Chapter 55 – Forest of Death

Anko Mitarashi, wearing bodystocking with a skirt and long coat, patted Raito’s head. She made chewing noise as she ate the rice dumplings with a content smile.

“How can you make such good dango?”

Raito caught her head and removed from his head, “I am just a genius. It’s not a big deal…”

“Genius, huh?” Anko went back and sat on her desk and since no one was around, she smiled and asked, “It was you three, in my forest, right? Total of 36 times, not bad. ”

“…Yeah.” Raito didn’t feel like he could hide it anyway so he told the truth.

“But how did you find out? I don’t think anyone saw us coming or leaving.” Raito asked as he stared at Anko.

Anko didn’t answer but pulled open her long coat to reveal a small white snake coiling around her arm, Midori.

“So that’s how it is.” Raito tsked and pushed his finger on Midori’s head.

“So, I heard from Ibiki…” Anko dangled her long legs and waited.

“Group from Otogakure and from Kusagakure…there are a lot of Kusa Genin still remaining but I don’t exactly know their names.” Raito sighed.

“Here,” Anko directly gave him all the pictures of the participants and smiled.

Raito didn’t disappoint as he quickly picked three out and gave it to Anko.

“Never seen them. Must be Genin, alright.” Anko placed the pictures back on the stack then into the pocket.

“… The whole time in the exam… they were watching Sasuke. Only at the last minute, they filled their answers.” Raito mumbled.

“When did you become so worried about Sasuke?” Anko had a teasing smile on her face.

“Worried?” Raito looked at Anko weirdly and added, “The reason that we are being added in the Chūnin selection exam this time is because of Sasuke, isn’t it?”

Anko’s smile stiffened.

“Anko-sama, its time.” One Chūnin appeared in front of Anko and announced.

Anko was still looking at Raito. Only after a long time, she said, “Kakashi recommended you guys two months before selection of Chūnin exam, way before anyone even announced for the exams…. Even before Daimyō asked for Sasuke’s participation.”

“…”

Raito walked out of the inner area with a daze and reached where all of the Genins had gathered.

Shikamaru who watched Raito walking in a daze threw a stone in his direction. Not even out of his daze, Raito’s hand moved automatically and caught the stone.

“What the heck?” Raito glared at Shikamaru.

“Ahhh!!” Naruto screams alerted everyone.

Anko grabbed Naruto from behind and licked the blood coming out of his cut in the cheek. “Naruto-kun, just where were you? I missed you soo much~”

“Let-let me go~!!” Naruto screamed and struggled.

“Che~ you are no fun.” Anko let go of Naruto but before she could even move her kunai was served to her, held by a tongue.

Looking back, she saw that it was one of the three Kusa-Genin Raito had pointed.

[???]

[Observe (Active) Lvl 72]

“I should work in ‘Observe’ more.” Raito locked onto the Kusa-Genin as he narrowed his eyes.

The ‘Kusa-Genin’ moved her head slowly and her eye moved to the corner looking at Raito. Raito gave a small nod and turned his head, ‘I didn’t even look at her directly…’

Anko who was momentarily stunned threw the kunai which lodged deep in the tree.

“It’s good you have not done any hanky panky. Stand behind me next time and I will personally deal with you.” Anko threatened but the Kusa Genin only smiled back.

Anko smiled back then patted Naruto on the shoulder then walked back to the line of Chūnin proctors.

“Listen up Genins! I am the examiner of the second round of Chūnin selection exam, Mitarashi Anko.” Anko announced and looked at everyone on the ground.

Then turning back, she looked at the fence dividing the two worlds. On one side the woods were chopped down and small huts were made but on the other side of the fence were tall and thick imposing trees, which was rumored to be the training ground of Senju Hashirama.

Senju Hashirama created this forest of radius ten kilometers and grabbed bunch of wild and dangerous animals from all over the fire country. Although he missed some, he captured most of them who were wreaking havoc and dumped them in this small forest.

