"Anko... You're early again."
A faint embarrassed blush spread across Anko Mitarashi's cheeks. Akira rose an eyebrow at her. This woman was a walking mess. One could tell as much from her dramatic entrance and the fact that the banner she'd erected was covering Ibiki. She laughed awkwardly as he came out from behind the banner, but composed herself in an instant. Akira frowned. The look on her face was quite different now, almost dangerously serious, and there was a gleam in her eyes that Akira somehow found familiar.
"How many are there?" Anko asked, looking over all the candidates. "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You're getting soft."
"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year," Ibiki said with a small smile.
"Hm, they sure don't look like it. Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."
"Huh? More than half?" Sakura gasped. "Really?"
"Heh, this is gonna be fun," Anko chuckled.
Akira's eyes narrowed at her. That look was very familiar.
"All right, you maggots have had it easy this far, but things are going to be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me and at what time. Dismissed!"
Everyone began leaving as soon as she'd dismissed them, but Akira remained seated. She glanced over at Gaara as he rose from his seat, and he glanced back at her, but Akira's attention was still focused on Anko as she spoke with Ibiki-sensei. Something wasn't sitting right with her. It was obvious to Akira that she was playing off the strange aspects of her personality with childish ridiculousness that could rival Naruto's. The near malicious look in her eye and the wry smirk on her face as she exclaimed that most candidates would be eliminated through her test had evoked memories of a certain stranger met recently. Akira wondered if this had been the first time this Maru character had come to Konohagakure to prey on young shinobi. By the look in Anko's eyes, Akira felt comfortable in guess that the answer to that question was no.
However, before Akira could give it any more thought, her friends came to grab her and pull her out of her seat. She said goodbye to Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke and she rushed along behind Kai, and followed him, Shikamaru and Kiba to Ichiraku Ramen for a small celebratory meal. They took up all the seats at the stall so that no one else came to bother them, and they had a wonderful evening together, laughing and shouting as they would normally do. Kiba and Akira ended up throwing marinated radishes at each other, Kai managed to eat six bowls of ramen to himself—a talent he'd learned from Naruto—and Shikamaru managed to make it through the entire evening without mentioning the word "drag" once. It was as if the Chūnin Exams weren't happening at all; it was just a regular Thursday evening surrounded by Academy friends.
For the first time in months, Akira woke up normally, without having any nightmares or random noises waking her up in the middle of the night. She sighed, content, and stretched herself before sliding out of bed. Akira went to the bathroom and washed her face, then brushed her mess of hair until it looked relatively normal again. She tied it up into a high ponytail and went back to her room to get dressed. She wore her usual charcoal shirt, the teal happi that Kai had gotten to match his kimono, and many-layered fabric belts where she also tied her father's bandanna. However, Akira had given up on the shorts and tights today. Instead, she wore the black hakama pants she'd gotten used to wearing for her chakra control training. They were far more comfortable and, better yet, they allowed for much more range of movement.
Upon exiting her room, Akira went to make breakfast for herself and Sasuke. She hummed around, chopping up vegetables, gagged when she pulled out some shellfish for her brother and bobbed her head to a song that was plaguing her mind. After the meal, Akira left the house in an equally good mood. For the first time in weeks, Akira was also able to meet up with Kai at their usual spot beside the jasmine flowers. They laughed for a few moments together and talked as they went down the main street. Then, they turned down an unfamiliar path that led to training ground 44, the location of the second part of the Chūnin Exams.
There were already several people gathered around the entrance to the training grounds, which were protected by a tall electrified fence, locks, and volatile paper bombs. Akira broke away from Kai and wished him luck, then joined Naruto and Sakura who weren't too far off. She greeted them and then her eyes quickly wandered around. Next to one of the gates to the training ground was a booth at which three ninjas were sitting, looking to Anko who was standing at the front, likely awaiting instructions, and around Akira were several dozen teams waiting to get on with the exams.
"This is the location for the second phase of the exam," Anko announced just as the last stragglers arrived. "It's the 44th Battle Training Zone. But we call it the Forest of Death."
"Forest of... Death?" Naruto muttered, nervous.
