Without needing a reminder from Saiki, Kurenai Yuhi—who possessed strong sensory abilities—pressed a finger to the ground and warned, "Three people are approaching us, one of whom has chakra reserves at the Chunin level."
Upon hearing the word "Chunin," everyone looked at Saiki with visible tension, while Saiki himself stared directly in the direction the trio was approaching from.
In terms of pure sensory range and precision, the only thing in the entire Hidden Leaf that might surpass Saiki in certain aspects was the Hyuga clan's Byakugan.
Within his line of sight, Saiki could sprout eyes anywhere, and those eyes could in turn sprout even more eyes, creating a daisy-chain of surveillance.
In the original story, Nico Robin used this ability to easily monitor the entire city of Water 7; if Saiki willed it, he could bring the entire Forest of Death under his watchful gaze.
However, doing so would take the fun out of things most of the time, so Saiki rarely pushed his power to that extreme.
As the three Sand ninja drew closer within his sensory net, Saiki used his Flower-Flower Fruit vision to see them clearly.
Furthermore, several hundred meters behind them, another three Sand ninja were following, and one of them possessed chakra at the Jonin level.
Meeting the questioning gazes of his teammates, Saiki replied flatly, "It's more than that; behind those three Sand ninja are three others, and one of them is definitely a Jonin."
"What?!" The mention of a Jonin sent a jolt of pure terror through the group.
Time was of the essence, and Saiki spoke again, "Wait here. I'm going to deal with them."
He had to eliminate the first squad before the second one could reinforce them; otherwise, even Saiki would find it troublesome to face a Jonin, a Chunin, and four Genin simultaneously.
The primary constraint was Saiki's desire to keep his unique abilities hidden; otherwise, he could have just sprouted hands and snapped all their necks in an instant.
"No, we're going with you." Previously, Shizune and Genhai had fled under the protection of a clone, but perhaps because she had already taken a life today, Shizune stood her ground with newfound courage.
Genhai also summoned his resolve and said, "Boss, I'm going too!"
"Saiki, I won't run away either," Kurenai added with absolute determination.
Saiki looked at the trio, and then at Kurenai's two "nameless" teammates who didn't even deserve proper names; unlike Kurenai, Shizune, and Genhai, Saiki wasn't at all close to them.
Even though Saiki had just instantly killed that previous Chunin...
Saiki had explicitly stated that the enemies included a Jonin. To save their own skins, the two extra teammates visibly hesitated.
Saiki didn't care about them one way or the other.
"You two stay back. Keep your distance."
Leaving a shadow clone behind to guard them, Saiki erupted with a burst of speed and vanished using a Body Flicker.
Seeing this, Kurenai shot a glance at her two hesitating companions, tossed the three scrolls from her pouch to them, and said, "You two go ahead and submit the mission. I'll explain everything to my father later."
She then turned to Shizune, Genhai, and Saiki's shadow clone, nodding firmly. "Let's follow him."
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The two extras traded glances. The one holding the scrolls asked, "What should we do?"
The other looked at the scrolls and gritted his teeth. "Saiki Shiroya is incredibly strong; he'll probably be fine. Let's just head to the central tower and wait for them there!"
With the scrolls already in hand—and this being their second attempt at the Chunin Exams after their previous teammate died in the first one—neither of them wanted to risk losing this guaranteed chance to pass.
Forget the "Will of Fire"; this was raw human nature. While the major characters in the original story were often heroic, many ordinary ninja were just as greedy and self-serving as these two, or the guy who tricked Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Seals.
The Anbu's job was specifically to deal with foreign spies and those within the village who didn't align with the Will of Fire; it wouldn't be surprising if Saiki ended up on their "processing" list one day.
Using Saiki's overwhelming strength as a convenient excuse, they convinced each other to flee and vanished toward the central tower.
As for the fate of those two, no one knew; regardless, Saiki's group never saw them again when they eventually reached the tower.
A kilometer is an astronomical distance to a modern university student, but to a ninja, it's a thirty-second sprint.
This time, the Sand had sent three squads: two led by Chunin and one led by a Jonin.
The Chunin of the first squad—the puppet master—had already been decapitated by Saiki's Substitution and Lightning Blade, and his two subordinates had been cleaned up shortly after.
The enemies currently in Saiki's sights were the second squad, while the third squad followed at a leisurely pace further back.
Since entering the Forest of Death, they had killed the Grass ninja, regrouped with Kurenai, rested, and moved to Area 16; the entire process had only taken half a day.
It was only late afternoon with the sun just beginning to set, yet these squads had already managed to link up. Saiki was curious how they coordinated their movements without a massive "map-hack" like his.
Beneath the setting sun, as he moved through the trees, a flurry of petals drifted by, and five Flower Clones appeared at Saiki's side. The clones began preparing various jutsu while Saiki himself charged ahead.
