A Shard Among Leaves: Into The Forest (Patreon)

[Into The Forest]

Ibiki Morino maintained that he had better things to do with his time than babysit a bunch of brats. Half of the kids who showed up to this year’s exams had no business even looking at a flak jacket, much less wearing one. Unfortunately, Lord Third seemed to disagree so he was stuck watching a bunch of teenagers flail under the most basic pressure. He had to admit, it was sort of fun watching them squirm.

At least before this one decided to open his mouth. Ibiki fought back a scowl as the whiskered kid managed to rally everyone behind him. They were just about to give up; he had seen it. But now every single one of them was planted firmly where they were, prepared to take on that nonexistent final question.

More than half. Anko’s never gonna let me live this one down. Ibiki’s eyes twitched as he stared at the brat responsible for this. Naruto Uzumaki stared back defiantly. Maybe he has what it takes. The rest of them, though…

Ibiki scoffed, tearing his eyes away to address the room. “Fine then. You all pass the first stage. Congratulations.”

Silence and confusion spread around the room, the potent tension dissolving in just a few short words. They hadn’t expected this, least of all Naruto who practically gaped at him with eyes blown wide. 

Ibiki allowed himself a moment to savor their confusion. It was the closest he was probably going to get to catharsis today. Then, he reached up and began to pull his bandana away, revealing the mess of scarred flesh underneath. 

A few of the genin flinched. Good. “The purpose of this test was to gather information under pressure. You were never supposed to solve the test by yourself; the true objective was to man up and use the resources available to you, even when you were told they weren't. Those of you who cheated without getting caught, congratulations. Those of you who didn't even try,” he pointedly looked at the blonde one. “...Well, you managed to make it through too.”

“But what about the tenth question?” A girl from Suna spoke up. Ibiki grinned, eliciting a few more flinches. 

“It didn’t exist. As a Chunin, you will be responsible for the lives of others without knowing the consequences. Your decisions will be final. There is no failing gracefully when your team is depending on you.” Ibiki ran a hand over his scarred scalp. “Those of you who stayed despite knowing you might fail took a shot in the dark for success. That's the quality I wanted to see.”

He tied his bandana back into place. “Now then, your next examiner will be—”

His speech was interrupted by the window suddenly shattered into a hundred pieces and four kunai planted themselves in the floor and ceiling respectively. A banner unrolled between them as a dark shape resolved itself into none other than his colleague and biggest headache.

“The lovable and ever-sexy Anko Mitarashi!” Anko planted her hands on her hips, grinning widely. Said grin faltered as she took in the congregation gawking at her. “Huh? What the hell, Ibiki? Why are there so many left?”

Ibiki sighed, pointing at Naruto. “Blame that one. He brought them back from the brink. I nearly cleared pretty much all of them out.”

Anko squinted at the blond kid. “Really? Looks like you're losing your touch, old man. Why don't you leave it to us from now on?”

“Us?” A Kusa nin asked.

As if on cue, a buzzing torrent of black poured through the broken window, droning loud. More than one genin lurched backward in alarm at the sight. Naruto fell out of his seat as the mass converged beside the grinning Anko, a million buzzing wings sounding in unison, before slowly fading away as the bugs dispersed.

A child stood hunched where they once were, staring at them all through the lenses of her goggles.

“I am Hirari Aburame,” she said in the waking silence. “We will be your proctors for the second stage of your Chunin Exams.”

The silence lasted a second or so before it was broken by an older teen from Taki with a slicked back ponytail. “Yeah right,” he laughed, shaking his head. “What, did your village run out of adults to handle things? What’s with the half-pint?”

Murmurs of agreement rippled through the room as several other Genin wondered why this little kid was going to oversee them. Team Seven was notably silent, with even Naruto staring at the girl with a wariness that suggested they hadn’t forgotten their last encounter.

“Your concern is unnecessary. I can assure you that I am properly qualified,” Hirari said, her muffled voice carrying across the silent room with uncomfortable clarity. “If it serves to alleviate your worries, I will inform you that despite my age, I was promoted to Chunin over a year ago. I think that speaks to my skills when compared to your own.”

A few snickers came from the assembled Genin and the teen’s face went red. Hirari turned away from his embarrassment, continuing. “If there are no more questions, the next exam will be held in another location. Follow me if you wish to attend and remain here if you do not.”

Soon enough, the Genin were assembled in front of the massive, looming forest of Training Ground Forty-Four. The great trees loomed over them like buildings, casting shadows over the group as if to remind them just how small they were in the grand scheme of things. Hirari and Anko presided over the group, though Anko had fallen back to lounge on top of a nearby gate, watching them from above.

“This is Training Ground Forty-Four, also known as the Forest of Death. The second stage of the exam will be held entirely within this forest.”

A girl from Kiri stepped forward, sharpened teeth flashing in a scowl. “Hold on a second! We’re using one of your training grounds for the test? How is that fair?”

“Entering this training ground is explicitly forbidden for any Konoha personnel under the rank of Chunin,” Hirari explained. “Even then, it is strongly advised that Chunin do not enter in teams of less than two.”

“We lost a few newbies just last year because they didn’t want to listen,” Anko chimed in from her perch. She grinned as eyes turned to her. “The tigers had to be relocated deeper into the forest afterward. They developed a taste for human flesh.”

Several Genin swallowed nervously, while the Kiri girl just scoffed. She still backed down however, leaving Hirari to continue. “Will one person from each team please enter the booth?” She pointed at a small wooden booth that had been placed beside the gate. “Once every team has done so, we can continue.”

