Into the Forest of Death

Ibiki's rules crashed into the calm pond like a massive boulder, stirring waves of panic.

"I... I give up!"

A timid ninja was the first to raise his hand, his face as pale as paper.

The first domino had fallen. Once there was a first, there came a second, then a third.

The decision to give up spread like a plague. Examinees raised their hands in droves, then left dejectedly with their teammates under the examiners' cold announcements.

The number of people in the classroom dwindled at a visible rate.

Sweat beaded on Sasuke's forehead. Though he had decided to answer the tenth question, he still felt immense pressure.

"The price of getting it wrong is way too high. If I answer wrong..."

He looked at Naruto.

Naruto had his eyes closed, as though he were completely detached from the situation. Even his breathing remained unchanged.

"Next. You're up."

Ibiki's oppressive presence settled over Naruto. The scar on his face was aimed directly at him, and his gaze was chilling.

Naruto slowly raised his hand, but he did not say the words "I give up."

"Your intimidation logic is flawed."

With that one sentence, the classroom's clamor instantly vanished. Everyone in the room, including the examinees preparing to leave, froze and stared at Naruto in astonishment.

The scar on Ibiki's face twitched. He had not expected that answer.

But he did not press the matter. He merely snorted and continued down the row.

Finally, when no one else chose to give up, Ibiki slammed his hand down on the podium.

"Time's up. Everyone still here... congratulations. You have passed the first test!"

"..."

One second.

Two seconds.

The entire classroom was silent enough to hear a pin drop.

"What?" Kiba Inuzuka was the first to speak. He pointed at his own nose, his face full of disbelief. "We passed? Are you kidding me?! What about the tenth question?!"

That question voiced everyone's thoughts.

The smile on Ibiki's face faded, replaced by a profound sharpness.

"There was never a tenth question."

His words once again threw the entire room into an uproar.

"Or rather," Ibiki paused, his gaze seeming to sweep in Naruto's direction, "the choice you made just now was the tenth question."

"The first nine questions tested your intelligence-gathering abilities as ninja. You should have noticed long ago that this exam contained 'answers' planted by us. Trash that doesn't know how to use rules and methods to obtain intelligence doesn't deserve to become Chunin."

"And this so-called tenth question," Ibiki's tone turned solemn, "tested your resolve!"

"Imagine that during a mission, you receive intelligence saying your comrades may die. Do you choose to abandon the mission to save yourselves, or do you gather your courage, trust your comrades and yourselves, and face that unknown danger?"

"Let me tell you! In the ninja world, intelligence can sometimes be wrong! Someone who is easily frightened by threats and lacks the courage to face danger will only get their comrades killed—and get themselves killed too!"

Sasuke let out a breath. Only then did he realize that cold sweat had already soaked his back. He still could not understand why they had needed such a bizarre test.

"Using collective emotion to screen for willpower is primitive, but effective."

Naruto had opened his eyes at some point. He stood and adjusted his equipment without the slightest wasted motion.

"Still, the examiner's lie was far too easy to see through."

"How could a Konoha examiner possibly have the authority to decide whether ninja from other villages were promoted?"

Sasuke's body stiffened.

So Naruto had seen through the nature of this test from the very beginning.

Yet Sasuke had still been shaken by that false choice. The repeated realization that he was inferior to someone else irritated him beyond measure.

If he kept following this person's commands, could he really surpass that man and kill him? Perhaps he could.

But would he gradually become... a convenient tool in Naruto's hands? And be forever kept beneath him?

Forest of Death, entrance to Training Ground 44.

The air was thick with the smell of rotting leaves and dangerous beasts.

The chief examiner, Mitaraishi Anko, announced the rules of the second test in a tone of almost pathological excitement.

The examination site was a sealed forest with a radius of ten kilometers, filled with poisonous insects, savage beasts, and natural traps. In teams of three, the examinees had to carry both the Heaven and Earth scrolls to the central tower within five days.

