Chapter 208: The Snake in the Shadows

Once Tonbo had seen the written examination take shape, he returned to his own work.

Watching candidates was entertaining, but acquiring knowledge satisfied him more. Forced Execution remained incomplete, as did the next development of Heart Steel. Hiruzen had not appointed him as an examiner this time, and the leader of the Analysis Team could arrange his duties with unusual freedom while the other jōnin argued over the test.

Ibiki's interrogation-style final question did not eliminate Naruto. The teams that remained in the room passed together.

Relief had barely begun when a figure crashed through the window.

Anko Mitarashi landed before the candidates and looked at the crowded desks.

"Why are there still so many?" she asked Ibiki. "Have you been slacking?"

Anko had put on a noticeable amount of weight since her younger years. Ibiki ignored the accusation.

"The result surprised me too. Some candidates always do."

His gaze moved to Naruto.

Naruto pointed at Anko. "Fat big sister, that old man already eliminated plenty of people. How can you say he was slacking?"

The room went silent.

Killing intent rolled from Anko. Everyone behind Naruto who knew him wondered whether courage had finally become a death wish.

A brown snake shot from Anko's sleeve, wrapped Naruto, and dragged him across the room before he could react.

"Do you want to die, brat?"

Naruto's hair rose beneath the weight of her stare. It frightened him more than Sakura's anger.

"No, sister. I did not mean it."

Anko threw him back toward the other candidates. "Say it again and guard your life. The second round is in the Forest of Death. Follow me."

At the forest gate, her assistants distributed Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Every team received one and needed to take the other type from its rivals before reaching the central tower. After Naruto's example, no one interrupted Anko's explanation.

The five-day limit allowed teams to hunt, hide, or wait for others to gather what they needed. It also meant that the forest itself could exhaust them before an enemy appeared. The sealed scrolls offered no clue from the outside, so every encounter carried the risk of fighting for a duplicate.

Among the Grass team, Orochimaru watched his former student with private amusement.

"Anko has grown fat," he thought. "Konoha must have treated her well."

The gates opened. Dozens of candidates vanished among the trees.

Team Eight moved quickly until Kiba signaled Hinata and Shino to stop. Both used their respective senses.

A scream broke the forest silence.

Three enemy shinobi fell from a branch. Large leeches writhed across their bodies, draining blood until their skin shrank against bone. Shino's insects had guided the creatures into the team's path.

The ambushers had focused upon Kiba's noise and Hinata's visible position. They never noticed the insects moving along the bark or the leeches gathered above them. By the time the first man screamed, the other two had already lost their footing and the strength to tear the creatures away.

Kiba and Akamaru tested the air. When they confirmed all three were dead, Kiba searched the bodies and found an Earth Scroll.

"We have the one we need. Now we go straight to the tower. Too easy."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "Do not become careless. Other candidates will attack us, and this forest contains poisonous insects and dangerous beasts."

"With me here, we can defeat any beast or examinee."

Hinata looked at him with quiet admiration. "I wish I possessed your courage, Kiba."

He laughed. "I trained for it. You would not want that training."

Even now, he remembered Tonbo's childhood exercises with lingering fear. Had Kiba been old enough to understand every danger at the time, he would only have cried harder.

Hinata had not known courage could be trained through repeated exposure to fear. Kiba did not explain the illusions, ambushes, and humiliating failures behind his confidence. Remembering them was enough to make him accelerate toward the tower.

Shino urged them forward. Other teams might wait near the central tower and steal complete scroll sets from arrivals. Reaching it early denied them that opportunity.

Team Ten had already lost time.

A massive beast had chased Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji in a wide circle. Shikamaru used the sun and the rings of a broken tree to recover the route, but all three looked battered when they crouched behind a stand of brush.

Branches had torn their sleeves, and mud covered Chōji to the knees. The detour cost time without winning a scroll, but it also taught them the danger of assuming that every movement in the forest belonged to another candidate.

Ino extended her awareness and found no nearby enemy.

A bag crunched beside her.

"Chōji, this is a tense moment. Stop eating."

He smiled, placed several chips in his mouth, and hid the bag again.

"We have five days," Shikamaru said. "There is no reason to exhaust ourselves now. We rest and preserve chakra for whatever follows."

Elsewhere, Naruto stared at every bush, trunk, and branch.

Tonbo's simulations had killed him in forest ambushes more times than he could count. This time no enemy would surprise him.

He checked behind trunks, under exposed roots, and along the highest branches. A bird taking flight became a hidden wire in his imagination; a lizard in dry leaves became a team closing from the rear. The vigilance protected him from complacency while consuming attention faster than any real patrol could sustain.

Sasuke sighed. "Caution is useful. If you stay that tense, exhaustion will defeat you before another team tries."

Sasuke had experienced the same sudden attacks in simulation, but he learned to adjust rather than suspect every leaf. Naruto had learned the lesson too completely.

Sakura looked at the red clouds around the setting sun. "It will be dark soon. We need a defensible campsite before another team chooses one for us."

They moved on together.

Sakura took responsibility for terrain and light while Sasuke watched their trail. Naruto forced himself to scan in intervals instead of staring continuously at the same harmless shadow. Their training had given them the questions. The forest required them to decide when each question mattered.

Three figures traveled much faster through another sector.

A disguised Grass shinobi pointed through the trees. "This way, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru adjusted the stolen hat and smiled.

"Uchiha eyes," he murmured. "Accept my power."

A giant tiger sprang from the canopy with its jaws open. Orochimaru's blade flashed once. He and his attendants passed beneath the animal before it landed.

Neither attendant slowed or looked back. They had learned that an obstacle unable to delay Orochimaru was not worth observing. His purpose lay ahead, in the Sharingan carried by the younger Uchiha and the hunger for power he intended to awaken.

The tiger struck the earth behind them with a hole through its forehead. Blood spread through the leaves as Orochimaru continued toward Sasuke.