Chapter 11: The Forest of Death

Standing next to his teammates, Riku looked at the area he would live in for the next five days.

‘Training ground 44.’ he mused with apprehension.

The Forest of Death seemed every bit as intimating and gruesome as its name implies. Huge trees up to perhaps sixty feet at the very least. Very large and thick, to the point they would need multiple dozen people to circle the trunk of one of them. Surprisingly that wasn’t the worst of his day so far. No, the worst was the first exam. A ‘simple’ written test. Each team had to cheat to get the answers of the ultra hard test by copying some else that got the right answers. Each time you got caught cheating you lost points and if you got caught five times, you and the rest of your team were disqualified. Harsh but fair in Riku’s opinion. After all a team was as strong as its weakest link. It was also basic intel gathering, nothing that difficult. Riku had not bothered with that, however, he could answer the questions by himself. He had answered all the nine questions available and had to wait for the tenth one. It turned out to be a joke from the head of the T&I. There was no answer to write. Participants just needed to have the balls to stay. Then again, failing the ‘question’ was the impossibility to ever become a chunin. A very good fear motivator to break the most weak minded. Riku had been lucky that Yuuna and Gou are so confident in their skills that failing the tenth question didn’t even cross their mind.

While the test had been shitty, Naruto passing it with a blank answer sheet (Yuuna was seated right next to him )made him want to bash his head against a wall. The idiot not only turned everyone in the room against thim when he loudly introduced himself and insulting everyone, right before the exam, he also spat his usual spiel about not needing shit (like becoming chunin) to become Hokage. While his conviction was admirable and calmed down the few elements that were hesitating in giving up or continuing, in the room. It showed to Riku that Uzumaki Naruto had not progressed one bit since graduation and most importantly was still a naive immature five year old child. Something that was hammered on when Naruto made another brainless declaration about the Forest of Death not being scary and a joke right in front of the protector for the second exam.

‘That idiot is going to get himself killed. All this potential wasted.’

Back to the situation at hand, Riku pondered for a moment what to do.  Thirty teams had passed the first test. Fifteen of them were given an Earth scroll, while fifteen others got a Heaven scroll. Of course no one but the team members and the protectors knew what kind of scroll a team got. Mentally, Riku reviewed the test.

‘Passing condition: get to the tower at the center of the forest with at least one Heaven scroll and one Earth scroll and thus within five days.

Rule#1: everything is permitted. Capture, killing, torturing. Nothing was off limits for a team to get the other scroll they were missing.

Rule#2: You can’t get out of the forest until the five days are over.

Rule#3: You’re forbidden to look at what’s inside the scrolls.

There are so many tacit rules that it's not even funny.’

“Earth to Riku!” Yuuna called out smacking his shoulder with her hand.

“Yes?”

“She wants to know if you have a plan. You’re the strategist of the team, remember?” said Gou.

“Oh, yes, I was thinking about it.”

“And?”

“We’re… and I mean Konoha shinobis are more restricted than teams from other villages in a way.”

““What do you mean?””

“Konoha is the most represented during this test with more than a third of the teams. Morality would… oblige us to, if not help, at least leave alone our comrades unless we have no choice. That’s also means, we can’t torture or kill them, which honestly is fine with me but-”

“Yeah, we’re limited to what we can do against other Konoha-nin.” Yuuna said, but Gou had his piece to say too.

“And that is if other Konoha teams respect that in the first place. Numbers should have been our advantage but it seems the opposite.”

“Correct. Let’s start with identifying our enemies.”

“Everyone, that's not us.” interjected Yuuna.

“I agree.”

“I agree too but I was talking more about the way to handle them. Suna is officially our ally, we can’t just kill them even if we’re allowed. Kusa, while neutral, we have a good relationship with them. Ame is… under an isolationist politic so I’m putting them in the ‘potentially hostile’ category. We could capture or kill those ones. Finally Oto.”

“Let me guess, hostile?” the girl rhetorically inquired.

“After their display attacking one of ours just before the first test, they are to me.”

“Oh, they are, there is no doubt about it. Remember my B-rank that turned into A-rank?”

““Yeaaah?””

“It was because of them. Whatever their intentions are, they’re not good for Konoha.”

“Kill on sight then.” said Gou.

