"Throw me the scroll."
Akihara Kagura reached out his hand quite cordially.
Simply the massive size of the Wood Dragon Jutsu and the initial shock of seeing the dragon would likely quell any thoughts of resistance from this team.
Swish!
The scroll traced an arc!
Akihara Kagura caught the scroll, maneuvered the wood dragon to turn away, leaving only a line in the wind: "Thank you for your cooperation; hope we can collaborate again in the future."
"…"
The three Genin looked at each other.
Let's hope there's no next time!
"Tsk, quite lucky, huh."
Akihara Kagura glanced at the scroll in his hand.
The first team he encountered helped him complete the Heaven and Earth Scroll.
Though the young man always thought passing the second stage wouldn't be too hard for him, he hadn't expected to fill the scroll so smoothly, inevitably putting him in a better mood.
The remaining time in this exam…
It's probably going to be a relaxing outing in the wild.
Akihara Kagura was in no rush to leave.
Akihara Kagura knew Shimura Danzo wouldn't be happy; he'd have to face Danzo's deadpan face afterward, so it might be better to linger here a bit longer.
When your supervisor's in a bad mood, definitely don't approach them voluntarily; especially when you're the root of your supervisor's irks, you'd better give them more time to cool down on their own.
"I wonder when I'll encounter the next team…"
Akihara Kagura guided the wood dragon through the Forest of Death, planning to scout out his culinary team for the coming days, while attempting to discern traces of Uchiha Itachi.
A bit unfortunate.
The area of the Forest of Death was indeed vast.
The entire Forest of Death, with a radius of at least ten kilometers.
In the over three hundred square kilometers of forest, scattered are a dozen teams, even their entrances are unknown, and the dense forest serves as their sheltered cover.
This is a game of escape, hide, and plunder.
Only Akihara Kagura, relying on his wooden dragon, could roam arrogantly within the Forest of Death, even using this advantage to search for nearby enemies.
However…
The wood dragon's disadvantages were evident too.
Humans are naturally inclined to seek advantage and avoid harm, and any enemy who sees the wooden dragon, after the initial shock, will mostly choose to hide away quietly.
Akihara Kagura's Chakra amount was vast, enhancing his perception ability for Chakra, yet it was still not comparable to the Ninja World's strongest perception Kekkeigenkai, the Byakugan.
The ninja squads participating in this exam opted for concealment.
The situation within the Forest of Death was unclear; above the forest wandered a massive wooden dragon; undoubtedly, the best choice was to hide away and evade unknown dangers.
Even Uchiha Itachi had to choose to lie low.
The entire Forest of Death gradually fell silent.
Akihara Kagura patrolled back and forth twice, seeming like the luck with the first team encounter was exhausted, and he was unable to meet a second adversarial team.
"No one wants to come out?"
Akihara Kagura furrowed his brows, maneuvering the wood dragon towards the central tower's direction: "If no one's coming out, then let them never come out!"
Periphery of the Forest of Death.
A group of examiners stayed at the outskirts of the Forest of Death, discussing unexpected situations in the exam; their duty was to ensure the smooth progress of the second exam stage.
Clearly.
An unexpected situation occurred within the Forest of Death.
Akihara Kagura was that biggest surprise.
Because Mitarashi Anko brought back news that Akihara Kagura was a Wood Release Ninja, coupled with orders from the Hokage Tower, this child became a focal point of the examiners' work.
"Finally stopped wandering?"
"What's that kid trying to do?"
"We should be more concerned about how long this jutsu can last."
"At the moment, we don't know, we've never seen the First Hokage's Wood Release Ninjutsu, unaware of how long the Wood Release Ninjutsu can persist…"
"Hokage-sama over there told us not to worry."
"If that kid is trying to use this method to search for enemies, who can go and tell that kid, this method won't work, the enemy will simply hide endlessly…"
"Having only great strength without sufficient intellect is useless; his actions will only compel other teams to timidly refrain from moving…"
"It's getting dark…"
"Everyone needs to prepare supplies."
"This wilderness survival might turn into a wilderness escape…"
"Has that kid completed the scrolls, does he hold both Heaven and Earth scrolls? If he completed them early, he should emerge early!"
"Monitoring is unclear…"
A group of examiners stared at the monitor, feeling immense headaches as they watched the massive wood dragon roaming; they'd never seen such a troublesome candidate appear in the Chunin exam.
Should Akihara Kagura, relying on his Ninjutsu, create any trouble, causing the entire Chunin exam to collapse, it would be undesirable.
However…
An accident was bound to happen.
Suddenly, an examiner looked at his monitor screen with horror.
"Something serious happened!"
"The wooden dragon has wrapped around the tower!"
"Don't panic!"
As the chief examiner, Yamashiro Aoba, adjusting his glasses, tried to maintain a composed demeanor: "No worries, that kid surely plans to block the final tower and ambush other teams there…"
Yamashiro Aoba felt he had captured Akihara Kagura's intention, slowly continuing: "Such strategies don't appear every year, rarely succeeding, even if his Ninjutsu is strong, he may not catch the cunning…"
"But…"
Mitarashi Anko, munching on a dumpling, mumbled: "I remember that old tower in the Forest of Death hasn't been repaired for many years…"
"The final tower collapsed!"
A monitor-r of the tower's area suddenly erupted, face filled with panic: "The wooden dragon coiled around the final tower, destroying the tower entirely! The passage location for the second exam was destroyed by that kid!"
"What the hell!"
"Why cutting everyone's path off!"
"This incident adds so much hassle to our work!"
Instantly, all examiners present were in an uproar!
This incident essentially added an unaccounted difficulty that staff couldn't solve or hadn't considered might occur during regular workflow!
As the chief examiner, Yamashiro Aoba, sweat trickling down his forehead, somewhat timid by nature, seemed to strive to remain calm: "Don't rush… don't rush… consider what should be done when facing such a situation…"
"Why standing there!"
Mitarashi Anko chewed on a dumpling, proposing her opinion: "The final tower was merely a signal marker for arrival, the tower only recorded the correct method to open the Heaven and Earth scrolls, as long as candidates arrive with the scrolls, it's fine…"
"Quickly send someone over to prevent panic, wait for candidates with Heaven and Earth scrolls to reach that area, tell them how to correctly open the scrolls, and no problem will arise."
"Anko!"
Yamashiro Aoba was relieved and rushed to Mitarashi Anko: "This task… is entrusted to you! Go there quickly with your team!"
"…"
Central area of the Forest of Death.
The final tower had transformed into ruins.
Akihara Kagura sat in front of these ruins, the massive wood dragon coiling on the wreckage behind the boy, painted a landscape of a boy and a dragon against the backdrop of the setting sun's afterglow.