Chapter 14: 14. The Forest of Death (1)

The Forrest of Death where the second test was being held was surrounded by a metallic fence. Its perimeter with forty-four gates equally spaced around it; this perimeter is where shinobi entered. Inside was a river, a forest, and a tower located in the exact center; the forest's radius was about ten kilometers. It lay to the north of the Forty-Third Training Ground. Within the forest were several large and deadly creatures such as leeches, tigers, snakes, and bears, as well as deadly, poisonous plants and insects.

Currently, all the genins who passed the first part of the exam stood in front of that creepy place. It was very hot outside and the forest in front oozed with many dangerous feelings. Neji also watched the short episode between Anko, the proctor of this second exam, Naruto, and Orochimaru who disguised himself as a female ninja of the Kusagakure, just then. Neji tried to not stand out at this time, as this was still not the time for him to meet the Orochimaru yet. They all also needed to sign their consent forms a short after. And then Anko officially started explaining this exam in detail.

Three-man teams are given either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll before entering the forest. They then have five days for the entire team to reach the building in the center of the forest with one of each scroll in their possession; how they acquire the other scroll is up to them, by force or by trade being the most common options. Because of the natural hazards of the forest, the absence of services or outside assistance, and the likely conflict with other teams, genin must sign liability waivers before entering to release Konoha from responsibility for any potential injuries or deaths.

If a team loses their starting scroll they are not automatically disqualified, as they may use the remaining time to acquire another copy of the scroll they've lost. By the same extension, acquiring both scrolls does not guarantee completion of the second stage, as they still must reach the center building in time. As the second stage goes on, teams that have lost their scroll will tend to gather around the building, hoping to prey on those with both. Alternately, teams that already have both scrolls can linger outside the building, taking scrolls from others to reduce the competition in later stages.

Genin are forbidden from opening either scroll until they have reached the central building. If they follow this instruction, the scroll will summon a higher-ranked ninja to grant them advancement to the next stage. If they do not follow this instruction, the ninja will render them and everyone else in the area unconscious for the duration of the second stage. It was a test of their order-following ability.

It was ultimately time for the exam to start after all those explanations, consent form gatherings, and scroll allocations. Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten stood in front of the forty-first gate of the forest. And like that, on the appropriate signal, all the genin teams entered this forest at the same time.

Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten swiftly rushed out at the same time, jumping all over trees toward their destination. Neji immediately reminded and warned them seriously, "Remember, you just need to listen to me and my Byakugan this time!", Neji's goal this time was just to try and not mess up with the following plot, in other words, to not arouse the interest of Orochimaru prematurely, as he was still in his peak strength. There would be a better time to get what he wants from him later while he was weakened. And he also wanted to avoid that madman Gaara so as to not mess up the next plot.

"What are we going to do first, Neji?", Lee and Tenten nodded and Lee asked while they ran ahead.

"We're going to hide until the fifth day and then come to the central tower and pass! I can certainly notice anyone and then we'll evade them in an advance. But, first, let's find a couple of cannon fodders to get the scroll we need!", Neji replied seriously, to which Tenten and Lee turned a little surprised, but didn't ask too much, as Neji was always the leader of their team. And just then, after a couple more minutes, they suddenly heard some kind of painful shrieks coming from somewhere.

"What's that Neji?", Tenten asked curiously all of sudden, while Neji immediately activated his Byakugan to check, "It seems that the Team Kurenai got the first scroll already, forget about it!"

'Team Kurenai? That's the team with that Hinata Hyuga?', Tenten nodded, also having a touch of a bad feeling towards that team because the princess of the main branch of Neji's clan was there. She already learned about many things and practices of that clan, and her heart was always sad for Neji.

***

Some time passed while Team Guy was hiding, gathering supplies, food, and water when Neji suddenly realized he came to a problem. Due to his effects on Lee's change of character, and their change of route due to the Butterfly Effect brought by him, it was questionable exactly how and why Lee would rescue Sakura and them from those Otogakure ninja Orochimaru sent to kill Sasuke.

Neji needed Sasuke alive, or else the whole plot setting would suddenly collapse, and Neji would therefore have no further advantage of plot familiarity, from his past life, after that. Therefore, he decided to personally secure Sasuke's safety and preserve that advantage as much as possible.

So, Neji immediately found the location of passed out and injured Naruto and Sasuke, alongside a sleepy Sakura anxiously guarding them in front of some kind of a tree husk, so he brought Tenten and Lee there with him as well. They stood now on top of a nearby tree and observed down below.

Orochimaru already printed his Curske Mark onto Sasuke and turned Naruto unconscious by tempering with his Nine-Tails seal. Neji didn't get the chance to previously observe that situation as he didn't want to be noticed by Orochimaru in any way, as his Byakugan range was relatively short.

"Neji, why do you want to help and guard those rookies suddenly, this isn't like you!?", Tenten on the side questioned Neji. He proposed to help them after noticing their situation through his Byakugan. Lee agreed to help immediately, but she was a little doubtful, as to Neji's real purpose.

