previously :
Ibiki declared, to the collective relief if the participants. His eyes narrowed though towards the window to his right.
Naruto sensed the chakra signature approaching at high speeds.
...
The window exploded inwards before a large black ball dropped in the front of the classroom. It then started to unravel before being pinned to the ceiling with two different kunai. It appeared to be a banner. On the banner, it read 'The sexy second proctor.
Mitarashi Anko is here!' A beautiful woman was standing before the banner. She had purple hair done up in a pineapple style ponytail with hazel coloured eyes. She wore a mesh body suit, with a short orange mini skirt along with a long trench coat.
"Everybody, there's no time to be happy. I am the second proctor for the Chuunin Exams, Mitarashi Anko! Let's go to the next exam. Follow me!" She declared, energetically raising her fist into the air. You could hear the crickets chirping in the absolute silence of the classroom.
Naruto chuckled at the lively behaviour of the woman. She certainly was entertaining, not to mention beautiful.
"Learn to read the atmosphere." Ibiki commented after he stepped out from behind the banner. Anko blushed in embarrassment at the reaction she got before looking at the number of hopefuls left.
"78? Ibiki, you let 26 teams pass? Are you going soft?" She commented in a snarky way.
"No…It looks like there are a lot of excellent students this time." Countered Ibiki.
"Hmph…If you say so. I will definitely eliminate at least half of them in the next portion." Anko said ominously. "I'm getting excited. Follow me brats!" She commanded, before taking off. The rest of the Chuunin hopefuls scrambled to follow her.
They travelled for about half an hour, before coming to a somewhat deserted area of the village. Naruto could take a guess where they were headed to as his training ground wasn't too far from here.
Anko came to a stop in front of an ominous looking forest that seems to be closed off by large fences. There are numerous warnings and danger signs plastered all over the gates of the area. The place almost reeked of death. It made most of the examinees shiver in fear.
"This is where the second test will take place. Welcome to training ground 44, better known as the Forest of Death. And trust me when I say, you will experience first-hand why this place is called the Forest of Death." Announced Anko with a vicious smirk on her face that made most of the Genin's want to piss themselves. Sakura looked ready to faint on the spot, while Sasuke smirked at the thought of a good challenge.
The final member of Team 7 though was just lazily staring at the clouds in the sky, not at all bothered by what the examiner was saying. This of course, pissed said examiner off.
She quickly drew a kunai from her sleeve before chucking it at Naruto with deadly precision. He didn't move or even flinch when the kunai grazed his cheek, drawing blood. Anko disappeared, before reappearing behind him, catching him in a vice like embrace before leaning in and licking the blood off his cheek. The display seriously freaked out most of the people there.
"It's the overconfident ones like you that die first blondie." She warned him mockingly. He still had no reaction whatsoever to her.
She was irked that he seemed so unfazed and was about to try a different angle when he finally took his eye off the sky and turned to look at her with a placid expression that put her on edge.
"97 centimetres. I would estimate a C-cup." Naruto said. Anko started blushing furiously at the nerve of the boy. More to the fact that he actually got it right as those were her actual measurements. She had to restrain herself from the normal reaction of going 'stabby-stabby' on him.
"Hoh I see we have a smart-ass here. Would you like me to gut you like a fish boy?" She threatened.
"Not at all. I can't help myself. As a healthy young man in the midst of puberty, it's only natural that I have such a reaction to being molested in public by a woman, especially one as beautiful as you." He replied sincerely.
Her face got even redder at his reply. It was a mixture of embarrassment at being shown up by a Genin, anger at her bust size being broadcasted for everyone as well as being accused of molestation, and bashfulness at being so genuinely complimented, even if it was in such a weird situation. Nobody she knew would ever have the balls to try that with her, especially with her reputation.
Before she could respond to the cute blonde she felt a presence behind her causing her to draw her kunai. She saw a long tongue appear over her shoulder holding the kunai she threw earlier at Naruto. The tongue belonged to a long haired Kusagakure Genin.
Naruto used every ounce of his training to keep his expression from changing, when in actuality he had to fight the urge to vomit. The emotions he was sensing from the Kusa Genin were nauseating.
They were vile and disgusting. She had almost as much chakra as the Hokage and it was corrupt. His natural instincts were telling him to get as far away from this person as possible. He made a mental note to stay away from that person.
"Here is your kunai." The Kusa Genin said to Anko.
"Thank you." She replied. "But don't stand behind me like that. That is, unless you want to die young." She advised.
"Well, I get itchy when I see blood. Also, my precious hair was cut, so I got a little excited. I'm sorry." Said the Kusa Genin before walking away.
"It looks like there are a lot of hot-headed people here today. This is going to be interesting." Commented Anko with a smirk.
