Chapter 21

Ryoko is the one that begins to ask. "What exactly are we-"

"Surviving."

Suddenly, all three feel a sharp, burning agony lance up their legs. They each scream and Naruto has enough speed to look down in time to see a snake slithering into the grass, two puncture marks standing out on his clothed calf; the stain of blood darkens the fabric of his pants.

"You have three days." The sannin said bringing all three students eyes up towards his smiling veneer. "Make it out of this forest alive...and you're my students. Fail and...well...that should be obvious considering you've just been poisoned."

"Are you insane!?" Hachiba shouted.

"You can't be serious!"

Naruto drew his kunai and charged and attacked, all his suspicions proven in an instant!

Orochimaru moved. His eyes could barely follow the movement before his arm was snagged in an iron laced grip. The sannin's strength seemed brutally unreal as the pale man painfully twisted his arm to just before the point of breaking it.

With a single twitch it would snap.

With a different one it would dislocate.

"Not nice Naru-chan." The serpent hissed in that slithering voice as he looked to his other two students. "Three days!" He repeated. "Then you're beyond saving."

Then he was gone, releasing Naruto before he melted into the shadows of this forest like a specter.

-0-

The snake sannin chuckled as he emerged from his shunshin.

The looks on their faces...

"Was this your idea the entire time?"

"Oh for gods sake!" He snapped, whirling on the intruder that appeared in a similar shunshin technique, only to reveal Sarutobi's head Anbu.

"Hatake." He all but growled. The next person that asked him that question was going to get hurt. Badly.

"That poison non-lethal?" He trailed off, but the warning was obvious.

"Something of my own brew." He said, smirking a bit. He always did enjoy seeing his own work in its full splendor. "They'll certainly feel like they're dying."

The silver haired ninja nodded. "What exactly is the test about? Why not just go with Sarutobi's bell test?

The sannin snorted. "Bah! You'd have them chase you around with such a simplistic goal? No." He chuckled. "What brings about truth in anyone, isn't a goal, and it isn't a mission." His eyes gained something of a distant look, the smile evaporating and Kakashi had to wonder just where he'd ventured down into his memories.

"Its fear-" He finally said. "-and facing true danger. Watch and learn Hatake. This is how Shinobi of Konoha are to be tested!"

-0-

"He can't be serious! He's not serious is he?" Hachiba shouted, almost sounding histerical.

"I'm not waiting to find out if he is!" Ryoko replied, raven hair whipping around as she turned to and fro, seemingly searching for a direction to move in.

"South." Naruto growled, rubbing his arm.

"What?" She asked, whirling around to look at him.

"We gotta go south." He answered "This place is north of the village!"

"Sounds good to me!" Hachiba readily agreed.

"You sure? This had better not be you trying to look cool or something Uzumaki!"

"I'm sure." He shot back. This place was too troublesome, twice over in order for him to forget where the hell it was. Twice the snake had screwed him and his team over here. That was two times too many! The second he had the strength to do it he was shoving a Rasengan down the sannin's throat!

"Better be!" She snapped.

It wasn't long before they were running through the trees.

-0-

From places hidden, Kakashi watched Orochimaru's smile grow a bit.

"Not a bad deduction from Naruto" The Anbu surmised. "Still." He looked around. "I recognize this place, we're at the northern edge of the forest, almost three days travel exactly from the forest to the village edge, and that's if you have a clue as to where you're going. Did you set them up to fail or something?"

The sannin smirked.

-0-

It was just beginning to approach sundown when the three gennin could no longer shrug off the truth.

They felt horrible.

It had started with coughs, from there, an all too dry throat, rashes breaking out over their flesh and nausea churning their guts.

They each knew it would only get worse.

To his shame, Naruto was the first one that made the others stop.

He was smaller, his metabolism was faster with his healing, the poison was affecting him at nearly twice the rate of his teammates.

He tried to keep pace regardless until finally, his legs failed him on a jump, and he nearly plunged to the forest floor to break a limb, or his neck, it was only the fact that he knew how to stick to a tree that saved him.

"You okay!?" Hachiba called a moment later as he came to a stop on another branch.

Naruto actually had to take a moment to catch his breath before he could even think about answering. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was trying to hammer its way out of his rib cage.

"He's 'the great Uzumaki.' He'll be fine." Ryoko mocked through hard labored breaths. "We're the one's that'll keel over neh?"

"This isn't the time for goddamn jokes!" Hachiba growled "We have to keep moving."

.

.

.

If you want to access advanced chapters, wait no more and subscribe to my Patreon, where you can buy books in completely downloadable PDF format.

🤩patreon.com/Shihao123🤩