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Chapter 53 - A Perfect Whetstone, Orochimaru

A slightly surprised gaze shifted.

Orochimaru, disguised as a Grass kunoichi, glanced at Yagyu, the pair of deep eyes seemed as if they wanted to see through him completely.

As for the chakra blade resting on his neck, Orochimaru did not take it seriously at all, he showed no concern for his own safety.

After confronting each other in silence for a while, Orochimaru was the first to speak,

 "I was only returning the kunai to the examiner, I do not have any malicious intent, this young man, there is no need to be so nervous."

After saying that, Orochimaru's gaze shifted to Anko again.

His tongue flicked out, the kunai that had been shot earlier was brought in front of her.

 "Examiner, this is your kunai, that was quite a beautiful throw, you injured that boy while also cutting a few strands of my most important hair."

Hearing this, Anko took the kunai, a trace of killing intent flowed within her smile.

 "You even went out of your way to pick it up for me, how considerate, but next time, do not stand behind me with killing intent, if you do not want to die early."

Orochimaru smiled faintly, his voice low.

 "Your lesson is well received, examiner."

After speaking, he glanced at Yagyu once more, then turned and walked back toward his two subordinates.

Yagyu did not stop him.

He simply sheathed the chakra blade in his hand and glanced at Anko.

 "Continue explaining the rules of the exam, Anko."

Anko nodded.

She blinked at Yagyu and said with a smile,

 "Thanks for helping just now, although I could have handled that person myself."

Hearing this, Yagyu could not help but complain internally.

No, you could not.

That was Orochimaru, even he would have some difficulty facing him right now.

Not to mention Anko.

Forget defeating Orochimaru, the current Anko did not even have the qualification to die together with him.

Of course, Yagyu did not say this out loud.

After greeting Yagyu, Anko walked forward, still wearing her usual carefree expression as she began explaining the remaining rules of the second exam.

Of course, the rules of the second exam were simple, there were no rules.

Aside from collecting both the Heaven and Earth scrolls, there were no other restrictions.

Killing was allowed, forming alliances was also allowed.

In short, as long as one obtained both scrolls and reached the central tower of the forest, they would advance to the next round.

What Anko had said yesterday about eliminating more than half the candidates was not a joke.

Soon, all candidates received the death consent form provided by Anko.

Only after signing this agreement could they proceed with the second exam.

This also made everyone understand, that from this stage onward, people would truly die.

"Quite fancy."

Yagyu glanced at the death consent form in his hand and smiled faintly.

"For the other candidates, this is indeed quite a test."

As he spoke, Yagyu signed his name on the form and walked directly to Anko to exchange for a scroll.

"Here."

Anko handed him a Heaven scroll.

 "If you gather both scrolls, do not leave early, the Hokage's intention is for you to patrol inside the exam area to prevent accidents, and also protect the Konoha rookies, they are the future, this is an A rank mission."

As she spoke, she took out a mission scroll from her pocket and handed it to Yagyu.

After receiving it, Yagyu could not help but complain,

 "I did not expect to take an exam and still be assigned an A rank mission, the old man really knows how to use people."

Hearing this, Anko smiled but said nothing.

After all, the Third Hokage was Yagyu's teacher, there was nothing she could comment on.

A few minutes later, Yagyu was brought to Entrance Number Eight of the Forest of Death.

After arriving, he quietly waited for the exam to begin.

"I wonder which entrance Ino and the others are at, if it is too far, I will prioritize going to Team Seven, with Shikamaru around, Ino's safety should be guaranteed, as for Orochimaru, I wonder if I can stop him."

This was his plan.

However, Yagyu also knew very clearly, this plan would not succeed.

He could not stay with Team Seven the entire time as their protector, so a patient Orochimaru would always find opportunities to place the Heaven Curse Mark on Uchiha Sasuke.

Since that was the case, why still go?

"Orochimaru is not a weak one even among Kage level fighters."

While wiping his chakra blade, Yagyu thought to himself,

 "He should be able to help me determine my current limit."

Ever since encountering Uchiha Itachi,

Yagyu had been waiting for a battle where he could fight to his heart's content, to test exactly what level his strength had reached.

The system provided a general evaluation.

But he did not know the exact standard behind it.

So he decided to test it himself.

And Orochimaru, was a perfect whetstone.

If he did not even know his own limits, that would truly be pathetic.

It did not take long.

At noon, right on time, the Chunin guarding the entrance opened the locked gate.

Click.

Yagyu sheathed his blade and stood up.

 "Then, time to begin the mission, and the exam."

After speaking, he walked into the Forest of Death under the respectful gaze of the guard.

After entering the forest, while moving deeper inside, Yagyu raised his right hand and formed a seal.

 "Let me sense where all of you are."

He slowly closed his eyes.

With the massive chakra flowing within him, his perception enhanced by the Senju body spread out rapidly, like opening a god's eye view, covering the entire forest.

Every candidate's position was clearly detected.

"These three unusually large chakra signatures."

He immediately identified three among them.

 "Two of them feel similar, those should be Naruto and Gaara, the remaining one should be Orochimaru, found you."

In the next moment,

Yagyu's figure disappeared instantly.

Meanwhile,

Team Seven had just entered the forest.

Aside from Sasuke, the other two showed little tension.

However, very soon, the screams echoing from the forest caused all three of them to fall into a heavy atmosphere.

Under such circumstances, Team Seven's first battle in the Forest of Death began when Naruto suddenly needed to relieve himself.

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