"The most hot-headed one here is you." Naruto deadpanned at her causing a small blush to appear on her face once again, before shooting him a spicy glare as she walked back to her position at the main gate of the Forest of Death.
"Before we begin the second test, I'm going to pass these out to everyone." She said as she pulled out a stack of flyers. "These are consent forms. Those taking this exam must sign these."
"Why?" Asked Kiba.
"From here on out, people will die. Therefore we need peoples consent before we continue. This states that myself and by extension, Konoha, are in no way responsible for your death." She answered cheerfully, causing a shiver to go down the spines of the participants.
"Now, I will begin the explanation of the second test. To be blunt, you will all go through an extreme survival match. First, I will explain the area's geographical features. Training ground 44 is a circular region surrounded by 44 locked gate entrances.
There is a river, a forest and a tower in the middle. The tower is approximately 10 kilometres away from the gates.
Inside this limited space, you will go through a certain survival program. The program consists of ... A competition where anything goes ... Over these scrolls." She explained while holding up one white and one blue scroll.
"The Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Earth. You will fight over these scrolls. A total of 26 teams passed the first test. Half of those teams will receive the Scroll of Heaven.
The other half will receive the Scroll of Earth. Each team will get one of these scrolls. Simply put, you will have to fight over these." She said.
"And? What's needed to pass?" Sasuke asked.
"Easy. Bring the Scrolls of Heaven and Earth to the tower with your teammates." Replied Anko.
"In other words, the 13 teams, or half the people here, that gets their scroll stolen will fail." Deduced Sakura.
"But, it needs to be done within a time limit of 120 hours. Or exactly 5 days." Said Anko.
"Five days?!" Shouted Ino in dismay.
"What about food?" Worried Chouji.
"Scrounge it up yourself. The forest is a treasure box of nature. There should be plenty of food." She replied.
"However…There are a lot of man-eating beasts, poison bugs and poisonous plants." Kabuto warned causing Chouji to groan in apprehension.
"Stupid, that's why it's called survival." Chided Ino.
"Also, it is not possible for 13 teams, or 39 people, to pass." The broody Hyuuga said.
"As time passes, you will be required to move more. So, the time to rest your body becomes shorter. This seems quite rough." Rock Lee said with a challenging smile on his face, causing his teeth to sparkle.
"People will get hurt in the process of fighting over a scroll, and those who cannot bear this programs strictness will emerge as well." Announced Anko.
"Excuse me, but can we quit in between?" Shikamaru questioned. Naruto chuckled to himself at his predictable behaviour.
"As a rule, you are not allowed to give up during the exam. You will spend five days in the forest." Answered Anko.
"Just as I thought…How troublesome." Whispered Shikamaru,
"While we're on this topic, here are the conditions that will fail you. First, a team that cannot bring both scrolls to the tower with three teammates will fail. Second, a team that loses a teammate or produces an unrecoverable teammate will fail. Also, just as a note ... You are not allowed to look inside the scrolls until you reach the tower.
If you become a Chuunin, you will be handling top secret documents. This rule is put in place to determine your reliability." Anko Said.
After that explanation, teams were asked to enter a small hut were they handed over their consent forms and received their scroll as well as the gate number from which they will enter the forest. This was done privately of course, as such none of the teams knew what scrolls the other carried.
Team 7 stood before gate 12. Sasuke and Naruto didn't look too bothered but the test. Strangely though, Sakura seemed to be really fired up. Naruto wondered what that was about.
"The second test is about to begin. Here's one last piece of advice for you ... Don't die!" Anko shouted as a bang went off signalling the start of the test. The teams immediately raced into the forest.
As soon as Naruto stepped foot in the forest, he was hit with a cacophony of different sensations. The sensation was almost unbearable, so much so that he dropped to a single knee. His head throbbed in fury at the overload he was experiencing.
'Kyu-chan, what is happening?' He questioned in his mind through gritted teeth.
[ If I had to guess, your Negative Emotions Sensing ability is overloaded from the sheer negativity of this forest. Even discounting the other Genin, this place seems to be crawling with all manner of beasts, insects and man-eating plants. They all give off negative emotions.
You haven't been exposed to such an environment before as such you aren't able to handle the multitude of emotions that you are unconsciously sensing right now. Even though you did train a lot these last few months, this ability isn't something you can train actively without being exposed to a large deposit of negative emotions, like this forest, on a regular basis. ] Kyuubi explained.
Naruto just gritted his teeth in annoyance. It was the first time since the Wave that he was exposed to such an unfavourable situation.
"Oi dobe, what are you doing?" Questioned Sasuke.
"Nothing, just taking the time to orient myself." He replied to Sasuke.
'Can you turn it off?' He asked.
[ I can, however, we aren't sure if you will ever be allowed in this place ever again. If I were you, I would take the time to train here for the next few days so that something like this doesn't happen again in the future. ] Suggested the Kyuubi.
