Chapter 29 – Into the Forest of Death

The gates creaked open like the jaws of a beast.

Hinata stood at the threshold of the Forest of Death, her quarterstaff in hand. The trees beyond were ancient, gnarled, and brimming with tension. Shadows moved strangely here, like predators waiting to strike. The sky itself seemed dimmer beyond the boundary.

Kiba cracked his knuckles beside her, Akamaru perched on his head. "Well, this is cheerful."

Shino said nothing. His insects buzzed quietly beneath his coat.

Kuro, tail stiff and ears alert, growled low. Her instincts were rarely wrong.

Anko's voice rang out from the center clearing. "You have five days. Bring me both scrolls and make it to the tower alive. Or don't. That's fine too. One of you will carry a Heaven scroll, the other an Earth scroll—distributed randomly among all teams. Each team has only one. So at best, only half of you will make it past this test. Good luck. Try not to die."

With that, the teams scattered.

Team 8 moved like ghosts.

In Hinata's pouch, sealed carefully in a scroll casing, rested their assigned Heaven scroll. The paper was warm with a subtle chakra trace—not dangerous, but unmistakably important.

<<<< o >>>>

Michel followed them in silence, his soul floating just above the canopy. The forest hummed with chakra and ancient life, but something else stirred deeper in the roots—something unnatural.

He felt Orochimaru's presence before he saw him.

A ripple in the air, a fluctuation in the spiritual threads around a single genin from the Hidden Grass.

Michel narrowed his perception.

That wasn't a child. That wasn't even human.

He recognized the features beneath the mask—drawn from memory, a face he had seen in the minds of others and recorded in his own eidetic recollection.

Michel could see the souls that Orochimaru had already usurped. He could see the echoes of the spiritual egos of those whom this monster had devoured to extend his life.

Orochimaru.

Michel tensed. But he could do nothing. No way to warn Hinata or any jōnin. He was, once again, only a witness.

<<<< o >>>>

Hours into their journey, Team 8 made camp near a stream.

Shino spread insects along the perimeter while Hinata and Kiba checked their supplies. Kuro sniffed the air, ears twitching. Her gaze was fixed on a cluster of trees across the stream.

"I don't like this," Kiba muttered. "Akamaru smells smoke… and something sharp."

"An ambush?" Hinata asked.

"Likely," Shino replied.

Then it happened.

A surge of heat from the left.

Hinata turned just in time to see a fireball hurtling toward them.

"Kiba, down!" she shouted, leaping backward.

The explosion rocked the clearing, sending dirt and leaves flying. Three enemies emerged from the smoke—headbands scratched with the symbol of the Hidden Rain.

"Too slow," said one, launching kunai laced with explosive tags.

Michel saw it all from above, threads of chakra dancing violently.

The enemy team moved in coordination.

The first—a stocky boy with a sword—formed a hand seal and spat a torrent of water. From the flow, two water clones emerged, charging toward Shino.

The second, slim and agile, manipulated the earth, raising walls and sinking parts of the ground to unbalance Kiba's footing. His hands dug into the ground and roots surged up like snakes.

The third—clearly the leader—wielded fire and launched another burning projectile while throwing kunai from behind trees, attempting to catch Hinata in a pincer.

<<<< o >>>>

"Scatter!" Kiba shouted, dashing sideways with Akamaru.

Shino's insects swarmed defensively, forming a shield that slowed the water clones. "Hinata, right flank!"

Hinata responded instantly, dashing between trees. One of the kunai struck a trunk just beside her—she vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Sneaky," muttered the fire user—just before Hinata reappeared behind him.

She struck with her staff in a wide arc. The enemy barely blocked it with his bracer, skidding back.

Michel smiled.

She was calm. Precise.

She was shaping herself—strike by strike, breath by breath.

Kuro lunged from the shadows, sinking her teeth into the leg of the earth user, who yelped and stumbled as vines shifted beneath him, his control momentarily broken.

"Get the dog off me!" he shouted.

Hinata weaved between branches and roots, performing a substitution with a nearby log to evade another fireball, then reappearing beside one of the water clones. Her staff connected solidly, dispersing the clone with a splash.

Michel watched Kuro closely.

She had moved like a shadow. And the way she targeted pressure points...

That was one of my joint-locking counters, he realized.

But he hadn't taught her that.

She had learned it by watching.

Adapted it to her unique needs.

<<<< o >>>>

The battle escalated. Shino trapped the water user's real body by encasing him in insects. Kiba and Akamaru performed their fang over fang combo to drive back the earth user.

Hinata darted forward to confront the fire user, deflecting a kunai with her staff. The heat from his jutsu singed her sleeve, but she pressed in with relentless rhythm—one strike, two, feint, sweep.

The fire user, now isolated, looked around and panicked.

He attempted to flee.

Hinata sprinted after him, with the almost effortless movement two hinatas were in place surrounding their opponent

One stood still, staff lowered.

The other tightened her grip, eyes unblinking.

Michel flared his awareness.

"Halt!" one of them cried.

He recognized the one who spoke, clearly the clone since she had no temperature, he advanced forward ignoring the clone in front of him—too late.

Inexplicably, he felt like the clone and the real Hinata exchanged places despite the distance.

Boost ignited through her muscles—not as a burst, but as a breath. Enough to cross the gap before thought caught up.

Her quarterstaff cracked against his stomach. He crumpled, breathless, unconscious before he hit the ground.

Kuro barked sharply, her one eye shining.

Michel watched as Hinata intuitively used the Substitution and Boost techniques to give new depth to her illusory clone technique.

She collapsed to one knee, her breath ragged, pain filled her limbs, but seeing an opponent on the ground, defeated by her hand, she couldn't help but feel proud—quiet, fierce—burned brighter than the ache.

<<<< o >>>>

When the smoke cleared, Team 8 regrouped.

Three unconscious enemies. One Earth scroll acquired.

"Everyone okay?" Kiba asked.

"Fine," said Shino.

Hinata nodded, rubbing her arms. Her staff trembled slightly in her grip.

Not from weakness.

From the weight of choosing to strike—and not regretting it.

She had fought. And won.

They moved the defeated team into the shadows, hiding their presence from other patrolling squads. Shino dispersed more insects to monitor the perimeter.

Before resting, Kiba approached Hinata. "You fought well. That last strike was brutal."

Hinata looked away, uncertain whether to accept the compliment. "They would've hurt us if I hadn't."

"You made the right call," Kiba said simply.

<<<< o >>>>

That night, they camped in a hollow beneath a fallen tree. Shino stood watch. Kiba curled up with Akamaru.

Hinata sat awake, her staff beside her.

Kuro lay with her head on Hinata's lap.

Michel floated nearby, watching the girl who had once been too weak to stand.

Hinata whispered into the night.

"I want to be strong… but I want to stay me."

Kuro licked her hand gently.

Michel closed his eyes.

The Forest of Death had begun.

But she was already surviving.