The seventy-eight remaining genin were taken to a nearby training ground, not too far from the Academy building. There, the examiner gathered them near the metallic fence that surrounded its perimeter. She stood right in front of one of the many gates that led into the dense forest.
Near said gate, there was a small stand where three shinobi were waiting. The stand had a desk, where three piles of papers were held.
The woman put her hands inside the pockets of her overcoat while carefully looking at the training ground. Even for such a lush forest, it was unusually dense, with very big trees making it unusually dark for the forests of the Land of Fire. Their trunks were covered with moss and epiphytic plants, which further confirmed that it was a dark and humid environment.
She smirked just looking at it. Then, she turned around to look at the nervous faces of the majority of the genin.
"This is the arena for the second examination: the 44th Training Ground." Her smile only widened as she got to mention the name of the place. "Also known as… The Forest of Death!"
A lot of those faces that had been previously nervous, now turned into shocked or even scared. The teams began to whisper among themselves, and the rookies were not the exception.
"Scary!" Admitted Ami just by looking at it.
Right next to her, Sasuke was sweating. He looked down at his legs from time to time, just checking out how they were. He did not need to do that, though, as he knew very well how they were.
Naruto was simply silent, examining the forest himself. So far, he did not see why they would call it 'of Death'. Not like some humidity, lack of light and moss could kill anyone.
So far, Anko was enjoying the many facial expressions that denoted concern. "You're about to find out firsthand why they call it 'The Forest of Death'!"
The blonde boy finally snapped. He let out steam from his nose before starting to dance like a chicken.
"Oooh, you're about to notice firsthand why they call it the Forest of Death!" He mocked the examiner with a high-pitched voice. Then, he stood firm again and pointed at her. "Like that's gonna scare us! I'm not gonna fall for your cheap tricks!"
Surprisingly, her reaction was to smile warmly at the boy. "Oh, really? You're pretty cocky, huh?"
Her sudden sweet behavior was followed by her suddenly pulling a kunai out of the sleeve of her overcoat. She threw it at the boy, who could only widen his eyes in shock at her speed. Luckily for him, the kunai only barely missed his face.
Then, before the kunai even hit the ground behind him, he felt the cold hands of the young woman on his shoulders. Then, one of them moved to his cheek, which she used to pull his head closer to her.
Ami flinched and stepped backwards. Sasuke saw her coming, but was unable to react in time. If the examiner actually intended to kill him, none of his teammates would have been able to actually do anything about it.
Anko stuck her tongue out and licked the blood falling from the cut on the boy's cheek. The kunai had, in fact, not missed. It was just intended to cause a little wound. However, the woman suddenly turned her head and moved her other left hand from the boy's shoulder to where the new stranger's tongue was. She was holding a kunai.
Naruto wanted whatever was going on to end, especially as she noticed that the third person, also a young woman, had an unnaturally long tongue. Said woman was a shinobi from Kusagakure, the Village Hidden in the Grass. On her tongue, she was holding the kunai that Anko had thrown before, as it had fallen right next to her.
"I believe you dropped your kunai." She said with a voice that certainly caused some shivers on the blonde boy's spine.
"Huh, thanks." Said Anko, still looking at the Kusa-nin. They stood there for a couple of seconds until the examiner turned her expression into one of annoyance. She was trying to enjoy the taste of some young blood, and this weirdo was just staring at her. "Don't just stand behind me radiating bloodlust…"
The foreign woman did not flinch a little.
"Unless you want to die." The examiner smiled, before gulping the boy's blood down.
She retracted her tongue while a creepy smile formed with her purple lips. She finally stood straight, fully revealing the face she had been hiding under her conical hat and very long black hair.
"I'll try to keep it under control, but I also really enjoy the sight of some fresh blood." Her pale skin was almost the color of milk, and made several people wonder how someone who was still alive could look like that. "I also was a little… unsettled after losing a strand of my precious hair."
Ami was shaking at the sight of the tall woman. She looked young, but was almost a head taller than the examiner. And there was something about her aura that just caused her to shake like a little scared child.
