The Storm Before the Calm

"Manda?"

Ye Fan stroked his chin as he sized it up, then pouted and said, "It doesn't look like much!"

Ye Fan's voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for everyone present to hear him clearly.

Sasuke was stunned by his words.

Manda's mere exhale had snapped a swath of trees in half. And Ye Fan called that "not much"?

Thinking about it, a flicker of hope ignited in Sasuke's eyes.

Facing such a terrifying existence, Ye Fan was still so arrogant and conceited. Perhaps he could use this personality trait to kill him in the future!

For a moment, Sasuke no longer felt that revenge was a distant prospect.

Indeed, as long as someone was human, no matter how strong they were, they had weaknesses.

And Ye Fan's weakness was his arrogance!

"Heh heh, Uchiha Ye Fan, aren't you a bit too overconfident?" Orochimaru chuckled playfully.

Hearing this, Manda's temper flared instantly.

Having roamed the ninja world for so many years, it had never been so underestimated by anyone.

"Brat, you're looking for death!"

Manda roared, its tail flicked, and it instantly smashed towards Ye Fan.

In an instant, dust and smoke billowed, leaving a crack dozens of meters long on the ground.

The tremendous noise startled countless birds.

Genin participating in the Chunin Exam nearby also heard the commotion.

"Was that an earthquake just now?"

"It... it doesn't seem like an earthquake..."

Another member of the squad pointed into the distance.

The other two followed his gaze, their faces changing drastically.

As night fell, they couldn't clearly see what the giant figure in the distance was.

However, they still felt an extraordinary sense of pressure emanating from it.

Especially its eyes, which glowed blood-red in the darkness, made them go limp with fear.

The monster they saw was the most terrifying thing they had ever encountered in their lives.

"I've heard for a long time that the Forest of Death is home to many ferocious monsters. I didn't expect such a terrifying thing to live here!"

"Run! If it finds us, we won't be able to escape!"

The three of them quickly helped each other up and fled the area at top speed.

At this moment, they had completely forgotten about their mission. All they wanted was to survive.

On the other side of the Forest of Death, Gaara's team, who were searching for Ye Fan, also stopped.

"Gaara, what's wrong?" Kankuro asked.

"Killing intent, incredibly exciting killing intent. This level of killing intent is intoxicating."

Gaara closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and his face was filled with excitement.

The sand in his gourd also began to spill out, swirling around Gaara.

Temari and Kankuro felt a sense of foreboding.

Something that could make Gaara this excited was definitely an extremely dangerous existence.

Kankuro frowned, wanting to pull Gaara away from here.

Unexpectedly, he was violently thrown aside by Gaara's sand.

Immediately after, Gaara sprinted towards the direction where the killing intent was coming from at an extremely high speed.

"Gaara!"

Temari shouted and followed without hesitation.

She understood that where Gaara was going, something terrifying was hidden, but she still followed resolutely, simply because she was Gaara's older sister!

Meanwhile, Neji, who was traveling under the cover of night, also suddenly stopped, his expression becoming very serious.

"Neji, what's wrong?" Rock Lee asked.

"Byakugan!"

Neji activated his Byakugan and looked towards Ye Fan's location.

He was shocked by what he saw.

A vast amount of chakra appeared in Neji's eyes.

This level of chakra was the most powerful and immense he had ever witnessed in his life.

"Over there, a remarkably powerful and immense Chakra suddenly appeared. It's the most dangerous power I've ever seen!"

Neji pointed in a direction, his expression extremely serious.

"That way? Since it's so dangerous, let's head in the opposite direction!" Tenten said.

Rock Lee nodded in agreement. He knew that if Neji said so, it must be extremely dangerous.

Neji was silent for a moment, then gravely stated, "Naruto and Sasuke are also over there."

With his Byakugan activated, he could clearly distinguish different Chakras.

"What? Naruto and Sasuke are there too?!"

During this Chunin Exam, although he was in a competitive relationship with Naruto and the others, they were also comrades.

At this moment, Naruto and the others were in danger. He couldn't just stand by and do nothing. After some thought, Rock Lee said solemnly, "We have to go save them. Since Neji said it's very dangerous over there, it must be truly exceptionally dangerous. Naruto and the others won't be able to handle it on their own!"

Neji didn't respond. At this time, he didn't have much concept of comrades.

His heart was filled more with hatred, hatred for the main family.

Rock Lee saw through his thoughts and smiled, "Neji, you take Tenten to the central pagoda first. We'll meet there!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Rock Lee rushed towards the direction Neji had pointed.

Watching Rock Lee's figure gradually disappear from view, Tenten turned to Neji, "Should we..."

Neji pondered for a moment, recalling their days of training together, and made a decision.

"Let's follow him. We absolutely cannot let Rock Lee get hurt!"

In a corner of the Forest of Death, Anko, who had discovered the deaths of Kusagakure ninja and was pursuing Orochimaru, also noticed the situation over there.

Sensing the terrifying aura, Anko was stunned, her expression growing grim.

"Manda?! Why is it here? Is Orochimaru trying to destroy the entire Forest of Death?"

Anko didn't hesitate and rushed towards Orochimaru's location at her fastest speed.

Today, she had to settle things with Orochimaru!

Other teams participating in the Chunin Exam also noticed this.

Some ran in the opposite direction of the danger, while others rushed towards it.

Among them, Kabuto's team and the Sound ninja team were rushing with all their might.

They knew that with Manda's arrival, Orochimaru must have encountered someone extremely troublesome.

Otherwise, Orochimaru would never have caused such a huge commotion.

On the outskirts of the Forest of Death, Jiraiya, who had been sleeping soundly on a large tree, suddenly woke up, his expression becoming slightly grave.

"Orochimaru? What is he doing here?"

Thinking of his former close friend who had taken a different path due to differing ideals, Jiraiya felt a pang of sadness.

"Orochimaru, if you dare to do anything to Konoha, I will personally kill you!"

Jiraiya clenched his fists, his eyes resolute, and plunged into the Forest of Death.

Meanwhile, the Third Hokage received Anko's request for Anbu support, and the reason she gave made his expression heavy.

"Orochimaru..."

After assembling two Anbu squads, the Third Hokage decided to personally head to the Forest of Death to capture Orochimaru!