The moment Anko finished ordering everyone to follow her, she turned towards the shattered classroom window and jumped through the opening without another word, leaving behind a room filled with stunned genin who simply stared after her. For several seconds, nobody moved as they looked towards the broken window and then towards one another, seemingly unsure whether they were actually supposed to follow the woman who had just crashed through a window, introduced herself with a giant banner, and immediately disappeared again. A genin wearing the forehead protector of the Hidden Waterfall Village was the first person to break out of his stupor as he jumped to his feet and rushed towards the window before hopping through it, with his two teammates quickly following behind him. That seemed to be enough to knock everyone else out of their surprise as the remaining genin immediately began moving, with some rushing towards the classroom doors while others decided to simply follow Anko through the broken window.
"Guess we're really doing this," Naruto muttered before pushing himself away from his desk and making his way towards the window. He stepped onto the ledge and jumped out without hesitation, landing against the side of the Academy before kicking away from the wall and dropping onto the roof of a nearby building. Naruto had barely started moving when he heard several people land behind him, causing him to glance over his shoulder and see Team 10 and Team 8 following him while Team 7 and Team 9 had apparently decided to use the stairs like normal people.
"You know there was a perfectly good door back there, right?" Ino asked as she landed beside Naruto and began running alongside him, with Shikamaru and Choji following a few feet behind them.
"Where's the fun in that?" Naruto asked with a smirk, causing Ino to roll her eyes while Kiba chuckled from Naruto's other side.
"Exactly!" Kiba shouted while Akamaru barked in agreement from the top of his head. "Besides, this is faster."
"Of course you would agree with him," Shikamaru muttered as he shoved both hands into his pockets while somehow managing to keep pace with everyone despite looking completely uninterested in running. "This entire exam has been troublesome enough already."
"You're still complaining?" Naruto asked as the group jumped across another rooftop.
"I started complaining before the exam," Shikamaru replied lazily. "I'm just being consistent."
Choji chuckled while reaching into one of his pouches and pulling out a handful of chips, somehow managing to eat while running across the rooftops. Naruto shook his head at the sight before focusing ahead as the group continued moving north through the village.
"So where exactly is Training Ground Forty-Four?" Ino suddenly asked as she looked around. "I've never been there before."
"It is located north of Training Ground Forty-Three near the outskirts of the village," Shino answered from behind them, causing Ino to glance towards the Aburame. "Training Ground Forty-Four is considerably larger than most training grounds and is generally restricted without authorization."
"Restricted?" Hinata asked quietly as she ran beside her teammates.
"The environment is considered dangerous even for trained shinobi," Shino explained as the group continued across the rooftops. "There are several species of poisonous plants and animals living inside the training ground, many of which are considerably larger than normal."
"Now this sounds like my kind of test," Kiba said as his grin immediately widened.
"Of course it does," Ino muttered before looking towards Naruto. "Please tell me you're not excited about giant poisonous animals too."
"I wasn't before, but now that he mentioned them," Naruto replied with a shrug, causing Ino to groan while Shikamaru sighed beside her.
"Great. There are two of them."
The group continued running for nearly fifteen minutes, eventually leaving the more populated portions of Konoha behind as the buildings became less frequent and were replaced by trees. Naruto could already sense several groups of chakra signatures ahead of them before the training ground itself finally came into view, causing the conversation to slowly die down as everyone focused on what was waiting for them. Training Ground Forty-Four was unlike any of the other training grounds Naruto had seen since returning to Konoha. A massive metallic fence stretched in either direction around the entire area, disappearing behind the thick trees in the distance while large numbered gates were positioned at equal intervals along the perimeter. Beyond the fence was an enormous forest filled with trees that towered high above the surrounding landscape, several of them easily large enough that their trunks were wider than some houses. Thick vines hung between the trees while bushes and other vegetation completely covered the ground beneath them, making it difficult to see more than a short distance into the forest from outside the fence.
"That's a training ground?" Ino asked as the group slowed down and approached the gathering of genin near the fence.
"Looks more like they fenced off half a country," Naruto commented while looking through the metal bars.
"The forest has a radius of approximately ten kilometers," Shino explained as he adjusted his glasses. "There is also a river running through portions of the training ground and a tower located directly in the center."
"You've been here before?" Naruto asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"No."
"Then how do you know all of this?"
"I read."
"Should try it sometime, Kiba," Naruto said with a chuckle after Kiba snorted.
"Shut up."
