Me and Fuu separated from Temari after we had our meal together and I created a shadow clone to oversee the exam with her, while I went to a bathhouse with Fuu.
Sato: Fuu, have you ever been to a public bathhouse?
Fuu: No, but I've heard a lot about it, can I wash your back when we're inside?
Sato: Of course, but let's take a warm bath first.
Fuu: It's so cool that I can do things like this here.
Sato: I can imagine that your life is not easy. My best friend is also a Jinchuuriki and the village has ostracized him all his life, but when I got to know him I was able to help him a little. He is currently outside our village to train his strength.
Fuu: So you know someone who is like me? What is he like, please tell me everything about him?
Sato: He's quite an idiot, but he's also the most loyal and kindest person I know and we used to do lots of fun things when he was still in our village. My sister-in-law is his girlfriend and misses him very much, but others miss him too, we have many good friends.
Fuu looked at me sadly and we entered the water together.
Fuu: That sounds great. I wish I had as many friends too, but I only have my sensei and it's not the same.
Sato: But I bet you mean a lot to him!
Fuu: He means a lot to me too, but he's so strict about this Akatsuki and I'm not even allowed to leave the village anymore. I'm only allowed to take part in the exam because I can't stand being alone in the village anymore.
Sato: Can you fully control your power, Fuu?
Fuu: Choumei said that I'm not ready to control all of his power yet.
Sato: How many tails can you manage?
Fuu: The highest was two and then it hurts to use them.
Sato: Two is good, you're only 13 years old after all.
Fuu: How old are you actually?
Sato: I'm still 14, but my birthday is coming up. If you want you can come to my next birthday.
Fuu: I'd really like to, but I don't know if I'm allowed to leave the village.
Sato: Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it, my aunt is the Hokage after all.
Fuu: Really, your aunt is the Hokage, I heard she's super strong?
Sato: I'm stronger. Should I wash your back too?
Fuu: Gladly.
We washed each other and got dressed again and Fuu was greeted by her two jonin bodyguards.
Fuu: See you tomorrow Sato, bye.
Sato: See you tomorrow then and don't cause too much trouble for the two of them.
I went back to Temari and focused on the exam again.
Temari: And how was your shared bath?
Sato: It was fun, you should have come with us.
Temari: Keep dreaming.
Sato: You don't know what you're missing out. I received the information from my shadow clone, looks like three teams have already arrived in the desert.
Temari: The team from Suna and two from Konoha. I think Suna will at least come second, your friends are having orientation problems in the desert.
Sato: I would have also recommended that they find shelter for the night and continue during the day. They will have to learn the hard way that there are many hunters lurking in the desert at night.
Temari: Our genin are familiar with the animals here, they may arrive at Suna later this night.
Suki and her team slowly roamed the desert.
Suki: My right ankle is really hurting, the weight is really annoying.
Botan: I don't know, shouldn't we take a break and move on tomorrow, my feet are killing me and I have cramps in my legs from the sand?
Wendy: It's good that Daisy is carrying me, but even my ankle hurts, I don't even want to know what pain you're in.
Suki: But if we take a break the weight will increase even more and it will be even more difficult for us to finish.
Botan briefly sat down on a nearby stone and took a deep breath. Shortly afterwards, Botan noticed that the stone beneath him was moving and the sand beneath him was beginning to shake. A gigantic scorpion appeared from the ground and the stone Botan was sitting on was one of his gigantic claws. The scorpion hit Botan with its other claw out of the 5m radius of the shackles and Botan was seriously injured. He looked down at his ankle leg and saw his bone sticking out of his wound and then started to feel the pain and screamed like he had never screamed before.
Suki: Quickly Wendy, go to Botan and help him, I will defeat the scorpion in the next minute.
