Author's Notes
Welcome back my fellow psychos! I hope you were all patiently waiting for the next chapter, yes? I'm glad… because in this chapter, its time for the slashing and slicing to begin in the dangerous grounds known as 44...
These chunin exams are going to start getting, lethal...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the series and characters belong to Kishimoto, while the references used here belong to their rightful owners. Songs and Song lyrics belong to Ice Nine Kills.
The Tale Of HorrorWood
Chapter III – Forest of Nightmares
Training Ground Forty-Four
The ones who passed deserved it much; seen through the deception of the written test and were more than usual the amount of genin. Methods that they used in order to pass were quite unorthodox in some ways; Mirrors on the ceiling, Dojutsu, Sound patterns, Possessions of other's souls, Uses of Shadows. The most unusual ways that were used to cheat were the chunin hopefuls of Horākagure; Complete blindness through the use of a void, Confusion and Deceiving tactics, and the art of genjutsu that is barely noticeable, even to the higher-ranking shinobi. They seem to be going all into the zone and were completely immersed about the idea of danger. None of them care at all what they're up against, to which they just do their job. It seems that while the proctor for the second exam was observing the two teams from the village of horrors, they seem to be unfazed by her playground and were grinning evilly. The makings of true shinobi.
"Alright maggots! Welcome to the Forest of Death! This is the second exam! I am the proctor; Anko Mitarashi!" She introduced herself, licking her tongue like a snake, making some genin shiver.
"In this exam… it is an all-out battle for these scrolls; heaven and earth" she started explaining, showing them to the chunin hopefuls.
"You have five days to survive in this forest, and get the scroll your team needs"
"Troublesome…" A boy with a pineapple style haircut sighed.
"What are we going to do about the food?!" A chubby boy complained.
"There's plenty of food in the forest… unless you want to take the risk" She said the last part with a chuckle, making the boy gulp.
"Question…" HorrorWood, also known as Valentino, decided to raise his hand.
"Shoot it kid" She allowed instantly, though giddy on the inside that Anko is so close to the infamous movie director.
"Are we allowed to perhaps… kill?" Was his question as an evil chuckle escaped from some of the more bloodthirsty ones, making some of the more pure genin shiver.
"W-why are you asking that sir?" A pink haired girl squeaked out.
"Because, I wanted to just make sure…" Valentino responded with a too friendly smile, and the girl turned her attention away from the bloodthirsty man immediately.
'Please say no, please say no…' Was her thoughts.
"Of course you can sweetie, just make sure to keep the animals in one peace" Anko licked her lips, making some genin gulp and some others chuckle evilly.
"Not guaranteed, but I'll try" The famous movie director smiled evilly.
'We've got some bloodthirsty ones in here this year' She grinned.
Gate Thirteen, A Few Minutes Later
"What a coincidence that they put us at this gate" Valentino smirked.
"Indeed, can't wait for the test to start!" Clown exclaimed with a clap of his hands, while the strange man in coveralls just stayed silent.
All of a sudden, the voice of Anko echoed throughout the forest "Alright maggots, I have one last piece of advice to tell you! Don't die!" She announced as the gates unlocked and they were off as the alarm sounded.
"You know where to meet with the others, right?" Valentino asked, and his two teammates nodded.
A Few Hours Later, Midnight, Meeting Place of Horākagure Genin
"So, are you all ready to have some fun tonight?!" Valentino roared, and the other five genin cheered.
"What are we going to be doing? My lord?" A man in a top hat asked, having sharp claws for weapons, and burnt red skin.
"Slaughter" Was his simple response as he laughed maniacally into the skies above, the teams spreading out to find their targets excitedly.
*Play Song: The American Nightmare (Ice Nine Kills)*
"Also… don't forget to get the scrolls" Valentino reminded, before he turned into smoke, just seemingly disappearing from thin air.
With Anko
Screams echoed from within the forest on a full moon; they were blood curdling, reminding her of the times she trained under an S-Ranked enemy of the village. An implanted reminder of what she saw in his demented experiments, though, it is much worse in this case; making the woman slightly cuddle up on herself, before steeling her own emotions back into her mask as she ate a stick of dango and threw it to create the symbol for the leaf. Smiling, she decided to relax, though, the screams caused her to be on edge and alert, considering if she should cut the exams short. However, a fellow chunin appeared, slightly shivering from the amount of possible death happening in the damned forest.
"What's going on? This better be worth my time" Anko seriously really has considered stopping the second test short. Though, what she's about to witness would truly make up her mind. The death count in these exams have already taken a high number.
"Anko, you better come and see this" The chunin exclaimed, leading her to the crime scene she would discover.
"What the hell…?" She widened her eyes, as she knew who could've done this to the Hidden Grass shinobi.
