Chapter 14

"This here," Anko gestures at the giant fenced in forest, "is the Forest of Death. The second stage of the Chunin Exams."

"Why is it called the Forest of Death?" Someone asks.

"Glad you asked random gennin number 24! It's called that because it's a forest, and people die in it."

"Pfft! I'm not afraid of a forest!" Naruto shouts out.

A kunai whips past his face, lightly scratching him. Anko appears behind him and drapes herself over him.

"Ooh, a tough guy. Your type makes the loudest screams when they die." Naruto pales. "I can't wait!" Suddenly Anko whirls around to see female Orochimaru holding her kunai.

With her tongue.

"Your kunai." Orochimaru moves her tongue to hand it over.

"Thank you, but if you value your life never try to sneak up on me again."

"I couldn't help myself. I just get so excited when I see blood." That quiets everyone, they're suddenly worried about crossing paths with the blood happy Grass kunoichi.

"Ew. Gross." My voice breaks the silence. "Who knows where those kunai's have been and she put her tongue on it. Disgusting."

"Moving on!" Anko yells. "This is how the second exam is going to work. Each team will get a scroll. Either heaven or earth. You'll have 5 days to get to the center of the Forest of Death and enter the tower. To get in you'll need both scrolls, so you'll have to confront other teams! Yay! Oh, also nothing is off limits so we need you to sign these forms. They're saying we aren't held responsible if you die." Anko passes out the forms. "When I call your team name, enter this booth. You'll hand in your forms and take a scroll."

"Sasuke. Observe the booth."

"Hn."

"Sakura. You watch the shinobi that have come out of the booth. See if you can spot a scroll."

"What are you going to do?" Sakura asks me.

"Me? I'm going to get a plan together, and maybe steal a scroll or two. Depends really."

I desperately need a plan. I have two main goals, survive and get a scroll. Survive first. Well, there really is no way I can affect whether Orochimaru shows up or not. No point in trying to plan around that. That will have to be done spur of the moment.

Second goal is doable though. Get a scroll? Easy. My team is going to be fine, we just need to know which teams have which scroll. Sasuke and Sakura might narrow down our search. Other options to get scrolls: steal one from the booth. Possible, but needs refinement once I enter the booth. I can work with that. If I can I'll grab one scroll each, then I will look like the person who made them counted one short. Easy. Maybe. We will find out.

"Konoha Team 7!" Here we go.

"Sasuke, Sakura, I have an idea. But I need the least amount of attention on me as possible."

"We can work with that!" Sakura assures me. Sasuke nods in agreement.

We enter the booth. There's a table with a stack of papers on one side, and a white scroll pile and a blue scroll pile. Game time. I loosen the fasteners on my travel pack. I get strings on one of each scroll. Now we wait. There is only one chunin in the booth overseeing us. Sasuke walks right up to him and slams his form onto the table. The chunin reflexively twitches.

"I have some questions about the wording. Anything goes, does that include bloodline theft?" Whipping out the big guns, eh Sasuke?

It works, the chunin goes stark white. Chance! I move the scrolls into my pack. Easy. The poor chunin is floundering around, trying to assure the last Uchiha that the form is not meant to promote bloodline theft. After letting him sweat a few more seconds, Sasuke backs off.

"Fine. Just give us a damn scroll already." The chunin hands Sasuke a heaven scroll. He puts it in his pack. We exit the booth.

"Success." Sasuke and Sakura grin. "That was really mean Sasuke. I approve."

We wait for the other groups to get their scrolls.

"Anko! We're 2 scrolls short! We need another heaven and earth scroll."

"What the hell dipshit? You made them, can't you count?"

"I... well... I must have been given the wrong numbers!" Smooth. Blame someone else.

"Fine! New Rule: the last two teams to go into the booth don't get a scroll because they were lazy."

"But that doesn't make sense. You called us off a list!" One of the shinobi who didn't get a scroll shouts.

"Don't care! Now, each team will enter through their own gate, as displayed by this map here. You have one hour to get to your gate. Wait there and listen for the bell, once you hear the bell the gate will open and the second exam will start!" We find our spot on the map and head to our gate.

Once we are alone I inform Sasuke and Sakura "I have both scrolls in my pack."

"I knew it! You're the reason they were two short!"

"Yep! It was easier than fighting a team. Now we can haul ass to the tower."

"I wanted to fight someone. This seems to easy, like we are cheating."

"Please Sasuke, we are shinobi. We don't do fair play. If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying!"

"This is why I won't play cards with you." Sasuke bluntly states.

"That is a horrible motto to live by Alvarcus."

"Well who asked you Sakura?"

"Don't start arguing now. I don't want to deal with that." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Sasuke the peacekeeper.