The group reached the area where several teams who had left the Academy before them were already gathered, causing Naruto and the others to stop talking as they joined the rest of the participants. Naruto remained beside Teams 8 and 10 while his eyes slowly moved across everyone around them, finally getting an opportunity to see which teams had managed to survive Ibiki's first stage. There were several other Leaf teams scattered throughout the gathering, including Kabuto and his two teammates standing closer to the fence. Naruto's eyes lingered on the older genin for a moment as he remembered the information cards from earlier before moving towards the three Sound genin who had attacked Kabuto inside the Academy. They were standing together away from most of the other participants, with the bandaged one occasionally glancing towards Kabuto's group. There were also teams from the Hidden Grass, Hidden Rain, and Hidden Waterfall Villages spread throughout the area, some speaking quietly amongst themselves while others were already watching potential opponents.
Naruto's gaze eventually moved towards the side of the gathering where Gaara stood with Temari and Kankuro. The red-haired Sand genin was standing completely still with his arms crossed while the large gourd remained strapped to his back, though Naruto immediately noticed Gaara looking in his direction the moment their eyes met.
"Still watching me," Naruto thought as he stared back for several seconds before eventually looking away. "Or maybe Shukaku is." The Nine-Tails remained silent inside his mind, though Naruto had not exactly expected the fox to suddenly become talkative after spending most of his life ignoring him.
A few minutes later, another group of genin approached from the direction of the village, with Naruto recognizing Team 7 and Team 9 among them. Sakura immediately noticed Naruto's group and began leading Sasuke and Sai towards them while Team 9 remained off to the side on their own.
"About time," Ino said as Sakura approached. "What took you guys so long?"
"We used the door like normal people," Sakura replied as she looked towards the group that had jumped through the window.
"Sounds slow," Naruto commented, causing Sakura to open her mouth to respond before Sasuke walked past her and looked through the fence towards the massive forest, apparently more interested in the second stage than the conversation. Naruto ignored him and continued looking around until another group of genin arrived several minutes later.
Naruto's eyes immediately narrowed when he noticed a three-man team wearing the forehead protectors of the Hidden Stone Village among the new arrivals. All three were male, with one being considerably larger than the other two, but Naruto was more interested in the fact that every one of them was staring directly at him. There was no subtlety to it either. The moment they entered the area, all three Stone genin locked their eyes onto Naruto and did not look away, causing Naruto to slowly turn his body slightly towards them and stare right back.
"Well, that answers that question," Naruto thought as the largest Stone genin's eyes narrowed. "They're definitely here for me."
Naruto continued staring at the three Stone genin, already having a pretty good idea of why they were looking at him. He knew he looked almost identical to his father, something that could easily draw attention from shinobi belonging to the village that hated the Yellow Flash more than almost anyone else. Minato had killed a large number of Stone shinobi during the Third Shinobi War, enough that even years later his name was still hated throughout Iwa. Nobody outside of a very small group knew that Naruto was actually Minato's son, but the resemblance between them was obvious enough that Naruto had wondered how long it would take before someone from the Hidden Stone took notice. The fact that he was also the Senju heir and newest wielder of Wood Release probably gave them even more reason to keep an eye on him.
Before Naruto could think about it any further, the sharp sound of something cutting through the air reached his ears, causing him to tilt his head slightly as a kunai flew past the side of his face before continuing between several Grass genin standing behind him and embedding itself into the trunk of a tree. Naruto's eyes narrowed as he turned his head towards the weapon, though before he could fully turn around, he suddenly felt someone press against his back as two arms wrapped themselves loosely around his shoulders.
"You're going to have to pay better attention than that inside the forest," Anko said in a deliberately sultry tone from directly behind him. "A kunai through the head would be a pretty embarrassing way for the famous Senju heir to fail."
Naruto could tell from Anko's tone alone that she was doing it simply to mess with him and resisted the urge to sigh, while a few feet away, Ino's eye twitched as she stared at the older woman wrapped around Naruto.
"Why the hell is she hanging all over him?" Ino thought angrily as she crossed her arms.
Naruto was just about to respond when an incredible amount of bloodlust suddenly erupted from directly behind them, causing his entire body to tense as his hand immediately moved towards his kunai pouch on instinct. Anko reacted at almost the exact same moment and managed to draw her kunai first as she released Naruto and spun halfway around, while Naruto already had his fingers wrapped around one of his own weapons before his eyes settled on the person standing behind them.
