Chapter 5: The Forest of Lost Past
Anko led the Genin through the village to the Forest of Death, the village's most dangerous training ground and the stage for the second part of the Chunin Exams. As the Genin stood in front of the fenced border of the forest, Anko stood in front of the main gate and looked at the new recruits. "Alright maggots listen up and listen well because I will only say this once" she ordered as they all looked at her. "This is the 44th training ground, but we like to call it the Forest of Death. It is in here that the second stage will take place, but before that I will need to explain how it will go down" she stated and held up 2 scrolls, one black with the word earth written on it and the other white with the word heaven written on it.
Ryouske raised an eyebrow as Anko continued, "In this exam each team will be fighting to collect either a heaven or an earth scroll and bring them to the tower located in the middle of the forest. You may use whatever means are necessary to obtain these scrolls, even killing. You are forbidden from opening and reading them" She explained drawing confused looks from the Genin until a Rain ninja piped up, "what happens if we do open it?" At this Anko grinned at him and flashed him a creepy stare, " ' . " she said making the ninja shuddered and making Ryouske shake his head, Namito face palm and Lukyo sigh, each expecting this from their sensei, "she never changes" they all thought in unison.
Anko then went on to explain how they would have to survive up to five days in the forest before the exam will be over, which drew many shocked looks and groans from the Genin, mostly Choji who was concerned about food. Anko then handed out wavers for everyone to sign so that if they died the village wouldn't be responsible which, naturally, everyone signed. Ryouske, Namito and lukyo then went to hand theirs in and received a heaven scroll, which Ryouske pocketed, and headed to their assigned gate to wait until the exam started.
Namito looked over at his teammates and rubbed his head, so what's the plan guys?" he asked making Ryouske look at him and put his arms behind his head, "we get as deep as we can into the forest for today then set up a camp so we can at least have a place to rest. Lukyo you are the best at traps so you will set them alright?" he asked his spectacled teammate who nodded pushing his glasses up. "Yes, I understand but what about you and Namito?" he inquired looking at them as Ryouske continued, "Namito will be helping set up some camouflage for the camp so we can be as hidden as we can and I'll scout around the perimeter with my Sharingan to make sure there are no enemy about." At his explanation his teammates nodded and all three turned to the gate in a sprinting pose to ready themselves.
Dead on three o'clock, the Chunin by the gate opened it and in a flash team 13 were sprinting through the gate and jumping into the trees to avoid making footprints. As they jumped through the trees, Namito looked at Ryouske and Lukyo with a raised eyebrow, "hey guys, doesn't this test seem kinda off? That warning sensei gave about the scrolls just screamed hidden meaning," he said, stating his concerns leaving Lukyo to nod and look back at him. "Well the first test seemed to be focused on gathering information without getting caught, so maybe this test is about holding onto the information and not looking at the information ourselves" he speculated getting a nod from Ryouske, "yea it does seem like that. But right now let's focus on how we are gonna do this."
They travelled until they had come to a sort of clearing with a path on one side and a wall of trees in a semi-circle that looked impassable, aside from just mowing the trees down. It was here that they stopped deciding to set up their camp before nightfall could arrive and give Namito and Lukyo a disadvantage in the dark whereas Ryouske had his Sharingan. As Ryouske went to scout the perimeter, making sure to stay as close to tree trunks as possible in case he needed to hide, Namito and Lukyo began to set up the camp with Lukyo setting traps and Namito setting up some bedding and a makeshift tent out of leaves that blended against the trees and bushes. Ryouske then returned and sat on his own bedding looking at the other two, "we can't be reckless in here. The Genin from our village won't look to kill or seriously harm, but I can't say the same for everyone else" he said as he unconsciously twirled a kunai around his fingers.
After looking at each other, Namito and Lukyo nodded, "we need a way to make sure we know it is each other, or else an enemy ninja could just transform into one of us and attempt to take our scroll," Lukyo offered garnering nods form his team mates. Namito rubbed the back of his head as he began to think, "What could we do to prove ourselves? OH! I know, Ryo if it is you then activate your Sharingan," he suggested making Ryouske nod. "Yea that could work. They can transform all they like but they won't be able to fake the Sharingan without weaving hand signs, which the Sharingan doesn't need. You, Namito will do the Sexy jutsu to prove who you are." At that Namito shrugged not complaining while Lukyo merely shook his head, "to prove who I am I will do my usual trait which i shall not say out loud but you guys know what it is."
They nodded and sat down to eat some of the food that they had all packed as they contemplated what to do the next day until finally deciding to head west. The next day, they then destroyed their makeshit camp and traps and presumed to head east to search for a team with an earth scroll. They did not travel for long as they soon began to hear voices form nearby and jumped into the bushes to see who it was. It turned out to be some ninja from the Hidden Stone village and they were still packing up their camp.
