Against all odds, all Genin of the Hidden Leaf successfully passed through the first stage of the Chunin Exams. Though she was proud of her friends, Katana had preferred to see Team 7 fail on this foolish endeavor. Yet, as it was, all she could do was smile and offer congratulations as they recounted all that happened in the classroom.
"You should have seen this guy, Katana," said Naruto. "He had all these scars underneath his bandana, and he was just huge. And there were so many proctors watching us apart from him, I thought I was gonna flip out!"
"You did flip out, you idiot," murmured Sakura.
"Huh? Oh well, maybe just a little. Come to think of it, this is the first time I passed while leaving the paper completely blank, ha-ha."
"You what?" the pink-haired girl screeched.
"Let me guess, the actual test wasn't how you answered, but how you got the answers, right?" Katana hooked her arm with her friend's to pull him close and keep him safe from his punch-happy teammate.
"Yes, the questions were nearly impossible to answer if you didn't." Sasuke edged nearer on her other side. "The proctors were there to scare us off and —"
"And as I was saying," interjected Naruto, "this guy, Ibiki, and the others were catching so many people cheating, and telling us it was better to quit and try again next time. But nobody tells me I should quit! I'm gonna pass everything they throw at me and become the greatest Hokage, believe it!"
"Even I have to admit Naruto gave a rousing speech," said Sasuke, a slight smirk in the corner of his mouth. "No one else dropped out after this knucklehead opened his big mouth. It would have been better if more teams were eliminated, but it is what it is."
"Ah... thanks, Sasuke. I think."
Katana watched their interaction silently, thinking about the past week. They had been getting along better, but something deep inside Katana warned her this was nothing but a temporary truce for the Chunin exams. It seemed inevitable that eventually, the bomb would detonate between them, and Naruto and Sasuke would completely break apart. She couldn't let that happen.
"Are you all ready for the second test?" she asked them, keeping her voice as casual as possible.
"We sure are!" Naruto's excitement was almost intoxicating.
"Speaking of which, we should hurry," said Sakura. "I don't wanna be disqualified for arriving late."
"You won't be. The test isn't for another hour and we're nearly there," said Katana.
"How do you know?" asked Sasuke. "In fact, why are you joining us to the arena? And why are you carrying your sword? You're not part of the test, are you?"
"I honestly don't know. Mameha didn't tell me anything other than to arrive at least thirty minutes early, so I could receive my instructions from the chief proctor."
"Well, is there anything you can tell us about this Anko Mitarashi? If we know what she's like, we might get an idea of what the test could be like."
"I've never met Anko in person, but I know some of the other Jōnin are wary of her. From what I heard from them, Anko tends to be loud, stubborn, prone to act without thinking..."
"Not much different from Naruto, then."
"Hey!" exclaimed Naruto indignantly.
"Oh, you're so right, Sasuke," said Sakura, swooning all over him.
"Aw, Sakura, come on."
The crowd grew larger the closer they got to Training Ground 44, where the next round of the Chunin Exams would take place. Excitement radiated from all the gathering Genin. Most were nervous, though. Tense, even. And they had every reason to be.
Training Ground 44 was known as the Forest of Death. It was bordered by a circular, fenced perimeter with forty-four locked gates. A river split the woods in two, and at the very heart stood a tower. No doubt the purpose was to traverse the dangers of the forest and arrive at that tower. But the threats that lurked amongst those thick trees were more menacing than anyone could imagine. Katana remembered them well from her own experience three years prior.
If my task involves entering the arena, I can try to stay close to Naruto and Sasuke to keep them from harm, thought Katana. I just have to make sure nobody catches me.
She left Team 7, wishing them good luck, and went to find the chief proctor. It didn't take her long to locate Anko Mitarashi as she stood out from the other supervisors. Unlike them, she wasn't dressed in a gray uniform, but in an outfit made from thin metal mesh that covered her from neck to thigh and fitted every curve of her slender body. The dark orange skirt and beige overcoat were the only thing covering it. Her violet hair was up in a short, spiky ponytail, yet her bangs covered her forehead protector almost entirely. Even from a distance, Katana caught the mischievous sparkle in the light brown eyes. When Anko caught the maiko approaching, she waved at her like a giddy school-girl.
