At the same time, at the edge of the desert that had suddenly appeared in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru, disguised as a Genin, walked over slowly.
He still wore that sedge hat and the grey clothing of Otogakure, his steps quite leisurely,
Like strolling in his own backyard.
He stopped at the edge of the desert.
This place had been a dense forest, but now, within a five-hundred-meter radius, nothing grew. Only golden sand grains shone harshly under the sunlight.
The sandy ground retained the traces of battle: deep pits, trenches, sand surfaces crystallized by high-temperature burning, and—
Two bodies half-buried in the sand.
Orochimaru walked over, crouched down, and gently brushed the sand away from the face of one corpse with his index finger.
It was the two Genin he had sent to test Suigetsu.
The expressions of shock and unwillingness from the moment before death were still frozen on the corpses' faces. The fatal wound at the neck was clearly visible.
Orochimaru didn't carefully examine the wound details or analyze the cause of death.
He didn't even show any sign of regret or anger.
He just gave a light 'tch'.
"Waste is waste."
His voice was soft and sinister, carrying the contempt of looking at garbage: "Not even worth the value of buying time or gathering some decent intelligence."
As if what had died wasn't his subordinate, but two ants that had been stepped on.
He stood up, brushed the sand off his hands, and then looked toward the center of the desert.
Stronger traces of Chakra remained there.
"Oh?" The corner of Orochimaru's mouth curled into a curve.
He walked slowly toward the center of the desert, his snake-like vertical slit pupils scanning every trace of battle.
Footprints in the sand.
Residual Chakra Fluctuations.
Shuriken and kunai half-buried in the sand.
And a small patch of dried blood.
"This Chakra… it's One-Tail's."
"That kid Sasuke, fought with Gaara?"
Orochimaru crouched by the bloodstain, sticking out his tongue to lick his lips.
"And he was injured… not lightly."
He could tell from the Chakra remaining in the blood that this was Sasuke's blood.
"Interesting."
Orochimaru stood up and looked south.
From there, the sounds of even more intense Ninjutsu explosions were constantly coming.
The battle near the river.
"Are the Genin of the Five Great Ninja Villages all this strong?"
"Heh heh heh~" He chuckled softly, his soft and sinister voice echoing across the empty desert. "I can't wait… this era is about to become interesting, isn't it, Sensei?"
…
Southern part of the Forest of Death, a relatively sparse woodland.
Kiba and Akamaru stood back-to-back, both man and dog panting heavily, with multiple wounds on their bodies.
Akamaru was worse off... his right hind leg was bent unnaturally, clearly fractured. He could only stand on three legs, but still bared his teeth, letting out a low, threatening whimper.
Shino stood three meters in front of them. His expression behind his sunglasses was unreadable, but his breathing was also rapid.
His trench coat had multiple tears, the most serious being at the right shoulder, where the fabric was torn, and the skin underneath was red and purple, as if hit by something heavy.
And behind the two, Sakura leaned against a tree trunk, barely maintaining a standing posture.
Her condition was the worst.
A gash was cut on her forehead, blood flowing down her left cheek, dripping onto her pink clothes.
Her right arm hung unnaturally, probably dislocated. Her knees and elbows were scraped, her whole body disheveled.
And their opponents were three Otogakure's Ninja.
Dosu, Zaku, and Kin.
"That guy wasn't found, but we found you three brats instead," Dosu spoke, his voice hoarse and unpleasant.
"Since that's the case, we'll kill you first, then go find that guy."
The 'that guy' he referred to was Suigetsu, the target Orochimaru had assigned them to test.
But after wandering around the forest for ages without finding him, they had instead run into Kiba's team.
"Hurry it up."
Zaku urged impatiently, his gaze glancing toward the river: "The commotion over there is pretty big. I wonder if our master's target has been attacked. If we're late and get blamed by our master—"
He didn't finish, but all three understood what that 'blame' entailed.
Orochimaru's methods of dealing with failures were chilling just to think about.
Kin's gaze, meanwhile, had been fixed on Sakura.
Specifically, on Sakura's long pink hair.
Her eyes were full of jealousy and malice.
