Three days later, deep within the Forest of Death, a campfire crackled quietly beneath the dark night sky while flickering firelight illuminated two dust-covered faces sitting nearby.
Might Guy sat cross-legged beside the flas with an indescribably complicated expression on his face.
His gaze remained fixed upon the object currently skewered above the fire, while the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably several tis.
It was a centipede.
A giant centipede.
The creature was over three ters long from head to tail, and its reddish-brown shell had already been roasted until it glead with oil beneath the firelight.
The countless rows of centipede legs had already been pulled off and tossed aside nearby, yet even after that, the dense rows of remaining holes along its body still made anyone looking at it feel their scalp go numb.
Guy stared at it silently for several seconds before finally speaking with difficulty.
"Are you really sure... this thing can actually be eaten?"
Across the campfire, Anko crouched down while carefully rotating the giant centipede over the flas with complete concentration.
Hearing Guy's question, she did not even bother looking up.
"Don't worry about it."
Her tone was unbelievably casual.
"I've eaten this kind of centipede plenty of tis before. It's delicious."
Then she glanced at the giant roasted bug briefly before continuing matter-of-factly:
"This one's just bigger than normal. The markings are basically the sa, so it's definitely fine."
Guy stared at her suspiciously.
Then he looked back toward the centipede again.
The markings were the sa?
Thinking back over everything that had happened during these past three days, Guy hesitated for a mont before swallowing all his doubts back down.
On the very first afternoon after entering the Forest of Death, he had successfully caught a wild rabbit.
At the ti, he was still struggling to figure out how to skin it properly.
anwhile, Anko had already cleaned the rabbit completely and placed it over the fire without hesitation.
The roasted rabbit ended up crispy on the outside and unbelievably tender inside. Guy had eaten it so thoroughly that he almost chewed through the bones themselves.
Then later that sa evening, Anko casually pulled three fresh fish directly out of a nearby river.
Guy originally assud they would simply grill the fish normally.
Instead, Anko suddenly produced several unknown leaves from sowhere and stuffed them directly into the fish stomachs before coating the entire fish in mud and tossing the mud balls into the fire.
Guy had been completely stunned back then.
"This... are you sure this thod works?"
Anko simply rolled her eyes at him dismissively.
"Just wait and eat."
Half an hour later, the mud shells cracked apart completely.
The fish scales peeled away together with the hardened mud, revealing steaming white fish at underneath.
That aroma alone nearly drove people insane.
Even now, just rembering it still made Guy feel like drooling slightly.
Then on the second day, Anko sohow climbed up a tree and raided a bird's nest, pulling out six eggs effortlessly.
Guy originally thought they would simply roast or boil them.
Instead, Anko gathered several kinds of wild vegetables from sowhere nearby before crushing them together carefully. Afterward, she found a smooth flat stone and actually used it like a frying pan while mixing the vegetables together with the egg liquid.
The final result turned into a perfectly golden olet.
At the ti, Guy had been completely shocked.
What kind of genius was this girl exactly?
She was obviously only eight years old, so why were her wilderness survival skills even more outrageous than his?
When Guy asked her this question earlier, Anko's expression had beco strangely unnatural for a mont.
"I... used to sneak out and play alone a lot."
Then she paused briefly before speaking softly:
"And whenever I got hungry outside, I had to figure out how to feed myself sohow."
After another short pause, she added in an even quieter voice:
"Anyway... nobody at ho really cares about much."
Guy had not continued asking questions afterward.
However, he still rembered that lonely expression clearly.
So during these past three days, their division of labor naturally beca extrely smooth.
Guy handled hunting and night watch duties.
Anko handled gathering ingredients and cooking als.
The cooperation between the two of them felt so seamless that it almost seed as though they had already partnered together for many years.
Over these three days, they had practically eaten every edible thing within the forest.
Well... almost everything.
Except snakes.
For the past three days, Anko had eaten nearly anything she encountered.
Grasshoppers.
Scorpions.
Centipedes.
She refused absolutely nothing.
Yet whenever snakes appeared, even tiny harmless snakes no thicker than a finger, she would imdiately lose all interest and refuse to even look at them.
Guy once asked her why.
Even Anko herself could not explain it clearly.
"I just don't like eating them. Looking at snakes kills my appetite."
That was her exact answer back then.
In the original story, Anko Mitarashi would eventually beco Orochimaru's student.
Although she had not t him yet at this point in ti, perhaps so things were simply destined already.
