Naruto walked through the Forest of Death with an arrogant gait, humming a hometown tune with extreme swagger.
His foolish grin seemed to tell everyone, "I'm here for a picnic, come and rob me!"
Sakura, on the other hand, was the opposite. Ever since entering, she had been trembling with fear, wanting to throw all the weapons from her ninja tool pouch at the slightest disturbance.
When she realized it was just a plump white rabbit, she immediately collapsed onto the ground in a dejected "duck sit."
Sasuke, with his usual poker face, had already lost all hope in his two companions.
"As expected, if I want to pass the exam, I'll have to rely on myself."
"But it's too early to give up on them. The subsequent exam content might still be team-based. Rather than forming a team with strangers, it's better to maintain the current situation."
After considering this, Sasuke entered serious mode.
Not long after, they encountered another group.
"Oh~ it's you guys."
A young boy with a bowl-cut hairstyle, wearing a green tight-fitting outfit, and thick eyebrows' eyes lit up upon seeing the newcomers.
"What? It's you guys," Naruto said with some disappointment.
Sakura, however, felt a chill and immediately warned, "Don't let your guard down. Even if we're from the same village, we can still steal from each other."
This wasn't the first time they had met. They had already seen each other at the Chūnin Exam registration area.
Lee Rock, Neji Hyūga, and Tenten in front of them were disciples of Might Guy, Kakashi's good friend, and had graduated a year earlier than them.
When Kakashi went on a mission assigned by the Hokage, he had asked Guy to look after Naruto and the others when he had free time, but he hadn't expected it to take so long.
Also worth mentioning is that Lee Rock fell in love with Sakura at first sight and was interested in the genius Sasuke, wanting to have a match with him. However, he was stopped by both Kakashi and Guy at the time.
"Sakura, I never expected us to meet here. Perhaps this is fate."
"Ah! Don't come closer, you bushy-browed monster!"
Sakura screamed and rejected Lee Rock's advances. Sasuke frowned at this and immediately threw a punch.
Lee Rock immediately performed two backflips to create distance and assumed an attacking stance.
At this moment, Tenten couldn't help but speak. "Lee, calm down. No girl will like you if you're so clingy.
"Besides, it's still early. There's no need for infighting. Why don't we go find some people from other ninja villages?"
Tenten was more rational and compassionate.
She felt great sympathy for Sakura, who had been targeted by Lee, so she didn't want to fight them.
Neji, standing silently beside them, ignored Lee's actions and Tenten's suggestion, simply standing there and exuding an oppressive aura.
It seemed he didn't want to gain a reputation for bullying the younger or weaker or for fighting against fellow villagers.
But if Lee insisted on fighting, as a comrade, he would go all out and defeat the enemy!
Cold on the outside, warm on the inside, that's probably how you'd describe this kind of person.
Tenten didn't want to fight, and Sakura naturally didn't want to either, as long as Lee didn't bother her.
But at this moment, a single sentence from Sasuke suddenly made the atmosphere in the scene turn heavy.
"Whether we fight or not isn't up to you to decide. It depends on whether you have the scroll I want."
Arrogant!
So damn arrogant!
This time, even Tenten's expression turned very unpleasant, and she looked at Sasuke with ill intentions.
It was meant as a good intention, but it turned out as if they were afraid!
Then Neji took out a scroll from his pocket, marked with "Earth."
Upon seeing it, Sakura felt an inexplicable sense of relief. "It's an Earth scroll, that's great. It seems we don't need to fight."
However, this was not the case.
Lee flashed and rushed in front of Sasuke, performing a spinning kick!
With a bang!
Although Sasuke blocked it with his arm in time, he couldn't negate Lee's strength and immediately showed a pained expression. "So heavy!"
Bang, bang, bang.
The two of them started fighting without a word.
Sakura said anxiously, "We also have an Earth scroll. There's no need to fight."
At this moment, Neji finally spoke. "Showing the scroll was only at his request, and it doesn't mean anything. For arrogant people, they always need a lesson. Of course, if you're not convinced, you can also attack us."
Tenten's face turned cold, and she stopped speaking kindly, directly reaching for her ninja tool pouch.
If the other party dared to make a move, she would immediately counterattack.
Sakura looked at the situation on the field, feeling anxious, but didn't act rashly. She knew that if she moved, the existing misunderstanding would only worsen and escalate to an uncontrollable situation.
But she forgot one thing: Naruto beside her was not someone who could analyze the situation.
"Fight if you want to fight, are we afraid of you?"
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
In an instant, Naruto created over a hundred clones and shouted loudly as he charged towards Neji.
Naruto's thinking was simple: Sasuke was a comrade, and he had to go. Otherwise, wouldn't the term "comrade" become a joke?
"Hidden Weapon Barrage!"
With Naruto's move, Tenten couldn't hold back either. She directly pulled out a ninja tool scroll and aimed it at Naruto without hesitation.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
In the next moment, a large number of kunai, shuriken, and other hidden weapons shot out, blasting the charging Naruto clones one after another.
However, Naruto had created too many clones at once, so there were still a few stragglers left that hadn't been cleared.
Seeing this, Tenten was about to reach for another ninja tool scroll but was stopped by Neji beside her.
"Your ninja tool scrolls are limited. There's no need to waste them here. Leave this guy to me."
Tenten heard this and found it reasonable. She had great confidence in Neji's strength, so she took a few steps back to watch the show, while also keeping an eye on Sakura.
"Watch this! Naruto's Barrage!"
Naruto used his last shadow clone to charge forward and reached Neji.
Neji's Byakugan activated instantly, and he assumed the starting stance for the Gentle Fist.
Bang, bang, bang!
Naruto's extremely fragile shadow clones were no match for Neji. In the blink of an eye, all the shadow clones were destroyed.
Then, in Neji's mind, a giant Eight Trigrams symbol appeared beneath his feet, locking onto the remaining Naruto in his true form.
Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!
Pa pa pa pa pa.
Under Neji's merciless attack, Naruto was like a small sampan in a stormy sea. Not only could he not counterattack, but he couldn't even escape.
Plop!
With all his chakra points sealed, Naruto fell to the ground.
Neji, retracting his hands, shook his head imperceptibly, seemingly greatly disappointed by Naruto's performance.
To have such a vast amount of chakra but be unable to effectively wield it in combat was truly a pity.
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