Iroko POV

"Well, what's going on here?" said a voice with a lack of energy and dullness. "I thought the point of this test was to find Earth & Heaven Scrolls. But you two just seemed to be going at it for no reason."

As I recovered myself and stood on my feet again, I looked up and saw them standing gracefully on the branch of a tree with their shoulders slouched.

"Toothpick!!" Kaz seethed.

"B-Baku?" I blurted out.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

His ocean blue eyes hovered in Kaz's direction unenthusiastically. "You probably didn't hear because you were all the way out here but a giant snake had crashed the test a few minutes ago and injured slash killed lots of the participants. Last I saw, both members of Team 12 and 4 were one of them."

I gasped in shock and thought I heard Kaz do the same.

"A giant snake?" I repeated. "Is it still out there?"

"It's been pretty quiet so far, so I'm not sure..."

Beads of sweat were falling down my face. Asami, Yuura.. I've been away from them for too long. If what Baku's saying is true then I can't be here any longer!!

"Bullcrap!!" Kaz beside me called out.

"Huh? Kaz, what're you talking about?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Bullcrap, you say?" Baku said, raising an eyebrow. "How come?"

"You don't think I can't see what you're doing?" Kaz answered. "A giant snake? Please! I could've come up with something better! Quit trying to get in the way and just screw off!! This fight is being finished one way or another--"

"YO, BAKU, WHATCHA DOING ALL THE WAY OVER HERE, HUH?!"

Kaz froze.

Sayo Atsuhiro emerged from the trees and landed recklessly on Baku's branch, shaking it dangerously.

"Maybe don't?" Baku deadpanned at her.

"Hm? Whaddya mean?" Then Kaz caught her magenta eyes. "Oh, hey, is that Kazue? YOOOOO!!!"

"S#!t..." Kaz was slowly backing away.

Ken Inuzuka appeared behind her soon after along with his dog Akira. "Hey, wait for us next time, will you?" he panted.

"ARF, ARF!!" went Akira.

"Aww, I'm sorry, my widdle Akira!" Sayo went to her knees and started cuddling Akira, completely ignoring Ken. "I'll make sure to wait for you next time! To make it up to you, you see Kazue down there?"

"ARF!!"

"Let's go play with him a little, huh?"

Kaz was already leaping out of the clearing. "This ain't over, Jiko, you hear me?"

"Huh?! What the hell, you're leaving?!" I exclaimed. "What happened to finishing the fight no matter what?!"

"Shut your damn mouth!! I said this ain't over!! I will beat your a$$, no matter what! And I'm coming for you, too, Toothpick, count on it..."

His voice dwindled as he got further and further away.

"Hey, Kazue!" Sayo whined. "Man! Sorry, Akira, maybe another time, girl." She patted the dog's head sympathetically as she whimpered.

"Um, you do know she's my dog, right?" said Ken.

I heaved a massive sigh. Well, that takes care of one problem, I thought.

Baku jumped off the branch of the tree and landed beside me. "You better get going yourself if you want to have a chance of finding your teammates."

"Right," I nodded. "Thanks for the help, I owe you guys!"

Baku stood looking at me for a moment, then he swung a fist to my face. I barely managed to block it before he delivered another and then another.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" I shouted, trying to parry.

Even with my advanced strength and reflexes, I found Baku to still be on a different level than me and managed to swing a blow into my stomach, and right as I was caught off guard he kicked me clear across the clearing. If I was almost a match for Kaz now in taijutsu and Baku had managed to break me that easily it meant he was even better than Kaz. He really was in a league of his own.

"What the hell...," I struggled to say, finding it impossible to breathe at that moment.

"Looks like you really didn't have a Scroll on you after all," was all he said. "I doubt Kazue did either for that matter."

He even managed to search me in those seconds?

"You went and thanked me just then as if we were allies," Baku continued, "and then you let your guard down so much it was like you were practically inviting me to assault you. So I had to remind you that no one here in this test is an ally of yours except your teammates - and even they may double-cross you at some point. As of now, no matter what I do, I am an enemy, Iroko. Don't forget that."

"No, you're wrong." I voiced.

"Hm?"

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"DON'T YOU DARE! YOU ARE COMING BACK TO US, YOU HEAR ME? IF YOU DON'T, THEN I'LL COME AND GET YOU MYSELF! 'HAVE FAITH IN EACH OTHER', THAT'S WHAT HISAO-SENSEI SAID! 'WE'RE A TEAM AND WE'RE FRIENDS' THAT'S WHAT YOU SAID! I know this is important to you, but aren't we also important to you?"

