15. The Forest from Hell

"It is now time! The second part of the Chūnin Exams starts now!" Kurenai's voice boomed throughout the area.

The gates surrounding Training Ground Forty-Four were opened. All genin teams rushed into the forest quickly.

Team Three went in and kept moving until they reached a good distance away from the entrance. They stopped in front of one of the multiple large trees in the forest and Shikamaru sat down and took out a few scrolls.

"Alright, this shouldn't take too long. I'm just going to make two or three false scrolls that we lose if we needed to…only they'll be loaded with explosive tags." Shikamaru stated with a smirk.

"Take your time!" Hinata stated as she activated her Byakugan to keep track of any teams that could come in and ambush them. She then turned to her crush. "Naruto-Kun?"

"Right." Naruto nodded in understanding before making a hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Ten clones appeared from in front of the genin.

"Alright guys: search the forest and find a team with a heaven scroll. When you find one, report back to us and we'll hunt them down!" The Uzumaki ordered.

"Dattebayo!" The clones chorused in unison before heading out in different directions.

"Guess the exam is on." Shikamaru mumbled as he studied the outside of the earth scroll, trying to figure out he was going to recreate it.

Thirty minutes had passed since the exam began. In a clearing near on the gates, two teams had already found each other. Han's genin were standing next to each other, ready for battle. Across from them was a team from Amegakure. They were an all-male team. One member of the team, a tall guy with steel umbrellas on his back, stepped forward towards the Iwa team.

"You guys didn't even try to hide. You were waiting for us." He noted.

"We figured we didn't need to hide. Why waste the time looking for someone when you can just wait. Some team was going to find us and try and attack." Kurotsuchi explained, a grin on her face.

"I see. Makes sense. Guess it was just bad luck that we were the ones to find you all." The Ame genin said with a smirk as he held his hand out. "Why don't you guys hand over your scroll? We won't have to hurt you all this way."

"Hmph! Get a load of this guy." Risho snickered to himself. "We're being threatened by a genin from a minor village that's been going through civil war for years. This is rich! A Konoha team would actually be more threatening than you."

"What?" The Ame genin hissed.

"Shigure, kick his ass!" One of his teammates shouted. The other teammate nodded in agreement.

The guy, Shigure, nodded before he took an umbrella off from his back.

"You know, we almost went after a team from Suna instead, but I'm glad we went for you all. I'm going to enjoy taking that scroll from your corpse!" He hissed before tossing the umbrella into the air and making a hand sign. "Ninja Art: Senbon Shower!"

Senbon rained down from the umbrella towards the Iwa genin. Risho stepped forward for his team and raised his right hand. The senbon stopped in place.

"The hell?" One of the Ame genin gasped.

"My chakra controls those! What the fuck did you do?" Shigure hissed as he tried to force the senbon to keep moving.

His attempt failed and the senbon stayed in place. Risho continued to snicker before raising his left hand. The senbon immediately changed directions, causing Shigure and his teammates to sweat.

"Kurotsuchi, Roto: I'll handle this trash myself." Risho informed his team as he made a pushing motion with his hands. "This is what happens when you try to attack an Iwa shinobi!"

Kurenai was sitting down near the entrance to the Forest of Death reading a book when she heard a loud scream from the forest. She looked towards the training ground for a moment before chuckling quietly to herself.

"Looks like a team just lost their scroll." She noted.

The exam proctor immediately turned back to her book and continued to read.

'I'll finish this chapter, then I'll head to the tower. Some of the faster teams will be there relatively soon.' She thought as she turned to the next page. 'Now…where was I?'

'The Tenkage picked up his staff and headed out into his village. He could sense the intruder in the marketplace! He needed to act quick before the intruder caused any harm. The Tenkage intended on showing the world that no enemy shinobi could enter Tengoku no Sato and escape with their life!

'He arrived-'

"Kurenai-San!" A voice called.

Kurenai sighed as she put her book away as she faced the chūnin that called her. At first, she was annoyed that she was being interrupted but then she noticed the serious and upset look to the chūnin in front of her. 'Something happened.'

"What's going on?" She asked, getting up from her seat.

"We have a problem. You need to see this!" The chūnin informed her before running off. Kurenai followed right behind.

