The light lasted for less than two minutes before it began to fade.
It was as if the source of its power had run dry. The deep, cold ash-gray gradually turned pale, then lighter still, until at last it became a pure white glow.
The clear white radiance flashed before everyone's eyes and burst like a popped balloon. People squinted in pain, their pupils stinging.
When they opened their eyes again, the crimson sunset still hung in the sky, dazzling as ever. A breeze passed through, stirring the thick branches and leaves of the forest. Everything before them looked exactly the same as it had before the gray light appeared, as though the vast gray glow that had blanketed heaven and earth had been nothing more than a shared hallucination.
"It's over."
Baki let out a quiet breath.
He did not even know what exactly he had been afraid of, only that some great terror seemed to have been hidden within that gray light. Just looking at it had made it hard to breathe.
Whoosh!
Before he could give any orders, Gaara, who had been standing there with his arms folded, shot toward Konoha without a second thought, completely unconcerned by whatever danger might be waiting ahead.
"Gaara!"
Temari's heart tightened. She had not expected her little brother to snap at such a crucial moment. Slinging her giant fan onto her back, she hurried after him. The rest of the Suna ninja could only follow helplessly, leaping over the heads of the Grass ninja as they raced onward.
The Kusa genin grit their teeth, visibly unhappy about it.
"We should go take a look too. If Konoha was destroyed, maybe there'll be something valuable left behind."
The plain-looking Kusa jonin at the front stroked his chin, his eyes darting about. He clearly embodied Kusagakure's traditional mindset of poking into anything that looked remotely profitable.
He wanted to take advantage of the situation, but he also worried about his reckless genin causing trouble. So he cautiously warned them, "Stay behind the Sand ninja and try not to start any conflict with them."
"Yes!" n
The Kusa genin all curled their lips into cruel smiles. Naturally, they understood what their jonin captain really meant.
Let those idiots from Suna scout the way while they picked up the scraps behind them. As for "try not to start conflict," that obviously meant they were allowed to start conflict if something good showed up.
As expected of a senior who had once stepped over both Konoha and Suna shinobi to pass the Chunin Exams. Every word was full of hidden meaning.
The Kusa jonin had no idea how impressive their reading comprehension was. He was the first to leap onto the treetops. After a quick look around, he led the group toward Konoha.
He had to keep those genin safe. Every shinobi sent out to take part in the Chunin Exams was a future jonin seedling in the village. Their main purpose in coming here was to broaden their horizons. No matter how far they made it in the exam, once they returned to the village, they would all have a chance to be promoted to chunin.
For example, he himself had once survived two days in the second stage of the exam, making him the Kusa shinobi who lasted the longest that year.
After returning, he had been promoted straight to chunin.
To boost the confidence of the village's shinobi, what Kusagakure had been told was that he had passed the Chunin Exams. Not just him. Every story about Kusa shinobi passing the Chunin Exams had been fabricated.
"They're all gone."
Karin leapt up onto a branch with the main group, only to realize the two cowering "big sisters" were still standing behind, whispering to one another. She kindly reminded them.
When the pair ignored her, she pouted and quickly followed her team.
"So you've finally decided to give up that absurd plan?"
Watching Karin and the others disappear into the distance, Danzo looked at Orochimaru, whose expression kept shifting, and secretly felt delighted.
He truly did not want to go back to Konoha. No one understood better than he did how terrifying Hiruzen Sarutobi's Adamantine Staff could be. The pressure Konome Taketori gave him was no weaker than the one Hiruzen had in his youth. If he and Orochimaru fought Hiruzen and Konome together, they would basically be marching to their deaths.
Orochimaru had no time to bother with Danzo. He stared toward the distant sky, his tongue flicking out to taste the air. Despite the distance from Konoha, his modified sensory abilities were screaming a warning into his mind.
That gray light felt a little like the legendary Yin-Yang Release of the Sage of Six Paths.
Could it be that Konome Taketori had finally cracked the secret of the Taketori treasure?
That had to be it. The Taketori treasure probably required Taketori blood to unlock.
A greedy gleam flashed through his golden snake-like pupils. Relying on his own exceptional survival instincts, Orochimaru licked his lips and rushed forward at once. Danzo clicked his tongue and followed behind the Grass ninja as well, while subtly loosening the sealing formula on his right arm.
If anything went wrong, he would absolutely sell out his allies and run.
The shinobi moved quickly. Within moments, they crossed dozens of kilometers of rugged mountain paths.
Gaara and the Sand shinobi in the lead soon came within sight of Konoha's outer security line, and they immediately halted on the treetops to observe.
