2.1k words, coulda got more, but I have a bus to catch.
I dont own Naruto nor JJk idk why I even bother to put this here but ey better safe than sorry
Discord: https://discord.gg/VcZgznu6
Saw some other bum form here plug it, there are actual writers here. This is Jax's server, author of Nah, I'd Adapt, and Zenin Days.
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I eventually complied with Baki, and we reached a massive forest, where a crowd made out of everyone who had passed the previous exam were waiting in front of. We approached Karin and waited with her for the examination officer to speak.
"This is the arena for the second exam: Training ground 44. Also known as the Forest of Death." Mata-whatever said, looking back at us, while smirking. "You're about to witness firsthand why they call this the 'Forest of Death'."
Naruto intervened, parroting what she said in a mocking voice before continuing. "Like that's really gonna scare us. You're trying to psych us out, and I'm not gonna fall for it!"
The proctor promptly threw a kunai at Naruto, which grazed his cheek, and licked the blood coming from it.
"Spilling all that rich, red, lovely luscious blood..." She said, slowly distancing her face from his cheek.
From behind her, a voice calls out. "Your kunai... I believe you dropped it." A girl dressed in mostly white, from Kusa, apparently, had wrapped her long tongue around the handle of the knife, bringing it up to the proctor's hand.
"What else can that tongue do?" I said, Projecting to her right. "Also, learn your place, woman. Go back to your team."
I turned back towards the proctor, addressing her; "She meant well, she is just a little slow" I had no idea who that is, but they are from Kusa and were making a scene, possibly complicating my mission to improve the diplomatic relation between Kusa and Konoha.
The weird girl simply walked off, hiding her face under her straw hat, while Mata-whatever shooed me away. I will make her pay for that. Why? Because I'm bored out of my mind. As I was wondering how to get back at her, I was handed a form to sign. Baki started explaining the exam to me, but I ignored him just like I ignored the proctor. I handed him the signed paper, and pondered on what I could do...
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Unfortunately, with no materials, there was nothing I could do. And so, I found myself in the forest with my two teammates. I looked over at them, before asking;
"So what are we supposed to do again?" Which promptly made Baki facepalm, while Karin simply stared at me, unimpressed. I waited for an answer, but instead of receiving one, I was ignored, as they started walking deeper into the forest.
I followed after them, as we moved through the forest. After a good bit of walking, we came across another team, whose country of origin was Suna, but, thankfully, they had yet to notice us. Baki looked at me, and said;
"Go beat them up, and if one of them has a scroll with the word heaven on it, take it with you. We will stay hidden and provide cover should another team intervene." I nodded at him, after all, who else could take on three people at once?
I Projected in the middle of the three Suna ninja, and did my job. I kicked one in the throat, which collapsed it and left him gasping for air on the ground, I then punched through a wooden doll and into the spine of the other guy on the team, leaving him paralyzed. I then snapped the neck of the last one, and started going through their bags.
My teammates approached me, and started going through the other bags. Karin took out a scroll from the bag, only for it to bear the word 'Earth' on it. I took out some jerky from on of their bags, and started eating. With a sigh, both Karin and Baki started going deeper into the forest once more. And, after a short bit of traveling, we reached a river.
"You two set up camp here, I will go and look for some more teams to deal with." Before they could respond, I left.
I jumped from tree to tree, moving without making a noise, looking for more victims. Suddenly, as I enhanced my hearing, I heard the sound of fighting. I quickly turned towards it, unwilling to let go of the opportunity to take advantage of whoever could be taken advantage of.
I approached the source of the sound, stopping as I saw Sasuke fighting the weird 'Kusa girl' from earlier. Looking at it, a memory flashed through my mind. When I came to terms with my current situation, coupled with the fact that years had passed since my arrival here, I forgot a lot of things. What I remembered, however, were the main cast, and dangerous people; Pain, Obito, Itachi... Orochimaru. What I forgot, was that the aforementioned snake took the face of a Kusa shinobi to infiltrate these exams.
And so, faced with an adversary meant for the end-game, I should run away. A a grin spread across my face. But that's how cowards think... And I am the one and only Naoya Zenin. But, there is no shame in being a coward. An average Jonin I'd gamble with, an Sannin however? That is suicide.
As I turned around, my presence masked as best as I could mask it, a voice came from my right. I Projected as far away as I could, and put my guard up, as I strained my senses to their peak, only for the voice to appear again, without alerting me of its source.
"I was about to say you saved me the trouble of searching for you, only for you to run away before I could say anything." A wide smile stretched across his face, his tongue licking his lips. " Luckily for you, I am generous enough to give you a gift despite your behavior. Kekekekeke."
While the stupid bastard was doing his stupid laugh, I reinforced my legs, and projected besides him. Once there, I hit his knee, breaking it, then I spun on my foot, kicking him once more, this time in the head. A smile spread across my face, as his head went into the dirt.
"Thanks for monologuing." A hand grabbed my shoulder. I let out a sigh, as my shoulders drooped. I felt a faint breath on my neck, upon which I Projected away. Orochimaru was left to bite the air, his smile disappearing.