Team Seven marched forwards through the Forest of Death at a rapid pace. Kiba and Akamaru led the team. The Inuzuka and his dog were silent: they were focused since the beginning of the exam. Eventually, though, Kiba spoke up.

"Alright guys, I found someone!" He exclaimed. "Just a little bit to our east."

"Good job Kiba!" Sakura said happily. "This part of the exam will be a piece of cake thanks to you!"

"Lead the way dog boy." Sasuke stated.

"Just see if you can keep up ya prick." Kiba muttered under his breath. 'I hate it when he calls me that!'

The team started to move in the direction of the scent when Kiba stopped. He started to pick up another scent. A frown appeared on his face.

"I smell a snake." He mumbled to himself. His eyes then widened. "Oh shit, the smell's getting stron-"

The Inuzuka didn't get to finish his sentence: a large snake came crashing towards them. It destroyed multiple trees and sent the three genin back.

Naruto's clones moved quickly throughout the forest in their search to find information about the other teams. One of the clones was approaching a clearing near a river when he heard a loud noise. An excited look appeared on his face.

"That's gotta be a team! Boss will want to know what scroll they have!" The clone told himself before running off in the direction of the noise.

Naruto's clean reached a clearing and hid behind a bush. He saw a giant ball of sand in the sky. Sand was slowly falling back to the ground. The clone noticed that it was stained in blood.

'W-What the…' He gasped.

He looked downward and saw five people. The team from Suna that Naruto had met earlier was there. Gaara was standing in front of Kankurō and Temari. They were all facing two Kusa shinobi, both of whom seemed terrified and near hysterics.

"P-Please…spare us…" One of the Kusa ninjas mumbled as she pulled out an earth scroll and tossed it forwards. Temari caught the scroll. "J-Just take the scrolls and let us live."

"Your teammate was weak…" Gaara mumbled quietly. "…I'm not satisfied. There needs to be more blood."

The red-head genin raised his hands and more sand covered the Kusa genin. Both shinobi screamed in panic. Tears were rolling down their eyes as the sand that covered them was lifted into the sky.

"Sand Burial!" Gaara said, closing his hands.

The sand crushed the two Kusa genin, killing them instantly. Their blood rained down throughout the clearing. Most of the blood landed on Gaara's body, causing him to grin maniacally.

'He killed them!' Naruto's clone made a noise, holding back the urge to throw up.

The Suna team heard him.

"Who is there?" Kankurō asked.

'Dammit!' The clone cursed to himself as it prepared to run.

"Die!" Gaara shouted as he moved his hands toward the bush, causing sand to rush towards it.

Naruto's clone attempted to run away, but the sand was too fast. The sand stuck him on his back and pinned him to the ground. The force of the sand proved too much and the clone dispelled.

The original Naruto's eyes widened. He fell to the ground on his knees, which alarmed his teammates.

"Naruto-Kun!" Hinata ran over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah…I think." The blonde replied as he pulled himself up with Hinata's help. "I…I felt like I was dying for a second."

"Dying?" The Hyūga was started to get very nervous for him. "Why? How? What happened?"

"I…I don't know. Something flashed by in my head: kinda like a memory or something. All of a sudden, I saw Gaara in front of me. I saw him kill two genin from Kusa. I then saw him attack me and sand was hitting me hard. And then, my memory stopped…" Naruto mumbled. "I know that never happened, but I don't how I could have imagined that. And the thing that really bothers me was that it felt so real."

Hinata seemed confused, but didn't seem any less concerned.

"Has anything like that happened before?" Shikamaru asked. A hypothesis was started to develop in his head.

"…not really. I think I've had some flashes when I'm fighting or sparring, but nothing like that. They all usually relate to the battle or the spar." Naruto answered.

"I think you saw the memory of one of your shadow clones." The Nara stated.

"What?" Naruto looked at his friend in surprise. Hinata turned to face him as well.

"My Dad mentioned once a long time ago that shadow clones were perfect for information gathering. I think I know how now." Shikamaru stated. "If I'm right, when your clones dispel, you get their memories back. You see and feel what they did."

"Really?" Naruto seemingly forgot the feelings of his memory and was now simply excited at the news. "That's so cool! That just makes this jutsu more awesome dattebayo! I can't believe I never noticed that before."

