16. Scrolls of Heaven and Earth

"…alright, finally finished." Shikamaru sighed in relief.

Ten hours had passed since Orochimaru's attack on Team Three. Shikamaru's teammates were still knocked out. The Nara had spent the time getting them to a clearing, taking care of them, and rigging the surrounding area with traps for any possible threat. After three hours of design and work, Shikamaru had set up enough traps to feel satisfied and remotely safe. He proceeded to walk to a tree. His teammates were lying down underneath it with two of Naruto's clones watching over them.

'Thank God you created all of those clones at the beginning of the exam Naruto.' The Nara noted. The two clones had found him to give information on a team with a heaven scroll, but they were able to help with watching over and taking care of his teammates.

"Oi Shikamaru! You finished all the traps and stuff?" One of the clones asked.

"Yup. They'll keep animals and some weak teams away. And if something strong actually comes our way, they'll notify us that they are nearby." He answered with a yawn.

"You're tired, aren't ya? You should get some sleep." The other clone suggested.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Sorry, but if something happened to you guys and you dispelled, then no one would be able to protect Naruto and Hinata. I'm going to stay up at least until one of them wakes up."

The clone shrugged in response. They turned their attention back to Naruto and Hinata, making sure they were still okay. Shikamaru walked over to them and sat down by his unconscious teammates.

'How hard did Orochimaru hit you guys? Seriously. I'm surprised you both are still knocked out…' Shikamaru wondered before he shook his head. 'I shouldn't complain. We're lucky we got out of that situation alive.'

Shikamaru stayed by his friends' sides, watching over them with the clones. His eyes were slowly shutting, but the Nara would open them wide the second he realized what was happening. Time passed by slowly…

Around an hour later, a loud explosion occurred, alerting Shikamaru and the clones. The lazy genius left the cover of the tree and headed out into the clearing. He listened carefully for any more sounds…

'…damn, someone's coming. I can hear movement. And I can't hear any more traps, so they're avoiding the rest of my traps…this is bad.' Shikamaru noted. He then turned to the clones, who had just walked out of the cover of the tree. "Guys, do me a favor and get Naruto and Hinata out of here. Take them somewhere with some kind of cover like another tree like this or a cave if you can find one. I'll catch up with you guys there!"

"What about you?" One of the clones asked. "If someone's coming, then you're going to need help. You can't take on a team by yourself!"

"I have no intention of taking them on. Just stall them for a little bit. I got a plan." He answered.

Shikamaru then turned his attention back to the clearing. Seconds later, a team from Takigakure jumped down into the clearing. They stood across from him. Shikamaru actually recognized the team.

"Hmm? Aren't you the girl who told the proctor that she wasn't afraid of the forest?" He asked.

"Hmph! What of it?" Asuna grumbled in response.

'She's definitely a hot-head. If I egg her on, I'll definitely distract her and her team and keep them from noticing the clones getting away.' Shikamaru realized. A smirk developed on his face.

"So what kind of monsters did you see in the forest? Cause I know you saw a couple in that genjutsu and I was curious if there are any more?" He asked.

"Go fuck yourself." She hissed.

"Look Asuna: he's not even taking us seriously thanks to you. As usual." Rei sighed.

"Fuck you too Rei!" The red-head snapped at her teammate.

'Oh God this'll be too easy.' The Nara was getting more confident.

Takuto ignored his two bickering teammates and walked forward.

"Konoha genin, we are after your scroll. I'd suggest you hand it over to avoid any conflict." He said.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have one. My team was attacked. Both my teammates are knocked out and we lost our scroll." Shikamaru grumbled.

"This was such a waste of time." Rei sighed.

Takuto glared at his lanky teammate, causing him to stop complaining. The muscular genin then turned to face Shikamaru again.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I check your belongings myself? I won't mess it up: just going to check to make sure you aren't lying." He stated.

"Oh come on: nearly all of our stuff was ruined when we were attacked. Don't mess it up anymore!" Shikamaru complained.

"I'll be delicate." The muscular Taki genin responded.

