At the examinee entrance of the Forest of Death, the Genin who passed the first round of trials were signing the forms of consent to life and death at the demand of the proctor, Anko.
Sakura was an ordinary person who was quite content with the status quo, and all she wanted was a Naruto who wanted to be Hokage and a cool Sasuke.
At the end of the written test, proctor Morino Ibiki gave out the final question, a choice to answer: answering incorrectly meant remaining a Genin forever, while giving up meant losing eligibility and being able to participate in the next Chunin Exams.
To keep Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage from turning into bubbles, Sakura prepared to bear the risk of being disliked, took responsibility upon herself, and raised her hand to give up.
Everyone knew the result.
After a speech by Naruto expressing his firm conviction, Sakura's inner self changed slightly as well.
Even if she didn't say she would be stronger than Naruto and Sasuke in the future, at least she shouldn't hold them back, right?
At this moment, Sakura was organizing her ninja pouch.
"Eat fewer military ration pills, it will affect your growth."
Kakashi, who had specially followed along, glanced at the items in Sakura's ninja pouch and let out that sentence.
"...Isn't this considered harassment?"
Temari, who heard Kakashi's sentence from the side, made a deadpan remark.
"Kakashi-sensei, please don't joke around."
Sakura didn't mind Kakashi's words. After packing her ninja pouch, she went over to Anko to get a consent form and signed her name.
--Just kidding, how could a ninja staple like military ration pills have such negative effects? If they really did, wouldn't all the female ninjas in the Shinobi World be flat-chested?
Sakura thought to herself.
The second stage of the Chunin Exams, the Forest of Death Heaven and Earth Scroll scramble, began.
On the other side, Shirozumi nodded to the few people beside her and then moved to fly into the sky above the Forest of Death, preparing to look down and watch the battle.
Orochimaru was extremely efficient; as soon as Naruto and Sasuke's three-person team entered, Orochimaru sought them out.
Shirozumi watched from the sky.
With trees blocking the view, it wasn't too clear, but Shirozumi perceived everything that actually happened.
Under Naruto's powerful Talk no Jutsu, Sasuke overcame his fear of death and began to counterattack Orochimaru, who was disguised as a Genin.
Orochimaru was given a thorough beating without losing a single drop of blood.
Through this battle, Orochimaru was extremely satisfied with Sasuke as a scheduled vessel, bit him, and gave him a Cursed Seal.
Sasuke fainted.
Immediately following that was the encounter with the Sound Ninja team, where Sakura cut her hair for growth and began protecting her teammates.
"So this is who you called the reincarnations of Asura and Indra? Then who is this girl?"
Konan's voice came from behind Shirozumi.
Shirozumi looked back. Aside from Konan, Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumi, whom Kurotsuchi had brought up together, were also there. They were still some distance away, slowly floating over.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, down below, watched as several people all ran up into the sky. For some reason, he instead felt a lot more at ease.
When Shirozumi was the only figure up in the sky earlier, he always felt a bit creeped out.
~
"Don't underestimate her. Her strength in the future actually surpasses her two teammates."
"She's that strong?"
Konan was stunned upon hearing this, then her delicate brows furrowed. "Then why didn't you think to recruit her into the organization, nor go guide her? You're joking, right?"
"I really am not."
Shirozumi smiled and shook her head. "In the future, one of her teammates lost his Tailed Beast, and the other lost his Rinnegan, causing their strength to drop drastically..."
"If the gap in strength wasn't that obvious at this point, then afterward, one was sealed in a different dimension, and the other became a half-dead vegetable."
"..."
Konan was speechless.
So there was even this kind of "strength surpassing"?
It wasn't that oneself became stronger, but that others became weaker?
False ninjutsu [Omnipotence]: making the crush and the best friend's crush swap identities.
True ninjutsu [Omnipotence]: a single sentence of "I feel like I've caught up to them," making the destiny of the entire world begin to lean toward those words.
