Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: The Forest of Death
The Forest of Death
It didn’t take long for Sakura to spot her teammates. Tsu was leaning against the wall just down the hall, arms crossed and a dark scowl on her face, while Hikari stood beside her, looking a great deal more composed but still slightly pale.
“Are you guys alright?” Sakura asked as she approached.
“I’ve been better,” Tsu grumbled, pushing off the wall. “Nearly got disqualified for attacking the examiners. Not like they didn’t deserve it.”
Sakura smiles dryly, “I take it your questions were just as pleasant as mine,”
“That’s an understatement,” Tsu huffed, a sound mirrored by the ninkin at her feet.
Hikari placed a hand on Tsu’s shoulder, calming the Inuzuka before she could work herself up. “It’s over now. We passed.”
“We should keep what happened in there to ourselves,” Sakura said, glancing back at the door. “Inoichi-san told me not to let the others know the nature of the test.”
“Probably so they can use it again in future exams,” Tsu grumbled, but she nodded in agreement. “Fine by me. I don’t want to talk about it anyway.”
The three of them made their way back through the winding corridors of the Academy, following the flow of other examinees who had finished their own screenings. When they reached the main hall, Sakura wasn’t surprised to find the room much more empty than before.
Groups huddled together in corners, speaking in hushed tones about their experiences. A team from Kiri sneered at them as they passed, their sharp teeth glinting in the light, but Sakura paid them no mind, looking around for any familiar faces.
Amane was the only one she could spy. The girl was leaning against the same wall as before, though the team she was talking to wasn’t present. Perhaps they hadn’t finished their exams or were just somewhere else. The Kumo kunoichi caught Sakura’s eye and gave her a cheery wave, like they were old friends.
Sakura didn’t acknowledge the gesture, turning away, scanning the room for any sign of the other Konoha teams. To her surprise, she didn’t see any of them. A small note of worry curled in her gut. Had they all been eliminated?
“Don’t worry,” Hikari said, tuning into her thoughts. “They’ll make it.”
Sakura nodded, and they settled against a wall to wait. More teams began to slowly filter into the room over the next few minutes, faces grey and shaken from their own ordeals, but still Sakura didn’t see anyone familiar.
Finally, a familiar head of blonde hair appeared in the doorway, followed closely by two others. Team 10 looked slightly worse for wear, Ino’s ponytail askew and Shikamaru’s usual bored expression replaced with something more pinched, but Sakura was just happy to see them.
“Ino!” Sakura called out, waving her over.
The blonde’s face brightened when she spotted them, and she quickly made her way through the crowd with her teammates in tow. “You guys made it!”
“Of course we did,” Sakura said with a grin. “Did you expect anything less?”
Before Ino could respond, another voice cut through the noise.
“Hey! You guys made it too!”
Loud as ever, Naruto strode into the room, a bright grin on his face and Sasuke and Ami in tow. The latter seemed annoyed by his exuberance while the former was staring straight forward, his jaw clenched tightly in an expression that even Naruto usually couldn’t produce.
Behind them, more of their friends approached: Kiba, Shino, and Hinata slowly striding into the room, completing their little group.
“I expected you to be here way before me, Ino,” Sakura said as the group converged, pouncing on the opportunity to tease her friend. “Isn’t your dad the head of T&I? I thought you’d breeze through this.”
Ino crossed her arms with a huff. “I actually passed first, I’ll have you know. I just had to wait for these two idiots to finish.”
She jerked a thumb at her teammates and Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, “I finished right after you, troublesome woman. Choji was the one who took forever.”
“That guy was pretty scary. He made it hard to think while he was looking over me,” Choji defended himself half-heartedly.
Sakura tilted her head. She didn’t recall any looking, just that annoying, droning voice that made it hard to stay awake, much less think.
I guess everyone’s was different, she decided, glancing at the rest of the group. That explains how Naruto passed. I don’t even think he knows what the word genjutsu means.
The group chatted amongst themselves for a while, taking solidarity in the fact that they had all succeeded in moving on to the next portion of the exams. After a few minutes had passed and the trickle of genin entering the room slowed to a halt, their conversation was interrupted.
