Iroko POV

"Eat this."

As soon as we had started making our way out of the hollowing under the tree Asami tossed at me a small and round food-like object. It looked like a ball of chocolate.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Food pill. It'll restore your chakra; I know you overdid against Kazue."

"Ah-ha ha, yeah. Thanks..." I ate the food pill and immediately my tongue was met with the harshest, most bitter taste it had ever encountered. So much so, I almost spat the pill back out. "Uggghh!!"

"It doesn't taste very good, does it?" Yuura inquired with the impression he had eaten one himself.

The genin from earlier were standing in an area with densely packed trees. I stared down at them from above while hanging from the bark of a tree, waiting to strike.

"Dammit, I could've sworn the brat went this way, where'd he go?" said one of the guys.

"Ah, that's just great!" the woman exclaimed. "He was our last chance to get a Scroll and now we've lost him! What're we gonna do now?!"

"He can't have gone far!" said the other man. "If we split up and fan out--"

"Don't waste your time!!" I shouted. "I'm right here!!"

I leapt off of the tree and into their view. Their mouths flew wide open. "There he is!!" they gasped.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!!" Spawning ten shadow clones, I dived headfirst for them. If we wanted to take them out as quickly as possible a swift, head-on attack was our best bet!

Suddenly, the woman stood in front of the two guys and, performing some hand seals, cried out: "Barrier Jutsu: Sealing Vault!"

From the ground erected a near-translucent rectangular prism that enveloped the three of them, effectively blocking my Shadow Clone assault.

One of the guys laughed. "You stupid kid! Did you really think you could stop us on your own?"

"Nah, not alone," I grinned. "Yuura!!"

He appeared behind them just as I called out his name, hand seals at the ready.

"Water Style: Great Gunshot!!" He fired from his mouth a giant ball of water straight at the prism.

But it did not shatter it and left only a massive crack.

"What the hell was that? From behind us?" said the guy. I could see Yuura give a worrisome expression.

The woman gritted her teeth. "We should've known he wasn't alone. Stay on the look out for another a--"

The prism was immediately shattered thereafter. I had no idea what happened but Asami was up above at where the point of destruction happened. All three of the teammates stared up at her blankly. My shadow clones moved in that next second.

They were able to knock out the woman and one of the guys but one had gotten out of the way in time.

"Damn you!!" he cried, reaching for something in the pocket of his jacket. "DAMN YOU ALL!!!"

He whipped out a giant explosive tag and flung it unto the ground, having already detonated. "GUESS I'LL JUST HAVE TO TAKE YOU ALL OUT WITH ME!!!"

"YOU GUYS!!!" Yuura screamed.

A blinding light emanated from the tag followed by scorching rays of heat that was hot enough to erase all of my clones. It was on the verge of exploding and wiping out this whole side of the Forest until Asami intervened.

"Wood Style: Coccoon!!" With the explosion already underway, she had to erect the giant wooden cocoon before it could touch the four of us. It was silenced with a great deafening sound. Smoke issued out from the cocoon.

Right after that, I Flashed towards the guy with a blow to the face he barely saw coming.

"And that takes care of that!" I dusted my hands, standing over his unconscious body.

Suddenly Yuura had shot a water bullet right past me. I turned around to see the other guy of the team planning on striking me with a kunai fall down.

"Woah, thanks for the assist!" I thumbs-upped at him. "And nice job with the Wood Style, Asami!"

"We need to go now," she said.

Why do I still compliment you?

We were just on our way out when the guy Yuura had knocked out suddenly grabbed him by his feet which made him jump. I was about to react when I saw that there were tears in his eyes.

"Please..." he choked on his tears. "We need this..."

I looked at Yuura. His face was mixed with guilt and sadness. But he finally said: "I'm sorry- but we need this, too." And with that, he tore his leg away from his grasp and the three of us went on our way.

"You okay?" I said to Yuura. "That can't have been easy."

"No, it wasn't," he responded. "But this team comes first."

I nodded in agreement.

According to Asami, the tower was now only less than ten minutes away. If I jumped up high enough, I could see it above the heads of the trees.

"We're gonna make it!!" I beamed.

In my excitement, I dashed towards the tower at a faster pace, slowly leaving behind Asami and Yuura.

"H-Hey, Iroko!" Yuura tried to call out but was interrupted by Asami.

"Quiet," she said, slowing down. "Do you hear that?"

I stopped in my tracks and listened all around me. I could hear something. "Buzzing...?"

That buzzing sound then steadily grew louder and louder, until we could determine where it was coming from. On our right was a whole swarm of giant hornets heading straight for us.

"Oh, crap..." I sighed.

Now we were running from the swarm of giant hornets. Why didn't we just mow them down with our ninjutsu you might ask? Well, we did. Asami launched a Fireball Jutsu at it, Yuura released his Water Bullets and I spawned Shadow Clones to go face them. None of the mentioned attacks had any effect on them whatsoever. Asami's Fireball was extinguished, Yuura's Water Bullets were expelled and my Shadow Clones were eviscerated.