“Yes. Though let’s not rush them mindlessly. And do keep in mind that while Konoha’s relationship with Suna and Kusa is positive it doesn’t automatically means-”

“They won’t kill us if they could.”

“Yes, Gou. Spot on. Now I would advise you to be careful in the way you act inside the forest. Since this place is our testing ground you can be sure that there is a surveillance system to evaluate our performance.” Riku announced and pointed discreetly at a camera placed at the top of a steel pole that served as support from the thick metal fence that surrounded the whole forest.

“Got it. What about food? Do we have to forage or…”

“No, I got everything I need. Enough for a week of food for the three of us.”

An alarm echoed through the speakers above the gate leading inside the forest. Knowing that the test had officially begun, the team went through the gate. Riku immediately made a shadow clone and let it scout ahead.

“There will be two main reactions for the participants. Either burrow themselves and gather information or food or go straight to the tower and ambush anyone having the same idea. The latter will be a bloodbath, the former is better but ill advised.”

“What’s your third option then?” Inquired Yuuna.

“We keep moving unless we sleep. As soon as we get a full two sets of scrolls we’re going to the tower, perhaps three.”

“Why more than one set?” Gou asked.

“In case we encounter a team stronger than us. We may negotiate a scroll for our lives. It may not work but again it may.” Yuuna answered.

“Yes but also in case one of us… That way we each have a set and can go on to the next stage. Now the sun sets in six hours. Less since the trees are so tall. I suggest when visibility starts to lessen we make cam-”

He stopped himself when the team heard several explosions coming from North-East of their position. The way the kage bunshin went.

“Memories?” wondered Gou, looking at Riku.

“None.”

“So your clone is still kicking and may have defeated a team already. What orders had you in mind when you made it?”

“If he fights and survives, to retreat to our current location.”

“We should meet it halfway then change direction to throw off any other team that the fight may have attracted.”

Both Yuuna and Riku agreed with Gou’s idea and went with it. Five minutes later, they encountered the dirty blonde’s clone which was covered in blood.

“The Suna team next to us got ambushed and killed by an Ame one. Just as they were winning I swooped in and killed them with explosive shurifuin. Two of the Suna-nin were dead and the third is going to die soon, couldn’t help with his wounds.”

“Scrolls?”

“Two heavens, sadly.” The clone replied to the ravenette and presented the two scrolls from his back pouch.

“It’s fine. Maybe we can negotiate with another Konoha team that got two Earth.” she answered softly and handed the scrolls to Riku who put them in his book of seals.

“We should move.”

Once again Gou got the right idea.

___________________________________________________________________

They spent the next six hours going deep into the forest, until they reached the river coursing through the Training ground. That gave them a better idea of their location. They didn’t meet any team during this time but had to fight the fauna a couple of times. The first time was a small pack of giant wolves who was quickly dispatched. Yuuna had used a Katon jutsu to block their way forward but also their path of retreat  with a wall of fire. That gave Gou the opportunity to get the attention of the beast and act like a tank. With Riku supporting him from the back with shurifuin and wind laced kunais the pack quickly went down. So fast that Riku took more time sealing the pack for emergency ration than killing them. They quickly bolted out of the location however. They didn’t want the blood to attract a strong predator and for them to still be there.

Their second experience with the beast of training ground 44 was a twenty feet long flesh eating centipede spitting very corrosive acid on top of his very sharp and lethal thousands of legs. The worst was that it was fast. In the end, Yuuna, who was completely disgusted by the thing, used her more powerful fire jutsu that Riku amplified with his great breakthrough. The insect burned to a crisp very quickly to everyone’s relief.

‘You’re not sealing that for an emergency ration!”

Yuuna had been quite vocal about the way the centipede made her feel. A sentiment that riku shared. He wasn’t a fan of most insects. Too many eyes or legs for him to not get a chill of revulsion when he saw one.

Their night had not been peaceful. One team had tried to attack them in their sleep. Thankfully, Riku had rigged the entire area with flashbangs. Most of them had been triggered and incapacitated the assaillants enough that the dozing Yuuna and Riku had enough time to wake, catch their bearing and help Gou in dealing with another team from Ame. This time they got an Earth scroll.

