to mask the fear I felt. I couldn't give that bloody Deidara anything else to tease me about. Stupid terrorist jerk.

I shouldn't be scared, anyway. I told myself, but it still didn't sit well. I'm a ninja now, I can defend myself.

I ducked as a kunai whooshed past my head- a product of the trip wire that Deidara had set off. I glared at him, while Sasori snorted. The blonde rose his hands apologetically.

"C'mon, we need to find one of those Earth scrolls." Sasori said loudly, and I couldn't help but wonder what the heck he was doing. Why was he advertising what scroll we had? Was he an idiot? "We've already got a Heaven scroll, so that's the one we need."

Oh come on. Seriously? Did he seriously just say that?

We only walked a few more steps before a full squad of Rain shinobi blocked our path. They all bore identical smug grins.

"You guys aren't too clever, are you? Advertising which scroll you have like that- you might as well just give it to us." The centre one said, but Sasori only smiled. I did an inner fangirl (yes, I'm aware that I am male) squeal at how damn cute he was.

"I think you are the stupid ones- why didn't you ambush us?" the redhead gave a small chuckle and tweaked his fingers, "Overconfident, are we?"

The three Rain shinobi gasped out as their bodies were constricted with what I could only assume were chakra threads, and glared as Deidara casually searched them all for scrolls. I scowled, but couldn't help the relief that surged my system as I caught up to speed with the trap that Sasori had set.

"Y'know, if you're going to do that kind of thing, you could at least warn me first." I muttered to him, and he only shrugged, surveying the surroundings as Deidara pulled out a scroll. He swore, checking it against our own.

"Fuck! What a waste of time, they have the same scroll as us." he said irritably, "This whole exam is bull, un."

"We may as well keep it." I said to him, thinking back to when I had watched the series and Kiba had said about collecting more than we needed to eliminate the competition, "That's one less team we have to worry about in the next round."

"Psh, we don't need to worry about any of these worthless Genin." Deidara said cockily, but tossed the scroll to me. I jammed it into my kunai pouch next to the other one.

As we walked through the forest, hoping to attract the attention of a squad with an Earth scroll, I couldn't help but wonder how Charlie's team were doing. Who was in Charlie's team, anyway? I assumed that that guy with the same hair as her was in her team, but she was otherwise mixed in with the Konoha eleven so I was unsure who the third teammate was. Was it Zoey? Something told me it wasn't. I don't know why, but I could somehow feel it in my bones that Zoey wasn't anywhere in the Leaf Village. But where was she if not here?

Trying to distract myself from the worrying thought, I focused my brain back on Charlie. What scroll did she have? If any. She might have gotten it stolen from her already- hopefully her teammates wouldn't trust her to look after it. But who knew? She may have become a formidable ninja in the time that passed since I last saw her.

Earth.

I didn't know how I knew, but I did.

Charlie's team had an Earth scroll.

I stopped, frowning. Why did I know that? I was absolutely certain, one hundred percent that I was right, but the question remained of just how these answers kept popping into my brain. Was it because of the same thing that helped me dodge projectiles before I even registered that they were coming toward me? It was spooky; like I had a pair of eyes in the back of my head that I never quite realised were there. I had, when I first acknowledged this ability, put it down to fast reactions, but with this and then the vision, maybe that wasn't so. Maybe there was more to supposedly being a part of this 'Hebi' clan that Pein spoke of than I first thought.

"Woo-ooo!" Deidara was waving his hand in my face, and I blinked, batting him away as he went to poke me in the eye. "About time! You could get yourself killed like that you know!"

I just stared at him, eyes glazed, and he started to fidget awkwardly, a slight red tinge to his face. His eyes suddenly widened.

"Ichigo! Watch-" he cut off as I dropped to a squat and flipped sideways,skidding and missing the three shuriken with seconds to spare. "...out." he frowned, "How the heck do you do that?"

I frowned too, "I don't actually know." the automatic dodging and spinning and throwing of my own kunai only worsened my mood, as whoever was throwing them decided to throw more. I dropped and straightened, glaring. "If it didn't work the first time it's not gonna work the next three fucking times! Get out here!"

A young girl, looking about nine, dropped from her perch in the tree, a scared look on her face. I faltered- was she the one to throw those kunai and shuriken? But she was so innocent-looking! What was a tiny girl like her doing in the Chunin exams?!

I glanced at her headband, that was tied aroung her left ankle. Stone shinobi. Why would anyone let such a small child be corrupted by these exams? I couldn't help the disgust that balled in my throat.

"Kuraiton! Kage Torenchi!" (Darkness style! Shadow trench) she shouted, her childlike voice making the attack only more surprising as the ground shook. My eyes widened as my shadow spread, taking on a shape that was deifintely not as it should be, and shadows from the trees joined onto it, as though it was sucking them in. I cursed and leapt at my teammates, knocking them away as the shadow shape became a bottomless chasm- only demonstrated by the pebbles and leaves that we watched fall down it.

"Well, shit. Now I know why such a little kid is in the Chunin exams, un..." Deidara muttered, as we three all stood up carefully. Sasori analysed her a moment, before speaking in a low voice,

"As it stands, we are at a disadvatage. She has all these shadows to work with..." he sighed, then looked at me, "We'll have to rely on you for this one."

