It's over.
I'm definitely dead this time.
The moment the first exam ended, A—the future Fourth Raikage—stormed out of the classroom with a face dark enough to frighten anyone standing in his path.
Despite all his attempts, he had failed to cheat under the watchful eye of that infuriating examiner. In the end, he had been forced to grit his teeth and fill the answer sheet with whatever came to mind.
He could already imagine what awaited him once his father learned the truth.
Kumogakure had carefully assembled this genin team to restore the village's reputation, yet they had probably been eliminated in the very first round because of him.
A beating would be the least of his problems.
Knowing his father, the Third Raikage might drag him back to Kumogakure, lock him inside a study, and force him to memorize shinobi theory from morning until night.
A shudder ran through A's massive frame.
He would rather face an army.
Still weighed down by dread, A returned to the residence Konoha had arranged for the Kumogakure delegation. His two teammates walked beside him, while he forced a stiff smile onto his face.
After barely managing to answer his father's questions without revealing anything, A retreated to his room earlier than usual.
He spent the night preparing himself for the storm that would undoubtedly arrive the following morning.
However, when A stepped outside at dawn, ready to face his punishment, he received completely unexpected news.
His team had passed.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the messenger.
Then his eyes widened.
"We passed?"
The anxiety that had tormented him all night vanished, replaced by disbelief and rapidly growing delight.
Was everyone else in that classroom just as hopeless as I was?
He had barely written anything worth reading. Most of his answers had been wild guesses, and some were little more than random scribbles.
Yet somehow, he had passed.
The truth was considerably simpler than A imagined.
His father was the Third Raikage.
That alone ensured that no examiner would eliminate him during a written test, provided he had at least remembered to write his name.
The relationship between Konoha and Kumogakure was hardly friendly, but there were still certain diplomatic courtesies that had to be observed. If Konoha intended to eliminate the Raikage's son, it would have to happen during a combat assessment where no one could accuse them of manipulating the results.
A, completely unaware that his father's position had saved him, grinned broadly.
The written examination had been the only part that worried him.
Survival and combat were different.
Those were things he understood.
"Heh."
A cracked his knuckles as his confidence returned.
"If the rest is fighting, then this exam is already over."
After receiving a few stern words of advice from his father, A departed with his two teammates and headed toward the location of the second examination.
The second round was designed to test the genin teams' survival skills, combat ability, and teamwork.
Its location was Training Ground Forty-Four, more commonly known as the Forest of Death.
Guided by one of the examiners, A's team arrived at the massive iron gate surrounding the forest.
By coincidence, the teams from Iwagakure and Sunagakure arrived at almost the same time.
At the head of their respective formations stood three young shinobi who would one day become pillars of the great villages.
A of Kumogakure.
Kitsuchi of Iwagakure.
And Rasa of Sunagakure.
The three noticed one another almost immediately.
Perhaps it was instinct.
Perhaps strong shinobi simply recognized the presence of others who might one day stand on the same battlefield.
Kitsuchi studied A's broad frame and the confidence in his posture.
Kumogakure's shinobi won't be easy to deal with.
A's gaze shifted toward Kitsuchi.
So that's the Tsuchikage's son.
A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
I wonder how strong he is.
Rasa remained quieter than either of them. His eyes passed from A to Kitsuchi while his expression stayed composed.
I cannot afford to lose here. Sunagakure needs this victory.
The tense atmosphere between the three teams might have continued had two loud voices not suddenly shattered it.
"Yosh! Let us burn with the flames of youth!"
"We'll give it everything we have! We're taking first place!"
Might Duy and Nawaki stood beside one another, fists raised toward the sky as if they were announcing their arrival on a battlefield.
Minato Namikaze stood between them.
He slowly reached up and rubbed the back of his head.
Nearly every candidate had turned to stare.
Minato offered them an apologetic smile.
"Everyone's looking at us," he quietly reminded his teammates.
Duy's eyes immediately lit up.
"So they are!"
He spun toward the assembled genin and raised one thumb.
"Thank you for your support!"
His teeth flashed with such intensity that they almost seemed to sparkle.
Nawaki stepped forward beside him and copied the pose without hesitation.
"We won't let you down!" he declared. "We'll fight with everything we've got!"
