The forest felt immediately oppressive. The massive canopy overhead was so thick it practically choked out the afternoon sun, casting everything in a sickly twilight. The air smelled of a mix of rotting wood, damp earth, and blood.
Through my enhanced senses, the ambient danger felt deliberately amplified. When I focused, I could hear the skittering of massive, mutated insects in the brush and smell the toxic fumes wafting from a nearby bog.
The proctors definitely tampered with the ecosystem to rile up the wildlife, I thought, scanning the treeline. In the canon twenty-seven teams had entered the forest and that number was considered a lot. So I imagine thateighty teams having survived the first phase isn't something they're particularly fond of. So, they're pretty much expecting for this section to become a bloodbath.
"Alright," Sasuke said, his Sharingan already spinning to life as he drew a kunai. "We have the Sun and Mountain scrolls. So we need the Moon and River ones. Let's move. We find a team, ambush them, and take what we need before they get their bearings."
"No, that's reckless," Sakura argued. "We received the med-kit instead of the map, which means we're navigating blind. This forest is massive and filled with poisonous hazards and wild beasts. If we rush in blindly, we could stumble right into a beast den or a toxic swamp. We need to establish a secure perimeter near a water source first, then plan our attacks."
"She's right," I chimed in, leaning against a massive tree trunk. "We need a base. Rushing in just turns us into easy targets for the teams that actually set up traps. I'll send out some Shadow Clones to scout the immediate area so we aren't flying blind."
Sasuke clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed at being outvoted, but he nodded. "Fine. But the second your clones find a target with a scroll we need, we strike."
We navigated through the dense brush for about an hour, until we found a highly defensible hollow at the base of a massive, ancient tree, just a few hundred yards from a freshwater stream.
While Sakura and Sasuke began foraging for fish and edible berries to conserve the supplies in our Med-Kit, I got to work with the scouting.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Shadow Clone Jutsu]
Three clones popped into existence. Before they scattered into the canopy, I discreetly slipped a Soldier into each of their shadows. With my clones acting like a compass and my Soldiers being able to slip into teams' guards with ease, locating and retrieving scrolls would be a cinch.
By nightfall, my Soldiers reported back that the nearest teams only held scrolls we already possessed. Something I suspected the proctors of deliberately doing to force us to venture deeper into the forest to find matching teams. After relaying this information to Sasuke and Sakura, we decided to take shifts resting for the night, letting the more desperate teams thin each other out.
The next morning, the forest began to thicken with a damp, chilling fog. We were in the middle of sorting out the gathered rations when my senses registered three signatures near us.
"Company," I murmured, keeping my voice barely above a whisper. "Three signatures. Coming in fast through the canopy from six."
Sasuke and Sakura discreetly nodded, seamlessly shifting their weight and preparing for the ambush without giving our sudden awareness away.
A second later, three Taki Genin dropped from the branches surrounding our camp. They looked smug, their weapons already drawn.
"Well, well," the Taki leader sneered, spinning a kunai on his finger. "Look what we have here. The Leaf Village frauds. Hand over your scrolls, and we might let you leave this forest with all your limbs."
Ah man, they really bought that garbage from the bunker, I sighed internally. It seems that even the smallest of words may have the biggest of impacts. They probably think Sasuke is the strongest member too by the way they're angling to charge him.
Just as I predicted, the other two Taki Genin immediately rushed Sasuke, aiming to overwhelm him quickly. The leader, however, stepped right in front of me and Sakura, a cocky grin plastered on his face.
"Don't worry," he said, cracking his knuckles. "I'll be handling you weaklings."
"Reaaally now? Lucky us," I said sarcastically, a smirk gracing my face, turning his smug expression into one of anger.
He proceeded to lunge at me, throwing a fast, lethal right hook aimed straight at my jaw.
I casually tilted my head a fraction of an inch, letting his fist breeze past my ear.
His eyes widened in shock. He quickly followed up with a sweeping kick, then a flurry of desperate strikes, but as he did I had already stepped into his guard.
"You need to work more on your speed," I said, driving an open palm directly into his sternum.
I put just a fraction of my [STR] into the blow. The impact sounded like a cracking whip. The Taki leader was lifted entirely off his feet, launching backward through the air until he slammed back-first into a thick tree trunk. He slumped into the dirt, completely unconscious before he even hit the ground.
The other two Taki Genin turned their heads, distracted by the sound of their leader getting folded.
It was the only opening Sasuke needed. He swept the legs out from the first ninja, violently kicking him backward into a patch of brush where Sakura had hastily strung up a wire trap. The wire snapped tight, binding the Genin instantly.
