Naruto wasn't sure what to think when the purple-haired woman came out of nowhere, but he was certainly surprised.
After introducing herself quite terribly, Anko led all of the Genins to Training Ground 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. It looked like a dreadful place, with tall, irregular trees that looked like the perfect hiding spots for all sorts of creatures, or other Genin, Naruto noted with a grimace. Someone could die in that forest and no one would even notice.
"The Forest of Death has a reason for its infamous moniker. The first exam was a boring, lame-old written test, am I right? Don't worry, there's gonna be a lot more action this time around," Anko said excitedly.
Naruto was definitely more worried now. His thoughts wavered to Gaara, who he definitely couldn't fight evenly with his current abilities. A psychopathic Jinchuuriki wreaking havoc in a place like the Forest of Death, where he was practically allowed to kill other Genin was surely not going to end well. Either way, Naruto would try his best to avoid conflict with the Jinchuuriki for as long as possible until he got much stronger.
Then came the real decision to make.
[Choose between the two skills shown:
[Enhanced Eyesight Lvl 1]
[Iron Skin Lvl 1]
Naruto had been waiting for something like this to pop up ever since he found out the system gave him separate advantages other than manually increasing his stats.
Enhanced Eyesight? Iron Skin? I mean, I can guess what they mean from the names themselves…
Enhanced Eyesight probably referred to a better range of eyesight, which seemed useful in a sense. Iron Skin most likely made him much more durable for a brief amount of time. Both of them clearly used his MP considering they weren't really anything related to chakra if he was getting the skill immediately. Looking at his options, Naruto was definitely leaning towards Iron Skin considering his own fighting style was mostly fist-to-fist based.
Even in terms of the team he was in, Enhanced Eyesight had no use when his own teammate had a SHARINGAN of all things. Even though that was true, Naruto definitely needed more information before he could viably choose an option.
[Enhanced Eyesight Lvl 1]
[Info: While skill is activated, the User has a greater understanding of the environment. The range of the User's eyesight is drastically improved as well as the overall perception of moving targets.]
Okay, so based on what Sasuke has told me about the Sharingan, it's practically a MUCH weaker version of his Kekkai Genkai. Naruto thought to himself, weighing the words that were shown on the screen.
[Iron Skin Lvl 1]
[Info: While skill is activated, the User's skin attains attributes of iron, making it much more durable and resistant to all sorts of attacks.]
Naruto was practically salivating at the idea of having both these abilities at once, and quickly closed his mouth as he saw other Genin looking at him weirdly. While having both was a nice thing to think about, the system had only given him one option. And looking at his options, Naruto had a clear answer.
Choose Iron Skin.
[Ding!]
[New Skill Achieved: Iron Skin - Lvl 1]
[Usage takes 10 MP and lasts for one minute before a skill cooldown of ten minutes applies.]
Iron Skin was the skill that seemed to match his current abilities and skillset the most. Having something like Iron Skill would be incredibly useful while fighting people like Zenki, who was durable without the use of any skills.
He glanced around himself. With the monsters surrounding him, Iron Skin would be extremely useful in the near future.
Anko had finished her intimation speech and was starting the instructions for the next exam before she was interrupted by someone else.
"Alright, alright! Can you just start the next exam already?"
Naruto, and the rest of the crowd, swerved their necks at great speeds at the girl who said that out loud.
With short, green hair, and a tan complexion, the Genin in question looked very exotic.
Anko laughed loudly.
Then threw a kunai at dazzling, so fast that Naruto could barely even keep up.
The girl caught the kunai with her bare hand, before rolling her eyes in disbelief. Anko looked slightly impressed but schooled down her features right after.
The proctor for the second exam crossed her arms. "Kids these days, so impatient. Do you think I want to explain this much to y'all? Of course not! But someone has to lay down the ground rules, and that—unfortunately—has to be me. So, onto the rules of the second exam…"
Then came an explanation of the second stage of the Chuunin Exams, which only told Naruto that the exams seemed to want conflicts for whatever reason. The goal of the mission was to enter the center of the forest with both the Heaven Scroll and Earth Scroll, which sounded easy enough on its own.
However, each team only had a single scroll.
That meant only half of the teams would end up qualifying for the third stage of the exams, and to qualify, you had to be aggressive. There really was no best game plan, except to avoid being seen first.
Anko raised a pile of papers. "You'll have to sign this waiver, just for some assurances."
The group of Genin slowly moved towards the proctor, who put the sheets onto a table in front of them.
"Hey, blondie, move aside."
Kurotsuchi made her way past Naruto as she went for the fliers. Naruto was slightly bummed that he was now the same height as the girl when he was around a foot taller in his Ryuji form. For a second, he thought she would recognize him for whatever reason, but he pushed the stray thought away. It probably wouldn't do well for her to realize he was Ryuji anyways, seeing how he had practically robbed of her mission entirely by himself.
