Naruto: The Weapon Master
Chapter 13: Rumble in the Jungle
The next morning, Naruto and his team stood among the other Genins before a huge forest which was surrounded by a metal fence with signs that say 'Keep out', 'Danger', etc. they could hear sounds of animals and other things never heard before.
"So this is Area 44 A.K.A Forest of Death," said Naruto looking at the forest with Tora sitting on his head.
"I-it looks a bit s-scary," said Hinata standing close to Naruto who placed a hand on her shoulder in order to calm her nerves.
"I guess since the first phase was based on theory, then this phase has to be based on practical," said Sakura, checking on the contents in her ninja pouch.
Then Anko appeared before them via Body flicker with a sadistic grin which scared most of the Genin around "This is the second stage of the Chuunin exams, I'd like to welcome you to the Forest of Death and you'll soon find out exactly why it is called that,"
"Heh, whatever is in that forest is no match for my team and I," said Naruto proudly, he noticed a glint in Anko's eye and knew what was coming.
"Looks like we have a tough guy here," she quickly drew out two kunai from her sleeves and flung it at Naruto who tilted his head to one side to dodge the first one and twisted to catch the second by the handle with his teeth before he felt cold steel at his neck. "It's tough guys like you that always leave a bloody mess whenever they enter the forest,"
A grass ninja walked up to them with a kunai in her tongue which pretty much creeped everyone out.
"You dropped this,"
"Why thank you," said Anko taking the kunai back.
"There's something about that ninja that gives me bad vibes just like Kabuto," thought Naruto looking at the grass ninja lick her lips with her long tongue.
"Then it's best that you keep your guard up, especially when in the forest," said Chinami.
"I must agree with Chinami Naruto-kun, I can sense a lot of negativity around us at the moment," said Kurama.
"Thanks for the heads up girls," thought Naruto as he turned his attention to Anko.
"Before we can begin, I'd like to hand out these forms for you to sign," said Anko holding out a stack of papers.
"What are they?" asked Shikamaru.
"Just your standard consent forms for when you get killed in this test, so we won't be held responsible for it,"
"Oh man, what a drag,"
"Can this boy get any lazier?" said Kurama.
"Maybe, we'll just have to wait and see when the time comes," thought Naruto.
"Before you sign the forms, let me tell you what you'll be doing on this test. There are 44 locked gates around the practice area, within it are rivers, a forest and a tower located at the center," Then she reached into her coat and brought out two different scrolls "It is within the arena that you will try to acquire these scrolls through a battle royale with no rules,"
"You mean we are to acquire both scrolls?" asked Sasuke.
"That's right, there 26 teams in this test so half will get an earth scroll and the other will get a heaven scroll,"
"Okay then how do we pass the test?" asked Sakura who was paying strict attention to the rules so far.
"Your team must bring both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll to the tower," said Anko.
"This must be what Anko meant by cutting the participants in half, because half of us will move on to the next phase while the rest will fail," said Naruto.
"Also know that there is a time limit, you have to complete the test under five days while in the forest,"
"Five days?! What we supposed to eat while we're in there?!" asked Chouji frantically.
"You can just look around the forest as there are plenty of things to eat," said Anko.
"But let's not forget that there lots of wild animals and poisonous plants in there that could kill you," said Kabuto.
"Oh Man," said Chouji looking very depressed.
"Continuing on, there are three ways in which you can be disqualified. First is when all three members of your team are unable to arrive at the tower with both scrolls within five days, second is if you lose a member of your team or the member is incapacitated. The third is that under no circumstances should you open the scrolls before you enter the tower," said Anko.
"And what happens if you do open the scrolls?" asked Kiba.
"Let's just say that it would have been the last thing you would have ever thought of doing," said Anko with a sadistic look.
"Looks like everyone here has gotten the gist of it," thought Naruto as he looked around.