"Well, don't you already know, Tenten? They are the students of Guy-sensei's best friend, Kakashi Hatake!", Neji answered in this way, that being the most reasonable explanation he could give now.

'Well, if it's for Guy-sensei I guess Neji would help...', Tenten slowly accepted his explanation but also remained feeling a little weird. Basically, she knew that Neji wasn't the kind to help anyone.

"Oh no, Neji, those Otokagakure shinobi you previously saw really came to make trouble here!" Lee suddenly exclaimed, feeling more passionate now that he remember that those were the students of Guy's best friend. There were three of them incoming now, two male teenagers, and one female.

One of them, called Dosu, had bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his left eye and eyebrow uncovered. He also wore a large poncho with long sleeves, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf, and a large amplifier on his right arm for most of his attacks. His back was hunched, which made him look smaller than he really was.

Another one of them, called Zaku, had spiky, black hair and dark eyes. He wore a beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death down the front. His forehead protector had an attached happuri under the cloth rather than connected to the metal plate.

And the female one amongst them, named Kin, had fair skin, black eyes with very long black hair, almost reaching down to her calves, tied by a violet ribbon right near the end. She wore a forehead protector, a pale green vest somewhat similar to a flak jacket, snake-patterned pants with a snake-patterned skirt over it, and a snake-patterned scarf around her neck, much like her teammates.

Neji observed their chakra closer than before now, and then lightly concluded, "They don't look like much. And, since I proposed to help them, I will deal with these guys alone, it will be over quickly."

"Humph, do what you want!", Tenten snorted lightly while glancing at the pressured and distressed, nearly-crying, pink-haired Sakura, with a face as white as a sheet, down below, after her traps failed to hurt her opponents. Lee sweatdropped a little bit, while Neji facepalmed mentally, 'Did she misunderstand something...?',

'Never mind, women...', Neji thought while feeling a bit weird, and then he quickly jumped down below to deal with the approaching attack of the Otogakure team, now rushing closer to Sakura.

Just as Sakura's first tear was about to fall, and those three hostile shinobi crushed her, a sudden wave of chakra-like pressure came in between their positions, separating her from her attackers.

Sakura opened her eyes wide in confusion and daze as she now saw a figure with a tall and wide back, and freely falling black hair, on top of his white kimono shirt, standing in front of her place.

"W-What, N-Neji Hyuga!?", Sakura looked at his back and felt unbelievable inside. She rubbed her eyes for a moment to see if she was perhaps hallucinating all of this, 'I-Is he helping me? But why...?'

"Who are you!", The three Otogakure attackers jumped back and one in the middle, named Dosu, dangerously asked in surprise. He was the calmest and most analytical person out of the whole team.

"Your name is Sakura, right? Don't misunderstand this, I saw that you and your team were in danger, with my Byakugan, and decided to lend a helping hand. We're from the same village, and our teachers are even great friends.", Neji turned around to look at her first and then calmly explained.

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'So, that's how it is...?', Sakura suddenly felt like a giant rock fell off her chest, knowing Neji's abilities, "Yes, I understand, thank you for your help!", She joyfully replied as she glanced at her teammates still in a coma with big relief. She felt like they barely dodged this upcoming disaster.

The last few hours were the darkest ones in her entire life. First, that cruel and heinous snake-like woman, with monstrous strength, attacked her team, doing various weird things to Sasuke's and Naruto's bodies, then she faced a whole night full of bad nightmares, on the lookout for them, or if she will maybe return to harm them, and then this happened in the end, she finally felt relieved.

"Hey, I don't care who your teachers are. He asked who are you, and why do you dare to butt in like that? You Konoha brats are such a pain!", The more hot-blooded Zaku suddenly shouted at Neji.

"Why are you yelling from such a distance? Come closer and check who I am if you want to know...", Neji rebutted with a stoic face, not putting them all in the eye, he wanted to end this quickly before possibly Gaara or Orochimaru find out about him being here, 'Everything must go with the plot...'

"Damn it, you brat!", Zaku suddenly held his hands high in the air, weird tubes coming from both of his palms.

But before he could launch his special attack, he suddenly heard Dosu with a serious face shouting to him sternly, "Wait, Zaku, you idiot. This guy isn't normal. Did you see the weirdness of that previous attack of his? He's really strong! We all need to go together against him this time around!"

"Hm, at least one of you isn't stupid then. Yes, he's right, I'm really strong, but he's also wrong, you currently have zero chance against me even if you all launch an attack together, it's still useless!", Neji replied in a matter-of-fact like tone. He also noticed just now, that more spectators came to watch. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino, also hid in the nearby bushes, preparing to watch the upcoming clash.

"Zaku, Kin, let's do our strongest combo right from the start!", Dosu solemnly exclaimed all of a sudden, without preparing to argue with them, already rushing forward in a sideways manner.

