Fifteen minutes had passed since they entered the forest, and now they were alone.
"...Which way do we go?" Fuu whispered.
"We have the Heaven Scroll," she added.
"So we need the Earth Scroll," Karin said, starting to recall the teams who had a Earth Scroll. She had seen a few Konoha teams who hadn't properly hidden their scrolls, and she'd been able to briefly make out what they had.
Most of the genin who had been accepted into this stage were from Konoha, which wasn't surprising.
Daiki analyzed the vastness of the Forest of Death. "If we don't encounter anyone in the first two days, we'll head straight for the Central Tower and set up an ambush there. The best place to get a scroll is when the other teams are trying to get to the tower themselves."
Fuu thought for a moment, her face showing she was confused. "Okay, but won't everyone else think the same thing?"
Karin gave a wry smile. "Exactly. That's what makes this the most dangerous thing we can do."
Daiki looked at Karin and Fuu in frustration. "Do you have a better plan?"
Fuu simply said, "We could find other groups and finish this today!"
Daiki huffed. "And what if we don't find any?"
Karin looked around and whispered, "Then they'll find us."
Daiki jumped onto a branch. "Let's move!" And with a leap, he shot forward.
As Karin followed, a smile spread across her face. "...I hope the other participants are as reckless as you, Zwei!"
Daiki probably didn't hear her. Being an Uchiha had given him a certain kind of pride, but not much intelligence. Mitsuro had always said that this combination was a lethal cocktail for a ninja. Based on what he said, Karin understood that Daiki had been very different in the past, but over time, his personality had become more aggressive and reckless.
About twenty minutes later, Fuu seemed to sense something from the chakra waves around her.
She said softly, "Two o'clock! I sense three people! Less than two hundred meters away."
"Got it!"
They all changed direction toward the same spot. As they moved through the dense foliage, their speed slowed significantly. Daiki stopped for a moment.
"Good, I'm almost there, too," Fuu's voice echoed in his head.
Daiki's keen eyes scanned his surroundings. Even if he seemed arrogant and reckless, when it came to an element of surprise and stealth, he was completely trustworthy. He whispered slowly, "...Let's not be too obvious."
They quickly hid behind the branches, camouflaging themselves as best as they could. From the top of a tree, they peered through the foliage at their prey.
There were three of them: a boy with a white shirt and blue sleeves with a Konoha forehead protector tilted on his temple, a girl with short brown hair, and a muscular bald boy. They were busy setting up traps.
Even though they seemed weak, taking a risk would be foolish.
"Ready?" Daiki said in a very quiet voice.
Without another word, each of them targeted one person. After signaling, they jumped down from the tree and moved forward stealthily.
Daiki went for the biggest and strongest opponent.
He thought to himself, The strongest one is mine!
Daiki held his breath, and the kunai in his hand glinted. He focused all his attention on the muscular boy and aimed the blade at his throat.
Fwisht!
The short whistling sound of the kunai echoed in the forest's silence. The green-clad boy instinctively raised his hand to his throat to defend himself. The kunai lodged itself in the boy's arm with incredible speed. Warm blood splattered onto the leaves on the ground.
Before he could even shout, "What...?", Daiki, without a moment's hesitation, leapt forward and delivered a second strike, kicking his foot into his opponent's chest and knocking him out cold.
The opponent's body fell to the ground quietly. Daiki took a deep breath and stared indifferently at the others.
At that moment, Karin lunged at the girl. She was probably the weakest member of the team. Karin threw two kunai at the girl. The girl, who seemed younger than the others, only managed to dodge one of the kunai, and her hand was badly cut. She screamed in fear, "Ah!" and tried to defend herself with one arm.
Karin took the opportunity and quickly moved in front of her, bypassing her defense and landing a precise punch with a solid hit to the chin, knocking her down. Before she could scream, Karin silenced her with a kick.
Thump!
Simultaneously, Fuu had attacked the third person with a strong, direct kick. A small clack echoed with the punches and kicks. The third ninja was violently slammed into a tree trunk. He tried to resist, but Fuu was faster. "Hidden Scale Powder Technique!" Fuu scattered a powder toward her opponent. The third ninja started to sneeze and cough. Fuu followed up with a powerful blow, causing all the air in her opponent's lungs to jump out at once, and he fell to the ground unconscious. The fight was over in a matter of seconds.
The fight had ended in an instant.
All three of them stood up immediately.
Daiki twirled his bloody kunai in the air and said with an indifferent look, "That was easier than I thought."
Karin said softly, "Did you see their scroll?"
Daiki shook his head. "No..."
Karin ordered, "Search them and see what scroll they have. If it's an Earth Scroll, we're going straight to the Central Tower."
Fuu rummaged in the bald boy's backpack and found the scroll. Surprised, she said, "It's a Heaven Scroll. What do we do with it?"
Karin thought for a moment. "Give it to me. Having two scrolls is better than one."
Daiki looked around. "Let's go look for another team."
Karin nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's do that."
Suddenly, Fuu paused. She looked around and whispered to herself, "I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling. It feels like there's a really strong presence around here!"
But the other two didn't hear her whisper.
The target is 100 POWER STONES for the BONUS CHAPTER!