Location: Forest of Death – Outer Perimeter
Exam Phase: Chūnin Exam, Survival Round
---
The gates slammed shut behind us.
Dozens of teams had already scattered through the dense, mist-covered trees of Training Ground 44—the Forest of Death.
The proctor, Anko Mitarashi, had smirked as she warned us.
> "Survive, kill, and steal. Welcome to hell, kiddies."
For most genin, it was a nightmare.
For me?
It felt like home.
---
My temporary team from Grass—two quiet scouts named Riko and Datsu—took point. Disposable, probably. The type Danzo would've discarded without blinking.
But I needed them—for now.
> [System Active – Ketsugan Instinct: Tracking Grid Online]
🔍 "Signatures detected – 47 total teams. Orochimaru presence: Masked. Chakra suppression: High-level Genjutsu overlay."
Probability of attack: 76%
I wasn't hunting the scroll.
I was waiting for him.
---
Thirty minutes into our movement, a cold wind passed through the canopy.
Birds fled. Insects went still. The air thickened—not with pressure, but expectation.
Something was watching us.
Then came the sound—soft, wet, and wrong.
Hisssss.
A pale ripple of chakra crawled through the bushes ahead. Datsu threw a kunai—but it bounced off with a dull thud.
A creature emerged. Not a summon of power… but of design.
A summoned sensor.
It looked like a white lizard stitched together from parchment, bone, and flesh. Its eyes were blank—but its tongue flickered with chakra-sensitive runes.
It didn't attack.
It analyzed.
--
> [System Alert – Foreign Chakra Scan Detected]
Summon: "Blood Vein Seeker" – Class C – Custom Binding to Orochimaru
> Targeting chakra resonance anomalies… hybrid bloodlines… hidden genetics…
The creature froze as its tongue flicked the air around me.
Its body convulsed.
Its mouth opened—
> "Subject: Unregistered… anomaly… detected. Kurata resonance… Uchiha core… incompatible fusion… unstable evolution..."
Its skin peeled apart in layers, trying to map my chakra threads mid-motion.
I moved first.
> Fire Release: Ember Arc!
A single crescent flame spun from my palm, enhanced by Flame Control Lv. 2, and cleaved the creature in two before it could scream.
Its remains twitched… then burned into dust.
---
My teammates stared in silence.
> "What… the hell was that?"
> "Not part of the exam," I said.
> But part of a deeper test.
---
Miles away, hidden beneath a Genjutsu tree deep within the forest, Orochimaru's golden eyes twitched.
He licked his lips.
> "Interesting… not just Sasuke, then."
"What are you, little ember…? A mistake? Or evolution?"
He extended two fingers.
> "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
Something else slithered into the trees.
This time… not a sensor.
A predator.
---
> [System Alert: Predator-Class Summon Approaching]
> Initiate defensive positioning.
Ketsugan sync pulse increasing… 62% resonance match with hostile chakra.
My body tensed.
Something in me—not Uchiha, but something older, hidden in the blood—began to stir.
My eyes throbbed.
Not with the Sharingan.
With something deeper.
> The Ketsugan... wants to awaken.
The forest quieted.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Datsu had gone pale. Riko drew a blade, her voice low.
> "That wasn't a regular summon. That was a hunter."
> "Not for us," I replied. "For me."
They didn't understand.
But Orochimaru did.
He knew exactly what I was.
---
I felt it before I heard it.
A ripple through the roots beneath my feet.
A pulse of wrongness in the air.
The trees shivered—not from wind, but instinct.
Then it emerged.
From beneath the earth.
A beast the size of a grown panther, stitched from serpent hide and chakra-binding seals.
Its eyes glowed amber.
Its fangs were crystalline bone.
Its chakra… was tuned to mine.
> Summon Class: Predator-Type | Chakra-Hound Variant
"Target: Uchiha-Kurata hybrid. Initiate blood echo extraction."
I didn't move.
Not yet.
> [System Alert – Internal Awakening Threshold Breached]
> Ketsugan Awakening: 92%
Trigger Condition: Extreme Combat Stress + Memory Echo + Near-Death Proximity
> So that's it, Orochimaru. You want to break me open… see what falls out.
The hound lunged.
Faster than expected—twisting midair, using chakra-coated claws to shred the terrain as it launched itself at my chest.
> Too close—!
> [Battle Memory Echo Triggered]
> Recalling phantom maneuver: Kurata technique – Counter-Step Pivot.
My foot twisted just so.
My back arched at the right angle.
I didn't think—my blood moved for me.
The claws grazed my shoulder, not my heart.
> "Tch—!"
Pain bloomed. Hot. Sharp. My skin cracked with red light.
> [Ketsugan Reaction: ACTIVE]
🔓 Instinct Memory Threshold breached.
> Awakening: Phase One – Initiated
---
The world… shifted.
Not visually. Perceptually.
I could feel the creature's blood pump before it moved.
I could sense the intention behind each twitch in its claw.
Not mind-reading—but fight-reading.
Like a memory of a thousand deaths I'd never lived.
> "So this is the Ketsugan…"
My eyes burned—not like the Sharingan.
Cooler. Sharper. Whispers of silver in the corner of my vision.
Vein-like patterns reached from the edge of each eye to my temples.
---
The beast lunged again.
But I was no longer reacting.
I was responding.
My hand moved in perfect rhythm, intercepting the claw mid-arc. I twisted under its mass and slammed my palm into its underbelly.
> Fire Release: Ember Bloom – Direct Impact Mode!
A miniature explosion rippled outward—not huge, but precise.
Enough.
The summon screeched, chakra threads unraveling, and then vanished in a poof of black smoke.
---
Silence again.
My team stood frozen behind me.
> "You… your eyes…!" Riko stammered. "That's not a dōjutsu I've ever seen."
> "Good," I muttered. "Let's keep it that way."
---
Far away, Orochimaru chuckled under his breath.
> "Beautiful…" he hissed.
"The Ketsugan lives… and it evolves in combat."
He turned to a snake curled near his shoulder.
> "We'll let him grow. But soon… I want him, too."
---
Back in the forest, I stood over the fading scorch mark.
> [System Update – Ketsugan Stage 1 Unlocked]
🔹 Ketsugan: Eye of Ancestral Instinct
> • Grants short bursts of pre-reactive motion perception
• Increases effectiveness of counter-based techniques
• Battle Memory Echo frequency increased by 45%
I exhaled slowly.
> "Orochimaru knows now."
> "Then we move faster."