"After signing your consent forms, you and your team will take them to the booth and exchange it for your scrolls. After that each team will pick a gate and be let inside. And here's a piece of advice from me…Don't die!" said Anko with a stern gaze, before glancing at Naruto "Especially you Naruto-kun," Naruto looked at her and nodded as if understanding what she had meant, then the teams scattered to make their decision.
Naruto was walking around having already signed the form, when he saw his longtime friend Chouji who is still in depression before a mischievous grin appeared on his face.
"Naruto-kun, what are you up to?" asked Kurama as she recognized that look.
"I'm just gonna give my buddy a pep talk," thought Naruto as he approached Chouji. "Hey pal, why so glum?"
"I was worried about not getting enough food to eat, now I have to worry about getting eaten," said Chouji.
"Listen Chouji, it's only a matter of the most hungry being the predator and the least hungry being the prey. So tell me, do you want to be the prey?"
"No,"
"You'd rather be the predator?"
"Yes,"
"That's right, so when you go in there, you show those plants and animals that you're the predator and not the prey,"
"Yes I will!"
"And after all this, you can walk amongst the crowd with pride upon showing them that you were able to survive the forest of death, do you feel me!?"
"Yes I feel you!"
"Then go and show me what you're made of, do it for the barbeque!"
"Sir Yes sir!" shouted Chouji with fire in his eyes, Shikamaru was nearby watching in surprise.
"I'm sure no one has ever thought of motivating an Akimichi like that, you're really becoming more troublesome by the minute Naruto," thought the lazy Nara.
Someone else was also watching them with fire in his eyes "His flames of youth burns brightly, Yosh! Mine will burn just as bright as his!"
Later on, Naruto and his team stood in front of a gate with a heaven scroll in his ninja pouch as they waited for the signal to start the second stage of the exams.
"Alright Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, Let's do our best to pass this test, we're just a few steps closer to becoming Chuunin," said Naruto while tightening his headband and Tora poked out of the hood and flexed her claws.
"You got it Naruto-kun," said Sakura.
"O-okay Naruto-kun," said Hinata shyly.
Then they heard Anko's voice on the loudspeaker. "Alright you rookies, the second part of the test has begun!"
All of the gates simultaneously opened and everyone dashed into the forest to begin the hunt for the scrolls. After building some distance from the entrance, the team stood among giant trees of the forest.
"So what is the plan for us to get a scroll Naruto-kun?" asked Sakura.
"First we need to locate the other teams whereabouts, in order to plan an ambush as well as avoid getting attacked," said Naruto, he remained silent for a few moments much to confusion of both girls before he finally spoke up "Uh I'm gonna take a whizz, I'll be right back soon,"
Naruto walked to a nearby bush and was relieving himself when he sensed a changed in the winds, he inwardly smirked when he felt cold steel touch his neck.
"Don't move and give me your scroll, I know that you have it," Naruto glanced behind him to see a ninja in a pale bodysuit and an oxygen mask.
"And I don't have it," said Naruto with a smirk.
"Then I'll just slit your throat and go after the others, since you're all alone here," said the rain ninja.
"That's where you're wrong, who said that I'm alone?" no sooner had he said that than a blur popped out of his hood and slashed the ninja in the face.
The ninja dropped his kunai to hold his face in pain, a chance that Naruto didn't waste as he performed a front flip and planted a kick under the chin which sent him reeling backwards.
"Tora, use Clawed Shockwave!" Tora channeled chakra to her claws and swiped at the rain ninja, releasing waves of energy which left gashes and knocked him back further. "Shadow Kick!" Then he sped forward with a side kick while leaving green afterimages behind and slammed his opponent into a tree, knocking him unconscious.
"Darn it, he doesn't even have a scroll," said Naruto as he tried to loot the fallen ninja "but this gives me an idea,"
"What do you mean Naruto-sama?" asked Chinami curiously, Naruto was about to tell her the plan when Kurama suddenly spoke up.
"Naruto-kun you must hurry back to Sakura and Hinata, they're being attacked by a giant snake!"