Riku had a clone gather the remaining flashbangs tags, while he sealed their entire camp back into a storage seal. With how much light and noise was produced in the activation of their defense system, they couldn’t stay where they were anymore. The good news was they all got at least a few hours of sleep. Riku got two, since he took the first shift, Gou, three and Yuuna five. They were not back to a hundred percent but they would manage. Riku may have had only two hours of rest before but he could make a shadow clone to take his place for a bit. Their new location was further up the stream, closer to the tower. This time they made a fake camp on the ground but slept way up in the trees. When dawn came, there had been no new attack.

It was just past noon when they arrived at a peculiar scene. A huge bloodthirsty black bear had cornered an examinee against a small cliff. She had long hair, red like blood and wore a kusagakure head protector. Reacting on the spot. Riku channeled wind chakra into two kunai and in a burst of speed cut the hinde legs of the beats. The bear’s mobility now impaired, the dirty blond jumped onto its back and severed the arteries in its neck before plugging the kunais into its eyes and reaching its brain.

“Are you alright?” he said to the girl from the top of the dead predator’s head.

“I… I…”

Riku sighed. The girl was clearly in shock. He couldn’t really blame her, she had been alone against a mountain of a bear. Getting down from his prey, he slowly approached the genin.

“Hey, it’s alright. It’s dead.” he said then kicked the bear in the head. “See? You’re not endangered anymore. Now take a big breath.”

He got her attention and began to take a big breath of hair then exhaled for a few seconds. He repeated the process until naturally the girl imitated him and began to calm down.

“I… Thank you. You saved my life.”

“It’s fine. Konoha and Kusa may not be allies but they do have a good relationship. I couldn’t ignore your situation. That makes me wonder why you’re alone though. Are your teammates-”

“They were killed by a whole group of those bears. I barely escaped but this one chased me.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Don’t be! They were assholes! They used me as bait!”

“Er… Congratulations then?” he said and he could hear from a dozen feet away both Yuuna and Gou facepalm at his words.

“...”

“...”

“I- I mean. You won’t be used as bait anymore!”

“But now I’m alone to survive this forest!”

“Er…”

“We may be able to help with that.” Yuuna’s voice was heard.

Both she and Gou entered the area and joined Riku. They were on their guard though. The red head may be alone but she could still wound or kill one of them.

“We’re on our way to the tower. We may escort you there if you give us your scroll.”

“DEAL!” the kusa-nin shouted. “Although… one of my teammates had the scroll. It’s probably inside one of the bears’ stomachs now.”

“Do you remember their location?” inquired Gou.

“Yes, they are …” she began then stopped. “What assurance do I have that you won’t kill me once I give you the location?”

“None. Though we are Konoha-nin also known as peaceful fools.” said Gou.

“And we already have a set of scrolls to pass the exam, we just want more in case we encounter an unexpected situation.” Riku revealed, making Yuuna frown. He was giving away important intel to perhaps an enemy and she didn’t like it.

“We also outnumber you. We could get the information forcefully.” the ravenette said.

“That’s… fair I suppose. I… I’m a sensor, a good one. I can help with staying clear of other teams or ambushes.”

“Really? You're the only member of your team left.” noted Yuuna with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

“Because they never listened to me! I was just a last minute addition to their team and I’m more of the support type than a fighter. Those brain dead idiots thought I was useless since I’m not that good in a fight and so not worth listening to.”

“Ah! Meat heads. Only good for being fodder.” Riku said and both Gou and Yuuna agreed. “I guess we have a deal then? For real this time.”

“I… Yes, not like I have much of a choice.”

“You do have a choice but yes it isn’t much of one. This is Tanaka Yuuna, Akiyama Gou. I’m Warudo Riku, nice to meet you…?”

“Karin. Uzumaki Karin.” The girl answered with her name and shook Riku’s hand.

“Uzumaki? What’s an Uzumaki doing in Kusa?” the dirty blonde inquired.

“Hmm.. Live there? Why? Shouldn’t I?”

“Well, not really my business but after Uzushiogakure’s fall in the second Shinobi World War. Uzumaki survivors scattered in the wind. Since Konoha was Uzushio’s sister village, they offered them asylum. That blond loudmouth that yelled during the first test? He’s Uzumaki Naruto.”

“He doesn’t look like an Uzumaki, he’s blond, not a redhead.” replied Karin with a frown. The idea that she had family was left but that it was Naruto less so. She didn't like how stupid he acted.

