The Exam Begins
Although the second game did not emphasize teamwork, it placed the importance of teamwork, especially teammates, at the forefront.
No matter how strong you are, there are few among all the contestants who can rival you. But if your teammates are eliminated, you will also be eliminated. In the second round, everyone is considering not only themselves, but also their teammates.
Shikaku's method was correct; how quickly each squad could gather together was crucial, and the slower the squads gathered, the greater the danger.
Everyone was scattered, and no one could be sure where they had entered from. The dense forest covered an area of twenty miles, which was quite large, but the probability of encountering ninjas from other villages was not small.
The ninjas participating in this Chunin tournament are all outstanding individuals from various villages. Perhaps the ninjas from larger villages are stronger, but that doesn't mean they have the ability to fight a whole squad by themselves. Not every ninja from a large village is like Yemo.
Yemo's team is alright. He himself is a given; even if they encounter a small team, Yemo is not without a fighting chance. Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga are also very strong. According to their age, they should have participated in the Chunin Ninja Exams and become Chunin long ago. However, it seems that the clan head, who is also their father, held them back. It was only after the Third Hokage personally intervened that the Hyuga clan head agreed to let the two of them participate in this competition. Hiashi and Hizashi may not be able to defeat a small team, but they still have the strength to escape.
Within the Konoha team, Yemo was truly worried about Shikaku and his two companions. The Ino-Shika-Cho was renowned for their teamwork, but in terms of individual strength, Shikaku and his two companions were absolutely no match for Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga.
Seeing Shikaku's serious expression, Yemo asked, "Are you worried?"
Shikaku didn't hide anything, nodding and saying, "Yes, I didn't expect the rules to turn out this way, disrupting everyone's plans."
"Unexpectedly, this is exactly what Teacher Orochimaru did," Yemo with a slight smile, his words carrying a deeper meaning.
After understanding the rules, everyone lined up in a long queue and took turns receiving their scrolls from the table, along with a signal flare.
The process of collecting items was quick; Yemo finished collecting the scroll and a signal flare in no time and followed the people in front to the other side of the box.
Inside the box were ten different colored slips of paper, the same number as the number of people. Yemo reached in, grabbed one at random, and saw that it was red.
"People of the same color will be divided into teams. You will each have a scroll and a signal flare. The second test is completely free; no one will be allowed to enter the barrier. However, because of what happened in the first test, for your safety, you can fire a signal flare if you encounter danger. We will immediately send a team to rescue you. Of course, this is only in the event of a life-or-death crisis. If you act recklessly or use this rule for any reason, the entire team will be eliminated," Sarutobi Shinnosuke explained in detail again.
"I won't waste any more time. You will now follow the ninjas in front of your respective teams to the different gaps. We will enter together in ten minutes."
Led by a Konoha Ninja, the ten teams headed to their respective entry points and disappeared from the plaza in the blink of an eye.
Yemo drew a red tag, and everyone in the team drew a red tag. Unfortunately, he was the only Konoha ninja in the team. Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga were paired together. Both of them had Byakugan, and the box wasn't specially guarded. Given the Byakugan's X-ray vision, it was a foregone conclusion that the two of them would be paired together.
Although there were no Konoha Ninja in the team, Yemo ran into an acquaintance, Mei Terumi from Kirigakure, the future Fifth Mizukage. To be honest, Yemo was quite surprised when he saw Mei Terumi.
Come to think of it, this was only the second time he had Mei Terumi. The first time Mei Terumi was dressed in a Lolita outfit, and at that time Yemo had no idea that she was Mei Terumi.
Unlike that day, Mei Terumi was dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, the grown-up Mei Terumi has a stunning figure, but now she is still a little girl and hasn't even started developing yet, so where does she get that figure?
After running for five or six minutes, the group of eleven arrived at a part of the barrier. Two ninjas from the Barrier Team were already guarding the area when they saw Yemo and his group arrive.
The two ninjas from the Barrier Team simultaneously Hand Seals, and the blue barrier behind them immediately began to distort, like a pebble falling into water and creating ripples. Then, an entrance two meters high and four meters long was revealed on the barrier.
The entrance has appeared, but no one has gone in yet. Sarutobi Shinnosuke said that we could only go in after ten minutes, and ten minutes haven't arrived yet.
After waiting for a while, ten minutes passed, and then a whoosh was heard in the silent jungle. Everyone raised their puzzled eyes and looked up. They saw a bright light rising high in the spot where they had just been. When it reached a certain height, it suddenly exploded with a bang, bursting out with countless red lights, like a blooming red flower.
"Time's up. Genin. Remember, you have 24 hours of free time, which is this time tomorrow," the ninja on the left said, his voice very serious.
One of the Iwagakure ninjas, who had been waiting impatiently, rushed out first, followed by the others. Yemo, however, was not in such a hurry and was the last to enter the barrier.
When Yemo entered, there wasn't a single ninja left around. It seemed that everyone was smart enough not to be left out and eliminated by others, since if one person was eliminated, the entire team would be eliminated.
After determining the direction, Yemo headed towards the giant tree in the southwest direction, which was the place they had agreed upon. Although the entire dense forest was remote and Yemo did not come here often, he still knew some of the general Yemo.
Call out...
With a leap, Yemo soared onto the trunk of a large tree and disappeared into the dense forest with a speed even more agile than that of an ape.
They traveled swiftly along the quiet, Yemo road, without encountering a single ninja from another village. Although there were still over a hundred ninjas participating in the second competition, they were scattered throughout the dense forest within a 20-kilometer radius, making it even more difficult to encounter anyone, especially since everyone was carefully hiding.
However, Yemo made no attempt to conceal his whereabouts. He was actually hoping someone would appear to deal with him, so he could also eliminate a few teams and seize their scrolls.
Yemo was very fast. After running for a few minutes and covering about ten kilometers, Yemo finally arrived at the giant tree. The thick trunk was several meters in diameter and it would take more than ten people to hug it. The exposed roots were even thicker than those of ordinary trees.
Looking up, the straight tree trunk stretches upwards, and the huge canopy acts like a giant umbrella, blocking out all the sunlight. Dozens of meters around the giant tree are enveloped in a huge shadow.