Sasuke's right, she is like Naruto.
"You must be Mameha's student." The young woman flashed a grin when Katana halted before her. "Let's go to the hut. I don't want any of these noobs to overhear us."
Katana followed Anko to a little wooden structure where two male shinobi were setting up a table. A third was hanging a curtain. Clearly, whatever went on in the hut had to stay in the hut. Anko told the ninja to give them some privacy and then leaned back against the table.
"I've heard a lot about you, Katana," she started. "Seems like you're one of the best maiko the okiya has ever had."
Katana didn't respond to the praise. She knew she was good. It was her blessing and her curse.
"Not very talkative, huh? All right, to business then. As you know from your own training, the Forest of Death is no picnic. It's kill or be killed. Not only do these poor, unfortunate Genin need to face a cruel Mother Nature, but also each other. Each team will receive a Heaven-scroll or an Earth-scroll. Their objective is to obtain the scroll they're missing and reach the tower for the next part of the test within five days."
"In other words, half the teams will automatically lose," remarked Katana.
"Correct. Your task is making it even harder for our teams by creating spur-of-the-moment traps. Feel free to use any means necessary, even if that entails lethal force. Anything to keep them from reaching that tower. You can engage with the teams directly, but only to challenge them. Do not offer any help. To make sure you follow these instructions, you have to wear these."
Anko handed Katana a button pin and an earpiece. Katana inspected the pin closely, finding it was actually a camera emitting a wireless feed.
So far for helping Naruto and Sasuke, then...
"They'll turn on the moment you walk into the forest," explained Anko. "We'll be watching your every move and radio you in case we need you to do something."
"All right." Katana pinned the camera to the green kimono Mameha ordered her to wear and cuffed the ear piece on her right ear. "I'm assuming the footage will be sent to Mameha to review as part of my training?"
Anko shrugged at her. "I will neither confirm nor deny that. But know this; we have ANBU agents already hiding in the forest to report back to us about the teams. One will always follow you from a distance. If they see you remove the camera or ear piece at any point for whatever reason, or if someone else does it for you, they have orders to take you out. So don't try anything funny, understood?"
"Yes." She gritted her teeth.
"Great, now get going. I gotta prep these Genin to meet their doom."
The maiko bowed her head, accepting her task as Mameha taught her, and made her way to the closest gate. She glanced over her shoulder, searching for her friends in the crowds. Naruto's orange jumpsuit pulled her eyes to them. He and Sasuke were standing next to each other, but only the young Uchiha noticed Katana looking at them. She wondered if this was the last time she saw those enigmatic onyx eyes.
***
The foliage above didn't allow any sunlight to penetrate. A gloomy murkiness surrounded Team 7 as they cautiously made their way between the giant trees. The eerie silence around them was abruptly disturbed by terrified screaming. Despite the bravado he showed earlier, Naruto couldn't help but shiver as the sound echoed. Whoever had uttered that cry had most likely met one of the creatures the proctors warned them about. Or worse.
Dammit, we're not even five minutes in and people are already getting crushed out here. How the hell are we supposed to —?
"Watch out!"
Sasuke tackled Naruto and Sakura from behind, pressing them down to the ground. Naruto coughed out some of the dirt he nearly swallowed from having his face squished into the gritty forest floor.
"Sasuke!" He pushed his teammate off and turned around to face him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Sasuke sat back on his knees and pointed to a nearby tree. Naruto looked at it, but there was absolutely nothing there.
"What, you got worried the tree was about to come to life or something?" He sneered.
"Look closer."
He tsk-ed but did as he was told and squinted. His blue eyes widened as he saw the three needles stuck in the trunk. Where did those come from?
"T-Those are..." Sakura turned pale at the sight of the sharp weapons.
"I think it's safe to say Katana is part of the test after all," said Sasuke. "As if this wasn't hard enough already."
"What? You mean... No, she wouldn't!" exclaimed Naruto. "There's just no way Katana would attack us!"
"She may not have a choice. I don't expect Mameha to allow her to show any mercy to whomever she faces. Katana will need to prove she's willing and able to face any target and foe in whatever form they appear."
