The First Exam: Third Parties

"It's past eleven o'clock, isn't it?"

"Huh? It's already this late? No wonder my stomach's been growling..."

Naruto rubbed his stomach.

"We got the item."

Sasuke then emerged from the woods behind, dragging an unconscious female Cloud Ninja with his left hand and holding a number plate in his right hand, the number being forty-nine.

"Here you go, Shuyuan, take this!"

The metal lump flew over and landed in Shuyuan's hand.

He smiled, put the number plate into the Ninja Tool Bag at his waist, and the two consecutive numbered plates clinked together inside the pouch.

"Shuyuan, what do we do with these guys?"

Naruto patted the human flesh cushion beneath his buttocks.

Two Cloud Ninja lay intertwined on the ground, the one on top unconscious, the one below groaning, trying to curse Shuyuan and the others, but his mouth was gagged and his arm dislocated...

"Um······"

Shuyuan stroked her chin, looking at the three Cloud Ninja, pondering what to do.

This Cloud Ninja squad had come with them and entered the mountain ahead of them. The place where they entered the mountain was only about two kilometers away from Shuyuan and the others.

Unfortunately, these three Cloud Ninja did not move immediately after entering the mountains. There was a forest not far from where they entered the mountains, and the three Cloud Ninja chose to hunt in the forest, which happened to be within Shuyuan's perception range.

What followed was perfectly logical.

Shuyuan and his men launched a frontal assault and easily took down the three Cloud Ninja.

Naruto's Shadow Clone swarmed in and beat the two Cloud Ninja to the ground. The remaining female Cloud Ninja fled into the depths of the forest in a panic, but was caught by Sasuke.

"Kill them!"

Sasuke's opinion was simple and clear.

At the same time, the fleshy pad at the bottom of Naruto's buttocks began to struggle desperately, but it was all in vain.

Naruto held down the struggling Cloud Ninja, hesitatingly looking at Sasuke and Shuyuan, "... Isn't this unnecessary? They're powerless to resist..."

"We're not afraid of them, but letting them go might harm others... other groups in the village."

Sasuke said calmly.

Naruto pursed his lips tightly and remained silent.

Logically speaking, even ninjas from the same village wouldn't be completely harmonious during the exams; at most, they wouldn't be fighting to the death.

However, both Shuyuan and Sasuke were very confident in their own clan, so this kind of test was nothing to them. Therefore, they were more concerned about the other teams, since some of them had their clansmen in them.

"Killing them isn't necessary. After all, we're in Kumogakure. It would be fine if they were killed in battle, but killing them now that we've captured them... isn't a good thing," Shuyuan said. "But we can't just let them leave like this. Sasuke, break their legs! Break the legs of any one of them..."

The rest didn't need to be said; Sasuke instantly understood.

This is indeed better. Breaking their legs means these three Cloud Ninja are out of the game. After all, the requirement to pass the exam is for a team to go to the Stone Tower. They can't possibly drag their broken legs on this mountain for that long.

"Leave it to me!"

Sasuke threw the unconscious female Cloud Ninja on the ground and walked towards the two fleshy cushions under Naruto's buttocks.

If given a choice, Sasuke would rather break the male Cloud Ninja's legs, even though the female Cloud Ninja was clearly the leader among the three, a fact evident from her number tag.

"Snap!"

The sound was crisp, Sasuke's action was equally swift; with a single kick, he broke the leg of the only conscious male Cloud Ninja.

I estimate he won't be able to get out of bed for at least two or three months.

Cloud Ninja. Her mouth was stuffed with rags, so she couldn't call out. Her arm had been dislocated, so she couldn't touch her broken leg.

Tears streamed down her face from the pain, and she was making muffled sobs that sounded quite pitiful.

"Alright, let's go! Let's find something to eat."

Shuyuan no longer looked at the three Cloud Ninja; their fate was now in their own hands. Not killing them was already the greatest mercy.

Naruto quickly followed, and the three figures soon disappeared from the sight of the Cloud Ninja.

A few minutes later, footsteps came from another direction in the woods.

"... These kids are quite careful with their attacks!"

"Just a bunch of small fry. If we can't even handle these things, then I can only say that we've wasted the bloodline of Lord Calamity."

Uchiha Genso and Senju Zen stood in the open space, looking down at the Cloud Ninja was lying on the ground, whimpering and pleading for help.

"What is this guy trying to say?"

Uchiha Genso looked curiously at the Cloud Ninja had lost a leg and was pleading for help.

"Probably something like 'Help!' We're dressed as Cloud Ninja right now!" Senju Zen said indifferently, glancing at it a few times before losing interest.

The Cloud Ninja who had called for help was also stunned. He understood the meaning behind Senju Zen's words, and his face turned pale instantly. It was obvious to anyone that the person who impersonated Cloud Ninja to sneak into the Chunin Ninja Exams was not on friendly terms with the Cloud Ninja.

This situation is even worse than encountering candidates from other ninja villages.

"Brother Zen, what should we do next? Go find those brats? They can't possibly be the material for making clones, can they?"

Uchiha Genso squeezed the cigarette case in his pocket, took out a cigarette, sniffed it, but ultimately resisted the urge to smoke and put it back in the case.

The smell of smoke leaves a trace very easily.

"As for clones, I've already chosen a target, but the target... is rather tricky," Senju Zen said calmly.

"Oh? Who is it?"

Uchiha Genso asked curiously.

"The Third Raikage"

Uchiha Genso: "..."

He sighed, shook his head, and said, "What a troublesome person!"

Taking action against the Third Raikage in Kumogakure would be very troublesome!

"It's quite troublesome, but we can take advantage of this Chunin Ninja Exams to distract the Cloud Ninja..."

"And then take advantage of the situation?"

Uchiha Genso sighed, "This is really troublesome..."

The Cloud Ninja lying on the ground had his heart pounding loudly, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked at Senju Zen and Uchiha Genso with a look that seemed to want to devour them alive.

"Follow our little friends and see if there's any chance to have some fun."

Senju Zen followed the direction Shuyuan and the others had gone, ignoring the Cloud Ninja on the ground.

"Hey, seriously? You want me to do it again?"

Uchiha Genso complained, scratched his head, looked at Senju Zen who kept walking, and sighed.

"Forget it... consider you guys unlucky!"

The compassionate eyes turned from black to red, and within the scarlet eyes, three jet-black Tomoe swirled rapidly before merging into a more unique shape: a three-pointed star pattern.

"Pfft pfft pfft!!!"

In an instant, black shadows erupted from the waists of the three Cloud Ninja.

The Cloud Ninja were instantly riddled with holes, like sieves, blood flowing from every opening. Their bodies quickly lost their warmth, lying cold and lifeless on the ground. (To be continued)