"Your objective is to reach the end of the tunnel with two plates," said Yūra. "Even if you are the only surviving member of your team, you will pass if you complete this requirement." He gestured towards a copy of the form in his hand.
"That is all, so after signing the form as a team, go stand by one of the entrances. One team per entrance only."
...
As the genin signed the forms, Naruto stared down at the paper in his hand. The second test was very telling of the remainder of the exam, as well as the code that the shinobi of Suna lived by.
It was apparent that for Suna, the accomplishment of a mission took precedence over the lives of the ninja – failure was not an option. Furthermore, the fact that the entire team was not required for completion of the second test indicated that the third part of the exam, unlike the first two, would test individuals. The third test would likely pit the remaining contenders against one another in direct battles.
"Do you think any of these tunnels are easier than the others?" mused Rai. By the time they'd handed in their forms, half the teams had already picked an entrance. They now waited outside one of the tunnels, tensely waiting for the rest.
"Possibly," said Naruto. "But he said that they intersect, so it's unlikely to matter." He looked at Mayu, who had stopped shaking during the explanation but was still pale. He hesitated, searching for the right words; he still wasn't used to comforting people. "The tunnels should widen, so it shouldn't be too bad, Mayu."
"Thanks," she said with a weak smile, but remained quiet.
Naruto supposed it could've been worse.
Since the team from Amegakure had been the first to pass, they were the first to disappear into the gaping black hole. As the sounds of their footsteps faded, a chūnin examiner walked up to Naruto and his team and marked their team number by the entrance. Rai lifted a torch from its handle.
"Good luck," Kabuto called out good-naturedly from two entrances away. His masked teammates besides him looked at them sullenly.
Naruto was spared from having to respond when, just then, Yūra gave them the signal to go. Taking a step forward, they walked into the darkness.
The light from the cavern behind them quickly faded, and the tunnel began to curve slightly to the right. When they turned the corner, the cavern completely disappeared from view and the only light now came from the torch in Rai's hand. However, the fire was weak and was barely strong enough to light up the path directly in front of them. Naruto wondered how long it would last.
The wood was burning slowly but surely, and Naruto estimated that unless the chūnin examiners were going to stroll over and replace them for them – which was extremely unlikely – it would burn out within several hours. Then, they would be left in the pitch dark. Having trained in the dark before, Naruto wasn't worried, but he wondered how Mayu would fare.
"Do you hear something?" Rai suddenly said.
Naruto stopped, and listened carefully. Sure enough he could hear something echoing far ahead. It sounded like dripping. "It's probably water."
"Water? Down here?"
"Remember how we had to climb those mountains to reach Suna?" said Naruto patiently. "Mountains are just tilted layers of porous sedimentary rocks, and they usually run under the desert. Whenever it rains or snows, they soak into the layers, creating reservoirs of groundwater. The water should be safe to drink too."
During his preparation for the exam, Naruto had made sure to put aside a day in the Archives to research the prominent geography of Wind country, and was now glad he'd done so.
"Well, if you say so," Rai shrugged. "So now that the issue of water's solved, what's the plan for food and this maze?"
"There'll probably be some animals that we can eat around here," Mayu said suddenly. As Naruto had predicted, the tunnels had gradually widened in diameter as they walked further inside, and it seemed she felt better with more space around them. "I think we should find food and water first, before anything else."
Naruto nodded. "And after dealing with food, we should find a secure location. It'll be difficult finding somewhere truly hidden inside these tunnels, so we should look for a place with more space to prepare an ambush. For tonight though, we should conserve our energy and just rest. Other teams will be worked up and trying to attack one another first, and they'll be easy pickings for us later on."
They picked up their pace, and soon saw a pale blue light in the distance. When they reached the light, they found themselves emerging from the narrow tunnel into a large cavern that was easily three times the size of the one they had left before.
The ground was clustered with large boulders and the walls were lined with something that was emitting the light. As the other two gawked up at the sheer size, Naruto cautiously went over to the wall. Touching it, he realized what Yūra had meant by 'other sources of light.' It was a soft and mossy type of plant that he had never seen before, and it glowed, washing the cavern in watery blue light.
All of a sudden, Mayu let out a cry of alarm. Immediately, Naruto spun around to face her – and saw something small and black streaking out from behind a grey boulder.
Rai threw a kunai; striking the thing right in its chest, it let out a small squeal before slumping on the ground. Stepping forward, he nudged it with its feet: It was a small furry mole-like creature with a pink snout. "Looks like we've found our dinner."
...
Naruto eventually found the source of the dripping water to be a crack in the wall. Chipping holes into fist-sized rocks with their kunai, they took turns collecting water. Then, after hunting down several more of the mole-like animals, they nestled themselves behind a boulder with their findings. After Rai skinned the animals, Naruto had just begun to ponder how to cook the meat over their dying torch when Mayu revealed something about herself that took him by surprise.
"Your chakra nature is fire?" asked Naruto. On further thought, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised. The fire chakra nature was common among shinobi of Konoha after all. But she had never before demonstrated knowledge of any fire-based techniques.
Mayu nodded shyly. "I'm not very good at it though, so I usually stuck to genjutsu."
"How does it work?"
"Well...I gather the chakra in my stomach and then kind of put pressure on it, heating it up. Then when it's ready, I blow it out, and I... Here, let me show you." Her hands moving quickly to make the signs, she blew lightly on the wooden torch: "Katon: Takibi (Fire Release: Bonfire)!"
A stream of fire came out from her mouth which, though on the weak side, nevertheless strengthened the torch's flame to a respectable level.
"That's handy," Naruto said, beginning to think of how he could incorporate this unexpected ability into their future plans.
For some reason, Mayu turned pink at that, and avoided his gaze for a while.
After cooking the meat over the torch and eating it – it was stringy but edible – they had just put out the fire and covered their tracks, when another team entered the cavern. Naruto, hearing their foreign footsteps, noticed first, and quieted the two down immediately with a raised fist. As Rai and Mayu lowered their bodies against the ground, Naruto crept to the side of the boulder and peered around its edge. When he saw who it was, some of the tension left his body, but he remained hidden.
The rookies of Konoha wandered through the cavern, looking just as amazed by the light-emitting moss as they had been.
"Amazing! Truly, this is a springtime of youth!" said Lee, punching the air.
Tenten shushed him. "Is there another team here, Neji?"
Naruto saw the Hyūga boy turn around, and immediately noticed that the veins around his temple were bulging: His Byakugan was activated. The boy looked directly at the boulder where Naruto and his team were currently hiding behind, and smirked.
"Yeah...but lucky for them, we'll leave them alone for now," said Neji. "Come on, let's find another place to find shelter."
His teammates nodded without protest, and they leaped to the exit on the other side of the cavern.
Once it was safe, they came out of hiding.
"I really hate that guy," Rai muttered.
Though they couldn't see the sun, they could feel in their bodies that the hour was getting late. Taking into consideration Mayu's poor condition, it was down to between Naruto and Rai to take the first watch. While Mayu crawled into a sleeping bag she'd summoned from a scroll, Naruto and Rai looked at one another.
The other boy jerked his head. "Go on, I'll stand watch first. I'm not sleepy anyways."
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