Bang! Bang! Bang!
An unidentified object smashed through the window and slammed into the wall, kicking up a large cloud of smoke.
From within the smoke so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, the examiner of the second stage, Mitarashi Anko, made her dazzling entrance!
A massive banner, an over-the-top chūnibyō pose, and her outfit—a mesh shirt under a long coat—left everyone utterly speechless… well, except for the last part, which was admittedly eye-catching.
Just as the genin stood there staring blankly at Anko, she opened her mouth and delivered words that sent a chill through everyone's hearts:
"So many of you are still left? In that case, let's eliminate half of you in the next round!"
...
Outside the Forest of Death
Looking at the Forest of Death tightly enclosed by barbed wire fencing, and listening to the roars of various beasts echoing from within, the examinees—who had only just survived the first exam—felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion.
Honestly, maybe joining this chūnin exam had been a mistake from the start.
Anko, however, didn't care in the slightest what was going through their heads. At the moment, her attention was completely focused on the three-colored dango in her hand.
"Mmm~ Anyway, those are the rules," she said casually. "Each team should choose a leader to come collect your Heaven and Earth scrolls. Once the gates open, you'll enter the Forest of Death from different directions in batches. After five days, whoever brings both scrolls to the central tower wins."
After explaining the rules, Anko leisurely sat down at the scroll distribution area, happily munching on her dango while watching the teams' expressions shift as they began discussing their plans.
Since Orochimaru wasn't present to stir up trouble this time, everything proceeded smoothly.
As the bell signaling the start of the exam rang out, a chūnin exam completely different from the original officially began.
...
About half an hour after the examinees entered the Forest of Death, Hoshiyomi silently appeared beside Anko.
Casually grabbing a skewer of dango and popping it into his mouth, Hoshiyomi said offhandedly:
"Anko, you're the examiner for the second stage. Don't you think you're being a bit too lax?"
Seeing one of her precious dango skewers get stolen, Anko immediately put on the fierce expression of a tiger protecting its food—but when she saw that it was Hoshiyomi, her face instantly fell.
She couldn't beat this freak anyway. Despair was all she had left.
"Don't look at me like I've done something terrible to you. I'm doing this for your own good," Hoshiyomi said seriously. "You're already a grown woman—you should pay more attention to body management. Otherwise, you'll run into serious problems later."
Looking at Anko sitting there with a dejected, wronged expression, Hoshiyomi gave her the advice with utmost sincerity.
"Alright, I'm going into the exam area to see how everyone's doing. You stay here and watch things properly—and remember, eat fewer dango, okay?"
With that, Hoshiyomi tossed away the bamboo skewer and quietly disappeared. Anko made a face at the old bastard's retreating back, then lowered her head and lightly patted herself.
After looking over her curvy figure a couple of times, she muttered under her breath:
"With a body this perfect, what's wrong with eating a little dango?"
...
Inside the Forest of Death
The Forest of Death was truly enormous. For the genin, it was an unknown land that felt like pure hell—but for Hoshiyomi, it posed no problem at all.
With Sage Mode activated, Hoshiyomi's sensory abilities were enough to cover nearly half of Konoha. Using that level of perception to scan the Forest of Death was effortless.
After less than half a minute of focused sensing, Hoshiyomi had already located Naruto and the others.
With a satisfied smile, he activated his Transparent Escapte Technique and silently headed in their direction.
Naruto and his teammates were completely unaware that an extra "tail" had attached itself to them. At that moment, the three of them were cautiously exploring the mysterious Forest of Death.
Gripping their kunai, the three of them cautiously advanced forward. After Kakashi's training, their teamwork had improved tremendously.
They moved ahead in a triangular formation when Sasuke suddenly shouted:
"Down!"
At Sasuke's command, all three immediately dropped to the ground. At the same time, a kunai whistled through the forest and embedded itself in a tree just behind them.
Naruto and the others lifted their heads and saw three Kumogakure genin staring at them with ferocious grins. The one standing in the middle lowered his voice and said:
"Hah, pretty lucky, aren't we? We actually ran into some Konoha rookies. Kids, take my advice—hand over your scrolls nicely and we might spare your lives. Otherwise…"
The two beside him were waiting for their leader to finish his threat when they suddenly heard a dull thud, followed by warm liquid splashing onto their faces.
They froze and turned their heads, only to see Sasuke flicking a bloodstained kunai, looking at them with open mockery:
"So tell me—what exactly made you think the three of us would be easy targets?"
As Sasuke's words fell, the dull sound of a shadow clone dispersing finally reached them from behind.
It turned out that the moment Sasuke ordered Naruto and Sakura to drop, he had used the Clone Technique, silently slipped behind the trio, and finished off their leader with a single backstab.
"Damn it!"
One of the dark-skinned Kumo genin glanced at his leader's corpse, eyes still wide open in death. Gritting his teeth, he drew the ninja blade from his back and lunged toward Sasuke's chest.
But to Sasuke, his speed was laughably slow. With a casual sidestep and a flick of his wrist, Sasuke drove his kunai forward, sending the Kumo shinobi to join his leader.
The third Kumo genin had already been scared out of his wits. Letting out a scream, he turned and tried to flee—but Sasuke gave him no chance. A single throw of his kunai ended the man's life.
In the span of just a few spoken words, the Kumogakure team was completely wiped out.
Sasuke calmly searched the Kumo team leader's body, pulled a scroll from his clothes, and opened it. After a glance, he clicked his tongue:
"What a shame—it's the same one."
When Sasuke looked up, he saw Naruto and Sakura staring at him in shock.
Sasuke frowned, clearly displeased.
"Hey, what's with that look?"
Hearing this, Sakura quickly lowered her head. She traced a small circle on the ground with her toe before speaking hesitantly:
"Sasuke… what you just did felt a little… unfamiliar."
Naruto wasn't nearly as subtle. He spoke up with clear dissatisfaction:
"Hey, Sasuke, don't you think you went too far? Sure, they were annoying for attacking us, but killing them just like that—wasn't that a bit excessive?"
Sasuke felt a jolt in his heart at those words, suddenly realizing that his actions might indeed have been overly brutal. But he quickly shook his head and looked at Naruto coldly.
"It's not that I went too far—it's that you're being naive. They were trying to kill us. If we'd been weaker, the ones lying here would be us instead.
"This was a fight to the death, not some sparring match at the Ninja Academy. Wake up already!"
The team had only just entered the Forest of Death, yet an unspoken rift had already begun to form between them.
...
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