Challenge! Begin!

Gloomy, damp, and dim.

At the base of the large trees was a thick ring of dark green moss, with vibrant, oversized fungi growing all around. There were no paths in the forest; apart from animal tracks, there were almost no signs of human presence.

"As expected, not a trace found. Should I say it's befitting of a Jonin who leaves no trace, or are we just unlucky and looking in the wrong place… This is really difficult!" Katsuki sighed, looking up at the dense canopy that blocked out the sky.

Even though it was past nine in the morning, stepping into this forest felt like entering dusk, on the verge of night. Not only that, but being in this eerie forest gave one a sense of spatial and temporal distortion, a feeling of disorientation.

"It's a shame neither I nor this flea have awakened our eyes. Otherwise, the Sharingan could have caught the residual chakra traces in the air," the little loli said matter-of-factly, far more reliable than her seemingly aloof but actually simple older brother.

Uchiha Otoha had already given up resisting. He didn't even react to being called a 'flea,' just idly fiddled with a shuriken, moving his hands.

"If we can't track Lady Tsunade and the others, we'll have to find a way to survive here for a week. Food, fresh water – we'll need to find it all ourselves," Minato said, counting on his fingers, his expression grave. There were five of them. Although they were just children, their appetites, honed by intense training, were no less than adults'. The amount of food they needed daily was considerable.

Survival was the first test the students faced.

As for combat, it was merely a matter of using all means to kill. It was difficult, and yet simple.

Twenty-one people were divided into six teams. Katsuki and Minato's group was the largest, formed on the principle of sticking with people you knew.

"Ahem, who said there's no way to track Lady Tsunade's clones?" Kushina said, hands on her hips, looking extremely smug.

The other little ones looked over, confused. Katsuki blinked in surprise, then exclaimed joyfully, "Sister, have you mastered the Mind's Eye of the Kagura?"

"That's right!"

Kushina tilted her head with feigned modesty, revealing her fair, delicate neck. She was as proud as a newly fledged swan.

"That's wonderful! I wish I could master the Mind's Eye of the Kagura too," Katsuki said, unable to hide his envy. Unfortunately, he could only hone his Taijutsu. Even with all the treasures of the Uzumaki Clan, he could only watch and drool.

If White Fang weren't one of the top experts in the ninja world, Katsuki would have long since been unable to resist delving into the numerous Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu.

The Mind's Eye of the Kagura was a unique sensory Ninjutsu of the Uzumaki Clan, possessing abilities for both detection and counter-detection. By closing one's eyes and opening the Mind's Eye, one could monitor all chakra within a radius of tens of kilometers centered on oneself. Of course, this required training to reach that level. As for Kushina now…

"Sister, how far can your Mind's Eye of the Kagura detect?" Katsuki asked cautiously.

"Hmm… about a kilometer, I guess," Kushina estimated, giving a vague answer.

Even such a vague answer made the little ones almost cheer. A kilometer was incredible. Not to mention searching for the traces of their three teachers, their survival capabilities alone had greatly increased.

The center of the training ground.

"Tsunade, using your Slug for surveillance is really convenient!" Jiraiya said, lounging on a sofa, chatting idly with Tsunade.

As for Orochimaru, he was engrossed in a Ninjutsu scroll, completely unfazed by Jiraiya's loud presence beside him.

"Easy for you to say. If this training ground wasn't so large, I wouldn't be able to monitor the whole area," Tsunade retorted grumpily.

Jiraiya's lips twitched, and even Orochimaru's eye twitched almost imperceptibly.

Training Ground 44 was twenty kilometers in diameter, a perfect circle, covering over three hundred square kilometers. And she said it wasn't large? Did she expect them to live? As expected of the First Hokage's granddaughter, even without inheriting that incredibly powerful Wood Release, her monstrous chakra reserves were enough to make many people envious.

"By the way, before we arrived, how did Teacher plan to monitor this training? How much area can a Chunin monitor?" Jiraiya quickly changed the subject, fearing he might get discouraged if they continued.

"He probably planned to use the village's recently developed surveillance technology. However, that kind of thing isn't very reliable; a Transformation Jutsu could fool it. The technical department reportedly put a lot of effort into it, but its practical use is limited," Orochimaru said calmly. In terms of extensive knowledge, Orochimaru had truly inherited Hiruzen's legacy. Besides being the 'Ninja God,' Hiruzen also held the title of 'Ninja Scholar.'

It was quite interesting: Orochimaru inherited Hiruzen's knowledge, Jiraiya inherited Hiruzen's skill in guiding disciples, and Tsunade inherited Hiruzen's position as Hokage. The three disciples had inherited Hiruzen's mantle.

The three people here were the real bodies; those outside the training ground were shadow clones.

After all, there was no better place to serve as a monitoring center than the Tower of Sealing. Staying here, they could reach any corner of the training ground at the fastest speed.

"They're coming. Oh, these little guys are quite capable. They've already locked onto our shadow clones from a kilometer away," Tsunade clicked her tongue in admiration.

"Which ones? A kilometer away… is it that Byakugan kid?" Jiraiya's interest piqued, and he quickly asked.

Tsunade paused for a moment, processing the visual feed from the Slug. "It's not Byakugan. It's our 'targets.' There are five of them: a brother and sister from the Uchiha clan, and Minato Namikaze, who comes from a civilian background. It seems the ones who found us are one of the two targets."

"Impressive, the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. To capture our shadow clones' movements from a kilometer away, amazing!" Jiraiya praised sincerely, which was rare for him.

"Not bad, quite interesting."

Orochimaru's reaction was much more concise; he wasn't a chatterbox like Jiraiya.

Although he said little, his meaning was clear.

"Haha, I thought you'd play dead the whole time. It's rare for you to praise someone, you know," Jiraiya said, reaching out and unceremoniously slinging an arm around Orochimaru's shoulder, patting him vigorously. It didn't look like a casual greeting at all.

"You're as noisy as ever!"

Orochimaru retorted coldly but didn't shake off Jiraiya's arm.

"Haha, don't say that! You just like acting all deep. Once this job is done, let's go grab a few drinks. I found a great new place recently, and the girls there are absolutely amazing…" Jiraiya said excitedly, practically drooling.

Orochimaru's lips twitched, his eyes filled with helplessness.