Robbery

"Who exactly are you!" the blue-haired Sanmu asked Mirai. Although they hadn't officially clashed yet, even someone as arrogant as him knew that this kid, who was younger than himself, possessed strength superior to his own.

How could a five-year-old child have such formidable strength? He found it hard to believe, yet giving up now was not an option.

"I'm just the first-year brat you mentioned," Mirai said with a smile, then quickly leaped downward. Sanmu scrambled backward, pulling out Shuriken and hurling them at Mirai.

"Clang! Clang!" All the Shuriken were struck down to the ground by Mirai's Kunai.

Mirai looked up to see the opponent fleeing. Having finally caught his prey, how could Mirai let him go? He formed the Rat Seal, and his body instantly vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a lush green leaf. It was the Konoha Body Flicker. Mirai didn't know how this world's version compared to his own, but he knew that anything produced by the System was top-tier.

Sanmu ran continuously through the forest, occasionally darting into the foliage to evade Mirai's pursuit. After about ten minutes, Sanmu stopped.

Panting heavily, he had been running at full speed and had exhausted much of his stamina. "This should be enough to shake that guy off..."

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two Shuriken traced an arc through the air, piercing through the leaves and shooting toward him. The blue-haired boy was terrified and scrambled off the tree trunk, narrowly dodging the attack.

Upon landing, he saw a familiar figure standing before him—the very same first-year brat from earlier. The boy was looking at him with a mocking gaze, and the blue-haired boy felt a surge of humiliation.

"Bastard!"

"Thud!" A sudden pain struck the back of Sanmu's neck. He struggled to turn around, only to see an identical Mirai standing behind him, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Mirai shook his head faintly and said, "That was just a clone. You can't apply common sense to ninjas. You should head back to the Academy and retake your classes."

"Thud!" The blue-haired boy collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Whew!" Mirai exhaled and muttered, "Acting cool really does feel pretty good, but let's check the scroll first." Mirai found the scroll in the boy's ninja tool pouch.

"Damn! It's an Earth Scroll. My luck is truly terrible; choosing No. 44 really is a symbol of misfortune. Still, I'll keep it. Maybe I can trade it if I run into someone more reasonable." Mirai tucked the Earth Scroll into his own pouch and headed toward the center of the forest. Anyone looking to snatch scrolls from others would head toward the center, though the closer one got, the greater the danger.

After all, everyone was heading toward the center. As the crowd thickened, the risk of being robbed increased, but so did the opportunity to seize the scrolls one needed.

After Mirai left, a three-to-four-meter-tall tiger appeared beside the unconscious boy, opening its massive jaws to bite down.

"Bang!" The tiger was sent flying by a kick. A ninja appeared on the scene wearing a Konoha Chunin vest—the same one who had been at the entrance of No. 44. His duty was clearly to act as a proctor.

The Chunin glanced in the direction Mirai had left, sighing, "To think someone so young has such strength; no wonder the Third Hokage holds him in such high regard." He then looked down at the unconscious Sanmu and added, "Your luck is truly abysmal."

"Report! Student No. 5 has failed the graduation exam!"

The Chunin sent the radio report, then hoisted the boy up and vanished, heading toward the outer perimeter of the forest.

Such scenes were playing out all over the forest. These ninjas were all from Konoha; this wasn't the Chunin Exam from the anime where ninjas fought for the interests of their villages and were forced into life-or-death struggles. These were Konoha's future, so they couldn't allow these children to sacrifice their lives here.

The Third Hokage had stationed a Chunin at every entrance to monitor the situation. They wouldn't interfere in the fighting, but they would provide timely rescue, which at the very least would drastically reduce the risk of fatal accidents.

Mirai moved rapidly toward the center of the forest. He encountered no obstacles along the way and soon arrived near the heart of the zone.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several Shuriken suddenly appeared, launching an attack on the advancing Mirai. He leaped backward to dodge, and the Shuriken embedded themselves into the ground.

"Who's there?" Mirai frowned. No one likes being ambushed.

Three people emerged from behind the trees; they were clearly the ones who had attacked him. One of them stepped forward and said to Mirai, "Kid, looking at how you're rushing, you must have already gathered an Earth Scroll. Hand it over if you don't want to get hurt." The three of them looked at Mirai as if he were already theirs. Their opponent was just a first-year brat, and since there were three of them, how could they possibly lose? They were naturally unconcerned.

"I certainly don't want to get hurt, but I want to be eliminated even less. How about I trade an Earth Scroll for one of yours? That way, we both get what we need. What do you think?" Mirai pulled out an Earth Scroll, waving it in his hand as he spoke to the three.

Seeing the Earth Scroll, the trio's eyes lit up. They exchanged glances, nodded, and laughed. "Haha! Getting what we need? Kid, it looks like you have two Earth Scrolls. We happen to be missing two. Hand them both over!"

Mirai tucked the Earth Scroll back into his pouch, shook his head, and sighed. "Sigh! I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the moon shines upon the ditch. I guess being kind doesn't pay off. In that case, hand over all your scrolls—this is a robbery!"