"Sorry about that." Anko replied while shrugging the situation off. She finally let go of Naruto, who was sticking his own tongue out, wondering what the other guy's trick was.
The blonde boy then rubbed his wound, while Ami came to check on him. Naruto was a little embarrassed, but he couldn't deny he liked the attention. Previously, that kind of attention was only given to Sasuke.
Uchiha simply stared at the tall Kusa-nin. Not only was she very tall, and very thin, and very pale. She was also unsettling. Her almost whispering voice, like that of a snake. Her long tongue, her confidence to threaten a jounin of Konoha so casually. It all solidified what seemed to be one of the top contenders for the exams to come. And for a moment, she turned around exclusively to look at him. To stare at him and lick her lips. Sheer bloodlust.
"Anyways, before we begin the second exam." Anko spoke up again to regain the attention of the genin. "There's something I have to hand out."
She grabbed one of the piles of paper from the stands, and raised them for everyone to look at them. "They're consent forms. We want all details covered before the first deaths start to occur! But first I'll explain the exam, then you can sign them."
The sun had not diminished, even in the afternoon. However, Sakura was determined to train with Gohan, especially as she was interested in the skill of flying.
The two were sitting right in front of each other, on the clearing right in front of the hut Piccolo had built.
"Ki basically is the energy that flows throughout your body."
"That's Chakra." Replied the pink-haired girl.
Gohan laughed nervously. "Well, I suppose. But Ki as I know it is your life force, you could say. It can manifest in many ways, but this is probably the clearest form it can take."
He put both of his hands together and focused his energy on each palm. Slowly, a small sphere of energy was formed in between, which he showed to the girl.
"Well, I've not seen Chakra manifest like that." She scratched her chin. "Usually, it manifests in one of the elements, be it fire, wind, water… Or in seals."
"Interesting. With Ki we can push wind forward, creating stronger currents. With water too, but it's not exactly controlling the elements."
"I guess that's one point for Chakra!" Joked the girl, getting a laugh out of the half-blood.
"Mr. Piccolo and I did notice that the energies of people here are different from those from where we come from." He dispersed the energy he had gathered, which caused the sphere to disappear. "So maybe they just work differently."
"In the academy, they did talk to us about Natural Energy, and it seems closer to Ki than Chakra." She explained, trying to find a parallel. "But they didn't go much in depth as it was something only the highest level shinobi could dominate."
"Well, how about we try some basic Ki training? Perhaps we can make some progress and learn something from it!"
"Sure." Sakura nodded. She put her hands in a similar position to what Gohan had done before.
"Focus your energy, but also make sure to relax your body."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I can't focus my Chakra and relax my body. I need to re-channel my Chakra flow towards my hands!"
Gohan blinked, not understanding what she was talking about. In his eyes, she was overcomplicating the process.
"You have to be able to let your Ki flow by itself all around your body. For such, you need to relax your body." Explained the Saiyan. "However, your mind has to stay focused to sense the flow of your energy, and then be able to concentrate it somewhere in specific. In this case, in your hands."
That was against what she had been taught. But in the end, both energies probably worked differently. She figured that if she was to learn some of his techniques, then he would have to follow his advice. Even if skeptical, she decided to try it out.
"Now the rules, and what offenses you can be disqualified for!" Anko cheerfully raised her hand. First, she lowered all of her fingers except for her index. "Obviously, the teams who fail to reach the tower in time, carrying both a Heaven and an Earth scroll, are out."
Chouji, who was laying defeated on the ground, was only further pushed towards surrendering as the instructions and rules continued. It was already bad enough that they would have to eat whatever they got their hands on, and would not have access to restaurants or food stands.
"Inhumane!" He yelled, while Ino stomped him, trying to silence him.
Anko now raised her middle finger, counting to two. "So is any team that loses a member, whether it be to death or severe injury."
By this point, Hinata was shaking so much and so sweaty that Kiba was starting to get worried. Shino was not impressed at all, and he knew that if they were given the option to give up, the girl would not hesitate.
