Yo boys and girls! Welcome, welcome, welcome! Another Chapter here for you as you can see. We finally get into the games themselves. How Exciting! Now some housekeeping first and foremost, this is fanfiction so be ready for things to be different from canon. People die in different orders, some folks survive situations they wouldn't have in canon and others are involved in situations they never got the opportunity to be in. So just a heads up on that.
Moving on! I challenge all you folks to head on over to discord and give a try to AizenTheGoat's Discord server over there. You won't be disappointed….or well you might be I don't really know you but what's it hurt to give it a try right? You can find the link right here → /KRPpUQkt feel free to jump in and send me an helghy saying hello. We could even have a chat if you want.
Anyway onward to the stuff you actually came here for! The Chapter!
Chapter Five
At the Sound of the Horn
The Golden numbers continued their countdown from above the Cornucopia.
Three
Naruto braced himself for what he knew would happen. Readied himself to take the lives of others so that he could survive. He had the advantage. He just reminded himself of that again and again. He had the advantage.
Two.
If he could avoid it he wouldn't pick a fight with anyone today. If he could help it he wouldn't have to kill anyone, but if they got in his way they'd die. No matter who or why, they'd die so that he didn't have to.
One.
At the sound of the horn Naruto bolted forward. He outpaced the girl from District Six beside him with ease. He was easily ten full strides ahead of her when he made it to the single-strap pack. It was mostly dark grey with a few bright red patches of fabric. Along the single strap designed to cross diagonally across the chest were three holsters with three knives of varying size. The First was a large hunting knife roughly a foot long with blade and handle. The second was a utility knife with a serrated saw-like blade. The last was a thin, narrow, blade no longer than his hand from wrist to the tip of his longest finger.
Moving to sling the pack onto his back he had to yank it from the girl's hands as she tried to snatch it from him. Managing to wrap a hand around the strap the girl hauled at the bag with all her weight trying to free it from Naruto's grip pulling him off balance.
The chaos spreading across the clearing holding the Cornucopia began to grow in intensity as the small encounters between tributes quickly exploded into brutal fights to the Naruto though his focus narrowed entirely to this one pack and the girl trying to stop him from taking it.
Regaining his balance Naruto jerked his arm back violently pulling the smaller girl into him and causing her to stumble. He didn't stop there though, she still held onto the pack after all. So fluidly releasing the snap of the largest of the knives Naruto slid it from the holster and in a single motion drove it hilt deep into the girl's neck. He didn't wait to see if she was truly dead before yanking the blade and pack free and bolting for the tree line. He had what he came for.
Behind him things further devolved into bloodshed. Katniss similarly to Naruto had identified a pack of supplies closer to the edge of the clearing and gone after it. Unfortunately, much like with Naruto, another tribute had gone for the same gear. Unlike with Naruto though, Katniss was the smaller and physically weaker of the pair fighting over this piece of gear and soon found herself scrabbling on the ground with the larger form of the District Nine boy trying to pry the backpack from her hands. He had nearly done just that when he suddenly froze allowing Katniss the chance to pull the bag free of his grip. She was still shocked though when the boy pitched forward with blood spilling from his lips.
As he fell Katniss noticed a large knife protruding from his back and District Two's female tribute, Clove closing on her readying a second knife for her. Luckily Katniss was able to shield herself with her backpack in the nick of time. The large utility knife sunk into the back pack's fabric but whatever damage it caused to the bag was better than what it would have done to Katniss.
Deciding not to waste time trying to free the blade here Katniss scampered to her feet and bolted for the treeline like Naruto and a handful of others had. Align the way running headfirst into the District Five girl throwing both of themselves to the ground.
Crawling to their feet both stared the other down with mixes of fear and anxiety clear on their faces. Katniss couldn't help but notice the narrow features of the girl's face and red hair reminded her of a fox and so she mentally dubbed her the eloquent name of Fox-face.
Fox-face said nothing as she stared back at Katniss before finally turning and hauling ass deeper into the woods. Deciding it was a reasonable strategy, Katniss did the same, just in a different direction than the other girl.
Back at the Cornucopia things continued as normal for the first hours of every Hunger Games. The District Eight boy tried desperately to reach the spear, inches from his hand as Marvel, the boy from District One took his time to carve him up with a Kukri knife. Sadly he never could reach the spear and his death was much slower and more painful than it needed to be.