With Team Nine
"Most teams should be resting right this moment, so we will scout out any that have the scrolls we need. Remember, we meet back at this spot" A boy with pale white eyes said as he threw down a kunai, making it stick to the ground.
"Sure thing Neji!" A boy in green spandex said with a heart full of passion.
"Don't be late" He said, though, before they could even split, they heard screams, terrible screams echo throughout the night.
"W-what was that…?" A girl with her hair done up in two identical buns asked, unnerved. All three of them were now on edge, re-thinking on their choices.
"Aww, you three are not sleeping? And here I thought I would get some free kills! How unfortunate, though, he said you Hidden Leaf rookies are not worth it anyways" A man, wearing a top hat and a red shirt said, as he sat at the top of a tree playing with his claw like weapons. He seemed to have extremely burnt red skin. He chuckled maniacally at their misfortune at meeting the dream demon himself, smiling at their somewhat fearful reactions.
"I-isn't th-that…" The girl recognised, backing away.
"Freddy Krueger… the dream demon that feeds on fear" The pale eyed boy finished, not showing any signs of being scared. The boy noticed that he was wearing the headband for Horākagure.
"Bingo… so you do know me from those movies" He started before jumping down.
"Boo!" He went right up to his face with his claws pointed towards the boy's neck, who didn't even waver, though the other two jumped back slightly.
"Here's a little question, what is the most important rule when you're in an impossible horror situation, Hyuuga?" Freddy asked, playing with the Hyuuga clan member's hair.
"Hmph, that's easy… never split up" He answered with a smirk, though a piece of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"Correct" Freddy revealed, giving away a free scroll, the one that team nine needed.
They were completely shocked as they watched the man disappear, while doing the little sign of 'be silent'.
With Team Eight
They were running for their lives, trying to reach the tower as fast as possible. A madman with an axe is chasing them non-stop, with a black square pattern shirt, and a red coat and blue jeans. The Hyuuga girl had her Byakugan active, making her shiver at the type of aggressive chakra he has. The Inuzuka's dog partner was shaking in the coat he was resting in, while the Aburame's bugs were buzzing in fear. Once they thought they got away and found a small cave to hide out in and catch their breath, they sighed in relief. Earlier in the day, they witnessed a redheaded sand kid kill three rain shinobi without remorse, and now they were being chased by a maniac! This just can't get any worse then this…
"What in the hell was that guy's problem?!" The Inuzuka whisper shouted.
"You must be quieter Kiba-kun… he's still out there" The Hyuuga girl whispered while having her family's dojutsu active.
It has been a couple of minutes, though once they tried to take a step out, the ground above them shook and a hole had been broken through with the tip of the axe they saw, making them almost freak out.
However, a shout of "Here's… Johnny!" as his face appeared through the hole made them run the hell out as fast as possible. Once they were out, they noticed that a scroll that they needed was rolling out of the darkness of the cave.
"Is it a trap…?" Kiba trailed off, carefully picking it up, smelling for any hidden tricks, though there were none.
"We should get to the tower while we still can" Shino suggested.
"Good idea!" The dog boy agreed, and they were off.
With Team Ten
They were sneaking around the battlefield that was the forest of death, more like, the forest of nightmares for them. It is like their worst fears have come true; first they were almost decimated by a Hyuuga by the name of Neji, and now they are trying not to get spotted by a guy wearing coveralls that doesn't speak, and has his face covered in a strange white mask. He has an unusual amount of strength and broke out of the shadow possession technique in a matter of seconds. Yes, they tried to fight him off, and the number one rule in horror movies? Don't fight them, you'll die trying. It is just better to run. This rule applies here as well in real life, an impossible situation actually occurred; the infamous slasher from freaking Halloween decided to just come out of nowhere and start chasing them. Just perfect!
"This is so damn troublesome! Why in the world does this have to happen to us?!" Shikamaru shouted his question out as they were on the move.
"You tell me Shikamaru! Damn Michael Myers from the movie decided to unexpectedly show up in real time and start chasing us! Unbelievable!" Ino raged. They had both of the scrolls they need, since they stole it from that guy.
"At least he's extremely slow…" Choji trailed off as they all witnessed him appear right in front of them, butcher's knife in hand ready to stab, though the genin managed to dodge out of the way of the silent killer.
"What was that you were saying about him being slow?!" Ino screamed, as they were approaching the tower.
