29. Forest of Death
The hopeful genin each blanched at the large encroaching forest, Naruto heard Hinata give a small whimper. Naruto watched as Anko lapped up all the fear the genin were exuding.
"The forest of death, the place where little genin like yourselves are eaten alive" said Anko with a malicious grin.
"S…surely you are kidding right" whispered a random Iwa genin.
"Oh but I am not, inside this forest you will meet giant tigers, snakes and other assorted monsters. But in this test you will also encounter eachother, each of you will be given a secret scroll, one is earth the other is Heaven, to complete this test, you must get the opposite scroll your team has. So if one team has an earth and another has a heaven, you must fight eachother and gain the others scroll. Once you have one of each you must get to the tower in the centre. You each have three days" said Anko, Choji chocked slightly.
"What about food" whispered Choji, Anko gave a loud boisterous laugh.
"Eat off the fat of the land" said Anko, Choji gulped and rustled through his food pack. Naruto smiled warmly at Hinata, well, as warm as he could manage.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan, you will do fine" said Naruto softly, Hinata blushed but nodded.
"Hey, no talking while I am talking" said Anko in annoyance, Naruto rolled his eyes.
"All you are doing is instilling more fear on us genin, we can handle it" said Naruto coolly, Anko gave a boisterous chuckle.
"People like you Uzumaki-kun, leave blood all over this forest" said Anko, she threw a kunai towards Naruto who simply dodged the blade with a tilt of his head, Anko appeared behind him, a kunai in her hand, she slid it effortlessly by his neck.
"And yet you still missed the first…again" said Naruto coolly, Anko smirked.
"I do so hope you finish this part of the test brat" said Anko with a menacing whisper. Naruto just sighed and Anko frowned when she saw a kunai slid past her face.
"I believed you dropped your kunai" hissed the grass Nin, Anko smiled slightly.
"Thank you Kusa-san" said Anko, though she eyed the ninja suspiciously.
"She got behind me without me sensing her" thought Anko; she watched the ninja with suspicious eyes.
"Now before you start, you must each sign this form" said Anko holding up the paper, she had swiftly moved back to her original position.
"What are they" asked a Suna ninja, Anko smiled slightly.
"Release forms, so your village can't come and kill me for your deaths" said Anko, her tone blasé, genin blanched, Gaara looked at Naruto with a maniacal look, Gaara turned to Anko.
"Is killing permitted" asked Gaara, his tone eager.
"Of course, it's not much of a test if you all have to hold back" said Anko seriously, she handed out the paper and saw the chunin examiners nod in their booths.
"Naruto Uzumaki, you are mine" Gaara thought maliciously, Anko sighed as she looked up at the sky.
"You and your teams have five minutes to decide who the scroll carrier is, and after that they will collect the scroll and your entry point, good luck maggots" said Anko before she turned and stood in front of the main gate, Naruto walked with his team to the secluded area just away from the large group.
"Who is going to carry the scroll?" asked Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke looked at eachother.
"Know any useful Fuuinjutsu?" asked Sasuke, Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"All Fuuinjutsu is useful, and yes in fact, I can seal it into a pocket dimension, we should henge a plain scroll, and I could rig the scroll to explode upon opening. Meaning we deal a blow should the fake be taken" Said Naruto, Sasuke nodded.
"That's good, that way we can get our other scroll with any hassle, whilst our scroll is protected" said Sasuke, Naruto nodded and stood up; he held out his hand for his teams waver forms.
"Back in a second" said Naruto. Team seven stood outside their respective gate, Naruto was flicking a kunai in his hand, Sasuke was activating and deactivating his sharingan and Sakura was filing tying her hair into a messy bun, held together with a senbon.
"Okay team seven, good luck" said the Konoha jonin, the alarm sounded and the gates flew open, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura each jumped into the trees, they sat crouched and nodded to eachother.
"Okay so Naruto send a clone to the tower, set up the seal, we will get the heaven scroll and use the eternal chakra trap to teleport us to the tower" said Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura nodded, a clone appeared next to Naruto, it nodded once and dashed through the trees. Sasuke and Sakura both smirked slightly, Naruto just frowned.
"What is it" asked Naruto simply, Sasuke smirked.