Wendy ran straight to Botan who was screaming in pain and trying to straighten his leg. Meanwhile, Suki took her daggers out of her holster and jumped around the scorpion. The scorpion tried to catch her with its stinger, but she could avoid it at the last moment. She dodged and jumped onto the scorpion's head and rammed her two daggers into his chitin skin. However, the scorpion wasn't dead right away and with its last breath caught Suki's leg with its stinger and tore her calf. Suki fell to the ground and the scorpion died from the magma that melted its head. Suki carefully got up and was in extreme pain and hobbled over to Botan, Wendy and Daisy so they wouldn't lose the exam. Halfway there, Daisy took Suki on her back and brought her to the others.
Wendy: You did it Suki, let me see your leg, Botan was already unconscious from adjusting his leg.
Suki: Do you think Daisy can carry me and Botan?
Wendy: I don't think she can do it, it's all my fault, I should have noticed the scorpion.
Suki: I'll close my wound with my dagger, but I don't know if I was poisoned by the stinger, so we should hurry up to get to Sunagakure before I might lose consciousness.
Suki took her ice blade and froze her wound.
Suki: Ahhhh! Holy crap this hurts. Do you think Botan will be able to walk again with a leg splint?
Wendy: Unfortunately I didn't have any medical training and can't answer that for you.
Suki: I have four metal rods with me in case of emergency, can you take them out of my backpack with my first aid kit?
Wendy: I will.
Wendy took the items out of the backpack and gave them to Suki whose tears were streaming down her face.
Suki: Thank you, I will now put a leg splint on Botan and then bandage my leg. Can you have Daisy look for a big stick that I can use as a crutch?
Wendy: Sure, Daisy, you heard Suki and hurry up.
Daisy ran and Suki had sweat dripping from her forehead as she put the leg splint on Botan. After 5 minutes Daisy came back with a large dry branch.
Suki: Thank you Daisy, you did well.
Suki took the branch as a support and walked a few steps.
Suki: I think that will work, put Botan on Daisy and then let's move on to Sunagakure, we shouldn't waste any time.
Back with Kiba and his team.
Shino: It's a good thing we got off Akamaru earlier, he still hasn't fully recovered from the transport.
Oku: It's good that we found the cave here, I heard there are a lot of predators out here at night.
Kiba: At least we were able to gain a lot of time, it will be easy for us to reach Suna tomorrow morning.
Shino: Yes, let's take a breather here, I'll stay awake for the 5 hours and you'll rest, I'll wake you all up to gain weight and my insects will keep an eye out for dangerous animals that come too close to us.
Oku: Thanks Shino.
Shino: Now all three of you lie down before I change my mind.
Meanwhile, Sakura's team stopped in a small village that was still outside the desert. All three of them were in a restaurant and we're eating something.
Sakura: Good thing I still remembered the village. My team once had a mission near here and the desert is about to start near here. Walking through the desert at night is very dangerous and would probably have caused us more problems.
Choji: And the food here is delicious too.
Ino: Can't you stop thinking about eating every minute Choji?
Sakura: At least we've completed the first half of the route, but the ankle cuffs are becoming more and more uncomfortable.
If you want, you can sleep tonight and I'll stay awake. I'm used to staying awake for longer periods. I learned it the hard way in the hospital.
Ino: With pleasure.
Choji: Sure.
Lee, Tenten and Mara arrived in the desert at night and didn't want to take a break.
Lee: Do you think we'll be the first to arrive?
Tenten: I bet a lot of teams will run consistently, but none of the other teams have been in the desert as much as us, except maybe the ones from Sunagakure.
Mara: Are you sure we should walk through the desert at night?
Tenten: Believe me Mara, Lee and Guy have strange talents and one talent is to detect danger from far away. As long as the idiot is near us, nothing will happen to us.
Lee: Thank you for trusting me so much, Tenten.
Lee's tears fell.
Mara: I just hope we get there soon, so I can be greeted by my beloved Sato. I can literally see it in front of me. Mara you managed to come to me. From today on I will separate from Hanabi and start a new life with you. That he will say and then take me in his arms and kiss me tenderly.
