Suddenly, the big glass window at the front of the room broke.
CRASH!
Pieces of glass fell all over the floor. A huge purple cloth flew into the room. Two kunai knives pinned it tightly to the blackboard. The big banner said, 'Welcome to the Second Phase of the Chunin Selection Exam!
Before the smoke could even clear, a wild woman jumped through the broken window. She landed in front of the banner and made a loud pose. She wore a tan coat over a brown outfit, and her spiky purple hair bounced as she smiled at the crowd.
"No time to rest, brats!" Anko Mitarashi yelled, hitting her fist into her hand. "I am Anko Mitarashi, your teacher for the second part! Follow me right now, because your next test will be a living hell!"
Ibiki sighed from behind her. He stepped out from the shadow of the banner. "You are early, Anko. As always."
Anko did not care. She looked around the room and counted the students. Her eyes went wide. "Wow, Ibiki! You let seventy-eight kids pass? You are getting too nice!"
"Or maybe the new rookies are just better this year," Ibiki said indifferently as he began to gather the answer sheets of all the contestants. This is a hobby of his; every time he is in charge of doing this first phase exam, he would always collect and see what kind of interesting answers these brats can come up with. He would sometimes even send these exam papers to some of the parents of these genin who have a good relationship with him.
One could say that those who work in the torture department have one screw loose in their heads.
Anko laughed wildly. Her eyes looked dangerous and excited. "Good! Let's see how many of them can survive my test. Everyone, pack your bags. Meet me at Training Ground Forty-Four—The Forest of Death!"
After the students packed their bags and left, the room became quiet. Ibiki started gathering the test sheets from the desks. He flipped through them, looking for funny answers. This was his favorite hobby.
But when he picked up Naruto's paper, Ibiki stopped moving. His eyes went wide.
Every single answer was perfectly correct. The hard formulas and secret codes were filled out with neat handwriting. But that was not what shocked him. Ibiki noticed a faint, hidden mark near question four. He used his decoding skills to read it. As a member of the torture department, he has more or less some skills in finding secrets. This is also a hobby of his to pass the time.
And this time, Ibiki felt like his hobby was very worth it. Because when he finally got to read the hidden message Naruto left him, he was stunned.
The hidden text read: Orochimaru is inside.
Ibiki's face went pale. Cold sweat dropped down his cheek. Naruto had not only solved the test easily, but he had also discovered a dangerous rogue ninja under Konoha's nose.
"This kid..." Ibiki whispered, his hands shaking slightly. He quickly hid the paper in his coat to show the Hokage later.
This matter was of the utmost importance, far more important than any hobby of his. Finding out that a dangerous criminal like Orochimaru had infiltrated the village was a massive security failure. Ibiki didn't waste a single second. He immediately left the classroom to report directly to the Third Hokage.
Meanwhile, the genin arrived at Training Ground Forty-Four.
It was a terrifying place. A massive, high-wire fence ran all around the area to keep people out. Giant, twisted trees stretched high into the sky, completely blocking out the sun. The inside of the forest looked dark, cold, and full of spooky shadows. Strange cries of wild animals echoed from deep within the thick trees.
Anko stood right by the locked front gate. She was happily eating sweet dango from a stick, looking completely relaxed.
"Welcome to the Forest of Death!" Anko said with a creepy grin. "You will soon find out why we call it that."
Sakura swallowed hard, stepping closer to her teammates. The heavy air made her feel sick. She looked at Sasuke, whose face was completely cold and serious.
Then she looked at Naruto. He did not look scared at all. He stood calmly with his hands in his pockets. His sharp eyes were not even looking at the scary forest. Instead, he was quietly scanning the crowd of foreign ninjas, looking for any sign of the hidden snake.
As soon as he stepped into this training ground, his sensory skills were activated, covering the whole forest. And sure did he find something surprising.
This forest seemed to be made a long time ago using the special Wood Release jutsu. But for some reason, there were no guards or security here at all. This made Naruto feel like something was very wrong.
No matter how dangerous the chunin exam was supposed to be, the village leaders would never leave a group of genin alone in a forest without any protection. Konoha would not do it, and the other villages would never allow it either. Most of the kids here were the future of their own villages. If all these young ninjas died in the forest, their villages would be ruined because there would be no strong young blood left to protect them.
'Something is definitely up. Is this big sis Izanami's way of setting a trap?' Naruto thought. He kept his face completely blank. His senses picked up a few faint chakra signatures moving near the edge of the fence, but they were not village guards. They felt dark and cold.
Anko finished her dango and threw the stick away. She took out a stack of papers from her coat.
"Before we start, you all need to sign these," Anko said, holding up the papers. "These are consent forms. If you die in this forest, it is not Konoha's fault. Sign it, or you can go home right now."
The genin gasped. The fear in the crowd grew much heavier. Even Sakura's hand shook a little as she took the forms for Team 7.
"We have five days to get to the tower in the centre of the forest," Anko explained, her smile growing wider. "Each team will get one scroll. It will either be a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll. To pass, your team must reach the tower with both scrolls. That means you have to fight and steal from the other teams."
She pointed a finger at the crowd. "Only half of you will even get the chance to pass. The rest will fail or die trying."
Naruto took a form and signed his name without reading it. He looked over at Sasuke. Sasuke gave him a quick, sharp look as he also signed his name. Then it was Sakura who was the last to sign her own name.
"Go to the black tents to exchange your forms for a scroll," Anko commanded, waving her hand. "Once every team has a scroll, you will go to your assigned gates. The test starts in ten minutes!"
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura walked towards the tents. In less than a minute, they came out from the tent holding a bag that contained a scroll inside.
They walked towards their assigned gate, Gate 12. Sakura held the bag tightly against her chest. "We got the Earth Scroll," she whispered softly. "That means we need to find a team with a Heaven Scroll. Sasuke, Naruto, what is our plan?"
Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other. Sharing a quiet, knowing smile, they replied at the same time, "First we set the net, then we let the fish come to us."
This is the ancestral teaching that Izanami taught them, and now is the perfect time to try this method.
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