An inexplicable chill ran down everyone's spines, and a trembling fear enveloped the surroundings. Although Inuzuka Tsume had a faint smile on her face, that sense of dread was incredibly real and startling—it was the Killing Intent of a Jonin, released without any reservation.
The release and suppression of this "Killing Intent" could be said to be a skill that any mature Ninja would passively master.
When facing some Genin or even Chunin, one could achieve the effect of "defeating the enemy without fighting." Relying solely on Killing Intent, one could make people tremble and freeze, losing all power to resist. Some timid ordinary people might even be scared to death by such Killing Intent—visibly, even the resilient Sand Ninjas looked quite pale at this moment.
"This feeling... are they all scared?" Ino sat on Kuro Maru's back, watching the performance of the candidates with a thoughtful expression.
Trembling... could they shake any more obviously? No matter how cool, arrogant, or badass they pretended to be, they couldn't hide the fact that they were afraid.
Ino's thoughts suddenly jumped to a classic scene from the manga: Sasuke being intimidated by Orochimaru's Killing Intent, frozen in place with terror, unable to move a single hand or finger, just trembling with wide-eyed horror, his body soaked in cold sweat.
"Interesting..."
Inuzuka Tsume's Killing Intent was directed at the candidates, so Ino did not feel it directly or intensely.
However, through the information received by her Chakra meridians, Ino sensed how this "Killing Intent" was being released—
It was through high concentration of attention, then projecting one's strong will—the confidence of an absolute powerhouse and the conviction to kill the enemy—distributed via Chakra. In a way, this was a type of "Ninjutsu," specifically a mental-type Ninjutsu targeting the mind, sharing the same methodology as Genjutsu.
She had learned another trick!
Ino felt extremely satisfied... Inuzuka Tsume gave a light smirk: "Don't die."
...After saying that, she turned around gracefully. The Chakra dispersed in the air vanished instantly, like water without a source.
The intense Killing Intent that had shrouded the Genin also vanished into thin air. The Genin felt the pressure on them suddenly lift; that cold, deathly sensation in the air dissipated, and they immediately felt the sweltering heat of the air once more.
"Everyone, come forward in order to collect your scrolls. Teams that have received their scrolls, follow the proctors to your designated gates and wait..."
The seven Ninja teams lined up and went through the tent, then each emerged with a scroll and was led to different entrances of the Training Ground.
Reports occasionally came back through Inuzuka Tsume's headset:
"Report, Team One is in position..."
"Report, Team Two is in position..."
"Report, Team Three is in position..."
..."Monitoring equipment check complete, all signals are normal... Beast population count within the training area complete... normal... normal..."
..."The medical unit is in position..."
Once all preparations were ready, Inuzuka Tsume announced, "The exam begins." The words "The exam begins" were transmitted through radio signals to the ears of all proctors, and the seven gates opened simultaneously, releasing the 21 candidates into the Forest of Death.
Inuzuka Tsume said to Kuro Maru, "Let's go too," and then took Kuro Maru and Ino back to the school's monitoring room.
Inoichi Yamanaka nodded to Inuzuka Tsume and said, "Sorry to trouble you with Ino... it's good that you just brought her back..."
Inuzuka Tsume scratched her hair and said brightly, "No trouble at all. Ino is very well-behaved." Sitting down on the sofa, she brought up the end of the first exam again, "...There was a slight mistake just now; too many people were eliminated. I originally just wanted to scare them a bit to make them more tense and excited during the next part of the exam..."
"The mistake just now? Tsume, don't worry, everything is within control. Perhaps the performance just now was actually more exciting..."
Inoichi Yamanaka comforted Inuzuka Tsume.
In fact, it wasn't entirely just comfort.
Inuzuka Tsume's improvisation in Exam Hall B just now was brilliant—more exciting than a formal exam. Once this segment was reported, it would surely garner a lot of popularity.
"I hope so..."
Inuzuka Tsume shrugged and then began to watch the monitors.
The seven Ninja teams entered from seven different locations. At this time, a team of Sand Ninjas was already moving along the edge of the Forest of Death, circling inward in an involute curve along the iron fence... Microphones scattered in the forest captured the team's voices—though because they were moving so fast, the sound rose and fell, sped up and slowed down—this was the unique audio effect formed by different microphones picking up sound and being roughly processed together.
"According to Akamaki's calculations, if we circle the edge of the Forest of Death at this speed and cut towards the center, we can theoretically encounter all the teams..."
"Haha, provided they don't hide—but this is indeed a good method. Are we going to seize all the scrolls?"
Akamaki.
He was the core of this Sand Ninja team, with rare brownish-red hair and gray-blue eyes.
Akamaki had a thin and small build, but he was the smartest in the team. The other two were typically large; one was half again as tall as Akamaki, reaching about 1.8 meters—he was built so sturdily he didn't look like a Sand Ninja, but more like a Stone Ninja. The other was only a head shorter than the big guy, but his frame was even thinner—he was like a bamboo pole draped in clothes.
Akamaki looked up at the path ahead—
"There's no need to look for trouble. We have the Heaven Scroll; next, we just need to quickly find the Earth Scroll and go straight to the Central Tower..."
..."Aw, I see!"
Hearing that they weren't going to cause trouble, the burly big guy's expression slumped. The thin bamboo pole also curled his lip, equally dejected, but said nothing.
Akamaki's choice was undoubtedly the best—whether doing a mission or anything else, under non-essential conditions, minimizing unnecessary factors, reducing unnecessary steps, and not creating complications are the requirements for success. Failing because of some impulsive ideas or unnecessary trouble would simply not be worth the loss.
Though... this would reduce a lot of the fun.
"Target spotted..."
The bamboo pole suddenly grew excited.
"Plan A!"
Akamaki said only one word.
Plan A!
That meant executing according to Plan A.
Plan A: The big guy would attract attention from the front and attempt to finish off the opponent through his solid Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. He would try to lure the opponent into a pre-set trap zone. The bamboo pole was responsible for flanking and setting traps, while Akamaki... Akamaki was much more flexible, making timely judgments as opportunities arose to guide the rhythm of the entire battle.
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