Maybe it was fate itself.
Fated that she would eventually et that man.
However, those things belonged to the future.
Right now, the real problem before Guy was sothing else entirely.
"Are you absolutely certain this giant centipede is safe to eat?"
Guy stared once more at the gigantic three-ter-long insect currently dripping oil continuously from the empty leg sockets along its body before asking again with deep suspicion.
Anko finally raised her head and glared fiercely at him.
"You've already asked that eight different tis!"
"Because I seriously have trust issues with this thing!"
"What exactly is there to doubt?!"
Anko imdiately pointed toward the giant centipede and began explaining confidently.
"Look at these markings carefully. Reddish-brown color ans it's a standard edible centipede. The poisonous varieties are black-purple instead, and their markings are completely different."
Guy froze briefly.
"You actually studied this stuff too?"
Anko imdiately lifted her chin proudly.
"Of course!"
Then she started counting confidently on her fingers.
"Grasshoppers, cicadas, dragonflies, silkworm pupae, bee pupae, ant eggs, bamboo worms, scorpions, centipedes..."
The more Guy listened, the more numb his scalp beca.
"Alright, alright, stop listing things already. I believe you now, okay?"
Anko imdiately laughed smugly afterward before pulling out a Kunai.
She skillfully sliced off a chunk of golden roasted at from the giant centipede before handing it toward Guy.
"Try it!"
Guy accepted the piece silently before staring at it carefully.
The outer shell had already roasted into a crispy texture while the at inside remained soft and steaming hot.
And strangely enough...
It actually slled pretty good.
Guy inhaled deeply before finally closing his eyes and biting down.
Crunch.
The crispy shell shattered instantly inside his mouth.
Then ca the soft tender at beneath it, carrying a faint smoky fragrance together with a strangely unique gay flavor.
Guy chewed twice.
Then suddenly his eyes lit up.
"Well?! How is it?!"
Anko imdiately leaned closer excitedly.
Guy said nothing at first.
Instead, he took another bite imdiately.
Chewed.
Swallowed.
Then finally raised his head.
"Delicious!"
Anko instantly smiled so brightly that her eyes curved into crescents.
"I told you so!"
Guy imdiately took another large bite while speaking vaguely through the food.
"Crunchy texture, tastes almost like chicken, and the protein content is probably dozens of tis higher than beef!"
Anko blinked blankly.
"Tastes like chicken? It doesn't really taste like chicken though?"
Guy imdiately coughed awkwardly.
That was close.
He almost exposed himself accidentally.
The two of them continued sitting around the campfire afterward, eating piece after piece until the enormous three-ter-long centipede had been completely devoured.
After finishing the final piece, Guy even licked his fingers slightly while looking sowhat unsatisfied.
"Is there any more?"
Anko rolled her eyes speechlessly.
"That thing was over three ters long, and you personally ate two-thirds of it yourself. Now you're asking if there's more?"
Guy scratched his head sheepishly before laughing awkwardly.
"Hehe... it was just too delicious. I couldn't stop eating."
Anko pursed her lips helplessly.
"Fine, fine. We'll hunt another one tomorrow. There are still plenty of tasty things inside this forest anyway."
As she spoke, she slowly stood up before stretching lazily.
"Right now though, I need sleep first. You're handling night watch tonight."
Guy nodded naturally before adding several more branches into the campfire.
The firelight illuminated his face while shadows flickered constantly around him.
Three days had already passed.
They had already crossed nearly half the distance toward the Central Tower.
At this rate, they would probably arrive within another two or three days.
However, during these past several days, aside from Anko, they had not encountered another single classmate anywhere inside the forest.
"I wonder how Kurenai and the others are doing right now..."
Just as that thought crossed Guy's mind:
BOOM!!!
A massive explosion suddenly erupted sowhere deep within the forest.
Guy instantly stood up.
Anko imdiately poked her head out from inside the hollow tree where she had been preparing to sleep, her hair completely ssy.
"What happened?!"
Guy said nothing.
Instead, he stared silently toward the direction where the explosion originated.
That kind of explosion...
No beast inside the forest could create sothing like that.
It was man-made.
"Soone's fighting."
The two imdiately exchanged glances.
Then simultaneously:
"Let's go!"
Guy grabbed the massive machete lying beside the campfire while Anko instantly picked up her Ninja pouch.
Monts later, the two figures disappeared rapidly into the darkness of the forest one after another.
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