Hey, people. It's time for an update, so prepare yourselves.
Also, a fun fact: I originally wrote this on my ipod, and each chapter was bigger than the last; by now, chapter nine, I think I was pushing fifteen thousand words...and, on my ipod, I'm at chapter twenty. (I think it's about fifty thousand words)...of course, I also covered Nami no Kuni in one chapter, as well as the Chunin Exams in one chapter. I also tend to ramble in my writing, which is why my word count is so abnormally high for those.
Anyway, let's get on with the show.
"Hell's Eden," Anko began, looking at the assembled Genin, "isn't a very nice place. I would much rather have hosted the second exam in Training Ground Forty-Four, the Forest of Death, but some pushy councilmen decided that we'd have a bloodbath on our hands instead of a nice and civilized game of ninja capture-the-flag."
She held up sealing tags, each of which held a number on them. "Each of these seals, as you can see, has a number; you'll be given one at random, and they range from one through four...that is your point value. It goes up when you kill another of your competitors, and you gain however many points they had. To pass the second exam, your entire team of three must survive with a point total of at least five per person. If only two team members are alive, the required point value is ten. If only one team member is alive at the end, then they must have a point total of thirty to advance. The second exam is over when nine-tenths of you are dead...as monitored by the seals."
She had under-emphasized the difficulty they would face. Hell's Eden was a barren wasteland of rock, with several hot springs placed equidistant from one another, and large reptiles roamed it without care or mercy.
"There's no shortage of food or water, assuming that you can kill it or get to it, and that might come in handy; this exam will continue until only one in every ten of you remains alive, no matter how long that may take. Hell, stay in there for the rest of your lives! It'd sure make my job easier!"
Her laugh was met with moderate levels of fear, a psychotic grin or two, a small amount of resignation, and Naruto's supreme overconfidence in himself.
"In all seriousness, however, you're allowed to be a coward. Your team will go with you, though..."
More than a few teams left, Naruto noted, and he idly realized that many of them were those he'd deemed weak while he'd waited for Sasuke and Sakura to show up.
In the end, however, he would continue to do as he did...kill all who opposed him, sword in hand, a vicious beast of murder and hatred. That was how he had always done things, and how he would continue; it was all that he'd ever known in his life, and all that he needed to know. It was how he, Nekomata, the Ichibi's host, and almost all of the rest of their kind, had survived. They had turned their abilities into an economic asset; killing was their business, and business was good.
He and Sasuke, with Sakura behind them, were the first to step up and receive their numbers; Naruto had a four, while his teammates both had threes.
"There's no way that these numbers are random." Sakura said. "They're giving us numbers that represent our threat levels...anyone who successfully kills another automatically gets their number, a presumed level of power, boosted. It's simulating the Bingo Book, though on a smaller scale."
Naruto smirked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "Congratulations, you picked it up faster than I thought you would."
They went to their assigned gate, waiting for the whistle; once it blew, Naruto led them in. "Follow my lead...this is almost exactly like one of the Anbu entry tests that I oversaw, except that this has a little more killing and a lot less violence."
"A little more killing? Ninety percent of the people here are going to die!"
"And the standard Anbu rate is fifty, though it's been known to fluctuate...get down!"
A child-sized lizard launched past the trio, who'd dropped to the ground and were on their bellies. It was an orange-tan color, feathered, with green eyes; it had a long tail and stood upright, with clawed hands and feet, and it had back toe-claws that curved forward. Several more of the creatures came forward, beady eyes searching for the prey that they knew was there...velociraptors. While not very large, and certainly not too great a challenge for high-level Genin when on their own, a large enough pack would manage turn some Chunin into a nicely-sized dinner.
"I thought dinosaurs were extinct!" Sakura hissed, as quietly as she could.
"They are," Naruto's tone was calm, considering the situation, "in the wild. I can only think of one person who'd be twisted enough to bid for an exam to be held here, where velociraptors are probably the least of our worries."
Only Shimura Danzo would do this. It fit his bill, after all; what better way for a group of Genin to prove that they were ready to be shinobi than to pit them in a deathmatch with both nature and one another? All of the last rites had been said, little white boxes already prepared for them, letters of condolences simply waiting to be mailed...and only Shimura Danzo would think it was a fine idea to set relics of the ancient world upon young adults who would no doubt be frightened of the unknown...thankfully, however, he'd been warned.
If Naruto had been able to feel nostalgic, then he would have, but it was neither the time nor place. For now, it was time to do what he could to keep his teammates alive. Namely, killing the velociraptor pack.
"I'll be back."
Naruto vanished from between the two Genin, materializing from the ground up in the middle of the dinosaurs.
"Hyoton: Bakugan." A sphere of ice formed in front of him, almost as large as he was, before shattering into shards and flying out. Each of the velociraptors was killed, though several of the frozen shards came dangerously close to Sasuke and Sakura...not that they would say anything about it, given that he'd just saved their lives.
"We'll need to keep moving. If worse comes to worst, let me do the fighting; I have more chakra than either of you, even when put together and multiplied a thousandfold, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem."
"What about the other Konoha teams?"
"...Sakura, we can't worry about them. Your only goal is to stay alive, and to pass the exam if you can."
"What about your Kage Bunshin? You can make hundreds of them without denting your chakra supply, so why not send some to at least help out the other rookies?"
"Because that would defeat the purpose of the test. They must pass or fail on their own power, and I won't help them unless they can find and reach us...come."