"You only make clones really for battles and, even then, you make hundreds of them. The chaos of the fights probably doesn't give you the time to analyze any memories you may gain." The lazy boy replied.

"Hmm…I see. So cool though!" The Kyūbi jinchūriki exclaimed. His excitement soon faded, though, and his face turned serious. "But in all seriousness, I saw Gaara kill a team quickly and it was one of the bloodiest things I've ever seen. And I felt him attack me. He's more dangerous than I thought. We have to try and avoid him and his team at all costs, and if we do have to fight him, we'll have to be beyond careful."

Both Hinata and Shikamaru nodded in understanding. It was rare when Naruto was completely serious. They knew that he meant every word he said and that they would have to be extremely cautious around that Suna team.

Yūhi Kurenai was a very calm and collected person: very few things were able to surprise and unnerve her. Seeing the bodies of three Kusagakure shinobi was enough to surprise her. Seeing the state of these bodies was enough to unnerve her.

"What happened to their faces?" She asked.

"We don't know. We're still trying to figure that out." The chūnin answered with a frown.

Kurenai frowned as well. She looked at the profiles of the Kusa shinobi. She remembered them. She remembered giving this team an earth scroll before the second exam started. If they were dead, then who did she give the scroll to? Who was in the forest…

An idea entered her head. She immediately turned towards the chūnin.

"Alert the Hokage of this and request Anbu assistance. I believe their murderer is in the forest and I'm going to go after him!" Kurenai ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" The chūnin nodded before disappearing in a shunshin.

Kurenai rushed into the forest and began her search to find the murderer.

A pale-faced man stood on a tree branch and stared at Team Seven. Kiba was knocked unconscious; Akamaru was trying to help his comrade in any way he could. Sasuke was screaming in pain as he held on to his neck. Sakura was staring at the Uchiha with multiple different emotions: fear, distress, anguish, rage…

"W-What did you to Sasuke?" She asked the man.

"I just gave Sasuke-Kun a little gift. I'm sure he'll enjoy it." The man chuckled, his voice sending a shiver down Sakura's spine. "My name is Orochimaru. Sasuke-Kun has experienced a taste of my power and soon he'll come to me to get more."

With those words, Orochimaru ran off, leaving Sakura and Akamaru alone with two unconscious genin.

Their assailant was now moving quickly through the forest with a grin on his face.

'Sasuke-Kun was impressive. And he will only get stronger as time passes. He will make a perfect host!' Orochimaru noted. 'Now, I have some spare time before my presence is known. Looks like I will have the time to see Anko-Chan's little brats after all!'

The man continued to move quickly through the forest. As he moved, he bit his thumb and proceeded to make hand signs.

"Alright, I'm done." Shikamaru stated with a groan. "That took way longer than I thought it would."

Naruto and Hinata went over to their friend and checked his work. The Nara had created three additional scrolls that looked similar to their earth scroll. Inside these fake scrolls, however, were exploding tags. All together, they now had four scrolls: one real and three they could lose if they needed to.

"Great job Shikamaru! Heh, hopefully we won't have to really use them, but it's good to have them just in case." Naruto said excitedly.

"Heh, you're telling me. Can't hurt to be too careful." Shikamaru replied with a smirk on his face. "So are we just going to wait for one of the clones to come back?"

"It's probably for the best." Hinata noted. "If they take too long, then we can just go out and look on our own."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what I was thinking." The Uzumaki agreed.

"Of course you were Naruto." Shikamaru said with an eye roll.

"Shut up!" Naruto snapped at Shikamaru's sarcasm.

"I didn't say anything bad. I was agreeing with you." The Nara noted with a smirk on his face.

Hinata giggled as the two boys continued to argue about Shikamaru's sarcasm. Her giggling stopped when she noticed something in the distance with her Byakugan. She focused on it and noticed that it was heading towards them.

"Guys! Something's coming!" She said loudly. Her two teammates immediately shut up and turned to her.

"What is it? Are we getting ambushed?" Naruto asked as he prepared for combat.

"I don't think so. It's not human. It's-"

Hinata wasn't able to finish her sentence. A giant snake appeared from a few trees in front of them and charged at the them. The three genin jumped out of the way just in time and jumped to a high branch of a tree. The snake turned towards them, hissed, and charged again.