“I don’t know anything about that. Maybe one of his parents was blond?” said Riku, not revealing that Naruto was probably a real Uzumaki because of his massive chakra reserves. The Uzumaki were known for that, their longevity and their affinity with fuinjutsu as far as he knew and Naruto fit at least one of the criteria on top of having the clan’s name.

“That’s… possible. Are there any more Uzumaki?”

“Not that I know of, sorry.”

“Oh. I see. That’s… fine.”

The conversation stopped there and Karin led Team Hinae towards the sleuth of bears. It seems they were lazing around in a very small clearing. Gou believed they were taking a nap because they were done eating. That made sense to Riku who took out four Kunai, coated them with chakra and aimed for the bears’ heads. In one throw all the targets were killed.

““Not it.””

Riku turned toward Yuuna and Gou with an expression of betrayal. Both were grinning like loonies for pulling one over him. Why? Because now Riku had to gut the beasts and find the scroll. Of course the said scroll was found in the last bear’s stomach and by that time Riku was covered in grime, blood, vicera, bile and shit.

“I hate you, guys.” he cursed reproachfully.

He could have used a shadow clone but that wasn’t worth the waste of chakra. The good news that came out of this awful experience was that they got a second Earth scroll.

“What do we do? Go for a third or…”

“I think we’re good to go to the tower. We wanted at least two sets and we got them. No point in staying in this forest anymore. Besides…”

“We have Karin to escort there.” Gou finish Yuuna’s reasoning.

“Fine by me.”

What Gou didn’t say was that Karin could turn their cloak if their team encountered enemies and the fight didn’t go well. Or teamed up with another Kusa team. It was better and more prudent to finish the exam quickly.

As such Team Hinae made a bee line for the tower, Karin guiding them with her sensory abilities. They still kept their guard up, just in case the girl would lead them into a trap but she proved herself trustworthy when she redirected the team to another path when she sensed an ambush up ahead. Ambush that Riku confirmed with a kage bunshin.

He had to admit, Riku liked Karin, she was a bit shy because of her less than desirable situation but was quite nice to talk to. She was interested in iryo ninjutsu and he found in her a good conversationalist. Their talks shifted from the medical field to other subjects and he had a lot of fun discussing those. Among one of them was Karin letting it slip that she hated Kusagakure to the core. Riku made a mental note of that, and wondered if the Hokage would be interested in having another Uzumaki in the village. Karin was no genius but she was very smart and very knowledgeable. She also was a sensor, a rare thing in the shinobi world and of course had loads of chakra. His estimation was about twice as much as he did. At the minimum.

They reached the tower when the sun began to set. Solving the riddle on the wall of the tower, Team Hinae opened at the same time a scroll of each type which summoned their team leader.

“Good work Team!” the Hyuga exclaimed with pride. “I knew you would pass.”

““Thanks, sensei”” / “Thank you, Hinae-san.”

“And.. who are you, young lady?” she asked Karin who was standing at the side.

“She’s Uzumaki Karin. We… mutually helped each other to get here. Speaking of.”

Riku opened his book of seals again and released another set of scroll and handed it to Karin who was surprised.

“Why?”

“Yeah, Riku, Why?” Yuuna asked, not happy about what he just did.

“I felt like it. It’s not like we need them anyway and even though the gesture is small it’s a good way to further the good relationship between Konoha and Kusa, right?”

Hinae nodded in agreement with Gou, leaving Yuuna to sigh in exasperation but not pursuing the topic further.

“I… Thank you.” was all Karin said and went to the side to unravel the scrolls.

“What now, sensei?” Gou asked.

“Now? You’re staying in the tower until the end of the test in three 82 hours. There are rooms for each team, a cafeteria and a training area.”

“Can we go back to the forest to help our fellow leaf-nin?” Riku asked to his team leader’s appreciation.

“Unfortunately no. The test is over for you and doing otherwise would simply disqualify you and the rest of the team.. Although… any traps or jutsu left behind do not count.” she answered and looked at Riku’s shadow clone that was still there.

Riku grinned and gave some shurifuins and seals to his clone, who went back to the forest.

“You do know that they will be our competitors, right?” Yuuna reminded him.