Naruto met Sasuke's grim expression as he came to grasp his unspoken concern. This wasn't just their test, it was Katana's as well. And if she was seen to falter, she would pay the price. Once again, Naruto was reminded of the horrid life his dearest friend had been forced into. A life she didn't want, but she couldn't possibly escape from alive. He had to find a way to help her, and soon.
"Come on, let's keep moving." Sasuke rose to his feet. "We can't stay in one place for too long."
"Right," said Naruto and Sakura in unison.
With newfound determination, Team 7 continued to venture further into the sepulchral forest, unaware that more than one pair of enemy eyes were on them.
***
Blood spattered across the ground as the sword cut through the shinobi's chest. He uttered a guttural gasp and fell to his knees. His frightened eyes gazed up at the young girl in the green kimono as she prepared to strike again. She could only imagine what was going through his mind. Another might have shown clemency at seeing the weakened prey defeated, but that was not what she had been told to do. Her mission was to trap, attack... and eliminate.
Katana swished her wrist and ran her blade back over the shinobi's throat. The cut was so clean and so precise, not a single drop of red stained her beautiful garment. Blood trickled from the wound like red tears. As his head bobbed, his forehead protector loosened and landed with a soft thump in the grass. He died silently and instantly.
Katana looked at the defeated team from the Village Hidden in the Rain. It had been a lot easier to trap them than she thought. She would pity them if they hadn't been so severely unprepared.
A single poisoned needle to the back of the woman's neck had sealed their fates. As she fell, her teammates made the mistake of worrying about her rather than their surroundings. Katana had set upon them from the shadows, piercing the youngest male's heart with very little effort from behind. She had only needed three seconds to draw back her sword and attack the last one standing. Three seconds to take a life.
If that other team from the Hidden Sand who was tailing Team 7 fell into the trap I set for them, I just killed six people, pondered Katana as she wiped the blood off her blade. My first kills... I suppose it had to come to this someday.
She held her left hand out. It was as steady as ever. Surely, the adrenaline coursing through her body in anticipation of the kill should have made her hands shake at some point. But she then realized she was unusually calm. As if this had been nothing more than advanced training with Mameha or the Leaf Jōnin.
I never even hesitated. I just cut them down as if they were nothing.
Katana dropped her arm with a sigh. She crouched down and searched the shinobi's body until she found a white Heaven scroll.
I wonder which one Sasuke and Naruto have. If they need a Heaven scroll, I could give them this one. But how? I'm being watched like a hawk through that stupid camera. Not to mention I have not one, but two ANBU agents on my tail right now. Honestly, don't they have anything better to do?
Her eyes traveled up to the shrubbery further ahead. Though the agents were well-hidden, she knew they were there. Their presence left her no choice but to destroy the precious Heaven scroll that could get her friends through the exam.
Katana took one of the Rain-shinobi's kunai after putting the scroll on the grass. She drove the tip of her sword into the ground next to it and struck the kunai against the sharp blade. Sparks crackled between the two steel surfaces before landing on the paper scroll, setting it on fire. Whatever secrets the scroll held went up in flames.
Well, that's that. On with the next one, I guess.
But as the maiko pushed herself up by her sword, a loud, terrifying roar resonated through her entire being, and she stumbled back. Another thunderous growl made Katana drop her weapon. She pressed her hands to her ears, trying to shut out the horrendous sound as her heart clenched in her chest. Images flashed before her mind's eyes. A giant snake, a man holding a villainous smirk, a boy with yellow hair and an odd orange glow about him...
Katana gripped her sword and sprinted away. The green of her kimono blended with the verdant and brown around her. Katana was certain the ANBU agents were pursuing her, but she wouldn't allow them to keep her away from Team 7. Even if it cost Katana her own life, she couldn't let Naruto die. That was simply not an option.
Suddenly, a crow whooshed past Katana, emitting a croaking caw in its flight. The glint of its single ruby eye paralyzed Katana, forcing her body to come to an abrupt stop. She tried to fight the glamor with all her might. Her sword shook in her hand as a new vision truck her. A blaze of fire, a boy with raven hair on his knees and in pain, a golden eye with a slitted pupil... And blood. So much blood.
