An Itachi Fanfiction

The Forest of Death

The next day, we met in front of an 'out of bounds' fence. She told us it was the Forest of Death. She handed us consent forms before telling us more about the exam. "The test consists of anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls". She held up two scrolls, one white and one black. "You'll be fighting to get both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll. Altogether, 26 teams will be taking part in this test, so half of these teams will be going after the heaven scroll, and the other half will be going after the earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be vying for. Your entire squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower in the middle. You must finish the test within five days.

"There are also some ways you can get disqualified. The first is simple: if all three members can't make it to the tower with full scrolls after five days. Number two: if a team loses a member or member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. Most important: none of you may look at the contents of that scroll". After that, we all split up to read and sign the consent form. We handed in our consent forms and received a heaven scroll. Once everyone had their scrolls, the gates opened and the second exam started.

We were walking through the forest when suddenly, Naruto needed to use the bathroom. We stopped to give him his privacy. When he came out, I sensed something wrong. Apparently, Sasuke sensed it too. We looked at each other with a nod. Sasuke kept up the act while I slipped away. I jumped to a branch just above him. I jumped down behind him and placed a kunai to his neck. "Now do you want to tell us who you really are and what you've done with Naruto?"

He changed his appearance to his real self. He wore the Hidden Rain headband. Sasuke and I easily defeated him and then found Naruto tied up.

After that was over, we sat down where Sasuke came up with an idea. "That proves that we can't just trust appearances. We have to come up with a way of knowing that each of us is who we say we are, and not some imposter using a Transformation Jutsu. We need a password, something known only to the four of us, and don't trust anyone who doesn't know it. The question will be: 'when does a ninja strike? The response is: a ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike'". I nodded to show I understood, but Naruto looked clueless as always.

Just a moment later, a strong gust of wind blew, separating us. I crawled out from where I landed and it wasn't long before I found Sasuke and Sakura. As I approached them, Sasuke took a step back. "When does a ninja strike?"

I knew this was just part of the password, so I answered it as best as I could. "A ninja waits until the time is right, when the enemy sleeps and drops his guard, when his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night, that is the moment for a ninja to strike". After that, he dropped his guard.

After that, Naruto approached us. He said the password word for word. That's when we knew something was wrong. Naruto was too clueless to be able to memorize such a lengthy password. We confronted him, then he changed into someone from the Hidden Grass Village. Sasuke turned to me and gave me a look which I understood. I nodded then jumped into the trees in search of my idiot friend.

I eventually found myself in front of a giant snake. Something felt off about this whole situation. 'Wait a minute'. I reached my hand up to its nose then closed my eyes and tried to use my abilities to try and figure out what was really going on. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw. I saw a man, the very man that I had tried so hard to get strong enough to defeat, my father.

My eyes shot open with a gasp. I tried to communicate with the snake. Suddenly, the snake opened its mouth and Naruto came flying out. I nodded to the snake, then it disappeared.

I helped Naruto up in a hurry. "Hurry up, we have to find the others. I have a theory and if I'm right, Sasuke and Sakura are in danger". Apparently, that was all the motivation he needed to get moving. I raced through the trees, my heart rate quickening. 'This is it, the moment I've been waiting for. I finally get to avenge my mother and brother'.

Eventually, we arrived to see another Grass ninja standing over Sasuke, who seemed to be paralysed with fear, except I knew the truth about this Grass ninja. Letting my emotions take control, I grabbed my kunai and charged straight towards him.

He sensed my presence and whirled around to block. He looked me over. "You've improved".

"I guess I have you to thank for that, father," I replied before he pushed me back, causing me to flip and land on my feet. I felt this overwhelming power, and I knew that I had awakened the Sharingan.

He looked me over again. "Well, well, looks like you do have it".

"You are going to pay for what you did to mother and Seiichi! My whole life, I had been training to be a ninja for one reason, to avenge them by killing you". I moved to charge at him again, but I didn't get far before I felt a paralysing pain originating from my neck, my curse mark. I was instantly on my knees. I put my hand over my curse mark as if that were going to dull the pain. I looked to my side and saw a crow staring at me. Then everything went black.

When I woke up, I was in some kind of cave opening with Naruto and Sasuke lying unconscious beside me. I looked to my right to see a Hidden Sound ninja, Rock Lee on the ground unconscious and another one holding Sakura by her hair. Then she did the most unexpected, she used a kunai to cut her own hair, causing the Sound ninja to lose her balance and giving Sakura the opportunity to attack.

I tried to get up to help her but was quickly overcome with weakness from my curse mark reactivating. I watched her overpower the Sound ninja with substitutions. Just as they were about to kill her, Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji appeared out of nowhere and protected her. Together, the three of them overpowered the Sound ninja. Although their victory didn't last long before the Sound ninja gained the upper hand again.

Lee's teammates, Neji and Tenten had just arrived when Sasuke woke up. The curse mark had completely taken over his body, the way it did with me when I first received mine... He walked over and broke one of the Sound ninja, Zaku I think his name was, arms. He was about to kill him when Sakura rushed over to him and put her arms around him. That seemed to snap him out of the trance he was in.

I couldn't do anything; I was too scared. I couldn't even save my best friend from something that originally had nothing to do with him. I felt so useless...

Right after the fight was over, Naruto woke up. He seemed as confused as ever, but no one would tell him what was going on.