"You sent two clones didn't you" asked Sasuke, Naruto just sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, so the other can watch for our signal and protect the seal" said Naruto, Sasuke nodded accepting the answer, they dashed through the tree's, appearing only to stop and check their position. As they stopped, a cry of pain was heard throughout the forest.
"One down" murmured Sasuke, Naruto gave a nod. He sent out his chakra, sensing the area for a team. Almost instantly, three chakra signatures were felt up ahead.
"A team of three" said Naruto, Sakura nodded with surprise. Sasuke smirked confidently.
"I got this, stay here" said Sasuke, Naruto moved to stop him, only for Sasuke to hop out of the tree. Sasuke landed in the small clearing, a confident smirk plastered on his face. Two Iwa genin stepped out of the bushes.
"Damn we were hoping for the red head" said the tallest ninja, Sasuke frowned slightly.
"Why would you want Naruto?" questioned Sasuke, the female gave a snort.
"Come now, he has the face of our nations enemy, Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage" said the girl, Sasuke froze, the image of the fourth hokage flashed through his mind, it was a picture his father owned, it was a blonde man stood next to his father, the blonde had a small smile on his calm and cool face, his father was just smirking at the camera. Sasuke saw it immediately.
"You honestly didn't know" said the tallest male; his silver hair was spiked up.
"He…He never said" said Sasuke, the girl snorted.
"Because his father was a failure and was killed by the Kyuubi no Yoko" said the girl, Sakura was just stood with wide eyes, she had hopped down to back up Sasuke.
"Why wouldn't he say anything" they thought, before anyone could say anything, a body bounced in the centre.
"That would be true, except my father wasn't a failure" said Naruto simply, he crouched and put his hand on the tree trunk, he leapt upwards, blurring. The girl tensed, she ducked narrowly avoiding the slice, the tall male did not however, and he fell to the ground the back of his neck slit. The girl gasped in shock.
"Y…you killed him" the girl whispered in horror, she turned and shivered, Naruto's cool silver eyes slid over her.
"You are an enemy, and as such…" said Naruto before he disappeared, the girl gasped as she fell to the floor, blood coming out of her mouth.
"N…Naruto" whispered Sakura, Naruto just regarded her with a blank stare.
"They had the heaven scroll, let's get ready to…" but before Naruto could finish wind ripped through the clearing, it sent Naruto flying. Sasuke and Sakura held themselves to the ground with chakra, but Sakura realised the epicentre was aimed at Naruto. Naruto clutched the scroll tightly in his hand as he was thrown backwards through the forest. His eyes darkened to blood red, the swirl spun and Naruto threw out his hands. The Jutsu seemed to dissipate almost instantly and Naruto realised it wasn't his doing, Naruto landed on his feet; he let the yellow lightning surround the scroll before it disappeared. He took a step forward when a loud hiss and shadow blocked the light. Naruto turned to look at the large snake with his Rinnegan activated.
"You are no ordinary snake" said Naruto simply, the snake lunged forward, its mouth open wide. Naruto let the yellow lightning cover his body, the weightless feeling moved through his veins. As the snakes' mouth snapped on him, he simply took a step through the snakes' mouth.
"How inconvenient" said Naruto coolly, his hand travelled to the hilt of his tanto. In a blur his arm moved, he disappeared in a flash of yellow lightning, he landed on the head of the snake.
"I wonder who summoned you" said Naruto, he slammed the blade into the head of the snake; said Snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto fell to the floor with a simple landing, as if he glided to the floor. He rubbed a hand through his hair, and in a flash of yellow lightning he was gone. Sasuke ducked beneath the slice of the kunai, his body still trembling from the genjutsu laced killer intent, he grabbed Sakura and jumped to the next branch, she was still unresponsive; Sasuke ducked again and sent out a kick. It struck the grass Nin in her stomach and she skidded backwards.
"Oh Uchiha-Kun, how disappointing, all this to protect a teammate" said the grass nin with a hiss, she dashed across the tree, brandishing two kunai, Sasuke was prepared to fight, despite his shaking body, he blinked as a blue slice cut into the tree, Naruto landed on the branch, his tanto in his hand reverse grip.
"Stay back" said Naruto coolly, the grass nin stopped in her attack, Her long tongue licking her lips.
