Chapter 75

He was struck on the forehead by something. He fell in the waters clutching his forehead in pain. He dipped his hand into the waters and fished out what had hit him. A stone.

'Have I been found out? Is it Naruto? No, couldn't be.' He run behind a tree and looked in the direction the stone had come from. After a few more seconds, no one showed up, which made him frown. It was then he remembered the other rule.

Survive.

[END]

In another direction, Naruto had figured out just about the same thing. He could not move around without making too much noise. He could try and bulldoze his way through to find Sasuke if he was it. He having to hide, should not be too much of a problem, especially with the darkness and fog. His naïve thoughts were interrupted when he heard a slight whistling sound and with a Bang sound, he was struck on the forehead by something. He fell in in the waters loudly and yelled out, mostly more annoyed at being struck on the forehead, than in pain, with his voice resounding through the swamp.

He quickly covered his mouth but it was too late. He heard splashing sounds quickly approaching his location. Just as quickly, he saw Sasuke running towards him, although quite awkwardly due to the difficulty in running in the muddy waters, he was still gaining in and quickly.

Naruto hastily picked himself up and bolted in the other direction. That was how he got to know the difficulty in running in the swamp. Seeing Sasuke about to catch up, he began to run on top of the water as he began to put distance between him and Sasuke.

"Hey! That's…" Before Sasuke could complete his statement, something speed past him at speeds he could not even react to. This time there was no whistling sound and the only reason he felt it was because it went right by his cheeks.

Bang!

Naruto screamed and fell face first into the swamp water. He sat up clutching the back of his head. Sasuke walked towards Naruto with cold sweat. "Must be punishment for using chakra." He said to Naruto before touching him and running towards a direction, making loud splashing sounds.

Naruto had unconsciously used chakra to run on the water when he realized he was about to be caught. Truthfully, the main reason Sasuke was running awkwardly was because he was forcing himself to make sure he did not use chakra to run on the water just like Naruto did. It was much more difficult than it sounded. Especially for a group of people whose entire lives revolved around using chakra, and using chakra in their little game came at a cost, just as Naruto had experienced.

Naruto did not rush after Sasuke, but sat in the waters and began to think. { Hahahah! You got had, kid.}. 'Shut up. I was only caught off guard. So, what do you think, Kurama?' During the few months, Naruto took the advice of his friend and pestered the fox so much that their relationship had progressed to the point where the Nine-tailed fox had even told him his name.

Perhaps seeing what the boy had gone through, even if he felt it was only maybe slightly, just slightly, his fault, helped. Plus, the fox did not feel any hostility from the boy, coupled with the constant annoying pestering, made their relationship grow somewhat.

{The little girl is smart. The effects of constantly training this way will produce interesting results} Kurama gave his analysis. 'Mm, I felt so too. First of all, the slight whistling sound when the stone makes when it comes around, alerts you of an incoming attack; Although, you would need to push your senses in order not to miss it. When the stone strikes, it produces a loud bang sound that alerts your opponent of your position.' As he continued to sit in the water, Naruto gather and analyze all the information he had so far.

On cue, a slight whistling sound was heard, but he did not move until he sensed something strike his back with a loud bang. {Seems it does not aim for your forehead only} Kurama stated with an amused expression. 'True. How long has it been since the first one that came?�� Naruto asked his new partner. {About five minutes now.}

'Then we can assume the attack comes every five minutes?' Just as he deduced that, another whistling sound came, aiming for his face, which he barely dodged to the side, awkwardly. {Hahaha! She got you there, kid}. Naruto smirked as well. It seemed he needed to throw away that deduction; They came randomly.

No matter what, one thing was for certain; punishment came to those that used chakra of any sort. Since they could not use chakra, it meant they had to watch out for traps, ambushes from opponents, and raining stone at random times. They were not being trained on jutsus or fighting styles; they were honing their alertness and sense of danger, among other things; Tracking being one of them.

"Interesting" {Interesting}. They both spoke at the same time. Naruto finally picked himself up from the swamp waters and began to formulate a plan. Right now, he was 'it', and he needed to find Sasuke who was somewhere around.

Both parties realized that the swamp may seem large, but it was in fact, not. Since the 'Bang' sound could be heard, it meant that the place was probably just a small circular area and they were likely running round in circles. It was perfect.

He began to look for traces of Sasuke. It was much more difficult than he imagined. He realized he knew very little about tracking. He had been given training for so long he never truly added in depth tracking to the list. That meant, Sasuke who's only job was to now hide, could hide till time was up, or till he caught a lucky break; That is, until Sasuke was caught by the random stone. Even that was unlikely. Since he could figure it out, then Sasuke would as well, and would definitely be on the lookout and stay alert to not get hit by them. After looking around a while, he came up with a plan.

Sasuke had been hiding under water with a small rolled up leaf to help him breath. Although the waters were barely knee length, the poor visibility allowed him to be able to hide. The only problem was, the hurling stones did not allow him to stay at one position for too long. Especially so, when he had to be stationary like the way he was, hiding in the waters.

After waiting a while, without seeing Naruto, he moved from the waters and set up a trip wire with bells around both trees, just barely above the waters. Just as he was done, he heard a whistling sound and became alert, waiting to dodge any stone that may come his way. His sudden movement caused some splashing sounds, but it was something he was not too worried about.

"Bang!" Sasuke frowned and jumped back, but the person he was hiding from was already in front of him with outstretched arms, trying to tag him. That was Naruto's plan. It seemed immature and simple but it got the job done. He went round slowly so as not to make so much noise. All the while imitating the whistling sound of the hurling stones in order to get his opponent to make a sound.