And that's chapter 22 in the bag. Firstly I would like to apologize in advance for any lack of action within this chapter but trust me I working up to it. After all next time we finally get to see a certain "Snake" I'm sure we've all been waiting for. We may also finally see Sasuke's other Mangekyo jutsu. Anyway as always I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and please feel free to leave a review.


"In that case I congratulate all of you on passing the first examination."

The words from Ibiki's mouth left every genin in the classroom, a total of 63, staring in utter disbelief. Ibiki watched the clock at the back of the room and noted it was a full minute before one of the brats could actually utter a syllable.

"We, we pass?" a genin from Suna asked. "But what about the tenth question?"

"Deciding whether or not to stay and take the risk was the tenth question." Ibiki replied, seeing the familiar look of confusion he saw every time he pulled something like this. "In life nothing is certain, but this is doubly so for shinobi. Every mission you will undertake as Chunin has the potential to be fatal. Therefore every time you are assigned a mission you will be given a choice, accept the mission with all of the risks, or play it safe and pass it on to someone else. Those who pass on the dangerous missions and only play it safe are unfit to be called Chunin."

"But if the only thing determining whether we pass or fail is sticking around for the tenth question, then what was the point of the first nine questions?" a Konoha genin asked.

"The point of the previous nine questions was twofold. First was to test you all to see how you would go about gathering the necessary information to complete your mission. To that end we had several plants within your group that already knew all of the answers for you to try to copy. They are then among the first to drop out for the tenth question so as not to muddy the results."

Ibiki continued, "The second reason for the previous nine questions was to weed out those who couldn't hack it." As he spoke Ibiki untied his bandana and showed the genin the price of being captured on mission. There were several scars stretching across his scalp as well a number of divots ranging from the size of a pinky tip to a golf ball scattered across his skull. "If you're caught while on a mission in enemy territory, expect a much harsher punishment than being banished from a classroom." A number of genin paled at the sight of his scars as he replaced his bandana.


Even without the sharingan active, Sasuke knew that the image of the Ibiki's scarred head would never leave him. The proctor had just finished tying his bandana when something rather unexpected happened. A shadowy figure burst in through a window and landed right in front of Ibiki. Sasuke and a few other genin all jumped to their feet, ready to fight, as the newcomer threw two kunai into the ceiling, hanging a large banner that read, 'Presenting the Second Examination Proctor!'

"Don't start celebrating just yet, you bunch of brats!" The newcomer loudly announced as she struck a pose that she must've figured was dramatic. The woman wore a brown skirt and metal shinguards. She also wore a beige trenchcoat over a fishnet shirt. Sasuke blushed slightly as he realized that she was wearing nothing else under the shirt. "Because Anko Mitarashi is here to take you all to your second exam!" The room was utterly silent as everyone just stared at the new exam proctor.

"You came in too early." Ibiki stated poking his head out from behind the banner.

"Oh, uh, oops." Anko said, sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

'She's like a grown up version of Naruto.' Sasuke thought as Anko took another look at the passing genin.

"Hey Ibiki what gives?" she said gesturing to the group. "Why you passing so many of the brats? You going soft old man?"

Ibiki scowled at the woman's words, "Never. We just have a good batch of genin this year."

"A good batch huh." Anko said before taking yet another look at the genin. "We'll see just how good you little brats really are then. Because by the time I'm done with you, at least half of you guys will wash out."

'Half!' Sasuke thought, surprised by the declaration. 'What could be so bad about the second exam that it will eliminate at least half of us?'

"You all have two hours to report to Training Ground 44 for you second examination. Don't be late or I'll fail you on the spot!" and with that Anko jumped out the window she had entered from.


Training Ground 44 was the customary place where the second exam of the Chunin Exams was held within Konoha. A large forested area with a wide array of dangerous animals and natural traps and pitfalls, many a genin had died trying to make it through to the tower in the center. Because of the rather large number of fatalities that have occurred over the years, the local shinobi have dubbed Training Ground 44 with the sobriquet, The Forest of Death.

All this was explained by Anko Mitarashi, the proctor of the second exam, when the final genin team arrived at the assembled crowd.

"So that's it?" Naruto muttered, unimpressed by the task set before them. "All we have to do is make it to the center of the forest? That doesn't sound too har..." he was silenced as a kunai flew right by his face, scratching his left cheek. An instant later Naruto felt someone's tongue press against his bleeding cheek.