“Yes, but I prefer fighting a comrade in the finals than an enemy nin. Beside the more leaf-nins in the final the stronger the village will appear to our clients.”

“That’s true. Well thought, Riku.”

That being said, Hinae shushined away and let her team enter the tower to get some rest.

Meanwhile the shadow clone made his way through the dense flora. He encountered a team from Taki making camp. One of them was on watch duty and it had been fairly easy to knock him out after avoiding the traps the team set. Quickly he proceeded to put paralysis seals on the sleeping genin and became rummaging through their belonging to find a Heaven scroll. With the limited supplies his boss gave it, it had no remorse helping itself to a few weapons (kunais and shurikens) in the possession of the down team.

An hour after its heist, the clone heard a big commotion from the west of his location. Curious, it went to have a look and possibly create some chaos and help Konoha. The situation was better than expected. Team 7, 10 and Team Gai had a nasty encounter with the one team from Otogakure. The leader of the latter exchanged their scroll for their lives as one of his teammates had an arm dislocated and wasn’t ready to fight any more and they were outnumbered 3 to 1. OT his disbelief Naruto and Sasuke agreed and told them to scram. The clone however did not share his former classmates' idea. In a flash, he threw an explosive shurifuin towards the down member of the Oto team with one hand while he threw two wind coated kunais with the others towards the other two members. The shurifuin obliterated the head of its target and the kunais lodged themselves into a temple and a neck. In one action The entire team from Oto was dead.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” yelled Naruto as the clone landed on the ground.

“What?”

“WHY DID YOU KILL THEM?!”

“Because they’re shinobi from an enemy village, duh.”

“THEY SURRENDERED!”

“That just meant they would have to take down twice as many teams as they originally needed.”

“They were not out of the test because they had no more scroll, Naruto. And with most teams in this test being from Konoha, letting them live would have put our comrades in danger, dumbass.” Shikamaru explained, cutting short Naurto’s next yell.

“Why are you even here anyway?”

The clone turned to look at Sasuke who asked him the question. It was obvious to the dirty blonde that the Uchiha went through some shit, with his dirty and damaged clothes and the tired expression on his face.

“I’m scouring the forest to help Konoha teams if I can.”

“Very kind of you but extremely arrogant. Do you think yourself so strong that you can ditch your own team for this?”

The clone turned left this time to look at Hyuga who was flanked by a mini-clone of Maito Gai and a girl with her hair buns making him think of a panda.

“Considering my team passed the exam eight hours ago with five scrolls… Yes.”

The hyuga scoffed, not believing for a second the clone’s words. Most of the other genin present, who knew how good he had been at the academy, thought that he was probably telling the truth. Except one.

“LIAR!”

“Excuse you?” The clone replied to Naruto’s outburst.

“There is no way you and your team got five scrolls! My team only got one and we’re the best! Besides, if you did pass the test you wouldn’t be here!”

“The best losers, you mean.” Saying this, the clone picked up two heaven scrolls from his back pouch, shutting up Naruto on the spot. “Also I’m just a shadow clone. Boss is getting some rest inside the tower.”

“Shadow clone? How do you know that jutsu? That’s Naruto’s!” Sakura questioned.

“That moron couldn’t create a jutsu to save his life. The Niidaime was the one who invented it.”

“HEY!” shouted Naruto but got ignored.

“Well, that was nice and all but I have other teams to help soooo bye!”

“Wait! Can you give us one of your scrolls?”

For the third time the clone turned around to face his interlocutor. Yamanaka Ino.

“Hmm… considering you guys are a bunch of ungrateful bags of dicks… No?”

“I and my team said nothing to you!”

“That’s true I suppose.” he answered and tossed her one of the heaven scrolls.

Just as he was about to leave, ignoring Ino's ‘thank you’, he dodged a kick to the head, courtesy of one Uchiha Sasuke. Immediately he jumped backward and stuck an explosive tag to the scroll then tossed it at his assailant that caught it. The smirk of the ‘Last Uchiha’ didn’t last long when he noticed the glowing tag. Quickly, he threw it away and the scroll exploded.

“Once a loser, always a loser, Sasuke. Bye.”

With that said, the clone shushined away, back to the tower, hoping it would have enough chakra to reach it and give back the supplies it had on itself.