The Enlightened One Ch.59 (Patreon)

“...”

“How the hell did we pass?!” Kiba slammed his hands on the desk and shouted. Ibiki smiled.

“Sit down and I’ll explain.”

Kiba begrudgingly nodded and sat back down. Ibiki brought a hand to his mouth and cleared his throat.

“You all stayed; you took a chance, even at the cost of your future. The shinobi world is much less forgiving.” The older man paused and removed the black bandana covering his head. Audible gasps escaped some of the examinee’s throats as they stared at Ibiki.

“This…” Ibiki pointed at his scarred and burned head. “This is the truth of the shinobi world. Death is often a sudden thing, and when things get serious, you all may not have enough time to make a decision, but a choice must be made. To continue on with the mission even if it costs your life, or to turn away and fail the mission for the sake of living to see another day.”

“... So we chose the former, and we chose correct,” Temari said more than asked and earned a small nod from the scarheaded man.

“There is no correct answer.” Ibiki shook his head, further confusing the examinees once again. “There are only two choices. One will pass you, and one will fail you, but in the real world, one may kill you, and one will allow you to live on. It all comes down to how far you’re willing to go for the sake of your village.”

Again, silence descended on the room as everyone pondered the older man’s words. I had to admit he was making an exceptional amount of sense. It got me thinking: would I sacrifice my life for the sake of a mission that could help the village in any meaningful way?

Shame in myself flooded my mind as I realized that I definitely wouldn’t.

There were too many threats to the future of this world, and with things being open to change, the endgame could either be much better or much worse. The possibility of something world-ending happening in the future is why I wouldn’t see myself dying for the sake of the village—but even with that reasoning, I can’t help but feel an incredibly strong amount of disappointment in myself for making that decision.

*BOOM*

A loud explosion rang through the room as something crashed through the window.

As the dust settled, the visage of Anko stood before us, a cocky smirk tugging at her lips as she stared into Ibiki’s eyes.

“Must you always do such flamboyant acts, Anko?” The scarred Jonin asked as he rubbed his temples.

“No, but it’s fun.” She chuckled and stepped deeper into the classroom. Her eyes roamed across the room, and her smirk was replaced with a frown. “There’s still quite a lot of kiddies in here; you must be growing soft.”

A long silence passed as Ibiki closed his eyes and gave the woman a small smile. “It seems so.”

“Bleh! I can smell the sentimental gibberish from here!” Anko plugged her nose as if she was smelling something trashy. “Come on, kiddies, we’re going somewhere less sentimental and more full of death! Meet me at training ground 44; if you don’t know where that is, tough luck, kick rocks!”

With those last words, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

The class was left absolutely dumbfounded, with the exception of those who knew Anko and those who simply didn’t care.

“You heard the woman; get lost,” Ibiki ordered, and that was the sign everyone needed to start moving out of the hole Anko made in the wall.

“She hasn’t changed at all,” Satsuki noted as she crossed her arms.

“I’d be surprised if she had.” I chuckled.

“Oh, is there a story here?” Hinata asked with a weird smile. One that wasn’t quite relaxing but wasn’t terrifying either.

“Nothing you haven’t already heard.” I rubbed the back of my head, calming a great deal when her smile grew more genuine.

“Isn’t that wondrous to hear!”

“We can mess around later; we should head to the next exam phase,” Satsuki said, grabbing my hand and pulling me along.

We made our way out of the hole and quickly body flickered over to training ground 44. We had been there more than once, so finding it wasn’t a problem at all.

Upon arriving, we quickly realized we were the first ones there.

There was a table with a bunch of sealed scrolls. Standing on either side of the table were two shinobi, likely chunin by their looks, and Anko was behind the table.

“Hey, look, the kiddies are here!” Anko waved at us, her signature grin clinging to her lips.

“We’re taking the exam; of course, we’re here.” Naruko crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue at the older woman. Anko gave a look of mock hurt and placed her hands on her hips.

“The little blonde knucklehead doesn’t like me! I don’t know if my itty bitty feelings can stand it!”

The way Naruko looked extremely proud of herself set Anko off. She started laughing, unable to hold it in.

“Hey, what the hell’s funny?!”

“Nothing, shortstack.” Anko walked over and placed her hand atop Naruko’s head.

“Why does everyone call me that?!” Naruko shook the older woman’s hand off and balled her fists angrily.

“Because it’s true.” Satsuki gave a quick sagely nod and a side eye that only served to rile up Naruko further.

“I don’t want to hear anything out of you, flatty!”