"You are very fast indeed" said the grass nin, Naruto blurred forward, he sliced in a wide arc, the grass nin simply ducked her head backwards, Naruto followed up with a roundhouse kick; his foot shimmering blue slightly. The grass nin attempted to catch the foot, only to be rocketed into a nearby tree, Naruto spun and placed his foot back on the tree; his tanto clenched in his hand.
"Get Sakura-chan awake Sasuke" said Naruto, Sasuke shook his head.
"Naruto she is too strong, if I couldn't fight her then…"said Sasuke, Naruto just smiled at him.
"I am the son of the fourth Hokage, I can handle it" said Naruto simply, Sasuke bristled; he turned and shook Sakura sharply. The grass nin climbed out of the tree, splinters stabbed into her body.
"Strong as well, this is surprising" said the grass nin, her voice seemingly deeper. Naruto relaxed his stance slightly, and ducked under a swift fist. Naruto flipped backwards, watching as a kick moved beneath his face. Naruto landed on his feet, twisted his body to the side, holding the tanto up to block the kunai stabbed at him.
"Who are you" asked Naruto, the grass nin smirked.
"None of your business child" said the grass nin, Naruto felt the force on his tanto triple; his feet skidding backwards slightly. Naruto frowned and flipped over the grass nin, his arm moving in graceful arcs slicing in smooth movements, as he landed he slid his tanto home the grass nin turned to mud. Naruto cursed and flipped backwards as the branch exploded, the grass nin moving forward with her fists, she touched the branch briefly before she followed Naruto into the air, Naruto twisted in mid air, dodging a heavy punch, his foot shimmered as he spun and kicked at the grass nin, the grass nin caught the foot and was once again rocketed into a tree. Naruto twisted his body and landed on another branch.
"Inconvenient" grumbled Naruto, he watched as the grass nin snaked up the tree.
"You brat are very interesting indeed." Said the grass nin.
"Thanks" said Naruto coolly, the grass nin smirked.
"But the gap in our power is something you cannot change, whilst I admit I won't be able to catch any of your little power strikes. I can certainly beat you" said the grass nin, Naruto tensed and watched as the nin crouched, Naruto did the same his palm struck the floor. The grass nin dashed and ran across the tree's tearing up the wood. Naruto jumped and blurred, he landed and in an almost invisible motion he sliced his tanto, the grass nin simply moved elegantly around the slice and uppercut Naruto, Naruto was rocketed backwards, he flipped his body and landed on his feet, the grass nin was upon him almost instantly, but Naruto moved swiftly, his body twisting dodging the punch, he removed his tanto and slashed at the grass nin, each strike was precise, a few caught the grass nin, each searing through her body. Naruto was focused.
"This is a different Naruto, not the one who sparred against me, or Kakashi. This is the battle Naruto" thought Sasuke, he was in awe; Naruto and the Grass nin were dancing, dodging blows and sending their own. The only downside was Naruto was not hitting the grass nin as much.
"This brat amuses me, so much potential" thought the grass nin, Naruto simply stopped and dodged punches as fast as he could. His limbs shimmered and the grass nin cursed, Naruto moved into taijutsu, his own style caused the grass nin to widen her eyes.
"You are making this increasingly harder for me to kill you" said the grass nin, Naruto smirked slightly, he blurred and slammed his palms against the grass nin. The grass nin flew against the tree, a sickening snap echoed through the clearing. Naruto huffed slightly, his limb strength fading.
"Naruto watch out…" called Sasuke, but Naruto felt the force slam into the side of his body, he was rocketed to another tree, his back cracked against the tree, he felt a force slam into his skull rocketing him to the floor.
"I have had enough" said a male voice, Naruto shakily looked up at the grass nin, her face had been pulled off on one side, showing a pallid male face.
"Naruto, must you be so weak, use your full abilities for fuck sake" cursed the demon, Naruto scowled and smirked slightly.
"Got it" said Naruto, the grass nin frowned slightly, he had sensed the demonic chakra that had flashed through the boys system. Naruto disappeared in a blur, he flipped and landed on the tree, his hands flashing through hand seals faster than anyone could see. He ended with horse and sucked in a breath. The grass nin watched as a large blue majestic fire was expelled towards him. Naruto pulled out his tanto and let the yellow lightning course through his body. he disappeared and sliced backwards and forwards. He let the lightning fade, he slammed his palm onto the floor and appeared next to Sasuke, Sasuke watched as Naruto raised a hand. Bright blue Katana's began to appear over the smoky area, Naruto had sneakily used the fire and smoke to hide his space/time ninjutsu, Sasuke watched as Naruto dropped his hands and the hundred swords rained down. Naruto collapsed to his knees, his body aching.
