By the time Haruma returned to Konoha, less than twenty-four hours remained before the second exam came to an end.
Because Hinata's family enforced strict curfews, Haruma did not go to see her after coming back. Instead, he began scouting various points across the village.
Konoha was currently in a time of great unrest. With Orochimaru's return, the higher-ups of the village were consumed with vigilance and countermeasures.
Thus, when Haruma entered Konoha's cemetery, none of the guards paid him any mind. Even if he had been noticed, he could have explained it away by claiming to be visiting his parents, who had died in service to the village.
In truth, for the sake of his "grave-robbing plan," Haruma had visited the cemetery several times a year.
When he was younger, he had overheard from the guards that all of Konoha's funerals were traditional burials. Not just Konoha, in fact, the entire shinobi world had practised burial for over a thousand years.
What's more, the embalming practices in this world were remarkably advanced. Even after decades underground, corpses often looked as though they had only just died.
This was the very reason Kabuto Yakushi could dig up graves and use Edo Tensei to summon countless deceased shinobi back to the living world.
As long as the corpse was not reduced to bare bones, and so long as the brain remained intact, Haruma's devouring ability could absorb their bloodline limits and fragments of their memories.
For years, Haruma had been tempted by the idea of grave robbing. But at the time, he had been far too weak. If he had dared to act, even if he fled the village immediately, the elite jonin and ANBU would have caught him without fail.
Thus, he endured until now.
The upcoming "Konoha Crush" a month later would be his chance. With both the Sound Village and the Sand Village invading simultaneously, even if the cemetery were desecrated and corpses went missing, Tsunade, who would later take charge, would only suspect Orochimaru, master of Edo Tensei.
The only true regret was that Hashirama Senju's corpse was not buried in the graveyard.
As the most outstanding descendant of Asura Otsutsuki, and the strongest shinobi beneath the Six Paths level, Hashirama possessed such raw power that even in death, his remains brimmed with vitality, more powerful than many living men.
This was why nearly all experimental subjects implanted with his cells exploded and died. The lone survivor had become Konoha's foremost ANBU operative, known now as "Tenzo," and in the future, as Yamato.
Even Danzo's possession of so many sharingan was only possible because of Hashirama's cells. And Obito's eternal use of the mangekyo sharingan, without suffering blindness, was likewise thanks to Hashirama's tissue.
Hashirama's corpse was nothing short of a treasure trove. Naturally, such a body could never be left to rest inside a coffin.
If it had been, Haruma's devouring ability would surely have granted him the strangth to destroy the world, natural healing abilities and the Wood Release that could bind the tailed beasts.
For now, his "Leaping Carp through the Dragon Gate" plan was the top priority.
After finishing his reconnaissance, Haruma returned home to await the end of the second exam.
By midday the next day, Haruma met Hinata and Shino at their usual meeting spot. Together, the three of them returned to the Forest of Death's central tower, escorted two nameless proctors.
By this time, many examinees had already reached the tower. Those who arrived only on the final day, unlike Team 10 or Gaara and his sibling's, looked filthy and battered, some even streaked with blood.
Among the crowd, Haruma quickly spotted the Team 10, "Haruma, Hinata! When did you arrive?" Ino spotted them immediately, running over with a bright smile.
"We reached the tower on the very first day," Haruma explained, smiling slightly, he added, "Then we left the forest using the summoning array and spent the last few days at home. You've worked hard. I'm just glad you're all safe."
"Hehe… actually, we could've arrived much earlier too. But something came up along the way," Ino said cheerfully, practically smothering him in her hug as she recounted their journey.
Just as Haruma had guessed, they had crossed paths with Team 7, who had been targeted by the trio from the Sound Village. After coming upon Sakura, Ino had fought alongside Shikamaru and Choji to rescue her. Only once Sasuke awoke with his cursed seal did the battle end.
Without Rock Lee's intervention, however, Team 10 had suffered greatly at the hands of the Sound trio. Their dirty and battered state was proof of that struggle.
"Those three, huh?"
Hearing Ino's account, Haruma's gaze shifted towards the Sound trio, "If we meet them in the third exam, I'll definitely beat them for you guys."
"Mhm, mhm!" Ino nodded vigorously, then drifted off to chat with Hinata.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru muttered, "Haruma, if you run into those three from the Sound, be careful of their devices. They can attack with soundwaves without even making contact. If I hadn't seen them use it on Kabuto-senpai during the first test, they might've blindsided us too."
"Thanks for the advice." Haruma nodded, Shikamaru smiling faintly as he slumped in his chair.
While Teams Eight and Ten conversed, the second exam officially ended.
Soon after, a proctor arrived and summoned all the genin to the tower's main hall.
When Haruma entered, he swept his eyes across the assembled examinees. Their numbers were nearly identical to the original tale, save for three additional faces, Kiba Inuzuka and his teammates, abandoned by the Third Hokage and forced to team with two civilians, known collectively as Team 11.
Counting the "Konoha Twelve" plus the two civilians and Haruma himself, fifteen Leaf genin had passed the exam.
Add in Kabuto (a spy), plus the Leaf-nin Akado Yoroi and Tsurugi Misumi, and the total came to eighteen from Konoha.
And how many had passed in all?
The answer? Twenty-four.
Yes, out of twenty-four survivors, eighteen were from Konoha. The rest had perished within the Forest of Death.
The only one spared, apart from them, was Karin, whom Haruma had personally escorted out.
Still, to the Konoha leadership, even twenty-four seemed too many.
The third exam was a stage to demonstrate the village's strength to foreign nations. Only the elite deserved to stand upon it.
Thus, before the true third exam, a preliminary round would be held within the central tower.
Twenty-four candidates, divided into twelve matches, whittling the number down to twelve of the most outstanding genin, those worthy of showcasing the village's might and based on their performance, each village would then decide whether or not to promote their genin to chunin squad leaders.