Chapter 57: The Missing Question

Disclaimer:

Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 57: The Missing Question

A.N - Hello!, Author here. I wanted to address two of the main issues that people have been pointing out.

The first one would be that everything feels too similar to the canonical events in the story. This is because I have kept everyone in character, other than Naruto, of course. This means that the story will 'try' to keep the same course unless Naruto himself does something to change it.

This will inevitably lead to many things remaining the same, but the ripples created by Naruto will become larger and more evident as the story progresses until we reach the point where this will become something completely different from canon. 

And I know this can lead to the pacing feeling slow, but you will start to see big changes soon enough.

- The second one would be that the story doesn't have enough cultivation elements in it. The thing is, the beginning of the story is all very rushed with little breathing room for the MC to take his time and cultivate. 

Normally, a cultivation novel will have a large time skip at the beginning, like from six months to a year so the MC has a chance to have some breakthrough and learn at least one offensive technique. 

We don't have that here, so I had to take that into account when I came up with Naruto's cultivation method, to make it much faster. But even with all of that, we are still at the beginning (Only two months have passed so far). You will see more xianxia elements as the story progresses, I can promise you that :)

That being said, this will not be a pure cultivation novel. My idea is to create a story that can blend the elements of Naruto with some elements from xianxia to create something new that even people who have never read a cultivation novel could enjoy. 

That is all. Thank you for reading. - 

"So what about the tenth question?" Sakura asked.

"There was never a tenth question," Ibiki answered.

"The only things being tested were your ability to gather information and your willingness to take on dangerous situations. Allow me to explain…"

At that moment, something broke through the window and fell inside the classroom.

"Oi, I wasn't done yet!" Ibiki shouted.

The dark bundle was revealed to be a woman wearing a large coat with a tight fishnet underneath.

"No time to celebrate, you brats! I am the examiner for the second part of the exam. My name is Mitarashi Anko!"

"You didn't let me finish my explanation," Ibiki said.

"Wow, there are a lot of them left… did you go soft on them?" Anko glanced at Ibiki.

"Hmph, some kid ruined my tenth question test…"

"Oh… well, no matter. I'll get rid of at least half on my test." She glanced over them.

"Follow me!"

"H-half?..." Sakura said with dread.

"What is she going to do?" a worried Chouji asked his friend.

"We'll have to s-"

"Stop being like that all the time!" Ino cut off Shikamaru's answer.

"You'll be fine. You have me in your team!"

"You are worried too?" Naruto saw Sakura trying to hide her nervousness.

"N-o… I mean… a little bit."

He got closer to her.

"There is nothing wrong with being afraid. As long as it doesn't stop you from moving forward." He glanced at Ino.

"She is scared too, but tries to hide it under a mask."

"Ino?..." Sakura always saw her brave side, and that made her jealous. This had caused them to fight a lot over the years.

"Come on. This next examiner seems to have a serious attitude problem. We shouldn't make her wait." He added before walking away.

"Wait!" Sakura ran after him, not realizing she had left Sasuke behind in the classroom.

<><><><><><><><>

They arrived in front of a massive forest, closed by a metallic gate with the number 44 on it.

"Mmm… I have been here before." He recalled trying to enter this place for some training.

The ninja guarding the gate that day told him that this training ground was only for chuunins or higher-ranked personnel.

The examiner was standing right next to the gate. She glanced at the large group of nervous genins and gave them a cruel smirk.

"Welcome to the location for the second test. Training Grounds 44, also known as the Forest of Death."

"What an ominous name…" Sakura said.

"Hmph!" Sasuke was not impressed.

"Seems like an exaggeration. It's just a forest." Naruto could not see anything dangerous about this forest. He doubted there were demonic beasts or anything of the sort. That would kill every single examinee and benefit no one.

A kunai flew directly at his head and he barely avoided it.

That crazy woman from before was now behind him.

"Oh?... not bad." She got closer to his face.

"Should the examiner be doing this?... seems inappropriate," Naruto told her. He did not detect any hostility from this person. She was clearly just trying to scare him.

"Haha! I was just playing around a bit. But…" She separated a bit from him and began to walk back to the front.

"Don't underestimate this forest… or you will never get out."

"Yikes…" Sakura was getting goosebumps just listening to her.

Anko picked up a stack of papers from a nearby table.

"Some of you are likely going to die. So I need everyone to sign these forms."

"What's that for?!" someone asked.

"It's just to clarify that you understand the risk of possible death and fully consent to take part in the test despite the risks, freeing me and the Konoha village from any responsibility in case of… you know, in case you don't make it."

The genins began to talk loudly among themselves.

"Okay, shut up! I was not done!" Anko shouted.

"I will now explain the rules, and then you can sign the papers."

She pulled out a large map.

"This is going to be an extreme survival test." Anko then explained the layout of area 44.

Naruto made sure to take a good look at the map and memorize it. This could end up saving him.

"So we just have to survive in there? That doesn't seem too bad." Kiba said with a confident smile.

"Did I say I was done?!" Anko frowned.

"No, that's not all you have to do… hold on." She picked up two different scrolls from the table.

"While you are in there… this will be your mission."

The scrolls had different words written on them.

"You will be fighting over these scrolls. Before you enter, your group will be given one of these scrolls. Half of the teams will get the 'Heaven' scroll while the other half will be given the 'Earth' one."

"So, we just have to steal one scroll from another team." Sasuke said.

"But I doubt they will tell us which scroll they have. So we may have to take more than one," Naruto pointed out.

"That's no problem."

Sakura looked at her two teammates. She wanted to be more positive but could not help to be worried.

Among the group of genins, there were a lot of scary individuals, like the genin from the Sand Village, or that green-suited guy who defeated Sasuke.

Anko finished her instructions by informing them that they had five days to get both scrolls and reach the tower on the other side of the forest.

While Naruto was thinking about how to complete this task efficiently, other genins had different worries.

"Wait, five days? Without a shower?!" Ino looked horrified.

"What about food?! I definitely did not bring enough for five days!" Chouji was also horrified.

A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.

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