Sakura shivered. “The Forest of Death? That doesn’t sound fun. We’ll be okay, right Sasuke?”
“Are you a ninja or not?” Sasuke grumbled. What kind of ninja needed encouragement?
Naruto nodded dully. He knew there were creatures bigger and stronger than him. When he stared down the kyuubi, he had only come up to the beast’s eyes because the fox was crouched down. “For all we know the Forest is filled with poisonous animal and traps and stuff like that,” he whimpered.
Sasuke groaned. The last thing he needed was a draconic hypochondriac afraid of his own shadow.
Finally they laid eyes on the forest. Some kind of giant bug was visible in a nearby tree, eating a bird and then vanishing into the canopy.
Sakura clutched herself to stop shaking.
Sasuke’s expression hardened. The forest would live up to its name if even the bugs were a threat.
Naruto blinked. “Eh? Isn’t that just the hunting preserve?”
Everyone around team seven stopped talking and stared at the loud blonde.
Anko looked at the genin. “Hunting preserve?” she asked sultrily.
“Yeah,” Naruto said, utterly relaxed. “I go hunting in there all the time. Just watch out for the red centipedes.”
“The red ones aren’t poisonous,” Anko said, eyes narrowing. Kid was pretty bad at bluffing.
“Yeah, but they give ya heartburn for a week,” Naruto said, shrugging. “The yellow ones got some poison in them but if you cut off the head and first body segment the rest is pretty tasty. Kinda like cinnamon and ginger pork.”
A few teams away, Choji was busy scribbling notes. “Roasted or boiled?” he called.
Naruto considered the question. “Well, you put it over an open flame still in the shell and it cooks in its own juices,” he yelled back. “Not sure what you call that. Goes great in ramen.”
“Sweet,” Choji said.
Anko was still pretty sure the kid was bluffing, but he pushed it far enough that it was becoming a pretty good bluff. Especially to the foreign nin that had never seen a forest like this. Already they were relaxing at the idea that if a lone genin could call the forest a hunting preserve it wouldn’t be that dangerous.
The Konoha locals knew better. Sasuke looked at Naruto closely. “You really go hunting in there?”
“Yeah,” Naruto said brightly. His voice dropped. “Ever since my bloodline, I’ve had to eat a lot more. I can’t afford that much ramen, so I’ve had to hunt some. This place is full of tasty critters. Not dangerous at all.”
“Naruto, how big are those centipedes?”
“Eh? Oh I’d say about as long as my…oh. Um, right. Okay, it might be a little dangerous to humans.” A centipede as long as his wing was long enough to trample anyone here. And those poisoned jaws… “Maybe even pretty dangerous. You might not want to go to sleep.”
Sasuke sighed and shook his head. Well, at least they had a trump card.
“Alright my little brats!” Anko called cheerily. “Time for the rules! If anyone wants to keep their pretty skin intact, better drop out now, because you’re going to spend the next five days in the forest!”
There were grumbles at that. They’d figured it was a wilderness survival thing since it was in a forest, but five days was going to be irritating.
“Now, we’ve got 26 teams here. Half of you are going to get a heaven scroll, the other half gets an earth scroll. You need one of each to pass the second test.”
More mutterings. Suddenly everyone was an enemy. “What’s on the scrolls?”
“Open it to see and you fail,” Anko sang. “If you die, you fail. Leave the forest, fail. Lose the scroll, fail. If anyone on your team can’t fight, fail. You need to take both scrolls to a tower somewhere in the forest before the end of the five days to pass. If you’re still in the forest in six days, fail.”
“Can we quit after we enter?” Shikamaru asked.
“Only if you manage to leave the forest,” Anko chided. “And that would make me soooo saaaad.”
Shikamaru blanched. Crazy snake lady was creepy.
Within minutes, the teams were scattered and ready to enter the forest. Sasuke looked at the small scroll they carried – a Heaven Scroll. "Did anyone see what the other teams got?" he asked.
Naruto and Sakura shook their heads. "Sorry," Sakura said.
"Hnnn," Sasuke hummed. "Doesn't matter. Everyone is our enemy now."
"I feel sorry for everyone, dattebayo," Naruto drawled.
Sasuke allowed a cold smirk, and then the doors opened. The second test had begun!
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(Posted Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:06)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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