"Are they immune to ninjutsu or something?" I asked.

"Looks like it!" Yuura cried. "So our only choice is to run!!"

I could've used my Flash jutsu to lose the hornets but then I'd be leaving behind Asami and Yuura. The hornets were right behind us, and the tower now lay before us in full view.

"Up ahead!" Asami pointed.

We were approaching an opening between the branches and leaves. With all of our energy, we burst through the trees and out into a forest clearing.

As soon as we landed onto the ground we spun round to the face the hornets -- but there was nothing in front of us.

"Wait," I started, "did we actually lose them?"

"Hardly," answered someone from behind us. "I just commanded them to stop following you."

We turned around and saw Shino Aburame standing at the foot entrance to the tower. "Welcome, you three have made it to the tower."

"Shino-sensei?" I said. "Wait, so you were the one that sicked those hornets on us?"

"No, someone earlier had knocked down their nest which aggravated them (I suspect they were unable to escape them). After that, they probably had a taste for human blood and wanted more."

The three of us deadpanned at him. "Seriously, dude? I can't believe you just let them murder people," I cringed.

"Regardless," he went on, "you have reached the tower and so they will not pose a threat to you here. Did you bring the necessary Scrolls?"

Asami and Yuura presented to him the Heaven and Earth Scrolls.

"Excellent work. You three have passed this portion of the Chunin Exams and secured a place in the next test."

I leapt for joy, shaking Yuura. "YEAH, WE DID IT!! WE DID IT, YUURA!!"

"Y-y-yeah!!"

"So I was right, then," Asami pointed out.

"About what?" Shino-sensei asked.

"There are only a select number of teams that can move on to the next test."

Shino-sensei was silent for a moment then answered: "Yes. The three of you were able to secure the second-to-last spot."

I gasped. "Then the next test is the Single-Elimination Rounds, right?"

"Go to the stadium on the eastern outskirts of the Leaf Village tomorrow," he replied. "The final test will be held there."

The doors of the tower's entrance suddenly flung open, revealing a portal.

My mouth was wide open from awe. "Woah...!"

"It must be space-time ninjutsu," Yuura noted. "I'd read about it in my studies but I've never actually seen it."

"Go through the portal and it will take you outside of the Forest of Death," Shino-sensei directed. "Congratulations once again."

We bowed to him and walked to the portal, but before leaving there was one curiosity I had to satisfy.

"What's in the Scrolls?" I turned back and asked him.

Shino-sensei smiled. He unrolled one of the Scrolls and held it out to me. "Recipe for gyoza."

"Ehhhh?"

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

"Really? That's what was in the Scrolls?" Yuura marvelled.

"Yeah, to think everyone was risking their lives for a dumpling recipe," I huffed. "You think if people knew it would make them think it was all pointless?"

"Not necessarily," said Yuura. "A mission is still a mission. It's a ninja's job to see it through to the end no matter how laughable it is. In fact, that was probably the whole point of concealing the information in the first place. The less one knows, the better."

"Yeah, you're probably right. It's still kinda uncool, though."

After having left the Forest of Death, with still a bucketload of energy to spare, the three of us had decided to stroll around the village. The weather had started changing; it was a lot cooler and the autumn leaves were falling all around us.

"Still, I can't believe we really passed and made it into the final test!" I smiled excitedly.

"Shino-sensei had said to head to the stadium in the eastern outskirts of the Leaf, right?" Yuura recalled. "Then it has to be a single-elimination test."

"Which means," came Asami, "there's a chance we'll no longer be fighting as a team."

We stopped walking once the realization set in.

"She's right," said Yuura, sympathetically. "We might.. have to fight each other..."

The atmosphere now became tense, but I wasn't gonna let things end on this note.

"Even so," I said, "it's about the three of us becoming chunin, ain't it? Even if we have to fight each other, let's give it our all so we can make it happen!"

Yuura smiled again. "R-right!"

Asami nodded.

"So," I smirked, "who's up for some sushi?"

"No.""No thanks!"

Ouch, they replied so quickly.

"I've got to go check on Daito," Yuura explained, "to see if he passed the Test."

"And what's your excuse?" I asked Asami.

"I don't want to."

I slouched my shoulders in defeat. "Fine, whatever. See you guys tomorrow I guess."

On my way to the Edo, I caught sight of a certain someone by the window that exposed the inside of the restaurant. His fuzzy green hair was hard to miss.

Itsuki?

He was currently reading the menu, and so he hadn't noticed me yet. I decided I wanted to catch him by surprise. As I walked into the restaurant and I was then greeted by a familiar face.

"Hey, Iroko! Welcome back!" came Ruri Nohara.

A high-esteemed waitress with wine red hair, gentle brown eyes, and rectangular purple markings on either side of her face, I met her when I first came to the Edo with Oneechan three years ago. We become something of friends and since then, whenever she's clocked in, she's me and Oneechan's personal waitress. Though she'd be 17 this year she's pretty tall for a girl (but you never say that to their face, Oneechan told me).