"And under no circumstances can you leave the forest before the time is up." The examiner put both of her hands on opposite sides of her waist. "No recess, no time-outs."
"Inhumane!" Yelled once again the heir of the Akimichi. This time, he received a kick from Shikamaru, who really wanted his friend to not kill what little prestige they still had from their noble clans.
"Also, it's strictly forbidden to look at the contents of the scrolls until you're inside the tower!" She finished.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What if we sneak a peek?"
Anko shrugged. "That's for those who look to know!"
The blonde boy did not look any less confused. His dumb face made the examiner sigh, and further explain the point.
"If any of you get the rank of chunin, you will be entrusted with top-secret documents, so consider this a test of your trustworthiness." She put her hands back on the pockets of her overcoat. "That's all the explanation you get. When you've got your scrolls, choose whatever gate you want to start from. Everyone will begin at the same time."
A little weight was removed from her weight as the explanation of the examination had seemingly gone smoothly.
"One final piece of advice." Her light-hearted nature gave place to a more serious facial expression. "Stay alive!"
After one hour, all teams had traded their forms for their respective scrolls. Then, some of the assistant proctors took the different teams to one of the many gates around the perimeter of the training ground. And finally, the signal was given, and the second examination began.
After a few hours of trying, it seemed like the traditional method was not working for Sakura. Both Piccolo and his father had taught him the same, and it was a bit confusing that it was not working for the kunoichi.
Mr. Piccolo would probably know what was going on, or perhaps Master Roshi. But the latter was inaccessible to them now, and the former was gone for some reason.
However, in one last try, a spark finally appeared in between her hands. Her green eyes widened as the spark turned into a small energy sphere, similar to that Gohan had done only a little while ago.
The half-blood stood up and cheered for her. She had finally done it. From there, the process should be easier.
"Now what? Now what?!" She asked with excitement.
"Now you need to reach a level of control that allows you to fly, but it should be a little easier now!"
In the following hours until sunset, Gohan taught the kunoichi how to focus her energy to float a little. In his experience, it would take time, but it was encouraging that she was already able to manifest Ki in the traditional way. Perhaps in this world, Ki and Chakra coexisted within people.
By the end of the day, Sakura was already floating in the air, slightly above the ground. Her progress was impressive for a human girl like her, and certainly Gohan had not seen such a quick process. Though, admittedly, his only reference was his own process as a kid, unwilling to fight and train.
"Woah! Already floating after just a day!" Cheered the boy, while the girl finally let herself fall down.
She landed on her butt, and then lied on the ground, completely exhausted. Her energy reserves were almost empty, and her body was sweating a lot.
"At this rate, you'll be flying in no time!"
In between heavy breaths, she smiled at the boy. They had only trained for a day, but he had been a surprisingly encouraging and nice teacher. Nothing like the ones he had in the academy, and certainly nothing like Kakashi.
"You think so?"
"Yeah! Your progress is like nothing I've seen." Admitted the Saiyan. He scratched the back of his head. "It took me a little longer to learn how to float and then fly."
She blushed a little.
"I do have a little tip for you, though." Continued Gohan, raising his index finger. "It would be better if you cut your hair short."
"Huh?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, before grabbing her hair and looking at it, trying to find if something was wrong with it. "But Sasuke…"
"Yeah, short hair is better for fighting, and since you say you're a ninja, I guess you fight a lot." He had not noticed that he had interrupted the girl. "If your hair is longer, your enemies could grab it or it could get in your eyes. So it can be a little annoying."
"Ah… That makes sense…" She stood up, struggling a little.
To Gohan, it was clear she did not seem too fond of cutting her hair. He guessed a ponytail could do the trick, but long hair was always a nuisance when fighting.
"Thanks for the training. Shall we continue tomorrow?"
The Saiyan nodded eagerly. "Sure!"
By the next day, Gohan was met with the surprise that the girl had cut her hair short, almost to the height of her ear.