บท 106: Forest of Death (1)
(Shinji's POV)
We were led outside the village by the proctor of the chuunin exam's second stage towards the location where we would be tested. There were 102 of us left, 34 teams of three to be precise. We had started out with 153 participants, but were culled down to two thirds of the original number.
Even though quite a number of them had already been eliminated, a large majority of the ones that still remained could still be considered subpar, if I had to honestly evaluate the calibre of my 'competitors'.
Although the remaining Konoha genin looked slightly nervous at the thought of the second stage, we were naturally a lot more confident than the foreign shinobi, who were alot more tense and cautious. Benefit of a homeground advantage and all that.
I glanced at the proctor who were leading us at the front, checking out her status with my [Observe] skill.
[Mitarashi Anko Lv 61]
HP: 13780/13780
CP: 9890/9890
Abnormal Status: Cursed Seal of Heaven (Suppressed)
Anko is a Tokubetsu Jounin of Konohagakure, specializing in covert operations, enhanced interrogation and intelligence gathering. She is also a poison specialist. Most notably, she is a former disciple of Orochimaru, the Snake Sannin, and as such has inherited several of his signature techniques. Anko is one of the foremost experts on Orochimaru, and is often consulted by the village on how to deal with the Snake Sannin.
Anko is weaker than you.
She is weaker than me? Even though she was 17 levels above me? Either I was stronger than I thought or she was weaker than her level reflected.
I focused in on the Abnormal Status shown in her information, and another notification window appeared in my vision with an explanation of what it was.
[Cursed Seal of Heaven (Suppressed)]
When activated, user receives 50% increase in CP temporarily, as well as 20% increase in STR, DEX, VIT and INT. However, user will also be afflicted with mental erosion, with further side-effects after every usage. In its incomplete and suppressed state, user suffers a permanent 20% decrease in STR, DEX, VIT and INT.
Ahh, I realised. It was because Anko was actively suppressing the curse seal, which was why her stats were reduced to a level where even a genin like myself, though admittedly an abnormal outlier, could be considered by the system as being stronger than her. It was insidious, how Orochimaru could still punish her for not using the cursed seal even after so many years since her apprenticeship.
And as I thought about it more, it started making more sense to me. The reason why Orochimaru had taken Anko under his wing in the first place was because he had taken an interest in her talent. Not just any schmuck with some above average skills could attract the attention of a monster like Orochimaru. She had to be something special for her to be the one and only disciple he had taken in Konoha even within the team he had led.
Yet, despite the promising start of her shinobi career, Anko had instead stagnated deeply, not even being able to make the cut for jounin. It was even a likely possibility that she had been promoted to tokubetsu jounin based on her expertise in poisons and knowledge of Orochimaru instead of raw skill and abilities.
It was because of the punishing penalty for suppressing the cursed seal of heaven implemented by Orochimaru, which permanently decreased all her stats by 20%. Which this reduction, not just her combat skills but even the time spent and quality of training would be affected. A lower VIT meant less stamina and slower recovery period, a lower INT would reduce the rate at which she comprehended new techniques.
I wasn't very familiar with Anko's character aside from her brief appearances in the anime, but that had to be some damage irreparable damage done to her psyche. Not just the 'beloved teacher betraying the village and leaving her for dead', but watching her potential slip away slowly over the years while the hopes and expectations of the villagers fade after seeing her stagnate into mediocrity.
It was no wonder why so many people followed Orochimaru. His methods for forcing people into his servitude truly was absolutely villainous.
Not long after, we arrived at our destination - a heavily forested area with titanic trees towering over the surrounding vegetation like skyscrapers amidst ramshackle huts - the forty fourth training ground, otherwise known as the Forest of Death.
The training ground was fenced off, with many warning signs cautioning any would-be trespassers.
The hundred or so genin gazed at the intimidating sight. Massive trees lining the forest stretched beyond what our eyes could see, while the comforting sounds of nature were instead replaced by an eerie silence, as though not even animals could survive in this place. The size of the Forest of Death was perhaps comparable to the size of the entire village of Konoha.
"This place is training ground 44. Also known as the Forest of Death. You'll soon realize why." Anko ominously commented, watching with sadistic satisfaction as the genin paled.