Akira scoffed quietly, but the sound managed to reach Anko. She glared at the Uchiha and Akira gazed calmly back at her, silently analysing Anko's reactions. The woman's eyebrows twitched downwards for a moment, then her eyes darkened and the malicious gleam Akira had seen the day prior returned. Whether it was because Akira's unwillingness to be intimidated or the dark look mirrored in the Uchiha's eyes, it seemed that Anko was slightly annoyed. As Akira crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at her, almost defiantly, Anko clicked her tongue and looked away. A small smirked rose to Akira's lips. If Anko had been graced by Maru's presence, she sure didn't gain in his resistance to defiance.
The small moment of triumph was interrupted by a familiar square rock. As Akira's gaze went from Anko to it, it blew up into various colours and out came Konohamoru, Moegi and Udon.
"Yeah, I knew it was you guys all along," Naruto said, trying to act cool. "What do you losers want? I'm getting ready to take the second part of the Chūnin Exams and you're interrupting me. I don't have any time to be playing around with you guys now."
"We didn't come to play around, Boss," Konohamoru said. "We're here on official business!"
"Yeah, that's right!" Moegi added. "We came here for an exclusive interview."
"Uh-huh, uh-huh," Udon hummed, nodding.
"An interview, huh?"
"We're here on assignment to write an article for the Academy newspaper. It's a big-time feature story, all about the Chūnin selection exams," Konohamoru said.
"So that's why we want to do an exclusive interview with you," Moegi explained. "Please tell us you're going to do it?"
"It would mean a lot," Udon admitted.
"Hey, we can't forget to interview Akira, too!" Konohamoru complained.
"Yeah, but right now? Ugh," Naruto groaned.
"Hey, you over there!" Anko called. "What're you doing? You're holding up the exams!"
"Sorry, but Konohamoru was telling Naruto about an interview for the Academy newspaper," Akira said plainly.
Anko stared blankly at Akira for a moment then burst out into a loud laugh.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot all about it!" Anko said. "Lord Hokage had mentioned something about them interviewing me."
"Uh, interviewing you?" Naruto said slowly.
"All right, we're going to take a ten-minute break. For those who are scheduled to be interviewed, please be courteous and respectful to the reporters from the Academy newspaper."
"I thought I was the only one getting interviewed," Naruto added lowly.
"No, Boss. But you and Akira are the most important!" Konohamoru said.
"Well, in that case, I'll give you an interview that'll prove to your readers that I'm the greatest ninja ever—before Akira!"
The interviews seemed to go on for hours even though only ten minutes had been allotted. It wasn't even ten seconds in that Naruto started bashing on Sasuke and Akira again, quickly changing gears to say that Sakura was madly in love with him. He exaggerated some of the plain and boring missions that they had accomplished, but he magnified the seriousness of the mission to the Land of Waves—if that was even possible. By the time he was done, Akira had about two minutes of interview time left. It didn't really matter, however, as Akira didn't really want to be interviewed. Instead, she spent her two minutes correcting everything Naruto had claimed in the hopes that the Academy newspaper published something that had at least a little veracity.
Eventually, Anko brought everyone back to the Chūnin Exams and that was when Akira finally took the time to properly take a look at what lay beyond the electrified fences. It was dark and dense, with no light shining in from the blazing sun above. She couldn't hear anything coming in from the forest, and the more Akira looked at it, the more she could feel its darkness creeping up on her, trying to swallow her whole. It made her chuckle. The thought of going in there didn't scare her. It would be like her usual training at night, with a sort of peace in the sullen ambience, and advantage that Akira was looking forward to.
"There's something that really creeps me out about this place," Sakura said, staring at the forest.
"It should. It's called the Forest of Death for a reason," Anko said, almost cheerfully. "And soon enough, you're all gonna find out why."
"'It's called the Forest of Death for a reason. And soon enough, you're gonna find out why,'" Naruto echoed, mocking Anko. "Do your worst! You're not gonna scare me away! I can handle anything!"
"So," Anko smiled. "Looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy."
Anko's wry and devious smile was yet another indicator that she'd been acquainted with Maru, as Akira was almost certain she'd seen the same look on his face. And by the time that Akira had come to that conclusion, Anko had drawn a kunai from her sleeve and threw it at Naruto in record speed. It passed right by his face, cutting his cheek, and landed behind him and another Genin. Suddenly, Anko was right behind him. Akira glanced at her over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes.
"You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you?" Anko said maliciously, yet still smiling. "Tough guys like you are usually the ones who leave their blood all over this forest."
"If you have enough time to threaten Genin, maybe we should be getting on with the exams, proctor," Akira said coolly.