It was a female genin from the Hidden Grass Village, though what immediately caught everyone's attention was the kunai she was holding. The Grass kunoichi had retrieved the weapon Anko threw earlier and was currently holding it with an unnaturally long tongue stretched several feet outside her mouth, the metal ring of the kunai wrapped around the end of it, causing several nearby genin to visibly recoil at the sight. Naruto remained still as he stared at the Grass kunoichi, though his eyes narrowed considerably while remembering the bloodlust that had just washed over them.
"There is no way in hell that's a normal genin," Naruto thought as his hand remained near his kunai pouch. He had spent years around Tsunade, Jiraiya, and other experienced shinobi, and the killing intent he had just felt was far beyond anything he expected from someone taking the Chunin Exams.
"I thought you might want this back," the Grass kunoichi said as she extended her tongue slightly farther towards Anko.
"How thoughtful," Anko replied after staring at her for several seconds, reaching forward and taking the kunai from her tongue while her earlier playful expression disappeared slightly.
"I wouldn't want the second-stage proctor to lose one of her weapons before the exam even starts," the Grass kunoichi said as she slowly pulled her tongue back into her mouth.
"Careful," Anko warned as she twirled the kunai around one finger before slipping it back into her pouch. "That tongue of yours might get you into trouble."
The Grass kunoichi simply smiled before stepping back towards her teammates, though Naruto continued watching her even after Anko turned away.
"Stone shinobi staring at me and now whatever the hell that was," Naruto thought as he released his grip on his kunai. "This exam is getting interesting."
"Alright!" Anko suddenly shouted as she moved to the front of the gathering, causing everyone to turn towards her. "Before I explain exactly what you're doing during the second stage, everyone needs to sign one of these."
Several Chunin assistants began moving through the crowd while handing out sheets of paper, causing Naruto to take one and begin reading as Anko continued.
"A consent form?" Sakura asked after reading the top of hers. "Why do we need a consent form?"
"Because starting from this point, people are going to die," Anko replied cheerfully, causing several genin to freeze while she grinned at their reactions. "Konoha doesn't want your villages complaining when someone gets eaten, poisoned, stabbed, crushed, or otherwise killed inside the training ground, so you sign the form and officially acknowledge that whatever happens in there is your problem."
"She sounds way too happy about that," Choji muttered while staring at the paper.
"She really does," Naruto agreed.
"Now for the important part," Anko continued as she pointed behind her towards the massive forest. "Training Ground Forty-Four is better known as the Forest of Death. In a few minutes, each team will be given one of two scrolls: either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll. Your objective is simple. Within five days, your entire team must reach the tower located in the center of the forest while carrying one Heaven Scroll and one Earth Scroll."
Several genin immediately began looking around at the other teams after hearing that, with the atmosphere around the group beginning to change as everyone realized exactly what the second stage would require.
"You will only start with one scroll," Anko explained. "Which means you'll have to acquire the other one somewhere inside the forest. I don't care how you do it. Fight for it, steal it, trade for it, or convince someone to hand theirs over because they like your face. That's entirely up to you."
"Now we're talking," Kiba said as he cracked his knuckles.
"If you lose your original scroll, you're not automatically eliminated," Anko continued. "You still have until the end of the five days to find another copy. At the same time, having both scrolls doesn't mean you've passed. You still need to get your entire team to the tower before the deadline." Anko reached into her coat and pulled out two rolled scrolls, holding one in each hand for everyone to see. "One more rule. You are not allowed to open either scroll until you reach the central tower."
Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked towards the two scrolls in Anko's hands.
"So there's something inside them we're not supposed to see," Naruto thought as he studied them. "Classified information test, maybe?"
"Sign your consent forms and bring them to me," Anko continued as she returned the scrolls to her coat. "Once you do, you'll be assigned your starting gate and given your scroll immediately before entering. The second stage lasts five days. There is no outside assistance, no supply station, and nobody coming to help because you're hungry, tired, or stupid enough to get poisoned."
Naruto looked down at his consent form and signed his name without hesitation before making his way towards Anko. Several others were still staring uncertainly at their papers when Naruto reached the front and handed his over.
"Naruto Senju," Anko said as she glanced at the name before looking up at him. "You're the special case."
"So I've been told."
"You're competing alone," Anko continued. "That doesn't change anything about the rules. You still need both scrolls, still need to reach the tower within five days, and nobody is going to give you special treatment because every other team has three people."
"Wasn't expecting any," Naruto replied with a shrug.
"That also means if you want another team's scroll, you're probably taking on three genin by yourself," Anko added with a grin as though she expected that to bother him.
"I have a feeling I won't need to go looking very hard," Naruto replied as he glanced over his shoulder towards the three Stone genin, all of whom were still watching him. Anko followed his gaze before noticing the Stone team and smirking slightly.