Snakes, centipede, lion, tigers, leech, bears, etc. Not just animals but even the plants and insects were said to be poisonous and can endanger life. The small forest has its own system with rivers passing through it. Of course, the river didn’t open to the outside world but was made in a loop by the Konoha ninjas. Another important part of this training ground, standing in the center is a small tower that has never been destroyed nor touched in this past hundred year by those dangerous beasts.

“Training ground forty-four also called the Forest of Death.”

Anko nodded to one of the Chūnin and continued, “Before we start with the second exam, I want you all to sign on these consent forms.”

“Why?” Naruto asked instinctively. Raito hid his face and looked elsewhere.

Anko looked in amusement as faces started turning pale and others had a cold gleam hidden in the eyes.

“From now on out, corpses are going to come out. I’ll have to get your consent or it’ll be my responsibility.” Anko explained.

The forms were passed to everyone.

“Well, I am going to start the explanation for second exam. In simple version, it’s a survival mission. First let’s talk about this training ground. Training ground 44 has 44 locked gated with forest, river and a building in the center and has a radius of 10 kilometers from the center, the tower.”

“It must be obvious that you have to reach the building but there is something more… It will be ‘Anything goes Scroll Battle’.”

“Scroll Battle?”

“She said anything goes.” Raito nudged Shikamaru.

“Scrolls?” Shikamaru sighed as he looked at Anko and the consent form.

“Yes.” Anko took out two scrolls from her long coat one blue and another white. The white scroll had ‘Heaven’ character inscribed on it whereas blue one had ‘Earth’ inscribed on it.

“There are 25 teams who passed the first round of exams. And now every group will be getting either ‘Heaven’ or ‘Earth’ scroll.”

After waiting for a while, a Genin spoke up, “It’s just that?”

“Of course not. Now rules.” Anko smiled as faces started getting dirty.

“Rules, again?” some Genins grumbled.

Anko started, “First, you will have to gain one heaven and one earth scroll for your group.”

“Thereby eliminating the half of everyone here.” One Genin snickered.

Anko nodded slightly and continued, “Second, you have 120 hours or five days from the opening of gates to reach the tower.

“Five days!?” Chōji immediately shifted close to Raito. “I want to change team.”

One of the Chūnin proctor with glasses fixed his glasses and frowned at Chōji’s interruption.

One of the Genin raised his hand, “Can I ask-”

“No.” Anko immediately stopped him.

“Moving on, conditions of disqualification.”

“Number 1, if your team can’t make it to the tower with both ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’ scrolls within the time limit.”

“Number 2, if a team loses a member or if a member became incapacitated.”

“Then there is a supplement…. Absolutely do not look at the content of scrolls until you have reached the tower.”

Kankurō raised his hands and immediately asked, “What’s gonna happen if we look at it anyway?”

Anko looks at Kankurō with playful smile and answered, “When you look at it… you’ll find out!”

“Huh~!”

She walked back and pointed at the Chūnin. “Sign those consent papers and submit them to get either ‘Heaven’ or ‘Earth’ scroll.”

Ninjas from different villages walked back and front with the consent forms but most of them who had already experienced life and death battles signed without hesitation.

Raito leaned on the tree and waited for other teams to exchange. While he kept eye on the other teams, he didn’t forget about his own team. Naruto didn’t even think for a second before signing. But what surprised Raito was Hinata who had already signed her paper.

To the very end, Raito sat, leaning on the tree despite Hinata’s confused eyes and Naruto's constant buzzing.

“Shika’s team got Heaven scroll.” Raito nodded and together with Hinata and Naruto submitted their consent form.

Anko smiled as she handed Raito a ‘Heaven’ scroll. “Who’s the prey?”

“The weakest one, of course,” Raito replied with a smile back and winked then with a Chūnin went for their gate.

“Raito! Let’s beat as many as we can.” Naruto palmed his fist and smiled.

“Naruto-kun, we have a mission.” Hinata grabbed Naruto’s clothes and spoke softly.