"It's rude to interrupt someone while they're talking brat." Anko whispered in his ear, the smell of blood fresh on her breath. Naruto shivered as Anko straightened herself and continued to the rest of the group. "As I was saying, your task for the second examination is to test how well you'll move through a hostile environment, and it doesn't get much more hostile here than 44."

"But your job is much more difficult than simply making it to the tower at the center. Afterall most of the time you're moving through enemy territory you'll be carrying information vital to your village. As such each of your teams will be given a scroll, either heaven or earth. Your job before reaching the tower is to locate an enemy team with your opposite scroll and take theirs. This exam will last for five days, during which time every second will be a fight for your life. You will fail the exam if one of your teammates is killed, you fail to make it to the tower within the five days given, or if you read the scrolls before entering the tower. Are there any questions?"

The crowd of 63 genin were silent.

"Good now line up and grab your scrolls." Anko ordered pointing at the tent that was set up by the fence. "And try not to get killed in there."


Slightly shaken from his experience as the object of Anko's ire, Naruto silently lined up with Sakura and Sasuke as they waited to receive their scroll.

"Wow if I knew that's what it took to shut you up, I'd have thrown a kunai at your face years ago." Sakura chuckled.

"Sh-shut up." Naruto responded, face turning red. "It wasn't just the knife."

"He's right Sakura," Sasuke put in, unable to hide a smirk of amusement, "you'd also have to lick the blood from his face."

Sakura turned slightly green at the thought of ingesting Naruto's blood. "Ugh, never mind." she gagged as they stepped up to the desk. The chunin behind the desk handed them a heaven scroll before another chunin lead them away to one of the gates into the forest. The trio were silent as the chunin stopped in front of one of the many gates that lead into the training ground.

"This is where you'll enter the forest." the chunin stated, "Remember you have five days to get your opposite scroll and reach the tower. Good luck." and with that the chunin departed leaving Team 7 alone.

"So, who's going to hold onto the scroll?" Sakura asked after a few minutes of waiting for the gate to open.

"Personally I don't think Sasuke should hold onto it." Naruto stated. "He's the obvious choice which means that everyone's already going to be gunning for him." Both Sasuke and Sakura appreciated the logic Naruto had used.

"Probably shouldn't be you either Naruto." Sasuke said, taking the scroll out of his pouch. "After all you did manage to piss off practically every genin in that room a few hours ago." Naruto sheepishly scratched his head in response. "So that leaves…" Sasuke continued, offering the scroll to Sakura.

"Me?" she asked, "But it would be safer with one of you two. You guys are much better at fighting than I am."

"That's just it though." Sasuke replied, "Naruto and I will likely be doing most of the heavy fighting in there."

"Which means that of the three of us, we're the most likely to have something happen to us." Naruto continued, pick up on Sasuke's trail of thought. "It's safer if you have the scroll Sakura."

"Besides, it also makes sense to give the scroll to smartest person on the team." Sasuke added, pressing the heaven scroll into Sakura's hand. The kunoichi blushed a little at the contact before he vigorously nodded her head.

"I won't let you guys down."


Kado, Karin and Torren didn't have to wait long once they'd received their earth scroll. They were third from the back of the line and as such only had to wait a few short minutes for the gates to open up. Immediately the three Uzumaki rushed into the Forest of Death, hopping from branch to branch to keep their followable tracks to a minimum. They kept going until they found a small empty clearing.

"Alright we'll set up here." Kado said taking a seat on a fallen log. Torren propped himself against a tree and pulled out a brush, ink and little sheets of paper before. Karin stood in the center of the clearing."Karin do you sense any other teams nearby?"

Karin took a moment to close her eyes and concentrate on the forest around them. She extended her sensory abilities as far as they could go. "I sense a few teams not too far from here, some have stopped, maybe to set up a camp, two are already fighting I think."

"Well that didn't take long." Torren commented as he started brushing several elaborate strokes onto a sheet of paper. Once he finished applying the seal, Torren placed his finger on the paper and channeled his chakra into it. The seal upon the paper started to glow a bright blue before dimming again. "One down," he noted before looking at the remaining stack, "a bunch more to go."

Kado nodded in agreement, "Anything else Karin?"

"I don't think so… wait. I sense a team heading right for us." she said, eyes shooting wide open before pointing east. "From over there."

"Torren."

"Yeah I'm on it." Torren replied while moving through the hand signs for the sound amplification jutsu. He held his right hand to his ear while pointing his left palm to where Karin had indicated. Closing his eyes Torren focused on separating the sounds of the forest around them from his intended targets.

"... the Uzushio scum are just up ahead." one of the approaching genin said.