"Kukukuku and I thought the Uzumaki was a blonde haired brat, my informant needs some seeing to" said the male voice, Naruto tried to frown through the smoke, when he felt a force slam into the back of his head, he flew into the ground, he bounced once before someone landed on his back, he cried out in pain. He felt hands lace into the back of his coat, the grass nin flipped over Naruto, the grass nins body bending in an impossible angle; he threw Naruto into a tree. Naruto cried out once more. The grass nin moved swiftly towards Naruto, he stabbed a kunai through Naruto's chest, and Naruto's eyes were wide. The grass nins eyes were wide as it appeared he just stabbed a coat, Naruto jumped and kicked the side of the grass nins face. the grass nin was rocketed to the side, his eyes open wide. Naruto pulled the kunai out of the tree and pulled his coat to him, he saw a bright light heading towards him; he was then covered in fire.
"NARUTO" cried out Sakura, Naruto winced as the fire licked against his skin, but it didn't burn. It was a scratching sensation.
"You wouldn't think I would allow my container to be effected by my natural element" said the Kyuubi snidely; Naruto felt his t-shirt burn away. But surprisingly his pants and boots had minor charring. The fire died out and Naruto coughed slightly, ash and dust covered his skin. He dodged backwards as the now pallid man threw punch after punch at him. Naruto caught one of the hands and winced as a slash burned his abdomen. He looked down to see a large gash; a kunai brandished in the man's other hands.
"Foolish little boy, you think you can out fight a sennin, your skills are top notch no doubt, but nothing against a sennin" said the pallid man, Naruto felt a hand wrap around his throat.
"Or…Orochimaru" coughed Naruto, blooding seeping freely from the wound on his abdomen, it hid part of the seal. Orochimaru looked at said seal and licked his lips.
"Ah I thought the Jinchuuriki had died long ago, but then my informant was wrong about most things" said Orochimaru, his fingers glowed purple as Naruto struggled against Orochimaru's hold.
"NARUTO" called Sakura, Sasuke was holding her back. Orochimaru slammed his fingers against the seal, aggravating the wound and causing a red hot fire to spread quickly through Naruto's veins. Naruto screamed out in agony, his coat clutched in his hands in a white knuckled grip. Naruto heard the Kyuubi panic.
"Naruto, this seal is sealing me away, I am leaving the healing chakra your side, heal yourself, survive, be careful Kit…" said the Kyuubi before his voice drifted away, Naruto fell to his knees as a blood curdling yell tore through his lips, the fire behind his eyes was building, Orochimaru smirked and after a few hand seals, blew Naruto away.
"NARUTO, DAMNIT SASUKE LET GO" said Sakura in anger, Sasuke was shocked that Sakura could be angry at him, but it was short lived as Orochimaru slid effortlessly in front of them, scars littered his body from Naruto's attacks, and one of his arms was severely burnt. Sakura shrunk back in fear; Sasuke looked down at the spot where Naruto was almost charred alive. Orochimaru smirked and kicked Sakura in the head sending her flying to the opposite branch. Sakura rolled onto her knees and watched as Sasuke shrunk back, scuttling backwards on his backside.
"Stay Back" cried out Sasuke, fear shooting through his veins, Orochimaru just gave his signature laugh and slid his fingers in Sasuke's hair, he pulled Sasuke up forcefully.
"You have been weakened by compassion, how do you expect to defeat Itachi with that mind set, don't worry, I can give you power." Said Orochimaru whispering in Sasuke's ear, and from Sakura's angle it was like Orochimaru gave Sasuke a kiss on the neck. But Sasuke's scream of pain told her differently, and like a phantom Orochimaru disappeared with a chuckle.
Well another chapter released, now I will admit there may be some flaws in this chapter, I am really ill, shivers and what not. But I personally like it, the sennin are strong and as such Orochimaru would be able to defeat Naruto, of course not easily.