The Chūnin looked back and suggested, “It will be better if you… get the scroll and reach the tower as fast as possible.”

Raito looked at the Chūnin but didn’t say anything. What could he say? There was a mission for them to complete and Sasuke was the main factor.

Standing in front of the gates, Chūnin picked up his clipboard then announced, “Team 3 of the Chūnin selection exams, Konohagakure, Yoshizawa Raito, Hyūga Hinata, and Uzumaki Naruto.”

“You three have 120 hours to get the scroll and reach the tower. If you don’t reach the tower in time you will naturally fail.”

“… Inside the forest-”

“We know, senpai,” Raito assured.

The Chūnin sighed looking at the Genins. He was the same, confident about his first exam…

“… Don’t open the scroll, no matter what.” The Chūnin grabbed the chains on the gated and pushed his chakra, making the lock, unlock and the chains rattle, opening the metal gate in front.

“GO!” The Chūnin banged open the gates and shouted.

“Hai!” Naruto, Hinata, and Raito dashed inside, climbing the tree as fast as possible.

“Try not to make noise,” Raito commanded and a layer of chakra covered his shoes. Naruto and Hinata nodded and they also covered their feet with chakra.

After a five minute distance they stopped in a rather tall tree branch then Raito called, “Hinata,”

Hinata activated her ‘Byakugan’ and searched the forest, her target was Konoha-nin. At the same time, Raito used ‘Chakra Sense’ to seek out the teams he was searching for.

“One team from Konoha there and one from Suna there.” Raito pointed left then right looking at Naruto.

“I’ll check them out.” Naruto with a smile positioned into his famous cross hand seal and shouted. “Shadow Clone.” Directly creating six clones of himself.

“Transform and attack them.” Raito nodded and turned towards Hinata.

“Henge.” Immediately dividing themselves into two groups, the clones went to two different directions, soon disappearing from their area.

“I found Kiba-Kun's team. They are near but it will take time. As for Ino’s team, they are quite far.” After scouting with Byakugan, Hinata reported it to her teammates.

“Which direction?” Raito asked for which Hinata raised her hand and pointed to the left direction.

“Both?” Raito asked for which Hinata nodded and closed her ‘Byakugan’.

“Then let’s go that way.” Naruto squatted and jumped on the spot showing his eagerness.

“Hinata?” Raito looked towards Hinata.

“… Mm.” She nodded after a while.

“Take this.” Raito gave each a stone bead and asked them to keep them in their pouch.

“What’s this for?” Naruto asked. He looked at the stone bead, even raising it high and trying to look through it.

“If we get separated that it will come in handy,” Raito answered.

“Like a tracker?” Hinata raised her question but her hand went to the pouch, placing the stone bead in it.

“Something like that.” Answering vaguely Raito jumped to the next tree.

Hinata followed without hesitation and Naruto shrugged his shoulder and followed them.

Team 8

“Shikamaru to left and Raito to right, where do you want to go, Sasuke?” Kiba shifted his narrowed eyes around and his nose moved taking small packets of smell.

“Arf!” Akamaru jumped from the top landing on Kiba’s head.

Shino released his insects letting them roam around. He pocketed his hand and started, “Both of them have ‘Heaven’ Scroll. It would be a smart choice to go after team 10 but…”

“Yeah, I remember the mission… Work together they said…” Sasuke played with the scroll then passed it to Shino. “Keep it.”

“Team 7 and team 10 are going to help each other. If we attack one team, we will have to deal with both of them… let’s look for other teams.”

“It’s an all-out fight. What are you so afraid about? It’s just-”

“Kiba-san.” Shino looked at him with his sunglasses even at the darkness of the forest and said, “Don’t forget that if we go for their scroll, they can also go for our scroll and… I believe that they will definitely team up.”

Team 10.

“Raito’s this way.” Chōji pointed at a direction.

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Ino pumped her fist.

Shikamaru sighed and followed them. “I am dying for a D-Rank right now.”

