28 Chapter 28: Enter The Forest of Death!

"This is the place for the second test, the forty-forth training field... Also known as... The Forest of Death!" Anko grinned.

Several people gulped in fear as they looked up at the large menacing trees. They peered into the depths of the forests and found that little to no sunlight could pierce through the tops of the trees.

"there's a reason why this place is called The Forest of Death, and you all will soon learn why that is."

Naruto looked up at the sky as he stopped paying attention to Anko's words, he'd already heard them before, so he didn't feel like he needed to listen to all of it all over again. He had more important things on his mind to focus on, he gazed up at the clouds above as he was busy thinking about the course of actions he would take.

Anko who was busy trying her best to intimidate all of the examinees noticed Naruto's lack of attention toward her. Seeing this caused her to get slightly irritated at him, so she pulled out a kunai from within her coat sleeve.

"Oi!" Anko yelled.

Hearing the sudden yell caused Naruto to blink his eyes in surprise as he looked down to see the kunai coming at him.

Eh? Why is this happening? He wondered briefly before quickly throwing a kunai out to deflect the incoming blow. He breathed a sigh of relief before he felt a kunai graze his cheek, slightly drawing blood. He shivered unconsciously as he slowly looked over to see Anko standing behind him as she caressed his cheek with her hand while holding the kunai against his cheek with the other hand.

"Kids who don't pay attention are most likely to wind up dead early on!" She whispered into his ear.

"Covered in blood that I so adore!"

She lifted her kunai away from Naruto as she put her face close to his. Naruto couldn't help but feel his heart rate speed up as he shivered again. Man, she always freaked me out whenever she acted like this, Naruto thought.

Suddenly, Anko turned around with her kunai in hand as another figure with a stretched out tongue was handing over the kunai that Naruto had deflected away.

"I'm returning your kunai." The person said.

Naruto stared at the person as he recognized who it was immediately. He clenched his teeth and gripped his fists tightly before relaxing as he breathed out to calm himself down. Now isn't the time for that, I can't cause a scene here, he told himself.

"Thank you for the trouble." Anko replied while smiling at the figure.

"But you really shouldn't sneak up behind me like that."

"Especially with all that blood lust."

"As long as you don't want a quick death that is." Anko smiled as she took the kunai away from the figure.

"Well, I can't help it whenever I see blood, I just get excited." The figure replied.

Hinata stared at Naruto in worry as she quietly called out his name.

Sakura stared in shock at the scene as she wondered what was up with this proctor. They're completely psycho, including that other person too, she thought to herself.

Naruto was silent as he watched Orochimaru walk away, you won't be getting your way this time, you snake!

"Looks like there are quite a few hot-blooded ones here!" Anko said in excitement.

"This will be fun!"

Anko then walked back up to the front of the group as everyone watched her.

"Well, before we begin, I have something I need to hand out to all of you. It's a consent form that each of you must sign before entering." Anko said as she pulled out a pile of papers.

"Why's that?" Someone asked among the crowd.

"From this point on, people will die, you need to sign this form agreeing to it, which will make it so I'm no longer responsible for your lives." Anko laughed.

The examinees all stared at Anko as she laughed, some had surprise on their faces while other's had serious expressions.

"Now, let me explain how the second stage will work." Anko said as each person grabbed a consent form.

"This stage is meant to test your ability to survive in certain conditions. The training ground contains forty-four sealed gates that are ten kilometers away from a tower that is located at the center of the grounds. The grounds are covered with forests and rivers. The nature of this test is an anything goes scroll battle!"

"Scroll battle?" Shikamaru asked.

"Exactly, each of you will be handed one type of scroll, either an earth scroll or a heaven scroll. Your objective is to locate the other scroll you do not have when you start. So if you are given a heaven scroll, then you must find an earth scroll, and vice versa. The only way to obtain the other scroll is to fight another team for it. In total, twenty-six teams made it through the first stage, so thirteen of you will be given a heaven scroll, while the other half is given an earth scroll"

"So that means at least half of us will be disqualified for sure." Sakura concluded.

"So, what are the conditions for passing?" Sasuke asked.

"In order to pass, you must bring both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll, but you must do so in the allotted time limit. You will have exactly five days to complete this task!" Anko answered.

"Five days? What about food?" Choji exclaimed in agitation.

"Food? The forest is a treasure trove of food, all you have to do is look for it. Be self-reliant!" Anko frowned upon hearing Choji's words.

"However, the forest is filled with poisonous bugs, plants, man-eating animals, and other kinds dangers." Kabuto pointed out.

"No way..." Choji sighed in defeat.

"Idiot, it wouldn't be survival otherwise!" Ino scolded.

"Umm, is it possible to give up in the middle of this?" Shikamaru asked after raising his hand.