"I certainly don't mean to mock her. It is already very difficult for a Konoha civilian ninja to reach the level of strength she had back then."
"It's just a pity that everyone in the future was immersed in false peace, and the threat of the Ōtsutsuki was concealed by her two teammates. By the time it couldn't be hidden anymore, it was already too late for the entire Shinobi World to develop and try hard again."
Shirozumi sighed.
Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumi, who were floating over, happened to hear these words as well.
The two of them had already been informed by Shirozumi about the Ōtsutsuki threat previously.
Upon hearing this, they didn't speak up to say anything, but their inner thoughts began to harbor ideas about improving their own strength.
Shirozumi introducing new systems to them, easing the burden on the Kages, and developing the villages weren't done just to let them simply enjoy themselves.
"Hm? That is..."
Kurotsuchi saw the black silver... uh, markings protruding from Sasuke's body after he woke up below.
"The Cursed Seal researched by Orochimaru is a utilization of Natural Energy."
"Natural Energy, isn't that Senjutsu?"
"Pretty much."
"..."
"His mental state seems a bit unstable."
"Never mind him. If he is still obsessed with this power even after knowing the advancement method of the Sharingan, then that person is as good as done."
Amidst the light banter of the few, Sasuke down below did indeed rely on his own willpower to suppress the Cursed Seal back down.
On the other side, after leaving the Cursed Seal on Sasuke, Orochimaru noticed Shirozumi and the others watching the battle from the sky before leaving the Forest of Death.
Discovering that they were the Mizukage, the Tsuchikage, and an unknown ninja who had questioned Konoha having a silver demon earlier, he didn't pay them any mind.
Even if they had seen him manipulating giant snakes just now, they wouldn't immediately associate it with him.
Then the Konoha Collapse Plan could still proceed as usual.
Orochimaru believed that even if he hadn't discussed it in advance with the Mizukage and Tsuchikage, when he made his move and launched the Konoha Collapse Plan, these two shouldn't help Konoha either.
"I can't bear to watch anymore."
"Me neither, let's head down first."
After watching the battle for a while, Mei Terumi and Kurotsuchi wore dark expressions as they said a word to Shirozumi and went down.
Although their purpose was to watch "high-level duels," it was inevitable that they would see the rookies of their own villages.
After a large batch was screened out by the written test, the remaining ones were still pitifully weak.
In fact, the intensity of Konoha's Chunin Exams this time was already standard-exceeding.
Leaving aside Orochimaru that fish-pond-battering anomaly, the Sound Ninja team he brought, and the most crucial Gaara, they pushed the intensity of these exams to the maximum.
Being able to pass the Forest of Death already meant having at least the level of a Chunin.
Yet what about that batch from Iwagakure and Kirigakure?
Their own strength was poor, and even Iruka could bully them.
The crucial part was that these people weren't even young anymore.
Adults fighting kids, yet still getting thoroughly beaten by kids.
Some handing over their scrolls wasn't enough, and they even humiliatingly knelt and begged for mercy.
No wonder the two of them couldn't bear to watch anymore.
Shirozumi stopped watching as well.
The outcome was already known to her; watching the process was just to see whether Sasuke had any changes after being influenced by her.
Shirozumi didn't fly back to say anything more to Hiruzen Sarutobi, directly returning to the streets of Konoha.
Walking for a while, Shirozumi saw piles of Hyuga Clan crests at the doorway of a residence.
There was also a little girl with the Byakugan running around at the entrance.
"How is it that there's nobody around?"
Shirozumi looked around, still finding it hard to imagine that in Konoha there would appear a child chasing after the young miss of the Hyuga family and cursing her as a "Byakugan monster."
To say that during the current Chunin Exam period there were ninjas from other villages coming over, then for such a thing to happen would still be somewhat excusable.
"What do you mean nobody around, what are you trying to do!"
A voice came out from the estate directly opposite Shirozumi.
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