"That snake looks like one of Anko-Sensei's summons!" Naruto said in surprise.

"…great. So giant snakes like that live in this forest." Shikamaru grumbled. "Let's get this over with."

The snake charged upwards at them, this time moving faster. Team Three jumped out of the way again, but the snake predicted this and swung its tail at them. The tail made contact and knocked all three genin back, causing them to hit three separate tree trunks hard. The snake then charged again, this time at Shikamaru. The Nara pulled himself up just as the snake opened its mouth in an attempt to devour him.

'Shit! Got to act fast and stop this thing for a sec!' Shikamaru's brain was working at full speed as he pulled out of one of the fake scrolls and tossed it into the snake's mouth. He immediately triggered the tags inside it, causing it to explode just before the snake could reach him. The giant snake writhed in pain. Shikamaru took this time to jump over to his teammates.

"That should stun it for a little bit. Want to try that trick we thought of?" The lazy genius asked.

Naruto and Hinata knew exactly what their friend was referring to: a combination attack he suggested during group training.

"Of course! Let's do it dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed as he made the hand signs. His teammates joined him.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Water Style: Gunshot!"

The three friends released their jutsus at the same time and combined into one elemental blast. Naruto's wind jutsu surrounded Shikamaru's fireballs, increasing their size. Hinata's water bullets surrounded the wind. The attack took the form of an elemental tornado, which struck the snake hard. It hissed loudly in pain for a few seconds before it disappeared.

"…was that a summon?" Hinata asked nervously.

Before her teammates could answer, a noise sounded throughout the area: a clapping noise. The three turned around to see a pale faced man standing on a tree branch clapping in applause.

Hinata's Byakugan eyes were open wide in pure shock. 'I didn't even see him get this close to us! And that chakra…this couldn't even be a simple jōnin! Who is this?'

"I must say, I'm very impressed. To defeat any summon snake so quickly is impressive." The man spoke with an amused grin. "But I wonder how you would do against a more dangerous snake?"

"You summoned that snake? How?" Naruto questioned in surprise. "Who are you?

"You don't know me? How upsetting." The man said with fake disappointment in his voice. "I assumed Anko-Chan would talk to her students about her sensei."

"Anko's…sensei?" Naruto's eyes widened. She never spoke of her time as a genin. This man was…

Shikamaru was piecing information together faster than his teammates. He remembered through studying at the academy that there was only one other known snake summoner: an infamous traitor. His eyes opened wide and a terrified look appeared in them.

"Naruto! Hinata! We have to get out of here!" Shikamaru shouted. "That's Orochimaru of the Sannin. We don't stand a chance against him!"

Both genin's eyes widened. Both, even Naruto, recognized the name of Konoha's most infamous missing ninja.

"So you do recognize me?" Orochimaru's grin grew wider and more sadistic. "I was interested when I heard Anko-Chan took up a genin team. I've been very curious about what you three can do. Care to show me?"

The Sannin gave them no time to respond: he released a large fireball from his mouth and fired it towards them. Team Three had barely enough time to avoid the attack. Orochimaru then rushed to them and delivered to Shikamaru's chest. The Nara was knocked backward into a tree trunk, hitting it hard. The snake summoner then kicked Naruto and Hinata towards the Nara, causing the members of Team Three to collide. They all groaned in pain.

"We…have to get out of here…" Shikamaru told his teammates as he pulled himself up. "We're way out of our league here. There's no way we can win without help."

"…he said he's trying to hunt and test us. There's no way we can escape if that's the case. He'll just keep chasing us." Naruto realized as he got up. He then got into a fighting position. "But maybe he won't chase all of us! You guys make a break for it and I'll hold him off!"

"Huh?" Shikamaru turned to Naruto in shock.

"What? NO!" Hinata nearly shouted as she pulled herself up as well. "You can't face him alone!"

"I know that, but I can hold him back for a bit! The fox can be some help for once!" The blonde retorted.

"…you're right that we can't escape. Damn. I hate not being able to run away." Shikamaru started. Determination could be heard in voice: a trait usually not present in it. "But if even one of us has to fight, then we all fight. You're not going against him alone."