"No, you all must spend five days within these woods. However, let me go over the ways of getting disqualified. First, if you do not reach the central tower with both scrolls in the allotted time. Second, if one of your teammates goes missing or is incapacitated one way or another. Also, whatever you do, do not open the scrolls before reaching the tower." Anko warned.

One of the examinees raised their hand and asked. "Umm, what happens if we do?"

"well, I guess you'll just have to find out at that time!" Anko grinned.

"Eh?" The person exclaimed.

"There are times when chunin are required to handle top-secret texts during missions. This is to test your reliability on performing those kind of missions!" Anko explained.

"That's enough for the explanations, I will collect your team's three consent forms in exchange for one of the scrolls over by the hut over there. After that, you will pick a gate and they will all open simultaneously, signifying the start of the exam!"

Anko sighed as she spoke one last time, "Finally, a word of advice... Don't die!"

Everyone became serious upon hearing her words and gathered among their respective teams. Anko walked away leaving the examinees to think about their next steps and she sat over by the hut she had pointed to earlier and waited.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all gathered together to discuss their plan of actions.

Naruto looked at the other two and spoke. "Hey, what do you guys think we should do?"

While he had his own ideas about how to begin, he wanted to hear their opinions as well.

Sasuke thought for a moment before speaking. "I was looking over at the hut and saw that they covered it with a curtain, that way no one will be able to see what scroll each team possesses and who on each team is carrying the scroll."

Sakura thought for a moment, "Naruto, when you create shadow clones, it creates a copy of everything you're carrying right?"

Naruto nodded his head after hearing Sakura's question.

"Then if you held onto the scroll and created shadow clones, would they also have a copy of the scroll?" Sakura asked.

Naruto thought for a moment and nodded his head. "Yeah, I don't see why it wouldn't be the case.

"Then I think we should have you hold onto the scroll, then when we enter, you can create several shadow clones and create decoys for us. That way, we would be able to figure out if another team has the scroll we need or not." Sakura suggested.

Naruto thought for a moment and agreed with Sakura's plan.

"What do you think, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke.

"I agree, it would be a smart move to have decoys, as long as you can keep up with it, Naruto." Sasuke smirked.

Naruto grinned back and laughed. "Who do you think I am?"

After deciding on a basic plan of action, the three of them decided to separate for the time being until they could go up and exchange their consent forms. Naruto was staring up at the clouds as he walked when he glanced down and saw Hinata standing by herself under a tree. He decided to call out to her.

"Hey! Hinata! What are you doing over here?" Naruto called out as he walked over toward her.

Hinata panicked slightly when she saw Naruto approach her.

"N-Naruto? uh... well...." She mumbled.

"Hmm?" Naruto wondered what Hinata was doing.

Hinata glanced up and saw the cut on Naruto's cheek and remembered how Anko had grazed his cheek with a kunai earlier.

"Umm, uh... here... Naruto..." She stuttered as she hurriedly grabbed out medicine from within her jacket and handed it to Naruto.

Naruto stared at the container and grabbed it. He remembered that it was the same as the one he received during the preliminary rounds to the third stage of the chunin exams. He frowned slightly, so she had meant to give this to me before then.. he thought. He looked back up at Hinata and grinned.

"Thanks Hinata, you're really kind!"

Hinata blushed and looked away from Naruto.

"Well, I'll see you around, good luck!" Naruto called out as he turned and left.

Hinata stared at Naruto's back as she watched him run off, good luck to you as well, Naruto... she thought as she smiled.

Soon one of the chunin proctors called out, telling the examinees that it was time to start. Each team got up and approached the hut one group at a time.

Anko watched each time make their exchanges as she wondered just how many teams would survive this stage of the chunin exams.

Soon, each team had made their exchanges and had gathered around their respective gates. Naruto's group had been placed right behind gate twelve and were waiting for the thirty minute count down that Anko had instructed would begin the test. Time ticked by as each team grew tense. The gates were unlocked with two minutes to spare and each team got ready to head inside.

As soon as the clock hit the half hour mark the gates were slammed open and each team rushed in.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Naruto yelled in excitement as Sasuke and Sakura grinned behind him.

Suddenly, Naruto and the other two halted as they looked around.

"Was that a scream?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded his head in response. "The second test has started and already, teams are facing each other and fighting."

The other two nodded as they listened to Naruto's words. For Sakura, she had slowly been coming to terms with their current situation and the fact that they could die if they weren't careful while inside.

"Alright, from this point on, we need to be cautious of our actions, for now, let's find a place to hide and plan our next course of actions." Naruto suggested.

"But first...."

Naruto then created nine clones and had three of them transform into Sakura and another three transform into Sasuke. Then, after nodding to each other, the nine clones split up into groups of three in three different directions. Naruto turned and nodded toward Sasuke and Sakura, and they began heading in the direction his clones hadn't gone in. As soon as his clones discovered an enemy and were dispersed, he would learn about it. This time, things would play out very differently, he thought.