"I'm on my way, Tora let's go!" Tora quickly hopped back into the hood as he dashed back to the others. Naruto burst through the bushes to see Sakura and Hinata avoiding the lunges of the snake and ran in to help them. "Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, move out of the way! I'll handle this snake!"
The girls complied as they jumped out of the way, the snake changed its targets and tried to chomp on him. Naruto waited at the very last minute before rolling backwards and charged at the reptile with Tsukiotoshi drawn out of its sheath. "Secret arts: Nightglow!" he performed an uppercut which summoned a pillar light which launched the snake's head high into the air. "Secret arts: Running slash x3!" then he proceeded to slash in midair left and right, leaving large gashes on the snake until he reached the head. "Secret arts: Phantom!" an afterimage appeared behind the snake and they both descended with a vertical slash, cleaving it into two.
The snake laid there for a moment before disappearing in puff of smoke, much to their surprise.
"What was that?" asked Sakura.
"It seems to be a summon, which means that it was not an inhabitant of the forest," said Naruto sheathing the Muramasa.
"B-but the only o-one to s-summon snakes is Anko-san, but I-I don't think it's a part of the t-test," said Hinata.
"She's right, the only one I can think of that summons snakes is….," Naruto's eyes widened upon realizing who it was "If so then what is he doing here in the Hidden Leaf village?"
"Naruto-kun, I sense Anko in the forest and it seems like she's pursuing someone and his chakra is too high to be that of a Genin," said Kurama.
"Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, I sense Anko-chan chasing someone who might have something to do with summoning the snake so I'm going to help her capture him,"
"Then we'll stay and remain undetected until you come back, then we continue our search for a scroll," said Sakura.
"J-just be careful Naruto-kun, I don't w-want you t-to get hurt," said Hinata worriedly.
"Okay then, Tora could you remain with them just in case?" Tora meowed in affirmation before jumping out of his hood and into Hinata's arms, then Naruto took off in the direction which Kurama showed him.
Meanwhile Anko was jumping through the tree in search of her target until she finally saw him standing close by and landed a few meters away.
"I finally found you…Orochimaru-sensei," said Anko with venom in her voice.
The man turned around with an evil smile on his face "Kukukukuku, it has been a while Anko,"
"I don't have the time to go down memory lane with you, I'm gonna make you pay for what you had done to me,"
Anko took a pair of kunai and charged at her former master, Orochimaru quickly lashed out with his tongue which wrapped itself around her arm pull her towards him, but Anko rather lunged forward and dealt a side kick which sent crashing into a tree.
"Shadow snakes!" snakes shot out of her sleeves and towards the tree which left a cloud of dust, then she pulled hard and drew Orochimaru out of there wrapped in her snakes and slammed him into a tree. "Now die!" Anko stabbed the kunai into his heart, only for Orochimaru to turn into mud and melt away "Damn, he used a mud clone to evade!" she felt something wrap around her neck from behind and was thrown into a tree with serious force which dealt some damage on her.
Orochimaru approached Anko with an evil smirk on his face "Kukuku, it seems you improved a bit since we had last met but it's not enough. Let me show the difference between us," He formed a handseal expecting Anko to reel in pain from her curse seal only to be shocked that there was no reaction whatsoever. "What, how can you not be affected by my curse mark?!"
"Heh, that's because the one whom I fell in love with removed the seal, freeing me from your stench," said Anko with a smirk.
"That's impossible, one should not be able to remove it, not even Jiraiya! No matter, I'll just give you another one then,"
Anko looked frightened at the thought of getting another curse mark as Orochimaru approached her when something appeared in front of him and dealt a roundhouse kick to the head, knocking him back. Anko's expression changed from fear to joy upon seeing who it was.
"Naruto-kun, you're here!"
It was Naruto who had shown up, he was leaping through the trees when he saw Orochimaru approaching Anko and had used Kung Lao's short range teleport to get in between them and knock back Orochimaru with a roundhouse kick.
