The examiner saw that none of the examinees participating in the second Chunin Exam had withdrawn. While a look of relief flashed in his eyes, it was also accompanied by a trace of regret.
After ordering the Heaven and Earth scrolls to be distributed, he opened the entrance to the Forest of Death.
"I announce, the second Chunin Exam officially begins!"
With this command, all the examinees filed into the forest.
Before entering, the examiner had specifically reminded them that no fighting was allowed within the first hour. Otherwise, they'd be disqualified.
So, after entering the Forest of Death, everyone mainly looked for a hidden, attack-free, suitable spot to set up camp.
The exam obviously couldn't end within a day, so they had to consider spending the night.
Of course, there were also confident teams that followed other squads from a distance, planning to act immediately once the time limit was up.
Naturally, no one was following behind Team 7. In fact, some squads who encountered them immediately avoided them, keeping their distance.
With the famous Kakashi, who graduated at age five and became a Chunin at age six, normal people wouldn't be dumb enough to provoke them.
So, Obito, Kakashi, and Rin leisurely stopped by a river, caught a bunch of fish, and started grilling.
While grilling, Kakashi complained, "Why do I have to grill the fish? I'm not your chef."
Rin, smiling sweetly, replied, "Because the fish you grill tastes the best, Kakashi. When Obito grills it, it gets burnt. I don't want to eat that."
Seeing this, Kakashi could only sigh and continue working.
With Rin saying that, how could he refuse?
Obito, however, felt a little bitter. He secretly decided that after this exam, he'd learn some cooking skills. He had to win over Rin's stomach no matter what.
Just like that, Team 7 had a nice meal and spent a relaxed period of time.
This behavior left quite a few examiners watching through the surveillance speechless.
One examiner couldn't help but complain, "Are they here for the exam or a vacation? Why is no one messing with them?"
Beside him, another examiner patted his shoulder and comforted, "Forget it. This is the squad specifically arranged to show off Konoha's strength. Within a reasonable range, even you or I might not be able to take them."
"Look at Obito, he stored living supplies in a strategic sealing scroll and is even carrying two top-tier comfortable tents. As expected from someone from the Uchiha clan. How many missions would we need to buy those?"
This made the previous examiner fall silent, especially after noticing a detail. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Two tents. Three people. Damn it!"
The other examiner was also mentally crushed and swore that this year he must win over the girl from the Sealing Division he'd been secretly admiring...
Switching back to Team 7, after a lovely grilled fish meal, Kakashi suggested, "We should go check around nearby. We've got the Earth scroll, if we can grab the Heaven scroll early, we'll avoid unexpected developments later."
Obito nodded and closed his eyes.
With all this training, Obito's spatial sensing ability had grown stronger and stronger. He'd even mastered Minato-sensei's sensing technique.
And, compared to Minato needing to touch the ground with his fingers, he now didn't even need that.
After a while, Obito opened his eyes and said, "There are activity traces all around. The strongest chakra reaction is in the southwest. Seems like several squads are teaming up to attack a stronger squad. Let's go join the fun."
Rin and Kakashi had no objections, so the three sped off in that direction.
.
.
.
Soon, they arrived at the location.
Just upon arriving, they found the battle was nearly over.
Bodies were everywhere, blood soaked the ground. The dead examinees all wore Konoha forehead protectors.
As for the three Kirigakure ninja, Zabuza, Kisame, and an unknown female Mist-nin, they didn't even look tired.
Kisame casually took down a trembling, frozen-in-place Konoha Genin with one swing of his blade, then looked toward the last survivor, Sato Yuki, and mocked her, "With strength like that, you thought you could gang up on us? You Konoha folk really have no shame. No advantage in ability, so you abuse your home field and hope numbers will work."
"But... let me tell you something."
Kisame glanced at the now-blood-soaked and kill-crazed Zabuza.
"When he graduated, he took out a hundred people in one go."
At this point, Sato Yuki's entire body was trembling, not out of fear, and she wouldn't allow herself to fear.
But the killing intent here was so real and condensed it triggered her body's instinctive shiver. The gap between them was just too big. Too big for courage alone to make up for.
Panting, she reached for the ninja tool pouch behind her, then let out a bitter laugh.
All her kunai and shuriken were used up, and they hadn't even scratched the three monsters in front of her.
Ninjas like her, civilians without bloodline or special skills, only had tool-throwing as their best attack method.
Now... even her tools were gone. She had no more cards left. All that remained was to die.
She couldn't understand, 'Why are these three Mist-nin so strong? So strong they doesn't seem to exist in the same world as me?'
Even after accounting for it and gathering a large group to surround them, the result was still that her side was slaughtered like vegetables.
She couldn't help but ask, "Why are you so strong?!m"
Zabuza, carrying his giant blade as he approached, replied calmly, "It's not that we're too strong. You're just too weak. The weak... don't deserve to live. Right?"
Sato Yuki's pupils shrank. She had heard similar words more than once—the last time was from the Uchiha Obito of the Uchiha clan, the one responsible for her brother's death.
She asked in confusion, "Why didn't you kill me? You clearly could've killed me just now."
Kisame grinned slightly, "Because you were the one who initiated this siege, right? Maybe it's one of Zabuza's twisted hobbies. We all cooperated very well with him. Just to see the look of despair on your face when your confidence shattered."
"But little girl... you didn't show that expression. You're unexpectedly calm. Have you fallen into hell before?"
Sato Yuki self-deprecatingly said, "Maybe. So I really am this weak... I thought I got stronger, but in front of real monsters, I'm nothing."
"Kill me. You're right, weaklings don't deserve to live."
Kisame tilted his head with interest, "Not forfeiting? Maybe we'd let you live if you forfeited."
Sato Yuki shook her head and looked at a teammate who'd been killed earlier, "He shouted forfeit... but did it work?"
"We were the ones ambushing. You're at a numbers disadvantage and outsiders. Our actions were already kind of dishonorable. Even if you killed us all, Konoha couldn't say anything."
Kisame said, "So you understand after all."
Then he looked at Zabuza, "Zabuza, you do it."
Zabuza nodded and stepped forward, ready to end Sato Yuki's life.
At that moment, a figure suddenly leaped out. A massive force, carrying unstoppable momentum, kicked toward Zabuza.
Zabuza was shocked and instinctively raised his blade in front of himself.
But the result was that both sword and person were sent flying by that one kick.
The impact slammed him hard against a big tree, and he fell to the ground.
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