Chunin Exams II
Anko had all those genin who passed the first stage, follow her to Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death, an immense fenced off training ground that covered 20 km across it in every direction. She described the second stage as a survival exercise that would have a five day time limit for each team to reach the central tower, roughly 10 km from every gate entrance. Each team would be given an Earth or Heaven scroll, and were tasked with presenting both scrolls at the central tower before the time expired to pass onto the third and final stage of the exam.
Many complained about the lack of time to prepare, and were simply laughed at by the purple haired tokubetsu jonin, who had absolutely no sympathy for anyone who didn't come to these exams fully prepared for any eventuality. She passed out release forms as well, for everyone competing to fill out to absolve Konoha of any guilt, as there would be several deaths since anything goes once inside the Forest of Death. There was also a weird encounter where Anko threw a kunai at a boasting Kiba cutting his cheek and getting behind him easily, talking about how the arrogant were usually the first to go, before being "handed" back the kunai by the disgustingly large tongue of a creepy looking Grass kunoichi.
After turning in their release forms, Team 7 was given an Earth scroll which Naruto offered to hide among his many storage scrolls, and they made their way to their assigned gate to wait for the exam to begin. Since there were 22 teams and 44 gates into Training Ground 44, there was an empty gate between each team to help spread everyone out, and therefore they had to wait a good twenty minutes for the chunin proctors to ensure that each team was at their starting point at the opening whistle. Once the whistle sounded and the gates sprung open, Team 7 rushed into the Forest of Death to be met with an eerie silence that muffled any outside noise as they entered a thick forest well known for containing some of the deadliest creatures known.
"How do we want to do this?" asked Naruto as they all entered and found a nearby clearing to get a plan in place before rushing off.
"We should go after that Suna team that is off to our left," spoke Sasuke with an excited gleam in his black eyes, "they didn't look like anything special."
"Sounds good," responded Naruto after Sakura nodded along with her crush, before he paused a moment and spawned a good hundred clones to spread out and start searching the area around them and act as a first line of defence, "my clones will keep a perimeter."
Then the group started heading north west towards where they expected the team on the left to be, while also angling a bit towards the center of the area in case they tried to make a run directly for the tower. After a few minutes, Naruto asked to stop for a quick bathroom break, and when he went behind a tree and out of sight from his teammates spawned another couple hundred clones. He added them to the mix in hopes of getting a better idea of what and who was around them in case they needed to go after another team to find the Heaven scroll, and wanted to make sure he had plenty of clones acting as their perimeter.
It took an hour until they picked up the trail of the team from Suna they were after, as the forest was just that large and the Suna team were heading in the opposite direction from them and moving cautiously. Sasuke didn't want to waste any time planning an assault, and when he realized how close they were, went charging in like an idiot leaving his two teammates to scramble in order to catch up to him. Naruto entered moments after Sasuke arrived, and already the area was scorched by the aftereffects of one of his many fire jutsus, and Sasuke was trying to single handedly fight a pair of larger boys in taijutsu while their female teammate was sending occasional kunai to help protect them.
Naruto quickly told Sakura to lay some cover for Sasuke from range, as he snuck around and took out the Suna female by getting the drop on her literally from the branches above her position. With her tied up to the tree, he then engaged the closer of the struggling pair of Suna boys, that Sasuke was pretty effectively wearing down with a relentless physical assault. In seconds, they had the two boys knocked out and quickly found their Earth scroll, before Naruto convinced Sasuke to let him tie all three Suna team members together in a tree and leave a clone to stand watch as killing them wasn't necessary.
With two Earth scrolls now, Naruto suggested Sasuke take care of this one, as he could tell his sometimes volatile teammate was still a little chafed at Naruto interfering in his fight, and didn't want to keep all their eggs in one basket so to speak. As they moved on from their short and successful fight, they started making their way towards the central tower while also continuing a little west in hopes of running into another team that may have the scroll they needed. They hadn't gone too far when Naruto came to a sudden stop on a tree branch causing both of his teammates to give him unusual looks.