"Well, aren't you popular."
"Unfortunately."
After Anko accepted his form, Naruto followed the other genin towards a small stall positioned off to the right side of the gathering area. Three Chunin were stationed behind the counter with a box containing numbered slips, while another stack of sealed documents rested beside them. Naruto waited for several teams ahead of him before eventually reaching the front.
"Name?" one of the Chunin asked.
"Naruto Senju."
"Gate Twenty-Seven," the Chunin said after checking a list before reaching into the box and handing Naruto a small piece of paper.
"Got it," Naruto replied as he looked down at the number before slipping it into his pouch.
Once everyone who had signed their forms received a gate assignment, the participants began separating into groups and preparing to move around the enormous perimeter of the training ground. Naruto could already feel the atmosphere changing as teams looked at one another differently than they had during the written exam. Everyone standing around them was no longer simply another participant. In a few minutes, they would become possible enemies carrying the exact thing everyone needed to pass.
"Alright, you have your gate numbers," Anko announced as she stepped forward one last time with both hands resting on her hips. "Get moving. Once everyone is in position, you'll receive your starting scroll and the gates will open at the same time." Her grin widened as several genin began heading towards their assigned entrances. "I've only got one last piece of advice for all of you."
Naruto stopped briefly with several others and looked back towards her.
"Don't die."
**At Gate 27**
Naruto stood several feet in front of Gate Twenty-Seven with his hands resting inside his pockets as he waited for the second stage of the Chunin Exams to officially begin. Unlike the gathering area where dozens of genin had been standing around one another, the area surrounding his gate was completely quiet aside from the sounds coming from inside the forest. Every few seconds, Naruto could hear the distant cry of some animal deeper inside the training ground, while the enormous trees beyond the metal fence blocked most of the sunlight from reaching the forest floor. Standing beside the gate was a lone Leaf Chunin Naruto had never met before, who occasionally glanced down at the watch wrapped around his wrist while waiting for the designated starting time.
"We're twenty minutes out," the Chunin eventually said as he reached into a pouch attached to his vest and pulled out a rolled scroll with the kanji for Earth written across the front. "This is your starting scroll. Once I give it to you, you're responsible for it. Lose it, and you'll have to find another one before reaching the tower."
"Got it," Naruto replied as he accepted the Earth Scroll and briefly looked it over.
"The gate opens exactly twenty minutes from now," the Chunin continued as he moved to stand directly in front of the gate. "Once you're inside, you're on your own until you reach the tower or the five-day time limit expires. Good luck."
"Thanks," Naruto replied before bringing his left hand towards the storage seal hidden along the inside of his wrist and channeling a small amount of chakra into it. The Earth Scroll disappeared in a small puff of smoke as it was sealed away alongside the food, water, ninja tools, and other supplies Naruto had prepared before leaving the Senju Compound that morning. With the scroll safely stored somewhere another team would have considerable difficulty stealing without taking Naruto's entire arm with it, he lowered his sleeve back over the seal before turning his attention towards the massive gate in front of him.
Neither Naruto nor the Chunin spoke again as the final minutes slowly passed. The Chunin kept most of his attention on the watch around his wrist, occasionally glancing towards Naruto before returning his eyes to the time, while Naruto calmly waited several feet behind him. When there was less than a minute remaining, the Chunin placed one hand against the locking mechanism holding the gate closed and watched the final seconds count down.
The moment his watch reached the twenty-minute mark, the Chunin pulled the locking mechanism aside before throwing Gate Twenty-Seven open.
"Go!"
Naruto calmly walked past the Chunin and entered the Forest of Death without hesitation, causing the older shinobi to glance after him briefly before pulling the gate closed. The loud metallic sound of the gate locking behind Naruto echoed through the surrounding trees, though Naruto never looked back as he continued deeper into the forest at a relaxed pace.
Naruto made no attempt to immediately rush towards the center of the training ground, instead taking his time while expanding his senses through the surrounding forest. The sheer amount of life around him made sensing considerably different from inside Konoha, with small chakra signatures belonging to animals scattered almost everywhere while a few considerably larger creatures occasionally moved near the edges of his range. Naruto could also faintly sense several signatures that were almost certainly other participants, though none of them were close enough to be an immediate concern. He continued walking for several minutes before eventually stopping beneath one of the enormous trees and closing his eyes, allowing him to focus more carefully on everything around him. After nearly a minute of searching, Naruto was satisfied that nobody was close enough to see what he was doing.