Ryouske signed left for Namito to sneak off in that direction and signalled Lukyo to head right while Ryouske moved ahead to a better ambush position. He then signalled to them to wait and see what scroll they had so that the ambush would not be a wasted effort. Ryouske used his Sharingan to give the ninja a quick look over and nodded seeing that their chakra levels were moderate for genin.
One of the ninja then took out an earth scroll as he asked his teammates what they thought about this "no peeking at the scroll" rule. At Ryouske's signal, Namito and Lukyo both threw kunai at the branches of a nearby tree to spook the ninja into looking in that direction. After getting the desired effect, the three ninja landed behind their prey and each took one from behind and held a kunai to his throat with Ryouske holding the one who had the scroll. With a fierce tone he spoke right at the stone ninja's ear, "hand over the scroll or i give your neck a mouth." Hearing his serious tone the ninja reluctantly gave Ryouske the scroll and at a nod from Ryouske he, Namito and Lukyo smacked the ninja in the back of the head, rendering them unconscious.
Sometime later they were all sat in a bush looking down at their prize and had smiles of pride, "way to go bro, now we just have to make it to that tower" Namito stated grinning at Ryouske. Lukyo then cut in pushing his glasses up his nose, "don't get too excited Namito, we still have to make it to that tower and that won't be easy" Ryouske nodded and looked out of the bush to his right. "There is no telling what kind of ninja could be out there so we need to be careful all right?" at this the other two nodded and they soon left the bush to cover some more distance to the tower.
As they were running however, they soon began to hear the sounds of battle coming from their side and a voice that Ryouske and Namito recognised came to their ears...it was the voice of Naruto. At Ryouskes nod they changed their course and began to head towards the sounds of the battle just in case Naruto was in trouble, what they saw however left them bewildered.
Team 7 were fighting a ninja atop a giant brown snake and it seemed that Team 7 were losing. Lukyo tapped Ryouskes shoulder and pointed to the snake's mouth where Naruto seemed to be holding the snake off much to their surprise. Namito was about to jump forward and help when Ryouske grabbed his arm holding him back, "hold on. If you go blindly rushing in it could spell trouble for team 7, lets wait and see if they end up needing our help." At his words Namito reluctantly nodded and crouched back down.
As it turns out waiting was a good choice after all, because after placing a seal on Naruto's stomach, the stranger stretched their head out and bit Sasuke on the left side of his neck. Seeing the strangers neck stretch seemed to have an effect on Ryouske as he then held his head groaning quietly in pain as more hidden memories surfaced. This time the memory was of the shadowy man with the golden eyes except that the stranger began bending his body and lengthening it while fighting. Thankfully, the memory vanished as Ryouske opened his eyes to see a worried Namito and Lukyo staring at him.
He wipes his forehead and sat back up, it seemed he had fallen over, and smiled weakly, "I'm fine guys, just another memory surfacing but it isn't important right now. How are team 7?" he asked making Namito shake his head and pointed at a hollow opening underneath a tree where sakura had now laid Naruto and Sasuke who were both unconscious. Ryouske then ran over to where Sakura was with Namito and Lukyo following him. Naturally when she saw them she raised a kunai at them, "relax fan girl we are the real deal not imposters" Ryouske assured her.
Sakura then filled them in on what had happened, making Namito suddenly become pissed and Ryouske start to worry for Naruto. Lukyo then piped up with an interesting idea, "while Sakura takes care of them, why don't we go and set traps so as to give her some protection?" he offered making all of them nod their heads in agreement and Sakura weakly smiled at them, "thanks you guys. Don't hang around though after you set the traps head for the tower, with the traps you guys know how to do I'll be safe."
Team 13 nodded and soon headed off to set the perimeter traps and when they were done they all gathered on a tree on the path to the tower. "Are we sure she will be ok?" Lukyo asked, concerned for Sakura's safety, while Namito just shook away his concerns smiling, "trust me she is the toughest of the Uchiha's fangirls, she will make it somehow. Not to mention she is incredibly smart." Ryouske nodded his agreement and was about to say they should continue, when a strange feeling came over him, he did not know what this feeling was but it felt somehow...familiar.
Looking in the direciton of the feeling, Ryouske then started running towards it across the tree branches, determined to uncover what that feeling was. Namito and Lukyo, surprised at their friend's actions, soon jumped after him to support him. Ryouske then stopped in a clearing where the ninja who had thought team 7 was standing. The ninja had long black hair that stopped at their mid-back. They were wearing a yellow tunic of sorts with black sleeves and a purple rope around the waist and the tunic had black sleeves.
