After they had recovered from their emotions, a ninja invited them to follow him to the edge of a huge fenced forest. There seemed to be only half the number of people left from the beginning of the exam. Mitsuki was worried about the content of this second test. The first one had shaken her more than she thoughts, making her aware once again of the reality of the path she was choosing: their lives would be regularly in danger, and losing companions could be part of the lot again.

A shiver ran through her at the thought, as a new male voice called out:

"Congratulations on passing the first test. But don't you dare rest on your laurels! I have no more intention of sparing you than do this dear Ibiki. You are facing the Forest of Death here. And make no mistake, it lives up to its name! Danger lurks beneath every tree! Your goal is simple: reach the top of the tower inside the forest. However, completing this mission will be no picnic. The final places are limited, so don't waste time! Take your place in front of each of the entrances, and leave as soon as the gate opens. Once inside, there will be no quitting, so I'll only ask you once: those who prefer to give up and try again next year, the exit is behind you. For the rest of you, go and set up."

Two groups abdicated, visibly proven by the previous trial, under the mockery of a few Chûnin aspirants still present.

As for Yuki's team 2, they went to stand in front of a gate without a word. It was obvious to them that they would go to the end.

They waited in silence, visibly nervous, and excited at the same time.

After many long minutes, the gate finally opened, and the three Genin darted into the dark woods, looking for any sound that might alarm them. Soon, Shinko tripped over a wire, and Itachi, who had activated his Sharingans, tackled him to the ground as kunai came flying towards him.

"Mitsuki, get down! "he shouted, too late.

The kunai tore through her, taking Shinko's breath away, until "Mitsuki" gave way to a trunk in a clever substitution technique. She stepped out from behind a tree and held out her hands to help her teammates up.

"Thank you, Itachi-kun." she chuckled as the Uchiha guessed her urgently launched technique with the help of his pupils.

"We'll have to be really careful..." he sighed as Shinko wrinkled her nose at her lack of attention.

They didn't have time to take a step, when a cracking sound was heard above them. As they looked up, a giant spider darted at them at great speed, forcing them to split apart with a leap backwards.

Immediately, Shinko sent an explosive scroll at it, in an attempt to make it back off.

"Be careful moving, it has woven its web around us!" Itachi alerted them, spotting the strings of chakra the beast was producing to capture them.

Mitsuki grabbed her katana and breathed some of her own chakra into it to slice through the threads she couldn't see in front of her. She cautiously approached the huge beast as it struggled to chase the braided teenager, drawn in by its sudden movements that excited her more than they made her back off.

Itachi sent a few kunai, hitting the arachnid's eyes, causing her to become furious in the process. Itachi finally turned her attention away, and concentrated on the Uchiha with a quick movement of her pincers, and the Uchiha did not move. The latter watched with the same vivacity every movement of the beast, evaluating at full speed the best method to use in this situation. Genjutsu would be of no use on it and would tire him out unnecessarily. He armed himself with a new salvo of kunai, as the spider decided to launch the assault, finding herself just inches away from the young dark-haired man, when a squeak sounded from between the beast's chelicerae, before it collapsed, inert, at his feet.

He looked up, a smile on his face as he spotted his victorious friend on top of his assailant's skull, disgustedly disengaging the katana she'd planted on him.

"I hate those bugs!" she grinned as she dismounted.

Itachi's gaze returned to normal as he laughed at the situation. They resumed their journey without delay, redoubling their vigilance. They knew that the forest would not give them any rest, and it was likely that it would not be the only source of danger they faced.

Three days passed, and they moved forward, taking rare breaks, where they took turns looking out for each other, trying to regain chakra after facing various creatures in the forest. They were exhausted, but the longer they took, the more likely they were to be outpaced by other teams, or even run out of energy to reach their goal. They didn't even know if they had a chance to win the race, and the hunger that was gripping them was not helping their morale.

They were running, relentlessly, defeating every trap, every Genjutsu hindering their progress. Itachi's skills in this area were a great help, and Mitsuki's instinct allowed them to avoid as many fights as possible.

As they went deeper and deeper into the trees, they were surprised to find themselves in a huge clearing, where the tower of their objective was. They stopped, apprehensive about being out in the open when the area was coveted by many competitors.

"Let's not waste any more time!" imposed Shinko, before taking the lead in a leap.

"Wait!" her teammates demanded in chorus, without her listening to them.

They gave each other a determined look before heading for the big tower.

Suddenly, a shower of shurikens interrupted their run. They managed to avoid them without difficulty, but soon found themselves surrounded by a large number of clones of a shinobi who probably came from the village of Kiri, judging by the headband he was wearing. The three Konoha Genin closed in on each other back to back, leaving no blind spots between them. Their bloody reputation preceded them, and the relief they were just beginning to feel was quickly swallowed.

"Well, well... Where were you going to go like that?" the clones snickered.

"Stop fooling around and stick to the plan," grumbled one of the clones, who seemed to be emerging from the ground.