He strode off, into the wasteland, not bothering to look back and see if Sasuke or Sakura would follow him.
"Mother wants your blood, and it will be given to her. Not yet, but..." Sabaku no Gaara trailed off, staring at the auburn-haired beauty before him. "...soon enough."
"You're the insane Jinchuriki of the Ichibi, aren't you?" It wasn't a question. "I know how to handle them. My mother killed one, and it was stronger than yours."
"The Sanbi host was a pathetic whelp. His Biju may have been strong, but his body and mind were weak from its torture. I am in control, in my element, and not afraid of some lava-spewing whore and a pair of sword-guards who are weaker than she is."
Just as a confrontation seemed imminent, a massive lizard ran past them chasing two Genin and a rotating ball of flesh; all thought of battle drifted away. By the time the tyrannosaur had left, and Gaara looked back, the Kirigakure Genin were long gone...he began talking to himself, making his elder siblings start to edge away from him. They didn't get far, however; the ground rose up beneath them, pulsing out in a circular wave, throwing them into the air. It also revealed a trio of Genin from some minor village, whose hitae-ate sigil wasn't even recognizable, making Gaara's grin turn into a face-splitting smile.
"Mother is thirsty."
"That's another three dead at the hands of the Kazekage's children, bringing the total kill tally to fifteen." One of the proctors announced.
"Oh, good! That means that there's only..." Anko did the math in her head. "...five hundred and sixty-one that are left to die."
"This is going to be a really, really long exami-"
They all felt it. It was a feeling that some knew better than others, and none more so than Anko herself; this vile presence, even from far away, was unmistakable. The seal on her collarbone flared up, harshly painful, and she growled.
"He's in there. I don't care how, and I don't care why, but he's in there and I'm going to kill him."
As she was getting up, Ibiki shook his head. "Even so, we can't interfere. We're proctors, not nannies, and he might end up dead anyway."
"How?" She was outraged. "There's hundreds of Genin in there, and that's probably enough to count as a decent warm-up for a daily workout!"
"Maybe," he responded, "but there's another 'snake in the grass,' as it were. You know Kakashi's kids? Take a look at the video of the blonde boy doing his interrogation."
She didn't need to see it, but she put the tape into the VCR. After the first few seconds of footage, she stopped it.
"You're shitting me. He's the-"
"Exactly, Anko. If anyone needs to worry for their life, it's probably your bastard of a teacher."
They'd found a hot spring, and filled their canteens from it before Naruto poisoned it with the Kyubi's chakra. Sakura had been about to bathe, but had decided against it. "They can smell that you're clean." Naruto said. "The water smells like blood, and they'll come to it like moths to an open flame."
Now they weren't too far beyond the now-poisoned spring, still moving around the edge of the grounds; while Naruto was confident in his ability to dominate the opposition, Sakura wasn't as certain of her skills. Neither boy could blame her, of course...she'd spent her school years pining after Sasuke, rather than training, and was weak because of it. She was still stronger than many girls or young women, given peculiar skeletal and muscular structures that were passed down from her father's side of the family, but wasn't really equipped to do anything but act as a support fighter.
"Don't look now, but there's a giant snake behind us."
Of course, both of them looked; just as Naruto had said, there was a massive snake. It melted away to reveal a white-skinned man with reptilian yellow eyes, whose fanged smile was anything but pleasant or welcoming. "Good senses, for one so young."
"Not really. You're just not very good with illusions; the snake gave off too much chakra to be a natural flesh-and-blood creature. Since you're here, you might as well tell me...what's your business, infiltrating the Chunin Exams under the guise of a Genin, Orochimaru?"
The snake summoner laughed, no longer bothering to hide his malevolence. "I could ask you the same thing. Kabuto tells me that you've re-awakened, Kitsune, but all I see is a grown child whose thoughts outstrip his years. I will, however, give you back your blade; I never did figure out how to use it, so it's worthless to me."
The cloth-wrapped sword was thrown through the air, and Naruto caught it by the hilt. Swinging it down, the black wrapping fell away to reveal a falx with a lengthened hilt. Its onyx-colored edge gleamed softly in the low light of dusk, the rest of it a pure "blue" steel. Though it was far younger than any of the rest, it was considered one of the Ten Spirit Blades; the others were the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Orochimaru's own Kusanagi blade, and the Sword of Totsuka.
"It was forged using my chakra. Only myself and my descendants will ever be able to use it as anything but a normal sword."
"You're a Jinchuriki, and impotent because of it. That sword is yours, and yours alone, and you know it."
Both of the other Genin were watching, and filed the term "Jinchuriki" away for later discovery. It wasn't important yet, so they wouldn't worry about it; first, they would need to get out of this confrontation alive...and their chances of that seemed to drop exponentially when Orochimaru's gaze drifted towards their direction.
"In any case, I'm not here for you. Our fight will be later, as agreed. I've come for dear Sasuke-kun, to mark him as my next...vessel."
"Agreement or not, snake, I can't allow that. Even here and now, I should at least be able to match you if I go all out." It wasn't a threat, but a statement. Though the words were different, the meaning was conveyed. Touch him and you'll answer to me.
"Then dance with me, Black Fox, under the light of the moon. Show me the power of the man they call 'Shiki,' death, in the Eldar Tongue."
The challenge uttered, Naruto performed the hand signs necessary to summon his armor and mask; he was hatred. He was the night. He was a mockery of humanity, the exemplary evidence for all that was wrong in the world. He was Kitsune, and he would slay Orochimaru where he stood.
Believe it.