The career tributes weren't the only ones claiming kills for themselves though. A brief but vicious fight between the District Three and District Four girls left the girl from District Three terribly wounded and unable to run. While her previous opponent had only fought her over some supplies, the Tribute from District Five was perfectly happy to take the opportunity to thin the opposition, ending the girl quickly with a thrust of a sword through the chest.
The girl from District Four didn't fare much better than her previous opponent either. FInding herself cornered by Cato from District Two at the entrance to the Cornucopia she stood little chance against the bigger, stronger, and better trained career tribute as they fought blade against blade.
Unlike his fellow career tributes though, Cato found no added joy from torturing his victim. He was here for one reason and that was to kill everyone else and survive. After blocking a few poor swings from the girl, he disarmed her and drove his sword up through her chest, directly into her heart.
Thresh, the first to actually reach the Cornucopia and the most physically imposing of all the tributes, had grabbed several items from inside before making his way out again. He briefly found himself facing off the boy from District Ten before ending him quickly with a slash to the throat from the sickle he had chosen from among the weapons. Thresh hadn't waited around after that taking off, not into the woods but the tall grasses and reeds of the wetlands along the far side of the lake.
The final victim of the Bloodbath had been the unlucky boy from District Four. The youngest male tribute at only twelve he had done his best to beat most of the competition to the cornucopia and hide before attempting to slip out with a selection of supplies that would allow him to avoid the others for most of the games. Sadly, he wasn't near as stealthy as he hoped or needed to be and found himself trapped in the supply cache by all four of the career tributes. Cato at their head. The boy opened his mouth, likely to beg for mercy or something similar but Cato didn't want to hear it and slashed the younger tribute across the neck and chest with a single strike leaving him to crumple to the grass below and bleed out.
As Naruto picked his way along the rocks of a ridgeline he heard the cannons begin sounding off marking the end of bloodbath and counted them mentally to note the number of deaths in the first few minutes of their Hunger Games.
"...Six, Seven, Eight." He counted. "Less than I expected. That'll just draw things out though." He thought aloud before setting back to what he was doing. He needed to keep his mind focused otherwise his thoughts drifted to the girl from District Six who looked so frightened in her last moments.
He had thought killing now would be easier after what had happened with the Peacekeeper back in District Twelve. It hadn't in the slightest. So he was forced to rely on his tried and true method of distraction when dealing with emotional turmoil. He made himself focus on his task at hand for just that reason.
Currently he needed to find shelter, preferably with easy access to water and food and plenty of concealment. As time wore on he started fretting about not finding any shelter before dark. Already the sun, or whatever was lighting the area being as the Gamekeepers probably had constructed this entire place artificially.
The odds seemed to actually be in his favor as he found exactly what he needed. A narrow cave spot with a small pond to one side of the rock outcropping that concealed the entrance. Coming around a corner Naruto could even sleep a small distance up off the ground as there was a rough shelf like outcropping that he could sleep on without being seen even by someone who found the cave.
Sadly just finding the spot was only the start. Settling in Naruto didn't allow himself time to do more than catch his breath before he started taking inventory of his equipment.
As he had noted before he had three good knives to work with. The first, largest one was coated in blood up to the hilt now though, and it was already beginning to dry. He'd try and wash it off in that pond later. For now though he needed to focus on inventory.
"Alright, three knives, one hunting knife for cleaning game, a camping knife for utility, it's more like a saw really. A little knife for gutting fish." He whispered to himself as he unsheathed each blade and inspected them. The smallest had been a bit of a surprise as it had a gut-hook on the back side tiip for would come in handy when he needed food.
"Let's see what else we got." He wondered aloud as he opened the bag and smiled slightly.
"Two ration bars to replace a couple meals, I'll save those for now. An empty canteen, waterproof matches, a small roll of bandages, and a folded up waterproof tent-liner." Really he had a good haul. This would do great to start with.
Putting everything away He was about to sling the pack onto his shoulder before noticing the bright, neon red patches on the bag. Grimacing at the thought of them giving him away too easily among the darker colors of the trees he started feeling around the patches to see if cutting them out would make the bag fall apart. After a couple moments he smiled to himself faintly once again.
"Yeah, I think the odds might actually be in my favor." He whispered as he drew the small knife and began carefully cutting only the colored patches out. Rather than waste them and slipped them into his pockets and only then slung the pack on.
From there Naruto went about prepping his newfound home. Filling his canteen with fresh water he then turned to making a handful of different traps all around his new camp.
