CHAPTER 15 FOREST OF DEATH

"Guys, this is not time for celebration," the woman that had burst through the window said. She was taller, with short black hair, a brown jacket, short skirt, and some thin fabric around her chest. I could almost see her nipples in the tight shirt. Panicking, I grabbed one of my pills to help stave off my libido. Taking it quickly I watched as she counted the group. 

"I am the instructor for the next part of the exam, but I expected more of you to be weeded out. 26 teams? How did so many get through?" She asked. 

"This group is stronger than most," the 1st examiner said. 

"Yeah right, time to start culling the herd. Move out people. We will be going to the Forest of Death," she said with a hiss. The hiss reminded me that she was an accomplice or experiment of Orochimaru, I couldn't remember which. Reminded of the bigger problem in the group I scanned the examinees until I found Orochimaru. 

I found him pretty easy. Long black hair, emotionless face, and wearing the classic purple rope waist thing that he was known for. I wondered how people didn't know it was him. He wore a straw hat that reminded me of Raiden from Mortal Kombat. I felt a shiver run up my spine as he looked under the brim of his hat to stare at me. 

Turning away I began to walk with my group. "You were right," Kiba said with a sigh. "How the hell did you know?" 

"Good guess," I said with a shrug. "Even though I have you a hint, I doubt you would have cracked." 

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" He asked. 

"Because I trust you," I said. He rolled his eyes and kept walking. 

"Weston, you were right," Naruto said moving over to us. He accidentally nudged Hinata causing her to blush. I rolled my eyes. More annoyed than I liked to admit. Which was bad, I was starting to think of Hinata as mine. She locked eyes with me and blushed more deeply. "Any pointers for this next one?" 

"Yep, don't trust anyone," I said. "Not even me. Or your own teammates."

"What?" He asked. 

"You'll see. Tell you what. If I meet you during the next test and say…" I leaned in closer so no one could hear. "Thunder. You will know it's me. And I'll know it's you if you say Flash."

"What? Why?" He asked.

"Too many ears," I said. "Can't give away all my secrets." Naruto frowned but nodded. We were soon walking outside, following the instructor. 

"For those of you who don't know, I am Anko Mitarashi," the female examiner yelled as we gathered outside. "This behind me is the Forest of Death," she said. Pointing to a gated area behind her there were giant creepy trees inside. I was reminded of the forest Yusuke Urameshi had to run through before being trained by Genkai. Or the forest Gon had to run through during his Hunters Exam…I was starting to see a theme for tests in manga. Or wait, weren't those written by the same person? I couldn't remember. Either way it was familiar. 

"As this name implies, you very likely will die here. There will be many deaths if you aren't careful, and if you are you might die anyway. For those not willing to risk death, I recommend leaving now." She waited on the group. Grumbling that no one left, she continued.

"The Forest of Death is a gated in forest that is 6 miles in diameter. There are 44 gates at the perimeter, so you can choose to leave at any time. If you do so, you and your team will have forfeited. There is a river through the forest which leads to a tower at the center. Your goal is to get to this tower. That's 3 miles, so not too bad, right?"

"The trick is, you will be asked to keep and steal scrolls." She raised her hands to show 2 scrolls. One white that had 'Heaven' written on it, and one black that had 'Earth' written on it. "You will be given one of these 2 scrolls. Your goal will be to steal the other one from another team. So to finish this test, your team will have to present a heaven and an earth scroll." 

People began to grumble. "Only 13 teams will make it to the end," Sakura whispered close by. Showing off her math skills. 

"There is a time limit," Anko said. "120 hours from when you enter the perimeter of the fence. During that time you will have to get 1 of each scroll and make it to the center building with all of your team members. If one is missing or dead, you will not pass."

"5 days?!" Ino yelled. 

"What about dinner?" Choji yelled as well. The heavyset shinobi had his priorities straight. 

"There is plenty of food in the forest. Poisonous and deadly, but food nonetheless," Anko said with a wicked smile. 