They collided in a rare clearing. The moment the Sand Chunin saw Saiki, he barked out a command.
"Kill him!"
Saiki had his sword drawn and his clones were ready, but he had actually intended to talk first.
After all, the mission Hiruzen had funneled through Kushina was to defeat the enemy, not necessarily massacre them; Hiruzen wanted a peaceful negotiation, not an all-out war.
However, the moment that Chunin ordered the attack, Saiki stopped hesitating. These guys weren't here for scrolls—they were here for blood.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A massive volley of explosive tags and shuriken tore through the air. The tags were interconnected in large sheets, creating a wide-area carpet bomb aimed directly at Saiki.
Could Saiki dodge an attack of this scale?
Yes, but he didn't feel like moving.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"
Gripping his blade in a reverse hold, Saiki channeled a massive amount of chakra into the edge. With a single, powerful horizontal swing, he manifested a dense, crystalline web of razor-sharp wind blades.
This was a technique from the Second Hokage's scrolls; it was a perfect blend of offense and defense. It was a shame Tobirama had preferred Water Style over this.
BOOM!
The net of wind blades collided with the wall of explosives. The shuriken and tags were instantly blown back, and the wind blades—their lethality undiminished—continued their trajectory toward the three Sand ninja.
"Not good!"
Only the Chunin had the reflexes to use a Body Flicker and escape the radius.
"AAAAHHH!"
The two Genin didn't even have time to scream before the wind net sliced them into bloody fragments.
The Chunin barely had a second to feel relief before a blinding bolt of lightning occupied his entire vision.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Blade!"
Saiki's primary target had never been the Genin; he knew the Vacuum Blade's wide net would handle them. His focus was entirely on the Sand Chunin.
While Saiki swung the Vacuum Blade, his clones had already prepped his next move.
The Lightning Blade was essentially the same principle as the Raikiri, but channeled through his physical katana.
Even without Lightning Style, Saiki's baseline speed and precise chakra bursts allowed him to keep pace with a Jonin. With Lightning Style cellular activation, he was in a league of his own.
The Sand Chunin raised a kunai in a desperate attempt to parry, but Saiki, transformed into a streak of pure electricity, simply phased through his position.
Elsewhere, the Jonin named Sabaku, who was rushing toward the battlefield, suddenly felt a jolt of alarm. The chakra signatures of his three comrades had made contact with a blurred, indistinct signature and then vanished instantly.
A moment later, the distant roar of an explosion reached his ears.
Sabaku's face hardened. "Full speed! Follow me!"
He accelerated, while his two remaining Genin followed behind with looks of pure dread.
Saiki's single swing had neutralized the projectiles, the wind blades had shredded the Genin, and he had decapitated the Chunin in the same heartbeat.
Staring at the headless body and the rolling head—its eyes wide as if asking "How?"—Saiki silently sheathed his sword.
In every fight so far, Saiki had aimed exclusively for the head.
He often joked that ninja were just "glass cannon mages" who could be killed with a simple kunai, but he knew this world had monsters like Hashirama who simply wouldn't die. Sucking air through a lung or a heart wound wasn't always enough to guarantee a kill, so Saiki preferred the neck and the skull.
With geniuses like Mei Terumi and Kisame appearing for the Mist, Konoha was surely taking heavy losses elsewhere. But Saiki was baffled: two Chunin and a Jonin had infiltrated the exam—one more Chunin and they'd have a full elite squad. What the hell were the Anbu and the proctors doing?
In the original story, Orochimaru treated the Konoha barrier like a revolving door, but seeing the Sand pull this off even before the war officially started proved just how hollow Konoha's security had become. The village was truly rotting from within.
A sudden, sharp gust of wind kicked up, making the leaves dance. Under the setting sun, the forest felt like a predator waiting to swallow everything whole.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Three figures materialized on the battlefield.
Nearby, Saiki's clone blocked the others' path. "This is far enough."
"But Saiki...!" Hearing the massive explosion, Shizune and Kurenai were consumed by anxiety. Genhai looked just as shaken.
The clone spoke with absolute authority. "I said stay here. If you get closer, my main body will have to split his focus to protect you. It's just a Jonin. He's got this."
Facing a Jonin, they knew they were nothing but a liability. The three of them went silent.
Staring at the shredded remains of the Genin and the decapitated Chunin, the Sand Jonin, Sabaku, recognized his subordinates instantly.
He had let them take the lead out of pure confidence.
Because of Saiki's Pre-natal Qi, standard sensory ninja couldn't accurately gauge his chakra reserves. Since Shizune and the others were clearly Genin, Sabaku had assumed they were easy prey.
Looking at Saiki, Sabaku hissed through grit teeth, "You killed them?"