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"That part about my teammates double-crossing me, maybe others may do that, but mine won't ever," I said resolutely and then grinned. "Team 12 is tighter than you think."

Baku remained unimpressed. "You're so weird."

"Baku, come on, let's go!" Ken called out to him. "If he's got no Scroll then we should leave before other genin appear."

"Yeah," the silver-haired slacker jumped back up to his teammates and together they left the clearing.

Before they were out of earshot I heard Sayo ask: "Who was that again?"

She didn't recognize me!? I half-cried.

After having recovered my strength, I left the clearing and took to searching for any trace of Asami and Yuura. Hopefully, with any luck, they would've gotten the Heaven Scroll we needed while I was distracting Kaz.

It was a lot quieter in the Forest than it was before my fight with Kaz had begun. Just how much damage had that snake Baku was talking about done?

About ten minutes had passed and I still hadn't found any sign of my friends. I was worried now. What if they were caught in the snake's attack? What if this only happened because I wasn't there and I could've done something to prevent it?

I put my hand to my head in guilt. Now you've gone and done it, you piece of trash. What happened to not letting the past get in the way of the present?

I stopped halfway through my angsty monologuing when I felt something pulling at my trousers. Looking down, I saw it was a tiny, green turtle.

"Hey there, little fella!" I crouched down to its level. "Are you lost or something? Can't find your parents?

"Wait-" A thought struck my mind like lightning. I darted away from the turtle and assumed a fighting position. "What if you're one of the crazy animals in this place that's trying to kill us? Haha, nice try but I won't let my guard so easily anymore!"

The turtle was unassuming and continued to stare at me, until it turned around and started crawling away.

Huh? Maybe it is just a regular turtle? But why did it pull at my trouser?

That's when I noticed the writing on its shell. Small characters having been drawn close to the turtle's behind with some sort of black ink or marker. I squinted and made them out to be the kanji of numbers: 十二

"Twelve.." I read - and then inwardly gasped.

So I followed the turtle, believing it to have been sent by Asam or Yuura. It lead me through various points of the Forest of the Death. Occasionally I would pass by a felled tree or crater in the ground, while I was beginning to hear the sounds of clashing kunai and explosions.

This Test has been crazy so far, I thought to myself. I can't wait to get it over with. I wonder how much time is left.

"Hey, there's only one genin over here!!"

I swerved around to see a grown man, now accompanied by another man and a woman, armed to the teeth and out for blood.

"Looks like one of the Cloud-nin," said the other man, "let's get him!!"

"Crap!!!" I burst into a run, completely forgetting about the turtle. All I knew in that moment was that I had to get out of there or I was done for.

Alright, just gotta activate my Flash an-- I felt myself get pulled by the collar of my jacket. Fear overwhelmed me, thinking the ninja had caught up, but I was shrouded in darkness before I could do anything-

-however, I wasn't knocked unconscious or even hit in any way. I felt myself falling for a moment through some leaves then I landed on my butt, and that was it.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a dimly lit space with mud and plantlike tendrils. Asami and Yuura were also standing before me.

I beamed. "You guys!! Wait- is it really you?"

"No, it's not," Asami answered. "We're actually enemy-nin who've disguised ourselves so as to lure you into a false sense of security and then kill you at the right moment when you least expect it."

Yuura laughed awkwardly. "Do you have to be so mean...?"

"Yeah, it's definitely you, alright," I scoffed, standing up. "Where are we?"

"A hollowing under the roots of a tree," said Yuura, "perfectly concealed by all the bushes outside. Sorry Asami had to pull you in so roughly; we needed to get you to safety as soon as possible."

"Nah, that's okay," I replied, standing up. "I would've done the same probably. What about you guys, are you okay? I heard you had a run-in with a giant snake."

Yuura blinked. "Was that what that was? I couldn't recall anything after my fight with Tensho and before I woke up to Asami."

"Tensho?" I questioned. "Wait, as in Tensho Hyuga? You fought against her?"

Yuura nodded. "And I believe Asami was with Jin."

She didn't do or say anything to confirm this but I believed him anyway.

"Then they must have been targeting all of us as a team! Leave it to Kaz to always have something up his sleeve." Then I remembered. "Oh, crap, did they take our Scroll?!"

Yuura smiled then pulled out an Earth Scroll from his pocket. Asami proceeded to pull out another Scroll but it was a Heaven one. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"No, they didn't," he answered. "We also weren't able to get theirs, but we managed to work something out by taking from other teams."

"You guys... really are something else," I breathed. "You didn't even need my help..."

