A Strange Gameplay For a Ninja

Chapter 21

Orochimaru escaped.

It happened when we were heading to the forest of death, following the examiner Mitarashi. I was sensing him, seeing him, but at a moment I closed my eyes to replenish mana, and he just... vanished. He must have noticed the ANBUs... Quickly, they began to search for him, and eventually the majority of them left us.

Kabuto Yakushi was still here though. The oto team too. Well, I suppose 5 ANBUs are enough to deal with them.

We arrived in front of our destination.

"Welcome to the stage of the second stage, training ground 44. Also known as 'The Forest of Death'." our examiner smirked.

The Forest of Death was well named. It's a really sinister forest with warning pannels like 'Danger!' or 'Stay out!'. The trees were huge, and the inside was very dark.

"You'll soon find out why it's called like this."

"I think I have an idea why..." I muttered, and Kiba grinned. Suddenly, I sensed Anko throwing something at me, and in a reflex, I titled my head to the side.

Shtak!

The kunai stuck in the ground behind me, missing my cheek. I threw her an innocent glance, but she simply said:

"I heard you."

"Damn."

"Now, before we start the second test, there's something I have to pass out." She shouted to the crowd, taking out a stack of papers.

"You must sign these agreement forms. There will be deaths, and if I don't have you sign these, it will all be my responsibility, hehe."She smiled. "I'm going to explain the second test..."

She explained to us that it was a survival test in the forst of death. There were 10 km between the entrance gates and the center, the tower. Each team will be given a scroll of one type, either 'heaven' or 'earth'. The goal was to obtain a scroll of the other type and bring the two back to the tower before 120 hours. We get disqualified if we lose a teammate or have him killed, or if we look what was written in the scrolls.

"Yahoo! Survival is our speciality." Kiba grinned.

"Your speciality." I corrected.

"Oh come on! You're not that bad."

"Everyone, follow an instructor and go to your gates! We will start in 30 minutes!" Anko ordered.

We made our way to our gate and started waiting.

"So... What's the plan?" Kiba asked us.

"I thought survival was your speciality." I teased, smirking.

"W-We can make traps... Kiba is good at it..." Hinata-chan proposed.

"I can make a clone to locate enemy teams with my chakra sense too. It goes up to 100 meters now." I suggested too.

"100 meters already? It was 25 yesterday!" Kiba wonsered, surprised.

"I'm a fast learner." I said simply. I had leveled up [Sense Chakra] to level 4 in one night, thanks to my kage bunshin. "I have a dôjutsu too, but it's not as useful as the byakugan, so we'll count on you with that, Hinata-chan."

"A dôjutsu? Since when?" Kiba asked, dumbfounded.

"Since that mission to the monastery. Let's not talk about that now, we need a plan. First." I pressed, but we heard our instructor saying:

"The second test of the chunin exam begins! Go!"

We entered the area and quickly jumped in the forest.