'This guy is much more intelligent and calm then his teammates. I won't be able to convince him of any bullshit.' Shikamaru cursed. He took a second to look back. The clones were nowhere in sight, meaning they were able to get away without anyone noticing. He had to hide his smirk. 'But I guess it doesn't matter. I stalled enough.'

"Well, I guess I can't convince you otherwise. Fine: here's the scroll." He sighed in frustration as he took out an earth scroll: one of the fake scrolls he designed.

All eyes were on the scroll. Rei was the most surprised, but his eyes narrowed in suspicion soon after the initial shock.

"That's it? After lying about not having it, you're just going to give it up like that? Just because we continued to ask?" He questioned.

Shikamaru glared at him. "I wasn't kidding when I said my team was attacked. They are knocked out and are in no condition to fight. I'm not going to risk their lives in a fight just to pass this exam."

"Makes sense. That makes you a good teammate to have!" Asuna said. She seemed to be looking at the Nara with respect.

"The value of your comrades is more important than this exam, indeed. You will make a good chūnin one day Konoha genin. Just not now. My apologies." Takuto apologized before holding out his hand. "We will take the earth scroll and leave you and your team be."

Shikamaru tossed over the scroll to the muscular genin. The Taki genin studied it for a second. He noticed something about it that felt…off.

'Something looks wrong about this…' He noted to himself.

The Nara started to back off and made a hand sign. The scroll lit up, about to explode.

"Shit!" Takuto cursed before dropping the scroll and making a hand sign. "Earth Release Armor!"

Takuto's body was covered in stones just in time before the explosion. Shikamaru proceeded to make more hand signs before running away.

"Wait, he's getting away!" Asuna stated. She was about to chase him but a loud noise from the tree above caused her to stop. "Ahh!"

The entire clearing was filled with explosions. Trees were blowing up, causing different branches and limbs to hit the ground. The ground was sinking and dust was covering the entire area. Takuto made another hand sign, causing his teammates to be covered in the same armor he was wearing. The armor protected them from the dangers of the explosions, but caused them to become immobile. They waited until all of the explosions stopped, leaving them alone in the destroyed clearing.

"H-Holy shit…h-how did he do that?" Rei gasped.

"He rigged this whole entire area with explosives." Takuto deadpanned, looking annoyed. "I'm disappointed that none of us didn't notice any of this."

"…" Asuna was fuming. She gripped the scythe on her back tightly. "…we are hunting him down. He is going to pay for that!"

The red-headed Taki kunoichi hurried off into the forest in the direction Shikamaru had went. Her two teammates followed behind.

At first, Shikamaru had ran into the forest in a random direction to get away from the clearing and the Taki genin. After a few minutes of running, however, he ran into one of the Naruto clones.

"Shikamaru! This way!" He shouted before heading off.

The Nara followed the clone to an unusually large tree, even for this forest. At the base of the tree was a hole. Shikamaru and the clone entered the whole. The other Naruto clone and Shikamaru's unconscious teammates were there.

"You guys got out quickly and without being noticed. Good job!" He told the clones.

"The boss is stealthy, so naturally we are as well!" One of the clones exclaimed, puffing out his chest. "So, what did you to get away?"

"I blew up the clearing." Shikamaru answered. The clones gaped, causing the Nara to sigh. "I said I was putting up traps throughout the area. What did you think I meant by that?"

"Shikamaru…you're scary…" The clones stated in unison.

"…heh. Really?" Shikamaru smirked. 'I'll make sure Naruto knows that his clones think I'm scary when he wakes up.'

Conversation stopped as Shikamaru and the clones turned their attention to the unconscious teammates. They remained still for thirty minutes until the clones dispelled, alerting Shikamaru.

"What?" He exclaimed as eh looked around the area, trying to discover what happened to the clones. Minutes passed by before he calmed down, realizing that no one was in the area. He then realized what happened to the clones, causing him to sigh. "I guess the clones ran out of chakra. They've been around for a while I guess, so it makes sense they'd dispel at some point."

Shikamaru focused all of his attention on his teammates. His eyes never moved from either of their bodies as he sat by their side and did everything he could to help them.