'You're right. I need to find a way to separate from my team though. I also need to make sure they are protected while I'm busy. Shut off the ability for a while till I can break away from them.' He said.
After the Kyuubi shut off his ability, he finally collected himself before making his way through the forest with his team. He kept an eye out for any dangers as they went by and discreetly made a shadow clone and had it Henge into a copy of the Heaven scroll that his team possessed.
His team's scroll was currently tucked away in Sasuke's kunai holster. He wanted to be the one to keep it, but Sasuke and his groupie looked like they were about to throw a hissy fit. He decided to do it the old fashioned way.
After arriving in a clearing, where they could take the time to strategize, Naruto made use of his mastery of the Kawarimi and switched the real scroll with his transformed clone. This would serve the purpose of preventing anyone from getting their scroll as well as alert him to any dangers his team would face by dispelling.
Now that he got that done, he needed to move on to the next phase of his plan. After Sasuke made up some ridiculous password, Naruto excused himself, citing the need to urinate. Sakura just pulled a face at that.
As he made his way deeper into the foliage, he found a secluded spot that was perfect for his needs. He made a single Kage Bunshin. After exposing the upper body of his clone, he got to work drawing a multitude of seals on the clone's body.
This was done to augment the almost non-existent endurance of shadow clones. If he was going to take the time to train his sensory ability in this forest, he needed to make sure that his clone could take hits as well as protect his team.
He drew, extra-strength durability seals as well as reinforcement seals that were connected to a chakra storage seal located in the pocket of his clone.
Every night, before going to sleep, he would fill these special storage seals with chakra to use as a battery if he ever needed. The reinforcement seals would use the chakra from the storage scroll as a source to continuously power the clone to prevent it from being dispelled. It wasn't a perfect solution but there was very little that could touch him in this forest.
His entire Taijutsu style was based on dodging and evasion, coupled with his ridiculous speed and inhuman reflexes and dexterity, made it so that he could very rarely be his by opponents close to or below his level. With that in mind, he sent his clone off with instructions to keep his team safe as well as avoid any big battles, in other words, get the scroll and get to the tower as fast as possible.
After his clone took off, Naruto settled in the hollow of a tree. It provided him with good cover and obscured him from view. He needed to get a hold of his ability before it became a liability to him in the future.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"
He made at least 300 clones and had them Henge in to different plants and animals. They could still use the Negative Emotions Sensing while being under Henge, this way it prevents them from being too conspicuous.
Afterwards, he bit his thumb, drawing blood, before going through a series of handsels before slamming his hand onto the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
In a poof of smoke, a fox, about twice as large as Akamaru appeared. It was pitch black with intelligent gold eyes and a single white tipped tail. She gave a cute yip when she laid eyes on him.
"Naruto-sama! It's been a while. What can I do for you?" She questioned in an enthusiastic voice.
"Hey Saya! Yeah it has. I need you to complete a small task for me. Are you up for it?" He asked.
"Of course, Naruto-sama! Just tell me! I'm ready." She said with an adorable growl, showing she meant business. Naruto chuckled at her cute behaviour, scratching her behind her ears, making her turn into a blissful puddle of goo.
He petted her for a few more minutes, before pulling out a torn piece of cloth out of his pocket.
"I need you to follow the scent of this person. He has whitish/grey hair and round spectacles. I want you to shadow him discreetly and find out what he is up to.
If he spots you then make sure dispel, don't take any chances. I'll see you in the tower in about 5 days to hear your report. Good luck girl." He said as she sniffed the cloth before racing off to his left. He let out a sigh, hoping his little friend would be alright.
It was thanks to the Kyuubi that he was able to become a summoner of the Kitsune Clan. She told him of the story Kushina heard from Minato about how Jiraiya became a toad summoner. Naruto, never one to miss an opportunity, did the hand seals for the jutsu and found himself reverse summoned to the realm of the kitsune.
The clan, surprisingly welcomed him with open arms. Not because of the Kyuubi, like he initially thought, but because of his nature as a trickster. The Kyuubi was a happy surprise to them.
It seems that every person is aligned to a certain animal, and Naruto, in a weird twist of fate, was actually aligned to the kitsune. Overall, he was happy with his summons.
They were quite versatile. They could be used for tracking, stealth, combat and most importantly….Pranks! The kitsune that he just summoned was Saya, his personal summons, and the daughter to the boss summon and matriarch of the kitsune clan, Yuri.
With his preparations finally done, he asked Kyu-chan to stop holding his ability back. Once again he was hit by a freight train of negativity. It disorientated him for a while, before he buckled down and tried to wade through it.
His clones were in the same predicament. It was a bit tough at first but he was confident that it won't take more than a few day to have his ability fully under control.