'Why could this Konoha brat keep such beautiful long hair, wear clean and tidy clothes, and be protected like a princess?'
What about herself?
Growing up in that godforsaken place called Otogakure, struggling for survival every day, her hair had long since dried and split, her skin was rough, like a beggar's.
'Unfair.'
'Too unfair.'
"That woman," Kin said softly, the bronze bell in her hand swaying slightly, "I'll kill her with my own hands."
"Whatever," Dosu said indifferently. "The bug-user is mine. Zaku, the dog and its owner are yours. Finish it quickly, then head to the river."
The division of labor was clear.
The battle was about to begin.
"Kiba!" Shino shouted low, his hands forming hand seals.
"Insect Sphere!"
A black swarm of insects poured out from his sleeves and collar, but not to attack the enemy. Instead, they condensed in front of him and Kiba into a rotating wall of insects… a defensive formation!
Almost simultaneously, Dosu's sound wave attack arrived.
Humm—!!!
An invisible shockwave smashed against the insect wall. Insects were shaken off and fell in a shower, but the insect wall did not disintegrate, holding firm against the attack.
And Kiba and Akamaru had already charged out.
"Beast Human Clone!"
Kiba and Akamaru simultaneously turned into two afterimages, pouncing on Zaku from left and right.
This was their combined tactic: Kiba providing frontal containment, Akamaru responsible for the side sneak attack.
But Zaku was prepared.
"Decapitating Airwave!"
He fired from the holes in both palms simultaneously, two high-pressure air blasts shooting out left and right, precisely hitting the charging paths of Kiba and Akamaru.
Kiba's pupils contracted. He forcibly twisted his body to avoid it.
But Akamaru wasn't so lucky. His leg was already injured, making movement difficult. Although he tried his best to dodge, he was still grazed by the edge of an air blast.
"Arf—!"
Akamaru yelped as he was sent flying, rolling several times on the ground before stopping. He struggled to get up, but his injured hind leg wouldn't cooperate.
"Akamaru!" Kiba was so angry his eyes seemed about to tear.
And at that moment, Kin had already charged at Sakura.
"Die!"
She swung the bronze bell in her hand, emitting a piercing high-frequency sound wave.
Sakura was already injured, and the sound wave impact made her feel dizzy, her ears ringing, unable even to stand steadily.
Kin's left hand pulled a senbon from her waist, aimed it at Sakura's throat, and stabbed down fiercely!
"Sakura!" Kiba tried to rescue her, but was driven back by Zaku's air blasts.
Shino wanted to support, but Dosu's second sound wave attack had already arrived. He could only exert all his strength to maintain the insect wall defense.
Sakura watched the senbon getting closer and closer, her pupils contracting.
'Am I going to die?'
'Just… die like this?'
'I really am… too weak—'
'Can't even protect myself—'
Just as the senbon was about to pierce her throat—
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!!!"
A familiar voice, full of passion and anger, came from above the forest.
Then, hundreds of orange figures fell from the sky!
"What?!" Kin was startled, her thrust with the senbon slowing by a beat.
That half-beat delay saved Sakura's life.
A Naruto shadow clone lunged over, using its body to shove Kin.
The senbon grazed past Sakura's neck, only scratching the surface of her skin.
And even more shadow clones had already overwhelmed the three Otogakure's Ninja.
"Take this!"
"Eat this!"
"I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"
Hundreds of shadow clones, like a yellow tide, completely surrounded Dosu, Zaku, and Kin.
Although the individual strength of each shadow clone wasn't great, their numbers were simply too many. The sound wave attacks could only disperse a few at a time, while the dozens that remained had already pounced.
Punching, kicking, even biting.
No technique, but chaotic enough.
"Dammit! Why are there so many!" Zaku roared, constantly firing air blasts from both hands, but the shadow clones kept coming, impossible to kill.
Dosu's expression was also very grim.
His sound wave attacks had a limited range, dispersing at most five or six shadow clones at a time, but there were at least fifty around him.
And at that moment, Menma and Hinata leaped down from the canopy on the other side, landing beside Kiba and Shino.
