Genkaku (Naruto fanfic)

Chapter 24: Of spiders and snakes

"Three"

"Two"

"One"

"Start"

The metal gate in front of them slid open and team 7 darted inside the dense foliage ahead. The sheer size of the trees and its multitude of branches blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving them in an eerie half-darkness. The forest floor was dotted with thorny bushes and larger than usual nettle-resembling plants.

The lack of direct sunlight caused the temperature to drop lower than was common in the land of Fire, Shizuka suddenly wished she had worn something full-sleeved as the hairs on her arms rose from the chill. Instead of the usual cacophony of birds and other wildlife, the forest was unnaturally quiet, only the soft thuds of their shoes connecting to branches was heard.

Not even five minutes in, a guttural scream sounded somewhere to their right, causing a shiver to run down her spine. All three of them shared a look before resolutely moving onwards.

The second task of their exam had officially begun and would last five days. Each team had received either an earth or heaven scroll and in order to pass, a team needed to have both of these scrolls with them and reach the tower in the middle of the forest. There were no rules and no opt outs. In other words, at least half (and likely many more) of the teams were about to be eliminated.

Her team was given a heaven scroll, meaning they'd have to get their hands on an earth scroll somehow.

An absolutely humongous hairy spider descended in front of Shizuka's horrified face, causing her to miss a step and bump into Naruto, sending both of them down to the forest floor in a flailing tangle of limbs.

"Oh my god." She shivered, rubbing her right leg where a particularly vicious elbow of Naruto had prodded her. "I hate it here."

"That was a little embarrassing for you." Sasuke smirked down at them from his perch on the tree branch his teammates had just tumbled down from.  "You're such a girl."

"And you're such a prick." Not her strongest comeback but whatever.

The feeling of something wriggling around beneath her back acutely reminded her of the fact that she was still spread out on top of her other teammate, causing her to quickly leap up and offer an arm to help the boy up.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto." She fussed awkwardly "I really didn't mean to take you down with me. Are you okay?"

The blonde grinned easily as he took her hand and hauled himself off the ground, slightly rubbing one of his ribs. 

"No worries, Shizuka!" He flashed her a quick thumbs up. "I'm totally fine. Actually now that we've stopped maybe we can do a pee break."

With those words, he started fiddling with his pants zipper.

Shizuka paled in horror, hurriedly turning around and raising her hands in front of her eyes. She did not want to see any of that. The impropriety of it all. She could practically see her aunt's disdainful look.

"Not in front of me, dude!"

"Oh uh sorry." The sound of footsteps crunching over the foliage came from behind her. "I'll just go behind the tree then."

 The sound of a soft thud next to her made her drop her hands. Sasuke, also looking mildly repulsed, had finally dropped down from his branch. The two shared a commiserating look, before opting to take the break time to take a few gulps from their canteens.

It took a few moments (perhaps it was a number two), but Naruto finally reappeared out of the bushes looking relieved.

"Phewwww" He grinned. "I don't think I could've held that in for much longer!"