Chunin exams round 2 the forest of death

'Danger! Stay out!' a sign red as the group of remaining candidates stared at the dark forest in front of them.

"Welcome to the stage of the second round of the chunin exams, practice area 44, also known as the 'Forest of Death'" Anko said as a bunch of gulps were heard from the crowd. "Heh, and you'll soon find out why it's called the forest of death."

"Meh, and you'll soon find out why it's called the forest of death" Naruto said, mocking Anko. Responding to the kid's insult, Anko pulled out a kunai and threw it at Naruto so that it made a small cut along his cheek.

"Kids like you are quickly killed in here, spraying that red blood that I love soo much" Anko said, licking the blood off Naruto's cheek. She pulled another knife, feeling as if something was approaching her from behind.

"Here's your kunai" a mysterious grass ninja said, handing Anko her knife with his tongue.

"Why thank you" Anko smiled. "But don't creep up behind me like that, unless you want to die." Everyone was a bit creped out at the examiner and the grass ninja. "Hmm, looks like we have a lot of blood thirst ones in this test, this will be fun. Now, before we start, you must fill out these waivers."

"What? Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because there WILL be deaths in this exam" Anko let loose a cheerful smile, creeping out even more participants. "And we can't have your deaths starting wars and everything. Now, I'm going to explain the rules to this test. Each team will check into that booth behind me. Your team will then receive one scroll. It will either be a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll. Since there are 30 teams here, 15 will get an Earth scroll and 15 will get a Heaven Scroll. In the middle of this area, there is a tower. You are to bring both a Heaven and an Earth scroll to the tower."

"So that's why you said you will cut the group in half" Sasuke said.

"Yes. Now, this area is a dense forest with a river running through the middle. A tower is located at the middle of the area, about 10km from each side" Anko said, holding up a map of the area. "Around this perimeter, there are 44 locked gates. This will be considered a survival exercise. You may use any weapons or jutsu to complete the task. The only rule is that you cannot open the scrolls until you enter the tower with both scrolls. Other than that, there are no rules and killing is allowed. Also, there is a time limit. The test lasts 120 hours, or 5 days. If you are not at the tower at the end of the time limit, your team is disqualified."

"What? Five days?" Naruto yelled out. "But what about dinner?"

"The forest is full of food. Just make sure you're not on anything's menu" Anko said. "Now, 15 teams passing is very unlikely as there are poisonous snakes, insects, and beasts, along with enemy ninja. So, not only will some teams fail from losing their scrolls, but some will also die from the harshness of the course. Also, there is no quitting. You will be in the forest for the entire 5 days, unless of course you make it to the tower early."

All the teams proceeded to collect their scrolls and went to their designated gates. Team 7 had an obvious advantage having an extra person, but at the same time they were at a disadvantage as everyone would be coming for them. This was because they were rookies. Sasuke didn't mind this as that would mean he got to fight more people.

A lot of teams, especially those containing experienced veterans, were now glad that they could actually kill from now on, as that would make things easier for them.

The test began at 4:00pm, giving everyone until 4:00 five days from then to complete the test. "Begin!" was heard as the gates of the forest were unlocked and the genin were let loose.

"So basically everyone is heading to the tower" Kiba said as his team was taking a leisurely walk through the Forest of Death. It was then that an enemy team in the trees spotted them. However, Team 8 was considered tracking specialists and Akamaru's nose picked them up instantly. "Hey, already?" Kiba sounded excited, while Hinata was still rather nervous. Shino was indifferent, as usual.

"Kids standing in the open" one of the observers said. "Do they want to be found? Although it looks like they have sensed us, but they don't know our exact location."

Suddenly, another or the observers felt something drop onto his shoulder and latch onto the back of his neck. "What the hell is that?!" the third screamed out. That thing had turned out to be a giant leech that was sucking the ninja dry. Before the other two had a chance to pull the leech off of their teammate, they two were attacked. All three ninja now had multiple leeches sucking on them and were unconscious in a matter of minutes.