Another hour had passed before he saw movement. Hinata's eyes were starting to open.

"Ugh…" She groaned as she tried to pull herself up. Shikamaru immediately went to her side and helped her stand up.

"Looks like you decided to finally wake up." He said teasingly. A smile was on his face.

It took a few seconds before Hinata was fully aware of where she was. Her eyes opened and looked around the area.

"Shikamaru-Kun! What happened? Where are we?" She asked almost frantically.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Hinata." Shikamaru responded.

The Nara took the time to fill in the girl about what happened. He reminded her of Orochimaru's attack on their team and told her that the Sannin was able to knock out both her and Naruto. He then told her that he and two of Naruto's clones had been taking care of them while they were unconscious. Shikamaru also mentioned the team from Takigakure that attacked and how he and the clones were able to get away from them.

"…how long was I knocked out?" Hinata asked after hearing Shikamaru's explanation.

"I don't really know. Maybe ten, eleven, twelve hours? Somewhere around there." He answered with a shrug.

"I see…I'm sorry for being a burden to you." She said, looking down to the ground.

"Burden? Please." Shikamaru shook his head. "We went up against a Sannin! It's a miracle we even lived! Don't be sorry about what happened."

"But I've been out for so long. It must have been hard being on your own for so long and having to take care of us...you must be tired…" Hinata responded, still not looking up.

"Nah, I'm not. Not anymore at least. I'm kind of running on pure adrenaline right now, so I doubt I'll be able to sleep until we get out of this damn forest." Shikamaru said with a sigh.

"But-"

"Besides, it doesn't matter in the end." The Nara interrupted Hinata before she could say anything else slightly self-deprecating. "We all made it out okay and alive. All that's left is for Naruto to get up and we're alright!"

"Naruto-Kun…" Hinata's eyes wandered over to her unconscious crush.

"Don't worry about him. He'll probably be up in a little bit himself. Your boyfriend will be alright." Shikamaru said teasingly, trying to get his teammate to stop being upset.

His plan worked. A red blush covered her face.

"W-We aren't dating yet…" She answered.

"The key word in that sentence was yet." Shikamaru retorted.

The Hyūga's blush, somehow, got worse.

"Anyway, do you mind activating your Byakugan and keeping an eye on the area around of us? That way we know if anyone's coming our way."

Hinata nodded and immediately activated her Byakugan.

"Oh, Hinata," Shikamaru spoke up. The Hyūga turned to face him. "I was starting to get worried about you guys, so I'm glad you are okay."

The Nara, for a second, expected another self-deprecating remark from the Hyūga. Instead, he received a bright smile from her: a smile that he returned with one of his own.

"Thank you for watching over us. I'll be able to help look after Naruto-Kun." Hinata stated before she focused her attention on the surrounding environment, looking for any possible approaching threats.

'Where…am I?'

Naruto continued to ask himself that question. The last thing he remembered was he and his friends were being attacked by Orochimaru. Now, though, he was in a place that reminded him of a sewer. The Uzumaki had no idea how he got here and had no idea how to get it.

'I need to get out of here and find Shikamaru and Hinata…I wonder if they are here somewhere…' He wondered.

The blonde continued to wander aimlessly until he came across something in the sewer: a large cage. Naruto felt himself drawn to the cage for some reason. He proceeded to walk towards it.

"So, my jailer decides to finally pay me a visit." A voiced called out from the cage.

Naruto stopped walking and looked around in confusion.

"Who is there?" He asked.

A figure appeared near the bars of the cage. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight: he was standing in front of the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

"K-Kyūbi!" Naruto mumbled in shock. "B-But how? You're supposed to be locked in me! How are you out of me?"

"Idiot." The Kyūbi rolled his eyes. "This is your mind. This is the damp prison I've been in for the last twelve years."

"This is my mind?" Naruto took another look at the sewer around. "…but this place is a dump!"

"Fitting, isn't it?" The fox remarked dryly.

The blonde scowled. He seemingly lost his fear about being in the presence of the fox. He was now simply irritated and angry.