DING DONG

The gate opens.

I turn to my team, "Well, here goes nothing." We enter the forest.

We decide to head straight to the tower. It makes the most sense. Besides, we could end up dodging Orochimaru. Everything could work out in our favor. We might even set a record time at this pace!

"Contact left!" Sakura shouts.

The forest is being ripped to shreds by a wind jutsu. Orochimaru. We didn't escape him.

Reacting on instinct, I attach strings to the ground. The raging wind slams into me but I don't budge. I can't say the same for Sasuke and Sakura, they are blown a ways behind me, still in line of sight if I turn around. I can't do that though, because that would kill me. Orochimaru is standing on a tree, not 20 meters away from me. She's idly spinning a kunai on a finger.

We are so dead.

"Hello again, Alvarcus. I'd like to play with you, but I don't have the time. You see, I came for your teammate."

"You want Sasuke?"

"Yes."

"You'll have to go through me."

"I can arrange that." Orochimaru lazily licks her kunai.

"I don't suppose I could cash in on that debt you owe me and get you to leave us alone?" I know it is a shot in the dark, but maybe she'll agree.

"Hmm... it'll buy you 30 seconds. Interested still? It's not everyday I owe someone a favor. This would be a waste."

"I'll let you know what 30 seconds I want. Deal?" I ask. Thirty seconds is better than nothing.

"Kukukuku, very cunning. Saving the time for later when you might need it." Orochimaru grins. "I accept. Shout pause when you want your time to start."

"Thank you. This is where I run for my life. If you'll pardon the cursing, it is a habit."

"Go ahead, it makes the game all the more enjoyable, child."

With the pleasantries taken care of, Orochimaru throws the kunai at my heart. I send it back at double the speed. The smug bastard catches it.

"What's this? Is this the rumored magnet release? Remarkable, I've never seen it used this way before."

She throws the kunai back at me, double the speed I sent it to her. I barely catch it in time, and double the return speed again. There's no way I can catch her next throw, not if she ups the speed again.

"Wonderful! Is that a version of an automatic defense? Oh! You've distracted me, we can play catch later. I need to find Sasuke." Orochimaru vanishes into leaves.

"Sasuke! Sakura! The only chance we have is to work as a team! Get your asses over here!"

They explode out of their hiding spots.

"Sasuke. You observed her. Share."

"Lithe body. Good for flexibility and contortions. Theory supported by the tongue jutsu we saw earlier. Most likely a mid to long range fighter, not suited to close combat. She would need a weapon to augment her abilities at close range. I recommend taijutsu."

"Not yet. We don't know enough. We need more info. Defense for now. I'll handle projectiles. Sasuke if she engages mid or close range fireball her. Sakura, support us. I need you to watch out for jutsu targeted at us, especially genjutsu. Sasuke and I will be busy with our tasks. Can you do it?"

"Y-yes!" Sakura sounds terrified. I wonder how I am staying so calm. They don't even know what level of threat this is, I do. We can't win, we can only hope to survive.

"It's a good plan," Orochimaru calls out, "but what happens if I do this?"

Smoke fills the area. She summoned two giant snakes.

"Well fuck me. Sasuke take the brown! I'll delay the green, I can't kill it alone. Sakura back Sasuke up! When you two are done, come save me."

We split up, which is probably a bad idea. At least Sasuke has Sakura with him.

"Alright. Giant snake. Time to get your attention."

I draw a kunai out of my pack. I start swinging it around my body with a chakra string. Faster and faster it spins, I'm letting the centripetal force climb higher and higher. Once the kunai becomes a blur, I release it. It flies true and punches straight through the snake's left eye. Half blind it reels in pain, thrashing around the forest. I draw another kunai and start winding up. I let it fly. I missed, the kunai bounces harmlessly off the snake's skin.

The snake turns towards me.

"Oh shit. This plan of Alvarcus being the snake bait sounded much better in my head."

The snake lunges, intent on eating me whole. I shoot chakra strings out of my back and latch them onto a nearby tree. I pull myself to safety.

"That was way too close." Using the same method I start yanking myself around the forest, dodging and doing crazy stunts to stay out of the massive snake's jaws. Half the time I don't even touch the ground. I change direction mid air, almost like I am flying. Kakashi is getting a fruit basket if I survive, this is a damn good idea.

The snake hisses at me, opening its maw wide.

A fireball of epic size launches down it's throat roasting it from the inside. It makes an ungodly sound, and coils up dead.

"About damn time you got here. It almost had me 4 times! Even if I blinded it in an eye it followed me no problem!"

"That is because snakes use the sense of smell and taste to track their pray." Orochimaru informs us.

"Aw fuck, you're still around." Without taking my eyes off of her, I yell out, "Sasuke, Sakura! You hurt?"

