Konoha Spider

The forest of Death part 1

The following morning the ninja found themselves standing before an enclosed forest area. The distant sounds of large animals echoed throughout the inside. "Welcome to Battleground Training Ground 44. We prefer to call it the Forest of Death though." Anko said with a predatory grin. "Soon enough, you guys are going to find out why that is."

"Ooh the Forest of Death." Peter said mockingly. "Did you hurt yourselves coming up with that name, or were you trying for something a bit more original? If it's anything like the various other deathtraps I've been put in this one will be nothing."

"Yeah, I mean there's nothing you got that we can't handle," Naruto proclaimed, "so bring on whatever you got."

"So a pair of tough guys huh?" Anko said, as she then launched a kunai at Peter. The masked ninja sensed the attack and leaned all the way back allowing the knife that would have caught him in the ear or face to sail right past him. He then landed on his hands and kicked out with his feet only for his ankles to be caught by Anko who had suddenly appeared next to him. With a twist she yanked him from the ground and sent him twirling away to slam into a rock. Peter barely managed to twist and land on the rocks in a crouch. He looked up to see a smirking Anko looking down at him. "You tough enough to handle this?" Anko questioned the boy with a maniacal grin. "You're not afraid are you?" She taunted them in a hissed out in a whisper. "Tough guys are usually the ones that leave their blood all over this forest."

"I'll do my best to remember that." Peter returned to her. "We wouldn't want to accidently feed the trees. It just so happens I like my blood being inside of me as well." He joked, causing the ninja to snort in amusement.

Anko nodded before she suddenly drew another kunai and holding at the ready even as a figure in a straw hat held her other kunai. She had her tongue wrapped around the weapon disturbingly enough.

"Why thank you Grass Ninja." Anko said pleasantly, as she accepted her weapon. "Although I should inform you that coming up behind me like that is a good way to get an early grave."

"My apologies, the excitement of what is coming must have gotten the best of me." The Grass Ninja returned to the Jonnin.

"Looks like everyone is a bit on edge and ready to get going then." Anko said with a grin. "That should make this all the more fun." Anko walked back towards the front so that she could address all of the Gennin. "Now before we get this thing started, I have something to hand out to you all." She said as she reached into her jacket and withdrew a sheath of papers. "Consent forms that say that the Konoha Ninja Core is not at fault if you can't tough it out and get eaten or something like that." Anko said with a predatory smile. "The first thing you should know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills. First a bit of what you're going up against." Anko said as she pulled out a map. "The 44th Training ground has 44 locked gates that surround it. There's a river and a forest within the boundaries. In the center at 10 kilometers from each gate is a tower. It's here where you'll undergo the survival test portion of the Chunnin Exams. The test consists of an anything goes team battle. The woman said dreamily. The point is to get your hands on both an Earth and Heaven scroll, and then to transport it to the tower with your complete team. Altogether 27 teams are participating so a little less than half of those teams will be going after the Heaven Scroll and the other half will be going after the Earth Scroll. Each team will get one or the other."

"So how do we pass the test?" Saskue questioned.

"Bring both scrolls to the tower." Anko returned.

"That means about half of us will fail though, possibly even more if not all of the teams can get both scrolls." Sakura said in surprise as she thought about that. The door trick at the Academy had forced several ninja away, then Ibiki had managed to cut them down by a little more than half and now Anko's test was going to whittle their numbers away even more. It was actually amazing that they had lasted as long as they had.