Team 13

“We are going to reach the tower first,” Gennai shouted to Ami.

“Gennai.” Karu grabbed Gennai and hid in the bushes.

Ami dropped down from the tree after getting Karu’s signal.

“What happened?” She asked full of dissatisfaction.

“Shh, Suna-nin and Ame-nin are coming.” Karu pointed at the distanced and answered softly.

“I didn’t see anyone.” Gennai removed Kaur’s hand forcefully and said.

Karu tsked and replied, “That’s why I told you to invest in scouting jutsus.”

Ami who was looking around even after Karu’s warning, immediately dropped her head. “They are here.”

Two shinobi groups, one from Amegakure and others from Sunagakure.

“Do you wanna surrender your scroll or fight and die?” Ame-nin wearing a spiky jacket and with umbrellas on his back stepped forward and challenged.

“Heh,” Temari smirked as she looked at the patched group who didn’t show any teamwork from the time they were following them till now.

“Are they stupid or what?” Kankurō smiled.

“…” Gaara looked coldly at the Ame-Genin.

“It seems that you have chosen.” The Ame-Genin captain grabbed the three umbrellas from his back and threw them high in the air.

“I will collect the scroll from your corpses then.” “Ninja Art – Senbon Shower.”

With his command hundreds and thousands of senbon escaped from the umbrella and under the influence of his chakra directed to the Suna team.

Kankurō and Temari didn’t even flinch. Gaara didn’t seem to be affected too but the area around him was already covered by sand.

“Die!!” He shouted and the senbon went flying towards Gaara.

Cloud of dust rose, creating a camouflage, which Team 13 took advantage of and backed away from the area.

“I felt that chakra.” Karu touched his chest and looked at where the dust cloud was.

“Those Suna-nin are definitely… abnormal.” Gennai gulped.

Back on the battleground, armor of sand covered Gaara which had caught all the senbon. Even the area behind Gaara, senbon had landed in front of Temari, none hitting their target.

“Is that all?” Gaara released the sand armor then all the senbon fell on the ground.

“I’ll show you!” The Ame-Genin captain glared at Gaara then looked at his teammates.

His teammates also threw their umbrella towards the sky then took out a bamboo pipe.

“Hu!” the two Ame-Genin took two breaths then blew on the pipe. Purple smoke was released from the pipe spreading everywhere.

With a few hand seals, they released chakra into the purple smoke. “Ninja art – Poison Dragon”

The purple smoked released from the bamboo tubes formed shape, turning into a dragon.

Gaara looked at the captain of the team while waiting for them to finish preparation.

“It’s your last chance. Give the scroll or face death.” The Ame captain shouted once again.

“Temari,” Gaara called out as he looked at her with the corner of his eyes.

Temari nodded then took out her fan. “Chakra infused smoke, the second star should do.”

Temari opened the fan which showed two purple full moons. She kicked the fan at base then activated her chakra. She grabbed the slightly raised fan and swung it.

“Wind Release – Trapping Wind”

Woooo~

“Whirr!!” The poison dragon collapsed under the net of sharp wind. Slowly compressing the poison smoke, Temari smirked then pushed the encapsulated smoke back at the Ame-Genins.

“Temari,” Gaara growled.

He looked at the Ame-Genins. His wicked smile terrified his siblings behind him mainly Kankurō. Gaara’s sand rushed towards the Kusa-nin trapping them inside.

“I give up…I give…up. Let… le… go!”

“Stop shouting!” The sand hovered in the air covering the Ame-Genin like a cocoon. “Mm… mm… mmm!”

“Sand Binding Coffin”

The sand rushed inwards destroying everything inside it. Then the sand slowly returned back leaving mangled corpses or whatever was left of it.

Kankurō moved forward and grabbed the scroll which had fallen down, accidentally or otherwise. “Earth scroll, we are in luck.”

“Ekk!” Ami immediately closed her mouth with her hands as she realized that she had made a huge mistake.