ᴅᴇꜱᴛɪɴʏ ʀᴇʙɪʀᴛʜ|ⁿᵃʳᵘᵗᵒˣⁿᵃʳᵘᵏᵒ

Snakes and Curses

Konoha Training Ground 44.

'The Forest of Death'.

How one of Konohagakure no Sato's training grounds earned such an ominous name was a mystery to all. Some say it was the Shodai Hokage who christened it as such when he and Uchiha Madara built the village's foundations all those years ago. Some even said that a very powerful missing-ninja made the forest encompassing the training grounds his resting place and his spirit continues to haunt any and all who pass through it till this day. Conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory was made, each one more ludicrous than the last.

No one knows for sure who or when the name was coined, but it certainly stuck as accredited by the larger than average predators that roam the eerie forest. The trees of the forest were also warped and grew into gigantic proportions that some of the trees were as tall as the Hokage Mansion. It was an unnerving combination of awe and trepidation when one ventured into the forest from the outside.

To veteran shinobi, Training Ground 44 provided an interesting challenge when they went training as the forest alone provided the perfect setting for a survival training exercise — dodging poisonous or man-eating plants to killer predators larger than an average house kept one constantly on their toes.

To raw genin who were participating in the second part of the Chūnin Exams, it was hell on Earth.

That was what a group of Amegakure genin felt when they killed their seventh giant bear that wanted them for dinner in the span of two days. The distinctive yellow jumpsuits and breathing masks they wore could not disguise the fact that they were terrified out of their wits. They expected the Chūnin Exams to be hard, but in their minds, this was insane.

On their first day, they tried to ambush the Konoha team with the Uchiha, but ended up abandoning the plan before they even initiated it because they didn't know that there was a sensor with them! No one said anything about the new Konoha genin possessing the rare talent of sensing, and the three Ame genin bugged out before they were detected.

And now here they were, fighting for their lives in a forest that wanted to kill them just as much as the other teams.

"This is insane!" one of the genin shouted. "That's the seventh giant bear that tried to kill us! This forest's trying to kill us I tell you guys!"

The apparent leader fixed his teammate with a stern glare.

"Stop your whining, you moron!" he reprimanded harshly. "I don't like this anymore than you do but we have to keep moving — we need our scrolls if we want to pass."

"Yeah, if we even survive to pass this stupid test..." the last member grumbled.

The leader sighed.

"Have we heard from the other teams?" he asked. There were six Amegakure genin teams in this exam, and he hoped they could link up and ambush the other teams and decrease their competition even more.

The whining member shook his head. "Nope, not a word — do you think something happened to them?"

"Doubt it." The leader replied. "They are stronger than us, so anyone who can take them out of the fight has to be insanely strong..."

The last member was about to say something when all of them heard the crunch of grass and the breaking of twigs coming from nearby, causing them to tense up in alertness.

Holding his hand up for silence, the leader drew a kunai and dropped into a defensive stance, his two teammates quickly went beside him as they formed a protective circle, back-to-back, scanning their surroundings in all angles.