“Who the hell are you calling flatty, you big-titted bumbling mess of idiocy!”

The other examinees started arriving, but even that didn’t deter Satsuki and Naruko from continuing their argument.

Hinata seemed content with just letting them go, which was unusual but not unexpected.

The other examinees continued watching Naruko and Satsuki argue, which could be an advantage for us later. They may underestimate the two and pay for it dearly.

“Big breasts do nothing but get in the way!”

“COPE!”

As some of the last people arrived, Anko body flickered behind Naruko and brought a kunai to her throat.

“That’s about enough, don’t you think, loudmouth?”

“...”

“Good.”

Anko slowly withdrew her blade, and once Naruko was out of the danger zone, she stuck her tongue out at the former student of Orochimaru one more time. Anko promptly ignored her and returned to the table, but not before giving me one last wink.

“Now then, let’s get to business, shall we?!” Anko clapped. Everyone’s eyes were locked on her form as we all awaited the rules of the next exam.

Well, everyone except me. My eyes were locked on someone completely different—the redhead from earlier. Only now, it was clear as to who the redhead was.

Karin Uzumaki.

I damn near resisted the urge to facepalm.

I had completely forgotten Karin was in the chunin exams in canon. She wasn’t exactly a noticeable addition, and with Orochimaru coming along and swiping her, I hadn’t even remembered her being anywhere near Konoha around this timeframe.

However, the fact that Karin is here implies that Orochimaru didn’t attack her and use her team as a disguise to capture Satsuki and me.

That’s good, but I’d be a fool to assume nothing bad will happen in that forest.

“I hope you all are prepared for death because that’s exactly where you’ll be going!”

Silence was the response to Anko’s attempt at a joke or a scare tactic. Honestly, you really didn’t know with Anko.

Knowing her, it was probably both.

“This is Training Ground 44, also known as ‘The Forest of Death.’” Anko’s eyes scanned across us, likely hoping to see how many people she had spooked. “The name is pretty self-explanatory. Walk inside, and the chances of you coming out are slim. Monsters rule this forest. If it moves, breathes, or lives, it’s likely trying to kill you.”

“Now then, if that wasn’t bad enough, you’ll have to complete a mission of sorts.” Anko wiggled her eyebrows as she picked up two scrolls. One held the kanji for ‘Heaven,’ and the other held the kanji for ‘Earth.’

“You’ll all go into the forest with your three-man squads. These scrolls are known as Heaven and Earth scrolls, respectively. Each team will get a single scroll, and you’ll have to fight or steal for the other scrolls. If you are given an Earth scroll, you’ll have to fight for a Heaven scroll, and vice versa. Are you maggots following me so far?”

Anko’s question earned several nods through the group, which caused her grin to grow a few notches.

“Good. Within the middle of the forest is a building; this is considered the finish line. Enter the building with both a Heaven and Earth scroll, and you pass. That’s all.”

“That’s it?!” Ino questioned.

“Meh, there are other little tidbits you might need to know, but I’m not required to tell you, and watching you all suffer sounds wayyyy funner!”

Most everyone looked at Anko like she had grown a second head, and I could tell in this single moment she had made a lot of future enemies.

Eh, I honestly doubt she gives a singular fuck.

“Well then, if anyone has questions… I don’t care to listen to them! Each team starts at a different gate, and they’re spaced out, so scram!” Anko shooed us away with her hands, and some of the dumbasses that were lost from Anko’s explanation forgot they needed to grab a scroll.

Eventually, as they saw the more intelligent participants head over to the table, they made their way back over.

Naruko, Satsuki, and I were the second group at the table, just after the Cloud group.

“Here ya go, kiddies!” Anko grinned as she handed us an Earth scroll. “Good luck, don’t die, although I doubt you’ll need it.” She added as she gave me a more serious look for just a moment before replacing it with her stupid grin.

“Thanks, hopefully we won’t.” I returned her smile with my own and walked over to the gate, which one of the Chunin pointed us toward.

Upon reaching the gate, we waited around for everyone to get their scrolls and reach their own gates.

Naruko, Satsuki, and I talked a bit about strategies going in, but most of it was really a rehash of ideas and plans we had already made beforehand.

Finally, after nearly thirty minutes of waiting, Anko’s voice blared through the forest.

“[Let the second phase of the exam begin!]”

— Chapter End —

Author’s Note: A few minutes away from my birthday, W. I plan on dropping a few chapters for it. Hopefully I can get out a couple ATLA chaps along with Spider and maybe a Let There Be Light Chapter!