Annihilation

Compared to Karin, Sakura Haruno's situation was no better. Without Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, the gap in Sakura's combat strength was laid bare. In the perilous Forest of Death, it was nearly impossible to find anyone weaker than her at the moment.

Carrying her two injured teammates, Sakura didn't make it very far before finding a large hollow tree nearby to settle them in. After setting up some simple traps outside, she began to arrange a barrier technique inside the tree hollow—one she had only recently learned and barely understood, yet could manage to use. She hoped to conceal their presence and prevent enemies from tracking the three of them.

I hope you wake up soon; relying on myself alone is truly too difficult. Sakura couldn't help but feel a wave of sorrow as the words of that strange man during the preliminary exams surfaced in her mind: In the end, I really am the one holding everyone back.

Just as the barrier Sakura set up took effect, Mizuki, who was resting at home, became aware of it immediately.

"Products with proprietary intellectual property rights are just convenient; you can leave backdoors wherever you like."

The barrier technique Sakura used was one Mizuki had left behind on a whim. He hadn't held high expectations for it, as it was truly not easy to grasp in just a few days, even for the version he had specifically simplified. To put it bluntly, aside from powerful ninjas who learned through accumulated experience, sealing techniques were a field of study reserved for the clever few. He hadn't expected Sakura to be able to use it so quickly. She was worthy of being a genius who made it into the Konoha 12 as an ordinary person; even if she was later mentored by Tsunade, she wouldn't have been accepted as a disciple without exceptional intelligence and talent.

The type of barrier he had given Sakura was developed by Mizuki based on chakra sealing technology. Originally used for large-scale barriers, it could maximize the absorption of free-floating chakra in the air to sustain itself, serving as a technique to reduce the barrier's consumption. Through Mizuki's constant optimization and simplification, combined with a touch of genjutsu and concealment effects, it had become a simple, easy-to-learn hidden barrier. Furthermore, it emitted a faint, encrypted fluctuation that only Mizuki himself could recognize. As long as a similar barrier was activated, provided it wasn't at an extreme distance, it would resonate with the chakra-collecting barrier Mizuki had originally set up, allowing him to sense it immediately.

"A casual move from before might actually yield an unexpected harvest. I can go check it out once the second stage ends and reap the rewards."

While Mizuki was still feeling smug about his foresight, he had no idea that his small action had triggered a much larger turn of events.

Because Sakura had used the hidden barrier, the Sound Ninja trio, who had been unable to find Sasuke, were forced by Orochimaru's order to kill him to seek information from other Konoha ninjas. The unlucky ones they stumbled upon were the Ino-Shika-Cho team.

Shikamaru Nara, who hated trouble, looked at the enemies opposite him with a grim expression, quickly thinking of countermeasures. His side was at a disadvantage in strength, and they had very little intelligence on the opponents, knowing only that the leader used sound wave attacks and had easily injured Kabuto Yakushi, who had participated in the Chunin Exams four times.

"We have no intention of being enemies with Konoha, but please tell us the whereabouts of Sasuke Uchiha," Dosu demanded first.

Hearing that they were being targeted because of Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru could only consider himself unlucky. "If we knew, we would have used that to get away ourselves, but unfortunately, we don't know either."

"That's right, that's right, we're looking for them too, waiting to snatch their scroll," Choji Akimichi said while eating snacks, stating the plain truth.

"It seems you aren't prepared to cooperate." The hot-tempered Zaku Abumi had long since lost his patience. "I told you not to waste breath on them; we should just beat them to the ground and interrogate them slowly."

With two teams that didn't trust each other, further talk was useless. Before Dosu Kin, who was preparing to strike first, could even move, he found he couldn't.

"Choji, do it!" Shikamaru seized the initiative, using the Shadow Possession Jutsu to trap one of them.

However, before Shikamaru could react to his successful opening, Zaku raised his hands without hesitation, and his Cutting Air Wave, carrying a massive shockwave, blew all three of them away.

Damn it, the opposition is just too violent, Shikamaru thought, his head aching. Their team's main damage dealer, Choji, required coordination from him and Ino. The development of the battle depended on him, the only one with a brain, to set the stage.

"Ino, control the one using air waves; his attack power is too high. Choji and I will take care of the one using sound attacks first."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than two steel needles flew toward Shikamaru, forcing him to abandon his setup and dodge.

"Did you forget about me? I'm not very happy about being looked down upon like this." Kin, who had been ignored, revealed her own strength.

"I always say, women are the most troublesome," Shikamaru said helplessly. Kin's attacks were too stealthy; having to expend energy to guard against hidden attacks coming from unknown directions was the most mentally draining thing.

"Ino, control that female ninja first; we can't organize an attack with her around." Shikamaru had to have Ino change targets. "Choji, I'll trap the leader, you go take care of the other one. Oh no, Ino, watch out!" While Shikamaru was laying out the tactics, he suddenly noticed Dosu charging straight at Ino.

"Although I don't know what your ability is, since you're so highly regarded, it must be a troublesome secret technique. I'll take you out first." With that, he threw a punch with his right hand, blasting Ino Yamanaka away. The vibration of the sound waves directly damaged Ino's internal organs. Ino spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed powerlessly to the ground.

Before the remaining two could react, Kin's genjutsu took effect. Shikamaru and Choji were caught in a moment of daze, and the Cutting Air Wave struck rapidly, knocking them both to the ground and completely incapacitating them.

Wiped out? Is the gap in strength so great that even the best tactics can't make up for it? Damn it. Only then did Shikamaru understand the embarrassment of a clever housewife unable to cook without rice. No matter how good his brain was, when a scholar met a soldier, the other side wouldn't talk to him at all—they'd just knock him down, and anything he said would be too late.

Just as the Ino-Shika-Cho trio was in the midst of a total annihilation crisis, a wave of evil chakra suddenly erupted from not far away, cold and cruel enough to be felt even from a distance.

"Dosu, these losers would rather die than talk; it seems they really don't know. Should we kill them, or look elsewhere?" Kin asked, looking toward the direction from which the evil chakra was emanating.

"Let's just kill them first and see if they have the Heaven Scroll we need," the hot-headed Zaku said, preparing to strike.

"Forget it, Zaku," Dosu stopped him. "Our mission is to kill Sasuke Uchiha. The Chunin Exams are just an irrelevant matter; killing too many people won't make it easy to escape Konoha."

"Tch, consider yourselves lucky." The Sound Ninja trio turned and left, heading toward the direction they had just sensed.