The forest entrance fell silent.
Minato raised one hand and pressed it over his face.
Then, without saying another word, he turned around and presented his back to the other candidates.
The strained smile he had managed to maintain until that point had already been the greatest kindness he could offer his teammates.
Several genin stared at the pair in green with bewildered expressions.
What is wrong with Konoha's shinobi?
The members of Uchiha Inabi's team arrived just in time to witness the scene.
Inabi looked at Minato's rigid back with genuine sympathy.
"Poor Minato."
He tried to imagine himself standing in Minato's place.
The thought alone sent a chill through him.
"If I were assigned to that team, I would withdraw from the exam."
For a proud Uchiha, being forced to endure that kind of public humiliation might have been worse than defeat.
The two teammates standing beside him silently nodded in agreement.
Elsewhere, inside Konoha's monitoring room, Tsunade and Jiraiya were watching the candidates through the surveillance system.
Tsunade had come because she wanted to see how Nawaki performed.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, was there to observe Minato.
Unfortunately, the first thing Tsunade saw was her younger brother striking a ridiculous pose beside Might Duy while shouting about youth.
Her eyebrow twitched.
"That idiot..."
Before joining Minato's team, Nawaki had been energetic, but at least he had still behaved like a relatively normal child.
Now he was steadily becoming another Might Duy.
Tsunade's fist clenched.
"I'm going to kill him."
Jiraiya glanced at her.
"Which one?"
"Both."
On the screen, Minato remained facing away from everyone, pretending he had no connection to the two boys behind him.
Jiraiya's expression softened with sympathy.
"You've really been through a lot, Minato."
Away from the monitoring room, another observer stood near the edge of the examination grounds.
Or rather, he appeared to be standing there.
Kizaru had concealed himself beside a large tree using an invisibility-based genjutsu he had developed. His tall figure leaned lazily against the trunk while he watched the gathered teams through half-lidded eyes.
"Ooh~"
His lips curved into an amused smile.
"This is becoming rather interesting."
Kizaru had not come merely to observe.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura had personally assigned him a special mission.
He was to secretly monitor Blue B—Kumogakure's Eight-Tails jinchūriki—and intervene immediately if the boy lost control of Gyūki.
It was a relatively straightforward assignment.
Because of it, Kizaru had also been appointed as one of the hidden examiners overseeing the second round.
At the same time, Danzo's separate plan had received Hiruzen's reluctant approval.
However, the Third Hokage had imposed one firm condition.
The sons of the Third Raikage and Third Tsuchikage could be injured badly enough to remove them from the examination, but neither of them could be killed.
Hiruzen's decision was not born from mercy.
If they went too far, the Raikage and Tsuchikage might grow suspicious. Should either village uncover Konoha's involvement, the village would be placed in an extremely dangerous political position.
Danzo had naturally objected.
The two had soon fallen into one of their familiar arguments inside the Hokage's office.
"Hiruzen, you will regret this."
"Danzo, I am the Hokage."
Kizaru had been standing inside the office at the time and had witnessed the entire exchange from beginning to end.
He had watched with mild amusement as Danzo turned away with a cold snort and left the room.
Once his old teammate was gone, Hiruzen looked toward Kizaru.
"Kizaru, if the sons of the Raikage or Tsuchikage face genuine danger during the examination, intervene before it is too late."
Kizaru's smile remained relaxed.
"Scary~"
He slowly raised both hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Giving me such troublesome work, Hokage-sama..."
Despite his complaint, he nodded.
"Very well. I'll make sure the important young masters don't die."
Back at the Forest of Death, the appointed time finally arrived.
The examiner stepped before the candidates and began explaining the rules.
Each three-man team would be issued either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll.
After receiving their scroll, the teams would enter the Forest of Death through separate gates.
They would then have seventy-two hours to obtain the matching scroll from another team and reach the central tower on the far side of the forest.
Only teams possessing both a Heaven Scroll and an Earth Scroll upon reaching the tower would pass the second examination and advance to the final round.
Once the explanation ended, the examiners distributed the scrolls and directed each team toward a different entrance.
The gates opened one after another, releasing the candidates into the forest in staggered groups.
Amid the confusion, a three-man team disguised as genin from a minor hidden village quietly entered alongside the legitimate candidates.