"You're right. It is fitting: a fitting prison for a demon that killed so many innocent lives in Konoha!" He shouted.

"Hmph. Impudent brat. You have some nerve to speak to me with that tone. I should eat you for that." Kyūbi commented.

"Too bad you can't, cause you're locked up!" The Uzumaki taunted, eliciting a snarl from the fox. "So, Kyūbi, how did I get here?"

The Kyūbi gave an annoyed grunt before speaking. "You've been using more of my chakra. You have, in the process, strengthened the connection between us. Your meditations have also helped increase this connection. Our minds are slowly becoming linked and we become connected whenever you use my chakra. When you were knocked out using my chakra, our minds were still connected. Therefore, although your body is knocked out, your mind is not. So here you are: within your mind and with me."

"Huh…I see." Naruto nodded in understanding. The blonde now seemed to be interested. "So does that mean the other jinchūriki and their bijū are connected like this? Are Han-Nii and the Gobi connected like this."

"Hmph…it would depend on how often the jinchūriki uses their bijū's chakra. I would assume that the armored jinchūriki has a similar connection to Kokuō." The Kyūbi answered.

"Hmm? Kokuō?" Naruto gave a look.

"You know him as the Gobi." The fox answered.

"Wait you guys have names?" The blonde questioned. "Then what's yours?"

"You're an annoying brat. You keep me locked up inside of you for the past twelve years, you come in and start shouting me, you ask me stupid questions, and you have the nerve to ask me for my name. Curse your Yondaime! I would tear you apart and feast on your limbs!" The fox growled.

Naruto didn't respond. He didn't know how you respond to such a proclamation. He remained quiet, just staring at the fox.

'…there's more to the fox then I realized.' Naruto inwardly noted. He had always associated the fox as some mindless, evil demon that terrorized Konoha one day. Now, though, he can see there is a lot more depth to the fox. He can tell from the fox's words, voice, and overall attitude that he doesn't understand the fox at all.

The Kyūbi, both annoyed and bored, laid down his head in an attempt to go to sleep.

Naruto's mind was quiet…

The Taki genin had been moving through the Forest of Death, trying to find Shikamaru and his team. Asuna led her team. The red-head was studying the area around her intently.

"We're getting closer! I can feel it!" Asuna declared as she continued to move.

"That's what you've been saying forever. Seriously: the dude got away." Rei grumbled.

"Rei, I swear to God, can you go one minute without complaining?" The kunoichi snapped. "I'm serious! I can feel him nearby this time!"

"Look, I know you can sense other people's chakras. Doesn't change the fact that you're not good at it. You're just not a good sensor at the moment. If you were, we would have found him when we first started to hunt him." The lanky Taki genin informed her.

"Shut up!" Asuna hissed. "I'm serious. I can feel it. I can feel his chakra nearby!"

Rei was about to make another comment but Takuto spoke up first.

"How close?"

"Very. He's in a hole by a nearby tree. I think one of his teammates is up, cause I sense another chakra right by him, but whatever. We'll take them on as well! Just follow me!" She informed them as she hurried off.

"That stupid girl's wasting our time again." Rei grumbled.

"Rei, be quiet." Takuto ordered. "You know how prideful she is. The fact that the Nara tricked us and got away so easily has hurt her pride badly. Mine too actually. I would love to take him down. So quit your bitching and follow us."

Takuto hurried after his kunoichi teammate. Rei gave an exasperated sigh before following his team further into the forest.

"Shikamaru, I see people coming our way." Hinata informed the Nara.

"Of course. Of frickin course." He cursed. "How close are they? And can you tell who they are?"

"They're probably a minute away. And they are from Taki." She answered.

Shikamaru's eyes widened. 'Could they be the same team from earlier?' A smirk then developed on his face. 'Based on their reaction to the earth scroll, I bet they got a heaven scroll. And I think Hinata and I can take them.'

"Remember that team I got away from? I think it might be them. And I think they got a heaven scroll we can get. Just be careful." Shikamaru advised.

