Red Is A Pretty Colour

16

Hiko's pov

I couldn't see what was going on with Sakura but I heard a lot of commotion. I didn't have the energy to fight anymore so all I could do was hope that Sakura could take them down. I lay there for about half an hour, even when the sound ninja stopped pinning me down I was too weak to get up.

"Hiko, are you okay?" Choji asked as he helped me up.

"I'm fine, just exhausted." I replied. "Why are you here?"

"We saw you guys were in trouble and came to help. There was no way I was gonna sit back and watch them beat up my best friend." Choji said. "You used to get into fights for me all the time, its only fair that I help you out."

"Thanks choji, you really didn't have to do that for us." I said.

"We didn't really have a choice, Ino dragged us into this." Shikamaru said as he approached us.

"Hey Hiko! You should get some rest." Sakura said as she approached us too. "You didn't sleep last night and you used up all your chakra on that wind dragon. We'll leave later so you can rest."

"Thanks sakura." I said.

Time skip

It had been four days and we were all eating by our camp fire.

"We have to face it, there may not be any heaven scrolls left." Sakura said.

"Actually you're wrong, there was an even number of teams, 13 teams had a heaven scroll and the other 13 teams had an earth scroll. One set of scrolls were taken and destroyed by Erochimaru which means there are only twenty four scrolls or 12 sets meaning that a maximum of 12 teams can pass. The fact that we're out here with an earth scroll means that there's a team out there with a heaven scroll. Two scrolls being destroyed also means that there are two teams out here with no scrolls. We still have a chance as long as we can find the team with a heaven scroll." I explained.

"Yeah but we've already used up 80% of the time we've got to complete the exam." Sakura said.

"Maybe we gave ourselves too much time to rest and recover from our last fight, we've got to get serious now and make up for lost time. The next enemy we face could be our last chance. I'm gonna get water." Sasuke said before leaving.

"I'm gonna go get some water too." I said before following Sasuke.

Once the two of us were done collecting water we headed back to the fire. When we got there we saw Kabuto with Sakura and Naruto. Kabuto explained to us that they tried to open the scroll.

"I can't believe you guys." Sasuke said.

"There's not a brain cell between the two of you." I said.

"Sorry Sasuke, sorry Hiko." Sakura said as Naruto just mumbled.

"There have been others who have broken the rules and tried to peak at the scrolls. I've seen what happens to them. They're protected by a powerful hypnosis jutsu, a kind of booby trap for anyone unwise enough to try to read them. It will knock you senseless and by the time you wake up the exam is over." Kabuto explained

"Kabuto, right? We met at the registration, what are you doing wandering around all by yourself?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not after your earth scroll." Kabuto said.