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Naruto's PERSPECTIVE
The forest of death.
Hidden Leaf.

Naruto woke up within the night in a daze of confusion, yet admittedly well-rested. He woke up in front of a campfire along with his team & Rock Lee's team, which confused him at first as he had woken up ready to fight immediately but calmed down upon hearing Tenten's explanation. "Jeez..! We take you in and care for you and you return with fire!! How respectful.." Tenten glared at the boy as he slowly dropped his Kunai back into his pouch upon her complaint. "Oh.."

He nervously chuckled as he looked at the rest of her team's expression, Rock Lee looked amazed by the sudden scene while Neji held a blank stare to the Uzumaki as he held onto his sister. "[Name]..?" Naruto curiously called to the girl, a tone of concern in his voice as he walked over to her. "W-What happened...?" he asked Neji, who looked down at [Name] before to the blonde. "You guys got ambushed. [Name] held them off and she's exhausted now..but she's okay.." he informed the boy, who let a silent sigh out as the reassurance.

Looking around, he noticed Sasuke a few feet away from [Name], on the ground asleep also. He thought to himself, A lot must've happened while he was away, and he hated that feeling knowing he couldn't help his team. Biting on his lower lip as he sat back down, he looked within the campfire in pure silence. Vowing to himself that he would do better the next time an issue arose for his team.

After a while, the Uzumaki found himself becoming tired again surprisingly and stirred about to fall back asleep after a while. Neji was the remaining one to stay awake at the campfire, deeply pondering in his thoughts. He looked down to [Name], then to Sasuke before he gave a more obscure stare in his direction. "Just don't hurt her.." he mumbled out, looking back down to his sister that he held in his arms. The [H/C] haired girl flinched in her sleep for a moment, Neji raising an eyebrow as he noticed it.

She started to mumble out something incoherent, which Neji associated with a bad dream. But little did he know, she was finding herself having one of her 'Indra & Asura' dreams as she had dubbed it. After a few moments she quieted down, and Neji decided to also head for the hills. Gently placing the girl down, he laid next to her and ominously stared over to Sasuke again. Just something about the Uchiha unsettled him.

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[Name]'s PERSPECTIVE
The forest of death.
Hidden Leaf.
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THE NEXT MORNING..

"So you guys will be okay from here?" Tenten asked reassuringly to the three younger genin. Naruto threw his thumbs up at the girl as he smile, "Yep! no need to hold you guys back..We got it yaknow!" he confidently said to the girl and her team, who smiled in return. "So much determination.." Rock Lee commented afterward to the boy before his focus went to [Name]. "Shall you ever feel hurt..I will know..!" Rock Lee proclaimed as he clutched onto his chest. "I will feel it right here..!"

[Name]'s face began to heat up at the sudden proclamation the boy made, Neji on the other hand grabbed at his shoulder and started dragging him towards him. "Alright enough of that..Lee.." and the smile on Lee's face dropped as Neji whispered something to him that caused his eyes to go wide. But it didn't stop him from saying — "I love you [Name]! May you stay safe.., my love..!"

As Neji continued to drag Lee off with Tenten, Naruto glared in the direction of the bushy brow as they grew further and further. "Weirdo." the Uzumaki commented once they were out of complete earshot. [Name] snickered at the encounter before settling down and sighing out as she counted the days they had been in the forest. "We've been here for 3 days so far. We only have 2.., what do you guys think we should do..? I doubt there are many teams left.."

"We could..." Naruto mumbled out as a sneaky smirk began to emit on his face to the two. "No..." Sasuke said before Naruto even finished his sentence, he just knew what he was about to say. "Forge a scroll..." Naruto whispered out, causing [Name]'s eyes to widen as Sasuke sighed in return. "You idiot. We can't do that." Sasuke continued, emphasizing as much as he could, looking at the Uzumaki with an annoyed look. "Says who? I'm not listening to you..unless you have a better plan!"

Without another word from either Uchiha's, they watched as Naruto took a scroll out of his mini satchel. [Name] raised an eyebrow as she leaned closer to Naruto to see what he was doing. She wasn't too quite sure about this, it was a big risk. Naruto paused as he placed the scroll on the ground, seemingly finding himself within his thoughts before he said — "Shouldn't we open it..? to make sure the contents match too..?"