The Hyūga gave him a nod before the two teammates walked out of the hole. They got into a fighting position. Shortly after, the Taki genin arrived.

"You! We finally found you!" Asuna hissed as she reached for her scythe.

"Were you hunting me this whole time? Really?" Shikamaru asked.

"Naturally. You hurt her pride after." Rei mumbled with an eye roll.

Asuna didn't even take the time to respond to her teammate or the Nara: she simply charged, gripping her scythe tightly. She moved quickly and swung her scythe aggressively, but Shikamaru was able to avoid. He tossed kunai in her direction, which she deflected with her scythe.

Takuto charged at Hinata, holding on to his axe. The Hyūga avoided his first strike. The muscular genin then swung again. She avoided the second strike and packed away, putting distance between her and the Taki genin.

"Shikamaru-Kun, what did you say you did to these guys to get them so mad?" Hinata asked, noticing the Taki genins' aggression.

"I'll tell you later." Shikamaru responded as he made hand signs. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Shikamaru released a series of fireballs from his mouth. Rei finally moved forward, making hand signs of his own. Water came out of the canteens he was carrying. The water formed a wall that blocked the fireballs.

'Of course one of them uses waster style ninjutsu. It's just one of those days.' Shikamaru groaned.

Rei made a hand gesture, causing the water to come together and fling at the Nara in the form of a whip. Shikamaru was knocked back, taking the breath out of him. Takuto and Asuna both charged at him.

Hinata took out her bow and launched arrows at the approaching Taki genin. Takuto got away in time but Asuna could not and an arrow punctured her shoulder.

"S-Shit! That hurt!" She groaned before she turned to Hinata. She struggled to ignore the pain as she charged at her.

Hinata responded by jumping on to one of the branches of the tall tree. She then proceeded to fire more arrows from the top. Asuna was able to avoid these, but Hinata kept firing.

"Get off of there!" Asuna shouted as she swung her scythe in Hinata's direction. "Wind Style: Air Cutter!"

Asuna's scythe was able to cut through the air, releasing wind that flew towards Hinata in the form of circular blades. Hinata moved through different branches of the tree, avoiding each of the wind blades. Asuna continued to reuse her jutsu, trying to land a good hit on the Hyūga.

"Stand still, will ya?" She mumbled as she tried to swing again. She then noticed that she couldn't: her body was frozen. "W-What the…"

"Shadow possession was a success." Shikamaru noted.

The red-head kunoichi realized what had happened: the Nara had connected their shadows and had paralyzed her.

"L-Let go of me!" She shouted.

"Not yet." Shikamaru stated with a smirk. He made a throwing gesture, which Asuna mimicked. She ended up throwing her scythe away from the battlefield completely. The red head realized what he was doing.

"You…that scythe is very important to me!" She hissed.

"Yeah: my life, the lives of my teammates, and my scroll is also very important to me." Shikamaru remarked dryly.

At that moment, Takuto charged at the Nara. Shikamaru tried to dodge the strike but then realized the muscular genin never tried to strike: he was trying to fake him out. Takuto then made a real swing this time. Shikamaru was forced to use the substitution jutsu. The use of the jutsu separated his shadow from Asuna's, freeing her from his jutsu.

Shikamaru appeared right next to Hinata on the same branch of the tree. Hinata started to make hand signs before releasing her Water Style: Gunshot. She released her water bullets towards the Taki genin. Rei walked forward again and raised his right hand. The water bullets immediately changed directions. Hinata and Shikamaru, who were not expecting this, were hit hard and knocked off the tree.

'Damn! That guy's got a really strong water affinity!' Shikamaru noted as he was falling. An idea immediately came into his mind. 'Wait, I know how to turn this situation to an advantage! Good thing I have one more left…'

When Shikamaru and Hinata hit the ground, a scroll fell out of one Shikamaru's pockets and rolled to the middle of the clearing. The three Taki genin noticed this instantly.

"So this is the real one." Rei noted smugly as he went over to grab it.

'Heh. Nope. Naruto actually has the real one.' Shikamaru noted inwardly as he made a hand sign.