"We've got a problem," he spoke quickly after a moment's pause as he reviewed the recent memories he just received from several popped clones, "that creepy Grass kunoichi with the tongue just killed three of my clones and is quickly making her way towards us."
"So," argued Sasuke, who Naruto could tell was still gearing for a fight, "we make some defenses and turn the tables on her ...there's a clearing right over there that would be a good ambush spot."
"I'm not sure we want to fight her," spoke Naruto seriously as he eyed his two teammates, and had to review another set of memories from destroyed clones, "she is taking out my clones way too fast and easily."
"So what," argued Sasuke again, "your clones aren't that tough to destroy."
"They would be for a genin," Naruto pushed back, but could tell from the narrowing of his eyes and the excited gleam in them, that Sasuke had already decided he would be making a stand, and wanted to prove himself against strong fighters and wouldn't be listening to Naruto on this one.
So Naruto nodded and followed his teammates into the nearby clearing, staying back enough that he could spawn another couple hundred clones to hopefully confuse or tire out their pursuer before she reached them. He then helped his teammates create a small bunker and set up a few traps in the area in hopes they would prove helpful, but had to wince as several more memories of dying clones came to him throughout. He regretted his decision to stay and fight another minute later as an insanely powerful wind technique single handedly killed over two dozen of his clones simultaneously, and turned to his teammates in fear.
"She's tearing through my clones like they are nothing," he quickly spoke to Sasuke and Sakura trying to display the urgency he felt, "we don't stand a chance ...we should run."
"Don't be ridiculous, dobe," smeared Sasuke with a glare at his blonde teammate, much too confident in his own abilities to realize that if this kunoichi could hurt Naruto it could hurt him too. "We stay and fight."
"She's too strong, we need to run ...MOVE," responded Naruto at the end in panic as the strongest wind attack he had ever seen was heading right for their clearing and meager defences, scattering his teammates in various directions as it tore through their previous spot and destroyed their bunker like it was tissue paper.
Naruto had jumped to the left, and was quickly separated from his two teammates, but had no time to get back to them as an impossibly large snake the size of a building came crashing through the clearing right at him. He just managed to switch places with a clone at the last moment as the snake's enormous mouth swallowed the clone whole and further destroyed their little clearing and the few traps they had placed like they were nothing. His own Futon: Air Blade simply bounced off the tough snake skin without even making a mark, and Naruto knew he was going to be in an impossibly difficult fight.
He caught a quick glimpse of the Grass kunoichi going after his teammates on the far other side of the clearing, but couldn't do anything as the incredibly large snake quickly changed directions and headed right for him again. This time he switched out with an exploding clone that at least made the snake pause as it exploded inside its mouth, and the original threw a shuriken that he used the shadow clone variety on to turn the one into hundreds. Most of them bounced off the tough skin, though a few lucky shots embedded themselves in the eyes of the creature causing it to screech in obvious pain, and let another round of multiplied projectiles find purchase inside the snake's mouth.
But the snake was by no means done and swung its large tail through the clearing, destroying several dozens clones and crashing into the original Naruto and sending him flying through a nearby tree. Before he had even fully come to a rest on the ground after being thrown through a tree, the snake was again lunging at him with his mouth open, and this time Naruto didn't have the time to switch out. Luckily, he avoided any of the row of sharp teeth as he was swallowed whole, but his brief moment of panic as he was moving down towards the snake's throat was quickly pushed away as he overpowered several wind blades from the inside tearing through the snake's skin and causing it to disappear on a large puff of smoke.