With Team Seven, Early Morning
They were stuck in the tree cove; attacked earlier by a man known as Orochimaru, the pink haired girl and the pale boy were the only ones conscious, the raven-haired kid was out cold. The pale emotionless boy was out on guard, while the girl took care of her crush. Morning was starting to arise, as the teammates were starting to get sleepy, staying awake for an entire day is much harder than it looks without the help of caffeine or sugar. The second problem; is that there are enemy ninja after them, specifically the Sound and Rain. The ninja from the Sound decided to finally make their appearance from the undergrowth and threaten the awakened genin for the murder of the Uchiha, since that is what they came here to do. The pale boy, known as Sai, prepared to defend his team with his life, though, tiredness was slowly starting to overtake him.
However, before they could even land a strike on him, the man in the business suit appeared in between Team Sound and Team Seven. Valentino looked around at the situation, and spoke to himself a little, before agreeing on something and smiling evilly.
"What's with that smile of yours you damn freak?! Don't get in our way businessman!" Zaku shouted, as he prepared his hand cannons. His bandaged-up mummy like teammate tried to get him to stop, though the spiky brown-haired boy wouldn't listen.
"Slicing Sound Waves!" Zaku shouted, firing compressed air that zoomed extremely fast towards Valentino.
"Don't you know who I even am? Flamethrower!" He shouted after finishing his one handed hand signs, extending his own arm out, firing out a stream of fire out of his hand, the compressed air boosting the attack, reaching the spiky haired sound nin, making him dodge out of the way, though barely.
'This man made it look so easy' The bandaged man thought to himself as sweat rolled down his forehead, though it was not visible.
"You three better run…" He grinned evilly as a chainsaw appeared in his hand out of nowhere, started it up, the weapon making a roaring sound as smoke came out of the back. The three-sound ninja started backing up as HorrorWood came closer to them. The bandaged sound nin finally decided to give in.
"W-we give! Please spare us! Here's our scroll, just…" He placed the scroll on the ground, before the team backed off slowly.
"Rargh!" Valentino screamed as he started up his chainsaw again, making the Sound team scurry off.
"Don't worry, those Rain and Sound ninja won't be hurting you any time soon… in fact, they are being dealt with right now as we speak" He all of a sudden became friendly, making the two freak out slightly.
*Song End*
"I'll help you rookies out to the tower, though don't expect me to go easy on you in the next round… our alliance is temporary, these are the chunin exams after all" HorrorWood grinned maniacally, making the two gulp.
With The Rain Team
The three were wondering through the forest towards the tower to set up their traps to get their revenge on the team from the Leaf, known as Team Seven. However, as they were preparing, they noticed something floating through the path that they were trapping. A red balloon floated peacefully through the air without a care in the world, just going wherever the chill winds take it.
"What in the world is that?" One of them said through their rebreather.
The other was a little nervous "Why don't you go and check it out?"
"Probably some idiot playing a prank on us or something" Another speculated with a snort.
"Hmph, fine, I'll go and check it out, you damn pussies" The leader of the team scoffed as he jumped down from the hiding spot and approached the floating object that suddenly started playing circus music.
"Heh, it's just a stupid balloon" He said as he popped it, and out came a music box.
"Guys! It's safe, I told you it was a prank!" The leader exclaimed, though, no response came from his other two teammates. Scanning for their chakra, their signatures were nowhere to be found.
"Guys…?" He was starting to get a bad feeling about it as he backed off into the direction of the tower slowly. His vision suddenly became blurry however, as in place of the music box, was some sort of stage, distorted circus music playing, a strange clown dancing and behind IT what appears to be a gateway to hell.
"What the hell is this?! Who are you?!" He started panicking as he tried to get away, though, for some reason, instead he was coming closer.
"No! Stay away from me you freak! I'm not dying like this!" He tried forming hand signs for a water style jutsu, though, it seems that he is not able to form his chakra properly. He figured it was some sort of genjutsu, so he tried to cast it away, to which somehow it worked. He was now horrified and breathed a sigh of relief as it was over, it was his most terrifying experience as he saw the heads of his dead teammates on top of the stage… wait, they were dead? When did that happen? He was all alone? He tried to make a run for the tower, though…
The gates of hell reappeared and reopened behind him, as he was dragged in by a long tentacle like leg "No! Let go of me! I'm not going to die like this…"
He screamed and thrashed around, until he was thrown through the gates, and shutting in the process as the scream vanished.
Once the stage disappeared, the demonic clown came out of the ground, giggling happily like he just told the world's funniest joke "Remember kids, don't split up and let your guard down when you know you're being hunted"
End of Chapter
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be quite the time skip, since I don't really want to focus much on fight scenes in this story much. I hope this chapter counts as 'longer' for you guys, since it honestly depends on the amount of detail they will have. Anyways, what did you all think? Also, before anyone complains, the reason Valentino is helping the rookies out, even though he hates the village, is in the sole purpose of staying out of sight, basically keeping his identity hidden. Staying under the radar. You'll see in the later chapters.
Anyways, review time!
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Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you all in the next one!
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