A neat line of Konoha shinobi in chunin vests stood among the trees, almost blending into the greenery. At the front stood a man with a goatee and a cigarette in his mouth, looking calm and composed, though the ash already halfway down the cigarette betrayed his inner tension.
On the yellow dirt road below stood three clearly divided groups of shinobi in different uniforms, facing off against the Konoha forces.
The ninja from Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure had all arrived.
Seeing so many worthy targets to kill, blood vessels bulged at the corners of Gaara's eyes, and his breathing grew rough. Temari hurriedly grabbed his hand in comfort and patted his back until he calmed slightly.
Soon, the Grass ninja arrived at the security line as well. Upon seeing the gathered forces of the Five Great Nations below, they slammed on the brakes and left dark silhouettes all over the treetops. Orochimaru and Danzo, hidden among them, appeared especially inconspicuous.
"We're Kumogakure ninja here to take the exam. Why are you refusing to let us pass?"
On Konoha's side of the standoff, the red-haired, dark-skinned, athletic Cloud kunoichi with a short blade strapped to her back clenched her fists, visibly furious. Her voice was so loud it echoed throughout the forest.
Beside her, the handsome white-haired dark-skinned shinobi with a lollipop in his mouth kept muttering doom-laden nonsense about the world ending and everything being over, only for the tall blond ninja with the kanji for "hot" tattooed on his right arm to awkwardly slap a hand over his mouth before he could finish.
The red-haired hotheaded girl was Karui. The gloomy white-haired guy was Omoi. The blond with "hot" on his shoulder was Atsui. Together, they were Kumogakure's genin team for the exam.
Standing firm at the security line and blocking everyone's path, Sarutobi Asuma was already in a foul mood because of the situation in the village. Hearing the Cloud ninja's protests only made the anger burn in his chest.
"Konoha will not be destroyed, and the sky has not fallen!"
Asuma's voice rang through the forest. Those words were not only meant for the Cloud ninja. They were also for the Konoha shinobi behind him, who were deeply worried about the safety of their families in the village.
Asuma was not just one of the village's elite jonin. He was also the son of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. His words naturally carried far more weight than those of anyone else.
At least, that was how they were persuading themselves.
Sensing the hearts of the Konoha shinobi behind him settling somewhat, Asuma exhaled a thick plume of smoke.
No one knew what that strange gray light in the village had been, but no matter what had happened, he first had to keep the security line stable. At the very least, he could not let foreign shinobi enter Konoha and add to the chaos.
Facing the steadily growing numbers of foreign ninja, Asuma stepped forward, chakra gathering beneath his skin, and said in a voice neither servile nor arrogant:
"I have already sent someone back to Konoha to ask for the Third Hokage's orders. Once we receive instructions, you will be allowed to pass. Please wait here for a short while."
As he spoke, a faint golden phantom shimmered behind him, causing the various shinobi who had planned to force their way through to lose their nerve.
"What a pain…"
Darui, the Kumogakure jonin leading the team, was so laid-back he rivaled Kakashi. He rolled his neck and casually sat against a large tree.
His lazy posture and perpetually sleep-deprived expression made him look like some random delinquent off the street, but no one present would underestimate the man known as the Raikage's second right hand.
"Is that Welcoming a Thousand Hands Strike?"
The jonin leading the Earth Country side stared at the golden phantom behind Asuma and muttered to himself. He wore bright red armor, along with a hat and mask. His voice was icy cold, yet somehow gave off a strangely heated feeling.
"Han-senpai, do you know that jutsu?"
Kurotsuchi's pretty face was full of excitement. She had finally managed to leave the village and come to the legendary Konoha. She wore a sharp, qipao-like outfit that made her long legs dazzlingly pale, while Akatsuchi stood behind her like a bodyguard, his huge frame resembling a mountain. Beauty and beast in one absurd package, it drew countless glances from the surrounding shinobi.
"Once, I encountered a talent among the immortals…"
Han's gaze sharpened. Thin white steam hissed from within his armor, scorching the green leaves at his feet yellow.
Kirigakure had the smallest group. Their four-man team stood far off to one side, like an island cut off from the mainland.
"Everyone feels really strong…"
Chōjūrō, with his blue hair and square glasses, wore what looked like a striped patient's gown. If not for Hiramekarei strapped to his back, he would have looked like an honor student from the Academy.
Unfortunately, that honor student lacked every ounce of confidence.
"Hey, hey, you're the only one here who inherited one of the new Seven Ninja Swords. Can't you show a little confidence?"
Hozuki Suigetsu's teeth were jagged and his smile cold and eerie, yet his tone was surprisingly cheerful.