"Don't worry Anko-chan, I'm here to help," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
"Kukukuku, why if it isn't Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi Jinchurriki," said Orochimaru having recovered from the attack. "What can a brat like you do against a Sannin?"
"You know what they say 'two heads are better than one'" Anko stood next to him after recovering from the attack, then Naruto channeled chakra to the bracelet "Tag mode! Umbran Climax!" there was a bright glowed which faded to reveal Anko holding a pair of blue colored handguns with two more strapped to her heels.
Several images about the weapons flowed into her mind as she took the bullet art stance and stood next to Naruto who had drawn out Tsukiotoshi and took the Oboro blade stance. "Ready to tango Naruto-kun?"
Naruto smirked at her "Let's dance, Anko-chan!" the duo charged at the snake Sannin who was stunned at what he had just seen.
"Where did brat summon that weapon, I've never seen anything like it?!" thought Orochimaru.
Music Start: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance; The Stains of Time
Anko reached him first and launched a high kick which was blocked by an arm, however the handgun shot a bullet which only grazed the cheek as he had tilted it just in time. Naruto caught up and slashed at the snake Sannin who had pushed Anko away and turned to aim a punch at him. Naruto quickly used the butt cap of the blade's handle to block it, then he pushed the fist away and charged in.
"Shadow uppercut!" he planted an elbow under Orochimaru's chin, launching both of them into the air while leaving behind green afterimages. Anko jumped after them, Naruto threw the Tsukiotoshi into the air and grabbed her hand and swung her around before flinging towards Orochimaru as Anko planted a double kick on his stomach and blasted him away with two shots into a tree.
"You'd better take us seriously or you might end up like human snake wallet," Naruto smirked as they landed and he caught Tsukiotoshi in the air.
"Then I'll just have to take you a little more seriously," said Orochimaru with a glare, he pulled back his sleeve to reveal a tattoo, then he bit his thumb and swiped his blood on it and placed his hand on the tree branch "Summoning jutsu!" there was a puff of smoke which faded to reveal him riding a giant snake. "Now what will you do?"
Naruto and Anko jumped out of the way as the snake lunged at them, Orochimaru opened his mouth and swarm of snakes shot out towards Anko. She started to somersault in the air while shooting rapidly at the snakes, killing all of them before they could get any closer. Naruto sheathed Tsukiotoshi and dashed towards to the tail while forming handseals on the way.
"Wind style: Gale Claw!" wind gathered around his right hand to form a large claw which he stabbed into the snake, then he ran up the body while trailing the claw up until he reached the head. He jumped away and stuck the trunk of a tree, a purple rune with siddha character surrounded him as he took a stance "Ninpo: Art of the Piercing Void!" a spherical orb crackling with purple energy formed in between his hands which he fired at the snake, it penetrated the body resulting in an explosion. The smoke cleared to reveal the remains but the snake Sannin was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn he must have used a mud clone again, where did he go?" thought Naruto looking around for his opponent.
"Naruto-kun, he's behind you!" Anko was too late with her warning as Naruto was punched in the head and was bound by snakes.
"Now to deal with you, five prong seal!" Orochimaru's fingers lit up in violet flames, then he slammed it into Naruto's stomach. But the blond puffed into smoke to reveal that it was a Shadow clone, he didn't have time to be surprised as he got shot in the shoulders by Anko before turning around and started forming handseals "Wind style: Great breakthrough!" then he launched a huge gust towards her.
The technique almost reached her when Anko jumped into the air to reveal Naruto standing there speeding through a series of handseals "Fire style: Fire Dragon bullet!" and released flames in shape of a dragon that consumed the wind and became even larger. The enhanced attack made contact but when the flames died down, it was another mud clone.
Music End
"Damn, he's really a slippery snake," Anko growled in anger, then they heard laughter and turned to see Orochimaru standing on another tree looking at Naruto with greed.