Naruto and the rest of Team Seven signed their papers with a spare pen that Sakura had. It seemed that not everyone had a pen, however, as others began to ask Naruto for the pen as well.
The green-haired girl was the first person to ask. "Oi, can I borrow a pen?"
Naruto looked into her strange, bright-orange eyes and handed it over. "Sure."
Curious, he cast an observe at the Genin who was able to catch the kunai that Anko had thrown so easily.
Observe.
[Observing…]
[Observation failed.]
No…
[Target's level is too high.]
Not again…
[Would Player like a partial observation?]
[Yes/No]
Yes.
Name: Fū
Title: "The Seven-Tailed Jinchuuriki"
Occupation: Genin of Takigakure
Level: ?
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Chakra: ?
STR: ?
VIT: ?
DEX: ?
INT: ?
WIS: ?
LUK: ?
Naruto just stood, shellshocked at the turn of events. When he had cast the observe, he had assumed that the girl,Fū, would be a rather strong Genin, somewhat similar to Rock Lee if not less. Who would have thought that she was a Jinchuuriki just like him AND Gaara? There was not one, not two, but THREE Jinchuuriki in the Chuunin Exams.
Counting Kurotsuchi in the pile, there were more than a few monsters in the exams. It would be tough winning it all.
And thus, only one solution came to mind.
If they were all monsters, Naruto just needed to become a bigger one.
[-]
Naruto handed over the Heaven Scroll to Sasuke, who he trusted a lot more with items of such high importance.
"So, do we even have a game plan?" Naruto asked the rest of his teammates.
"Yes. Our main goal is to enter the center with both of the scrolls, correct? Meaning right now, we need the Earth Scroll. Therefore, we need to scout our enemies beforehand and find out who has the Earth and Heaven scroll each. There would be no point in fighting a group with a Heaven Scroll, after all," Sasuke said, putting a hand on his chin. "Naruto, we're going to take full advantage of your clones."
Naruto nodded. It was a good start, sure, but depended entirely on the strength of their opponents to actually work. If the opponent groups that had the Heaven Scroll happened to have someone like Gaara, who most likely was already killing people to the fullest by now, the plan would completely backfire.
"We can't have them recognize Naruto either," Sakura mentioned with a thoughtful glance towards the blond.
"The clones can henge themselves as something else while they scout, and come back to me for reporting," Naruto supplied.
Putting his hands together, he summoned twelve shadow clones exactly, sending them each in different directions. The clones hinged themselves as some random civilian kids Naruto had remembered seeing, to prevent anyone from targeting a blond brat who was in the forest with them.
Naruto looked at the sun, tilting his head up. "Alright, I think it's time we—"
[Ding!]
[Warning: Bloodlust Detected!]
Naruto paused.
"What happened, Naruto?" Sakura asked anxiously.
Sasuke looked alerted as well. Naruto didn't have any time to notice that his eyes were already red.
Wind erupted with a shriek from the treetops above as Naruto yelled "Move!" for the entire world to hear. The cyclone of wind scratched and tore at his clothes, but fortunately was mostly avoided by his early understanding of the situation.
Once the jutsu was finished, Naruto scanned his surroundings. "Is everyone okay?"
Both Sakura and Sasuke shouted affirmatively, despite the wrecked trees and earth around.
On top of one tree stood a masked Genin, his spiky blond hair, and pale green coat easily visible in the scattered tree line. Based on his overall appearance, and of course, the headband he wore, it was clear the guy was from Amegakure. He then went into a steady crouch, aiming his stance straight towards an unsuspecting Sakura.
"Sakura, move!" Naruto ushered immediately, running towards his pink-haired teammate.
I didn't think we would get attacked so quickly! Naruto thought incredulously. I need to end this off quickly.
Sasuke seemed to be thinking the same thing, for he attempted to butt in as well.
Sakura quickly sidestepped the attempt on her life, her reflexes much faster from the hell of training she was put through by Kakashi. I might not be as strong as Naruto or Sasuke right now, but I can hold my own as well!
Naruto dashed towards their enemy with great speed. He deflected the shuriken thrown at him with his kunai, before lunging for the attack.
In a Taijutsu battle, there were many who could beat Naruto.
But there were also many who couldn't.
Before the Amegakure Genin could even respond properly, Naruto feinted a hook kick to the face, before using his other leg to latch onto the Genin's heel and bring him down to the ground instantly. It was an efficient if not a cheap move to make, but that was what ninja did.
Naruto brought his kunai and stabbed it into the knee of the opposing Genin who…erupted into water.