"Leaf jumping leaches will sense the nearest life sources and attack in groups. After 5 minutes of sucking, you will be dead" Shino said, revealing his knowledge of insects and other insect-like beasts. Kiba approached the unconscious ninja and searched them for a scroll.

"Yes! We got luck Akamaru. They had a Heaven Scroll" Kiba said out of excitement. "Alright guys, now let's get to that tower before trouble comes."

"AHHHGGG!" various screams echoed from around the forest. Anko was sitting at the starting booth enjoying her dango and those delightful screams of pain and terror.

"Sounds like it's started" she said, letting out a creepy yet happy smile.

"Was that a human scream?" Naruto asked out. He could see Sakura getting nervous. "Don't work Sakura, this is nothing."

Naruto turned around needing to relieve himself, only to be smacked by Sakura. "Not in front of a lady! You idiot!" She screamed as Haku sighed.

Suddenly, Sasuke punched Naruto hard as he came back from relieving himself. "Where's the real Naruto?"

"Wait, what are you talking about Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"No Sakura, he's right. That Naruto doesn't have the scratch on his cheek from earlier" Haku said. Suddenly, the real Naruto came out of the bushes from behind them as Haku pointed towards him. "See?"

"Oh, yeah I do" Sakura said, noticing the scratch on a now confused Naruto's face. Haku threw a senbon into the fake Naruto's neck; dispelling the transformation and leaving an unconscious Rain ninja in its place, just as two more Rain ninja came leaping out of the trees. They had hoped to take the group by surprise while they were 'arguing' with the fake Naruto, but Haku had put an end to it. By the time they started their attack, it was too late. The four of them split up, leaving Sasuke and Naruto to fight one of the Rain ninja and Haku and Sakura to fight the other two.

One ninja found an opening in Sasuke and threw a few knives with exploding tags towards Sasuke, forcing him to jump off the tree that he had taken post on. Naruto threw a few shuriken at the ninja and a kunai towards Sasuke. As the ninja was distracted with fending off Naruto's attack, Sasuke grabbed the knife with chakra coming out of his foot and flung it towards the ninja, striking him in the shoulder. Naruto used the opening to test out his new jutsu in combat. He threw a single shuriken at the injured ninja. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" For the ninja, even injured, one shuriken was nothing, but 40 was a different story. Out of desperation, the Rain ninja used his arms and legs to defend his torso and chest, but resulted in the shuriken tearing up his arms and legs, effectively leaving him immobilized from the damage done.

The last remaining Rain ninja was engaging in a taijutsu battle with Sakura. As Sakura began to go on the offensive, the Rain ninja started backing up. He had a lot of room to move and figured he would gain some distance before countering with his own set of blows. However, his plan was cut short when a mirror of ice appeared behind him, stopping him. All he could do now, was try to block Sakura's blows and look for a way out. "Hyoton: Demonic Ice Mirrors!" Haku shouted out as a dome of ice mirrors formed around Sakura and the ninja. The Rain ninja looked on in surprise at Haku's jutsu. They had never seen an ice jutsu and the fact that a leaf kid could do something like this, stunned him long enough for Sakura to get in a few blows. "Sakura, get out" Haku called as Sakura backed off her assault. The Rain ninja thought he was finally free until he saw Haku's image in each mirror. Suddenly, he was pelted by numerous senbon. After Haku's attack was complete, the Rain ninja was unconscious and would not be moving for some time. Haku looked over to Sasuke and Naruto's opponent, who had just been hit my about 40 shuriken to the arms and legs. He threw a senbon to that ninja's neck, knocking him unconscious.

"Well, that was easy" Sasuke said. "Now, let's see what kind of scroll they have." The team searched the unconscious Rain ninja, revealing that they had an Earth scroll on them. "Damn."