Naruto opened his eyes before bringing one hand up into a half-Ram seal.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu."
Fifteen clouds of smoke appeared throughout the area around him before quickly disappearing, revealing fifteen identical copies of Naruto standing amongst the trees. Several of the clones immediately began looking around while another stretched his arms over his head.
"So what's the plan?" one of the clones asked.
"Spread out and survey the forest," Naruto answered as he looked over the group. "Keep your distance from each other and don't make it obvious that there are fifteen of us running around. I want to know where the other teams are, what routes they're taking, and anything else going on inside the forest."
"Looking for a Heaven Scroll?" another clone asked.
"If you see someone with one and you think you can take it, go ahead," Naruto replied. "Otherwise, don't start unnecessary fights. Observe and dispel yourselves once you have information worth sending back. If you come across anything you think I need to know immediately, don't bother trying to come back and find me. Just dispel."
"Got it," the clones replied together before giving Naruto an exaggerated salute. Naruto stared at them for several seconds.
"Never do that again." Several of the clones chuckled before scattering in different directions, jumping into the surrounding trees and disappearing from sight within seconds. Naruto waited until most of their chakra signatures had moved farther away before continuing deeper into the forest, deciding that between his clones and his own senses, it should be considerably more difficult for another team to surprise him.
He had only been walking for around ten minutes when three chakra signatures suddenly entered the edge of his senses, causing Naruto's steps to slow slightly as he focused on them. All three signatures were moving quickly through the forest, and after several seconds of tracking their movements, Naruto realized there was no question about where they were going. Straight towards him.
Naruto stopped walking completely and turned towards the direction they were approaching from before letting out a light chuckle.
"That didn't take long."
Instead of trying to avoid them, Naruto remained exactly where he was and waited. The three chakra signatures continued approaching for nearly three minutes before Naruto finally heard the sound of branches shifting somewhere ahead of him. A few seconds later, three figures dropped from the trees and landed on the forest floor a short distance away, causing Naruto's expression to immediately become more serious when he recognized the three-man team from the Hidden Stone Village.
Naruto slowly looked over each member of the group while they spread out slightly in front of him. All three appeared older than most of the genin participating in the exams, probably somewhere in their late teens or possibly early twenties. The man standing in the center was the largest of the three, with broad shoulders and short brown hair underneath his Stone forehead protector, while the other two were slightly smaller but still looked considerably more experienced than the average genin Naruto had seen since the exams began. The way they carried themselves immediately made Naruto question whether they were actually genin or Chunin who had been entered into the exams under false ranks, though he knew there was nothing unusual about someone remaining a genin for several years.
"These guys actually genin?" Naruto thought as his eyes moved between them. "Or did Iwa send Chunin disguised as Genin?"
The man standing in the middle took a step forward while keeping his eyes fixed directly on Naruto.
"Found you."
Naruto remained silent for several seconds as he studied their expressions, immediately noticing the amount of hate in all three men's eyes. It was considerably different from the competitive looks Naruto had received from several of the other participants or even the suspicion foreign shinobi had shown after learning about his Wood Release. The three Stone shinobi looked at him as though his existence alone offended them, causing Naruto to decide almost immediately that he could use their anger against them. A mocking smile slowly appeared across Naruto's face as he relaxed his posture.
"You guys came all this way just for me?" Naruto asked. "I'm flattered."
"Don't get arrogant, brat," the larger man replied as his jaw tightened.
"You're the ones who chased me through the forest," Naruto said with a shrug. "I'm just trying to understand why three grown men are this interested in a twelve-year-old."
One of the Stone shinobi clenched his fists after hearing Naruto's response, while the group's leader became visibly angrier, which was exactly the reaction Naruto had been hoping for.
"We came to these exams under orders from the Tsuchikage," the leader eventually admitted. "There have been reports that a Senju capable of using the First Hokage's Wood Release returned to Konoha. Lord Tsuchikage wanted information."
"So you're spies."
"We're shinobi," the man replied coldly. "Gathering intelligence on potential threats is part of our job."
"Fair enough."
"We were ordered to observe you," the Stone leader continued as his eyes narrowed. "Learn what your Wood Release could do, how skilled you actually were and whether Konoha's claims about the Senju heir were exaggerated. If an opportunity presented itself to eliminate you without implicating Iwa, we were permitted to take it."
"At least he's honest," Naruto thought while continuing to stare at the three men.
"But then we saw you," the leader continued as his expression became considerably darker. "And now it doesn't matter what the old man ordered."