Unlike in the series, however, Naruto was smart enough to not make a stupid comment and make a fool of himself. Instead, it was another random Konoha genin who snickered to his teammates, whispering something under his breath.
Anko smirked, her eyes gleaming with glee.
"You're pretty rude to be whispering when someone else is talking, aren't you?" She commented before her hand blurred. A kunai flew towards the genin who had unfortunately been targeted, slightly grazing his cheek and embedding itself in the ground. The tokubetsu jounin then sped and reappeared behind the genin.
Slow, I observed, watching the spectacle with slight interest. Well, to be fair, she wasn't slow per se. But she wasn't fast either. To the untrained eyes of the genin, she might have looked like she simply disappeared and reappeared behind the kid. But with my [Heightened Senses] and over 200 DEX stat, I could see her movements with my naked eyes even without the aid of the Sharingan.
Even Sasuke would have been fast enough to react, albeit with the Sharingan, and Lee definitely could not just evade the kunai but land a counterstrike of his own. I was familiar enough with both their capabilities to easily make an objective judgement.
"Rude brats like you are always the first to die, you know?" Anko seductively caressed the line of red blood while 'stage-whispering' in the terrified genin's ear.
All this display showed me was that the entire thing had to have been planned by Anko from the start. Just like how Ibiki used psychological pressure to weed out the weak-willed, so too was Anko utilizing a practical demonstration to instill fear in the chuunin candidates. If it wasn't Naruto or this unfortunate kid, it would have been someone else that was chosen by her to make an example out of. Even her current behavior was just mind games after mind games.
Then, from the corner of my eye, the long-haired Kusa genin whose skin was worn by Orochimaru moved. This time, I couldn't catch even a single glimpse nor hint of his movement before he reappeared behind Anko, his tongue extended and wrapped around the kunai his former student had thrown.
Fuck. I was once again reminded how much of a monster Orochimaru was even when he wasn't even trying, unlike his former student.
"Here. I'm returning your kunai." Orochimaru offered, somehow speaking intelligibly even with his tongue extended out.
Anko had reacted as fast as she could, flipping out a kunai in response to the sudden intrusion of her personal space, as she had done to the genin as well
"Thank you for taking the trouble...But, don't stand behind me all bloodthirsty. If you don't want a quick death, that is."
She tried to play it cool, but it was obvious to me how much she was caught off guard by a seemingly harmless Kusa genin.
"I apologize. But I got excited when I saw the sight of red blood." Orochimaru replied with a creepy smile which deepened when he saw how uncomfortable he made Anko feel.
Like teacher like student, I supposed. This time, the kunai had not gone anywhere near Orochimaru, unlike in the anime where it had cut his hair. But Orochimaru still took the opportunity to sneak up on Anko and tease her. But just like Anko, he was only doing this to mess with the woman and derive some sick joy from her discomfort.
"What an energetic start to the second stage… I am looking forward to seeing how you cute genin will make a mess of each other in the forest." Anko commented, hiding her discomposure behind a facade of sadism and viciousness, something I was sure she had plenty of practice with.
But it worked, as the various genin took turns glancing at both the disguised Orochimaru and equally psychotic proctor with a worried look in their eyes.
"Well, before we start the second exam, I have to pass this out to you." Anko continued as she pulled out a stack of documents from her trench coat. "They are consent forms. Before you can take part in the exam you have to sign this first!"
Another mind game. How tedious.
[Quest Alert!]
[Chuunin Exams 2]
Pass the the second stage of the Chuunin Exams
(Bonus 1) Collect more than one pair of Heaven and Earth scrolls
(Bonus 2) Finish the exam in one day
(Bonus 3) Finish the exam in two days
Rewards:
+10000 EXP
(Bonus 1) +10000 EXP for every pair after the first collected
(Bonus 2) Item - Summoning Scroll
(Bonus 3) New skill
Failure:
REP lowered with 'Rookie Nine'
Disqualification from Chuunin Exams
Accept? (Y/N)
As expected, contrary to the first stage of the chuunin exam, the second stage which lasted for five days and had a lot more direct combat involved promised richer rewards as well as more bonus objectives. Even a summoning scroll had been promised. Passing the exam in one day was definitely doable, if we were lucky.