"The last rule that you all need to know, is you cannot look inside the scrolls," she said. 

"What happens if you do?" Naruto asked. 

"There will be a nice surprise for inquisitive boys like you," Anko said. "Chunin will be asked to handle sensitive information. You need to be trustworthy enough to follow orders and keep whatever information you transport secret."

"That's it," she said. "You will choose a scroll at the tent over there, come over when your team is called. Once you have your scroll you need to run around to find one of the 44 gates to enter from. Good luck." She nodded and walked away. 

A tent off to the side someone outside of it yelled Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Team 7 walked over. "What should we do?" Hinata asked as the crowd dispersed. 

"Get a scroll then get a gate far away," I said. "The strong and confident ones will choose gates close to here." 

"I'm not running away," Kiba scoffed. 

"Me either, but we are some of the youngest here. You see that guy with the umbrellas? He looks like he's 40," I said. The guy did look it. I seemed to remember Gaara killing him. 

"You're quite funny," A woman's voice said. I turned around to see Temari. The sister of Gaara, and the daughter of the sand village's kage, she was the last person I wanted to talk to. A blonde girl with a large human size fan on her back. She exuded confidence.

"Uhh thanks," I said. 

"I heard what you said before the first test," Temari said. "You were right. Questions didn't matter. I'm curious how you knew that."

I looked behind her to see an annoyed Gaara, her brother. His red hair, bags under his eyes, and pale skin was a dead giveaway. Wearing a large gourd made of sand on his back he was short but strong. Temari's other brother Kankuro stood beside him. Wearing a weird black jumpsuit with horns on his head, and purple paint on his face I still didn't understand why he dressed like that. Maybe to make it easier to switch with the puppet on his back. 

"Good guess," I said with a smile. 

"Oh, I'd like to know more than that," she said moving closer. She came within a few inches of me. Sniffing as she did. "There's something interesting about you. I can't quite put my finger on it. And that smell," she sighed. "What it is?" 

"New cologne," I said. Reina too had remarked on my smell more than once. Simply happy sniffing me as we cuddled after sex. The Chikyugi made even my scent fill with chakra. I was sure Kiba had noticed but hadn't said anything. 

"I don't like liars," she said. 

"I don't like hitting on girls in front of the gaze of her brothers," I said. 

She drew back a little. "Oh, you know us?" 

"Of course, the 3 sand siblings. Children of the Fourth Kazekage," I said. 

"You do know a lot," she said. "What else do you know?" 

"Kiba, Weston, Hinata," someone yelled by the tent. 

"I know that's our cue," I said. "Temari, let's do this again sometime. When we have less eyes on us." I winked and the taller woman blushed as we walked away. 

"What the hell was that?" Kiba asked.

"No idea, she's weird," I said. 

"You scared of her?" Kiba asked. 

"Yep, especially that brother of hers." 

"The one with the makeup on?" 

"No the shorter one, pale as a ghost," I said. "Don't mess with him." 

"As long as he stays out of me and Akamaru's way, we shouldn't have a problem," Kiba said. 

I noticed the quiet Hinata following behind. She wore a blush as we walked into the tent. Getting our scroll we gave it to Kiba. With his keen senses he could tell when someone was close anyway. 

"What's the matter?" I asked Hinata.

"Nothing," she said blushing again. We received the Earth scroll and headed around the forest. Ending up choosing gate 16, I hoped it was far enough. I just didn't want to be close to Orochimaru. The gates were laid out in such a way that you couldn't see the other gates from where you were standing. 

"Everyone know the plan?" I asked. 

"What? No, we never talked about a plan," Kiba said. 

"Oh right," I said. "Well the most important thing is-" A gun shot rang out. Signaling the start of the 5 days. "Too late, I'll tell you later." We began running inside the gate. 

"Weston, what is the most important thing?" Kiba asked as we moved through the forest. Jumping from limb to limb one after another until we were high up. 

"Don't die," I said with a smile. He rolled his eyes, Akamaru gave off an annoyed bark.