Most were basic snares that he hoped to catch some kind of animal in. Nothing that would be too difficult to free yourself from with a blade. The second set though wasn't meant for hunting. It was for defense only. Using sharpened stakes Naruto had prepped several deadly and pretty well hidden traps he hoped at least kept other Tributes hesitant to draw near his cave.
Finally coming back to his cave Naruto set about the final bit of his prep. Sharpening some longer sticks into spears he went fishing and scored a pair of good sized fish. Being mindful to move away from his actual campsite to start a small fire he cleansed and gutted the fish before starting the fire and cooking himself some food.
Stomping the small fire out he slunk back to eat half of one of the fishes before tucking the leftovers into the empty secondary pocket on his back pack. He would have preferred to have something to wrap his food in but beggars couldn't be choosers as the saying went. Now all that was left was to settle in for the night.
Naruto didn't remember dozing off. He just recalled laying down for a while before suddenly he was jolting awake. It took a little bit to regain his bearings but any fog caused by sleep cleared out the second the second scream reached him. He shot to his feet and crept to the mouth of the cave to try and pinpoint just where it came from.
The third pained cry helped him to figure out where they were. They were close. Way too close for him to be happy with it. Their screaming would draw others to him like moths to a flame. He needed to put them down.
Slinking along in the dark Naruto soon found his way to the perimeter he had created with the traps. The screaming had thankfully stopped but he could still make out a whimpering sound not far from where he was.
He crept quietly on from there. He was sure that others would be on him at any moment. Just using whoever it was in his traps as bait to lure others out and catch them unprepared. It's what he would do after all. What better way to thin the competition out a bit than by picking others off while they were distracted by either trying to help someone else or when they thought they could get an easy kill.
So he waited for a while when he finally reached the spot. It felt wrong, but he assured himself it was the smart play. He listened as the girl rasped and whimpered from the pain of his trap. She had attempted to break free at some point but had stumbled and made it worse in the end. Pinned up against a tree with three long wooden stakes embedded into her waist line.
Still Naruto continued to wait. After what he was sure was an hour though he couldn't take it anymore and slowly began approaching. By now even the whimpering had stopped and only short rasping gasps for breath even showed she was alive. That and her eyes had been locked onto Naruto since the moment he stepped out from the brush.
When he finally stopped beside her he couldn't help but frown at the state of the girl. It was only a matter of time before she died, but he had no doubt she was in extreme pain. Any sound she made now to try and speak to him came out as nothing but unintelligible croaks and gasps.
There was nothing he could do for her. At least that's what he tried to convince himself. Still he felt the need to try and help her out of his trap. To try and fix her injury. The sensible part of his mind reminded him it wouldn't matter anyway. She would die whether he tried to save her or not. He was supposed to kill her anyway. He had to kill her to win and survive.
That didn't make him feel all that much better.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly.
Reaching around her head he placed his knife's point against the soft spot at the back of her head where her skull met her neck. Hesitating only a moment longer to clench his eyes closed and avoid the pleading look in her glassy eyes he jammed the blade upward causing the girl's body to jolt and twitch violently for half a second before it became completely still.
"I'm sorry." He repeated.
He began cleaning his blade and then going through what little the girl had in the way of supplies. Less than what he himself had it seemed. Prying her loose from the trap, Naruto reset the mechanism before dragging the corpse off the easier path and a little further into the woods.
It wasn't much but he used the girl's jacket to cover her face at the least and left her in a somewhat respectful position. It was the best he could do and better than what most of the contestants in the games could hope for.
After returning to his little safe house Naruto started bedding down for the night. Unlike before when he had the stress and crash from his adrenaline rush, Naruto struggled for some rest. He tossed and turned as he tried to sleep. Everytime his eyes closed he saw the faces of the girls he had killed before him. Unlike the peacekeeper they had done nothing but stand in his way.
It didn't matter how much he told himself he had no choice, they were still there. Every time he closed his eyes. Watching. His grief ebbed away after a few hours though giving way to indignation over the idea of them haunting him. Even if it was just the memory of killing them that did.
If anything, it solidified his resolve toward his goals even more. Made him want to win and live even more. Live, because killing them had to be worth something. He had to be worth something.
With those thoughts replacing the haunting figures of his victims, Naruto finally succumbed to sleep. It wouldn't be near as restful as he would have liked but it was sleep, all the same.
