The abnormal commotion inside the Forest of Death did not go unnoticed for long.
The shinobi stationed nearby reacted almost immediately. In a place like Konoha, any sudden disturbance inside a restricted training ground could not be taken lightly. Whether it was enemy spies, infiltrators, or some other hidden threat, the Military Police had to respond before the matter spiraled out of control.
Not long after that, a young Uchiha Jonin entered the Forest of Death with a small detachment, following the source of the snake disturbance until he found Orochimaru himself.
"Orochimaru Jonin, what exactly is going on here?"
Standing at the front of the squad was a lean young man with sharp features and an alert gaze. He wore the standard Konoha Jonin vest, but the authority in his bearing clearly came from more than rank alone. He was Uchiha Yatsuho of the Military Police.
"Uchiha Yatsuho from the Police Force? Nothing serious," Orochimaru said easily. He stood atop the broad head of a giant brown serpent, one hand clasped behind his back, looking as relaxed as though he were out for a walk rather than stirring up the entire Forest of Death. "It's just a small field test for a few new students."
"New students?"
Yatsuho's brows drew together at once. His gaze slid past Orochimaru to Uzuki Ruri, then shifted again to Sarutobi Enjun, who was still perched on one of the heads of the two-headed snake nearby.
He did not recognize Ruri, but Enjun was another matter entirely. As the Hokage's son, Sarutobi Enjun was hardly someone a deputy branch captain of the Police Force would fail to identify. More importantly, Yatsuho knew very well that Enjun had only just graduated this year.
"A newly graduated genin?" he repeated, his tone turning visibly stranger. "You're making this kind of scene over a fresh genin exercise?"
"Without enough intensity, it won't produce much training value," Orochimaru replied with a smile that did not quite look like a smile. "After all, one of my students is a newly emerged genius from your Uchiha clan."
For a moment, Yatsuho almost accepted that explanation on instinct.
Uchiha genius.
Greatest clan in the village.
Greatest genius of the greatest clan.
By that logic, using a completely outrageous training method somehow started to sound... reasonable.
Then he caught himself and nearly laughed at how absurd that line of thought was.
Even an Uchiha genius was still only a newly graduated genin. Yatsuho had seen plenty of promising young clan members before. He had also once been a talented Uchiha child himself. Never, not once, had he seen someone at the genin stage being tested with this level of pressure.
Who among this year's graduates could it even be?
The police officers behind him had apparently arrived at the same question. Their voices dropped into a quiet exchange among themselves.
"If a Jonin is personally leading them, then they must be from the elite class. This year, the Uchiha graduates worth noting were basically only Inahisa from Nobuyuki's line and Gen, Taki's son. I heard that kid did especially well at the academy."
"It's probably Gen. My son was talking about him just the other day. Said Gen took first place this year and swore he'd steal the top spot next year. I told him not to dream too wildly. The number one in his year is always that blond civilian brat. I'll be happy if he stays in the top ten of the elite class."
"Should we follow along and take a look? Just in case something goes wrong?"
Yatsuho gave Orochimaru a measuring glance. "To avoid accidents, we'd like to observe the exercise more closely."
"Of course." Orochimaru's answer came without the slightest hesitation.
That smooth acceptance only made the matter feel stranger.
"Yuto," Yatsuho said at once, not taking his eyes off the forest ahead, "take the others and inform the perimeter that a training exercise is underway here. Tell any other shinobi to stay out of this section of the forest for the time being. I'll remain here and watch the situation personally."
"Understood."
The squad split apart immediately. A few minutes later, Yatsuho remained where he was, following Orochimaru deeper toward the heart of the disturbance.
***
At the center of the Forest of Death, Uchiha Gen discovered with grim clarity that his avenues of escape were rapidly disappearing.
Snakes were everywhere now.
They slid across branches, coiled around trunks, glided through grass, and spilled across the ground in numbers so dense they made the forest itself seem alive. Every so often, an even larger serpent would push through the outer ring and block another path entirely. Those giant snakes were smaller than the black-scaled monster he had fought earlier, but that did not make them easy opponents. Not even close.
"This is ridiculous," Gen muttered, standing on a thick branch and staring at the tightening net around him. In the distance, atop one especially large serpent, he could faintly make out several human figures. His expression hardened. "Is this really a reasonable setup for testing a genin who just graduated?"
