Published at 10th of May 2020 6:23 pm

Chunin-Exams (4) – Part 24

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“This place looks ominous …” Naruto sighed, looking at the forest in front of him.

“Good morning everyone. This is the place where the second evaluation will be held, the forest of death!” Anko said, smiling at the teams of Genin in front of her.

“Alright, before we actually begin with the second exam … I’ll have you all sign this.” Anko said as she took out a stack of papers.

“If you want to continue the exam … you will have to sign these papers. They give me confirmation that you are alright with the fact that you may die in this exam and that you are willing to take this risk. Otherwise I’d be held accountable for that.” Anko laughed, making some of the students flinch.

After everyone had signed their papers, Anko continued: “This second exam is about survival.”

“First, I’ll give you a map for the forest of death. There are 44 hidden gates in this 44th training ground. Adding onto that, there are many lakes and … well, since it’s a forest, there are many trees. In the middle of it all is a tower, which will become important later on. The actual test is a fight without rules to get one of the scrolls that you are missing. Each team gets either a heaven or an earth scroll … and you need to fight at least one other team to get the scroll you are missing.” Anko added.

“Since there are 26 participating teams, 13 will get the heaven scroll and the other 13 the earth scroll.” Anko said.

“The test will take 5 days and to pass, you need to take one earth and one heaven scroll each to the tower in the middle.” Anko said seriously.

“Alright … lastly I’ll tell you on which conditions a team can get disqualified. Firstly, if you don’t manage to get the scrolls in five days and arrive at the tower. Secondly, if one team has a teammate that cannot fight anymore and lastly … you are not allowed to open the scrolls before reaching the tower.”

“That was all … now you go and swap out the forms in your hands for a scroll and each team looks for one of the 40 gates to enter the forest. Exchange your forms one team at a time.” Anko mentioned.

…

“So, they don’t want us to know which scroll which team has and who of the team is carrying the scroll.” Sasuke said to his team, noticing that the people handing out the scrolls had pulled a curtain in front of their table.

The others nodded, also having seen what was going on.

“Alright, we are next. Give me your forms.” Naruto said as they walked behind the curtain.

They gave their four forms to one of the Konoha-nin sitting at the table and were given a heaven scroll in exchange.

They had just gotten out of the makeshift tent, when they heard Anko say: “All the teams that got their scroll, move to your assigned gate and enter in 30 minutes!”

“Alright … let’s go then.” Naruto said, taking the front of the group. He was clearly excited for this survival exercise.

“Here it is … Gate 12.” Sakura said, as they reached their assigned gate that had a Konoha-nin waiting in front of it.

…

“Let’s attack the rookies first. It’ll be easier for us.” A female ninja with a long tongue said.

Her teammates nodded.

…

“Alright … the second part of the Chunin-Exams starts in 5, 4, 3, 2 …1!” Anko shouted and 40 gates opened at the exact same time.

79 Genin rushed into the forest only seconds after the gates were opened.

Unbeknownst to Team 7, several of the 26 teams were looking for either rookies in general or exactly their team for various reasons.

Even … one … disgusting Snake was on his way.

…

“Was that a human scream just now?” Sakura asked, being spooked out by the sounds already erupting in the forest not even 10 minutes after the exam’s start.

“Huh? I didn’t hear anything.” Naruto said.

Naruto started wiggling around, as if he was being very uncomfortable.

“Hey … is it okay if I go to the toilet for a second?” Naruto asked his team.

“Yea, but don’t do it right here, okay?” Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded and went behind a tree.

Meanwhile, Naru was giggling as Sasuke was currently patting her head.

She didn’t notice at first that the Naruto that came out of the bush had a different chakra signature and appearance than her actual brother.

It was only after the other Naruto started talking, that she realized that it was not actually him.

She let go of Sasuke’s hand and drew her sword.

Her eyes grew increasingly colder … someone had actually dared to impersonate her brother?

She instantly reappeared behind the enemy who wore a gasmask on his face.

“Where is he?” She asked, her pupils having turned to slits already.

The enemy nin trembled, her killing intent weighed heavily on his back, he was totally unable to move at this point.

“H-He … in the b-back … he was peeing, and I managed to r-restrain him.” He said after stumbling on his words several times.

Naru extended her senses and found that the enemy wasn’t lying.

“Idiot.” Sasuke said, facepalming himself.