"You are starting to get annoying." I blinked, and with it, he was gone once more. The next moment, a sharp pain burst from my neck, spreading all throughout my body. I ignored it, even as foam started to form in my mouth. I rose to my feet, looking at Orochimaru, as he disappeared into the floor. A triumphant smile formed on my face.
"Ahhhh, it's good to see that you realised how much stronger I am than you." Orochimaru ignored my taunts, as I moved back towards the main cast. I've long accepted that I am not an unknown variable. My best bet is to get on good terms with Sasuke, so he will free me should I be captured by Orochimaru.
My mark still burned, but I had long since learned to ignore pain. It is an essential skill of any shinobi. I had the servant tie me up and beat me with a metal bat to help me learn how to move through the pain. I kept my mind distracted as I approached the sound of Sasuke's pained screams.
What I came across was the sight of the Oto team ganging up on the pinkie from Naruto's team. I leisurely approached them from behind, clawing at the mark on the side of my neck as it itched. The Oto team advanced on the pinkie, going through her traps, before they were blocked by Lee, to whom I waved.
He collapsed on his knees, after the Oto genin attacked him once again. I continued to wave, waiting for him to wave back at me. At this point, I was a few metres away from pinkie and Lee, and he finally saw me, weakly waving one of his hands at me, signaling me to run. I flashed him one of my winning smiles, took one of my kunai, and threw it at one of his harassers, hitting him in the head.
"Damn, I didn't expect him to not react to that. How come you are having trouble with them, Lee?" I kept my pace as slow as it was before, looking at the two remaining Oto nin. One was covered in bandages all over his body, while the other had spiky hair. I had hit the girl of the group, who was even more useless than expected.
As the genins attention turned to me, pinkie did something unexpected, and threw a kunai at them while they weren't looking. I started clapping as I watched its trajectory, only to see it lodge itself into the shoulder of the bandaged one. The smile fell off my face.
"WOMAN! Are you truly this incompetent? What are you even doing here, if you are unable to hit a still target? I- ugh." I calmed myself down with a sigh, she wasn't worth the effort. I held my head in one of my hands, as I shook my head.
One of the two rushed towards me, the other going for pinkie. I stopped my walk, waiting for my adversary, the one who bore bandages, to approach me. He threw some kunai at me, but I simply swatted them away. He got within a metre of me, and swept his hand at me, only for me to catch it. I threw him over my shoulder, after which, while he was still on the ground, I started stomping on his head until it turned to mush.
When I turned my attention back towards pinkie, she had three kunai in her, two in her arm, and one in her stomach. However, despite her current state, she had her opponent pinned to the ground, his arm pierced by a kunai. I sighed. She didn't even know how to trade damage correctly...
As I marveled at her mediocrity, she was thrown away by the spicky haired kid, who cursed her for piercing his arm. Then, as she fell to her knees, a figure burst from the bushes, one that bore a long blonde ponytail. Ino, and, trailing behind her, her teammates, Choji and Shikamaru, to whom I waved, as I started walking leisurely towards them.
Surprising no one, the trio made quick work of the last Oto shinobi standing. Just as they finished up with that, Sasuke rose to his feet, surprising everyone. He bore weird marks all over his body, which resembled tattoos.
"Who is the one that got us into this mess?" His eyes peered into each and every person in the clearing, his eyes finally landing upon me. "Kusa... So, you are working with Orochimaru, aren't you?"
"Nah, he kinda killed one of the plebs and stole her face. I wouldn't be dumb enough to get on the bad side of the most powerful villa-" As I spoke, Sasuke tried to place me under a Genjutsu, but, unfortunately for him, I couldn't be caught in one easily, as I had extreme control of my chakra.
"Could you stop with that? It's getting annoying... You aren't even skilled enough to catch me in one..." I said, scratching the back of my head. Sasuke got more annoyed, ignoring his friends, who were trying to explain the situation to him, as he prepared a Great Fireball jutsu. I simply looked at him, unimpressed.
As the jutsu came hurling towards me, I prepared a Projection, only for my chakra to go out of control once it left my body, and for the mark to start burning with agonizing pain. The fireball had reached me, but I swatted it away with a kick. As the fire dispersed from in front of me, I scanned for Sasuke, only to be unable to find him. He had gotten behind me. Unluckily for him, the mark did not interfere with the chakra within my body, and so, with a bit of Reinforcement, I twisted my body, catching the kick he had thrown at me from behind. With his leg in my grasp, a smile crept on my face.
"When choosing to fight someone, make sure you can beat them. Otherwise you will embarrass yourself." My smile unchanging, I threw him back at his friends. "Try and talk some sense into him."
"Sasuke please! Stop!" Pinkie screamed, catching him. His cursed marks slowly retreated, and he lost strength in his body, exhausted. I shook my head with a sigh. I had to figure out what exactly the mark did to my chakra, and a way to get past it, I couldn't just not use Projection, after all...