In another corner of the forest Katniss had scaled a tree to use for her own shelter. Up off the forest floor in a place where other tributes were far less likely to look. Using her rope she nabbed to tie herself to the thick branches she began to nod off in sleep.
Until she noticed the light not far from herself of another tribute starting a fire. She almost felt pity for whoever was stupid enough to light a fire while being hunted byt he careers. Almost, in the end it just made fewer people she was likely to fight to make it out of this arena alive.
It didn't take all that long for the predictable result to occur. Maybe an hour or an hour and a half at most. A sharp scream followed by begging and more screams was all she heard before laughter echoed up to her. That sickened her. The careers were enjoying themselves.
It probably should have been expected. They were made for this sort of thing, it was the peak of their lives. The greatest achievement they would ever have. Everyone else was pretty much prey to them. Well except maybe her and Naruto.
Soon she found herself holding in her breath as the career pack passed directly underneath her hiding spot. Laughing and joking. Mocking the pleading of their latest victim and enjoying their time together. They acted more like they were on a camping trip together. The way that the District One girl that had the bow she wanted so badly hung off of the District Two boy reminded her of seeing couples that snuck off to the edges of the district back home for some time alone.
Once they passed by she let out a breath of relief. She needed to move further away from the arena center first thing in the morning. They would probably start some kind of patrol or hunting pattern to find other tributes before too long.
Settling back down for some rest she was interrupted once again by cannon shots showing that midnight had come at last and the first day had ended. Unlike the rest of the days, rather than blasting after the death of each tribute killed, on the first day the cannons only sounded off at the end of the day with a full tally of the initial bloodbath and the first handful of contestants.
She decided to count along with the blasts. She wasn't sure why she really cared beyond knowing how many others were left to fight with. One after another they sounded.
One
A single beat of silence.
Two
Another.
Three
On and on until she counted to nine. Already nine of the contestants were dead within the first twelve hours of the games. She couldn't really decide if she wished it were more or less. Logically they'd all have to die, so she should hope for more. It felt wrong to wish for that to be the case though.
After a long pause from the cannons, signifying they were finished marking the dead, the national anthem of Panem played loudly and the sky seemed to light up with the holographic faces of the deceased one after another.
Katniss watched them pass by. A part of her worried her fellow tribute from Twelve would appear. Like earlier, her logical mind almost wanted him to appear. She dreaded the idea that someone from home would be the last obstacle between her and returning to her family.
When Naruto's face didn't show up she sighed in relief. No matter how much the idea of fighting him bothered her she was still happy he was alive in the end. Forcing the thoughts of the boy in her mind down she tried to get some sleep before the sun would rise and she needed to be on the move once again.
Hunger Games Hosting Booth
Capitol
Throughout the whole day Claudius Templesmith and Caesar Flickerman watched the games along with the rest of the country. Weighing in with commentary, comparing moments to prior years' games, and giving their opinions on the decisions being made by the tributes in real time.
As the clock struck noon and the tributes raced off of their pedestals in various directions they applauded loudly along with the people of the Capitol. As the first fight came onto the screen they watched Naruto and the girl from District Six struggle for the bag with knives.
"Oh that might be a poor choice on her part. Naruto was rated at an eleven for a reason." Caesar said with a sense of trepidation in his voice.
"Oh! There as if to prove your point." Claudius called out in excitement as Naruto drove his blade into the girl's throat.
"That's our very first fallen tribute for the year. No doubt it won't be the last one today, it is called the bloodbath." Caesar added.
The hosts continued giving commentary as the teens struggled against one another fighting to the death. They applauded Katniss as she caught a knife thrown by the District One tribute, Clove, by using her bag as a shield.
"Another great display from one of our District Twelve tributes. That might have been some luck but I think the real credit can go to her quick reflexes." Caesar said.
"Hmm you're probably right. Either way, with that knife added to her supplies she is better off than she was with just that bag of supplies." Claudius responded.
"No doubt about it." Caesar said with a sure nod.
"Oh, tell me if I'm wrong Caesar but it seems both our highest ranked tributes have a similar strategy for the day."
"It does look that way. For all of you at home who haven't watched as closely as you should be." Caesar gave a mock scornful look toward the camera crew as he said that getting a chuckle from Claudius. "Both our District Twelve Tributes this year have truly broken the mold with their threat ratings. Both Naruto Namikaze and Katniss Everdeen are the first from District Twelve to receive ratings of eleven. Only one from the highest threat rating on the scale. It's actually unheard of for both tributes from the same district to receive such a rating."