The scroll in Rei's hand lit up and exploded. The explosion knocked Rei back and caused him to hit another nearby tree hard head first. The lanky Taki genin was knocked out immediately.

"Rei!" Asuna gasped before turning her attention to the Nara. "Holy shit! How many explosives do you got?"

'That's actually a good question…' Hinata wondered to herself.

"Asuna, we have to take this seriously. End this now." Takuto informed his teammate as he slammed his axe into the ground.

The Taki genin started to make hand signs. His red-headed teammate started to make hand signs of her own.

"Earth Style: Rising Boulder!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Multiple stones rose from the ground and remained in air in front of the Taki genin. Asuna then released a blast of wind that sent the boulders flying towards Hinata and Shikamaru at rapid, different speeds. Hinata and Shikamaru struggled to avoid them all.

"This is getting annoying…" Shikamaru groaned as he tried his best to avoid the stones. Although he could avoid the large ones, the little ones would almost always hit him. He was starting to get injured in nearly every part of this body.

Hinata didn't say anything. Being more flexible than Shikamaru, she was able to avoid the stones with little problem. She was, however, tiring herself out in the process.

"Let's keep this up Asuna. They are getting tired, so it won't be long." Takuto noted as he made the hand signs again.

"Right!" Asuna agreed as she made her hand signs, ready to redo the collaborative jutsu.

In Naruto's mind, the blonde and the Kyūbi no Kitsune were still facing each other not speaking. The Uzumaki wanted to say something but he didn't really know what to say nor how to say it. The fox seemingly did not want to speak to him at all. After spending plenty of time in thought, the blonde finally had a question.

"Hey Kyūbi?" Naruto started. "…why did you attack Konoha?"

The Kyūbi opened his eyes and stared at him in almost amusement.

"And why do you want to know?" He asked out of annoyance.

"Well…you wouldn't wonder why someone attacked your home?" Naruto asked.

"Hmph." The Kyūbi closed his eyes again. "I don't need to answer. Now just leave me. I want to sleep."

"No, seriously! Just answer!" Naruto requested. "Look, I just did a lot of thinking over here. Like it or not, we're stuck with each other. So if we have to be together, I think we need to get along with each other. So…just let me know why. So that way I can understand…"

"Understand?" The fox scoffed. "Humans fail to understand many things."

The 'human' comment only added more fire to Naruto's drive to figure out. Naruto started to compare the Kyūbi to Han, who also hated humanity.

"I'm being serious. Please. Just…let me try and understand." Naruto asked.

The Kyūbi opened his eyes again and stared at Naruto. He studied him for what felt like hours to the blonde. Finally, the Kyūbi finally spoke.

"Believe me when I say this, I did not want to attack your village. It is beneath me to attack humans." He stated.

"…huh? What do you mean?" Naruto seemed confused. "Does that mean someone forced you?"

"…hmph. We'll continue this conversation some other day. But for now, you really should be getting back to your world. Your 'friends' may need some assistance after all." The fox noted.

The comment about Naruto's friends caused the blonde's eyes to widen.

"But how? How can I?" Naruto asked.

"Your body has had enough time to recover. The only reason you haven't woken up is because your mind is here. Simply will yourself to leave." The Kyūbi informed him. "Now get out of here!"

Naruto nodded in understanding. Before he left though, he spoke up one more time. "Hey Kyūbi…or whatever your name is…we're going to be together for some time. Let's try and work together from now on, okay? You can have your secrets if you want, but just trust me and I'll trust you. We're stuck with each other after all, so let's try and be friends!"

Naruto gave the Kyūbi a thumbs up before disappearing from his mind. The Kyūbi was left alone.

"Friend?" The Kyūbi scoffed before laying his head down on the ground. 'Hmm…the brat is more interesting than I thought…'

'We can't get in close. Not without taking too many hits.' Hinata noted as she and Shikamaru continued to try and avoid the assault from Takuto and Asuna's collaboration jutsu.

'This is getting very troublesome. We need to get these two to stop. We have to hit them from range. But how? Both of our long-ranged jutsus will just canceled out by these stupid stones.' Shikamaru's mind was working hard to figure out a way to end the jutsu.

