『 FOREST OF DEATH — Heaven Scroll, Age 10』

『 Kid Itachi Uchiha』

The canopy swallows the light. The Forty-Fourth Training Ground—better known as the “Forest of Death”—breathes around you like a living beast. Poisonous insects hum. Distant roars echo. The tower at the center stands like a distant mirage, promising safety only to those cunning enough to reach it.

Standing beneath a warped, towering tree… is a boy.

Uchiha Itachi, ten years old. Still. Silent. The Heaven scroll rests lightly in his hand, calligraphy stark against the paper.

He reads it once more, with the same calm that other children might read a bedtime story.

A voice rings out behind him—arrogant, unearned.

“Taking the chunin exam by yourself is suicide!”

Laughter follows—too loud, too brittle. A girl. A trio of Kirigakure ninja descend around him in a triangle formation, sealing off every path of escape.

To them, Itachi is small. Alone. An easy target.

To Itachi, they are already defeated.

A tall boy of fifteen or sixteen—steps forward with swagger he hasn’t earned. The leader he assumes.

“Hand over the scroll like a good boy and we won’t kill you. But if you fight back… I can’t promise anything.”

He holds the Earth scroll—the match to Itachi’s Heaven scroll. The objective is simple: obtain both scrolls and reach the tower in five days.

But Itachi is not searching. He is waiting. He walked openly, scroll visible, deliberately inviting the attack. These three stepped into his trap by their own stupidity.

Itachi lifts his head slightly.

“There’s an item in the qualifications for this test,” “that you must participate in a three-person cell. So why am I here alone?”

The girl snickers from the left.

*“Maybe your teammates ditched you.”

Itachi tilts his head—barely.

“The other two are waiting in ambush. You can’t anticipate that much?”

Her smile dies instantly. Fear slips into her posture like a crack in glass.

He continues, eyes back on the leader.

“Relax. I was alone right from the start.” “Which means the only conclusion you should’ve reached from this three-against-one situation… is that it’s not in your favor.” “As a leader and a chunin, you’re a failure.”

Kiruru sputters.

“Y-you watch your mou—!”

Itachi cuts him off quietly.

“You’re even using my childish appearance as fuel for your carelessness.”

One of the boys shouts, voice trembling.

“H-hey Kiruru… let’s just finish him already!”

Sweat trickles down their leader’s face. The Forest of Death feels colder.

Itachi’s voice remains steady.

“Why doesn’t it bother you that I’m alone?” “Why don’t you consider the possibility… that I was allowed to take the test alone?” “Don’t you think there’s meaning behind that?”

The girl’s voice shakes this time.

“Kiruru!”

Fear takes them like a plague.

Kiruru snaps.

“G-GET HIM!!”

Shuriken fly in three directions—perfect, textbook angles meant to trap a target with nowhere to dodge. Physical Fundamentals for the Three-Person Cell, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3. Such a childish strategy.

Itachi didnt move.

Steel tears into his body—arms, legs, chest. Two boys rush from front & back, kunai plunging into his belly and spine. Blood jetted out of Itachi’s mouth. The girl descends from above, driving a dagger straight through his skull.

The girl cheers.

“Got him!”

Itachi bursts open.

He ruptures into a flurry of black feathers—hundreds of crows, shrieking, pecking, tearing at their heads. Panic erupts. The three Kirigakure ninja scream and flail helplessly, trying to beat the birds away.

Watching from the upper branches of a towering tree, Itachi observes their frantic struggle with the same calm he greeted them with.

He drops down lightly.

“Release.”

The crows vanish. The genjutsu dissolves. The three stand frozen, wide-eyed, trembling.

Itachi extends a hand toward Kiruru.

“Be good and hand over the scroll.” “If you do, I’ll let you go.”

(He already senses you hiding)