DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN NARUTO OR ANYONE ELSE!
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The room was dead quiet as everyone stared at the woman who just jumped through the window. Naruto's face couldn't be any redder. He thought it was kind of funny when Anko refused to tell him anything about what the exams would be like, and now he knew why. Anko looked about the room at the remaining Genin, and a slight scowl came to her face. She looked back at Ibiki and rolled her eyes at the scarred man.
"Seventy eight Genin?" she asked Ibiki. "You passed twenty six teams this year?!"
"What can I say? We had a slightly higher caliber of kids this year." he replied.
"Bull shit…You just went too easy on him. You're getting old, Ibiki…"
"And you think you can do better?"
"Hell yes I can! By the time I get done, at least half of these guys will be toast!"
"Cut us down by half?!" Sakura thought.
"I'm getting a charge just thinking about this. I'll explain the details of the exam at the next testing area. Everyone follow me to the next destination!" Anko said.
That next destination was Training Ground #44. It was a rather odd looking training ground to the others. There were no training dummies or posts. In fact the grounds around the area looked as if it had been forgotten about years ago. The Genin gazed in awe at the large wired and chained fence that held a giant forest with in it. Well, all except for Naruto. Unlike the last test, he knew what to expect now. It had to do something with the forest, something that he had experience in dealing with since he passed through there on a regular basis.
"Welcome to the arena for the second test of the Chunin Exams, otherwise known as, the Forest of Death!" Anko announced. "Don't worry about the meaning of the name. You're all about to find out why it's called that."
"Please! Is that supposed to scare us or something?!" Naruto shouted. "This place is probably just like the other forests around Konoha! Just another walk in the park!"
He laughed to himself finally having the chance to mess with his mother. Bad move. Very bad move. No sooner had those words left his lips, and Anko tossed a kunai at the boy. He smiled as he moved his head to the left, dodging the blade, only to have another kunai fly at him, grazing the right side of his cheek. She had already appeared behind the blonde Genin, and had her arms wrapped around him. She smiled at the blood that was trickling down his cheek, and reached into her pocket for something.
"NARUTO-KUN?!" Tenten thought. "What the hell is Anko doing to him?!"
"Aw… You got something on your cheek there…" Anko said. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and licked it some before wiping it on his cheek. Naruto had never been redder. "There… Now my big, stwong man is all nice and cwean!"
There was an audible silence among the Genin as they didn't know whether to laugh or piss themselves from the fear that the crazy woman seemed to fill the air with. Though it was fair to say that Kiba and Sasuke were rolling on the inside with laughter. Suddenly the air grew more tense, as Anko grabbed another kunai from a pocket on her coat and held it out behind her. It was pressed rather closely to the throat of a Kusagakure shinobi. The said Genin had a smile on her face as she held two kunai to Anko, wrapped in an oddly lengthened tongue…
"I'm sorry, but you dropped these…" the Kusa Genin said.
"No offense, but there are only a handful of people that I trust to be behind me. You aren't one of them." Anko said as she took the knives from the girl. "I suggest that you not do that, especially while radiating blood lust… Unless you wanna die that is."
"I'll try to keep that under control… You see, the sight of fresh warm blood just makes me lose control."
The other Genin watched as the Kusa woman slipped back into the crowd with her team. Naruto couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something familiar about the woman. She had a smell that he had smelled somewhere recently, but he couldn't remember who it was. Meanwhile, the other Konoha Genin were still in shock about what happened. Kiba already had the hots for Anko. Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and Sakura thought she was nuts. Sasuke was confused as to why Naruto even let the kunai graze him. He knew Naruto could have dodged it, but didn't.
"This proctor is also Naruto's kaa-san?" Sakura thought. "She's even more insane than he is… Must run in the family…"
"Did you really have to do that?" Naruto asked Anko as he rubbed his cheek and rejoined his team. "Talk about embarrassing…"
"Ah… You'll get over it…" Anko smirked as she walked with him. She handed him a stack of papers and grinned. "Now hand those out while I show everyone pictures from one of the first baths I ever gave you."
"NANI?!"
"Relax, gaki… I'm kidding…" Anko replied as she walked back to the front of the Genin. "What blondie is handing out here, are consent forms. Everyone has to sign them and return them to me!"