"It's okay, we can have some fun!" growled the first one.

Mitsuki felt Itachi cling to her back a little more. She glanced at him, his Sharingans were obviously already activated. He seemed tense, and she could only understand it. These men gave off the most malevolent aura. She put her hand on the handle of her katana, causing a spark in the clones eyes."Besides, this one doesn't seem inclined to take it lying down. Maybe they'll finally put up some resistance to us, unlike the others..." the clone owner laughed, getting more and more excited.As the Konoha Genin watched their movements, a ghoulish voice whose possessor had not yet shown himself uttered:

"Suiton, the mucus puddle".

They didn't have time to react as their feet became stuck in the slime. Mitsuki tried to get out of the way, only managing to sink a little deeper.

"Don't move, Mitsuki, you'll only get trapped even more. We'll find a solution together," Itachi advised her calmly.

His last word echoed in the girl's mind, calming her immediately. He reminded her of the promise he had made to her, and she knew she could count on him to get them out of trouble. Shinko, on the other hand, was concentrating, as if she was preparing something.Mitsuki thought quickly, deprived of her movements, she couldn't be very useful to them, and yet, she couldn't stay here, with her arms hanging down. She thought for a moment about her wolves. No, she had to find another solution, the ordeal was undoubtedly being watched, and their every move was being spied on.

"Sango, you're a pain! We'll settle this again in no time, let me have fun at least once!" grumbled the clone man, visibly frustrated.

"We don't have time for your childishness. We need to eliminate as many opponents as possible here, and the next challenge will be that much easier for us. Just focus on our goal," the Suiton's launcher reminded him coldly, appearing among the clones.

A swarm of crows flew in behind Mitsuki at once. She could not contain a half smile. So Itachi had anticipated the attack of the macabre man with his Sharingan. He had probably waited until he spotted their third opponent before withdrawing his shadow clone. Shards of kunai rang through the clones' ranks. Itachi was fighting with amazing speed, creating a gap in the middle of the Kiri ninja's ambush.

Shinko smiled as well, before disappearing into a tree trunk and reappearing a few feet away, ready to fight alongside the Uchiha.And suddenly, the truth burst out again in Mitsuki's eyes: she was a burden, once again. As she felt the anger rising inside her again, Itachi asked her again:

"Don't move, I'm coming to get you out of here soon."

This was not what she wanted, he would come to save her once again, and he was once again in danger for it. And she, undoubtedly remained useless. Her heart was racing as she watched the fight unfold before her.She just managed to send a few shurikens that were still in the pouch hanging on her thigh, neutralizing one of the clones that tried to strike a blow in her friend's back. He gave her a grateful smile before continuing to fight.

"Hi!" a cheerful voice called out to the girl's left.

She petrified and turned her gaze to the clone creator. His aura was even darker than the copies Itachi was struggling against, so she could easily guess that it was the original. Soon other clones surrounded her, hiding her from the eyes of her companions.

"Let's have some fun, beauty." the boy hissed as he pulled her by the arm, freeing her from the tide that was holding her captive.

Mitsuki saw this as a boon, regaining the use of all four limbs, but was soon caught up in reality. Her opponent threw her against one of his clones, who kicked her in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her as she fell backwards.

"Come on, fight! That's what you wanted to do, right?" he incited her with a carnivorous smile.

Mitsuki struggled to her feet, grabbing her katana as the Genin wannabe lunged at her again. It was fast, she could barely parry it, it seemed like a meager toy in his hands, and when she finally managed to hit it, it vanished into a puddle. She couldn't find the original, and had lost sight of her teammates, which made her even more anxious.

"Your friend looked much more interesting than you, but he's too busy looking for you, he's annoying me. I'm going to finish him off. Maybe that will wake you up a bit and we can finally play together!" the clone boy raved.

Mitsuki felt chills run up her arms. She had to act, she couldn't let anything bad happen to Itachi. But she could feel her chakra dwindling and her damn seal wouldn't let her use any more. So she made her decision, for the sake of her teammates, and bit her thumb sharply before putting her hand down.

"INVOCATION!" she exclaimed.

Her giant wolf and an entire pack immediately appeared. The clone man became even more excited as Mitsuki climbed on the back of the wolf leader. The wolves snarled, waiting for a word to come out and attack the attackers.

"Find Itachi and Shinko first, please..." Mitsuki told them, before the pack charged at the clones, picking them off one by one.

"Focus, Mitsuki. I know you can find the real people in the middle of these clones," the giant wolf encouraged her.

Mitsuki took a deep breath before examining the surroundings. Unfortunately, her thoughts were mostly directed towards Itachi, and she was struggling to reach her goal.

"The sooner they are out of harm's way, the less chance they have of harming your friend" the wolf guessed.

Mitsuki tightened her fingers in the beast's coat, and closed her eyes. The sounds of struggle came to her, the wolves were relentlessly fighting. She breathed out slowly, trying to clear her mind as dark spots came to her distinctly.

