Gaara looked steadily at Naruto. "We want heaven scroll," Gaara said with a cold voice.
Looking right back at Gaara, Naruto asked, "What are your stakes then?"
Gaara pointed a finger at Temari, who was carrying their supplies. "We have three earth scrolls."
Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly. With a sharp voice, he said, "Then give us two earth scrolls, we will give you one heaven scroll."
"Fine," Gaara agreed.
But Kankuro did not accept the deal.
Stepping forward, he looked angrily at Naruto and said, "What are you to give us such conditions? We will fight you and take all your scrolls to ourselves."
Seeing Kankuro voice his disagreement instantly.....and raising voice beside him, irritated Gaara. The sand in his gourd shifted as he turned his head. With an intimidating voice, Gaara warned, "If you dare voice against me again, I will kill you. Even you are my brother."
Kankuro got frightened. A drop of sweat formed on his forehead as he took a nervous step back. "Haha....Gaara...I am really sorry about that," he said with a fearful voice.
Gaara turned his attention back to Naruto. "Sorry about this, he is a fool and has short temper. Let's make the exchange as you wished."
Kankuro felt somewhat disgusted being called a fool in front of an enemy team, but he kept quiet. With the agreement settled, the exchange took place smoothly.
Temari watched the whole exchange in disbelief. She simply did not expect Gaara to be okay with making a peaceful trade.
Glancing between Gaara and Naruto, Temari thought, 'Did Gaara not fight him, thinking Naruto has same strength as him?'
She quickly brushed the idea aside. 'That's impossible.' She really did not know the actual reason, though.
...
Hidden in the nearby bushes, Kiba and Shikamaru were also surprised. They had fully expected a brutal fight to break out between the two monsters.
As Gaara's team got their two scrolls, they immediately turned and went toward the central tower, where every team with two scrolls needed to report.
Naruto now had two complete sets of scrolls. He turned around and looked at his subdued team.
With a commanding voice, Naruto said, "I just need one set. I will give other to you. As for remaining, you can ambush just near the tower. Seeing who are more exhausted, you all attack them combinedly. Is it clear?"
All the other members of Naruto's team bowed and said, "YES BOSS!"
Hearing this smart but ruthless plan, Shikamaru quickly urged his team and Kiba's team to gather around him in the bushes.
Shikamaru looked at Shino and quietly explained his idea. "We don't know if there is already a team to ambush us near the tower. It's best to move towards the tower keeping not too far distance from Gaara team. If there is ambush, Gaara team can handle it."
Shikamaru paused, making sure everyone understood the logic. "Let's make a temporary alliance."
With that agreed upon, Shikamaru and Kiba's teams formed a temporary alliance. Together, they quietly went toward the tower, using Gaara's dangerous team ahead of them as a shield.
As they were on the move, Hinata glanced back at Naruto one last time before moving with her team.
She inwardly thought, 'Naruto is too dominating.'
Sometime later, after twenty-four hours, the second test was completed.
Naruto's team qualified.
Gaara's team qualified.
Kiba's team qualified.
Shikamaru's team qualified.
But as for Neji's team… a major bad luck appeared, and they disqualified.
.....
A few days back in the forest.
Neji, Tenten, and Lee were actively searching for the heaven scroll, but they did not find it anywhere. They had already fought one group of genin, but that group only had an earth scroll, so they left them alone.
They roamed through the dangerous woods for quite a long time, but they had no luck.
But somehow, their fortunes seemed to change when they finally found the heaven scroll. They all thought luck was in their favor, but they least expected it was a major bad luck.
All three of them saw a lone girl holding a heaven scroll. She was none other than Orochimaru in a girl's form. Normally, someone of his level should have dropped the scroll as it's useless, but since Anko and the other proctors were roaming the forest to spot him, and also due to fate, she was still carrying it.
This simple sight of her carrying the heaven scroll became terrible bad luck for Neji's team.
Lee and Neji stepped into her path to block her. "Give up on the scroll. We will let you go without any fight," they asked confidently.
Orochimaru looked at the young genin standing in the way and thought, 'Why am I encountering more and more brats.'
Not wanting to waste time, Orochimaru simply said, "Go away."
After saying it, he moved very fast, jumping from one massive branch to another in a blur.
But this incredible speed was caught up by Lee as he quickly undid his heavy training weights. Free from the extra burden.
Lee stood before the girl, blocking her way and said, "You are beautiful. But we want scroll so, either give up or fight me."
Without a word, Orochimaru punched Lee right in the stomach. Lee groaned heavily from the sheer strength of the hit.
Neji also caught up with them. He quickly attacked with his kunais and gentle fist, to get the scroll from her.
Lee somehow recovered from the painful blow and started his endless fighting style. He threw punches and kicks at a rapid pace, but none of his attacks showed any effect on her. She easily blocked and dodged everything.
Seeing it was impossible to do anything normally, Lee looked back at Neji and said, "I am going all out. I may not walk later."
With that saying, Lee forcefully opened his four gates. His speed and physical strength got maximized to a whole new level. He launched a rapid assault on Orochimaru.
Some of his fast blows were finally getting effective. Pushing his body even further, Lee opened his fifth gate, and later his sixth gate. He attacked even more fiercely. When some of his strong hits touched Orochimaru, she groaned too from the heavy impact.
But as his time limit got up, the extreme strain took a massive toll on his body. He became completely unable to move.
Seeing him freeze mid-fight, Orochimaru struck him with full force. Lee's bones got crushed from the heavy impact.
Lee felt unimaginable pain tear through his body. He screamed loudly, "AHHHHhhhh!"
As the pain skyrocketed beyond what he could handle, he became unconscious and fell hard to the ground.
After hitting him, Orochimaru casually threw the heaven scroll over the fallen Lee and left the place, disappearing into the trees.
Seeing this bizarre outcome, Neji got dumbfounded. He stared at the scroll resting on his teammate and thought, 'Why did the girl fight when she gave up her scroll.'
Seeing Lee lying there like that, he also felt a little bad for him.
'We can't escape fate,' Neji thought quietly. 'It's fate that made me not to get any injuries and made Lee to sustain, heavy injuries.'
After thinking that, Neji carefully carried Lee on his back.
The three of them went further to get to the tower as fast as possible, needing to leave Lee for an urgent medical checkup