The Crisis Draws Near

The boundary fence encloses a standard circle with a radius of ten kilometers.

The tower is currently controlled by the ANBU, and on the fifth day, Namikaze Minato, as the Hokage, will also come to this tower.

With Uchiha Shingen's speed, it didn't take him long to reach the tower.

Upon entering the tower, he immediately summoned the person in charge.

"Gather manpower to strengthen the defense of the exercise area. Also, check the area around the examination site to see if any candidates have been murdered."

"Minister, what happened?" The person in charge was taken aback; it was clear that someone suspected someone had infiltrated the candidates.

This is Hidden Leaf Village, the Hidden Leaf Village, now at the height of its power. Who would dare to be so bold?

"Don't ask so many questions, just do as I say. If you find anything, notify the Lord Hokage immediately."

"Yes."

Watching the person in charge hurriedly leave, Uchiha Shingen thought to himself that using the ANBU was really inconvenient.

I always have to ask why.

Why ask so many questions?

Shaking his head, Uchiha Shingen walked to the rest area on the High Plateau, found a room, and went inside to rest.

He lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and truly rested.

Orochimaru, I hope you didn't come!

Just as Uchiha Shingen began to rest, the entrances to the training grounds opened one by one.

At Gate 6, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro had already entered.

At Gate 12, Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki had already begun warming up.

At Gate 15, the three members of Kusagakure were crouching on the ground, waiting for the entrance to open.

These three were clearly a long-standing group; they wore straw hats, each with a different strip of cloth hanging from it, inscribed with the words "evil," "sin," and "punishment," respectively.

The one who is "evil" has long hair down to his waist and is clearly in a leadership position among the three.

"The examiner has made it clear that killing the opponent is permissible, which makes things easier."

"Let's start with the newcomers."

"Why not find White Ghost's disciple? He died during the exam, and even the mighty Leaf Village of White Ghost wouldn't have anything to say about it."

Chapter Nine: The Crisis Gradually Escalates

As the locks at the entrance were opened one by one, groups of examinees rushed into the Forest of Death.

Once all the examinees had entered the forest, the Konoha Ninja at each entrance locked the entrances again.

As the examiner, Mitarashi Anko only needs to ensure that no cowards attempt to climb over the wall or stay on the perimeter to avoid the fierce battles inside the forest.

This kind of thing has happened before.

However, this time the test takers seemed to be quite stubborn.

Mitarashi Anko listened to the screams that were already spreading from the outside, but she had no mood to appreciate them. She was thinking about Uchiha Shingen's previous actions.

Teacher, what exactly did you discover...?

"Lord Anko." Suddenly, an Anbu Ninja appeared behind Anko. "We have received orders from the captain that the ANBU needs to conduct a search of the area around the examination venue. We have come to inform you of this."

Normally, this isn't necessary for ANBU, but Mitarashi Anko is a bit of an exception.

First of all, in this timeline she is a Jonin, not Special Jōnin from the original timeline.

Furthermore, she had studied under the most elite masters in Leaf Village, and now this one is the head of the ANBU.

Although Uchiha Shingen didn't find the ANBU very convenient, it didn't mean that the ANBU ninjas didn't respect him as their leader.

It was precisely because he took it too seriously that Uchiha Shingen felt things were going wrong everywhere.

Since the founding of Leaf Village, a total of five major forces have emerged within the Hidden Leaf Village.

Senju Clan, Uchiha Clan, Sarutobi Clan, Hyuga Clan, Uzumaki Clan.

Several forces intersect on the timeline, but the Senju Clan faction has faded into obscurity due to Tsunade's departure from the village and the decline of its descendants.

The Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan have long remained outside the top power circles, but they have always existed as major clans and powerful forces within the village. After the two clans formally formed an alliance, they have become the second largest power in Leaf Village.

The Sarutobi Clan, having accumulated prestige through their achievements in the three Ninja World Wars, and largely passing down their influence through master-disciple relationships, does not represent the honor or aspirations of a single clan. Their influence is the most widespread. Although they lost the "Root" weapon due to the death of Shimura Danzō, and lost direct control over the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki due to the Uzumaki Clan's decision to become independent, they remain the strongest force in Leaf Village to this day.

The Uzumaki Clan gained the ability to be independent thanks to the Minato couple, but it was still very immature.

For the Sarutobi Clan, the only threat to their status comes from the Uchiha Clan.

As the strongest member of the Uchiha Clan, they both respected and guarded against Uchiha Shingen.

Losing the position of Hokage's assistant is a cautionary tale.

Mitarashi Anko was supposed to be a ninja in the Sarutobi Clan's faction, but her first mentor ran away, so she naturally became a member of the Uchiha Clan faction.

However, there were still many people in the Sarutobi Clan's faction who had ambiguous attitudes towards her, which led to the Anbu Ninja making a special trip to inform her.

"Okay," Mitarashi Anko said. "You guys go ahead with your work, don't worry about me."

The Anbu Ninja silently withdrew, turned around, and disappeared.

Mitarashi Anko then leaped onto the roof, plopped down, and awaited news.

At that moment, in the Forest of Death, Naruto Uzumaki looked ahead, where a Rain Ninja was slowly sliding down a tree in a spread-eagle position...

"Are you crazy? You suddenly lunged at me while I was peeing."

Naruto Uzumaki was very angry.

While he wouldn't be unable to urinate if someone stood behind him, he definitely wouldn't be able to urinate if someone lunged at him.

Luckily, he was quick enough not to get it on his pants.

Being interrupted halfway through urinating made him very upset.

"Damn it, hand over the scroll!" In a bad mood Naruto Uzumaki immediately formed a Rasengan.