Naruto's mocking smile slowly disappeared as the Stone shinobi standing on the leader's left stepped forward.
"You look exactly like him," the man said through clenched teeth. "The Yellow Flash. I hate that bastard more than anyone alive."
"He slaughtered our people during the war," the third Stone shinobi added. "Entire units disappeared whenever he entered a battlefield. Every family in Iwa knows someone who never came home because of him."
"My older brother was one of them," the first man said.
"My father," the leader added as he continued glaring at Naruto.
Naruto remained silent for several seconds while looking between the three men. Under different circumstances, he probably could have understood where their hatred came from. Minato had been a hero to Konoha, but Naruto was not stupid enough to believe the people his father killed during the Third Shinobi War would have viewed him the same way. If the three men standing in front of him had actually lost family members to Minato, then Naruto could understand why seeing someone who looked almost identical to him would bring that hatred back. That did not change the fact that they had just openly admitted they were willing to kill him. A smirk slowly returned to Naruto's face.
"Oh, so you know my father."
Silence immediately filled the clearing.
All three Stone shinobi froze as they stared at Naruto, their anger disappearing for several seconds as complete disbelief replaced it.
"What?" the leader asked.
"The Yellow Flash," Naruto replied as his smirk widened slightly. "Minato Namikaze. My father."
For several seconds, none of the Stone shinobi moved as the realization slowly spread across their faces. Naruto watched their shock disappear almost as quickly as it had appeared before an enormous amount of bloodlust filled the clearing.
"You..." the shinobi on the left growled as his hands began shaking. "You're his son?"
"Looks that way."
"You bastard!"
All three Stone shinobi rushed Naruto at the same time, their anger completely overtaking whatever caution they had shown earlier. Naruto's smirk immediately disappeared as he shifted into a combat stance and prepared himself for the three approaching men.
The Stone leader reached him first and threw a powerful punch towards Naruto's face, only for Naruto to tilt his head to the side and allow the man's fist to pass harmlessly beside him. Naruto immediately drove his palm into the man's elbow and knocked the arm aside before stepping inward and striking him once in the ribs. The second Stone shinobi attacked from Naruto's left with a kick aimed towards his head, forcing Naruto to duck underneath it before rotating his body and sweeping one leg towards the man's supporting ankle. The Stone shinobi managed to jump backward before Naruto could knock his leg out from underneath him, but the movement gave the third member of the group an opening to attack Naruto from behind.
Naruto shifted half a step to the side without looking as the man's punch passed beside his head before catching his wrist and pulling him forward. Naruto drove his elbow into the man's stomach as he passed before releasing him and immediately raising his arm to block another punch from the group's leader. The three Stone shinobi continued attacking together, but it quickly became obvious to Naruto that their anger was severely affecting their ability to fight. They were stronger and faster than most of the genin he had seen around the Academy, confirming that they possessed considerably more experience than their rank suggested, but none of that mattered when all three were throwing attacks without properly coordinating with one another.
Naruto leaned backward as another punch passed inches from his face before blocking a kick with his forearm and immediately driving his fist into the attacker's chest. He pivoted away from the third man's attempt to grab him before ducking underneath another attack from the leader.
"They're barely thinking," Naruto thought as he stepped around another punch. "Good."
The leader rushed him again, causing Naruto to wait until the man fully committed to the attack before stepping inside his reach and driving a powerful punch directly into his stomach. The man's eyes widened as Naruto's fist buried itself into his abdomen, forcing the air from his lungs before the force of the strike lifted him from the ground and sent him flying backward. He traveled several meters before slamming back-first into the trunk of a tree hard enough to shake several branches above him. The Stone shinobi attacking from Naruto's right turned towards his leader for half a second.
That was all Naruto needed.
Naruto pivoted on one foot and drove his heel into the side of the man's chest, sending the Stone genin flying sideways before he crashed into another tree and collapsed onto the forest floor. The third man froze as both of his teammates were sent flying in only a few seconds, his eyes widening as he finally seemed to realize that the person standing in front of him was considerably stronger than they had expected. Naruto's hand was already moving towards his kunai pouch.
The Stone shinobi barely had enough time to react before Naruto closed the distance between them and appeared directly in front of him. Naruto drove the kunai into the side of the man's neck before violently ripping the weapon free, causing blood to immediately pour from the wound. The Stone shinobi's hands flew towards his throat as his eyes widened, but the damage had already been done. He stumbled backward several steps while blood continued pouring between his fingers before collapsing onto the forest floor, his body twitching several times before eventually becoming still.