"Great then we'll get to finish off those little Uzumaki bastards once and for all."

Torren ended the jutsu and shrugged his shoulder before returning to work on his seals. "Well they're definitely coming for us." he said as he quickly brushed another another seal and imbued it with chakra as well, this one glowing a deep green.

"Great." Kado groaned as he pulled out his sunglasses. "They didn't happen to say what kind of scroll they had, did they?"

"Nope." Torren replied, finishing up a third seal, this one a deep crimson.

"Fantastic." Kado sighed before he slipped on his glasses, "How many seals do you have ready?"

"Well plus the three I just finished I have around fourteen paper seals." Torren answered as he pulled a stack of paper seals from his pouch. "Should be enough to get us to the tower."

Kado nodded before turning to face the direction the enemy was coming from. "They're almost here. Torren, give me a flash seal." There was a shuffling sound as Torren located the requested seal.

"Make sure you warn us first." he said handing it over.

"Will do, now get back. They're here."

As the words left him three figures landed on the far side of the clearing. All three had dark skin and platinum blonde hair. They wore what Kado assumed to be a standard issue uniform for Kumo genin, seeing as aside from a few personal touches on each, they were identical. The one in the middle, a young man a few years older than Kado and his team, wore two katanas on his back. The young woman on the left wore her katana on her hip, edge down. The third member, also a woman lacked a sword but made up for it with an impressive array of knives and throwing darts.

"Well look at what he have here." the man in the middle, Kado assumed him to be the leader, said. "A couple of lost little Uzumaki punks."

"I was afraid that someone else would've gotten to you first." the woman on the left sneered, hand resting none too subtly on her sword.

Kado smiled, "Well we appreciate your concern for our well being. I must say you Kumo shinobi sure did find us quickly."

"I was able to track your chakra signature all the way from our starting gate." the woman on the right informed him. "You Uzumaki's always foul up the air wherever you go."

"I told you we should've showered this morning." Torren said from his spot behind Kado.

"Speak for yourself Torren." Karin admonished, punching his shoulder.

"Alright that's enough you two." Kado ordered, never taking his eyes off the Kumo genin. "Now then, why don't we just tell each other which scroll we have?"

"And why would we do that?" the Kumo leader asked.

"Well if we have the same scroll we can skip the fighting and move on with our day." Kado explained. The three Kumo genin all laughed at Kado.

"And what makes you think we're hear for your scroll?"

"Well it is the point of this exam." Torren cut in, "Not that you Kumo shinobi are the type to pay attention to stuff like that."

"I'd keep that mouth shut little man." the woman with sword said, drawing her blade.

"We're not here for your scroll." the man continued, "Though it would be awfully convenient for us if you had the Heaven scroll, but you see we came here mainly for you three. You see Kumo put in a lot of work trying to wipe your clan out during the Second Shinobi War. We're hoping to start finishing the job here."

"Well don't we feel flattered." Karin spat at them. She would've continued but Kado held up his hand to silence her.

"So there's no way for us to leave this peacefully?" he asked.

"Oh you guys can leave peacefully alright." the man said drawing both his katana. "Feel free to peacefully allow us to send you to the next life."

Kado sighed as he held up the flash seal Torren had given him. "Very well then. I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones, but if you lot insist. We'll begin the avenging of Uzushio here. Torren! Karin!" Kado poured his chakra into the seal in his hand and a flash of light exploded from the paper just as the Kumo genin advanced.


"Ahh, nothing like the delicious taste of dango to get a girl through the afternoon." Anko said as she bit the final dumpling off the stick. As she swallowed the dango she tossed the stick into a nearby tree, completing a perfect Konoha leaf made from the sticks. Soon the sounds of screaming reached her ears.

"Hmm, sounds like the festivities have begun." she mused as a chunin appeared behind her.

"Captain Mitarashi." the chunin said while kneeling down.

"Yeah what is it?" she asked, only partially giving the chunin her attention.

"While I was patrolling the perimeter like you ordered I saw something odd." the chunin started. Anko was thankful he was smart to continue without prompt. "A team of dead genin."

'They didn't last very long did they?' Anko thought as she said, "You say that like nobody ever dies in that forest."

"That's just it though Captain. They weren't in the forest. They never got past the gate."

"Hmm, well that is a little odd but…"

"That's not the odd thing though. One of them was missing their face."

That got Anko's full and undivided attention.


The Second exam is underway and danger lurks behind every tree. Unbeknownst to Team 7 however something far more dangerous than enemy genin is stalking them. Next time: A Snake in the Forest.