"Consent forms?" Kankuro asked as he took one from Naruto. "What do we need these for?"
"We want all the details covered before the first death occurs." Anko replied. "Read it over, and then sign it so we won't be held liable for when you die. You wouldn't want me to get in trouble, would ya?"
"Deaths?" Hinata thought. "Naruto-kun goes through that forest everyday… It's not that dangerous… Is it?"
"First, I'll explain what the second exam entails, then you can sign forms. After that, bring the forms to the hut behind you with your two teammates, and submit them." Anko explained. "Now for the exam itself. Simply put, it's a no-holds-barred survival test. Let's start with the basic topography of the training ground." She paused as she pulled a scroll out of one of her coat pockets and opened it up to reveal a small map. "Training Ground #44 is bordered by a perimeter, interrupted at forty-four locked gates. Inside of that is a series of forests, a river and about ten kilometers out from that is a tower."
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru yawned.
"Shut up dipshit. This is the part you need to listen to." Anko snapped. "As I said, inside the forest, you will undergo a survival test. During the test, you may use any skills or tools available to you. In a sense, it's kind of a fight-to-the-death version of capture the flag, or in this case capture the scroll."
"Capture the scroll?" Ino asked.
"Yep." Anko replied. She pulled out two more scrolls, a black one and a white one. The black one had the kanji for earth written on it, and the white one had the kanji for heaven on it. She held them both up for the Genin to see. "There is a scroll for earth and a scroll for heaven. It's your job to get them both. There are a total of seventy-eight of you here, or in other words, twenty-six three member teams. Thirteen teams will start out with a Heaven Scroll and the other thirteen teams will start out with an Earth Scroll. The catch is you need them both to pass. You'll have to hold onto the scroll you're given at the start, while managing to get a hold of the other scroll you need to pass the exam with, and then bring them to the tower in the center."
"But there are only thirteen of each scroll." Sakura said aloud. "That means that half of us won't be able to pass the exam."
"Congratulations for figuring that out on your own." Anko smirked. "Not only that, but you have a time limit. You will have 120 hours, or five days to get both scrolls and make it to the tower."
"Five days?" Choji shouted. "What are we supposed to do for food?!"
"That's your problem." Anko replied. "It wouldn't be a survival test if we held your hand and walked you through it all, would it? The forest is full of berries and such that you should be able to use for nourishment. Of course, there are also ferocious beasts, deadly insects, poisonous snakes, and other types of creatures in there to deal with, not to mention the fact that when you all enter, you become each others enemies, no matter what kind of relationship you had before. That being said it should be obvious now that there's no way that a full thirteen teams won't pass. As time shortens, the trials will come harder and faster. The time needed for recovery from injuries and mistakes will shorten drastically. You'll also be surrounded by enemies at all times, so you'll have to sleep with one eye open. In addition to those who will die trying to capture a scroll while protecting their own, many of you will probably succumb to exposure, starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion."
Anko paused as she let all that sink in. There were questionable looks on all of the faces of the Genin, Naruto included. He always knew that his mother was a hard ass, but the fact that she would give out a test that he, no everyone could die from? Maybe the jokes Kakashi, Iruka, and Kurenai were right and she was borderline insane. His attention was snapped back to Anko as she resumed the test's explanation.
"Now we have the basic rules outta the way, let's talk about the rules that pertain to being disqualified. Rule number one, if you fail to reach the tower before time expires, as a three member squad, or with both scrolls in your possession, then you are out. Second, any team that loses a member during the test, be it to death or injury are also out. Third, if you leave the forest for any reason during the test, you're out. Last, you are forbidden to look at the contents of the scrolls until you reach the inside of the tower." she announced.
"What happens if we look at them?" Kiba asked.
"If you're so curious about it, crack it open when the test starts and found out." Anko said with a grin. "On the slim chance that any of you make it to Chunin, there will be times that you will be trusted with top-secret documents. Consider this a test of your trustworthiness." A slight chill filled the air as they took that in. "One last piece of advice… Stay alive."
The teams were dispersed and began to read over and sign the consent forms. They would then take their forms to the hut Anko mentioned earlier, and trade the forms for a scroll. A black curtain was attached to the front of the booth. The curtain would open to allow a team to walk inside and then close as the team inside would trade their forms for a scroll. Sasuke smirked as he watched several teams do this.
