Desert Flower

The Forest of Death

Anko led everyone to a large fenced in forest. There was a sign on the gate that read "Danger! Stay out!"

"Welcome to the stage for the second test. Practice arena 44, also known as the Forest of Death." "You will soon find out why it is called that."

"What a cheery place." Yuri frowned as she stared at the forest, wondering what was inside.

"You will soon find out why it is called the Forest of Death!" Naruto mocked the jonin as he imitated her, doing a little dance. "You think that scares me! I'm not afraid!" Anko threw a shuriken at Naruto, slicing his cheek. The kunai landed near some ninjas from the Hidden Grass Village.

"Kids like you are killed quickly." Anko laughed. Naruto trembled in shock and Anko reappeared right behind him, licking Naruto's bloody cheek. "Spraying that delicious red blood that I love-" Suddenly, the jonin pulled out another kunai and turned to see one of the Grass shinobis with long black hair. He handed Anko her kunai back with his long tongue.

"Here's your kunai."

"Why, thank you!" Anko smiled, taking it back from him. Yuri shivered a little, feeling slightly disturbed by the guy's appearance. The white-haired guy with glasses from earlier approached her.

"Hey, we didn't get to talk earlier in the exam room. My name is Kabuto. I want to thank you for-" He whispered to her before Yuri cut him off.

"Not interested." She spoke, shutting him down, quickly. Kabuto blinked in surprise.

"You shouldn't sneak behind me unless you want to die." Anko told the Grass ninja.

"I just get excited when I see red blood. Plus, you cut my precious hair. I couldn't help it." The shinobi spoke.

"Looks like we have blood thirsty people in the test. Should be fun." Anko smirked. Naruto and Yuri stared at her in disbelief.

"You're the one who's the most blood thirsty." They both thought to themselves.

"Now, before we began the second test, I have something to pass out." Anko told everyone, holding up some papers that were waivers. "You must agree to sign these agreement forms. There will be deaths in this one and if I don't have you sign these, it will be all my responsibility." She smiled. "I'm going to explain the second test and then you can sign it afterwards. Then each team will report to the booth behind me. To put it shortly, the test is a test of survival." Anko held up a map of the arena. "Around Practice Arena 44, are 44 locked gates. Forest, river and a tower in the center, from the gates to the tower is about 10km. During the survival, you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your weapons and jutsu, you will compete in a no rules scroll battle."

Then Anko pulled out two scrolls, a white and a dark blue one, showing them. "You will fight over these two scrolls, the "Heaven" and "Earth. There are 78 people, half of 13 will get the Heaven scroll while the other 13 teams will get the Earth. To pass this test your team make it to the tower with these two scrolls."

"So only 13 of those teams will fail." Sakura murmured.

"But there is a time limit. The second test will last 120 hours, exactly five days." Anko spoke.

"Five days?!" Sakura exclaimed.

"But what about food!?" Choji shouted as well.

"You're on your own. The forest is full of food. Just watch out for the man-eating beasts and poisonous plants and insects." Anko told them.

"And 13 teams passing is not likely. As the days go on, the distance the distance to the goal will become further. And the time to rest will become shorter. And the arena is crawling with enemies, you won't get much sleep. So not only will some fail losing the scroll. Some will lose their lives from the harshness of the course." She smiled. "Now, I will talk about what will get you disqualified. First, those that don't make to the tower, with the two scrolls within the time limit. Second, those who lose a teammate, or have a teammate killed. As a rule, there is quitting in the middle. Once your inside, there's no coming back out for five days. And one more rule, you must not look inside the scrolls until you make it to the tower." She finsihed.

"What happens if you look at them?" Naruto asked her.

"That will be a surprise for anyone who does." Anko smirked, darkly.

"So, this is like a delivery mission." Yuri spoke.

"That is correct. As a chunin, you will be handed classified information. This is a test of your trustworthiness." Anko smiled. "That's all for the explanations. Just hand in your forms and collect your scrolls then choose to get ready to start. I do have one final word of advice, don't die."

Each team filled out their forms and went over to the booth, which had a dark curtain down so no one could see which had what scroll. Naruto, Yuri, Sakura and Sasuke were next to go inside the booth. They handed in their forms and one of the proctors handed Yuri, the heaven scroll. Then they went to gate 12. Shikamaru, Choji and Ino went to gate 27. Kiba, Hinata, and Shino went to gate 16. The three sound ninjas went to gate 20. Kabuto's team went to 38. Gaara, Kankuro and Temari went to gate 6. The Grass ninjas were at gate 15. Neji, Ten Ten and Lee were at gate 41.

The instructors unlocked the gates.

"The second test of the Chunin exam, begins!" Anko shouted. Everyone ran inside, jumping to tree to tree as they started to head towards the tower.

"Okay! Let's go!" Naruto shouted. Naruto, Yuri, Sakura and Sasuke headed deeper into the forest as they ran.

"We need to find those four!" the long-haired Grass ninja had an evil smirk on his face when told his teammates.