Renji felt regret well up inside him as he thought to himself, "Dammit, I should have listened to Antares onii-san. If I had used Bankai when he told me to, or even from the very beginning of my battle with Orochimaru, then Orochimaru wouldn't have been able to escape.
I thought too simply of him and didn't expect him to pull such a stunt. I believed that, as one of the Sannin, he must have at least some pride in him, but it seems that his pride is worthless in front of his will to survive. His will to survive is something for which Orochimaru can disregard anything, and only because of that has he gone down a path of no return."
A faint breeze passed through the forest, carrying dust and the lingering smell of damp earth.
After thinking like this, Renji slowly looked toward the reanimated First and Second Hokage, who were standing there motionlessly. There was no luster in their eyes, as if they were nothing more than puppets whose strings had suddenly been cut.
Renji understood the reason for this quite clearly.
Orochimaru had already left, so now there was no one to control them. Till Orochimaru was present here, he had been controlling them after suppressing their will. But now that Orochimaru had left, and the Ryuchi Cave was very far away from here, he could no longer control the First and Second Hokage.
That was why both of them only stood there in a dazed manner, silent and empty, like lifeless shells.
Not only Renji, but the others also understood that Orochimaru was now gone and that he had succeeded in disappearing. They also understood what had happened with the reanimated bodies of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage.
Renji looked toward Antares, who was still floating high in the sky.
Antares looked back at him but said nothing. Behind him, space suddenly twisted, and a black hole slowly appeared in the air. The dark void distorted everything around it, swallowing light itself.
Without another word, Antares stepped into that black hole.
Soon, his figure completely disappeared inside it, leaving Konoha behind.
After watching Antares leave, Renji removed his Shikai. Zabimaru slowly began to transform back into a normal-looking katana, the segmented blade reconnecting piece by piece until it looked ordinary once more. Renji then calmly sheathed it back at his waist.
"Sigh... definitely Antares onii-san will be quite disappointed that I was not able to deal with Orochimaru," Renji thought to himself. "But there is no use regretting it now. As soon as this Chunin Exam is done with, I will personally go and search for Orochimaru and deal with him."
After making up his mind, Renji turned toward Shamrock and Uta and said, "You both have both the scrolls required for this second round of the Chunin Exam, right?"
As soon as Shamrock and Uta heard this, both of them nodded.
"Yes, uncle," they said together.
Before Renji could say anything else, Minato stepped forward and looked toward both of them.
"You both can continue with the process of the exam," Minato said. "The rules will mostly remain the same, except that there will be a few changes in the time limit and other details, which you will be informed about later. The other candidates will also be informed that there was some disruption.
"And as for the fact that you both are standing completely fine, that is also because of your own strength. So you do not have to worry about getting some huge advantage or anything like that. You can go and submit your Heaven and Earth scrolls and finish your second round of the Chunin Exam."
Shamrock and Uta both nodded.
"Yes."
Without wasting any more time, they immediately left, disappearing through the trees at a fast pace.
Renji knew that there would definitely be changes in the rules of the Chunin Exam. They had no choice but to change things because of all this hindrance and everything Orochimaru had done.
Currently, candidates from the different villages were lying unconscious in different parts of the Forest of Death after being hit by Shanks's Conqueror's Haki. Broken branches, disturbed soil, and scattered weapons could be seen in many places throughout the forest.
So yes, the rules were definitely going to change.
Renji then turned toward Minato and was about to tell him to free the reanimated Hokages. If they could not do it themselves, then Renji could definitely lift the seal that was suppressing the will of the First Hokage and Second Hokage.
But before he could say anything like that, Hiruzen was already standing in front of the First Hokage. His expression was grave as his hands moved through a series of seals with practiced speed.
Clearly, he was quite aware of the workings of this reanimation jutsu.
Renji was not surprised by this. After all, the reanimation jutsu originated from Konoha itself, so there was nothing strange about Hiruzen knowing how to deal with it.
The air around the reanimated Hokages remained eerily still as Hiruzen continued forming hand seals, while the First and Second Hokage stood motionless like lifeless statues.
Renji did not say anything further about both Hokages.
Instead, he simply looked toward Minato and said, "All the people should awaken within fifteen minutes to half an hour, once the aftereffects of the Conqueror's Haki are completely gone from their minds. After that, they will wake up."
Minato nodded after hearing Renji's words.
Then Renji said, "I will now take my leave. There isn't any work for me here."
After saying this, Renji used Shunpo and disappeared from his location. A gust of wind spread outward from where he had been standing, making the nearby grass and loose leaves rustle for a moment before everything became still again.
As soon as Renji left, Minato immediately started giving orders to the Anbu ninjas.
"Inform the candidates, as soon as they recover, that there was some disruption in the exam, but everything is fine now, so they can continue. Also tell them that the deadline for submitting the Heaven and Earth scrolls will be increased by six hours."
Minato paused for a moment before continuing.
"Even if some of the candidates are not fully well after being affected by the Conqueror's Haki, a few hours of rest should be more than enough for them to recover. The time they lost because of this disruption will be compensated in the form of six hours."
The Anbu ninjas immediately nodded.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Soon after, they started spreading throughout the Forest of Death, moving across the trees in different directions as they searched for the unconscious candidates from the different villages. The once-quiet forest was quickly filled with the faint sounds of movement as shadows flashed from branch to branch.
Just at that moment, Jiraiya also arrived while searching for Orochimaru.
He had sensed Orochimaru's presence earlier, so he had immediately rushed toward this place.
As soon as he landed, his eyes quickly moved around the area, taking in the damaged surroundings, the unconscious reanimated Hokages, and the tense expressions on everyone's faces.
Minato then explained everything to him.
He told Jiraiya how Orochimaru had tried to attack Shamrock and Uta, the children of Shanks Uzumaki, and how Orochimaru had ultimately been forced to run away after witnessing Renji Uzumaki's strength.
Minato explained everything in detail.
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