The Breaking Point (SasukeXOC)

36

My team and I rejoined as we walked together to the next exam.

"What did you think of the test, Miyu?" Naruto asked as he casually walked with his hands behind his head.

"It was horrible! I hate tests!" I frowned and crossed my arms moodily.

"I guess you're not that good at cheating, huh?" Sakura asked with a smile, my frown deepened.

"I bet you didn't even get that we had to cheat and answered everything on your own, wrong of course." Sasuke smirked. My cheeks tinted pink and I glared at Sasuke in embarrassment that only made his smirk grow.

We halted outside a huge training ground that was a huge forest, a giant 'DANGER KEEP OUT' sign hanging on every few feet of fence around it. The first thing I made note of was the strange smells from within the forest. Most woods smell the same; fresh, musky, and full of nature. This forest smelled strongly of iron.

Blood.

"Welcome to Practice Area 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death." Anko began with a cocky smirk.

"'Otherwise known as the Forest of Death'" Naruto mocked in a high pitched girly tone, "you think that scares me? Hah! I'm not afraid! I'll never back down!" Anko let a slow smile slide onto her face.

"You've got some spunk." She observed before throwing a kunai straight at Naruto, it just barely missed him leaving a cut on his cheek. In seconds, Anko was behind Naruto, whispering in his ear.

"Brats like you usually die quickly, spraying that red blood I love." She whispered then proceeded to lick a drop of blood off his cheek.

Distracted by Anko's attempt at scaring Naruto, I didn't notice the kunai come flying towards her attached to someone's tongue; thankfully, she did. Anko brought a second kunai up to block the first with a loud clang. The woman holding the kunai with her tongue slowly made her way towards us.

"I was just returning your kunai." She hissed out.

Her scent was strange and burned my nose slightly. Unable to handle it, I moved a hand to cover my nose. She smelled of dirt, blood, and burning chemicals. It was one of the dirtiest and most uncomfortable smells I've ever come across. To my side Sasuke observed my distress. He followed my gaze towards the woman and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Thanks." Anko ground out, "next time don't sneak up on me, unless you want to die." She smirked causing the threat to become all the more chilling.

"Oh sorry, you just sprayed that red blood I love and I couldn't resist. Plus you cut my hair..." the woman explained. I attempted not to flinch as the burning smell became more potent with her movement.

"Hm, sorry. Looks like we have a lot of bloodthirsty competitors this year. This should be fun." Anko commented effectively ending the conversation with the strange woman.

"Now, everyone needs to sign one of these agreement forms." Anko announced as she walked back to the front of the crowd. A worried mummer broke out around the Gennin. "There will be deaths. If you don't sign these forms then I'll be responsible..." she let a nervous chuckle loose.

I glanced around at the other Gennin before returning my gaze to the forest before me. As much as I wanted to be calm about this situation I felt nothing of the sort. The forest has always been my home. Even when my parents were alive I spent most of my time training in the woods. The forest has never harmed me and has always been my friend.

So why did this forest make me feel so unsettled?

"Miyu, pay attention." Sasuke growled at me under his breath. With wide eyes I glanced at Sasuke before turning back to Anko.

How did he always notice when I wasn't listening?

"There are 26 teams, so 13 will be given a 'Heaven' scroll and 13 will be given an 'Earth' scroll. Your task is to retrieve both and take them to the tower at the center of the arena. The time limit is 120 hours, or 5 days." Anko explained.

"What? 5 whole days?" Ino shouted in disbelief.

"What about dinner?" Choji added.

"This is also a survival test, so you'll have to find your own food. There's a lot to eat in there, just be carful for all the poisonous plants, insects, and man-eating beasts. It's also very unlikely that 13 teams will pass. As time goes on finding the second scroll will become harder. Plus some teams will die from the shear harshness of the course." I watched as the Gennin around me shivered in fright as I regarded the forest curiously once more.

"Heck yes, we have Miyu on our team! Survivor extraordinaire! This'll be easy! We'll just make Miyu get our food for us!" Naruto shouted causing the crowd of Gennin to turn to me.

"Oh yeah, Miyu lived in the woods with wolves for 5 whole years. Living in these woods for 5 days will be easy for her! Looks like we've got a leg up!" Sakura agreed loudly. I widened my eyes fearfully as even more Gennin turned to stare at me.

"Shut up, you idiots. If the other Gennin know what an asset Miyu is to our team they'll not only target our scroll but they'll also target her." Sasuke snapped.

"Too late..." I quietly whimpered and slowly crept closer to the safety of Sasuke's side.

"Now for ways to be disqualified." Anko announced, "first, teams that don't make it to the tower within the time limit with both scrolls are disqualified. Second, teams who lose a teammate or have a teammate killed are disqualified. As a general rule there's no quitting, you'll be in the forest for 5 days unless you finish before the end of the time limit. Last rule; you're not allowed to look inside the scrolls for any reason."

"What if we do?" Naruto voiced.

"For those who do, there's a special surprise waiting." Anko smirked as if laughing at her own personal joke, "Chunnin will be asked to handle classified information. This test will verify if you can do that. Now, for every 3 forms turned in you'll receive one scroll. My final bits of advice... don't die."

"Ok, anyone who has their forms signed can come in here!" a Chunnin announced from inside a black tent. I grabbed a form from the pile floating around the crowd and glanced through it.

Something told me I should read through it... but that seems so boring.

"Sakura, can I borrow your pen?" she nodded happily and handed me her bright pink pen.

I signed my name in pink gel.

Our team made our way towards the tent. Naruto was handed a scroll and he hid in in his clothes.

"This is going to be great! I won't lose to anyone!" Naruto shouted as we made our way towards our entrance gate. We had 30 minutes to panic before they allowed us to start the exam.

I wonder if it was a good idea to let Naruto hold the scroll. Naruto is already a target because he keeps yelling and getting on everyone's nerves, I'm also a target because everyone knows I'm a good survivalist. If I were an enemy I would expect Sasuke, the strongest, to be holding the scroll. However, I wouldn't expect Sakura to hold it... maybe we should find a way to get her to hide it.

I found a rock by our gate and plopped myself down on it. I settled myself in and closed my eyes, allowing myself to get lost in my senses. I wanted to scope out the forest as well as I could before we ran in there, that way we wouldn't be totally blind.

True to Anko's words, the forest was filled with life. There were animals, giant trees, and bugs. On the bright side, there were also water sources and lots of places to hide. As long as we watched our step this forest would be the perfect ninja haven. 

Sorry for the delayed update! My school year is about to end so things have been a little hectic, but I hope this makes up for it! 

As always, thanks for reading!