The twenty-six teams each initially possessed only one scroll, either Heaven or Earth, and had to defeat other teams to seize the other. This meant at least half the teams had to eliminate opponents through battle.

"In there, you'll find your enemies, man-eating beasts, and me!" She licked her lips like a snake eyeing its prey. "Anyway, you'd better not die too ugly."

The instant she finished speaking, she flicked her wrist. A Kunai sliced through the air past Naruto's cheek and embedded itself in the tree trunk behind him.

A thin line of blood seeped from the cut on Naruto's cheek.

Sakura let out a short gasp.

Sasuke's pupils contracted, and his hand was already on his ninja tool pouch.

Anko's figure appeared behind Naruto like a ghost. She reached out as if to pinch his chin, a provocative smile on her face. "Kid, you don't look like you handle scares very well."

Naruto did not move. He did not even wipe the blood from his face.

He merely turned his head and looked at Anko, who was inches away, with an icy gaze.

"Your angle of attack was fifteen degrees off the vital point. Your force was insufficient to kill. This was an ineffective deterrent."

The smile on Anko's face instantly froze.

"And one more thing," Naruto said, lowering his voice, though it pierced Anko's eardrums like an ice pick. "Do not touch me with hands contaminated by his scent."

Anko's body suddenly stiffened.

Beneath the skin at her neck, hidden by her collar, the three Tomoe-shaped Curse Marks felt as if they had been seared by a branding iron, sending a burst of burning pain through her.

That scent...

Aside from the Third Hokage and a handful of others, how could this kid possibly sense the Curse Mark Orochimaru had left behind?!

Her hand trembled slightly, nearly unable to hold onto the Kunai.

"The exam begins!" Anko practically roared the words to hide her loss of composure.

As the iron gates opened, Team 7 was the first to charge into the forest. The other squads followed, entering different areas of the woods.

"Sasuke, search the thirty-meter sector on the left flank. Kill anything that moves."

"Sakura, fifteen meters behind. Focus on trap detection and chakra sensing. Stay alert."

"I'll support from the center. Maintain formation around me. Silent march."

Naruto's orders were concise and cold.

One moment, they had been a Genin squad. The next, they had become a silent, efficient war machine.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, but his body had already obeyed the command instinctively. His Sharingan activated as he vigilantly scanned the jungle to the left.

Sakura immediately entered the zone as well. She focused completely on sensing everything around them, not daring to relax in the slightest.

Deep in the forest.

A faint chakra fluctuation was caught by Sasuke's Sharingan.

"Enemy. Three. Amegakure ninja. They appear inclined to use Genjutsu," he reported quietly.

"Sasuke," Naruto's voice came.

"Thirty degrees to the left. Eliminate the targets within three seconds."

There was no need to think. No need to hesitate.

Under Naruto's hellish training, Sasuke's body had already developed a conditioned reflex.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A blazing fireball howled forth, striking the bushes where the enemies hid with perfect accuracy.

The screams lasted only an instant before abruptly cutting off.

The battle had ended the moment it began.

Sasuke looked at the hands that had just formed the seals, then at the scorched ground in the distance. An unfamiliar emotion surged within him.

It was neither jealousy nor unwillingness.

It was... awe.

Once again, in actual combat, he had felt with startling clarity the nearly overwhelming advantage brought by Naruto's training methods.

Just then, Naruto's footsteps suddenly stopped.

He sharply raised his head and looked toward the center of the forest.

A filth far deeper and more evil than the aura around Gaara, filled with the will to actively embrace corruption, swept toward them like a tsunami.

That was not passive Pollution.

It was a walking source of plague, a believer from the depths of Chaos who actively spread decay and despair.

"A priority-one target has appeared." Naruto's expression darkened to the extreme.

"This isn't a passive Pollution source. This is a follower of the Great Unclean One."

He muttered under his breath, every word carrying bone-piercing cold.

With a flick of his right hand, a sealing scroll appeared in his palm.

The white smoke dispersed.

Buzz—

That savage Chainsword, filled with a violent aesthetic, was gripped tightly in his hand.