“Alright, that’s enough!”
The booming voice silenced the room instantly. Everyone turned toward the front, where Ibiki Morino had appeared once again, flanked by the same Chunin as before. The scarred interrogator surveyed the remaining examinees with a critical eye, his expression unreadable.
“Listen up,” Ibiki announced, his gravelly voice cutting through the murmurs. “The preliminary screening is complete. Out of the teams that entered this exam, roughly three-fourths have been eliminated.”
A ripple of shock went through the crowd, and Sakura couldn’t help but widen her eyes. That many?
“For those of you who remain, congratulations,” Ibiki continued, his tone anything but congratulatory. “You’ve proven that you have a better mental fortitude than a fresh academy student. Now we can start the real test.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolding it to reveal a map.
“The second exam will take place at Training Ground 44,” he said, holding up the map for everyone to see. “Also known as the Forest of Death.”
Sakura fought to keep a smile off of her face, even as the genin around her muttered uncertainly at the gruesome name. Just like that, her team had secured an advantage.
“The rules are simple,” Ibiki went on. “This is a five-day survival exercise. Each team will be given one scroll – either Heaven or Earth, selected at random. Your objective is to acquire the scroll you don’t have and reach the tower at the center of the forest within the time limit.”
He let that sink in before continuing. “You may use any means necessary to acquire the scrolls from other teams. However, if you open either scroll before reaching the tower, you will be immediately disqualified. If you lose a teammate, either through death or abandonment, you will be disqualified. If you fail to reach the tower within five days, you will be disqualified and more than likely eaten by whatever picked up your trail while you were goofing off.”
Ibiki smirked at the reaction his words produced, “Teams will enter the forest at staggered intervals. Report to the designated gates at your assigned times. I’d say good luck, but it won’t help you much in there.”
As the Chunin began distributing scrolls and gate assignments, Sakura shared a look with Shino. He inclined his head slightly, indicating he had the same thought as her.
The Forest of Death was home to many dangerous things, but its recent, eight-legged additions would be an amazing advantage.
They might as well just hand us a spot in the finals right now. Sakura smirked, as her fingers closed around her team's scroll.
~~~
The heavy iron gates of Training Ground 44 groaned shut with an ominous creak, sealing Team 3 inside the Forest of Death.
Sakura immediately pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders and yanked the hood up, casting her face in shadow. The deep green fabric helped her melt into the foliage, just as she intended.
“Alright,” she whispered, turning to her teammates. “Remember the plan. Find a good position near the tower and set up an ambush. That way, we won’t have to worry about running around looking for teams.”
Tsu grinned, her hand resting on the hilt of her odachi. “We’ll let the idiots tire themselves out running through the woods while we wait for the prime cuts.”
“Will your summons be able to assist us, Sakura?” Hikari asked. “Considering they’ve made the forest their home, they’d surely know it better than most.”
“There isn’t any rule against it,” Sakura grinned meanly, an expression mirrored by both of her teammates.
They moved swiftly and silently through the canopy, leaping from branch to branch until they found a suitable area to set up about a half-mile from the gate. It was a natural chokepoint, a small ravine that funneled travel through a narrow strip of land. Both entrances were completely surrounded by foliage, but animal traffic had created a path straight into and through the canyon, as if nature itself sought to guide people through it.
“This looks perfect,” Sakura murmured, landing light as a feather on a thick, moss-covered branch. She looked down into the ravine. The steep walls were slick with moisture and tangled with roots, making climbing difficult for anyone caught below. “Tsu, you and your partner take the high ridge on the left. Hikari, take the right. I’ll stay central to coordinate.”
Sakura bit her thumb, the copper taste of blood sharp on her tongue, and slammed her palm against the bark of the tree.
“Summoning Jutsu!”
Smoke burst from the seal and when it cleared, Sakura was left staring at two dog-sized spiders. Unlike Kii or even Shibarime, they lacked any distinct markings or colors, bearing black and brown fuzzy chitin respectively, but that was more than fine.
“I need your help setting a trap,” Sakura said. “You know this place better than I do.”