"That power of yours is really interesting, I wish to give a gift to you too like Sasuke-kun, but I can't afford to waste time around here," said Orochimaru, Anko's eyes widened upon on what he had just said.
"Oh no, he must have placed a curse mark on the Uchiha!"
"Sorry Hissy, but there's no way you're gonna get me," said Naruto.
"We shall see, however I'd advise not to cancel the exams or I might have to take drastic measures," said Orochimaru before sinking into the ground.
"Ku-chan, can you sense him?" asked Naruto.
"No Naruto-kun, but I sense negative chakra elsewhere as well as Sakura and Hinata being near it," said Kurama.
"Okay then," Naruto turned to Anko "I have to check on Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan then we'll head towards the tower after acquiring an earth scroll,"
"Alright Naruto-kun, I'll head to Hokage-sama and report to him on what had just happened, please be careful on the test," said Anko as the handguns disappeared in a flash of light, then she left.
"You got it Anko-chan, Ride the Wing road!" Naruto channeled chakra to the bracelet and summoned the air trecks and skated towards the source of the negative energy.
"Sakura-chan, what s-should we do?" asked Hinata fearfully.
"I don't know Hinata-chan," replied Sakura with worry.
While they were waiting for Naruto to return, they had sensed a surge of chakra and trailed it only to see the sound ninja attacking Shino, Kiba and Sasuke. Sasuke was laying on the ground, Kiba and Akamaru were kneeling on the ground with their ears bleeding due to the metal gauntlet of one of the sound, Shino tried to use his bugs to drain them of their chakra
Lee then appeared to help Shino, but soon they were unable to continue fighting. That was when Sasuke woke up but his body was covered in black flame like markings on his body while radiating chakra that felt foul to those around him.
"Who does this guy think he is," said Zaku, the boy with the black spiky hair.
"Zaku, don't provoke him!" said the second male named Dosu while the girl who goes by the name Kin looked on fearfully.
"I don't know what that grass ninja did to me, but with this power I can kill him," said Sasuke with an evil smirk as the chakra flowed through him.
"What's happened to Sasuke, he's never radiated such chakra, even my bugs are fearful of it," thought Shino.
"Don't worry about it, I got this! Super Slicing Wave!" Zaku thrust his palms forward and unleashed a powerful blast of wind and sound at Sasuke resulting in an explosion "Heh, what a weakling,"
"Actually, you missed," voice spoke from behind, then Zaku was blown away by a powerful backhand. Everyone turned to see Sasuke standing there with an arm stretched, showing that he had dodged the attack and had appeared from in a burst of speed.
"I've never seen such speed before, what was Orochimaru-sama thinking when he sent us to fight him?!" thought Dosu.
"What's going on? I didn't want to be here!" thought Kin with fear.
"Hinata-chan, what's wrong?" asked Sakura looking at Hinata who was quivering in fear.
"I-I used my Byakugan to l-look at Sasuke's chakra and it felt d-dark and e-evil," said Hinata.
Sasuke disappeared again and reappeared behind Zaku and grabbed his arms with a sadistic grin, "You seem to be very proud of your arms,"
"W-what are you doing?! Stop!" Sasuke ignored Zaku's pleas and proceeded to break his arms, then he turned his attention to Kin who started to shake in fear.
"Now it's your turn, and I hope that you can keep me entertained unlike your team mate here," said Sasuke as he slowly walked to the terrified Kunoichi, then someone landed in between them, and they all recognized who it was.
"It's Naruto-kun," said Sakura happily.
"Sasuke, that's far enough," Naruto stared intently the boy standing front of him "He's not resisting the curse mark at all,"
"Naruto-sama be careful, the curse mark is different from the one which was on Anko-san," said Chinami.
"Dobe, just the one I want to test my strength on," Sasuke smirked evilly before charging at Naruto.
Naruto quickly sidestepped from a straight punch and grabbed the arm flipping him over, but Sasuke landed on his feet and charged again and launched a high kick. Naruto ducked under and used a sweep kick to knock him off balance and used a double palm thrust to send him tumbling away.