Sasuke didn't miss a beat. He pivoted, stepping inside the third ninja's guard, and delivered a brutal elbow to his jaw, followed by a spinning heel kick to the temple that knocked him out cold.
The entire fight lasted less than twenty seconds.
Sakura quickly patted down the unconscious leader and pulled a scroll from his vest. She unrolled it slightly and grinned. "A [Moon Scroll]. We got our first one."
Sasuke smirked, tossing his kunai in the air and catching it. "Pathetic. If this is the caliber of the competition, this phase is going to be a breeze."
Yea, he wasn't wrong, I thought, looking at the defeated team. We have better coordination than most of these teams. Especially after Kakashi made that an emphasis over the month-and-a-half break period. And even if we didn't, I could solo-dolo these exams without breaking a sweat.
By mid-afternoon, we packed up our camp and started moving closer to the central tower.
As we navigated the massive roots of the forest floor, my Soldiers alerted me of something very interesting happening nearby.
I held up a hand, signaling the team to stop. "Massive chakra signatures ahead. About half a mile out. feels like a full-blown war zone."
We moved silently through the canopy, approaching the coordinates. When we peered through the foliage, the sight below was pure chaos. A massive clearing had been completely uprooted by heavy jutsu usage.
Three different teams—one from Kumo, one from Kiri, and one from Suna—were locked in a desperate, bloody three-way battle. They were covered in mud, bleeding from shrapnel wounds, and fighting with pure, exhausted desperation. Scattered across the battlefield, clutched in their hands or dropped in the mud, were multiple scrolls.
"There," Sasuke whispered, his Sharingan locking onto a Kumo ninja dodging a volley of kunai. "He has a [River Scroll] strapped to his thigh."
"Look at them. They're exhausted," Sakura noted, her eyes darting across the carnage. "If we just wait up here, they'll whittle each other down. We can swoop in at the last second, take the scroll, and leave."
"Mmm," I agreed. I don't really care if we fight or if we don't. I'm down for whatever.
But our plan evaporated a second later.
A Kiri ninja, attempting to retreat into the canopy to escape a Suna wind jutsu, landed on a branch below where we were occupying. When he saw us he froze, staring wide-eyed at the three of us.
"We've got rats in the trees!" he screamed, leaping backward. "It's the Konoha team! The frauds!"
There's no way that's what they're calling us, I thought in disbelief.
The chaotic three-way brawl on the ground suddenly ground to a halt. The other occupants all looked up at us. Their eyes darted from our clean clothes to the bulging pouches on our waists.
Ah, hell, I thought. I don't think it takes a genius to know what that look means.
"They're fresh!" a Kumo ninja yelled. "And they're holding multiple scrolls!"
"Then a truce is in order!" a Kiri ninja exclaimed, weaving hand signs rapidly. "Take out the Konoha brats, then we split their loot!"
Just like that, the desperate free-for-all turned into a unified, nine-on-three assault.
"So much for the waiting game," Sasuke grunted, drawing a kunai.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" the Kiri leader shouted.
A thick, unnatural fog instantly exploded outward from the Kiri team, rapidly flooding the clearing and rising into the canopy. In seconds, visibility dropped to zero. The distinct sounds of shuriken whistling through the air and ninja leaping through the blind fog echoed around us.
"Stay close!" Sakura yelled, her voice laced with panic as she pulled a kunai. "It's just like back then with Zabuza in Wave!"
"I got this," I said, stepping to the edge of the branch.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Wind Style: Great Breakthrough]
I inhaled deeply and unleashed a massive, concentrated gale of pressurized wind from my mouth. The sheer force of the jutsu tore through the clearing like a hurricane, violently ripping the heavy mist to shreds and blowing two of the incoming Kiri ninjas right out of the air.
The mist cleared instantly, leaving the rival teams completely exposed and thrown off balance by the sudden shift in momentum.
"Now!" Sasuke yelled, ready to drop down and capitalize on the opening.
But before any of us could move, the ground beneath the Kumo team violently erupted.
Dirt, roots, and rock exploded into the air as two massive, horrifyingly large serpents burst from the earth. Their jaws unhinged, and before a Kumo ninja could even scream, one of the snakes snapped its jaws shut, swallowing him whole.
The entire battlefield froze in pure horror.
[WARNING: High-Level Threat Approaching]
The prompt read as my vision flashed a blinding, violent red.
So he decided to make his appearance known now instead of when we were all alone, I thought, looking straight at the figure stepping into the clearing.
He still wore the uniform and stolen face of the Grass Ninja he killed.
He didn't make a sound, but he didn't need to. The moment he fully entered the clearing, he unleashed his Killing Intent.