“Trap?” The right spider chittered.
“Yes, we can do traps,” the left said, sounding oddly excited. “We will help create a beautiful web, yes. Catch many things for summoner.”
Sakura grinned widely. “Perfect.”
They got to work immediately. The battle in Wave had taught her a thing or two about this sort of thing, and under the guidance of her new friends, the work was done twice as quickly. It helped that she didn’t need this trap to be as lethal as the one she used on Kenji. She just needed to know when someone was coming, and where they were approaching from.
Working quickly, she wove the wire between the trees, anchored by kunai. She slathered the anchors in mud to keep them from catching the light. They set a large perimeter but didn’t spread her attention too far, keeping the wires local but spread, so that even the smallest disturbance would tell her where her prey was coming from.
Like a fly squirming in a spiderweb.
Once the trap was set, Sakura dismissed her summons and Team 3 settled into the branches of a massive tree above the ravine, obscured by the thick foliage, and waited. It didn’t take long.
Less than twenty minutes passed before Sakura felt a faint tug on her net. A vibration through the wire, alerting her to movement on their perimeter. It was too heavy, too careless to be an animal stalking their way through the forest. Sakura perked up, tapping Hikari on the shoulder.
“Contact,” she murmured. “East side.”
Hikari activated their Byakugan, peering through the leaves. “Another team. They appear to be scanning the area. They’ll pass under us in less than three minutes if they continue on their current path.”
“Village?”
“Suna,” Hikari reported. “But not the team we met before the exams.”
Tsu shifted, looking eager. “They might have the scroll we need.”
Sakura considered it, watching the team stumble through the underbrush and into the ravine. They were loud, stepping on branches and snapping twigs with every move. They would be an easy victory, but...
“No,” Sakura decided. “Let them pass. If they’re this loud, they’ve probably got half the forest on their trail or are trying to draw another team out. I don’t want to fight and then have to deal with another team who thinks we’re easy pickings.”
Tsu pouted but didn’t argue. They watched in silence as the team passed by, oblivious to the eyes tracking their every move. If they kept it up like this, they probably wouldn’t last much longer anyway.
And so, the waiting game resumed.
An hour passed. The forest was alive with the sounds of insects, birds, and the distant roars of larger predators, but no other team passed through their trail. Sakura was just beginning to wonder if they should move their position when Hikari suddenly tensed beside her.
“Someone’s coming,” Hikari said, their voice tight. “Heading… straight towards us.”
Sakura frowned, shifting in alarm. She hadn’t detected anything, “They got around my wires?”
“No,” Hikari replied, their Byakugan flaring. “They’re actively avoiding them. They know where we are.”
Tsu’s hand flew to her sword, her stance shifting. “What? How?”
“Doesn’t matter. Should we run?” Tsu asked, though her grip on her odachi suggested she had no intention of fleeing.
“It’s too late,” Hikari replied, settling into a ready stance. “They’re already here.”
The underbrush rustled, and then three figures burst out of the foliage, landing on a branch just across from Team 3.
They were a colorful group of characters, with no discernable uniform or style between them, though they all bore a hitai-ate bearing four wavy lines. Kiri. The one in front was a tall boy with dark hair and a jagged scar running down his cheek, a massive broadsword strapped to his back. To his left stood a girl with pale skin and dark eyes, her hands hidden by her sleeves. And to his right, a smaller boy with a pinched face and eyes rimmed with black face paint.
“Well done, Ren,” the leader said, clapping a hand on the smaller boy’s shoulder. “You found them. Exactly where you said they’d be.”
The teen preened under the praise. “Told you my sensing was getting better, Yuta. You and Mei keep underestimating me.”
Yuta’s eyes swept over Team 3, his gaze lingering on Sakura for a moment before moving to Hikari and Tsu.
“Team 3 of Konoha,” he said, his voice low. “Sakura Haruno, Hikari Hyuga, Tsuyoka Inuzuka. Am I right?”
Sakura’s eyes narrowed. “You know our names.”
“You made a name for yourselves in Wave,” Yuta replied with a sharp grin. “And we make it our business to know who we’re hunting.”