"What should we do with it?" Sakura said.

"Keep it. It's worthless to them now, seeing as it will take about a week to recover from those wounds" Sasuke said. "Plus it might come in handy if we can find someone to bargain with it." The team agreed.

"Alright, but to avoid something like that again, we need to come up with something so that we know that it is us" Sakura suggested. "Let's see, Haku is the only one I know of who can use Ice style and it can't be copied, and you have your Sharingan, Sasuke. But for me and Naruto…" They came up with the idea of using a codeword for Naruto and Sakura, as there was nothing special they could use to distinguish the two. Team 7 took off, trying to avoid any unnecessary attention; however, they were unknowingly being followed.

After about an hour, they stopped. "Sasuke…" Haku said.

"Yeah, I know" Sasuke said. "Jump!" He shouted as a barrage of needles sailed towards them. They turned to face their attackers. They were now scattered. When they regrouped, Haku and Sasuke revealed their blood limits and Sakura and Naruto recited the code. Sasuke attacked Naruto once again.

"Sasuke, why did you attack Naruto?" Sakura asked, shocked that she had to say that twice in the past hour. He had said the codeword, which at first put Sakura at ease. It was then that she realized this was Naruto they were dealing with…to them, he didn't have the mental capacity to remember such a long and complex code.

"Do you really think Naruto would be able to memorize the code?" Sasuke said, sarcastically as both Sakura and Haku nodded in agreement.

Not far from where the rest of Team 7 was, Naruto found himself facing a giant snake. "What the hell is up with this forest?! I've never seen a snake so big!" Naruto thought to himself.

"Kit, something is not right. That snake is not normal and I can feel an evil presence around here. Be on your guard" warned the Fox.

The snake lunged towards Naruto, who just barely dodged it. However, he didn't notice the tail, which hit him and sent him flying into a nearby tree. Soon after, the snake lunged at him again, catching Naruto in the mouth and swallowing him.

"Damn it! It swallowed me" Naruto thought. "What to do? What to do?"

"Hmm, this might work" Kurama had obviously thought of something. "Remember those times when you ate too much ramen and felt like you were going to burst?"

Naruto suddenly got what the Fox was talking about. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he called out as roughly 400 Narutos appeared in the snake's rapidly expanding stomach. Unfortunately for the snake, it wasn't big enough to handle that many Narutos and it burst apart, leaving Naruto covered in snake guts. Naruto bolted off towards where his team was.

When the fake Naruto recovered, he undid the transformation, revealing himself to be that Grass ninja from before. "You want my Heaven Scroll, right?" the ninja asked, holding out his scroll. He then proceeded to swallow the scroll, creeping out the three genin in front of him. "Now, let's begin the battle for each other's scroll with our lives on the line."

Sakura and Sasuke stood there frozen. Images of their own gruesome death flooded their minds. Haku was affected as well, but not to the same extent as his teammates, as he had experienced the effects of massive killing intent while traveling with Zabuza. Their enemy flicked a few kunai towards the three. Sakura and Sasuke were still frozen and would be unable to move unless something was done. Sasuke did the only think he could think of and stabbed his leg with his knife to break the hold of the terror, giving him the ability to move in time. Haku had also reacted and created a few ice mirrors to save himself and Sakura. Sasuke looked back at their attacker, revealing his Sharingan to their opponent, before disappearing into the trees.

"Hmm, well it appears as if these kids have some interesting powers" the Grass ninja thought to himself. "Time to have some fun."

Anko felt as if something wasn't right. After investigating the area around the Forest of Death, her suspicions were confirmed when she came across three lifeless bodies of Grass ninja. Upon further examination, she found that they were missing their faces.

"What?! No, it can't be" she said, clutching the back of her neck in pain. "Why is he here?" Suddenly, a squadron of ANBU appeared behind her.

She briefed the squad on her findings and the person she believed to be responsible for the crime… Orochimaru.