He only wanted to hold out until the end. Maybe, if fortune leaned his way, he could even last long enough to claim Orochimaru's promised reward.
But the scale of what Orochimaru had thrown at him now was bordering on shameless.
Even so, with only ten minutes left, giving up was out of the question.
Not now.
He moved at once. Before the swarm could close in completely, he pulled a soldier pill from his pouch and swallowed it. The bitter, concentrated taste spread fast across his tongue. A moment later, he sent out the last of his elastic steel wires, each one attached to a kunai. The blades flashed outward in multiple directions, embedding themselves into trunks and branches and forming a web with Gen at its center.
The serpents surged forward.
Gen answered with fire.
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!"
Lines of flame streaked out along the tensioned steel wires. The instant they touched the dry brush and dead leaves below, the surrounding ground erupted into towering curtains of fire. The flames rolled up in violent waves, swallowing every snake rash enough to leap through them.
Not all serpents feared heat equally. Some of Orochimaru's summoned snakes were frighteningly resilient. But this was still enough to cut down the number that could close on him at once, and right now that alone mattered.
As the fire spread, Gen tilted back the last small bottle of oil and emptied it into his mouth. Then, with a sharp movement of both wrists, two kunai slid into his hands, their edges gleaming cold in the firelight.
From here on, he would have to rely on movement, positioning, and ninja tools. His ninjutsu had to be rationed carefully. What remained of his chakra needed to be saved for the truly dangerous ones—the giant snakes, or worse, anything Orochimaru personally chose to send after him.
Only ten minutes remained, but Uchiha Gen was still only twelve years old. His body had not finished growing. His chakra reserves were already exceptional compared to ordinary civilian-born shinobi, thanks to his Uchiha bloodline and the painstaking foundation he had built over time, but he was not Senju Hashirama. He was not a jinchuriki. He was not some monster who could pour out ninjutsu endlessly like a living artillery battery.
The closer he got to the end, the colder his thoughts became.
If he wanted to survive, he had to stay calm. He had to allocate every scrap of chakra with absolute precision.
The slash of metal cut across the air.
Blood splashed hot.
Gen's body moved in clean, sharp bursts from trunk to trunk, springing across giant branches blackened by flame. His movements were nimble, disciplined, and increasingly efficient with each passing second. Though he still had not awakened the Sharingan, the chakra sensing technique he had learned was giving him exactly what he needed most in this moment: warning from beyond his normal field of vision.
That was where sensory ninjutsu truly shone.
Unlike the Sharingan, it did not rely on direct line of sight. It could cover blind spots. It could warn him of something approaching from behind. Against ambushes, it was sometimes even more practical than an undeveloped ocular bloodline.
Far away, Uchiha Yatsuho's three-tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly as he watched everything unfold. The tomoe rotated in his bloodshot eyes, catching each movement with unnerving clarity.
The Sharingan could not rival the Byakugan for long-distance observation, but within one's field of vision its superiority over ordinary sight was still overwhelming. What Yatsuho saw made the muscles in his face subtly tense.
He had come expecting to see a promising genin under pressure.
What he was watching instead was a child who, cornered inside a collapsing battlefield, was still calculating like a veteran.
Behind him, Sarutobi Enjun had only just regained consciousness. Still riding atop the two-headed snake, he sucked in a sharp breath and winced. "Damn... that bite really hurts."
"It only hurts," Orochimaru replied without even glancing at him. "The wounds are shallow. There's no venom. Buy some of the Nara clan's external medicine when you get back and it'll be gone by tomorrow."
Even while speaking, Orochimaru's gaze remained fixed on Uchiha Gen. There was a trace of dissatisfaction there, though whether it was disappointment or simply demanding interest was impossible to tell.
Soon after, even the giant snakes that had been lingering on the outskirts finally began to move in.
Gen saw them and understood instantly.
There would be no conserving chakra anymore.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The roar of flame burst from his mouth, huge and furious, illuminating the forest in crimson gold as it tore straight toward the advancing giants.
He was going all in now.
Not because he had lost his cool, but because there was finally no room left for half measures.
If Orochimaru intended to press him to the limit, then he would show him exactly how far he could still keep moving before he broke.
And if the Military Police captain watching from afar wanted to see what kind of Uchiha genius had caused this much trouble inside the Forest of Death... then he could watch carefully.
Because Gen had no intention of falling quietly.