“Hunting?” Tsu stepped forward, her teeth bared. “You’re pretty confident. What makes you think we’re the prey here?”
The genin laughed humorously. “Spirited. I like that. Makes the kill more satisfying.”
“What do you want?” Hikari demanded. “You sought us out specifically. Why?”
The Kiri nin exchanged glances, and the leader’s grin widened.
“Word travels fast in the ninja world,” he said, unslinging the broadsword from his back. The weapon was massive, nearly as long as he was tall, with a jagged edge that glinted menacingly in the light. “You’re the team that took down Kenji Sojiro, right?”
Sakura felt a chill run down her spine. They already heard about that?
Killing a legendary ninja, much less two in the same day, was bound to cause waves, but it hadn’t even been a month yet! How had word spread that quickly?
Yuta clearly caught Sakura’s reaction as his eyes narrowed dangerously.
“So it was you,” he continued, “I didn’t believe the rumors. A genin beating one of the Seven Swordsmen? It sounds insane. But...”
He leveled his sword at Sakura, his eyes hard.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Even if it isn’t true, we can’t let rumors like that stand. He may have been a traitor, but Kenji was still one of ours. So we’re here to restore Kiri’s honor by taking you out of this tournament before you can make it any further.”
The teen didn’t wait for a response before surging forward, showcasing surprising speed for someone carrying such a massive weapon. The sword sliced through the air, heading straight towards Sakura so fast that she barely had time to react, throwing herself to the side as the blade whistled past her.
The other genin pressed his advantage, swinging the broadsword in a brutal follow-up strike. Knowing that a kunai would simply shatter against such a blade, and honestly panicking a little, Sakura reached into her tool pouch and pulled out a sealing tag, flooding it with chakra.
Nuibari appeared in a puff of smoke and Sakura snatched it out of the air, bringing the weapon up to parry.
The impact sent a shockwave through her arms, nearly jarring the weapon from her hands. The broadsword was heavy, each strike carrying tremendous force behind it, and Nuibari’s thin blade wasn’t designed for blocking.
“So you do have it!” Yuta snarled, pressing down with his weight, “Nuibari belongs in the hands of someone who knows how to wield it properly. Not some treehugger!”
He kicked out, catching Sakura in the stomach and sending her staggering back. She gasped, the air driven from her lungs, but managed to keep her footing.
Across the clearing, the battle had fragmented into three separate duels.
Tsu was engaged with the pale-skinned girl with the overly long sleeves, Mei. The addition quickly proved to be intentional as the kunoichi kept her distance, her fingers weaving seals, hidden by the fabric.
“Water Release: Needle Rain!”
Mei tilted her head and pursed her lips. A wave of water droplets shaped like tiny needles shot towards Tsu who dodged and weaved around them. The Inuzuka tried to close the distance, but the girl jumped backwards, hands already forming even more seals as her jutsu came to an end.
“Stand still and fight me!” Tsu snarled, ducking under a particularly large water bullet that splattered against a tree trunk with enough force to strip the bark.
“Why would I do that?” the girl replied with a smirk. Her cheeks bulged before she spat up a trio of water balls that raced towards Tsu fast enough to ruffle the leaves on the trees above them. Tsu gripped her sword tightly, the blade glowing as she swiped the air. Her sword passed through all three bullets in quick succession, destabilizing the chakra keeping them formed.
Water soaked her clothes but without the chakra behind it, it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Tsu adjusted her grip on her sword and jumped forward, blade raised high. It stabbed into the tree by the other kunoichi’s feet as she jumped away, and the Inuzuka snarled again as she gave chase.
Meanwhile, Hikari faced off against the sensor. The smaller boy had produced a pair of wicked-looking kunai from his pouch, holding them in a reverse grip. He circled Hikari cautiously, clearly wary of the Hyuga’s abilities.
“I’ve heard about your clan,” Ren said, his voice reedy but confident. “Close-range fighters. If I keep my distance, I can wear you down.”
Hikari said nothing, their expression calm as they settled into a stance. Their white eyes tracked Ren’s every movement, the bulging veins around their temples evidence of their active Byakugan.
