Tap!
Under the cover of night, the already dim Death Forest seemed even darker, as though danger seeped from every corner. The shrubs, grass, and vines among the trees—every patch of shadow, even every open space—seemed to be watched by countless eyes. Every blade of grass and every tree radiated killing intent, making one's nerves tighten and sending chills down one's spine.
At that moment, a pair of wooden clogs lightly stepped onto a branch jutting out from a towering tree.
Another uninvited guest had arrived in the Death Forest.
"The center should be here. That means that person should be here."
As he landed, the white-haired man in wooden clogs and an Oil Forehead Protector murmured softly.
There was no lack of surprise or concern in his words.
He was Jiraiya, one of Konoha's Sannin, who had been summoned back to the village by the Third Hokage!
Before him stood an enormous thicket of brambles and trees, piled together like a flower blooming above the forest canopy, like some diseased bulge growing from the woods.
Even standing atop a giant tree, he had to crane his neck to see the top of the bramble thicket.
Clearly, this thicket was not a plant that had grown naturally in the Death Forest.
Nor had he heard of such a thicket existing in the Death Forest before.
Though the Death Forest was fraught with danger, aside from being a popular site for the Chunin Exams, it was also the forest with the most complete ecosystem in Konoha. Konoha regularly sent people to maintain and survey its ecology. If such a massive thicket had grown here, it would definitely have been reported long ago, and the village would certainly have known.
After all, on the day it was selected as the Chunin Exams