Adventures of Shiori Senju (Naruto Fanfiction)

Chapter 24: Forest of Death

Everyone was instructed to wait by one of the gate entrances for a sound to begin the second part of the exam after they collected their scrolls. A gate was in our sight that had Kotetsu standing by the door waiting for one of the teams to show up. He nonchalantly glances at us and smirks when he realizes who was coming toward him. I wave, "Hey, Kotetsu! Are you having fun being a proctor?"

He smiles, "Yes, you certainly keep things interesting."

"You're just excited to watch Sasuke and I compete in the exams like everyone else."

He chuckles, "You caught me."

I nod, should I warn him about Orochimaru or is it too risky to involve him? He's here for something or someone...who is it? Orochimaru is always after all-powerful jutsu in existence especially the forbidden ones. I've heard he can perform the immortality jutsu which requires a strong and young body. He has a particular taste in rare jutsu and talented people like myself and Sasuke. My eyes pop out in realization, he's after Sasuke! Chiaki's hand waves in my face, "Are you okay? You've been spacing out for a while." Chiaki and Daiki look worried but Kotetsu narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

He raises his brow, "Is there something you wish to tell me?"

I gently smile, "I forgot to run some errands before the exam started nothing to worry about." I kept my features gentle as his analytical eyes scan my face for lies. I understood that he realized something wasn't right because he's known me for a long time. He huffs in defeat, "It's never too late for my help." His double-meaning answer told me he wasn't letting this go. The clock ticks on the ten and he announces, "Two minutes until the exam starts."

I stand in front while the others flank behind in triangle formation. We watch as the clock ticks down for the count of the second exam to begin. He whispers so only I would hear, "You need to explain what's going on."

I murmur, "There's something I must take care of in the forest." A deafening sound goes off and the fence door flies open before he could say anything to me. I rush forward into the wilderness watching for any sign of the enemy while searching for a hidden area. My eyes spot a cave covered by a thicket of bushes and jump inside it with my teammates. I stick the tags in four areas and weave (Dragon-Tiger-Horse-Dog), "Sound Barrier Jutsu."

The tags glow for a second then the light forms into the barrier. My friends look at the now invisible wall and Chiaki tilts her head, "Explain yourself. You've been acting funny ever since you met the grass ninja group."

Daiki nods, "That's what I'd like to know."

I sigh, "We need to track down Team Seven right away." They both motioned me to continue my explanation so I delve into a lengthy explanation telling them everything. My finger touches the ground to see if I could sense anyone around the area.

Chiaki anxiously twitches her fingers, "We'll have to fight against Orochimaru one of the Sanin and his sound ninja group. This isn't going to end well I just know it."

Daiki shakes his head, "Don't forget about the Dark village they want something from you. This is going to be a tough mission especially when we're in the middle of the exam."

I hum, "There's nothing we can do but move forward with it." I peel the tags off the walls and stuff them inside my pouch to use in the future.

We jump out of the bushes heading where I can sense Sasuke's chakra before Orochimaru can get to him. A sudden object flies in front of my eyes as my vision focuses on the kunai with a paper bomb attached. I quickly turn to throw my marked kunai at the ground then grab a hold of my teammates. My body flickers where my marker lands before the tag had the chance to explode in our faces. Not long after, I sensed three chakras lingering inside the trees that surrounded us there was no escape. My comrades nodded as a confirmation that we had to stand and fight whoever was standing in our way. I shout, "There's no use hiding inside the trees I know exactly where you are. Come out before, I decide to find you, and believe me it won't be in your best interest."

A man chuckles from the tree to my left, "Why are you in such a hurry? Besides, I'll have much more entertainment if I stay here and watch you suffer."

I whisper to my team, "He appears to be a long-ranged fighter or Jutsu user so be on your guard."

Daiki nods, "I say let's divide and conquer."

I shake my head, "No, I have something else in mind." Both of them listen intently, nodding every so often which by the end of my explanation they were smirking. I cross my index and middle of both hands into a crucifix which spawned two shadow clones. The first one leads the team for the distraction while the second one disappears into the bushes after the team. I silently hop inside a humongous tree until I reached the top to sense him and his team's positions. When I finally found mister smartass, I wrote my marker with my special chakra ink pen then transferred the scripture to one of my senbon needles. Broke one of the tree branches off to disguise one end of my senbon and threw it as close to my target as possible without drawing his attention.

The second clone threw her senbon near the other guy she was near Chiaki ready to teleport her. Daiki and the third we're fighting what appeared to be a genjutsu clone. As soon as my third clone threw her senbon which happened in mere seconds. The two clones grab on to Chiaki and Daiki vanishing to their designated tag while I disappeared to mine. Before he could sense my presence, I did a quick hand chop to the back of his neck and off to dreamland he went.  We all hop down from the trees with all of the guys unconscious over each of our shoulders.

I took out the rope tying the group to the tree and gaze into their eyes with my Sharingan continuing the illusion with them fighting us. We pat them down searching for the earth scroll but end up finding one heaven and two earth scrolls. I took our pair of scrolls and slid out my carrier scroll, sealing the two inside. Daiki smiles, "I always knew you were great."

I laugh, "Let's keep moving." Without further ado, we race through the trees to team seven praying that we weren't too late.