Ren feinted left, then threw one of his kunai at Hikari’s face. The Hyuga batted it aside with a chakra-coated palm, but the distraction had served its purpose—Ren had already repositioned, circling to Hikari’s blind spot. Or so he thought.
As he prepared to move in again, Hikari suddenly twisted, their hand gripping several shuriken while their other was formed into a tiger seal.
“What the–!” Ren’s eyes widened and he launched himself to the side as a trio of sparking shuriken screeched through the air beside him. “Lightning release!? I thought Hyuga didn’t use nature transformations!”
“You’re operating under a misconception,” Hikari replied coldly, already holding more shuriken which began to glow as Hikari channeled their chakra through them. “I’m not like the rest of my clan.”
“I guess not,” Ren laughed, watching Hikari warily. “I guess I’ll have to take this seriously then.”
His face pinched in concentration. Hikari took advantage of his distraction and threw their shuriken, hoping to end the fight early, but his arm whipped out at the same time as theirs.
CLANG
Three kunai intercepted the shuriken in mid-air. Hikari’s eyes widened as the lightning chakra that they had channeled through was completely negated, before their eyes narrowed.
“Wind chakra…” Hikari said as Ren regarded her with a wide grin. “And that speed… I see. Maybe I’ll have to try a bit as well.”
Hikari pulled out a single kunai, the move mirrored by their opponent, before they launched at one another, flashing blades thirsting for flesh.
“Your team is good,” the Kiri leader said, drawing Sakura’s attention back to her own fight. He was circling her now, his broadsword held loosely at his side. “But they’re outmatched. Just like you.”
He lunged suddenly, the broadsword coming in a diagonal slash aimed at Sakura’s shoulder. She brought Nuibari up to block again, but this time she angled the blade, trying to redirect the force rather than meet it head-on.
It sort of worked. The broadsword slid along Nuibari’s length, sparks flying as the two blades ground together. Unfortunately, Yuta anticipated the move, twisting his wrist and bringing the pommel of his sword around in a brutal strike that caught Sakura across the temple.
Stars exploded in her vision. She stumbled back, blood trickling down from a cut above her eyebrow, and barely managed to raise Nuibari in time to catch the next swing.
“That sword was meant for a master,” the leader growled, pressing his assault. “Kenji may not have been Kushimaru, but he knew how to wield his weapon. You? You’re a child playing with a weapon you don’t understand!”
He knocked Nuibari aside with a flick of his wrist, then reversed his swing, the blade coming around in a horizontal slash that would have taken Sakura’s head off if she hadn’t thrown herself backward at the last second.
Sakura hit the ground, rolling across the branch. The cut on her forehead bled into her eye, temporarily blinding her, but she blinked it away in an instant. She wasn’t going to beat this guy in a sword fight. She needed an opening to summon Teashi or this was gonna go from bad to worse really quick.
As she rolled, Sakura dug a hand into her tool pouch, grabbing something and leaping to her feet, eyes narrowed.
Yuta advanced slowly, his broadsword resting on his shoulder. “This is almost sad. I expected more from the girl who supposedly killed a Swordsman of the Mist.”
Sakura wiped the blood from her eyes, glaring at him coldly.
“You’re right,” she said, her voice steady despite the blood dripping down her face. “I don’t know how to use that sword. But you know what I can use?”
Yuta raised an eyebrow, mouth opening to say something disparaging or sarcastic and it was then Sakura made her move. Her arm whipped out in a blur, sending the objects she had retrieved towards him.
Yuta’s sword flashed, cutting them out of the air, but the moment it made contact, the smoke bombs exploded, shrouding him and obscuring Sakura from view.
Confident that she had bought herself at least two seconds, Sakura unfurled a scroll, Nuibari vanishing in a puff of smoke only to be replaced by a weapon she knew much more intimately. Teashi materialized from thin air, hair drifting like a curtain around her expressionless face as the puppet took its place by its Master’s side.
“A puppet?” her opponent spat, recovering as the smoke cleared. “You think some doll will—”
Sakura’s fingers moved, chakra threads snapping taut before he could finish his sentence. She didn’t want to drag this out for any longer than she had to.