It wasn't like Gaara's unhinged bloodlust or Anko's sadistic pressure. It was raw, unrestrained Kage-level power. It was ancient, suffocating, and dripping with venom. It felt like a physical weight crashing down on my shoulders, screaming at my primal instincts that death was standing right in front of me if I engaged.
But the Monarch part of me found the idea of fearing someone—of running away from a challenge—absolutely hilarious.
Beside me, Sasuke let out a choked gasp, his knees buckling instantly as his Sharingan spun frantically. His body completely locked up in sheer terror. Sakura didn't even make a sound; she just collapsed onto the branch, paralyzed, her eyes wide with tears of pure fear. On the ground below, the remaining rival Genin were equally immobilized, shaking like leaves.
Quite the showman, ain't he? I thought, flaring my chakra.
My [Presence] projected outward. The invisible aura slammed into the Sannin's killing intent, shattering the suffocating hold it had over our immediate vicinity.
Sasuke took a massive, ragged breath, clutching his chest as the paralysis broke, though he was still trembling. Sakura sobbed quietly, gripping her kunai with white knuckles.
Down in the clearing, Orochimaru paused. His long, unnatural tongue snaked out, licking his lips. He looked past the paralyzed foreign teams, his eyes zeroing in entirely on our branch. The smug, arrogant look on his face twisted into an expression of intense, morbid fascination.
"Well, well," he hissed, his voice raspy and echoing with an unnatural cadence. "How interesting. I expected the little Uchiha to be the only prize in this forest, but it seems there is another."
He took a slow step forward, his snakes hissing behind him. "Do you feel it, children? The difference between predators and prey? Look at these pathetic creatures on the ground. Weak. Frightened. Waiting to be devoured. It is a tragedy to see a lion chained to house cats."
His eyes locked onto Sasuke. "You belong with the predators, Sasuke. Let me show you what true power feels like."
The fuck is he going on about? I thought. Is he here to mark him or seduce him?
I knew I couldn't beat him. Well, not right now, at least. But if he landed that Curse Mark on Sasuke, it was going to be a massive headache. I'd probably have to spend time I didn't want to spend gathering materials to cure it, or I'd have to deal with his aggressive attitude—which would probably lead to me beating his ass and creating a whole 'nother set of problems for myself. Either way, I needed to drag his attention away.
I stepped smoothly in front of Sasuke, shielding him from Orochimaru's view. I pulled out a standard, but high-end kunai from my [Inventory] via my pouch and spun it around my finger.
"Aye, snake-face," I called out, my voice echoing loudly in the dead-silent clearing. "You might think you're going to accomplish something here, but I'll be the first to tell ya right now, that it ain't getting accomplished."
Orochimaru tilted his head, his neck stretching just a fraction of an inch too far. A sickeningly wide smile split his face.
[URGENT QUEST TRIGGERED: Survive the Sannin]
[WARNING: Enemy level far exceeds user. Survival is the only objective.]
"How amusing," the Sannin whispered. "Let us see just how long you can entertain me."
I didn't wait for him to make the first move.
I pushed off the thick branch, launching myself directly down into the clearing.
Orochimaru's eyes tracked me, his sickening smile never wavering. Expecting me to be a slow, easy obstacle, he casually swiped a hand toward me, intending to swat me out of the air like a fly.
I stepped into the strike, moving faster than he had anticipated. I violently slapped his extended arm away, opening his guard, and drove a heavily concentrated chakra-enhanced punch directly into his sternum.
The impact sounded like a cannon going off.
Orochimaru's eyes bulged. He was launched backward with the force of a freight train, his body violently crashing through one, two, three thick forest trees before finally embedding itself into the muddy earth of the clearing.
Get up bitch, I know that didn't put you down, I thought, landing smoothly in the dirt.
And just as I predicted, a sickening, wet crunch echoed from the crater as Orochimaru casually stood up. His chest was visibly caved in, and his neck was bent at a completely unnatural angle. Without dropping his smile, he reached up and violently twisted his head back into place.
"My, my," he chuckled, wiping dust off his clothing. "You hit quite hard for a Genin. But if that's all you have to offer, this game will get boring very quickly."
"Oh, I have jutsu," I replied as I reached into my pouch. "Here's a little demonstration for ya."
I pulled out three shuriken and hurled them at him. As they spun through the air, I formed a single hand sign.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu]
Orochimaru's amused smirk instantly vanished, replaced by a look of profound shock that morphed into a surge of nostalgic anger. The three shuriken instantly multiplied, turning into hundreds, then thousands of identical, lethal steel blades.
Rather than tanking it, Orochimaru's lower half suddenly dissolved into the body of a snake. He slithered backward at terrifying speeds, launching a wave of serpents from his sleeves—Hidden Shadow Snake Hands—to intercept the blades and strike at me.
