Challenge! Begin!

Chilly, damp, and dim.

A thick ring of dark green moss covered the base of the great trees, while clusters of brightly colored fungi had grown exceptionally large. There were no paths at all in the forest; aside from animal tracks, there was hardly any trace left by humans.

"As expected, we can't find a single trace. Should we say that jonin really do leave no tracks, or that we're just unlucky and looking in the wrong place... This is really making things difficult!" Katsuki sighed heavily, tilting his head up at the layers upon layers of canopy. It was too densely covered.

It was clearly only a little past nine in the morning, yet the moment they entered this forest, it felt as though evening was approaching nightfall. Being in this gloomy forest made it feel as if space and time had twisted together, creating a sense of disorientation.

"It's a shame neither this flea nor I have awakened our eyes. Otherwise, the Sharingan could catch the traces of chakra lingering in the air." The little girl spoke with prim precision. She was far more reliable than her brother, who looked aloof but was actually rather simple-minded.

Uchiha Otoha had already given up resisting. Even being called a "flea" failed to stir any reaction from him. He merely kept playing with the shuriken in his hand, flexing his hands.

"If we can't track Lady Tsunade and the others, then we can only figure out how to last here for a week first. Food and fresh water—we'll have to find all of that ourselves." Minato counted on his fingers, his expression grave. There were five of them. Though they were only children, under such intense training, their appetites were no less than an adult's. The food they needed each day was no small amount.

Survival—this was the first trial facing the students.

As for fighting, it was nothing more than using every possible method to kill people. It was difficult, yet also simple.

Twenty-one people had split into six groups. Katsuki and Minato's group had the most members, naturally formed according to the principle of familiar people sticking together.

"Ahem, who said there was no way to track Aunt Tsunade's clones?" Kushina stood with her hands on her hips, looking immensely pleased with herself.

The other little ones looked over without understanding. After a brief daze, Katsuki asked in delighted surprise, "Sis, have you mastered the Mind's Eye of the Kagura?"

"That's right!"

Kushina lifted her chin with restrained pride, revealing her smooth, pale neck. She was as proud as a little swan that had just learned to fly.

"That's wonderful! If only I could master the Mind's Eye of the Kagura too." Envy filled Katsuki's face, impossible to conceal. Unfortunately, all he could do now was temper his Taijutsu. No matter how many good things the Uzumaki Clan possessed, he could only stare and drool.

If White Fang had not been one of the foremost experts in the ninja world, and if Katsuki had not trusted that his judgment was sufficiently seasoned, Katsuki would have long since been unable to resist studying all those ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu.

The Mind's Eye of the Kagura was a unique enemy-detection ninjutsu of the Uzumaki Clan, capable of both reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance. By closing one's eyes and opening the Mind's Eye, one could monitor all chakra within dozens of kilometers centered on oneself. Of course, that was a level attainable only through training. As for Kushina now...

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

"Um... probably around one kilometer." Kushina estimated for a moment before giving a vague answer.

Yet even that vague answer nearly made the little ones cheer. A range of one kilometer was utterly incredible. Forget searching for the traces of the three teachers; their ability to survive alone had increased dramatically.

The center of the training ground.

"Tsunade, your slugs really are convenient for surveillance!" Jiraiya sat on the sofa, bored out of his mind as he chatted with Tsunade.

As for Orochimaru, he was engrossed in a ninjutsu scroll. Even with Jiraiya, a high-decibel noise generator, beside him, he remained calm and entirely unaffected.

"You make it sound easy. If the training ground weren't so small, I wouldn't be able to monitor the whole place." Tsunade replied irritably.

Jiraiya's mouth twitched at once, and even Orochimaru's eyelid gave an almost imperceptible twitch.

Training Ground 44 had a diameter of twenty kilometers and was perfectly circular, covering more than three hundred square kilometers. And she called that small? Was she trying to drive people mad? As expected of the First Hokage's granddaughter—even without inheriting that incomparably powerful Wood Release, her monstrous amount of chakra alone was enough to make countless people die of jealousy.

"By the way, before we came, how was Sensei planning to monitor this training exercise? How much ground can a chunin possibly keep watch over?" Jiraiya swiftly changed the subject. If this continued, he feared he would suffer another blow.

"They were probably planning to use the surveillance technology the village recently developed. But that sort of thing isn't very reliable. A single Transformation Jutsu can fool it. The technical department supposedly went to great lengths to make it, but unfortunately, it isn't very practical," Orochimaru said blandly. When it came to broad knowledge, Orochimaru had inherited Hiruzen's teachings completely. Besides "Professor of Ninjutsu," Hiruzen also bore the title of "Ninja Doctor."

It was rather interesting. Orochimaru had inherited Hiruzen's knowledge, Jiraiya had inherited Hiruzen's ability to guide disciples, and Tsunade had inherited the Hokage position Hiruzen left behind. The three disciples had inherited Hiruzen's legacy.

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

After all, there was no place better suited to serve as a monitoring center than the Tower of Sealing. Staying here allowed them to reach any corner of the training ground at top speed whenever necessary.

"They're coming. Huh, these little ones are quite capable. They actually locked onto the location of our shadow clones from a kilometer away." Tsunade clicked her tongue in admiration.

"Which ones? From more than a kilometer away... Is it that Byakugan kid?" Jiraiya perked up and hurriedly asked.

Tsunade fell silent for a moment as she processed the visual feed returned by the slugs. "Not the Byakugan. It's our 'targets.' There are five of them: a pair of Uchiha siblings and Minato Namikaze, who comes from a civilian background. It seems that one of the two targets discovered us."

"As expected of the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Capturing the movements of our shadow clones from a kilometer away is no simple feat. Impressive!" Jiraiya rarely gave such a serious compliment.

"Not bad. Interesting."

Orochimaru's reaction was much more concise. Unlike Jiraiya, that chatterbox, he did not need to go on and on.

Though he said little, his meaning came across clearly enough.

"Haha, I thought you'd keep pretending to be dead in here. You actually praise people too? That's a rare sight." Jiraiya stretched out a hand and shamelessly hooked it over Orochimaru's shoulder, patting him hard. No matter how one looked at it, that force was hardly an ordinary greeting.

"You're as noisy as ever!"

Orochimaru coldly shot back, yet he did not shake off the arm hooked over his shoulder.

"Haha, don't say that! You're just too fond of acting all profound. Once this job is done, let's have a few drinks. I recently found another good place, and the girls there are absolutely exquisite..." Jiraiya spoke animatedly, practically drooling.

Orochimaru's mouth twitched, his eyes full of helplessness.