Enter, the Chuunin Exams: Phase Two---The Forest of Death
[Third Person POV]
"Midori!" exclaimed Aoi from the branch above, causing said blonde to rip her gaze away from the path ahead and carry it to the trees above.
"You shouldn't be speaking Aoi---enemies could be all around us." she said, her voice low, yet loud enough for the ravenette to hear her.
Aoi nodded quickly to herself as she set her sights ahead.
They're t-tough, said the clone to Midori, telepathically, they've taken down the clone of you and now they're aiming to take down the clone of Aoi.
The blonde balled her hands into tight fists, causing her knuckles to whiten. "Jerks," she hissed, "killing off the girls first---how sexist of you."
"What's their position?" asked Ken in a calm, low voice, his golden eyes fixated on the path ahead.
Midori glanced over her left shoulder and stared back at him. "We're nearly twelve meters away from them. Be ready for any traps or surprises."
The fiery-haired lad subtly nodded and pulled out a fresh, sharp kunai from his right thigh's pouch. Life or death, he thought, they will be the ones not making it out of here, not us.
Aoi unstrapped her bow and knocked an arrow into the string, preparing herself. "Gotcha, blondie." she whispered.
Midori opted to not draw any weapon just yet because it was too early in her opinion. Her eyes suddenly widened as the remaining clone, the Ken one, transmitted this message to her:
I-I'm s-sorry, it muttered, the clone's voice slowly fading, but we . . . have . . . failed.
There was silence afterwards, for Midori knew that her clone had dissipated into nothing more than a mere pile of mud. I should've known, she thought, that my clones wouldn't be capable enough of fighting real shinobi they, nor we, knew nothing about. She internally slapped herself in the face for being so ignorant of these facts.
"Ken, Aoi," said Midori in an unusually sharp tone. "We have no other option but to engage them from the shadows. The memories from my clones . . . they showed me that the enemy is too skilled in taijutsu and close-range ninjutsu."
Aoi stared straight ahead as she leapt to the next branch ahead of her, momentarily clutching the bark of it with her porcelain, still slightly scar-covered, hand.
Ken's golden eyes never wavered once as he carried them to the ground and subtly nodded. "Understood." he muttered, his face hardened and cold. What if he's . . . no, thought Ken, that's impossible. He'd never come here.
"Should we take this at different angles, blondie?" asked Aoi from above.
Midori pondered the possibilities of them splitting up and attacking the enemy from three other directions, then nodded. "It would give us a slight advantage over the enemy, if not a winning chance. We'll split up. Both of you can create clones, right?"
"Pft!" Aoi scoffed. "Simple clones; yeah. Just not any of that big-wig shit that you do."
Midori smirked. "Good," she said, "you should both make one to stick with you." She quickly performed a set of hand seals and formed a clone from wood out of her left shoulder blade. "They'll keep you company and give you an extra pair of eyes." The clone glanced over at its creator, nodded, then leapt onto the branch above. Before following after her clone, Midori looked over shoulder briefly and said, "When you both make it there and are on either side of me, I want you to break off a small twig from a nearby branch and drop it to the ground so it'll let me know that you've both made it."
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The Beast Within {Discontinued ~ Mori no Ko)
Fanfiction{2nd Place Winner of the @NarutoWattyAwards ~ Other Category} Midori Nagamori was just like any other villager in the Village Hidden in the Mountains, until her village was attacked by a raging tailed beast. This beast was only heard of in the moun...