"Damn it!" Naruto yelled in frustration. To further the annoyance, his pants were completely wet.
Sakura looked equally pissed but managed to quell it down. "Well, we couldn't be the only ones who decided to use clones."
Well, it's good that they weren't shadow clones, at the very least. Naruto thought, trying to be optimistic about the whole thing.
"Let's not dwell on this too much. We need to move as quickly as possible. It's possible our location has been revealed from all the ruckus, and we definitely don't want any more attention on us. We can find a place to set up a tent as well," Sasuke said, attempting to reel the group back into action. "Naruto, did the clones reveal anything?"
"Not yet, apparently."
That was neither a bad sign nor a good sign. It meant that there weren't many opponents nearby, which meant that there was less of a chance of them finding an enemy to beat and gain an Earth Scroll.
Team Seven walked for another twenty or so minutes, trying to cover as much distance as quietly as possible. His clones had yet to disappear, which was starting to become very, very unusual. You would've thought that a dozen clones he had sent would have found someone, anyone by now. The walk was uneventful, except for the few large creatures that showed up from time to time, but was easily scared by a few fire jutsus that Sasuke threw at them.
And then, it began.
[Ding!]
[Warning: Extreme Bloodlust Detected!]
Naruto's blood froze. "Guys there's—"
An explosion rang through the forest, launching Naruto and every nearby obstacle with absolute force, bringing trees out of the soil and breaking boulders into pebbles with a single shockwave. He felt his body fly like a ragdoll into the air, before falling onto the grassy forest floor painfully. He rolled and tumbled with the resulting momentum, before finally stopping at a tree that gave a helping hand and stopped his movement.
Naruto stood up with a dizzied look at his surroundings. He needed to get back to the others! Whatever was facing them at that time was far different from anything they had ever faced. The sheer bloodlust radiating from that person was something Naruto had never experienced in his life.
"Sssss…"
His eyes widened.
In front of him was a huge snake the width of a train, but not as long. Its green, scaly skin and reptilian eyes were a terrifying sight to behold. Naruto gulped as he faced the reptile.
It lunged with another spine-trembling hiss, missing its target scarcely as Naruto jumped into the air and landed on the snake's back. The blond tried to dig his kunai into the snake's skin for some kind of leverage, only to find that it was almost impenetrable to get through, and his attack barely left a scratch on the animal.
He dodged another strike from the back, the snake's tail not willing to leave itself so vulnerable like that. The blond eventually had to leave the snake's body entirely; any attempt to try and balance on the creature's slippery, scaly skin was to no avail.
With every second that time passed by, his teammates were in more and more danger. He needed to find a way to quickly get rid of the snake. And he had just the idea.
Summon Shadow Zabuza!
The person in question appeared in a swirl of darkness beside him, as stern as ever. "Again?"
Naruto winced, knowing that would happen. "I know I'm relying on you a lot, but I seriously need to get rid of this wretched animal. Plus, I don't really need you, just the sword."
"Sure, but make it quick. And you better not call me for another week, brat."
"Of course!" Naruto lied through his teeth. There was no way he wasn't going to summon Zabuza again for an entire week.
Zabuza tossed him the sword. "Normally, this would have been a breach of tradition to do. But considering I'm already dead, I don't really care too much anymore."
Awesome.
Naruto caught the black Kubikiribōchō with care, the large sword requiring two hands from Naruto to properly use.
He grinned widely at the incoming snake.
"You shouldn't have done this, poor snake. It's time for execution!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, clutching the sword and bending his knees.
He pushed with all of his might, over the snake's fangs and near its head. With a heave, he brought the sword down onto the snake's head. The metal cleaved through the snake's skin like butter, beheading the reptile in a single stroke of metal. It was a gory sight. Red blood and snake vessels blew out from the disconnect in the snake's body, covering Naruto with blood as well.
The Genin brushed the blood away from his face with his hand, planting it into his hair.
"Listen, Naruto."
Naruto immediately snapped to attention. Was that the first time Zabuza had called him by his real name? He normally just used "brat" or "kid", which always managed to irk him for whatever reason.
Zabuza looked very serious. "The snake summon is a technique not known by many. To the rest of the world, only two people currently know it. But, I believe, only one of those two would use it to kill Genin. And if what I'm thinking is true, you and your teammates are in a whole heap of trouble."
"Who is it?"
"Orochimaru of the Sannin."
[—-]
Sasuke grunted and panted in pain as he felt the blood from his thigh run down his leg. He had planted the kunai without a second thought, and was facing the consequences now.
"Fire Style: Art of the Phoenix Flower!" The raven-haired boy yelled as he went through the hand signs at a record pace.
Multiple balls of fire launched themselves at the pale, snake-man, who twisted and turned through the jutsu, not allowing a single hair to be burnt by the bright orange fire.