The ninja then turned towards the young Genin only for them to jump back in shock, the persons left eye had been torn away to be replaced by skin that was pale and white with a purple line going down towards the nose, upon seeing the eye, Ryouske soon grabbed his head as his eyes locked onto it...the left eye was golden and had a slit in it.
The stranger's eyes roamed over the Genin until his eyes stopped on Ryouske and his mouth broke into an evil grin and when he spoke his voice sent chills down their spines with every word. "Ah little Ryouske, it has been years since i last saw you" the stranger said, his golden eyes glowing with glee. Namito raised an eyebrow and look from the stranger to Ryouske, "you know this guy bro?" he asked getting a silent shake of his head from Ryouske.
The stranger then showed a face of mock hurt as he looked at Ryouske, "i'm a little hurt my dear Ryouske. I would have thought you would remember Lord Orochimaru." At this the three Genin gasped and stepped back with Namito and Lukyo drawing kunai and Ryouske drawing his katana. Ryouske glared at Orochimaru and got into a defensive stance ready to fight if needed as he asked Orochimaru, "What have you got to do with me? Who are you to me?!"
Orochimaru licked his lip and smirked opening his eyes wide as he stared at Ryouske, "You really don't remember me? I'm hurt" he said pretending to be hurt. Ryouske just glared at the man, "I'll MAKE you tell me then" he declared as he charged toward Orochimaru with Namito and Lukyo trying to grab him to pull him back. Ryouske swung his katana at Orochimaru only for the snake sannin to grab the sword as if it was a simple kunai and with a wider smirk he pulled the sword over his shoulder and kneed the young Genin in the stomach, causing Ryouske to cough up spit and blood.
Namito and Lukyo rushed at Orochimaru but he merely laughed and threw Ryouske at them knocking them all back. Ryouske spat some blood out and stood up, his legs shaking a lil but his resolve never wavering as he charged at Orochimaru again much to the chagrin of his team mates, only for Orochimaru to backhand him making him spin and grab him by the arms from behind with Ryouske glaring behind him with Sharingan blazing. Time seemed to stop in that grove as the Genin looked at Orochimaru with wide eyes as his smirk widened and before they could even register the smirk...it happened.
CRACK!
All that could be heard within the grove was the pained screams of team 13's Sharingan user as his now broken arms hung limply behind him, blood dripping from the nails marks orchimaru had left from holding on too tightly. Namito and Lukyo both glared at the snake with undisguised hatred and with a roar of anger, Namito charged at the enemy with the intent to kill. "You bastard! YOU WILL FUCKING PAY!" he yelled as he raised a kunai, but Orochimaru, now having gotten bored of the fight, kicked him down onto the ground.
"well, well" Orochimaru started as he stared at Ryouskes Hatred filled Sharingan eyes, "it seems i was wrong about you Ryouske, you DO have potential after all, and here i had deemed you a failure." At Ryouske's puzzled look Orochimaru continued, "you see young Ryouske, you arent just some random Leaf Ninja. You are a special candidate i had chosen for my Sharingan experiments, alas i had deemed you a failure and threw you away."
Orochimaru licked his lips and did the handsign for the tiger, "how about i unlock those memories that i had sealed away, consider it my congratulations for surviving." Orochimaru's right arm then stretched and held Ryouske's forehead and within seconds Ryouske began yelling in pain as if his head was on fire. Memories and images of his past began to flood his mind, until Orochimaru withdrew his hand and smirked once more.
"Now that i have given you your memories back, i know that you will desire more power, power to rival even the Hokage. One day you shall seek me out but until that day, her eis a parting gift." He then did some handsigns and within his hands appeared a large scroll which he tossed down at Ryouske's feet. Orochimaru then held his left eye's bottom lid as he looked at the Genin.
"I shall await your arrival on my doorstep, my dear Ryouske," Orochimaru then pulled down his eye lid and glared at the Genin and as they stared at his eye Namito and Ryouske became frozen with fear, their faces showing signs of pure terror while Lukyo had the instinct to cover his eyes. When he uncovered them, Orochimaru was gone. He then looked at his teamates who had now collapsed from the fear, Ryouske was lying there unconscious with his arms at weird angles, while Namito lay next time him relativly unharmed and unchanged except for his hair...it was now stark silver.
With the tower in sight through the wall of trees, Lukyo made a clone of himself to carry Namito, while the real Lukyo carried Ryouske. It wasn't long until they reached their destination and with a worried look at his teammates, Lukyo entered the tower heading straight for the infirmary.
PHEW! chapter end. This was a doozy to write what with stuff getting in the way but i hope you guys like it and as always leave a review. Hateful comments or downright insultful comments will be ignored.
Next chapter, Orochimaru meets a surprise face from his past.
This is HaremKing666 signing off. Stay pervy everyone XD