I wove through the incoming snake with ease, and summoned a clone. Together, we activated another pair of jutsu.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Wind Style: Great Breakthrough]
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu]
A massive gale of pressurized wind was combined with an exhaled sphere of superheated flames. The wind caught the fire, feeding it oxygen and accelerating it into a roaring, unstoppable inferno that completely engulfed Orochimaru.
Through the roaring flames, I could see his silhouette writhing as he was forced to violently shed his scorched skin to survive.
When the new Orochimaru emerged from the ashes, he looked deeply unsettled. The sheer anomaly of what was supposed to be an unimpressive Genin flawlessly chaining the Third Hokage's signature shuriken jutsu with a high-level Wind and Fire combination had completely shattered his initial assessment of me.
Seems like he's done playing, I thought, feeling a shift in his demeanor.
Sick of the unpredictable battle, Orochimaru decided to claim his actual prize. He wove a rapid set of signs as his neck suddenly extended unnaturally. His head shot out like a fired bullet, fangs bared, bypassing me entirely and aiming straight for the branch where Sasuke and Sakura were still recovering.
I pivoted, moving to intercept the head, but the muddy ground beneath me erupted. A giant, summoned serpent rose up, snapping its massive jaws to block my path.
"Out of the way you overgrown lizard!" I said as I pulled my fist back and launched forward.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Critical Strike (Max Output)]
I drove a glowing fist directly into the giant snake's skull, exiting through the top of it. The beast's body instantly went limp as it crashed back into the mud.
But the slight delay was enough. Orochimaru's head was already closing in on Sasuke.
At the rate he's going, physical speed isn't gonna cut it, I thought, mind processing the situation quickly. I'll need to blind him before he reaches them. And what better moment to test out my new technique than now? Freak's curiosity or not.
I slammed my hands together, channeling a massive surge of my chakra.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Bringer of Darkness Jutsu]
The jutsu took immediate effect. From my perspective, an aura of pitch-black chakra violently erupted around Orochimaru's body and his extended head.
Up in the canopy, the Sannin's head suddenly thrashed wildly. Plunged into a sensory void of pure, inescapable darkness, his trajectory completely faltered. His fangs snapped shut on empty air, missing Sasuke by inches.
Orochimaru's arrogant demeanor fully shattered. I could hear his panicked hiss echoing from the void he was trapped in. His eyes widened as he recognized the jutsu immediately—the legendary Genjutsu of the First and Second Hokage. It had him completely disoriented.
But I knew the Genjutsu wouldn't hold a shinobi of his caliber for long. I needed more overwhelming force to push him back.
"Sasuke! Sakura! Move!" I roared, immediately casting another jutsu.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: Shadow Clone Jutsu]
POOF! POOF! POOF!
Two hundred [Shadow Clones] exploded into the clearing. Without hesitation, the swarm of clones descended on Orochimaru's idle, thrashing body. And every single one of them pulled out glowing paper bombs. They dogpiled the blinded Sannin, fully prepared to blow him to smithereens.
But as the paper bombs primed to detonate, my [Perception] spiked violently. Orochimaru stopped thrashing around.
Up in the canopy, another snake had wrapped itself around the trunk of the tree. When the beast opened its mouth, Orochimaru, covered in a sickening, viscous fluid, shot his neck toward the direction of Sasuke.
What?! When did he?! I thought as I tried to figure out how he split my attention so quickly.
I could only watch helplessly as his fangs sank deep into the junction of Sasuke's neck and shoulder, causing him to let out a howl of pain.
[CRITICAL WARNING: ALLY INFLICTED WITH UNKNOWN CURSE STATUS]
"Sasuke!" Sakura called out in concern as Orochimaru's neck shot back to his body.
"Nice try boy!" he said to me. "But this little game of ours is over!"
But before I could say anything, my two hundred clones surrounding what I believed was Orochimaru's body had detonated.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The overlapping explosions created a blinding, catastrophic shockwave that completely obliterated the battlefield. The sheer force of the blast tore the ancient trees from their roots and ripped through the canopy.
I threw my arms up, but the concussive wave hit me like a solid wall.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" I yelled as I was sent flying through the air.
I violently crashed through multiple thick branches as the world around me turned into a blinding flash of orange and deafening noise.
My vision spun wildly as the edges of my sight faded to black.
.
.
Attempting to drop two chapters per week, but don't know the best days to do it.
I still like Saturdays, but don't know about the other day so, it's Mondays for now.
Lemme know what days you'd prefer they be dropped on.
.
Now, tell me what you think about the brief encounter with Orochimaru.
I felt it was the right way to go about things, given the circumstances.
See y'all for the next chapter, which you should be ANTicipating.