I wondered what animal would I be able to contract with. Hopefully none of the three most famous summon creatures in Konoha. They were all extremely powerful clans that well-deserved their reputation. But I would be hard-pressed to answer any questions on how I was able to obtain the summoning contract in the first place.
Well, it wouldn't do me any good to overthink about something I might not even receive. And of course, naturally, I accepted the quest.
[Quest Alert!]
[A Snake's Corruption]
Stop Orochimaru from marking Uchiha Sasuke with the cursed seal
?
?
?
Rewards:
+50000 EXP
+20 Points
?
?
?
Failure:
Cursed Seal of Heaven
New Perk
New Title
Accept? (Y/N)
This crazy fucking system! Did it really expect me to accept this shitty quest!?
Wait, 50,000 EXP and 20 free stat points? I could level up twice and receive just under three level ups worth of stat points with that! And just for fulfilling the minimum requirement of the quest excluding rewards for hidden objectives?
No, why am I even considering this. This is Orochimaru we're talking about. The Snake Sannin, kage-level, Sharingan obsessed monster who could kill me in the blink of an eye.
Well maybe not kill me… the failure penalty only mentions receiving the Cursed Seal of Heaven. But, that's bad! ...Right?
From what I learned from Anko's cursed seal, as long as I did not suppress it, there would be no punishing penalty that reduced my stats.
And even if I did use it, wouldn't Gamer's Mind protect me from any mental erosion? Doesn't that mean I could receive 50% CP and a further 20% increase in all my stats without any costs?
No wait, when something looks too good to be true, then most of the time it's not.
...And yet, sometimes it is, right?
Agh this crazy fucking system is really driving me mad!
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Author's apology: Hi sorry for the short updates I guess I owe you guys an explanation for where I had disappeared to for a good three months. Let's start from the beginning.
A few days after posting chapter 104, I found out that I had contracted COVID. Before you ask, I am okay. I am fully recovered. The symptoms were relatively mild as well, since I had already received my vaccination. But it still left me pretty weak and ill for about a week or two after.
When I was recovering in bed, I couldn't really do anything except think of story ideas. But, to my dismay, ideas that came up were not for Accidental Gamer Hero. Rather, I had so many ideas for original stories that I wanted to immediately start writing.
After I recovered from COVID, I sat down at my computer and tried to continue writing this chapter. But I was so disinterested and dispassionate that I couldn't bring myself to write more than a few hundred words. A few reviewers had mentioned that Chuunin Exams is where many writers discontinue their stories. I understood why.
The period of time pre chuunin exam is where a writer gets to have the most fun being creative, since a lot of it is unexplored which gives the writer plenty of creative freedom. However, the chuunin exam itself is so tightly scripted that it hardly leaves any room for a writer to get creative other than completely changing the whole exam, which I did not want to do as I wanted to be as faithful as the original adaptation as I could.
It physically hurt me to narrate the rules of the chuunin exams and the chronological sequence of events cause I was just so fucking bored with my own goddamn writing. So much so that I had to sprinkle in bits and pieces of my own interpretation of events as well as things that didn't happen in the original series like Ino trying to possess Shinji's body and getting blocked by Gamer's Mind.
Unable to continue writing the latest chapters, and desperate to vent my creative energy elsewhere, I started to flesh out the concepts of original stories I had thought up while I was sick in bed. I was able to filter them down to three ideas that I found to be most promising.
And then… I started writing. Non-stop. In these three months I had written roughly 30k words for all three stories. Each. It was just so much fun that I couldn't bring myself back to open up the word doc for Accidental Gamer Hero chapter 24.
I am not saying this in an effort to promote my new original stories that I don't even think I am going to post anywhere. I just hoped it served as a sufficient explanation for why I had not updated this story for so long.
I will try my best to continue this story, since the Forest of Death has a lot more room for me to work with as compared to the boring-ass first stage, so I should have more motivation to continue writing. But truth be told, most of my attention is in the original stories that I am writing for the pure enjoyment of writing.
I am so very thankful for the many readers who have been waiting for this update, I can see that it will be a disappointment to many. I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your understanding.
This is not a hiatus announcement. Rather, this is a notice that updates should not be expected to be arriving on a schedule. That's about it. See you next time.
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