In truth, all three were experienced Konoha jōnin selected by Danzo.
The first was a jōnin of the Yamanaka Clan.
The second was a Root operative who specialized in both ninjutsu and taijutsu.
The final member was Dan Katō, an elite jōnin renowned throughout Konoha.
Their respective roles had already been decided.
Dan and the Yamanaka shinobi would use their techniques to seize control of members from the targeted teams, provoking lethal clashes and manufacturing hatred between the villages.
The Root jōnin would remain behind to protect their bodies while their consciousnesses were separated from them.
With three experienced jōnin carrying out the operation, Danzo's plan progressed smoothly.
Using their sensory skills, they quickly located the genin teams from Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
The disguised jōnin then deliberately exposed themselves to A's group.
A few well-placed insults were all it took.
A's temper ignited immediately.
"Say that again!"
The disguised shinobi fled, drawing the Kumogakure team toward the region where Kitsuchi's team was currently moving.
Once the two groups were close enough, Dan's team briefly exchanged blows with A's group.
After several clashes, they pretended to be overwhelmed.
Smoke bombs exploded across the forest floor, and the three disappeared into the trees before A could pursue them any farther.
The commotion naturally attracted Kitsuchi's attention.
His team arrived moments later and found the Kumogakure shinobi standing amid the lingering smoke.
A and Kitsuchi had already measured one another outside the forest.
Now, with their blood heated by the previous battle, it took only a few hostile words for the tension to erupt.
"You Iwa shinobi working with those cowards?" A demanded.
Kitsuchi's expression hardened.
"Watch your mouth. We have nothing to do with them."
"Then get out of my way."
"You're the one standing in ours."
A's eyes narrowed.
Kitsuchi planted his feet.
Neither had any intention of backing down.
The clash began almost immediately.
Hidden among the surrounding trees, Dan and the Yamanaka jōnin watched the two teams descend into battle.
Once everyone's attention was occupied, the pair activated their respective techniques.
Dan used the Spirit Transformation Technique.
The Yamanaka jōnin formed the seal for the Mind Body Switch Technique.
Both abilities allowed their users to invade another person's consciousness and seize control of their body.
Because Hiruzen had forbidden them from killing A or Kitsuchi, they selected the least influential members of each team instead.
Their targets were ordinary genin with no powerful clan or political backing.
The two controlled shinobi broke away from their respective battles and began attacking one another with unnatural ferocity.
Blow after blow was exchanged.
Then, following the plan, both prepared lethal strikes.
The Yamanaka Clan's secret technique came with a dangerous weakness. Any damage inflicted upon the controlled body could be reflected back onto the caster.
For that reason, the Yamanaka jōnin released the technique a fraction of a second before the attack landed.
Dan's Spirit Transformation Technique had no such restriction.
He maintained control until the very end.
The two attacks struck almost simultaneously.
"Hemi!"
"Kazuki!"
Kitsuchi and A noticed their fallen teammates at nearly the same moment.
Both disengaged and leaped backward.
For one terrible second, the battlefield became still.
The chakra signatures of the two genin were gone.
A stared at Baiyun's motionless body.
His eyes turned bloodshot.
Lightning erupted around him with a violent crackle.
"You bastards..."
His voice trembled with rage.
"You killed him!"
Kitsuchi looked down at Heidi, then slowly raised his gaze toward A.
There was grief in his eyes.
Then hatred.
"Don't blame us for what your shinobi did."
A bared his teeth.
Kitsuchi's fist tightened.
"You're going to pay for this!"
He surged forward while coating his arm in stone.
"Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!"
The earth hardened around his right arm, increasing both its weight and destructive force.
A answered by driving Lightning Release chakra through his entire body.
Electricity wrapped around him like armor.
"I'll crush you!"
A shot forward using the Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
"Lariat!"
The two charged directly at one another, both consumed by anger.
A thunderous explosion shook the forest.
Their attacks collided without restraint.
The earth beneath their feet shattered, and broken stone blasted outward alongside a rolling cloud of dust.
Elsewhere in the same battlefield, Blue B had been exchanging blows with an Iwagakure genin who possessed Explosion Release.
The two halted as the shock wave reached them.
Blue B turned sharply toward the source.
"That was A."