He was mainly a close combat fighter. His main attack was done with help from the Resonating Echo Speaker on his right forearm, which he used to generate sound for his attacks. That was a porous metal gauntlet that is used to amplify or absorb sound waves caused by his arm's movements.

With that gauntlet, Dosu can direct the sound waves based on how he moves his arm, or he can guide them at a specific target using his chakra; because it's sound, it usually can't be blocked. The sound damages his target's ear's semicircular canals, throwing them off balance so that they can't stand, move, or fight. Additional side effects include bleeding ears, distorted vision, and vomiting.

Kin is focused mainly on sneak attacks toward their enemies. She mainly used senbon needles as her fighting style, which she could throw with great accuracy to strike at her opponent's vital points.

Zaku was the main intense damage dealer and long-range striker of their team. He had been physically altered with unnatural enhancements that improved his abilities. He was fitted with hollow air tubes that extended through his arms and opened through his hands, allowing him to propel a combination of air pressure and sound in various ratios, controlled by his own chakra.

Neji just stood silently, as Dosu slowly approached him while holding his weird metallic arm, and Kin jumped onto what she considered to be his current blind spot, whereas Zaku launched a big sonic attack wave that crushed half of the nearby trees and dirt. Already exposing all of the spectators.

"Rotation!", Neji first launched a large enough rotation to protect himself and nearby Sakura and her team. Sakura, and now exposed Team Asuma, looked in shock and amazement, as the enormous sonic boom presently collided with his also large blue rotating chakra force, stopping it.

"Haha, got you now!", However, just as the sonic wave of energy was neutralized, somewhere behind him, Neji saw one-eyed Dosu swinging his arm in a mad way while rushing towards him.

Neji got dizzy, and knelt, while Dosu grinned more than ever, "You're finished now, cocky bastard!",

And just when excited Dosu wanted to go for the finishing blow, thinking that his attack already messed up Neji's inner ear canals. He got surprised when he looked at Neji's veiny eyes, and then at his white palm suddenly pressing onto his unguarded chest. And then, with a thump, he fell out while feeling dumbfounded. However, it was pretty easy for Neji to focus a chunk of his chakra inside of his ears through nearby tenketsu points in the head to defend against that kind of attack.

However, it was still not over, as Kin, from the side suddenly shoot a barrage of her senbon needless toward Neji. But, Neji swiftly dissipated from his place, already standing beside her, while apparently also holding the passed-out Dosu, on his shoulder, hitting her in the chest as well, 'He's that fast!?',

In the next second, Neji appeared in front of Sakura, and now her teammates' bodies in the open. He now held both Dosu's and Kin's bodies and then mercilessly threw them at the stupefied Zaku.

Zaku sweated and held his arms high in the air, in hopes to launch his sound attack again, but Neji already got to him too, hitting him in the chest, also slowing his heart for the next few hours.

He then swiftly moved all of their bodies aside before coming back to his previous position. Now Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were also there looking at him with stars in their eyes. Tenten and Lee came down as well. Rock Lee praised him a little, while Tenten gazed at stunned Sakura angrily.

"I slowed down their heart rhythms, they won't be able to move for at least a few hours!", Neji said.

'This guy is at least at the elite jonin level of strength. That secret S-class mission Asuma-sensei said he completed must've been truly extraordinary. Hyuga clan? I didn't think they were so scary before...', Shikamaru already deduced many things while watching this previous battle of Neji's.

Sakura managed to calm herself down just now, but just as she wanted to thank him for his help, Ino surprisingly stood in front of Neji confidently with a hot gaze, while making some kind of a pretty pose, "Hello, Neji Hyuga, my name is Ino Yamanaka, I don't think we met properly before!"

Apparently, after watching this battle, all of her previous indifference toward Neji went away. No kidding, if she had a guardian that strong, then would she need to hide away the whole exam like she previously did just now? Shikamaru face-palmed at the sight of this, cursing Ino inwardly.

However, Ino didn't notice that Tenten, who stood on the side and watched her, now basically had fire written all over her eyes. She looked like she was ready to burst and lash out at any moment.

However, to Neji's good luck, just at this time, some kind of purple demonic chakra started pouring out of the passed-out Sasuke's body. Then the black-haired teenager stood up in a strange manner, while all the genin present, on the scene, suddenly unknowingly hid behind Neji's back, in shock and fear, with their eyes wide open, and only Sakura anxiously shouted toward him, "S-Sasuke...?",

Hearing her voice, Sasuke finally opened his eyes, with his Sharingan already activated, and mysterious and scary-looking patterns now creeping all over his body, "What the hell happened here!?", Sasuke asked coldly while looking at the worried Sakura beside him, Naruto on the ground, and all the other genin present on the scene unknowingly hidden behind Neji's back, who looked at him with some interest with his Byakugan fully activated, 'Is this Orochimaru's Curse Mark?'