"Isn't that blatantly obvious?"
Saiki's casual, bored expression—as if he had just swatted a few annoying flies—made Sabaku's blood boil with an all-consuming rage.
With the Third Kazekage missing, internal tensions in the Sand were at a breaking point, and they were already at war with the Stone.
They had entered the Chunin Exams with the explicit goal of slaughtering Konoha's next generation to cripple the village's future.
One Jonin, two Chunin, and six Genin—the exact same composition as the Cloud squad Saiki had faced. It was a bizarre coincidence, but a lethal one.
The Sand had already sent a Chunin scout to the village who Saiki had killed; they had clearly been planning this for a long time.
If Saiki hadn't been here as a "cheat-code," this graduating class of Konoha would have been effectively wiped from history.
You couldn't exactly rely on Obito Uchiha to watch Rin Nohara die and then magically jump from zero-tomoe to Mangekyo in time to save everyone.
Right now, Sabaku looked like he wanted to rip Saiki apart with his bare hands.
If glares could kill, Saiki would have been reduced to ash.
But compared to the killing intent he had felt from Tsunade and Orochimaru, Sabaku's "aura" was almost cute. Saiki nearly laughed.
Hand resting on his hilt, Saiki asked casually, "A Sand Jonin appearing in the Konoha Chunin Exams... is the Sand officially declaring war on the Leaf?"
Saiki didn't actually care if the war started today. He just remembered that in the original timeline, the Sand mostly fought the Stone in the Land of Rain.
The battle of Kikyo Pass wouldn't happen until the end of the war, when the Mist, Cloud, and Sand made a final, desperate push against Konoha—partly to seize Shisui Uchiha's eyes.
Sabaku didn't answer. He began weaving subtle hand signs as he shifted his stance, preparing to move.
Seeing the state of the battlefield and how three signatures had vanished simultaneously, Sabaku deduced that Saiki was a high-speed kenjutsu specialist. Even a Chunin had been instantly erased.
Facing a Jonin, Saiki didn't hold back. A flurry of pink petals drifted by, and ten Flower Clones materialized around him.
Sabaku sneered at the sight. He knew of Konoha's Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. "Clones? It doesn't matter how many of you there are."
In response, Saiki crouched low, his muscles coiling like springs. The ground beneath his feet began to spider-web under the pressure of his erupting chakra.
His clones began weaving signs for a coordinated elemental assault.
In the next heartbeat, lightning arced across Saiki's skin. Pushing off with explosive force, bolstered by a Body Flicker and Lightning Style activation, Saiki became a blur of white-blue light as he charged Sabaku.
He was fast, but Sabaku was faster.
The very instant Saiki moved, the Sand Elite Jonin slammed his palms into the earth. As if the moisture had been sucked from the world, the ground beneath them instantly liquefied into a churning sea of sand.
"Sand Tsunami!"
The desert erupted, forming a massive, towering wave of sand that crashed down toward the incoming Saiki.
Lightning collided with the sand. With a deafening roar, a massive explosion erupted, sending a concussive shockwave of electricity and grit screaming through the forest.
Saiki was launched backward out of the collapsing wave.
He hit the ground and immediately began cursing. "Fucking hell! Sand Manipulation? Is this guy Gaara's father or something?!"
"Hmph!"
Sabaku was equally shocked to see his Sand Tsunami shattered so easily. That terrifying speed and Lightning Style told him one thing: he could not afford to let Saiki get into close quarters.
Before Saiki could recover, Sabaku's hands were already a blur of new signs.
"Sand Binding Prison!"
Under his absolute control, the sand on the battlefield transformed into several massive, coiling tentacles that lunged at Saiki from all sides.
Sabaku didn't stop. He followed up immediately.
"Sandstorm: Shuriken Rain!"
The surrounding sand condensed into thousands of razor-sharp shuriken, whistling through the air in a lethal storm aimed at the dodging Saiki.
Saiki was genuinely pissed off now. He was being "kited" by a goddamn mage.
The sand's incredible defensive density was making it impossible for him to find an opening for a direct strike.
Furthermore, with the entire clearing turned into a shifting sea of sand, Saiki's greatest asset—his speed—was being severely neutralized by the unstable footing.
"Oh, you want to play a mage battle? Fine. Drown him!"
Saiki didn't need to bark orders for his clones to act, but the shout felt satisfying.
"Water Style: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Ten Jonin-level Flower Clones unleashed their full reserves simultaneously. A gargantuan volume of water erupted from their mouths, coalescing into a massive, surging tide. The sea of sand was instantly swallowed by a literal ocean.
Standing atop the rising water, Saiki didn't give Sabaku a chance to breathe. He transformed into a bolt of lightning and streaked across the surface, aiming for the man's throat.