"... Haha, not bad, kid." The Rain Ninja had turned around again, looked at the suspiciously suspicious Chakra ball in Naruto Uzumaki's hand.

Holy crap, what kind of monster Genin is this?

Is this some kind of Ninjutsu? Instantaneous? But it doesn't look like it's easy to catch.

There are quite a few instant-cast Ninjutsu in the Ninja World, but they all share the common characteristic of being largely useless in direct combat, serving either as harassment or support.

"Can't you understand human language?" Naruto Uzumaki was furious. This guy had disturbed him while he was urinating and didn't even apologize. So he shoved a tree next to him.

This Ninjutsu, developed by Namikaze Minato for highly mobile warfare and possessing formidable destructive power, immediately emitted an unsafe sound from the tree.

Just by listening to the sound, you can tell this isn't something suitable to be shot into a person's body.

Considering the terrifying speed and agility this guy had displayed just now, Rain Ninja felt that it wasn't a good idea for her to launch a sneak attack alone.

You can hide well, but if you can't win, good hiding is useless.

Rain Ninja: "Konoha Ninja, until we meet again!"

"See you later, my foot!"

Naruto Uzumaki has had exceptional physical strength Genin, no one has more Chakra than him. As he spoke, a second Rasengan was already formed in his palm. The Body Flicker Technique personally taught by the Yellow Flash was activated. Before the Rain Ninja could even blink, an angry face appeared in front of him.

The next moment, the Rasengan slammed directly into his chest.

This was the last scene this Rain Ninja saw in his life.

He spun around and flew away.

By the time he landed, he was already panting but not breathing.

Naruto Uzumaki's anger subsided considerably after a single shot killed someone, but it didn't shake his resolve.

When he went out with Uchiha Shingen, he already had blood on his hands.

In the original timeline, he had never killed anyone in his life, but in this timeline, whether it was Uchiha Shingen, Namikaze Minato, or Kushina Uzumaki, what they all taught him was—if you can kill, don't cripple.

Although he disliked killing, he was aware that this was a place where people were risking their lives to fight.

He searched the other person's body for a while, but to his disappointment, there was no scroll.

He decided to go back and rejoin his companions first.

After taking a few steps, a conflicted expression appeared on his face. Finally, he looked left and right, walked to the big tree, and took out his companion...

After a while, he found Uchiha Sasuke and Hinata Hyuga. Hyuga Clan Hinata was still the same as before, while Uchiha Sasuke was clearly getting impatient.

"Naruto, did you dig a ditch?" Uchiha Sasuke said with displeasure, his eyes subtly scrutinizing Naruto Uzumaki as he approached.

"I've run into an enemy, okay?" Naruto Uzumaki said.

Where is the enemy?

"You got hit by my Rasengan."

Uchiha Sasuke didn't ask any more questions.

The fact that he can say "Rasengan" and that all the details match perfectly makes it clear that this is definitely the real Naruto.

"You're lucky, but we still need to agree on a code. There will always be skilled enemies. Hinata, if we're separated in the future, when we reunite, use your Byakugan to check first."

"Okay." Hinata Hyuga nodded as well.

"Let's exchange another code word." Uchiha Sasuke squatted down. "Come on, everyone."

Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga quickly crouched down.

Uchiha Sasuke began to think, and suddenly, his eyes lit up as he came up with a good idea.

That was a song he'd heard Uchiha Shingen hum.

"So, when we meet, we'll start by saying 'The magic of love goes round and round,' got it?"

"Oh, I know! I've heard that before. The next line is 'Thinking of you makes my heart bloom day and night!' Right!?"

"Hmph, at least you have a good memory." Uchiha Sasuke snorted, then looked at Hinata Hyuga, "Hinata, how about it? Can you remember?"

"I understand." Hinata Hyuga nodded seriously, then asked with a hint of doubt, "That's a strange question. What does it mean?"

"Well... I don't know either. I heard my teacher sing it; maybe it's some kind of Ninjutsu secret."

Uchiha Sasuke recalled his first time attending a clan gathering. At that time Uchiha Shingen's eyes were filled with circles, and everyone looked very shocked. After returning home, his father told him that it was an extremely powerful Ninjutsu.

Yes, the magic of love, that must be why Shingen- hyun is so amazing!

He will definitely master this magic, and then Shingen will definitely admit that he is better than Naruto.

After exchanging the code, the three got up and continued on their way.

As the three continued their journey, they encountered several more enemy squads, including some from Leaf Village.

Even if they're from the same village, unless they're acquaintances, in this situation, fighting is the only option.

However, wearing the same Forehead Protector does not necessarily mean they are equally strong.

This time, Hidden Leaf Village had the most participants, and therefore the number of Genin the years was also the largest.

Some of these people are even in their forties or fifties.

Qualifications are a very strange thing; sometimes they are extremely valuable, and sometimes they are worthless.

Ten years Jonin and ten years Genin are completely different things.

The former refers to seniority, while the latter would be evaluated as "lacking talent" or "insufficient talent."

If this time were to increase several times over...

The former would be regarded as the pillar of the village, while the latter would be described as "really tough".

The ninja from the same village that Uchiha Sasuke encountered were such long-serving Genin).

Then they decisively defeated each other. Of course, since they were from the same village, neither side went all out. In order to prevent people from other villages from killing the losers, they even consciously avoided causing serious harm to each other.

So the other party readily handed over the scroll. Unfortunately, both scrolls were identical. After exchanging blessings, they went their separate ways.

During this process, the three members of Team 7 also ventured deep into the forest.

Fighting occurs frequently in this area.