"Pretty sneaky…" he thought. "They conceal which scroll each team gets and which member carries it. That Ibiki guy was right, stealing intelligence is a matter of life and death. In the event that all of us were to fight like she wants us to, this could very well become a massacre…"
"This is nuts…" Naruto said as he signed the form without even passing it a second glance. "I think she's excited at the thought of some of the others dying…"
"Yo, Naruto!" Kiba shouted as he ran to the blonde. "The proctor is pretty hot, huh? I'd love to--"
"BAKA!" Naruto shouted kicking him in the nads. "That's my kaa-san!"
Naruto walked away from the wailing dog-ninja who was rolling around on the ground. He rejoined his team, and they went behind the curtain to trade their forms for a scroll. The three of them were handed an Earth Scroll. Naruto looked Shino dead in the eye and handed the boy the scroll. They then exited the hut and went towards the gate that they would enter the forest from. Naruto and his squad took gate number 32. As they walked towards the said gate, Shino noticed the slight concern on Hinata's face, and decided to voice her concern for her.
"Naruto, exactly how dangerous is this forest?" the bug ninja asked.
"Well… It can be pretty rough if you're unprepared…" the blonde replied. "Like kaa-san said, there are lots of snakes, poisonous insects, and now enemy ninja to keep an eye out for, but…"
"But?"
"That shouldn't be a problem for us! We got you to keep an eye out for the insects and such. The place I call home is here, so I know my way around here pretty good, and we also got a secret weapon!"
"Weapon?" Hinata asked. "What weapon is that?"
"You!" Naruto smiled. "With your Byakugan, we have the ability to see anything coming at us! There's no way we can lose!"
"Let's just see how long you keep that train of thought…" Dosu thought as he watched Squad Eight talk amongst themselves from a neighboring gate.
"Dosu?!" Zaku called out. "You coming or not?!"
"Right…" the fellow Oto Genin replied as he walked towards gate number 41. When he was sure that he was far away from the rest of the Konoha teams, he looked both Kin and Zaku in the eye and nodded. "You remember who we're going after, right?"
"Yeah…" Kin replied. "But what about the other?"
"Heh… Don't worry 'bout him." Zaku replied. "The boss said he'd take care of him first, then go after the original target."
"While he goes after the first brat, we take care of the other target long enough for him to show up…" Dosu confirmed.
Over at gate number 14, Squad Seven readied themselves to enter the forest. Sasuke was leaning up against the gate, Ino was busy swooning over him, and Kiba was talking to Akamaru. The small puppy barked happily as Kiba petted him on the head before turning to face his team.
"Heh… This is gonna be cake!" Kiba smirked. "There ain't a team here who can take us down!"
"Hn…" Sasuke replied. "Just don't get in the way…"
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Kiba asked.
"What the heck do you think it means?!" Ino shouted. "Because of you, we almost failed that C-Rank mission to Amegakure!"
"Please… If Sasu-gay would have been a team player like Kakashi-sensei said we should be, none of the mishaps would have happened!" the dog boy snapped.
"It was both of your faults…" Sasuke thought. "I work alone, which is when I become Chunin, I can finally reach a step closer to killing him…" He paused in his thoughts as he noticed both of his teammates staring at him intently.
"Yo, Sasuke… You alright?" Kiba asked.
"Hn." the raven-haired Uchiha replied as he turned away and waited for the gates to open.
Shikamaru yawned lazily at the gate number 26. The whole thought of this thing was so troublesome. The written test was bad enough, but being stuck in the middle of a forest like this for five days? That was just too much. If it wasn't for fear of hearing another one of Sakura's seemingly endless whining and screaming fits, he'd have jumped ship from this thing long ago. He had just begun to doze off to sleep, when all of a sudden he got the back end of a fist to the head.
"Wake up, baka!" Sakura shouted as she tossed Choji the scroll they had just received. "This isn't anytime to be sleeping!"
"What do you want woman… We have another five minutes before they open the gates…" the Nara replied while rubbing his head and yawning.
"Because! This is time we could be using for planning!" Sakura grinned while looking over at Sasuke and the rest of Squad Seven.
"This is more about them then anything else, isn't it?" Choji asked Shikamaru in a whispered voice.