Naruto stared down at him for only a moment before turning towards the remaining two Stone shinobi with a cold expression on his face. The man Naruto had kicked was lying near the base of a tree while struggling to catch his breath after having the wind knocked out of him, but the group's leader was already forcing himself back onto his feet with one hand pressed against his stomach. His eyes moved towards the dead body of his teammate lying at Naruto's feet before slowly returning to Naruto, with disbelief clearly visible across his face.
Naruto could tell from the man's expression that this was not how any of them had expected the fight to go. They had entered the Forest of Death with three people against one twelve-year-old genin and had probably assumed their numbers would be enough to overwhelm him. Instead, one of them was already dead while Naruto barely had a scratch on him. Naruto figured they probably believed killing Minato Namikaze's son would earn them plenty of praise back in the Hidden Stone Village, but if that had been their plan, it was quickly falling apart. The Stone leader's disbelief disappeared as rage overcame him once again.
"You bastard!" he shouted as his hands immediately began moving through several hand seals.
"Earth Style: Earth Spike!"
The Stone shinobi slammed both palms against the ground, causing Naruto to kick off from the forest floor the instant he felt chakra enter the earth beneath him. A barrage of jagged stone spikes exploded upward from where Naruto had been standing, with several more continuing to erupt beneath him as he moved through the air. Naruto twisted his body to avoid the spikes while his own hands began moving through a series of seals.
Naruto landed several meters away from his original position before slamming one hand against the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Jutsu!"
The earth directly in front of Naruto exploded outward as a massive dragon made from tightly packed dirt and stone rose from the forest floor before immediately rushing towards the Stone leader. The man's eyes widened as he attempted to throw himself to the side, but he was not fast enough to completely avoid the attack. The dragon slammed into the side of his hip while he was still moving, sending him tumbling through the air before his body crashed horizontally into the trunk of another large tree. The force of the impact caused his body to bend around the trunk for a moment before he dropped heavily onto the ground and remained completely still.
Naruto slowly stood upright as the earth dragon broke apart behind him and collapsed back onto the forest floor before a strained breath reached his ears, causing him to turn towards the final member of the Stone team. The man had managed to get back onto his feet, but all of the anger from earlier had disappeared. He stared first at his leader's unmoving body and then towards the teammate bleeding out several meters away before finally looking back at Naruto with nothing but pure fear in his eyes. Naruto did not give him an opportunity to attack again.
His hands moved through two seals before ending with the Snake seal, causing the Stone shinobi's eyes to widen as the ground behind him suddenly shifted. A thick tree root exploded from beneath the earth before driving straight through the man's back and bursting from the center of his chest. The Stone shinobi froze as his eyes slowly lowered towards the blood-covered root sticking from his body before lifting back towards Naruto. Blood poured from his mouth as he attempted to breathe, but no words came out, and a few seconds later his head dropped forward as his body went completely limp.
Naruto released the technique, causing the root to slowly lower the dead shinobi towards the ground before withdrawing into the earth. For several seconds, Naruto simply stood in the middle of the damaged clearing and looked over the three bodies before eventually letting out a quiet sigh. Under different circumstances, Naruto could sympathize with them. They had lost people to his father during a war and had spent years carrying that anger with them. If Minato had killed their families, Naruto could understand why seeing someone who looked almost identical to him would bring those memories back, but they had come after Naruto and openly admitted their intention to kill him before attacking.
This was the life of a shinobi.
Naruto wiped the blood from his kunai against the clothes of the man nearest him before returning the weapon to his pouch. He crouched beside the body and began searching through the man's equipment, finding several kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and enough food for several days, but no scroll. Naruto took the useful supplies before sealing them into the storage seal on his wrist and repeated the process with the second Stone shinobi, once again finding several useful ninja tools and food supplies but no Heaven or Earth Scroll.
"Leader probably has it," Naruto thought as he stood and walked towards the third body.
The Stone leader's body was badly damaged from the impact with the tree, but Naruto ignored the sight as he crouched beside him and began searching through his pouches. He found another collection of ninja tools before eventually reaching a pouch attached near the man's lower back. Naruto opened it and immediately smiled when he saw a rolled scroll sitting inside with the kanji for Heaven written across the front.
"Well, that worked out."
Naruto removed the Heaven Scroll before touching it against the storage seal on his wrist and channeling chakra into it, causing the scroll to disappear and join the Earth Scroll already stored inside. He now possessed both scrolls needed to complete the second stage, meaning all he needed to do was reach the tower in the center of the forest before the five-day deadline.
