Escape [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 14: The Forest of Death

[The next day...]

Ayuda's P.O.V

"W-what is this place?"

I gawked at the sight before me. There was a tall, rusty fence in front of us. It seemed to be circling a huge area, seemingly forbidding anyone to come in closer with it. A warning was glued to the fence: [Forbidden Area]. Yeah, we all can see that. Colossal trees were spreading all over the spot behind that tall fence. Nearly all of the sun lights were unable to reach the ground due to the gigantic trees, so it was hard for us to see the deep side of the intimidating forest. The only thing that was separating us from getting in contact with the enormous trees was the fence.

A smirk graced Anko's features. She was standing right in front of us all and she announced, "This place is where the Second Exam will take place. The 44th training area... Also known as the Forest of Death."

"The Forest of Death?" repeated Naruto.

Kaito spoke up, "A training area...? It's hard for me to believe that this is a training spot."

"Th-this sure is a creepy place," Sakura stumbled over her words as her hands lifted close to her chest.

I muttered, "Why is this place called the Forest of Death? Did many people die in there in the past?"

Anko grinned as if she had overheard some of the genins' reactions toward the Forest of Death. It was quite evident that she liked the reactions as she freely let her dark chuckle escaped her lightly gritted teeth. She resumed talking, "You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death."

I heard the boy in front of me – Naruto – huffed loudly through his nose at Anko's words. He began sticking his butt out, his arms bent to allow himself placing his hands on either side of his hips and began to wiggle around. He unashamedly mimicked Anko, "You will be able to experience why this place is called the Forest of Death."

I chuckled as I took a glance at Sasuke Uchiha who stood next to my team. I teased, "Your teammate is quite funny, you know. Why don't you join him?"

Sasuke shot me a glare, "Hn."

Naruto stopped wiggling and smirked confidently, "There's no point in trying to scare us like that! I'm not scared at all!"

"Really?" Anko tilted her head to the side. Her voice told me there were a lot of dangerous things in there. She remarked, "You sure are energetic."

Suddenly, she grabbed a kunai that appeared out of nowhere and threw it at Naruto. The kunai flew past Naruto but I could see that it left a cut on Naruto's left cheek. Anko clearly intended to leave a bloody cut on him as a warning for what he did. The next thing I knew, the examiner disappeared and reappeared literally behind Naruto, "Boys like you die the fastest."

I heard Anko laughed through closed lips as she cupped Naruto's right cheek with her right hand from behind him. Naruto froze up, too speechless while Anko whispered something to his ear. Her pointy finger on her left hand began to glide its tip on the blood that was spilling slowly out of the cut on Naruto's left cheek.

That's when another tall figure unexpectedly appeared behind Anko who – seemingly noticed the presence – prepared a kunai to attack whoever it was. Something long and slimy slipped out of the third person's mouth. I widened my eyes with disgust as I recognized it as a tongue. It's freaking long! The said tongue was twirling around Anko's kunai. It brought the knife closer to Anko's face as if indicating that he or she came for the sole purpose of returning the ninja knife back to its owner. A fake smile lingered on Anko's face as she halted her movements.