This time, it was Naruto who dashed towards Sasuke, the raven haired boy quickly sped through some handseals and took aim at the blond "Fire style: Grand Fireball!" then shot a large ball of fire. Naruto sunk into the ground and appeared behind Sasuke then he chopped him in the neck, rendering him unconscious.
Naruto watched as the cursed marking receded back to the seal and noticed that it was much different from the other one "It seems that this seal is much stronger than the first one that I removed,"
"You're right Naruto-sama, and I don't think the cursed exorcism will be strong to remove it. You'll need to create a much stronger jutsu for it," said Chinami.
"Yeah, but that will have to wait until the exam is over,"
"And we still don't have an earth scroll yet, Naruto-kun," said Kurama, Naruto was contemplating when he noticed Dosu approach him.
"I wish to make a deal with you," Dosu reached into his ninja pouch and brought out an earth scroll and placed it on the ground much to everyone's confusion "I'll give you the scroll and you let us go,"
Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before giving his answer "You've got yourself a deal,"
"Thank you, but the next time we meet in combat, I can assure you that we won't run away. Kin let's go!" Dosu went to pick up Zaku jumped away while Kin looked at Naruto for a moment before following after her team mates.
"Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan, you can come out now it's safe," said Naruto, the girls quickly came out of the bushes and started to check him for injuries which was large bruise at the side of his head from Orochimaru's punch, Tora noticed the bruise and lick it in concern for her master to which Naruto smiled softly and petted her.
"Naruto-kun are you okay?" asked Sakura worriedly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine now," Naruto turned to Kiba and the others "What about you guys?"
"We should be able to recover, so thanks for your concern," said Shino.
"Okay, but what about the earth scroll?"
"You can have it as we already have a complete set, we were on our way to the tower when that grass ninja attacked us before this,"
"Okay then we'll catch you later at the tower," Naruto took off with Sakura and Hinata close behind.
After a while, they finally arrived at the tower and passed through the door to find themselves in a room with an inscription on the wall. Sakura read through the inscriptions before speaking up.
"According to the writing on the wall, I think we should the scrolls,"
"A-are you s-sure, Anko-san told us not to o-open it" said Hinata hesitantly.
"Actually, she said that we should not open the scrolls before we reach the tower, so now that we're here, we can open them now," said Naruto bringing out the scrolls from his pouch and passing one to Sakura. When they both opened the scrolls, smoke started to come out, forcing them to throw them away. The scrolls landed in an x pattern before there was a large poof which cleared to reveal Kurenai who was smiling at them.
"Kurenai-sensei? What are you doing here?" asked Sakura.
"To answer your question, the teachers of their teams are supposed to welcome them back as well as to congratulate them for passing the second part of the exam," said Kurenai.
"So if we had opened the scrolls before entering the tower you would have knocked us out right?" asked Naruto.
"You're right about that Naruto. Since there still a few more days left for the test, you rest for a while but be sure to remain in the tower or you will be disqualified," said Kurenai before using Body flicker to leave.
"Alright girls, let's rest up and wait for the others to show up," said Naruto.
"O-okay Naruto-kun," said Hinata.
The girls walked away while Naruto stayed behind, he took out a small scroll from his pouch and unsealed it to reveal an even bigger scroll.
"Ku-chan, Chinami-chan, what do you think this scroll contains?" asked Naruto.
"We don't know Naruto-kun, we'll have to examine it later," said Kurama. Naruto nodded in affirmation before walking away from the room.
Weapon/Gear appearance
Love is Blue = Bayonetta 2
Air trecks = Air Gear
This is Hussbek online with another chapter, I throwing out a request for what you want naruto to find in the mysterious scroll, you can send your thoughts and opinions through reviews and PMs. The next chapter will be on the preliminaries so look forward to it.
This Hussbek from Ghana,
Signing out.