Naru nodded and slashed her sword. Instantly a fountain of blood erupted from the enemy ninja’s shoulder.

His arm had been cut off, if he didn’t tend to that wound soon, he would certainly bleed out.

“Leave.” Naru said.

And exactly that was what the now bleeding enemy did. He ran for his life … vowing to take revenge for this if he could.

Soon, Sakura, Naru and Sasuke had freed Naruto and gathered in a clearing.

“Alright … in order to ensure that that never happens again … let’s think of a password.” Sasuke said and everyone else nodded.

“Alright, I’ll only say this once. The question is: When does a ninja strike? … The answer is: ….” Sasuke said.

Sakura and Naru nodded, having heard of this saying before as well and having no trouble at remembering it.

Naruto, however, … seemed to have failed to remember all of it and he asked Sasuke to repeat himself.

Sasuke just smirked and said: “No, once should have been enough.”

They could use that to their advantage. They knew that Naruto could not remember it … so they would know who he is for sure.

At this moment, Naru looked at Sasuke and their eyes met.

She moved over to Sasuke, pretending that she was going to kiss him: “Someone is watching us. They heard everything.” Is what she said.

Then, giving in to temptation, she actually kissed him.

“Is this really the right time and place for this-“ Naruto wanted to ask, but something suddenly flew out of the forest and cut his cheek, drawing a small and thin line of blood.

“Eh?” Sakura asked as she felt a growing wind pressure on her body.

Soon, there was a full-blown storm coming at them.

“This is a jutsu!” Naru shouted.

“That means that enemies are close to us!” Sasuke shouted towards his teammates.

The storm got stronger and they were blown into different directions.

…

Sasuke was lying on the ground, hidden in a bush, when he felt a presence behind him approach.

“Sasuke.” Sakura said, looking at the slightly dirty Sasuke lying on the ground. Though, she was just as dirty and covered in dust.

Sasuke instantly held his kunai to her throat: “Say the answer.”

“Oh sure ….” Sakura dutifully answered the question.

Sasuke let her go and they looked around, looking for other teammates to regroup with.

Some seconds later, Naruto appeared behind a tree.

“Wait.” Sasuke said. “Tell us the answer.”

(A/N: I’m feeling lazy, so I won’t repeat the question every single damn time. You know the question … and some of you know the answer. That’s okay.)

“Sure. ……..” Naruto also perfectly repeated the answer they had chosen.

“Heh. So, my prediction was true. Naruto would be the one that people pretend to be. You are not Naruto, just show your true form.” Sasuke said.

Sakura nodded: “True. Naruto could not have remembered the actual answer.”

“And we knew that someone was listening to us.” Sasuke added.

“Haha!” The fake Naruto laughed and soon smoke rose beneath him. After it cleared, a woman from Kusagakure with long legs and a long tongue appeared in the fake Naruto’s spot.

She grabbed at her waist and pulled out an earth scroll: “You want this, right? Let’s fight for it then …”

Her elongated tongue swallowed the earth scroll, and it soon disappeared into her throat.

(A/N: damn …)

After swallowing the scroll, she touched her lower eyelid and made Sasuke and Sakura focus on it.

Then, Sasuke and Sakura suddenly felt a terrifying presence of death on their minds and couldn’t help but fall to the ground.

“Genjutsu?! No … this is … just her killing intent.” Sasuke thought, completely terrified by the enemy’s sudden killing intent.

“This isn’t normal …” He thought.

He looked over at Sakura and saw her looking back at him, but she was shaking even worse than him.

“Sasuke … we need to get way … but, why can’t I … move?” She said weakly. Even speaking had cost her a lot of strength.

“Move! I need to move!” Sasuke screamed in his mind.

He reached a hand into his pouch and pulled out a kunai.

Slowly, very slowly, he stood up. He faced the Kusa-nin that had at some point started walking towards them.

Yet, looking at her was all he could do.

She pulled out two kunai and said: “I’ll make it quick.” Then she licked her lips and flung the two kunai at him and Sakura.

As the kunai flew at him, he stabbed himself in his thigh and used the pain to circumvent the fear he was feeling towards the Kusa-nin. He quickly grabbed Sakura, dodging the kunai, and jumped away into the distance.

A few trees later, he slumped to the ground and Sakura fell onto her knees.

They were both heaving, being completely exhausted by this prior fear that had overtaken their minds.