"I'm fine. Sakura is pinned under a fallen log." Sasuke yells back.

"Get her out! I'll distract her."

"I must say, Alvarcus, you control over the magnet release is exceptional. How did you move yourself like that? Are you wearing metal gauntlets and greaves?" Oh thank Kami, if Orochimaru wants to talk I don't have to keep her occupied with combat. I'd much rather talk then get my ass kicked.

"Give me another 30 second pause and I'll tell you." I barter with her.

"I accept. You can now say pause twice."

"I'm not wearing any metal."

Orochimaru tilts her head in thought. "Then how did you do it child?"

"Ah the question that will keep me alive. Don't you wish you knew?" If I have value in her eyes, she might not kill me. It's a flimsy idea at best.

"Oh, believe me, I have no intention of killing you. What a waste that would be!"

"Well that's great to know! Then I can go on the offensive!" I start using my strings to hurl anything, everything at the snake Sannin.

"I don't understand! The magnet release only effects one metal! Yours is clearly iron, so how are you throwing around stones and wood?"

"Stay! Still! Dammit!" I must have thrown hundreds of things at her, nothing connected.

"ENOUGH!" Orochimaru spikes her killing intent. I freeze. I loose control of my chakra strings, everything they were holding falls to the ground. "I've had enough of these games! Tell me what I want to know!"

It takes all of my willpower to utter one word. Shakily, I crack open my dried lips, I croak out pathetically, "Pause."

"You have 30 seconds." The killing intent vanishes. I jump back to Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke finally got her out.

"We are so fucked." I state. They don't respond, they know it too. "Sasuke. I want your biggest, hottest fireball ready on a moments notice. You'll have one chance. That's all I can promise."

"I won't miss."

"You better not. We could die if you do."

"Time is up." Orochimaru leisurely walks towards us. "Surely you must realize how out of your league you are? Let me take what I want. I'll even spare your lives."

"NOW!" I shoot my strings at Orochimaru. Four per limb, 16 on her torso, and 2 on her head. I lock her in place for a fraction of a second. Just to make it overkill, I set my strings on fire. I feel my chakra supply plummet and I fall into a knee. I used almost all of my chakra pulling that stunt, I forced myself into chakra exhaustion. This fight is over for me, I'll be useless now. I hope it was enough.

Sasuke's fireball flies true, it hits Orochimaru smack in the chest. The smell of burnt flesh stinks up the air.

"Did we get her?" Sasuke asks.

"Kukukuku," A male voice says, "You burned away my disguise. How unfortunate." There he is, Orochimaru in his natural form.

I hear a sharp intake of breath behind me from Sakura.

"Alvarcus, he looks exactly like you."

I focus on Orochimaru more, taking in his body style, his hair, his yellow - oh my Kami.

I freeze. My brain shuts down. No. Not this.

"She's right. You do look like him. Freakishly like him." Sasuke adds.

Anything but this. I refuse to accept this. He can't be the one my parents talk about, the one they whisper in fear about.

"Alvarcus?" Sakura calls to me.

He is not my fath-

"ALVARCUS!" Sasuke smacks the back of my head.

"What the hell man? That freaking hurt!" I'm thankful he did that, I can think clearly now.

"Do you know him?" Sasuke demands.

"Kukukuku, I know him. I haven't seen him in 13 years, and even then he was just a fetus." Orochimaru lazily leans against a tree. He wants to talk about his.

"Oh fuck no you didn't. Tell me you didn't. Please, not that. You're not my father!"

Orochimaru just grins and takes a mock bow. "I am, just not in the traditional sense."

"Explain. NOW!" I demand. I have to have this answered.

"I will. For a price." I think I hate this man.

"Manipulative bastard. Name it." I growl out.

"It's twofold, tell me how your magnet release works on so many unique forms of matter and let me do with Sasuke what I will." That seals it, I hate this man.

Sasuke inhales sharply at Orochimaru's words.

"No deal. Only the first. I won't abandon him." I will not allow Orochimaru to place the curse seal on my friend.

"Hmm... Acceptable. Now tell me! I simply must know! This could be revolutionary! Flying, control over all those substances! Imagine the possibilities! I could make you great! Tell me!" Orochimaru is practically frothing at the mouth.

I coolly regard the excited Snake Sannin. I'm about to tell him my greatest strength. "I don't have the magnet release. Everything you have seen me do has been chakra strings."

Orochimaru considers my answer for a long time.

"It all makes sense!" His face lights up in victory, like he solved a puzzle. "Most puppet masters are limited by their 10 fingers, you've found a way around that! Outstanding! How did you do it?"

"No. Not part of the deal. Hold up your end of the bargain." I demand. I have to know.