He fell to the ground panting and covered in disgusting fluids and blood, and only the sound of a nearby battle and knowing his teammates still needed his help forced him to instantly jump right back into it. He followed the signs of the devastated forest back into visual range of his terrified teammates who seemed frozen to a large tree as the creepy Grass kunoichi slowly approached them from a nearby tree branch. Quickly spawning several hundred clones, he quickly had them send off a wind enhanced fire attack at the kunoichi to force her back away from his teammates and charged their location with clones all around him, some following him and most charging the unknown enemy.
"RUN!" he shouted as he landed next to his teammates and saw their battered clothes, but knew Sakura was already injured too badly to do much and instead had several clones grab her and take off, as he and Sasuke followed.
They only had a brief few seconds of scrambled running when they could feel a large wind attack at their back that tore through a large majority of Naruto's remaining clones, and then another heartbeat until the same Grass kunoichi appeared in front of them seemingly emerging from a tree trunk. Naruto had a team of explosive clones leap at the Grass kunoichi as he steered his teammates down closer to the ground just as they detonated the top half of the tree, but didn't get far until the same kunoichi appeared in front of them again. A Futon: Air Blade was quickly sent at the kunoichi, who impossibly bended unnaturally out of the way of the sharp attack letting it pass her harmlessly.
"Kukukuku," came the slow creepy laugh from the Grass kunoichi as she stared at the three of them in fascination, "pretty impressive for a genin, Naruto-kun."
"How do you know my name?" asked Naruto, using the slight pause to catch his breath and start building up his chakra, who are you?"
"I know more about you than your teammates do ...Demon Child," came the hissed response as the creepy kunoichi used her impossibly long tongue to grotesquely lick her lips, and Naruto paled at her words, "and why wouldn't I ...I was once the strongest ninja of Konoha."
"Funny," joked Naruto, using humor to deflect the conversation away from his own secret, "you don't look like the Yondaime."
The killing intent of the Grass kunoichi grew quickly to insane levels that far outpaced anything the three genin had ever experienced, and caused them all to lock up a bit in fear. Luckily, Sasuke was able to stop it after a moment with a kunai stab to his leg, and Naruto was able to shake it off due to an unusual burning feeling in his gut he couldn't identify, nor did he have the time to. Once he did shake the paralysis off, he continued feeding his chakra and when the kunoichi looked briefly at Sasuke trying to get Sakura's attention, he unleashed it in a ridiculously large spawning of shadow clones that he quickly used to move him and his team away from their enemy.
"More shadow clones," growled the Grass kunoichi in a very masculine way, as she narrowed her eyes at the large amount of blonde ninjas all around her location, "I know how to get rid of all of you."
"Oh yeah, "taunted the nearest one with a smirk, "how about if we all go ...BOOM!"
The explosion that destroyed the large tree was immense, as several hundred shadow clones detonated in sync, causing a mushroom cloud to form high above their part of the forest, and had to be visible for miles in every direction. To the fleeing Team 7, the heat was extraordinary, but by no means did they stop moving away from their previous location. They had only gone a little bit before another tree near them was torn to shreds by a strong wind technique that forced them in another direction, directly into the path of the now grotesque looking Grass kunoichi.
Her skin was burnt and hanging off her in a way that couldn't be natural, as she looked like a burnt husk of a waxy figurine, but the amount of chakra she was bleeding off her in her anger was not easily dismissed. They were all frozen as she blocked their path, and opened her mouth impossibly wide and shed the skin she was wearing like a cloak, emerging from it tall, pale, and decidedly male and snake like. What were now malevolent yellow eyes glared hard at the three genin, with a level of hatred and anger that could not be ignored.
"Kukukuku," came the creepy chuckling voice, "impressive indeed."
"Who the fuck are you?" came the snapped question from Naruto, wondering how this person was still alive after literally being blown up and shedding their female skin to become who was clearly a much older male with an insane amount of chakra and killing intent.
"I am the Snake Sannin," came the purring voice of the creepy pale ninja, "...Orochimaru."
"Fuck," groaned Naruto quietly, but was easily heard, causing said Orochimaru to smile an even creepier smile than when he was posing as the Grass kunoichi, "aren't you a little old for the chunin exams?"