"Eh?! Me?!" My mind whirled- why would Sasori and Deidara need to rely on me? What could I do?! And, what's more, could I really fight a little girl? She was only a child for God's sake! They might not have a problem with that, but I certainly did! And I was a novice. I had never fought in real life combat, ever. I had only sparred against Itachi-

"Calm down." Sasori's calm voice cut off my inner babble, and I gazed at him, distressed, "You'll be fine- Use fire jutsu to reduce the amount of shadows so that we can get close enough to attack. You won't even be the one hurting her- if that's what you're worrying about."

It was amazing, the effect those words had on me.

"All right. Get ready." I sighed, breathing out slowly in an effort to calm myself. both Akatsuki members braced themselves, and I formed the hand signs, pulling air into my chest and mixing it with combustible chakra as I formed a loop with my thumb and forefinger. "Katon: Goukkakyuu no jutsu!"

The fire roared before me, searing away the shadows aroung us as the trees casting them caught alight. Sasori sprang forward as Deidara stayed by me, and two more- the girls teammates, or at least, that was my assumption- looking just as young as she. However, that was no cause for my two companions to hesitate. They were strong, for children, but no match for Akatsuki members- even handicapped as they were.

"Score! It's a Heaven scroll, un!" Deidara exclaimed, handing it to me, and I scowled.

"Jeez, it's like you want us to get attacked!" I hissed, and he grinned. I sighed, of course he did.

"It's not like any team could surprise us, anyway. Not with your sixth sense." the blonde smirked, and I frowned. I didn't like that he was depending on such a faulty ability. Not even I trusted in it yet.

"Still, we should try and avoid combat for now." Sasori cut in, "I don't want to be last to the tower, and now that we have both scrolls more fighting is pointless."

They started to walk, and I called out to catch their attention, "Hey, shouldn't we put this out?" they both seemed to have forgotten about the blazing fire that was slowly eating away at the trees around us. Deidara shrugged.

"It's not like we should care. It's Leaf village territory, after all. If anyone cares, they'll put it out." he said after a pause, and they began walking. I saw that I had no way to put out the fire- I didn't have water type chakra so knew no water style techniques- so had no choice but to follow my teammates and hope that a water style user would pass by.

"Dude! What the hell, why would someone just leave the forest like this?!" a voice rang out, and the three of us leapt to hide in some non-burning trees, just in time for a very familiar orange haired girl to stride onto the scene. Charlie.

"There must have been a fight here." the other ginger said, and I frowned; Jack? Was that Jack?

What was he doing here?

"No, actually, someone walked through and thought; Hey! Let's have a barbeque and use all of these trees to roast marshmallows!" Charlie said sarcastically, and I smirked slightly. Same old Charlie....

"Don't fight, guys..." a person I didn't recognise even slightly said, "I-I'll put out the fire, okay?"

He held himself in a shy manner, glancing timidly at his teammates. It was cute.

"Aww, you're adorable, Mikazuki-kun!" Charlie cooed, "Okay, if you can, but don't push yourself."

I could feel my teammates' surprise as the tiny, fragile looking boy drained a huge amount of water from a river that ran fast nearby and used it to soak the trees- and us. Though that last part wasn't on purpose... I think.

"That boy seems interesting..." Sasori murmured, then smirked, "We should put them to the test- it's what we're here for."

My eyes widened- they were going to attack Charlie's team! But why?!

Before I could say anything, however, they had leapt out, Deidara aiming for Jack and Sasori at the one named Mikazuki. I balked- that meant they wanted me to face Charlie. Crap.

But I had to do it- I couldn't let them suspect anything...

So I leapt out and did something I'd never even dream of doing- I attacked my best friend.

Jack seemed to be out quickly and even Mikazuki put up little fight, but Charlie was another story all together. I swung my fist at her, and she dodged with ease, but my body somehow anticipated every move she made before she could make it. While Deidara and Sasori were distracted, I spoke, "Which one of you has the scroll?"

She growled out lowly, "Why the heck would I tell you that?" she reached into her kunai pouch and withdrew a strangely marked scroll. It made a puff of smoke, and she placed the flute at her lips, "You're attacking us, you idiot." I could see the desperation and worry in her eyes, as she blew hard and her fingers pressed patterns on the holes of the instrument. My strange sixth sense screamed at me to cover my ears, and I went to do so, only to find that I couldn't move my arms.

I glanced over at Deidara and Sasori to see them frozen as well. Sasori smirked thinly. "It seems we targeted the wrong one out of the three of you."

Charlie let the flute leave her lips, and smirked back, "Looks like." the flute turned back into a scroll and she put it away, giving her unconscious teammates some sort of liquid from a small bottle. The effect was instant, and they slowly sat up.

Jack quickly leapt to his feet as he acknowledged us, glaring hard, "Are they..?"

"Paralysed? Yes. For the moment." I was surprised at the businesslike tone of my best friend. It was very out of character for her. "But we need to get to the tower ASAP or more crap like this is gonna happen."

"Right." They leapt away, Charlie sparing me one last cold, wary and confused glance before she disappeared through the slightly charred trees. My breath caught in my throat as I considered the possibility that she already knew it was me. What if she did, and I attacked her with her knowing who I was?

"Shit..." I muttered, and Sasori glanced at me in confusio. I just shook my head, pushing chakra around my body at a faster pace than normal to break the jutsu over me. I'm not sure how I knew to do that. I think, though, that my sixth sense was becoming something I considered as helpful rather than creepy.

- - -

Aggghhh. I'm stopping here. I'm tired...

RLY. IDK ABOUT THE TITLE.

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