Naruto: System of Akio

Naruto kept going.

Kids his age had ridiculous stamina, no shortage of "output." The real problem was Sasuke behind him, constantly poking him in the lower back, making him nearly lose control.

"Cut it out, Sasuke! Since when you got this childish?!"

Naruto finished up, pulled up his pants, and turned around, only to freeze.

"…A branch?"

"AAAHHH!!"

A familiar scream cut through the forest.

Naruto's brain finally kicked into gear. Forget the weird poking, he spun around and bolted toward the sound.

"What happened?! Sakura!"

No response.

He picked up speed.

When he arrived, his eyes widened in shock.

A massive tree had come alive.

Sasuke Uchiha was weaving through a storm of branches, shielding Sakura Haruno as they dodged nonstop, unable to even form hand signs.

"What is this thing?!" Naruto didn't hesitate. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Chakra surged.

"Rasengan!"

One spinning sphere of energy smashed straight through the tree monster, snapping it in half. The creature twitched once… and went still.

Sasuke pulled Sakura out from beneath the collapsing trunk, exhaling slightly.

"Nice one, Naruto."

Naruto scratched his head. "Since when do trees attack people? Sakura, you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Sakura replied quickly, face flushed.

Sasuke paused, then looked away slightly, his own face faintly red.

"…The tree was blocking my view earlier. I didn't see anything."

Sakura nodded, still blushing. "Yeah…"

Naruto blinked.

…He had no idea what they were talking about.

Then it hit him

"That branch earlier… it wasn't just one tree. There are more of them!"

Sasuke's expression sharpened as his Sharingan activated.

"…You're right. Four more are closing in. I've never heard of the Forest of Death doing this at night… Could this be part of the exam?"

Naruto puffed his cheeks. "Fighting trees is boring. Give me giant crabs or some kind of dragon boss instead!"

Sasuke: "…"

"Stay sharp. Don't let them surround us. I'll take two, Naruto you take one, Sakura stall the last."

"…I'm taking all four."

Sasuke pressed a hand to his forehead.

This teammate…

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

Earlier that day, seven teams had already been eliminated, but only three had passed: Tenten's squad, Toneri's team, and the Sand Village trio.

That left twenty-two teams still inside the forest, each dealing with their own chaos.

Team 8 Hinata's squad.

Even in the dead of night, Hinata Hyuga's Byakugan gave her near-perfect vision across a kilometer radius.

She calmly led her teammates to a safe hiding spot, waiting for dawn.

Team 10—Shikamaru's squad.

With his absurdly high IQ, shikamaru Nara quickly mapped out the optimal escape route…

…and somehow led his team straight into getting surrounded by seven or eight tree monsters.

"Ino, status?" he muttered.

Ino Yamanaka tensed. "What now, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru glanced around, sighing deeply. "I told Asuma not to bet so much… what a drag. Choji, we're breaking out. Use that move you just learned."

Choji Akimichi grimaced. "…Right."

Shikamaru's shadow shot out, linking with Choji's body.

"Human Boulder Yo-Yo!"

Elsewhere

As the second-stage examiner, Anko Mitarashi had already noticed something was wrong.

Unfortunately, she was pinned down by a particularly aggressive giant tree.

After smashing through several branches, she leapt back, narrowly dodging another wave.

"What are you?" she muttered.

"Waiting for backup?" a voice suddenly echoed.

Anko's eyes widened.

The tree's trunk twisted

Forming a grotesque human face.

"What the hell are you?!"

"Hehehe… human. You've trespassed into my domain."

It laughed.

"Leave? Not happening."

Anko frowned. "A talking tree…?"

Then

"Return the girl you took!"

Anko froze.

…This felt familiar.

"…Akio?"

"I am the Tree Queen!"

Anko: "…"

At the central tower

Akio was laughing so hard he nearly lost his breath.

"This genjutsu is incredible, absolutely incredible!"

The three teams who had already passed exchanged uneasy glances.

These tree monsters weren't especially strong…

But nobody wanted to deal with them at night. Creepy and annoying.

A chubby cat nearby gave him a judging look.

"Really? Still pulling this kind of nonsense?"

Akio waved it off. He had shown restraint.

The attacks only happened at night. During the day, teams still had time to collect scrolls.

…Not that the contestants appreciated it.

Half of them were too busy sleeping.

No work ethic.

"The early bird gets the worm."

Hinata's team, being well-rested, encountered an exhausted squad from the Hidden Waterfall Village the next morning, securing their place as the fourth team to pass.

From there, one team cleared the test each day.

After five days, seven teams, twenty-one participants advanced to the next stage.

Five from Konoha.

One from the Sand.

And one from the Sound subordinates of Orochimaru.

As for the other villages?

Completely wiped out, thanks to Akio's "creative interference."

"Hey, not my fault they were weak. At least the trees didn't kill anyone. Could've been worse."

Naruto, however, was left with a lasting side effect.

Every time he went to relieve himself…

He felt like someone was behind him.

He complained more than once about Akio's twisted sense of humor.

Akio just smiled.

The early-finish teams had time to rest.

But Shikamaru Nara's team, barely scraping through at the last moment was completely exhausted.

What they didn't know…

Was that things were about to get worse.

"Shikamaru, if you somehow make top eight, I'll accept fate. Some people are just born unlucky…"

"You'll have one month to rest," Obito Uchiha announced loudly. "On July 6th, the third stage of the Chunin Exams will begin!"

Akio blinked.

"…Wait. What about the preliminaries?"

The candidates, however, were already sighing in relief, heading off to rest.

Akio immediately tracked Obito down.

Obito just looked confused. "Why would we need preliminaries?"

Akio scratched his head. "Because… twenty-one candidates is a lot?"

Obito grinned.

"Exactly. That's why we're splitting the finals over two days."

He leaned in slightly.

"This exam's getting a lot of attention. We need a full month to sell tickets."

Akio froze.

"…Tickets?"

Obito chuckled. "You named and funded the Konoha Arena yourself, remember? Seats about two thousand."

Akio stood there in silence for a long moment.

Then

He vanished.

No hesitation.

If there was going to be betting involved…

He needed to adjust the odds immediately.

At the very least

He wasn't about to lose money.

---

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