"Just a little more!" Asuna said excitedly.

"Right." Takuto agreed.

The two Taki genin were about to restart the jutsu when the ground underneath them started to crack. They both take a second to look at it in confusion.

"Hmm?" Takuto wondered.

A figure immediately popped out from underneath the ground. Naruto had jumped out from under the ground and delivered a strong punch to Takuto's jaw. The Taki genin coughed up blood.

"Naruto-Kun!" Hinata shouted in excitement from seeing that her crush was awake.

"…and there's how we stop it." Shikamaru noted with a smirk.

Naruto immediately made hand signs and delivered his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough at Takuto in close-range. The muscular Taki genin had no time to react and was sent flying backwards into another tree nearby Rei. He, too, was knocked unconscious.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting. But I'm here now!" Naruto told his teammates with a grin on his face.

Kariudo Asuna was staring in disbelief. In a matter of seconds, this blonde Konoha genin had appeared, interrupted their jutsu, and knocked Takuto out before she could even react. She didn't even sense that the boy had woken up. And now that he was in front of her, she could sense the massive chakra that he had.

'How did I not even notice him…' Asuna asked herself before she shook her head. 'Dammit…never mind. I really do need a lot more training. Guess I'm not ready for chūnin."

"Peace, peace." She stated, holding up her right hand. Her left hand was digging into a large pocket of her black pants. She pulled out the heaven scroll of her team. "Consider this a surrender."

"So you're going to give us the scroll?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm not smart enough to pull off a three versus one fight. Besides, I may not be good friends with them, but I don't want my teammates getting injured in the cross-fire." Asuna said with a sigh.

The members of Team Three nodded in understanding. Naruto took the heaven scroll Asuna offered him. The Taki kunoichi proceeded to head over to her unconscious teammates and picked them up over her shoulder. She then headed off slowly in the direction Shikamaru had tossed her scythe in.

"Well…I didn't have to do much, but hey, we got ourselves a heaven scroll!" Naruto informed his teammates with a chuckle.

Hinata responded by rushing over to his side and asking questions. "Are you okay Naruto-Kun? You're not hurt or anything? How long have you been awake for?"

"Hinata…relax. He was just in the same position you were." Shikamaru said with a chuckle as he walked towards his teammates. "Hey Naruto, you alright now after your sleep?"

Naruto gave a foxy grin in response. "Of course I am dattebayo!" He answered.

"How did you get into the earth by the way? I wasn't aware you dug any holes." The Nara questioned.

"Oh that? Heh, I guess you guys have never seen my Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" Naruto said with a grin.

"Oh! That jutsu Han-Sama gave you?" Hinata asked.

"Yup! I was able to get underneath them and surprise them easily." The blonde nodded in affirmation. "Now, what happened while I was knocked out you guys?"

"…let's just get out of this damn forest. I think I'm going to go insane if we stay in here for any longer." Shikamaru stated. "I'll answer when we get out."

"Heh, yeah. I understand." Naruto laughed. "Alright, so let's get out of here!"

The three members of Team Three hurried off. Now that all three members were awake and that they had both scrolls, they could get out of the forest and complete their second exam.

"Hey guys! There's the tower!" Naruto shouted.

It didn't take long before Team Three had found the tower at the center of the forest. Naruto and Hinata stared at the tower with excitement and relief. Shikamaru had similar feelings, but his adrenaline had officially stopped working at this point.

"Alright, let's go finish the exam now." Naruto noted excitedly.

*Thud*

Nara Shikamaru passed out on the floor and drifted off to sleep. Naruto and Hinata looked at their friend in surprise before laughing to themselves.

"Typical Shikamaru." Naruto noted between laughs.

"True, but he earned it. After taking care of us for so long." Hinata said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." The blonde nodded in agreement before he picked up the sleeping Nara and placed him on his back. "Let's get inside the tower and get him to a nice bed."

The members of Team Three continued from there, finishing their final short moments in the Forest of Death. For them, the second part of the Chūnin Exams was complete.