Chapter 22: The Second Exam- Forest of Death

3.5K 145 4
                                    


THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL THE READERS FOR THE 1K READS!!! HAPPY TO KNOW THAT I HAVE MANAGED TO PLEASE MANY WITH MY WORK

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL THE READERS FOR THE 1K READS!!! HAPPY TO KNOW THAT I HAVE MANAGED TO PLEASE MANY WITH MY WORK... I HOPE TO IMPROVE MY WORK FROM FURTHER ON...

On with the Story of the Unpredictable Shinobi...

It seems she missed out when her team was collecting their scroll- the Heaven scroll, 'Oh' she realized intelligently. She barely noted Sakura dragging her to the gate allotted to their team with a couple of hits and insults. She was simply following her teammates with some occasional gibberish, zoned out while checking the chakras of the opponents and the Kusa kunoichi. She was snapped out of her daze harshly by the blaring horn and the loud ringing of a bell.

The team ran for an hour or so before stopping. "We need a plan." Sasuke declared. Sakura instantly agreed. Naruto excused herself to attend nature's calls. Sakura hit her on the head for 'speaking inappropriately before a lady'. 'Is she crazy? I put it as respectful as possible.' Naruto whined at Kurama. 'Both of us know how she is.' Kurama reassured her she went into a bush. After a while, Sasuke saw Naruto coming out of the bush, "Sorry to keep you waiting." She apologized. Sasuke stayed still for a while before smirking.

All of a sudden, he punched her. "What in the world, you moron?" She yelled before dodging his punches and kicks. "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing?" Sakura asked, unable to understand why her teammates were fighting each other. "Attacking before he does. Take a good look at him." Sasuke pointed out. "Naruto has his weapon holster on his right leg, not on the left one, like this guy wore. You didnt even bother to copy his clothes properly, you impostor!" 'Naruto' smirked. "You caught me." The impostor released his transformation Jutsu and reveled himself to be a genin from Amegakure- the Village Hidden in the Rainfall.

"Which of you has the scroll?" He demanded. When he didn't get a response from anyone, he continued, "Looks like both of you are going down." Then began the fight with Kunai and shuriken hurled at each other as they dodged around each other. Sasuke was gaining the upper hand when the nin saw that he was closer to a frozen Sakura. He lunged at her and Sasuke was too far to save her in time. However, the enemy was stopped short by Kunai he narrowly dodged, that fell near Sasuke's feet. 

The three of them saw from where the projectile was thrown and found Naruto- the original. "How are you here?" The enemy asked. "Did you really think you could tie me up? You underestimate me." Naruto replied. Sasuke, seeing that the enemy was distracted, picked the kunai at his feet and threw it at the him. He dodged it, only to get pierced by Naruto's kunai in the  stomach, before he escaped. "Look if his teammates are around. Be alert." Sasuke said. "He was alone. He underestimated us. I checked the surroundings. His teammates have fell into some of my vicious traps." Naruto said as she snickered. Her classmates at Academy knew her 'mild' pranks are devious enough and the vicious traps could kill the faintest of hearts.

They settled under a huge tree to take break. Sakura pretended like she had never frozen, but she was slightly embarrassed on the inside. Sasuke began, "This incident just proved that we need to be more careful. We need a password, one that only the 3 of us know. We don't trust anyone who doesn't know it." Sakura nodded, "It is a good idea, Sasuke-kun. What do you suggest?" "The question will be, 'When does a Ninja strike'. The answer, 'A ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and lowers is guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a Ninja to strike.' Got it?" Sakura nodded confidently, "I got it."  Naruto simply deadpanned, "Don't you think that is too big for something as important and private as a password? Got something shorter?" "No, loser." Sakura was annoyed, "I memorized it easy, what's your problem?" Naruto rolled her eyes, keeping up a goofy, hesitant act, "I've got it too. Just stating my opinion." Sakura scoffed, "Yeah, right."

From nowhere, a huge gust of wind blew, lifting anyone in its path of their feet. When the dust cleared, Sasuke who was hiding in the foliage, searched for friend and foe. Meanwhile, the Kusa kunoichi, who had captured Naruto's interest landed with her teammates. She ordered them, "You two fan out in the forest, I'll take care of these brats." Sasuke heard rustling and turned around with a kunai ready to see Sakura who approached him. "Stop! Password!" Sasuke demanded and Sakura repeated it without hesitance. Then they heard Naruto's loud voice, "Hey, guys, you alright?" Sakura demanded the password, which was perfectly repeated by Naruto. She sighed, but Sasuke scoffed with a smirk and threw the kunai at her. "Now what, Sasuke-kun? He did say the password correctly." Sakura asked. "That's the problem. The Naruto I know couldn't do it, not in a million years. This guy's reflexes are very unlike him" Sasuke explained.

'Naruto' smirked as the transformation jutsu was removed. It was the Kusa kunoichi. "If you knew that your teammate was that dim-witted, why did you give such a difficult password?" she asked. Sasuke smirked, "The password was not as much for him as it was for you. I was baiting eavesdroppers and you fell perfectly for it." The kunoichi licked her lips creepily, "You are smart. This will be interesting. The morons of my teammates will be done with the 'nuisance' by now." 'Naruto?' Sasuke thought, but he didn't had the luxury of time to think.

The enemy was assaulting him and Sakura with gusts of wind in addition to kunai and shuriken projectiles that were thrown with accurate precision. After numerous attacks and dodges, Sasuke hid behind a tree with Sakura. "Sasuke-kun, come out" A hissing voice purred out. Dread washed on Sasuke, similar to the one with Zabuza on the 1st C-Rank mission, but this was more sinister. He realized that it was killer intent. To snap himself out of the stupor, he tried his best to stab in his thigh, hoping the pain would help in distracting him. "My, my, Sasuke-kun, injuring yourself to overcome my killer intent, I see. Not the best move, but it is commendable."

Naruto was caught off guard for a moment, but when she recovered and stood up, she saw the teammates of the creepy Kusa kunoichi. She felt her nearby somewhere, but now, she had two foes of her own. Simple taijutsu moves did the work, but forced her to think. Her enemy were of mere genin level, but their teammate's chakra was off charts. She could sense it clearer, now that she was fighting with Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto deduced that she must be around Jounin-Kage level, based on her chakra. It didn't have dual natures like Jinchuriki have. So, this must be someone like Kabuto, or more powerful. 

Her thoughts were cut short when she found herself in the mouth of a huge snake. A flashy technique could help her escape, but she needed as much chakra possible for the exam, and to fight the potential threat of an enemy. She simple unsealed her sword and sliced open her way. She saw the snake for a moment before jumping away, not bothering to know if the snake was dead, or had returned to its realm like all wounded summoning creatures do. 

She rushed towards the direction of the Grass-Ninja who was taunting Sasuke. He had a wound on his thigh and Sakura was on her knees, shivering. Naruto had to be wary of her opponent, and understood that it was an understatement when she heard, "Well, well, Naruto-kun. I see you not only defeated my cronies, but also escaped my giant little pet, so soon." Sadistic amusement was dripping in her voice as she licked her lips creepily. "Don't you think you have taken things too far?" Naruto retorted. 

Kage-level Chakra, creepy tongue, smell of snakes, snake summons,...

Snake summons...

One hostile ninja who was famous for snakes fit the description.

The Snake Sannin Orochimaru.

Naruto would have cursed under her breath, had one grumpy fox not growled at her. She chose to remain oblivious of her discovery... for now.

Let the game of snakes begin...



Namikaze Naruto- The Unpredictable ShinobiWhere stories live. Discover now