"Hey, Ruri!" I greeted back. "I haven't seen you around for a while, is everything okay?"

"Ah, yeah, I just had to take a leave for some personal stuff, that's all," she said. Even though she was coating it I could tell she was hiding something, but I didn't poke.

"Well, good to have you back, this restaurant would be boring without you!" I grinned.

She giggled. "Thanks, that means a lot. So will it be the usual today?"

I pointed to Itsuki's table. "Yeah, and if it's not too much trouble could you bring it to the table that guy's sitting on?"

She followed my hand to see who I was talking about. "Yeah, sure. Do you know him?"

"You could say that."

After that I went and sauntered around his table, whistling, until he noticed me and at which point I gave a cheerful "Hey!"

"Iroko, hey," he said.

"So you're a fan of the Edo?" I asked, sitting opposite of him.

"No, not really, I was just looking for a place to grab a bite."

"Well, you made the right choice anyway!" I thumbs-upped at him. "What're you getting?"

"Oh, just some gyoza with a side of soy sauce."

Gyoza, huh? Go figure. "Where's Ena and Genzo?"

"They weren't hungry so they went back to the apartment we rented. How did the Forest of Death go for you? Did you pass?"

"With flying colours!!" I bragged. "We're heading on to the Single-Elimination Rounds now!"

"The Single-Elimination Rounds?" Itsuki repeated. His eyebrows lifted slightly to show surprise. "Of course, just like in the previous Exams."

"So you used to watch the Chunin Exams, too?" I wondered.

"Yeah, whenever it would broadcast on television with my dad," he said.

Just his dad?

Itsuki looked intently at me before speaking again. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure, what's up?"

"You become a ninja just this year, right? Why are you taking the Chunin Exams so early?"

"Ha, you became a ninja just this year, too, didn't you? I could ask you the same thing!" I laughed. "But my reason is that I want to achieve recognition early in the game. There's a certain someone I'm trying to surpass and if I stay nameless then all of my actions will go unnoticed anyway."

"So you want fame and fortune?"

"No, nothing as shallow as that! I want to reassure people when they see and hear my voice, so I can be a hero to everyone in the Leaf, just like him."

"Here are your orders!" said Ruri. "Sorry if you had to wait!"

"Ah, thanks a bunch, Ruri!" I beamed.

She winked at me then turned to Itsuki. "Is everything to your liking? Anything else you need?"

"No, this is fine, thank you," he said.

"Then enjoy your meals!" she took her leave.

After we had given thanks the two of us dug into our grubs.

"So who is it you're trying to surpass?" Itsuki asked.

"Oh, Naruto Uzumaki! You know, the guy who had saved the world with Sasuke Uchiha?"

Itsuki's eyes widened but relaxed almost as quickly. "Right. That makes sense."

"What about you? You haven't told me why you're taking the Chunin Exams," I insisted.

"Mhm," he swallowed a gyoza dipped in soy sauce. "It's the same reason as you."

"Really?"

He nodded. "I want to be seen as a hero to the Sand, someone like the Fifth Kazekage, and to do that I have to keep climbing up the ladder.."

Knowing we had the same objective, for some reason, made me glad. I had only known Itsuki for a day but it feels longer than that. We ate in silence for the rest of the meal.

When we had finished, he stood up from where he sat.

"You know, Iroko," he said, "I get the feeling you're like me."

"..huh?"

"All done?" Ruri asked.

"Yes," Itsuki answered, "thank you for the meal. I'll pay for his as well."

"My, so kind!" Ruri gushed.

"See you tomorrow," he said to me before slipping through doors.

"Uh, wait, Itsu-- never mind," I gave up.

"Everything okay?" Ruri inquired.

"Yeah, no problems here." What did he mean by that?

Upon returning home, I burst into the house and announced to Nee-chan: "GUESS WHO PASSED BOTH TESTS TODAY!!"

"NOT YOU!!" she replied.

😧

"Kidding! I'm kidding! Jeez, why do you look like that?"

My expression turned into joyful banter. "Haha, gotcha with that one, didn't I?"

"C'mere you--" She tried to make a grab for me to which I dodged.

"Well, anyway you just caught me as I came back from a mission," she said and she was right for she was still in her flak jacket. "Wanna help me make dinner? (There's nothing in the fridge right now) You can tell me all about what happened."

"Sure!"

As I was getting the necessary ingredients for Nee-chan to make curry, I couldn't help but shake with excitement for tomorrow. I was really going to be a part of the Single-Elimination Rounds that would be broadcasted across the entire ninja world for everyone of every age to see and spectated by the most important people in this generation. It was thrilling just to think about it, like a dream becoming reality.

Baku.

Itsuki.

Kaz.

Yuura.

Asami.

The real test begins tomorrow!!