A Little Kindness

The Second Stage

   We resume our tale with our three young heroes waiting anxiously at one of the many entrances into the forest of death. Having already been given their scroll, and already having formed a plan of attack, they were ready to get started. And get started they did. Because as soon as they saw their entrance open, they quickly ran inside in an attempt to get as much space between them and the others teams that were near them, as possible. Once they figured that they had created enough distance they stopped and made a makeshift camp for a couple of hours as they decided on how to approach this part of the exam.

   They could make a beeline for the tower and try to take a scroll from another team that was heading to the tower, and could possibly be weak from a previous fight, or maybe just tale them by surprise. Or maybe they should just go hunting for a scroll. Find a weaker team and just take their scroll from them. Or better yet why not just lure another team into a trap, and have the scroll come to them.

   Unfortunately the decision wasn't theirs to make. As they suddenly found themselves in the middle of a poisonous gas, that came from a collection of sealing scrolls. Acting quickly Sauke and Naruto each threw a handful of shuriken at the place that they saw the scrolls come from, but they couldn't tell if they hit their mark or not through the gas.

   Apparently they didn't as team 7 started to get bombarded with kunai and shuriken from seemingly every direction. As this continued Team 7 was starting to get worn down. The more they continued to dodge the objects being hurled at them, the more oxygen they needed. And soon they had started breathing in the poisonous gas as a result. Which wasn't poisonous at all, but actually sleeping gas, as Sakura had to come to find. With her being the most physically weak and most out of shape, she was having to breathe in more and more of the air. And now as a result she was getting sloppy with her dodging and her counters. Which made Naruto and Sasuke have to work even harder to try and keep her safe. Which was now affecting Sasuke, as he was also tiring out from the strain of not only trying to keep himself out of danger but also Sakura, and from not being able to breathe properly.

   Seeing this Naruto knew he had to act, but what he was about to do was extremely risky and dangerous for his teammates. But he didnt think he had much of a choice at this point. Quickly telling his teammates to get down and hold on tight. He quickly went through the seals for a great breakthrough, before completely blowing all of the smoke away, along with the ones that had casted it. Sakura and Sasuke were pretty much unharmed, except for a few cuts and bruises, and some messed up clothes.

   Naruto briefly noticed some fatigue before it quickly vanished, as he internally thanked Kurama for getting rid of the poison. Before acting fast and creating a dozen clones, knowing that the opposing team would be back pretty quickly. The clones would serve as a distraction, as he went to work on healing his teammates. By giving them a small amount of Kurama's chakra, Sauke and Sakura were feeling refreshed and ready to continue the fight. Which ended up being just in time, since that was when the other team appeared in front of them after quickly disposing of Naruto's clones.

   Now getting a chance to actually look at them Team 7 was able to see that it was a team from Ame that had snuck up on them. And based on their appearance they seemed to be at least a couple of years older than Team 7 was. Also they were also wearing matching dark brown ponchos. But most importantly was the matching pair of gauntlets that all three of them wore. All three of the gauntlets looked like they could fire projectiles out of them. This was proven true when the shortest of the enemy team proceeded to fire a volley of shuriken at them from his gauntlet. Which were all intercepted by a group of Naruto's clone, that he had made at the last second. This was followed by the tallest of the enemy team launching another volley of shuriken at them, which embedded themselves in an earth wall that Sakura had just finished creating. While this was happening Sasuke had noticed that the third member of the enemy team was reloading his gauntlet with more of the gas bombs, and had decided that it would be a good idea to not let him shoot anymore of those at them.

   Quickly going through the seals for a fireball jutsu he sent it toward the enemy trio, which made them predictably jump out of the way. Which is what Sasuke was looking for as he Sakura and Naruto threw kunai and shuriken at their airborne opponents. Which the Ame team had managed to block using their gauntlets. When they landed on the ground they weren't given any time to rest as another group of Naruto's clones were on them as soon as they touched the ground. Then as soon as they vanquished the clones, they had to deal with Team 7, who were now fully recovered from the attempted ambush. Team 7 made quick work of the Ame team, and upon searching them found that they had another heaven scroll, just like them. They decided to keep it and that Sasuke should carry it, in case the need ever arose.

   After quickly evacuating the area, in an attempt to get away from anyone that might have been drawn in by the fight, Team 7 made another camp. This time however Naruto sent several of his clones out to see if they could spot any other teams in the area. Not finding any teams close enough to worry about Team 7 decided to take a quick breather to finish going over their plan before continuing on into the forest.