"The exams are merely an opportunity for me that I couldn't pass up," replied the smiling Orochimaru, with a look towards Sasuke that wasn't missed by any of them.
"So the pedophilia rumors are true?" asked Naruto, hoping to upset and throw the insanely powerful older ninja off his game, or stall in hopes some miracle would come and save them, but wasn't really prepared for the spike in killing intent, or the insanely fast attack that he had no warning about or chance to avoid.
Orochimaru moved so quickly, even Sasuke had a hard time seeing it with his sharingan, as one second he was creepily smiling at them, and the next his hand was extended as a devastating hit to Naruto's stomach had sent him flying away through several trees. There was no way Naruto survived that, and Sasuke was frozen for a brief moment as the monster now in their midst easily and negligently backhanded Sakura in another direction, before he even recognized what was happening. He threw a punch at the older ninja that he easily bended around at an impossible angle before he was set upon by a few taijutsu strikes that for some reason he was actually able to see happening, though his body couldn't react as quickly as his eyes.
Three powerful hits had him knocked to the ground with ease, and as he looked up at the pale creep he could see his disappointment as he glared down at his beaten form, even though his attack was greater than any he had faced before. It still wasn't nearly as hard as he had struck Naruto, and he realized that this monster was holding back and toying with him, but for what purpose he had no idea as he watched him casually approach him. Before he could even get back up to fight, the pale ninja's neck seemed to extend impossibly as he felt a sharp pain between his shoulder and neck as the creep bit down on him, causing pain unlike he had ever felt before, for a few seconds before darkness overtook him and he knew no more.
Sakura came to with a pounding headache and pain in her jaw unlike anything she had ever felt before, and it took a few minutes to work past that and remember where she was and what she was doing. The moment her memories came back to her however, brought with it absolute fear at having just faced Orochimaru, and not knowing if either of her teammates even survived or where they were. It took a few more minutes until she was able to stand and get her caked and muddy hair out of her face enough to see where she landed, and another moment to settle her spinning head and regain her balance.
Thankfully, she was able to spot maybe a half dozen clones of Naruto keeping an eye on her and the clearing they were in, but they looked frantic and not nearly as organized as they usually were, and hoped everything was okay with her blonde haired teammate. One of them pointed to the other end of the clearing where two clones were standing over another downed form, this one with black hair and looking like he too took an immense beating. She made her way over to Sasuke as quickly as her wobbly legs would take her, and asked the clones what was wrong with her crush.
"Orochimaru bit him on the shoulder ...it definitely doesn't look good ...some kind of Fuinjutsu we've never seen before," answered the nearest clone as she looked down at Sasuke, and could see the heavy amount of blood both wet and dried blood around some inky black marking on his shoulder and his feverish looking complexion and unnaturally heavy breathing.
"We need to get somewhere we can all hold up and rest," she spoke to the two clones, "do you know where Naruto is?"
"Boss is that way," spoke the other clone with a tight voice, that she instantly realized was full of worry, but was grateful nonetheless, as if his clones were still around, he should at least still be alive, "a team of clones is bringing him here, but we are getting low on numbers."
"How many clones are left?" she asked, wondering how low they considered low.
"Sixteen," came the tight reply, "that sick fuck took a bunch of us out after he dropped the three of you ...we were all that managed to escape his notice."
"And half of you are here?" asked Sakura for clarification as she counted eight total since waking up, and got a nod, "can you help me find a place we can hide and recover?"
"We found one," he answered, "but it's a little ways away ...we wanted to put some distance between us and this area, others are going to start looking for what went on here, and we need to be gone."
"Lead the way," stated Sakura, still trying to figure out what they should be doing and how hurt her teammates were, and asked the clones to bring Sasuke and Naruto with them as they needed to try and recover, and hopefully get the boys back awake if they wanted to ever get out of this forest alive.