The Harsh Truth

Chapter 18

The snake pit course wasn't a mere training area. It wasn't the simple placement of some obstacles, with the addition of a couple of snakes. Heck, there wasn't even a snake. The reptiles loved to breathe, and stay alive. No, the snake pit had its name because of how tortuous it was, of how quickly the senbon coated with laxative poisons were, and of how scales were placed everywhere, to hide the mechanical contraption meant to rain down on the runners of said course fiery or molten steel.

The snake pit wasn't even a pit, but a straight and narrow corridor, where a team of three could barely stand shoulder to shoulder. Yet, the pit course was now the worst nightmare that Hinata, Kiba and Katsumi could ever dream of.

The three were tense, especially because they were halfway through it, and only one day away from the exam…and it didn't bode well.

"I won't believe Neji-san managed this alone!" Hinata spat out, as her body began to shift, roaring "Kaiten!" to deflect an incoming barrage of senbon needles and kunais.

"That's an explosive one!" Katsumi yelled, flinging a kunai to deflect another that had an explosive tag attached to it. Normally, the Kaiten would have been enough. Except that the explosive tags, self-made by Naruto, had the tendency to explode upon contact…or when they touched something. Meaning that as soon as Katsumi's kunai touched the enemy's one, it detonated, sending shrapnel of molten steel around.

"Can we go with the plan?" Kiba exclaimed, dusting pieces of iron out of his jacket, while the sooth that covered his face stayed there, for the moment not giving him troubles.

"Let's try it mutt-boy!" At Hinata's exclamation, Kiba got on all four legs, before gulping down a soldier pill, just like Akamaru did.

The next moment, the two Kibas stood one atop the other, roaring.

"Gatsuga!" as twin hurricanes of claws and fangs buried themselves on the course's left wall, it created a smooth corridor of dirt, that seemed to reach for the upper levels.

"I say sensei is going to kill us," Katsumi muttered, as the three Genins started to climb through the Kiba-made tunnel.

"What? He said, and I quote, *Just get to the end*, this is going to the end!" Kiba retorted.

"My, afraid that Oniichan will hate you, little crybaby?" Hinata mocked, with a grin on her face.

"Y…You Fatbags! Shut up!" Katsumi replied, grabbing a small pebble and flinging it Hinata's way…and actually hitting her on the back.

"You damn childish flat-board! I swear, you find out the Byakugan's blind spot, and that's where you hit every time?! You f…" with Hinata's exclamations, Kiba decided to cut the losses down, especially on female grace, that the team seemed to be sorely lacking on.

"Oh look, sensei!" as he pointed his finger somewhere, in a moment, things changed.

Firstly, Hinata put out her eyelashes, fluttering them with a light blush on her cheeks, pressing her arms together to accentuate her breasts.

"Sensei? Where?"

Secondly, Katsumi already had the sparkling eyes on, and was making a cute pout, or at least, what she thought was a cute pout.

"Oniichan? Where?"

Kiba, on the other hand, was already a couple of miles forward, laughing hard, especially at having conned the two girls.

"Kiba…" both Hinata and Katsumi muttered, murderously, at the same time.

And then, with a savage roar worthy of the best of the Inuzukas, both girls began pursuing the boy, with pointy kunais in their hands, obviously.