"You guys look a bit rough," Menma scanned the three's injuries.
Kiba dispelled the Beast Human Clone state, panting heavily as he said: "Damn! We were ambushed… these three Otogakure's Ninja's Jutsu hard counter us."
Akamaru also lay on the ground, his ears drooping, looking somewhat listless.
"Sound wave attacks are a hard counter to my insects," Shino pushed up his sunglasses. Beneath the lenses, his face was somewhat pale, clearly having expended too much Chakra and too many insects.
"Insects rely on vibrations to sense their surroundings. High-frequency sound waves make them lose their bearings, or even kill them outright."
Sakura, supported by Hinata, barely stood steady. She lowered her head, tears welling in her eyes, her voice full of self-blame and shame: "I'm sorry… it's all my fault… I'm too weak… I held everyone back…"
Hinata gently patted her shoulder, comforting her softly: "Sakura, don't say that. You've already worked very hard. Don't move for now. Let me do some simple bandaging for you."
She took a few soldier pills and styptic medicine from her ninja tool pouch, first feeding Sakura a soldier pill, then beginning to treat the wound on her forehead.
Kiba watched the three Otogakure's Ninja temporarily trapped by the countless shadow clones, then looked at the injured Sakura and his teammates in poor condition. A bitter expression appeared on his face, and he sighed: "Looks like our Team 8 is going to be eliminated early this time. Sakura is seriously injured, and Shino and I have expended a lot of Chakra. It's too dangerous to stay in the forest any longer."
Shino silently nodded in agreement.
Menma watched the battlefield.
Although Naruto's shadow clones were astonishing in number, they weren't the main body. After Dosu and the others gradually steadied themselves, the clones began to be quickly defeated, turning into puffs of white smoke.
Dosu's sound wave vibration area attack, Zaku's Decapitating Airwave, and Kin's annoying bell sound waves all inflicted damage on the crowd of shadow clones.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before the shadow clones were cleared out.
"Yeah, the situation isn't great," Menma analyzed calmly. "Among this year's examinees, there are quite a few strong teams. Carrying an injured teammate, it would indeed be hard to go far."
Compared to the original Chunin Exams, this one could be said to have rounded up the new generation of all the Great Ninja Villages. Kiba, Shino, and Sakura had just graduated from the Ninja Academy, and there was a considerable gap in both experience and strength.
The three Otogakure's Ninja weren't very strong, but their ambush had taken Sakura out of combat, their sound wave attacks countered Shino's insects, and they had made Kiba very passive.
Just then, after clearing away most of the shadow clones, the three Otogakure's Ninja seemed to realize they couldn't quickly finish off this blonde kid with the absurd amount of Chakra, not to mention that Menma and Hinata were there as support. The situation had reversed.
Moreover, their main task wasn't competing for scrolls, but finding the target of the mission Orochimaru had arranged!
Dosu made a prompt decision, shouting low: "Retreat!"
The three simultaneously launched a fierce attack, driving back the remaining shadow clones, then turned and disappeared into the dense depths of the jungle without hesitation, clean and decisive.
"Damn! Don't run!"
Naruto's remaining shadow clones gave chase for a short distance, then looked back at Menma: "Are we just going to let them go? They did something really terrible to Sakura!"
Although Naruto didn't have any particular infatuation with Sakura thanks to Menma's influence, as classmates, Naruto still valued their friendship.
Menma shrugged, watching the direction the three Otogakure's Ninja had fled. He raised his hand and shot a kunai with an explosive tag attached toward the sky.
Kiba and Shino looked puzzled as the kunai arced through the air. Naruto shouted even louder: "Hey hey! Menma-nii! They've already run far away! And you threw that kunai way too high!"
"It's fine. Let the kunai fly for a while," Menma said, holding his head high with a confident, slight smile.
After a moment, a series of explosions came from the forest, accompanied by miserable screams.
Kiba, with his sensitive hearing, immediately determined that the screams belonged to those three Otogakure's Ninja. He looked at Menma in astonishment.
"Explosive tags are really useful," Menma said, twirling a kunai in his hand.