The Iwagakure genin also recognized Kitsuchi's chakra.
For a moment, the two stared at each other.
Blue B lowered his stance.
"Temporary truce."
The Iwa genin remained silent, then nodded.
He immediately leaped down from the branch and rushed toward the source of the explosion.
Worried about his cousin, Blue B followed close behind.
Hidden at a distance, Dan and the Yamanaka jōnin sensed A and Kitsuchi's weakened chakra.
The two exchanged a glance.
The first stage had succeeded.
Dan gave a small nod toward the Root shinobi.
It was time to bring Sunagakure into the conflict.
The three quietly withdrew while the Kumogakure and Iwagakure teams focused on their injured comrades.
After putting enough distance between themselves and the battlefield, they transformed once more.
This time, they assumed the identities of Amegakure genin.
They soon located Rasa's team and began provoking them.
Unlike A, however, Rasa did not react impulsively.
He listened to their insults without changing expression.
"Are you finished?" he asked coldly.
The disguised jōnin exchanged subtle glances.
Verbal provocation would not be enough.
They adjusted their plan immediately.
Without warning, the Root jōnin burst forward.
Karura barely had time to react before he subdued her, caught her around the waist, and retreated into the forest.
"Karura!"
Rasa's composure shattered.
She was not merely his teammate.
She was the person he cared for most.
"Let her go!"
Gold Dust surged from the ground as Rasa launched himself after them.
His puppet-user teammate followed without hesitation.
Dan's group maintained a carefully calculated pace. They moved quickly enough to remain out of reach, but never so quickly that Rasa lost sight of them.
Step by step, they guided the Sunagakure team toward the battlefield where Kumogakure and Iwagakure had fought.
Rasa attacked repeatedly with his Gold Dust.
Eventually, the Root jōnin deliberately allowed one of the attacks to graze him.
He staggered, loosened his grip, and threw Karura aside.
"Karura!"
Rasa abandoned the pursuit instantly.
Chakra erupted beneath his feet as he rushed toward her.
He dropped to one knee and caught her before she could strike the ground.
"Karura, look at me. Are you hurt?"
She was still conscious.
Karura looked up at him and gave a faint, apologetic smile.
"I'm all right. Rasa, I—"
Her expression suddenly changed.
Behind Rasa, one of the disguised Amegakure shinobi raised an arm.
Several senbon flashed between his fingers.
"Rasa, move!"
Karura threw her arms around him and pulled him sideways.
The two rolled across the ground as the senbon struck the earth where Rasa's back had been moments earlier.
Rasa rose quickly and helped Karura to her feet.
"You're injured."
"It's nothing," she said, keeping her eyes on the enemy. "Don't turn your back on them."
Rasa's gaze became cold.
"You'll regret touching her."
Before he could attack, however, a voice came from the trees on his other side.
"Who's there?"
Rasa spun around.
The surviving members of the Kumogakure and Iwagakure teams stood some distance away.
All four were injured.
Their clothing was torn, their breathing was heavy, and the ground around them had been reduced to a field of shattered stone.
Dan glanced toward the other disguised jōnin.
"Too many enemies. We're leaving."
The three Amegakure impostors formed hand seals.
"Body Flicker Technique!"
Their figures blurred and vanished among the trees.
"Get back here!" Rasa shouted.
He took a step forward, but there was already no trace of them.
His frustration had nowhere to go.
Rasa clenched his fists and slowly looked back toward the Kumogakure and Iwagakure teams.
All four shinobi were wounded.
Some could barely remain standing.
His eyes moved across the devastated battlefield.
A thought entered his mind.
If Sunagakure eliminated both teams here, two of the strongest competing villages would be removed from the examination at once.
Their chances of claiming victory would increase dramatically.
Rasa glanced toward Karura.
She understood his intentions from the look in his eyes.
"This is an opportunity," he said quietly.
Karura hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"Then don't underestimate them. They're injured, but they're still dangerous."
Rasa's expression remained confident.
"I know."
He looked toward their puppet-user teammate, who had finally caught up with them.
The young shinobi followed Rasa's gaze toward the battered teams and immediately understood.
He gave a silent nod.
Rasa turned back toward the four wounded genin.
Gold Dust began to rise around his feet.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
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