There were twenty-one teams, sixty-three candidates in total. Including the examiners and proctors, the number of people gathered outside the Forest of Death exceeded eighty. Yet, before this immense and eerie expanse, they seemed as insignificant as insects at the edge of a great beast's domain.
Menma and his team arrived earlier than most, but by the designated time, nearly every squad had assembled. As he scanned the gathered shinobi, his gaze froze upon a figure with long, fiery red hair among the participants.
Her face was youthful—childish even—but there was something unmistakably familiar about it.
Menma's breath caught for an instant.
"That's right… she wasn't always under Orochimaru. Back then, she lived in Kusagakure… and met Sasuke once during the Chūnin Exams."
Memories buried deep within his fragmented recollections began surfacing.
—Karin Uzumaki.
In the original timeline, she was never introduced by her surname at first. But Menma knew the truth: her lineage traced directly to the Uzumaki Clan. Red hair alone wasn't proof, but her chakra-sensing ability—the Mind's Eye of Kagura—and the Adamantine Sealing Chains were irrefutable marks of Uzumaki blood.
The same blood flowed in Menma's veins.
He too possessed the potential of the Kagura Eye… though his mastery over the sealing arts was still incomplete.
Karin seemed to sense his gaze. Her eyes flickered briefly toward Menma, then quickly dropped. Within that glance was a mixture of hope and apprehension, a strange yearning buried beneath years of fear.
Menma's expression stayed neutral, the moment of softness fading as quickly as it came. He reminded himself—he was still trapped in his own cage. He had no right, nor the luxury, to care about others.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stood beside him, unaware of Menma's brief distraction. Their attention was fixed on the massive gates ahead and the trials that awaited inside.
The Forest of Death—Training Ground Forty-Four—was infamous even among Konoha shinobi. It wasn't just the largest training field in the village; it was a living ecosystem of predators, poisons, and ancient traps. The mere thought of surviving within it was enough to make even skilled genin uneasy.
Menma steadied his breath and focused. Yet just as his mind cleared, a sudden flicker of movement caught his eye.
A trio of Grass-nin emerged from the crowd.
The instant Menma saw the lead figure, his heart clenched.
His pupils narrowed sharply.
It took him less than a second to look away—but it was enough.
"Orochimaru…"
Even without the reference of his inherited memories, Menma could feel it. That immense, suffocating chakra radiating from the Grass-nin—it was darker, heavier, and far more potent than Kakashi's.
There was no doubt. Orochimaru had infiltrated the Chūnin Exams in disguise.
"So you've finally come, Orochimaru-sensei… I've been waiting for you."
Menma clenched his right hand, the faint tremor of excitement hidden beneath his calm exterior. Now that the target had appeared, he needed only the right opportunity to approach. It would be risky—but worth it.
Of the more than eighty shinobi assembled, none realized that one of the Legendary Sannin stood among them. Not even Mitarashi Anko, the proctor of the second exam, recognized that her former master was lurking only meters away.
As she addressed the crowd, explaining the details and rules of the next test, Orochimaru's presence went unnoticed by all—except Menma.
"The farthest distance in the world," Menma thought grimly, "is standing before someone who once taught you everything… and they no longer recognize you."
He wondered how Orochimaru would react if he knew his "former experiment" was standing before him now.
Anko's voice carried through the clearing:
"The rules are simple! Survive five days inside the Forest of Death and collect both Heaven and Earth Scrolls. Failure to do so—or dying in the process—means immediate disqualification. If any of you wish to forfeit, do it now. Once you enter, there's no turning back!"
Her smirk was sharp, her tone mocking, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous thrill. Seeing the fear in the eyes of the younger genin only made her amusement grow.
"I have a question, Examiner!"
Anko blinked in surprise, then smiled thinly. "Oh? Let's hear it."
A Takigakure-nin stepped forward. "According to the rules, this is a team-based survival test. Every squad here has three members—but one team," he gestured toward Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Menma, "has four. Isn't that unfair?"
The murmur that rippled through the crowd was immediate. Dozens of eyes turned toward Team 7.
In the written test before, team size hadn't mattered. But now, in a direct survival and combat assessment, having a fourth member could easily tip the balance. Even Naruto and Sakura looked uneasy.
Sasuke, however, remained impassive, his expression unreadable.
Anko raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You mean them?" She nodded toward Team 7. "Don't worry. Konoha doesn't play favorites. This exam will be fair to all participants. The four of them won't act as one team. I, Mitarashi Anko, personally guarantee that."
Her tone was confident, her smile sharp.
The Taki-nin paused, then nodded. "If that's the case, I trust Konoha's fairness."
Anko laughed, clearly entertained by his boldness. "Good answer. I like candidates with guts—it makes things more interesting."
Her amusement faded, replaced by the cold professionalism of an experienced shinobi. "If there are no further questions, proceed to the tent and collect your scrolls. Once you enter the forest, remember—the moment you open your scroll outside the tower, you die."
The candidates exchanged wary glances as they began filing into the tent, the oppressive silence broken only by the rustling of the wind through the trees.
Menma's eyes lingered on the disguised Orochimaru one last time.
The exam had not yet begun…
But the real battle was already in motion.