"Now, as Claudius mentioned it seems both of our District Twelve tributes are choosing not to engage in the bloodbath and are instead only grabbing a handful of supplies before retreating into the first to, I can only assume, hide." Caesar continued.
"That's right, though I wonder if it will pay off for them in the end. As with most years the career tributes from District One and Two will likely establish control over the cornucopia and hoard the the supplies for themselves. It will be interesting to see if that comes back to bite them in the future or not." Claudius put in.
"Agreed. Lets see here, oh now it seems the initial struggle is beginning to wind down. Six Tributes already slain, did you see that one by Thresh from District Eleven? I'm not even sure that he meant to kill his opponent." Caesar said as the different camera feeds on the screen behind him cycled through showing the carnage of the initial fighting.
"Oh dear, look there Caesar."
"Hmm? Aha, the young boy from District Four, sadly I don't think he has been as sneaky as he thinks. And there they are, Cato of District One has spotted him clearly and with that the bloodbath truly comes to an end with a total of seven fallen tributes. A surprisingly lower number than what I was expecting I must say Claudius." Caesar said as he continued scanning through the camera feeds on the screen.
"Undoubtedly Caesar with so many higher threat level tributes I expected more aggression. Then again part of those higher levels might be from cautious natures or other reasons, though the exact reasons behind a tribute's ratings are of course kept confidential with the Game Makers and senior sponsors." Claudius responded.
"Well, the first day is still far from over and as we can see some of the surviving tributes are already in rather dire straits. Some, though, look to have things well under control."
"Very true. Once again the tributes from Twelve proving why they have gotten such high ratings on their threat levels. Katniss clearly moving through those trees like she has done it her whole life and Naruto seeming to already be setting up a base camp of sorts with some very deadly looking traps."
"I wonder if they will be of more use getting him food or thinning his opponents out as the games progress." Caesar replied.
So the commentary continued with short breaks from time to time as the commentators rested when need be. For hours little seemed to happen with most of the excitement having slowed down following the blood bath.
When the girl from District Nine walked into one of Naruto's traps they chatted for quite some time about the effectiveness of his traps. They also talked about their theories for why he waited nearby as the girl suffered, impaled by a wooden spike.
"I'm telling you Claudius, he is waiting for other to hear her and investigate. He is using her like a worm on a hook to lure in more prey. I think Naruto could have been our first ever twelve rating in reality and he just didn't show his full abilities to the judges." Caesar argued.
"Maybe, maybe, or he could just be being cautious. More than likely he realizes the most likely to investigate the sound would be the Career pack alliance that formed early on. As high of a rating as he has, armed with only a couple of knives against all four better armed Career tributes would be practically suicide. So he is waiting for them to come and go if they do hear the tribute in front of him before he acts." Claudius replied.
"That is fair. I suppose we will just have to ask him if he should win the games, what was going through his mind at this time." Caesar said.
"True, oh there he goes, now he is moving."
They watched as Naruto mercy killed the girl and arranged her body respectfully before withdrawing with what few additional items she had on her.
"Now that is something you rarely see in the games. A skilled tribute with respect for their fallen opponents. His escort really was right about him; he is a sweetheart inside that rough exterior." Claudius said with an almost sad tone.
"Truly. That being said, I am curious as to how he and Katniss will handle one another should they encounter each other in the games." Caesar wondered aloud.
As they continued to watch they witnessed the murder of the District Ten girl. Even during the brutality from the career tributes on display they didn't stop with their idle comments, remarking as if watching a normal sport and not a young girl being butchered.
"I think that's going to be the last one for our first day." Claudius said.
"Yep, and as if on cue Claudius there are the cannons for today. Nine total tributes fell within our first twelve hours of the games. Like we mentioned early it was not as many as expected but I have no doubt we'll be seeing more action in no time at all." Caesar said as the program cut to a series of advertisements for the capital and propaganda for the districts.
The rest of the night would be thankfully quiet for the tributes. Fitful rest for several hours until the 'sun' rose for them and the games picked up speed once again.
Alright That's day one in the games it's a shorter chapter but I felt cutting it here rather than having part of day two in this chapter and part in the next would be best. Don't worry not every day of the games will be a single chapter some will be combined and others might be split if they are too large of an event. Anyway. I hope you enjoyed please review.
Until next time.