Teashi surged forward with a speed no human could match, all six arms bursting from beneath the red robes. The Kiri leader raised his broadsword to defend, and Sakura smirked as he fell right into her trap.
Four of the puppet’s arms grabbed the blade while the other two lashed out, wooden fingers coiling around the leader’s wrists and ankles. He tried to pull free, but Teashi’s reinforced joints locked in place, keeping him completely immobilized.
“Rrgh! You—Let go!” He cried, futilely struggling against her. As he tried in vain to free himself, Sakura flicked her fingers, and two of Teashi’s arms released their grip on the broadsword, flipping backwards at the elbow to reveal the nozzles hidden in each of the joints.
“Tsu, Hikari, cover your mouths!” Sakura called out.
Tsu disengaged from the ninjutsu specialist with a swift leap backward, while Hikari struck Ren’s shoulder with a glancing blow that sent him stumbling away, buying them both precious seconds.
“Puppet Performance: Silent Swamp!”
Sakura’s chakra burned a trail down the seals on her hand and then into her chakra strings. Teashi’s mouth clicked open and the puppet’s head began to spin on the joint as it sprayed gas in every direction. It quickly spread outward, consuming the unprepared Kiri nin without any warning.
“What the—!” Ren coughed, trying to form seals but her hands were already trembling. She fell to one knee, quickly followed by her smaller companion. “What is this!?”
“Aerated gas made from dredge-worms and viell root,” Sakura said calmly, rising to her feet as the leader locked up in Teashi’s grip. “Imagine lockjaw in your whole body, and you’re about halfway there. You’ll be fine in a few hours, but you won’t be moving for a while.”
“You… bitch...” the leader groaned through gritted teeth.
Now that the battle was over Tsu and Hikari grabbed the other two and brought them over to Sakura and the leader. Sakura resealed Teashi, sending the puppet away.
“Now,” she said, crouching down to meet the leader’s glare, “let’s see if you have what we need.”
A quick search of his pockets revealed standard supplies. Ration bars, wire, kunai, even a respirator, but no scroll. Sakura glanced over at her teammates just in time to watch Tsu pull a scroll out of Ren’s pocket with a triumphant sound, only for her face to fall as she saw the kanji on the side.
“Damnit,” Tsu groaned, holding it up for view. “They’ve got a Heaven scroll, same as us.”
Sakura frowned, looking down at the leader, whose angry expression had shifted to a smug grin despite his predicament. “Guess you wasted your time.”
“Then why—” Sakura started, but a voice from above cut her off.
“Aww, you beat them before I got here? That’s no fun.”
Every muscle in Sakura’s body went rigid. Slowly, she looked up.
Amane hung upside down from a thick branch overhead, her dark hair dangling like a curtain, her purple eyes gleaming with manic delight. She swung slightly, her smile widening as she took in the scene below.
“I was hoping to crash your little party,” she said, her voice disappointed. “I had such a good speech prepared and everything for when I came in and saved the day. Guess that’s what I get for stopping to take a leak.”
Yuta spat, eyes glaring up at her. “So you’re the one who was following us. We were gonna deal with you after these three, but maybe we should have taken you down first.”
Amane giggled, “Yeah, that would have been smart.”
Her cheeks began to bulge, swelling outward as she drew in a massive breath. Sakura’s instincts screamed as malignant chakra flooded the air, and she reached out with both hands towards the captive team.
Chakra threads erupted from her fingertips, latching onto the three Kiri nin and yanked them backward with all her strength. The Kiri team yelled and slid across the forest floor just as Amane exhaled.
A torrent of white, bubbling foam crashed down where they had stood seconds before, slamming into the tree roots with a hiss. The ancient oak began to sizzle and melt, bark sloughing off in seconds as the acid ate through the wood like it was paper.
Amane dropped from her perch, landing lightly amid the dissolving tree. She looked at the empty space where her targets had been, then at Sakura, her expression shifting to one of genuine disappointment.
“You saved them,” she said, almost accusatory. “Here I was going to thin the competition for you, and you saved them.”