"Shikamaru-Kun's right. We're friends! We're a team! We stick together!" Hinata added with the same conviction.

'Hinata…Shikamaru…' Naruto could feel himself slightly tear up.

"How touching! I guess you all will just die together!" Orochimaru exclaimed before jumping towards them.

Shikamaru immediately used his Shadow Possession Jutsu to try and stop Orochimaru from moving. The Sannin jumped away from the shadow and delivered another kick towards the Nara. Naruto jumped in the way and attempted to block the kick, but ultimately failed. The two genin were sent flying together again. Hinata then charged at the Sannin, aiming for his tenketsu. He avoided all of her strikes easily before he delivered a punch to her face, knocking her straight down to the ground.

"Is this really all Anko-Chan's students can do? I'm disappointed…" He noted.

'He's just fending us off with taijutsu! He's way too strong…I was right. I'm going to have to use the fox!' Naruto noted before he made a hand sign and recalled Han's advice. 'Calm yourself Naruto…keep emotions in check and take only what you can.'

Red chakra surrounded the Uzumaki. The blonde's features became more feral and his eyes picked up a red tint. He took in a deep breath.

'This is all I can control…hope this is enough!'

Naruto charged at Orochimaru. His movement and strength increased as he was able to keep up with the Sannin and block his attacks. Orochimaru noted the improved taijutsu skills with a grin on his face.

'I was unaware Anko was given the Kyūbi brat as a student. Very interesting!' Orochimaru thought. 'He seems to have some control over the fox, but right now, he's still too weak!'

After a minute of straight taijutsu combat, Orochimaru backed away from Naruto and raised his right hand. Snakes shot out from it and grabbed onto Naruto. The blonde was pulled in. The Sannin was about to land a punch directly at Naruto's face when Shikamaru tossed shuriken at the man. Orochimaru noticed and then pulled Naruto's body towards the shuriken and used it as a shield. Upon impact, Naruto was replaced with a log.

'A substitution with no seals…and while in pain as well…' The snake summoner noted.

Orochimaru turned his attention towards Shikamaru and charged. The Nara responded by charging as well. Just before the Sannin could strike, Shikamaru used his Shadow Possession Jutsu at their close range to paralyze him.

"Naruto! Hinata! Now!" The Nara shouted immediately.

His two teammates quickly made their hand signs.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

"Water Style: Gunshot!"

The two elemental jutsu headed towards the two ninja. Shikamaru released jutsu at the last moment to get away. The wind and the water bullets collided with the Sannin. Shikamaru then tossed a kunai with an explosive tag at him, causing a loud explosion. A moment passed as the smoke cleared. The three genin did not see the body of Orochimaru: they only saw a brown husk of mud in his place.

"A clone? Substitution?" Shikamaru cursed.

Orochimaru appeared again behind the genin. He delivered a hard punch downward to the back of Hinata's head. The Hyūga hit the ground hard and fell unconscious upon impact.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted as he ran over to her with Shikamaru right behind.

Orochimaru then released more snakes from his hands and grabbed Naruto by his neck. These snakes injected small doses of poison into him, causing him to choke. Orochimaru then, through his snakes, raised Naruto up into the air before slamming him into the ground. The blonde, too, was knocked unconscious.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru screamed.

"You all have some good teamwork. You defeated one of my snakes and even destroyed a clone of mine. Perhaps you would have been marvelous shinobi if you were given the time." Orochimaru stated tauntingly. "It's almost a shame to extinguish such potential before it develops. But I'm sure I can live with that."

'Shit! I…I can't let him kill us. I can't let him kill them!' Shikamaru's brain was desperately trying to calculate some plan that would save him and his teammates.

Orochimaru was about to approach, but stopped when he noticed something. He then made a hand sign. He could now see that multiple shuriken were flying towards him. The snake summoner proceeded to dodge them.

Kurenai jumped into the area, a kunai in her hand. She stood between Shikamaru and the Sannin.

"Ah, Yūhi Kurenai: Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress." Orochimaru recognized the woman in front of him. "For a second, I didn't even notice the genjutsu you placed to hide your shuriken. You certainly deserve that title you've been given."

Kurenai glared at the man in front of her, but spoke to Shikamaru.