"I did give my word, very well. You, a 3 week old fetus, were an experiment that I thought had failed. You see, 13 years ago I acquired the second Hokage's forbidden technique -"

"Edo Tensi." I cut in.

"You know of it! Wonderful! You, you were my test. I could sacrifice grown humans, but could I sacrifice a fetus? Could I use a pregnant woman and get two sacrifices out of one person! It failed, or should I say it didn't do what I expected. In my studies I found that the Edo Tensi eradicates the soul of the sacrifice to make room for the soul from the Underworld."

No. No, this is a dream. A really bad dream.

"That's right, I pulled you out of the Underworld, completely on accident. I had no idea until you walked into the exam room. The spitting image of myself stared at me. I didn't know how it was possible! So I made sure to sit next to you during the first exam, and I gathered information. I had suspicions, but I wasn't convinced until you told me your name. Mar. The family name of one Namika Mar, the woman whose fetus I destroyed. You see, when I flooded you with my chakra, I must have left an imprint. It's why we look so similar. It's why you are so brilliant! You take after me!" Orochimaru spreads his arms wide in a grand gesture. "Chakra strings! Not even Sasori could do the things you do!"

"So it is true then. You're not my father, you are my creator."

"Yes, and what an amazing creation you are. You see, how much knowledge you must have of the past. Forgotten jutsu, locations of ancient civilizations! We could uncover it all together! Join me, Alvarcus!"

"No. You're crazy. I will never join you."

"I can help you achieve your dream. S-rank, you said it yourself, I am a great shinobi. You can not deny that."

"My answer is the same. I will not go with you."

"So, you choose death?" Orochimaru gets deadly serious. I know this is a real threat.

With a great effort I rise to my feet. If this is the end I will not die on my knees.

"If it is either one or the other, I'll choose death. It's not that bad of an experience." I should know, I've been through it before.

Orochimaru's face contorts in fury. "So be it."

The next thing I know, I am pinned to a tree with Orochimaru's hand on my throat.

"Since you succeeded where I thought I failed, we will see if you can do it again. Deep down I am more than just a man, more than a shinobi. I am a scientist! And today, you get to be my test subject."

Not good. I start flailing around, trying to loosen his grip on my neck. Nothing works, in my exhausted state I can't do anything to escape. His grip is absolute.

Orochimaru reaches into his robes and pulls out a glass vial with... a black thread inside it?

"What I am holding here is Takigakure's most forbidden technique: The Jiongu. Earth Grudge Fear, bought off of it's last and only user. But it is so much more than that now, I improved it. I made it better, I gave it a mind. I gave it sentience!"

Pain. All I feel is pain. I look down. Orochimaru is elbow deep into my gut. I hear Sasuke and Sakura call out to me, but most importantly I hear glass break. Orochimaru withdraws his hand. It is painted red with my blood.

What did he do to me?

"This will be very painful. The Jiongu I acquired was symbiotic with its host, they worked together. The black threads enhanced the organs, covered them protectively. This one, the one currently in your gut, is parasitic. It will feast on your organs and replace them with itself. It will be most interesting to see the results, the only organs that will be spared are the heart and your skin. Everything else, muscle, bone, stomach, liver, kidneys, eyes, and even your brain will be devoured and then recreated. No one has survived before, but you, I think you will. After all, this isn't your first body. Souls are not meant to body hop, I know from experience, yet yours is resilient. It adapted to the new body once, maybe it can do it again. Either way, I lose nothing. If you survive, you must tell me how it felt. This has never been done before, you understand. This is for science! You've already proven me wrong by passing an experiment when by all rights you were a failure. One more experiment shouldn't hurt. Oh, silly me, it will. It will be the most painful thing you will ever experience. I'll see you again, child of mine."

Orochimaru drops me to the forest floor. Pain. At first it is just from the fist sized hole in my gut. I vaguely recall Sakura and Sasuke crouching over me and saying something. Probably asking if I'm okay. I can't respond.

I feel something move in my gut. Something that shouldn't be there. I hear screaming, the sound of a dying animal. Is that me? I can't tell, the pain is too much. The Jiongu is eating my organs. It's spreading throughout my body, feasting on everything. I feel every moment. The pain never lessens, not even when I feel my spine give way to the ravenous monster inside me. The Jiongu is replicating what it eats, making me new organs and tissue to replace what it devoured. Finally it gets to my neck. I can hear whimpering, the sound of utter defeat. My eyes. It's eating my eyes. My vision goes dark. The last thing the Jiongu eats is my brain. I hope for death. I pray for death. Anything is better than this agony. Eventually the pain became too much, or the Jiongu ate something important in my head, because I am rewarded with blissful darkness.

~Finally, I have found a host.~