Sakura kept her threads active, ready to pull the Kiri team farther if necessary. “They’re already beaten. There’s no need to kill them.”
“Need has nothing to do with it,” Amane said, tilting her head. “I just don’t like those guys. But you… you gave me an idea.”
Amane bounced on her heels, the white foam still bubbling at her feet as she regarded the scene with a childlike glee that made Sakura’s skin crawl. She clapped her hands together, her smile widening into something more predatory. “Let’s play a game! I’m going to try to kill these three, and you…” she swung her finger to encompass Team 3, “...are going to try to keep them alive!”
All the present Konoha genin froze. “What?”
“Simple, right?” Amane twirled in place, her arms spread wide. “You clearly want to keep them alive for some reason – I don’t get it personally – So let’s make it interesting. If you can keep me from killing them for…” she paused, tapping her cheek, “…let’s say a full day. Twenty-four hours. If they’re still breathing when the sun rises tomorrow, I’ll give you this.”
She reached into her flak jacket and produced an earth scroll. The exact type Team 3 needed to complete their set.
Sakura stared at the proffered scroll, her mind racing. “Why would you give up your own scroll for… for a game?”
Amane blinked. “Oh, this isn’t mine. I have like seven of these,” She giggled, “The forest is full of such interesting people, but none of them are really good enough to waste time with in the finals, ya know? So I’ve been thinning the herd a bit. I even got souvenirs!”
Amane opened a wing of her jacket, and Sakura’s breath caught as she was greeted with the sight of several gleaming forehead protectors lining the inside.
That’s… There’s got to be at least five teams’ worth there! She thought, eyes wide.
Amane closed her jacket and leaned forward, her violet eyes gleaming. “So? Do we have a deal? Playing is mandatory, of course. The Kiri team stays in the exams and I won’t kill them if you win. I won’t let them pass, of course, but they can live to see the end of the month, at least. Oh, and you three have to stay in too. No forfeiting or running to the proctors.”
Tsu’s grip tightened on her odachi until her knuckles turned white. “Why would we ever agree to that?”
The temperature in the clearing seemed to drop. Amane’s smile didn’t fade, but something behind it shifted – going from playful to dead, cold steel. The foam at her feet seemed to hiss louder, steam rising in thick coils.
“Well,” Amane said softly, her voice dropping to a whisper that somehow carried across the entire clearing, “If you don’t, I suppose I’ll just have to have my fun elsewhere with the rest of the genin. But you know, I’ve collected a lot of headbands so far, but none from Konoha. If I don’t have anything to occupy my time, I’ll just have to complete my collection.”
Sakura’s throat tightened, the threat ringing in her ears. If they didn’t play Amane’s game, she would go after the other Konoha genin – Ino, Shino, and the others. And Sakura knew with sick certainty that they wouldn’t stand a chance against this monster.
“You’re bluffing,” Hikari said, their voice steady despite the tension in their shoulders.
“Am I?” Amane tilted her head curiously. “Do you want to test that theory? Because I’m gonna be honest, I’ve been wanting to see if that Uchiha boy is as good as he thinks he is.”
The forest was silent except for the bubbling of acid and the distant cry of some bird.
Sakura looked at her teammates. Tsu looked furious, her teeth bared in a silent snarl, while Hikari was silent and looking uncharacteristically unsure. Neither of them said a word, having come to the same conclusion as Sakura. They had no choice.
“Fine,” Sakura spat, her voice rough. “We’ll play your game.”
Like a child being told they weren’t being punished anymore, Amane’s entire demeanor did a complete one-eighty. Her smile became genuine once more, and the cold note in her tone vanished, replaced with a horrifically childish delight.
“Excellent!” Amane clapped her hands together, bouncing on her feet. “I can’t wait to see how you guys do. Make sure to try your best, because I’m gonna be coming at them with everything I’ve got.”
Her eyes flickered with amusement. “Well, not everything,” she amended. “Anyway, I’ll go have some fun with some other losers and give you guys a couple hours to get ahead. Let the clock start… now!”
Amane vanished in a blur, the sound of laughter echoing through the forest around them.