"Naruto that's not—" and he started to peel at the intentional scroll they got at the beginning, [Name] paused in awe, Sasuke backed away slowly from the scene having nothing wanting to do with it. "You should try going near the center before trying that. A lot of teams wait around there last minute to get a scroll." came an unexpected voice a few feet behind [Name] — the girl yelped, quick to pull out a Kunai as Naruto dropped the scroll out of his hand and swiftly turned towards the voice.

"It's just me Miss. Uchiha." came a newly familiarized voice to the girl, her guard coming slightly down as she sighed out. She rose an eyebrow in suspicion a few moments after, before asking "Tell me something only you're aware of." she then asked, just to see if it was really who they said they were. "Hm...cautious..I see." they pushed their glasses up closer to their face before clearing their throat. "You hyphenate your name as Uchiha-Hyuga rather than alphabetically as Hyuga-Uchiha." She lowered the Kunai fully upon the comment, smirking in return, "Observant I see."

"Smart of you to question me with such..." Kabuto responded to her, a glare shining in his glasses as he looked over at Sasuke who gave a stoic stare to the gray-haired boy. "You guys seem to be having some trouble.., would you like my help..?" he then asked, inching away from Sasuke and closer to [Name] with a smile forming around his face. "Hmm.." Naruto looked at the boy, then at his teammates. "Well—"

"Yes." [Name] quickly responded without the reasoning of the two boys and their responses. "We've had a really rough time out here.., so your help would be much appreciated." admittedly, she was trying to butter him up, and Sasuke noticed it. He still didn't trust the Yakushi, and curiously wondered how exactly [Name] had garnered his good side to this point. "Ah..I can only imagine how rough it's been for you guys.., this round is truly not for all."

Humming in agreement to the experienced Chunin taker's statement, she pursed her lips together as she looked over at Sasuke unexpectedly. Then over to Naruto. Both boys were more on the weary side of the Yakushi, especially Sasuke. But [Name] knew Naruto would probably grow more to liking Kabuto over Sasuke, especially if Kabuto could successfully help her team. "Of course, you'd know," Sasuke commented slickly, stifling a bit in pain upon his curse mark. "Hmm.., does something seem to be the matter?" Kabuto asked in response, noticing a glimpse of the mark.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Sasuke quick to reply, glaring at the Yakushi before looking at [Name] with a stoic look once again. She wasn't sure what ran through his mind at that moment, but she understood why he wasn't a fan of Kabuto, but [Name] would rather give it benefit of the doubt, especially if he proposed to help her team out in the end, she'd go to that length. "Well, I know of a way we could get you a scroll. During the last two days of this round, teams that haven't collected scrolls yet usually camp around near the center."

"Hmm..." Naruto hummed out, placing two fingers on his chin in a thinking mode. "Say.., are you saying we should go get in a fight with a random team..?!" The blonde boisterously asked, clenching his fist up with a grin on his face. "Some of these fools deserve it..!" he then indirectly insulted. "Naruto..!" [Name] retorted back to the boy, sighing out as she looked over at Kabuto. "Is that..where you're getting at though..?" assuming that was the point but in a more subtle way.

"Yes." Kabuto was quick to respond, pushing up his glasses as he let out a smirk. "That is what I'm getting to..it's the most probable way of moving to the next stage despite the big risk it comes with." he then warned the team, Sasuke sighing out as he flinched at his curse mark beginning to sting. "So are you guys in..?"[Name] wasn't so sure of this whole idea, considering what they had already been through in the past few days. It was a big risk to be taken, one that would determine if they were in for another round or not.

"Yeah. We are." [Name] was just about to open her mouth, just when Sasuke answered for her. Rather unexpectedly to her, if anything she thought he'd be the logical one to sit out of this, but it seemed he still had that competitive mindset eating at him.

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[AUTHORS NOTE] YAAY almost to the next stage of the chunins! sinceee its been a minute since I've written, i have to kinda goback and read my own book to remember exactly where i was going bc...my writing notes r only abt shippuden atm LOL. im still in the works of another modern naruto au book btw.. hoping to release that in MAY????