"Okay…"
Chōjūrō clenched his fists, trying to psych himself up, though the inexplicable inferiority in him was impossible to hide.
"Tch."
Ringo Ameyuri, her reddish-brown hair braided upright and her sharp teeth bared, was obviously unwilling to accept that.
"If the Lightning Blades: Kiba were still in Kirigakure, I'd already be one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."
Suigetsu curled his lip.
Who wasn't in the same situation?
If the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had not died off, defected, or lost their swords, he would have already claimed the blade meant for him.
That was what he thought, but he did not dare argue with Ringo Ameyuri.
His Hydrification Technique was hard-countered by Lightning Release, and she was a lightning prodigy unlike any Kirigakure had seen in a century. The matchup was simply too brutal.
Chōjūrō had a famous blade. Ringo Ameyuri completely countered him. As for Suigetsu, the so-called genius of the Hōzuki clan, he had somehow become the weakest one in the team. It was deeply frustrating.
He suddenly had a very strong urge to cut something.
Suigetsu looked toward the three teams not far away, his gaze jumping back and forth between the mountain-like Akatsuchi and the murderous Gaara.
Do not ask him why he did not look at the Cloud ninja. It was definitely not because he was afraid of Lightning Release. It was simply because those Cloud ninja who specialized in blades and lightning were not his type.
"Three elite jonin. Six tokubetsu jonin. One jonin. Two jinchūriki…"
At that moment, a stream of muttered calculations came from behind Suigetsu.
He turned in confusion and saw Ao secretly activating his Byakugan with a one-handed seal, scanning the enemy while his face grew uglier and uglier.
"Ao-sensei, what are you muttering about?"
Suigetsu was not especially fond of this Byakugan thief. His dream was to revive Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and only blade specialists earned his respect.
Ao, a sensory-type ninja, clearly did not make the cut.
Ao waved him off impatiently. He had no time to bother with Suigetsu. His Byakugan had been pushed to its limit, and every chakra signature nearby stood out in exact detail.
The three genin from Kumogakure were all at tokubetsu jonin level.
It sounded absurd, but it was true.
The long-legged girl from Iwagakure was tokubetsu jonin level, and that giant brute beside her was straight-up jonin. Onoki, that old bastard, had no shame whatsoever.
Compared to that, Sunagakure was even more shameless.
Their team had brought out the One-Tail jinchūriki as a participant, and beside him were a tokubetsu jonin and a puppeteer. Everyone knew a puppeteer's combat strength had little to do with raw chakra reserves. It depended on the quality and quantity of their puppets.
Even Kusagakure had a red-haired girl with elite jonin-level chakra reserves. Her chakra was roughly twice his own, which was simply ridiculous.
This entire group of genin were monsters.
Ao clenched his teeth. If not for the obvious physical features that made it impossible, he would have wanted to enter the Chunin Exam himself. Then a depressing thought struck him. Even if he did, he might not necessarily win.
Thankfully, they had brought Chōjūrō and the others.
Looking at his own three tokubetsu jonin-level youths, he could not help feeling relieved.
When the Mizukage had first chosen the exam team, he had thought it was using a cannon to swat a fly. Now it seemed she had been far more farsighted than he was.
If they had really sent ordinary genin here, there would have been no need to embarrass themselves in Konoha. They could have packed up and gone home already.
While thinking that, Ao kept using his Byakugan to collect information for Chōjūrō's team. The other villages had gone so far as to send jinchūriki, so he had no choice but to help his own side with a little extra-official support.
If it came to shameless tactics, Kirigakure was no worse than anyone else.
His invisible vision swept over the gathered shinobi one by one, scanning everything from chakra signatures to hidden weapons, from concealed storage scrolls to muscle and skeletal density. Ao mentally recorded it all, not daring to overlook a single detail, until his attention landed on two unusual shinobi.
"Hm?"
Ao frowned and looked toward two young female Grass ninja mixed into the Kusagakure group. For the first time, his normally unstoppable Byakugan was blocked by something. He could not see through their bodies at all.
His head snapped up toward them.
The two disguised Grass kunoichi who had been watching Konoha from beneath their straw hats suddenly paused. Then, slowly and mechanically, they turned toward him.
One ran her tongue along her lip, golden slit pupils like a predator ready to devour its prey. The other had a single long, narrow eye as cold as a blade, black and lightless like the mouth of an abyss.
The instant they noticed Ao, both narrowed their eyes in thought. Then, as if remembering something, that look changed into something that made one's skin crawl. Pure greed.
Gulp.
Ao's throat bobbed involuntarily.
Under the killing intent in those two gazes, his scalp nearly exploded.
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