Lee: And I will win Sakura's heart, because I got to the destination much faster than the others.
Tenten: (Why do all the freaks always come near me, maybe I'm cursed. Neji, I miss you.)
She then started to cry.
Lee: You don't have to cry Tenten, I'm sure you'll find someone else with whom you will fall in love too.
Tenten hit Lee square in the face with her fist and said, "Shut up you idiot!"
Lee held his hand to his red cheek and nodded.
The three continued walking for a few hours and found a dead scorpion whose skull had melted.
Lee: Do you think someone had to fight him?
Tenten: I don't know, but the melted head reminds me of Suki's weapon.
Mara: Is Suki okay?
Lee: There's blood over here, I think we should go find them and help them.
Mara: That's a lot of blood, hopefully no one died, we should hurry.
Back with Suki and her team.
Botan just opened his eyes and saw that he was being carried by Daisy and that Suki could barely stand on her legs and Daisy was also having problems carrying him.
Botan: What happened?
Wendy: You're finally awake, Botan. You fainted when I fixed your bone. Suki was caught by the stinger in the fight with the scorpion and we're trying to get to Suna quickly, because she might have been poisoned.
The next moment Suki collapsed and Wendy ran to her.
Wendy: Suki is unconscious, Botan take her branch and swap places with her.
Botan: I will try it.
Botan took the branch and stood up.
Botan: Put her on Daisy, I think I can walk with the branch.
Mew appeared next to them and looked at Suki worriedly. Mew knew not to help Suki without Suki's consent.
Botan: Mew don't help her, she would have told you that she needed help. Suki wanted to pass this exam without your help.
Mew: Mew, Mew. (I understand.)
Wendy: Daisy can you still go on?
Daisy: Woof, woof. (I guess so)
Wendy: Alright then let's move on.
They continued for a few kilometers until the sand beneath them gave way, forming a sand vortex that threatened to swallow them all.
Everyone except Wendy didn't have enough strength to free themselves and Wendy didn't know who to save. The next moment three shadows appeared and jumped out of the sand vortex with the three of them and Wendy followed them so that the 5 m radius was not exceeded.
Lee: That was close, we were almost too late.
Wendy: Thanks for the rescue, I didn't know what to do.
Mara: No problem.
Tenten: Suki doesn't look good, was she poisoned by the scorpion?
Lee placed Daisy on the floor and Mara supported Botan under his shoulder.
Wendy: I think so, Suki has been unconscious for about 2 hours and that's why we tried to get to Sunagakure quickly, even if Botan's leg is broken.
Tenten: I have an anti-venom pill, but I don't know if it'll do much, it looks like a strong neurotoxin. Her lips are also discolored, we should hurry.
Tenten put the pill in Suki's mouth.
Tenten: Suna is still 2 hours away, I don't know if there's enough time to save her.
Lee: If not, we give up. Saving Suki's life takes priority.
When Lee said that, Suki woke up for a moment.
Suki: I'll get through this, please don't give up because of me.
Tenten: Then we continue at your responsibility. Lee carry Suki and Botan and show them your youth.
Lee: Got it.
Lee took both of them on top of each other on his back and even for him this became a hard task.
Meanwhile, me and Temari greeted the team from Sunagakure.
Temari: Shira, Yome, Sen, you arrived second. Congratulations on passing the second test.
Shira: Someone arrived before us?
Sato: Yes, the first team was here before nightfall.
Shira: How did they do that?
Temari: They flew.
Sen: How unfair and I thought we would win.
Temari: Don't beat yourself up about it, I probably wouldn't have made it before them either. Now go to the community hall there you will get something to eat and you can sleep in one of the rooms, I bet you are all exhausted.
Yome: We will do it, good night to you and we wish you both many fun waiting for the others.
Sato: I like those three, our villages need more ninja like them.
Temari: You probably like the Taijutsu type?
Sato: I just recognize potential when I see it.