"It usually is…" he replied lazily.
"Shut up and pay attention!" Sakura snapped. "If you really think about it, they're the weakest team!"
"What does you mean?" Choji asked while munching on a chip.
"Think about it!" Sakura whispered. "Ino's got that mind jutsu thing of her family's, but that's it! Kiba is good at Taijutsu, but is an idiot in everything else!"
"In other words, the only major threat on their team is Sasuke…" Shikamaru finished for her. "You sure this isn't just a clever ruse to get us to keep Wingus and Dingus busy so you can get close to Sasuke?"
"Of course not! They probably have the easiest team to get rid of in the area. That means it'll be a snap to get their scroll!"
"And if they don't have the one we need?"
"Then… Then… We'll just have to hunt down another team! The point will be that we'll have taken out one of the ones standing in the way of the goal!"
"That's all well and good, up until we get warn out and some other team picks us off too."
"What?"
"Think about it, woman… We don't know exactly where we stand against Sasuke's team. While we have been training, so have they, and with Hatake Kakashi as they're Jonin instructor, they could be on a whole different level then us. We need to think things through carefully, or we'll be taken out during the first five minutes of this test." Sakura began to protest, but Shikamaru held his hand up and stopped her. "You want to become a Chunin, right?" She nodded in response. "Then forget about Sasuke for a while, at least until we reach the tower, alright?"
"Idiots…" Neji thought as he watched the scene unfold from gate number 27. "They're almost as pathetic as Hinata-sama's team… No matter, I'm sure they'll be eliminated soon enough…" He opened his eyes as and turned his attention back on to Lee and Tenten.
"Yosh! Is something wrong, my fearless comrade?!" Lee shouted.
"No… Now be quiet…" the Hyuuga prodigy replied.
"That was kind of rude, Neji." Tenten said.
"Listen…" Neji said, completely ignoring what the girl had said. "Once we enter the forest, everyone is an enemy. I don't care what kind of relationship you may have with Mitarashi or my cousin, but the same goes for them, got it?"
"But Neji, they are our comrades…" Lee replied. "It would be unyouthful to just hunt them down like that…"
"If Hinata-sama and her team can't handle the chance that they run into us, or anyone else, then that is their fate." Neji replied as he turned away. "Remember that destiny cannot be changed, what is meant to happen, will happen…"
"Be careful out there, Naruto-kun…" Tenten thought. "Looks like Neji's gunning for you…"
Gaara and his siblings sat in anticipation as they waited for the gates to open. The Sunagakure team had taken gate number two as their choice, and were basically sure that they would pass this test, however that didn't stop Kankuro our Temari from being slightly afraid. It wasn't the fact that any of the other teams scared them, but rather, the thought of being stuck with Gaara in the forest for five days did. He always made his daily threats to kill them, and now that no one was there to make sure he didn't, how would they be so sure that they'd survive this time?
"Man… Five days in the middle of some damn forest with Gaara…" Kankuro thought. "I have this feeling that says this will be the time I die…"
"I hope Gaara doesn't flip out or lose control or something like that…" Temari thought. "I also hope I get the chance to run into that cute blonde boy from the other day in this place…"
Gaara too was lost in thought as he waited for the gates to open. His cold, deathly stare floated from several of the gates, until he caught a glimpse of Naruto. Almost immediately, he could feel a sense of bloodlust rising as the blonde chatted amongst his teammates. A small, almost sinister looking smile crept across Gaara's lips as he felt the anticipation rising.
"Naruto Mitarashi…" he thought. "Shukaku says you are someone to watch out for… That a familiar presence is inside of you… Are you… Could you possibly be like me?"
No sooner had those thoughts left Gaara's head, did the gates to the forest suddenly fly open. Immediately, all the various Genin squads took to the forest, bouncing along the various trees and branches that lined the area. Anko smiled as she watched Naruto and the others take off. She wanted Naruto to be safe, but she knew she didn't have much to worry about with him. Still, she had a feeling that this would be an interesting test to monitor this year…
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DONE! Again, sorry the delay. I finally managed to finish this chapter, and promise that the next one will be longer. I just felt like this was the best place to end this chapter now. The next chapter will have some major action and such, so look forward to that, as well as some of those long awaited twists I know you've all been looking forward to. Read, review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!