Naruto stood, glanced towards the direction of the central tower, and began to walk away from the clearing, leaving the three Stone shinobi where they had fallen. As he moved deeper into the forest, distant sounds began echoing from different directions around him. Explosions could occasionally be heard somewhere far away, along with the clash of metal and several screams, making it clear that the Stone team had not been the only group to immediately begin hunting other participants.
The second stage was now fully underway.
Naruto continued towards the center of the forest for approximately an hour without encountering anyone else directly. Several of his clones were still spread throughout the training ground, and the occasional burst of memories entered his mind whenever one dispelled. One had found a Hidden Rain team setting wire traps along a route leading towards the river, another had spotted a Waterfall team already fighting against a Grass team, while a third had found nothing particularly important before accidentally getting eaten by some kind of enormous snake. Naruto paused for half a second after receiving that particular memory.
"Well, I guess that counts as useful information."
Naruto continued walking deeper into the forest until something eventually began bothering him. He could not immediately identify what had changed, but years of training caused him to trust the feeling instead of dismissing it. His chakra senses expanded farther through the surrounding forest as he continued moving, searching through the numerous signatures belonging to animals and other creatures until, for barely a second, Naruto felt something considerably different.
Someone was behind him. Naruto did not turn around or give any indication that he had noticed.
"So I'm being followed."
Whoever it was knew what they were doing. The chakra signature disappeared almost immediately, suppressed so effectively that Naruto probably would not have noticed it at all if he had not already been actively sensing everything around him. More importantly, the small amount of chakra he managed to feel did not match what Naruto expected from a normal genin, causing him to become considerably more cautious while continuing towards the center of the forest as though nothing had happened.
The next hour passed without the person making a move. Every so often, Naruto caught another faint trace of chakra somewhere behind him, only for it to disappear almost immediately. Whoever was following him maintained enough distance that Naruto never heard movement through the branches or saw anything unusual whenever he casually glanced around. Another hour eventually passed with the same pattern continuing, though Naruto's concern only grew as he became increasingly certain that whoever was following him was suppressing a considerable amount of chakra.
"Way too much chakra for anyone who should be taking this exam," Naruto thought while continuing beneath another massive tree.
Naruto continued walking for another couple of hours while keeping part of his attention focused on the chakra signature following him. Whoever it was continued suppressing their chakra extremely well, only allowing Naruto to catch brief traces of it every so often before it disappeared again. The fact that the person had managed to follow him for this long without making any obvious mistakes bothered Naruto more than he wanted to admit, especially since the small amount of chakra he could sense felt considerably greater than anything he had encountered from the other genin taking the exam.
All of a sudden, the chakra signature disappeared completely, causing Naruto to stop walking as his expression immediately became serious. He expanded his senses through the surrounding forest while keeping one hand close to his kunai pouch, but several seconds passed without him detecting anything nearby. Before Naruto could decide whether the person had finally left, the chakra signature suddenly appeared again some distance ahead of him; only this time, whoever had been following him was no longer suppressing their chakra.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as the full weight of the chakra signature became clear. Whoever was ahead of him possessed an enormous amount of chakra, easily comparable to what Naruto had felt from his grandmother, Jiraiya, and the Third Hokage. There was absolutely no chance the person hiding somewhere ahead of him was a genin participating in the Chunin Exams, causing Naruto to immediately become far more cautious as he tried to determine exactly where they were hiding.
"What the hell is someone this strong doing inside the exam?" Naruto thought as his eyes slowly moved through the trees.
The chakra signature stopped moving somewhere ahead and slightly to Naruto's right, causing him to turn his attention towards one of the enormous trees. He could not see anyone at first, but there was no longer any question that someone was hiding somewhere among the branches.
"You can come out now," Naruto said in a low and serious tone as he stared into the tree.
Several seconds passed before movement finally came from above him. A figure slowly stepped into view along one of the large branches, allowing Naruto to get his first clear look at the person who had been following him. Long black hair fell past the man's shoulders while unnaturally pale skin stood out against the darkness of the forest, with golden eyes and slit pupils staring down at Naruto with an expression that immediately reminded him of a snake. Naruto's eyes narrowed further.
He had never personally met the man before, but he had heard the name countless times from his grandmother and Jiraiya over the years, along with enough descriptions to know exactly who he was looking at.
"You've got to be kidding me." Naruto stared up at the pale man for several seconds before speaking.
"Orochimaru."
**Chapter End**
That's another chapter in the books! Hope you guys enjoyed it. See ya next chapter!
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