Inside of his mind, Sasuke was screaming at himself, cursing his own weakness: “If we let her catch us again … we’ll die. We’ll simply die. She is way too strong … if only Naru was here. No … this is wrong. I shouldn’t … rely on her all the time. It’s me that should protect her! Not the other way around! Gosh … I’m weak …”

…

[Meanwhile, with Naruto]

“This fucking snake swallowed me! Damn … it stinks in here.” Naruto said.

“Kurama, got any idea as to how to escape this place?” Naruto asked inside of his mind.

“Well … this sure seems like a rather sticky situation, haha!” Kurama laughed. He was having the time of his life, watching his own sister’s new brother struggling to get a footing in the slippery insides of the snake.

“Stop laughing … don’t you have any ideas?” Naruto asked, growing slightly annoyed.

“Uhm … you could-“ Kurama had just wanted to voice an idea when the snake was suddenly cut apart.

The piece of the snake’s stomach that Naruto was in, now had light of the outside world flow in on both ends.

“Nii-chan, get out of there.” Naru said, asking Naruto to get out of the snake.

“Oh, Naru, it’s good to see you.” Naruto said, smiling at her.

He just wanted to hug her, when she dodged his arms, her face warping in disgust: “You smell, and you are all slimy … don’t come near me like that.”

“Hahaha, Kit, so unfortunate!” Kurama had been laughing all this time and he wasn’t going to stop anytime soon! He was having the time of his life right now! This Jinchuuriki was clearly the most fun he ever had!

The snake was dead and went up in smoke, signifying that it was a summon.

“Where are the others?” Naruto asked.

Naru closed her eyes and sent out her chakra to search for Sasuke and Sakura: “I’m searching.”

…

“Immediately inform the Hokage about this! Send Anbu-squads into the forest of death! We are in deep shit and if I’m right, then Orochimaru is currently with the Genin … he must be planning something …” Anko said to three Konoha-nin next to her.

They nodded and vanished, leaving her alone to stare at three corpses of Kusagakure-ninja.

…

[Meanwhile, with Sasuke, Sakura and Orochimaru]

“My name is … Orochimaru. I have to say, Sasuke-kun, your eyes are even sharper than your brother’s eyes are, truly an Uchiha’s greatest weapon. When you, Sasuke, finish these exam’s finals, then we will meet again.” Orochimaru said as he burned Team 7’s heaven scroll.

“But first, you need to defeat the Oto-nin.” Orochimaru chuckled.

“Uwah … we really don’t want to meet you again.” Sakura said, kneeling next to Sasuke and also being frozen by Orochimaru’s paralyzing jutsu.

“Oh, but we will certainly meet each other again.” Orochimaru said as he did some hand signs. Suddenly, his throat elongated and grew long enough in order to reach Sasuke’s neck. Orochimaru then bit deeply into Sasuke’s left shoulder, making him wince in pain.

After Orochimaru let go of Sasuke, a black mark formed on his neck.

Sasuke felt a burning pain in his body and couldn’t help but touch his neck in pain.

“What did you do?!” shouted Sakura.

“Why, I just gave him a little present~.” Orochimaru chuckled as he vanished into the ground.

…

A few minutes later, as Sasuke was screaming on the ground, Naru and Naruto appeared beside him.

Naru looked at the curse seal and thought: “What is this black chakra … it seems almost as evil as the ten-tail’s chakra … but that is on an even higher level.”

…

[In a different place. Anko was meeting Orochimaru]

Anko kneeled on the ground, the pain in the area of her neck was unbearable.

“I found a new toy. A boy … he shows great promise. True Uchiha blood flows through his veins and I have gifted him the same mark that you have.” Orochimaru said.

“He won’t survive. Knowing how you treat your experiments, he won’t survive.” Anko said.

“Probably not, yes. His chances are 1 out of 10. But he could do it, just like you, Anko.” Orochimaru answered, before closing in on her.

“Are you jealous?” Orochimaru asked her, touching her cheek with his right hand.

“Are you still angry about the way that I used you … and then threw you away?” Orochimaru asked again.

“He’ll make a great new vessel for me. His body is in great condition, so he’ll make a great successor! Anko, make sure that the exams aren’t stopped. Three ninjas of my village are also participating, this’ll be a lot of fun!” Orochimaru said before vanishing into the night sky.

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