"Sasuke," she whispered.
The inertia that held her grounded was released, and she leaped forward, using a sturdy vine and the momentum of her jump to swing onto a low-hanging branch. She went after the crow, running and jumping from branch to branch like shinobi did, knowing it would lead her to its master and his victims. But the damn bird seemed to play a game as it darted from one tree to another until it finally disappeared into the darkness. Katana halted, using all her of senses to pick up any hint of the crow's presence.
She listened, taking shallow breaths. Then she heard an amused chuckle behind her. Katana turned around and witnessed a man step out of the tree trunk. Jet-black hair down to his waist, pale skin, purple markings around golden eyes with slitted pupils that gleamed in delight... This was the man she saw in her vision.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" he spoke. "I certainly didn't expect to meet you here."
"Who are you?" demanded Katana. "What have you done to Team 7?"
He sniggered. There was something about him that chilled Katana to her very core.
"Katana!" Anko's alarmed voice suddenly rang through the earpiece. "Do not engage that man! Get the hell out of there!"
"Is that darling Anko's voice I hear?" inquired the man, his head tilted curiously. "I do hope she's on her way to join us. It's been ages since I've seen my former student."
"Katana, leave right now!" yelled Anko.
The maiko yanked the earpiece off and threw it away. Her grip on her katana tightened as she raised the weapon.
"I'll only ask one more time. What have you done to Naruto and Sasuke?"
"Hn, worry about yourself, little girl."
A threatening hiss broke through the silence. Katana whirled just in time to decapitate the white snake lunging at her. Another serpent slithered from underneath the branch, and she barely avoided the venomous fangs as it snapped at her leg. She brought down her sword, cutting the animal's head in half. When she looked back up at the man, she saw he was already on another branch, attempting to flee.
Katana chased after him, but he was fast. Much faster than any regular Genin, Chunin, or Jōnin. And even though her heart screamed at her to forget about the man and search for Naruto and Sasuke instead, her instinct warned her she couldn't let this one get away.
When she came close enough to strike him with her sword, his body fell apart, limbs transforming into white snakes. She killed the closest one by hacking into it, but had to abandon her weapon and dive to a lower branch to evade the others. It broke the moment her foot touched the wood.
Katana was prepared for something like that, though, and quickly threw her kunai with the steel-fibered string attached to it into another branch. She swung around the tree and leaped onto the ground. Loud thumps vibrated as the snakes hit the dirt. Katana watched in horrified awe as their broken bodies slithered together to transform back into the man.
"You're good," he complimented with a grin. "You'd make an excellent addition to —"
A resounding caw cut him off. He looked up to find an entire murder of crows perched above him. His eyes widened in terror.
"No... No, not you!"
The birds attacked, wings flapping, beaks clapping. The man waved wildly about him to keep them away, but they pecked furiously at him. A carmine glistening caught Katana's attention, and the ground suddenly gave way beneath her feet.
Her body hit an icy mirror that shattered upon impact, and she plummeted into freezing water. The weight of her clothes pulled her down. Katana drew her last kunai from her wrist holster and cut through the obi as fast as possible so she could wiggle out of it, leaving her in the simple, light underdress. Her kimono disappeared into the depth as she swam to the surface.
Just a little further. Almost...
Katana reached for the light above her, but drew her arm back when she saw something swim past her. She held out her kunai, ready to use it against whatever creature was lurking in these waters. A sudden bite at her leg almost made her cry out. It was followed by another. And another. The water darkened with her blood, and dozens of yellow-scaled fish with razor-sharp teeth set upon her in less than a second.
Katana cut the water with her kunai, hoping to do some damage to the murderous monsters attacking her. She broke through the surface and screamed. Desperately, she tried to swim away, but the fish pulled her back under, tearing at her legs. A haze fell over Katana's eyes as the pain blinded her and she grew weaker from blood loss.
S-Sasuke... Na-ruto...
She was only vaguely aware that the water grew warmer. A faint luminescence lit up the darkness.
Naruto...
The tip of her fingers tingled.
Sasuke...
Her eyes closed. And the raw power residing within her finally awoke.