This guy…he's not like anything that I've ever met. It's obvious that I'm being toyed with…but why?! What does he have to gain from keeping me alive? Sasuke thought with a frown.
The fear and adrenaline in his body were the only things keeping him going at that point in time. Everything else was secondary. He was going to survive this, by any means necessary. He looked at Sakura beside him, who was clearly shivering in fright. Her eyes were devoid of all emotions…except dread.
I could use some help from Naruto right now!
Sasuke launched backwards, throwing his ninja wire with abandon towards the man, who didn't even flinch at the attack. The wire surrounded the enemy, catching onto his body.
Sasuke caught the end of the wire with his mouth and immediately held up a hand sign, making the thin, chakra-conductive wire erupt into a line of flames.
Sakura's eyes widened with hope as the damage seemed to have been dealt.
And it all did absolutely nothing.
The man was back in full form, standing still on the branch, smirking evilly.
"What's someone like you doing in the Chuunin Exams? You're definitely not a Genin," Sasuke murmured, trying to stall as much time as possible.
The answer that the man gave him made Sasuke wish he hadn't asked the question in the first place.
"You, Sasuke-kun. I've come for you. Now, how about you reveal the ability you've been hiding? It would be a shame to let you die so easily," the man said sadistically, his voice low and condescending.
Sasuke felt rage flow through his blood. But he couldn't do anything. The man in front of him was superior in every way possible, from catching Sasuke in that Genjutsu from earlier with a mere glance, and being seeming indestructible from the way he tanked his jutsus.
He closed his eyes.
And the next time they opened, they were scarlet red with two tomoe swirling around the pupil.
The pale man chuckled. "Wonderful! The real show can finally start!"
I have to try and surprise him with my offense. Trying to be defensive the entire time will only get me killed—I need to depend on my chances to get an open hit on this man.
Sasuke sent a pulse of chakra to feet and bolted down the large branches of the tree he was on, finding that the snake-man was still still. That would be his mistake.
The Uchiha met him with a hook, which was blocked causally with a fist, before he went over the man with a jump, pulling his hand out of his grip. Now on the backside of his enemy, he attempted a sweep kick, which was gracefully leapt over.
Sasuke back stepped to dodge a jab at his throat, before reaching into his pockets. He grabbed over a dozen shuriken and threw them at once at the opponent.
At the same time, he put one of his hands into a seal, charging each of the projectiles with pure lightning. The man looked slightly startled, before he leaned back at an unnatural angle for any normal human, shinobi or not.
Sasuke smirked. Naruto wasn't the only one who learned new jutsu during his training with Kakashi. Learning he was compatible with lightning was a surprise, but a welcome one, and something he was going to take great advantage of.
He pulled on the strings connecting each of the shuriken, bringing them back for a second chance at redemption.
The man disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke heard a round of applause from behind him.
The ominous voice was recognizable. "Good try, good try Sasuke-kun! I'm truly impressed by your versatility. It's a…beauty to the eyes. But I'm afraid that this charade is over."
Sasuke felt his vision darken as he felt a jab to his neck from behind.
Itachi…
[—-]
Orochimaru smiled widely as he eyed the unconscious body of the Uchiha in front of him. Useful indeed, his body will be. All he had to do was administer the mark, and everything will be set to stone. The beloved Sharingan would finally be his.
But who was this girl that stood in front of him, trembling with a kunai in her hand?
Who cared?
Orochimaru swatted aside the kunai before slapping the girl into the overgrowth at the foot of the trees. His plans weren't affected whether she was alive or dead, after all. She was a mere nuisance, someone that didn't need to be dealt with, and someone he would rather not kill just for the sake of time. An ant in a room filled with giants.
But Sasuke, on the other hand…
Orochimaru chuckled. His plans were going so tremendously well.
"Hey, snake-freak!"
Another nuisance.
Orochimaru didn't give him a glance, instead, he summoned one of his snakes and directed it towards the boy. Surely, that would be enough for the kill.
"I said, 'hey'. You're really starting to piss me off, Orochimaru."
The Legendary Sannin finally glanced at the boy.
Torn orange clothes, and yellow hair covered with blond. Not a trendy look. But most surprisingly was the large, pure black sword that he carried over his back.
Orochimaru grinned.
Time for a slaying.
-[End]-
Yo!
That's it for today. Not much to say, honestly. Hoped you liked the chapter.
Onto the questions!
Question 1: Do you see this Naruto winning the Chuunin Exams?
Question 2: Will Naruto beat Orochimaru here? Or how do you see this battle unfolding?
Cya next week!
Updates are every Tuesday, make sure to review follow and favorite.
Cya there.