Sakura could see that Sasuke was terrified and she tried to say something to calm him down, only for Sasuke to quickly cover her mouth.

"We have to get out of here! That guy is like nothing we have ever seen before" Sasuke thought to himself. Suddenly, a snake appeared in front of him. It struck at Sasuke, only to be pelted in the head by numerous senbon, pinning it against a tree and killing it. Saskue took a deep breath, trying to relax, but was quickly put back on alert when the grass ninja emerged from the corpse of the dead snake.

"You guys shouldn't relax even a little. Prey should always be looking for a way to run in the presence of a predator" their enemy said.

Out of nowhere, roughly 40 shuriken were sent at the ninja as he managed to snake his way around it. "Sorry I'm late!" Naruto said, appearing on scene. "Oh, and what was that code again? I forgot."

"Naruto!" Sakura said, relieved that he had arrived and was alive.

"I don't know what you're doing, trying to play hero. Just run away, this one's on a whole 'nother level" Sasuke shouted out. He then did the only thing he could think of. "If you leave us, I'll give you our scroll."

"What the hell are you talking about?! Why would you give the scroll to the enemy?" Naruto shouted out.

"I see…very smart" the mysterious ninja said. "Sometimes, the only way to escape a predator is to give it a different meal." Sasuke tossed the scroll towards their enemy, only for Naruto to grab it and punch Sasuke in the face.

"What was that all of the sudden, you bastard!" Sasuke screamed at Naruto.

"Even though you may have your Sharingan, I can still tell you are not the real Sasuke" Naruto responded.

"You total moron, I am the real Sasuke" Sasuke rebutted.

"There is no way such a stupid coward like you could be the real Sasuke" Naruto stated. "I don't know how strong this guy is, but what guarantee is there that he will go away if we give his the scroll. You're the one too freaked out by the situation."

"Hehe, you're right Naruto. I can just take your scroll and kill you" the ninja said, taking some blood and rubbing it on a seal on his arm. "Summoning jutsu!" the ninja said, summoning an even larger snake, which he was now standing on. The snake then proceeded to slam Naruto into the ground as the three genin screamed out his name.

"This really is bad Kit" Kurama said to Naruto.

"You think?" Naruto responded. "I keep getting smacked around by damn snakes".

"There is something about that man that even gives me the chill. If you are going to survive this, you are going to need my help"

"Alright, then stop talking and start giving me your power" Naruto said to the Fox.

"Just give me a few moments, I'm going to try and push as much power through the seal that I can without damaging your body. I've just got the feeling that you're going to need as much as you can get."

Naruto was flung by the snake's head, who was trying to become the second snake to eat him today. As the snake lunged at him, Naruto's pupils began to take on a red color with narrow pupils. His teeth grew into small fangs and his fingers grew claws as the Kyuubi's power began to coarse through him. As Naruto's transformation completed, the snake slammed its tail into him, knocking him backwards through a few trees.

'Hmm, there is no doubt about this kid' the mysterious ninja thought. "This is getting fun, now what will you do Sasuke?" The giant snake lunged at Sasuke, who was to frozen to move. The snake stopped, feet from Sasuke. Naruto had jumped in the way and stopped it in its tracks.

"No way…i-is t-that Naruto?" Sasuke thought, lapsing into almost Hinata-class stuttering. Something was different about this Nartuo. The power that he was emitting was immense and he had taken on a slightly feral appearance. It was almost…demonic in a sense.

"Hey, are you alright, scaredy cat?" Naruto said, questioning Sasuke. Sasuke just sat there, frozen by the turn of events.

Temari and Kankuro felt the blast of demonic chakra, making them tremble in fear. It was similar to the chakra that Gaara emitted when his killing instincts took over him, which was happening right now.

"That chakra. Mother's sand craves for it. I must see who it is and I must have its blood" Gaara said as he darted off towards the source of the demonic presence.