Naruto stepped forward and received the Heaven Scroll. He handed it to Sasuke for safekeeping, then closed his eyes, activating Negative Emotion Sensing. Then, an extremely cold Chakra appeared in his perception.
Orochimaru.
One of the Legendary Sannin, a rogue ninja of Konoha, a former member of the Akatsuki.
With his current strength, if he did not activate Kurama Chakra Mode, Naruto was not confident he could defeat Orochimaru in a head-on clash.
The chasm in strength was right there. There was no point in a Genin going head-to-head with a legendary Kage-level ninja.
However, Orochimaru did not want to expose his presence ahead of time during Konoha's Chunin Exams. Sneaking into the Forest of Death disguised in a candidate's skin, his primary goal was to place a Xursed Seal on Sasuke rather than being discovered by Konoha.
Therefore, while Naruto might not be able to defeat him, driving him back was still possible.
Time passed and each team took their positions at their designated entrance points.
Anko stood on a tree branch right in the center of all the entrance points, holding a Kunai high in her hand.
She looked at the dense crowd of candidates, her lips curling into an excited smile.
"The second exam starts now!"
In an instant, dozens of figures simultaneously turned into afterimages and vanished into the Forest of Death.
Naruto and Sasuke were at the front, while Sakura followed closely behind.
Unlike the teams that dashed at full speed as soon as they entered the forest, Naruto's group of three did not walk very fast.
"Ahhhh!"
Not long after the three of them entered the Forest of Death, a shrill scream erupted from deep within the forest, startling the birds in the nearby trees and causing them to flap their wings and fly away.
Immediately after came a series of brief metallic clangs, followed by a second scream.
Sakura's fingers instinctively tightened around her backpack straps, her knuckles turning white as her eyes quickly darted in the direction of the sound.
Sasuke walked at the very front of the group, his face completely devoid of emotion. To him, these screams meant two things: a battle was happening nearby, and he would soon have an opponent to fight.
Naruto walked slightly behind Sasuke to the right, his gaze fixed straight ahead. His Negative Emotions Sensing spread out like an invisible spiderweb, covering a one-kilometer radius.
He focused his perception on Orochimaru's cold Chakra, but since Orochimaru hadn't entered his range yet, he couldn't sense him. Instead, a weak Chakra signature was rapidly approaching them, then lay in ambush along their path.
The corners of Naruto's lips curled up, and his pace slowed a little.
Walking in front, Sasuke noticed that Naruto's steps had slowed slightly. Frowning, he heightened his own senses at the exact same moment.
Naruto continued forward. As he passed a tree, he casually reached into his ninja tool pouch and pulled out a Kunai. Then, with a sudden flick of his right wrist, the Kunai flew out, shooting into the dense bushes ahead and to his right.
Clang!
A sharp metallic clash rang out from the bushes, followed by a gray figure leaping out in disarray from behind them.
It was a Genin wearing an Amegakure headband. His face was wrapped in several layers of mud-stained bandages, and his right hand was still in a blocking posture.
Just now, he had used his own Kunai to deflect Naruto's, but the force behind Naruto's throw was far beyond his expectations. It left his palm completely numb, and his Kunai had almost slipped from his grip.
"Damn it, I've been spotted!" The Ame Ninja cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he discovered to his horror that Naruto's figure had vanished into thin air from his field of vision.
His pupils contracted sharply. Instinct drove him to dodge to the left, but it was too late.
Pfft!
The sound of a Kunai piercing flesh echoed briefly in the forest.
The Ame Ninja's movement froze halfway through his attempt to turn and defend. His fingers went limp, and the Kunai slipped from his hand.
His lips quivered as he said in disbelief, "How... how are you so fast..."
With that, he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
Naruto wiped the blood-stained Kunai on the man's clothes, and then squatted down to search his body.
Ninja tool pouch, and the scroll pouch on his back.
A moment later, Naruto frowned.
This guy didn't have a scroll on him. The scroll had most likely been left with his teammates.
Naruto stood up and returned his Kunai to his tool pouch.
Just then, Sasuke rushed over. Landing on a tree trunk, his eyes immediately fell on the unconscious Ame Ninja lying on the ground.
He then calculated the distance between their current position and where Naruto had disappeared earlier.
Nearly thirty meters, with several massive trees and a dense patch of bushes in between.
From the moment he heard the sound of the Kunai clashing to jumping over to check, no more than ten seconds had passed. Naruto had not only finished the kill but had also looted the body during this time.
Following behind Sasuke, Sakura stepped onto a nearby branch. When she saw the Ame Ninja lying in a pool of blood on the ground, her footsteps ground to a sudden halt.
This wasn't her first time seeing a dead body. The corpses of Zabuza and Haku from the Land of Waves mission were still fresh in her memory. But those had been Kakashi's battles. The corpse lying on the ground now had been taken down by Naruto alone.