I recalled the memory of right after the Bell Test when Yuura and Asami had held up the bells before me, parallel to what I was seeing now with the Scrolls.

Who am I kidding? I talked all big in front of Baku about us being a team, but I wasn't even apart of getting those Scrolls, just like there wasn't much I could do about getting those bells from Hisao-sensei.

Can I really compare myself to them?

I guess.. even if we are a team, I'm not really apart of the T--

"Stop it."

That was Yuura. I looked up to see a look of annoyance on his face. "Huh?"

"I know what you're thinking right now," I continued, "and I'm telling you to stop thinking that way."

He drew a deep breath and then spoke: "You're Iroko Nakata. You trained for three whole years just to make sure you passed the entrance test, managed to beat an A-class rogue ninja, and kept Kazue Katsumi at bay for almost an hour by yourself!

"Don't you start feeling inadequate just because you weren't there to receive some bells or scrolls. The only reason we were able to pass the Bell Test, or had an opening to get these Scrolls was because of your actions. Your combined effort with Asami when facing Hisao-sensei had given me enough time to form the Water Dragon jutsu and your keeping Kazue busy was what allowed us to have an easier chance with Team 4. Th-this team is what it is because all three of us had made it so!! N-no one is above the other!!"

"That part about my teammates double-crossing me, maybe others may do that, but mine won't ever. Team 12 is tighter than you think."

That's what I had said ... AND I WASN'T WRONG.

"You're right, Yuura. Thanks, I'm feeling like myself again!!" I swear I'll never second-guess this team again!!

He gave a sigh of relief. "Alright, then I'm glad. By the way, have you seen Midoru* (緑シェル)? He showed you the way here, right?"

"Mi.. doru?" I asked.

"Right, the little green turtle with the number 12 written on him? Oh, here he is now!"

Said little green turtle from earlier had now crawled into the hollowing under the tree and into Yuura's hands.

"Woah, so you got a pet, Yuura?" I wowed in surprise. "A well-trained one at that, too!"

"Thanks but he's not exactly my pet," is what he said before he said to the turtle: "Thanks for your help, Midoru, you can go now."

The turtle actually nodded back at Yuura then was consumed in a cloud of smoke and was vanished from his hands.

"A Summoning?!" I exclaimed. "When did you learn to do that?"

"While I was training with- ah, a friend of Daito's."

"That's ultimate, Yuura!! You've gotta introduce me to this friend of Daito's or maybe you could teach me yourself!"

He laughed awkwardly.

"Are the two of you done?" Asami intruded. "We need a plan now on how we're going to get to the tower. The genin from earlier are still out there looking for you. I doubt we can sneak by them since they're on high alert."

"Then let's not bother with sneaking past them," I grinned.

"Hold on," Yuura intervened. "Are you talking about a head-on fight? We can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Well, w-we don't even know how strong they are!"

"Not to mention we also don't know their numbers," Asami added.

"Why should any of that matter?" I objected. "Asami, you said it yourself: We can't sneak past them, so our only option is to fight! We can do it! We're not the same as three weeks ago, and we're a team! If anyone can make it to that tower it's us!! Speaking of which, how much farther away is the tower?"

"Less than an hour," said Asami. "Even so, if we stay and fight these genin, we'll waste even more time."

I became confused at her comment. "Hm? What do you mean? We've got unlimited time to get the Scrolls to the tower, don't we?"

"We may have unlimited time but we don't have unlimited spaces," she disclosed. "I figured it out when I questioned why there was no time limit and how exactly they could let fifty genins pass the exam. They can't. This is exactly like the Written Test: this exam's true purpose is to thin out the participants in preparation for the next Exam."

"Which is?" Yuura inquired.

"The single-elimination rounds," I realized.

Yeah, I remember. Whenever the Chunin Exams went live on the TV, it was always the single-elimination rounds that were airing. When we came here to take the Forest of Death exam there was like fifty people in the area. But during the elimination rounds, I saw that there was only ever about sixteen or so people which meant--

"She's right," I concluded. "The real goal of this test is to thin out the participants!!"

"Which means we don't have time!" Yuura followed-up. "The spaces for the next exams are probably filling up right now with every team that manages to make it to the tower.. I can't believe I'm saying this but you're right, Iroko, we have no choice but to lead with a head-on fight and get away as quickly as possible!"

"So you're in? Heck yeah!!" I praised. "Asami?"

She heaved a sigh. "We won't stay and fight them for long. If there's too many in number we retreat and head for the tower anyway."

I held out a thumbs-up. "Sounds good!! Well, now that we're all in agreement and Team 12 is back together again, let's head for that tower!!!"