"Get your team and leave. This man is out of your league." She ordered.

Shikamaru acted immediately. He ran over to his unconscious teammates, picked them up over his shoulders, and hurried off as fast as he could. Orochimaru watched the Nara leave. He knew he could stop and catch him, but he already had his amusement with them. For the time being, he would let them live.

"Orochimaru, what are you doing here?" Kurenai demanded of him.

"My, my! I figured you were more polite than that." The Sannin answered.

"I have no desire to share pleasantries with you!" She hissed. "So, you thought it was fun to just sneak into the village you betrayed and attack random genin teams during an exam?"

"I just had some spare time on my hands wanted to see the team my student was training. You know her, right? I believe you two were friends." Orochimaru grinned when he saw the woman hiss again. "But that wasn't my main objective here. I already accomplished that."

"And that was?" Kurenai asked.

"You'll know in due time." The man chuckled. "By the way, did you really think I wouldn't notice the genjutsu you placed since the beginning of this conversation?"

Kurenai's eyes widened. Her genjutsu had finished working and the Orochimaru in front of her seemed to be pain, only to turn to mud. The Sannin then appeared right behind her and released a snake from his arm. Kurenai could not avoid the bite. She fell to the knees and could feel poison going through her veins.

Kurenai cursed inwardly. 'I have to get out of here…let the Hokage know about him…'

"You're genjutsu is good. However, I've faced someone who was much better with it than you." Orochimaru stated. A trace of bitterness was evident in his tone of voice as he remembered the person he was talking about, but it went almost immediately. "You know, I could kill you right now, but I'll let you live. Just deliver this message to your Hokage: tell him that if this exam is canceled, I'll destroy Konoha and burn it to the ground."

With those words, Orochimaru left Kurenai and retreated. He accomplished his mission and had his fun. Now, he had to wait.

Kurenai struggled to get herself up. The poison was affecting her body. She knew she wouldn't be able to chase after Orochimaru. Even if she could, she doubted that she could do anything. No shinobi has ever shut down her genjutsu before like that...

"…I just got to get out of here and warn the Hokage. We have to deal with Orochimaru before it's too late." Kurenai told herself as she started to walk slowly away.

"Guys! I found a team!" A voice spoke.

Two Takigakure shinobi turned in the direction of the voice. One of the shinobi was a tall, lanky boy with long black hair. He had on a blue jacket and black shorts and had multiple water canteens attached to his jacket. His forehead protector was around his neck. The other shinobi was a tall, muscular boy with brown hair. He wore a skin tight brown shirt with the Taki village symbol on it and wore camouflage pants. He was also carrying a large axe on his back. Both shinobi were staring at Kariudo Asuna: the red-headed kunoichi they called teammate.

"Asuna, are you sure? Cause that's what you said twenty minutes ago and we ended up finding no team." The lanky boy grumbled.

"Hey shut up Rei! There was a team there! They just left before we got there!" Asuna shouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Gosh, you're so loud." The boy, Rei, continued to grumble. "That got you in trouble with the proctor at the beginning of the exam. And it's going to get us in trouble here. Some tiger probably heard that. Or worse: an enemy team. We're going to get ambushed thanks to you."

"Rei, quit your bitching and shut up!" Asuna hissed at him. She then turned to her other teammate. "What do you think Takuto?"

The muscular boy, Takuto, remained quiet for a minute before speaking in a monotone, deep voice. "What village?"

"Konoha. And this is the best part: two of the team members are down! It was a blonde guy and blue-haired girl. The only one up is some brown-haired guy and he looks exhausted. It'll be cake to beat him and take their scroll!" She cheered.

"If that's the case, they probably lost their scroll. We'll just be wasting our time." Rei sighed.

"Rei!" Asuna hissed.

"Both of you: quiet!" Takuto spoke up. Both of his teammate were quiet. "We'll go check this team. If they have a scroll, we'll take it. Now, let's move before we lose the opportunity."

Rei nodded in slight annoyance. Asuna, however, was excited. Her hand immediately moved to the scythe on her back.

"Time to get our earth scroll and get out of this forest!" She stated excitedly.

The Takigakure shinobi proceeded to leave, heading in the direction of the Konoha team.