The Team Arriving at the High Tower

In a hastily built rest pavilion on the outskirts of the Forest of Death, Anko Mitarashi leaned lazily against a wooden post. In her left hand she held a palm-sized paper box, inside which two skewers of Three-color Dango lay neatly.

In her right hand, she was still holding a skewer from which she had already bitten off two dumplings.

Anko chewed the dumplings, her cheeks slightly puffed, but her expression was somewhat uneasy.

Outside the pavilion, several examiners had gathered together, quietly discussing something.

Farther away, three medical shinobi were organizing emergency equipment, preparing for possible casualties.

Boom—

A muffled explosion came from deep within the forest, the tremor faintly perceptible even from more than ten kilometers away.

A middle-aged examiner with short stubble raised his head and looked toward the direction of the sound, sighing with feeling. "The candidates this year are all pretty strong. It's only the first day, and they're already itching to fight."

"After all, it's a joint exam. All Five Great Shinobi Villages sent teams." Another young examiner wearing round-framed glasses chimed in, a candidate list in his hand.

"Kirigakure sent two successors of the Ninja Swordsmen, Kumogakure has a disciple of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and that kid from Iwagakure called Deidara is said to be a personal disciple of the Third Tsuchikage. There's also the Land of Stars—"

He paused, lowering his voice. "Just the team from the Land of Stars is enough of a headache."

"They're all geniuses from their villages, arrogant as anything. It's only normal they'd start fighting." The stubbled examiner smiled. "But at this rate, the elimination rate for our second exam will probably far exceed expectations."

Anko still said nothing.

She put the last dumpling into her mouth, casually stuck the bamboo skewer into the edge of the