The two women held each other's gaze for a moment and, from the corner of her eye, Akira saw Sakura take a wary step back. Their eye contact didn't break until someone returned Anko's kunai in a most surprising fashion. One of the Grass Genin was holding the kunai in her very long tongue and she extended it towards Anko from behind. The proctor glanced backwards, glaring, but her facial expression immediately switched to a non-threatening smile. However, as she spoke, the pleasant look on Anko's face seemed far more threatening than she probably intended.
"Why thank you, grass ninja," Anko said. "You know, I only recommend you stand this closely behind me if you wish to reach a premature end."
"My pardon. With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm."
The Grass ninja turned and walked away, Akira watching as she passed. Their eyes met for a brief second and Akira couldn't help but think she'd have to watch out for someone so volatile.
"Seems like everyone here today is quick-tempered; there must be something in the air," Anko noted, glancing at Akira. "This is gonna be fun. Now, before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all. It's just a standard consent form."
Anko pulled out a small stack of paper from her jacket and held it up.
"Before the test, all of you are going to have to read over this form and then sign it."
"What for?" Naruto asked.
"Some of you may not come back from this test, and I need to get your consent to that risk. Otherwise, it would be my responsibility," Anko said with a laugh. A few candidates looked on, scared. "Now, I'll explain what you're going to be doing on this test. The first thing you need to know is that this exam will test every single one of your survival skills."
Akira was sure she heard Kiba call an, "Oh yeah, this'll be easy!" somewhere in the distance.
"Here's a description of the terrain to help: the 44th Battle Training Ground has 44 locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside. In the centre is a locked tower, located ten kilometres from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test which consists of... an anything goes battle."
The smell of blood and the sensation of slicing through Haku returned to her after months of not feeling it. Akira's heart rate shot up, her breathing became uneven, her hands and jaw were clenched. She had been hoping to avoid this sort of thing for a long time.
Akira had no interest in killing anyone anytime soon, but by the looks of some of the other Genin, Akira may not have a choice. She hadn't taken Haku's death well by any means, but she'd recovered from it rather quickly. However, the rate at which she'd come to terms with it wasn't what was bothering her. Akira had spent several weeks seeing the boy's blood staining the creases in her skin, and no amount of scrubbing had proven to be able to get her skin clean. The memory of it plagued her dreams for weeks and she told no one of her struggles for months. Because of this, Akira suspected that she'd have a certain aversion to using deadly force—having blood on one's hand again wasn't something she thought her mind could tolerate. But after her encounter with the Hidden Rain ninja a few days back, as well as her current state of calmness, Akira was worried about her outlook on taking someone's life again. She was too calm, too at ease with the idea. After such a traumatic experience with Haku, Akria didn't expect to find herself so comfortable with the idea. But she was. And it worried her. Akira feared it likened her to her brother Itachi.
"For what purpose?" Akira asked calmly.
Anko eyed her suspiciously. She could see the nervous gleam in Akira's eye and it made her smirk—finally a crack in the hard exterior.
"To get your hands on these scrolls," she said, pulling a white scroll in one hand and a black one in the other.
"Both of them?"
"Yes. You'll be fighting to get both a Heaven Scroll and an Earth Scroll. Altogether, 26 teams will be taking part in this test. Half of those teams will be going after the Heaven Scroll, and the other half will be trying to get an Earth Scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team, and that's what you'll be vying for."
"Okay, so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked plainly.
"Your entire squad must bring both a Heaven and an Earth Scroll to the centre tower," Anko said.
"That means, at the very best, at least half of us will fail," Sakura noted. "More if not all teams can get both their scrolls."
"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh, and one more thing. The test has a time limit, you must complete it within five days."
"Five days out there!?" Ino complained.
"What're we supposed to do for food!?" Choji shouted, scandalized.
"Do you not know what the definition of survival is?" Anko said, sounding far too amused. "Just poke around, look for berries or whatever. Make a fire, grill some squirrel."
"SQUIRREL!?"
"Yeah, the forest is plenty of stuff to eat," Akira agreed, chuckling. "Maybe there are some giant bugs you can snack on, too."
"GIANT BUGS!?"
Akira scoffed, a small smirk on her lips. Were it not for Shikamaru, she doubted that Ino and Choji would make it very far.
"That's not the only thing the forest has plenty of," Kabuto spoke up from behind Akira. She turned towards him. "There are man-eating beasts and poisonous plants out there."
Akira looked at the forest with an irked expression and sighed.
"Sounds like a party."