"There!" cried Mitsuki, pointing in the direction she had found the dark auras of their enemies.

She held on as the wolf rushed towards them. Part of the pack surrounded them in turn, removing any hope of retreat. Except for one of them, who tried to sink back into the earth, but Mitsuki composed mudras that came naturally to her:

"Pack technique, throbbing fangs!"

The pack pounced on the enemies, pinning them in their jaws. They howled in pain as the girl sent one last attack:

"Fûton, howl of the divine wolf!"

A huge wind wolf appeared, howling at the moon, turning into a fearsome attack that went straight for the enemy, sending them to the mat.

The clones all disappeared around them at the same time.

"Thank you... my friends." sighed Mitsuki as she collapsed from exhaustion, ending the summoning.

"MITSUKI!" shouted a voice that immediately soothed her heart.

Arms surrounded her as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Itachi-kun..." she whispered acknowledging the red pupils despite the veil that passed over her eyes.

"What was that?" exclaimed Shinko as she joined them, breathless.

Itachi just shrugged his shoulders to answer her. He ran his hand through the young Hata's hair to clear her face, worried that she was in such bad shape.

"We shouldn't hang around here, and we can't let ourselves get left behind by the other teams... Who knows how many have already arrived at the tower!" pronounced Shinko curtly, obviously embarrassed by the situation.

"Can't you see that she's in no condition to continue?" pointed out Itachi, raising his head to give her a dark look.

Shinko exhaled loudly, deeply annoyed at the idea of failing.

"I...I'm... fine..." stammered Mitsuki painfully, trying to sit up.

"Mitsuki..." Itachi objected.

"No way... to fail... The girl persisted as she leaned on her friend to get up.

Once she stood, she wobbled dangerously before losing her balance in the Uchiha's arms.

"No more ... chakra ... Go ahead without me, I'll be fine..." she sighed, distraught.

Shinko looked away, ashamed that she had been so hard on her when her exhaustion was obviously not feigned. But Itachi pulled the girl onto his back in one motion. He slid his hands under Mitsuki's thighs and held them firmly around her waist. He himself was very tired from the fight, but he used his last bit of strength to carry his friend to the tower. They were going to pass this test, all three of them!

Let's hope they don't run into any other teams...

They moved forward slowly, Mitsuki let herself be lulled by the movement, and Shinko watched over them, playing the scout to spare them a confrontation, which would only lead them to elimination in these circumstances. They finally arrived in front of the tower. The door was locked and the three Genin could find no other entrance. The minutes ticked by, each one bringing them closer to the risk of being overtaken so close to their goal. Or maybe the door was just locked because all the spots for the final event had been won?

Shinko kicked a rock away with her foot. Itachi was examining the area with his Sharingan, and Mitsuki was sitting on the ground disappointed.

But all of a sudden, an idea crossed her mind:

"If ...! What was the word written on your scrolls in the first test?"

"Sky," Itachi answered immediately, turning his eyes to Shinko who looked uncomfortable again.

"I... I don't know anymore..." she admitted, looking at the ground.

"Try to remember Shinko..." Mitsuki insisted gently.

"It's okay, the ball and chain! We're just wasting our time with your crazy ideas!" the teenager said, annoyed.

She found herself on the ground without understanding why, until she looked up at an obviously angry Itachi. Mitsuki opened her mouth, surprised to see Itachi out of his mind for the first time since they met. Tiredness had probably taken its toll on his patience as well as the energy of the wolf mistress.

"Always protecting your dear Mitsuki..." Shinko growled jealously as she dusted her knees after getting up.

"Stop... please..." Mitsuki pleaded, not sure where to put herself.

An electric silence fell between the three Genin. Shinko had taken a few steps away as Itachi sat down next to his friend.

"My word was 'Earth'... Maybe Shinko's has something to do with ours..." Mitsuki said shyly.

They thought for a long time, not finding any other solution to their problem. After a long half hour, their sidekick came running back to them:

"It was Air! The word! It was air!"

Itachi and Mitsuki immediately got up before quickly running back to the door.

"Earth-Sky-Air." dictated Mitsuki, with nothing happening.

Shinko sighed, disappointed, but suggested, as if to make up for her earlier outburst:

"How about we each say our own?"

Her two teammates nodded before jumping in:

"Earth.""Air.""Sky."

A roar went through the air, before the two heavy doors deigned to open onto a huge room. So they could never have gotten there by leaving one of them behind... The three Genin rushed in, relieved. They discovered with surprise their Sensei, Yuki, smiling proudly at them at the back of the room.

"Congratulations kids! I am extremely proud of you! You knew how to put your abilities and your knowledge in common to arrive until here. And you are only the 3rd to have succeeded! You will be able to rest from now on, the last test will be a tournament organized between all the winning ninjas of this test. You will have one month to prepare yourselves. I'll meet you later to set up your programs!" explained Yuki, before opening another door leading to the exit of the forest.

They found themselves outside, congratulating each other briefly on their success and returning to their homes, exhausted.