Though annoyed by the mystery, each team selected a person to undertake  the task. They entered the booth one by one and emerged shortly after. Some of them were sporting colored armbands, others were holding a scroll, and others, nothing but a confused scowl.

Hirari heard one team's confused exchange:

“What happened in there, Hiro?”

“Literally nothing. I walked in, the guy stared at me, then told me to leave.” The boy rolled his shoulder, scowling. “I think they're messing with us. This has gotta be some part of the test, right?”

He was correct, though not in the way he thought. Hirari waited until a person from each team had gone into the booth at least once. Once they had, she continued.

“Those of you who entered the booth were given a random chance to achieve one of three outcomes. As you can see, one third of you have been given an armband unique to your team, another have been given a map to a destination hidden within the forest and an item to retrieve. Lastly, one third of you have received nothing at all.”

She looked around at each of them, taking in their reactions to her words. “Your objective is simple: by the end of the third day, your team must possess both an armband and an item. If you lack either, you fail. It does not matter where you acquired them, nor how. They may be found or taken from other teams by any means necessary.” She paused for a moment. “Killing is permitted, but not encouraged, though torture for purposes other than locating your required item is forbidden.”

A ripple went through the crowd at that. The Kiri girl bared her teeth in a smile, looking down at her map while her teammates exchanged excited looks. 

“So some of us get our item handed to us and others get nothing? How the hell is that fair?” An Inuzuka boy asked, his ninkin yipping in agreement on top of his head. Though he had been one of the third to receive nothing, Hirari noted that his team held an Aburame as well as a Hyuga. Despite his whining, his group held quite the advantage.

“Fair?” Hirari tilted her head, fixing the Genin with a look. “It is as fair as any scenario you might face outside of the safety of your respective villages. Your items were chosen at random; no team was given consideration above another.”

“So why not start everyone off with an armband and a map? Why shaft some of us just for fun?”

Hirari turned to the teen who had spoken. “This is merely to simulate the conditions of the real world. The world hands people innate advantages from the moment they are born while others are… “shafted.” For example, those with the map start off better than those with nothing, but worse than those who received an armband. And yet none of these items guarantee success. It is entirely plausible that all of you will fail, or only those who received nothing will pass. Your skills will determine your success, not fairness.”

The genin went silent, processing her words, before a scoff rang out.

“Sanctimonious bullshit,” the same Taki boy from before muttered. Half a second later, a kunai slammed into the ground by his feet, causing him to jump back. Anko was there to meet him. As he bumped into her and froze, she wrapped an arm around him like he was an old friend, leaning in close.

“Yeah, it’s a real drag, isn’t it?” she said in a conversational tone. “If you want, I can save you the trouble of dealing with it all and just fail you right now. How's that sound?”

He ripped himself out of her arms and jumped away, scowling at her. She just stared back with a lazy grin. After a moment, he turned his head to the side and spat, before walking over to join the rest of his team. Anko watched him go, before stiffening as a presence appeared by her side.

“You dropped this,” a slimy voice hissed. She turned to find her kunai, offered to her by a pale hand belonging to a member of one of the Kiri teams. Anko stared into yellow eyes, a shudder of something like recognition passing through her, before she grabbed it and stowed it in her coat.

“Thanks,” she said, keeping her laidback demeanor, though there was definitely an undertone of tension layering it now. 

The kunoichi smiled pleasantly, “My pleasure,” she said, before moving to stand with her team once more, leaving Anko looking somewhat disturbed. 

Hirari watched the exchange quietly, before turning to address the assembled Genin once more.  

“If there are no further objections,” she said, noting the Taki boy's sullen silence, “we will proceed. Each team will be assigned a gate around the perimeter of the forest. You will enter simultaneously when the signal is given. The exam will last for three days, after which someone will be sent to retrieve you. If you wish to forfeit, do so now because once you are inside, you are on your own.”

Not technically true. Anbu were patrolling the forest constantly simply as a matter of village security and were under orders to pull anyone out should they be caught breaking the rules or near death. Even so, it would be better to weed out those without the mettle for this part of the test before they inevitably added to the forest's already high death toll.

Surprisingly, nobody came forward. Either this group was extremely overconfident, or she hadn't stressed the dangers of the test quite enough. 

The teams filtered away toward their gates, leaving only Hirari and Anko at the forest's edge. The Tokubetsu Jonin strolled up to her, planting a hand on her shoulder and leaning on Hirari's much smaller form. “So, this is it.”

Hirari nodded, watching as a group from Suna and one from Konoha strode up to the gate in front of them. They glared at one another, but both were sporting armbands and thus, had no reason to fight. Whether that would stop them or not, Hirari was unsure. Humans could be strange creatures sometimes. 

“Hope we have enough teams to actually move on to the next stage,” Anko said, pulling out a pack of pocky and snapping a stick off in her mouth. Crumbs fell onto Hirari's head, though she didn't seem to notice.

She stepped away, dusting bits of sweet-coated biscuit out of her hair. “If they possess even a basic notion of wilderness survival capability, they will be fine.”

“Yeah. Like I said.” Anko snorted, walking towards the gate to enter the forest herself. Hirari followed after her, considering her words. Perhaps she had a point. After all, Hirari hadn’t told them what lay inside of the forest.

Regardless, she was sure her colony and thus, the village as a whole, would greatly benefit from the data due to be gathered over the next three days.