THE WILL OF FIRE: 2. The Phoenix (A Naruto Fanfic)

The Phoenix, Chapter 6

Chapter Six

“Welcome to the stage of the second test,” Anko said once we were all gathered. “Practice arena 44, also known as the Forrest of Death.”

Gulp all you want, I’ve seen worse. My focus was on finding Uncle Orochimaru before this thing started. The chill was still there but I could determine where it was coming from.

“You think that scares me!” Naruto suddenly yelled, snapping me back to reality. “That’s nothing!!! I’m not afraid!!”

“Yeah,” Anko said, with that strange gleam in her eyes, “You’re spirited…”

I saw her movement and decided in a nick of a second that I’d rather stay out of this. She pulled out a kunai that swished past Naruto and landed on the ground. Then she suddenly appeared behind Naruo and I noticed he had a bloody streak on his cheek. Then, a guy, who I really wasn’t sure was a guy, appeared behind her with her kunai. He was holding it with his tongue that was way too long to be normal…

Suddenly, my Curse Mark started hurting like hell and made me want to scream. Instead, I just started rapidly scratching it, hoping for the pain to go away. I knew who Uncle Orochimaru was now, only he would never allow me to say it. And the memory of the previous round came back to me and I remembered he was the person sitting next to me.

“Is there a problem?” Kabuto asked, sliding his hand around my waist. I tried jerking away but his hold was too strong.

“I’m going to kill you,” I said, keeping an eye on Uncle.

“I would like to see that, since you actually can’t hurt me,” he said, tracing the triangle-shaped seal that was on the small of my back.

“I told you I’ll break it.”

“Not when you’re too occupied with your little spying mission.”

“How did you…?”

“…know that? I know everything, my dear. You should’ve listened to Ibiki back there. Gathering information has always been my strength.”

“You’re a dead man, Yakushi.”

He laughed and his hand slowly slid inside my pants. I tried shaking him off but he was too strong. How did anybody not notice this! turns out, somebody did and just before his fingers reached his goal, a sharp voice said,

“Leave her alone, you creep.” Sasuke already had a kunai at his throat.

“I wonder what you’ll do since you can’t actually hurt me,” Kabuto said, but his fingers slid out of my pants.

“I’ll find a way,” Sasuke growled.

“You two are both persistent in this game you can’t win,” he said and headed towards his teammates. “Later!”

My whole body shook and I felt like my knees were gonna give but before I actually crumbled to the ground, Sasuke grabbed me around the waist to steady me. I jerked away, not wanting to be touched again. He understood and handed me a piece of paper as I slowly sank to the ground.

“Now, I will explain to you the second test,” Anko said, “Simply put, you will attempt the ultimate survival. First I will explain the area in which it will take place. Around the arena are 44 locked gates. Forrest, river and tower in the center. From the gates to the tower is about 10 kilometers. During the survival in here you will be asked to complete a certain task. Using your many weapons and jutsu, you will compete in a no-rules scroll battle. You will fight over the “Heaven” and “Earth” scrolls. There are 26 teams here, meaning 13, half, will get the “Heaven” scroll and the other the “Earth” scroll. To pass this test, your team must make it to the tower with both scrolls. And you have a total of five days.”