Ryouta Senju- Makings of A Legend

Chapter 13 - The Forest of Death

Ryouta's eyes slowly opened as he checked the clock above his door, seeing it was the usual 5AM.

Getting out of the bed, he proceeded to do his morning rituals and head onto the roof. He needed his mind to be in a state of hyper focus. He could not afford any distractions today.

Creating a Moku Bunshin to restock his equipment, he flipped onto the roof and sat down in a meditative state. For an hour, he proceeded to calm down and focus his mind on a single objective: to succeed. He mentally went through every piece of information he had read and come up with over the years, every tactic, strategy, everything. When he opened his eyes, all the grogginess was gone, replaced by intense focus and determination.

He proceeded to review the memories that suddenly came from his dispelled clone. He nodded satisfactorily how the both of his hip pouches and thigh holster were stocked.

Both pouches were stocked with ample kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, both the normal and tandem explosive tags, flash tags, ninja wire, soldier pills and sealing scrolls, both storage and blank.

Styling his spiky hair as he always did neatly, he finished dressing up and sat down for breakfast his clone had prepared for him. He swiftly finished his breakfast and and washed his plate. Looking up at the clock, he saw that he had half an hour to the exam.

'Time to leave,' he decided. After closing the door to his house, he activated the security seals and left. He walked at a comfortable pace to the training ground 44. Upon arriving, he saw that the genin were still assembling.

"Ryouta-kun!"

The call made him turn, spotting his two teammates coming. Sasuke and Sakura looked determined more than ever. He waved back.

Ten minutes after they had all assembled, a burst of smoke in front of the crowd revealed Anko in all her glory.

"Look sharp, greenies! Welcome to training ground 44, otherwise known as the forest of death." She introduced with a sinister flair mixed with dramatics. She had her trademark, bloodthirsty showing, making some of them sweat and the rest feel anxious.

"For the second part of the exam, the objective is to retrieve and protect. But first, you all are going to sign these papers if you want to take part in this portion of the exam," she said, waving a bunch of papers in her hand.

As they were handed the papers, Ryouta raised an eyebrow at the large letters 'FORM OF CONSENT' printed on top. He quickly read it and signed it, just in time to heat a genin across the group call out.

"What do we need to sign these for? We obviously have to take the exams!"

Anko easily dismissed the statement and explained with a breezy smile, "Oh, that's your agreement to accept all the risks in the forest, so your respective villages don't blame me and by extension, Konoha for all your deaths, get it?"

Next to him, Sakura shivered at the words, but when he looked up she had signed the form and looked forward with a steady gaze.

"Alright, listen up or you're going to die before even reaching the halfway mark. One member of each team will take the forms to the row of tents over there, where the forms will be exchanged for a scroll. Some will get a heaven, some will get an earth scroll. You need both, and you need to get both of them to the tower in the middle of the forest in order to pass," she explained. Somehow, her tone turned even more serious after that.

"Of course, you also need all your teammates to pass upon arrival. You must also not open the scrolls until you get there," she glared at everyone gathered, daring them to disagree with her.

Ino raised her hand, "What happens if we open them in the forest?"

Anko smirked, "Something unpleasant....for you and your team."