Advance to the Finals

Orochimaru watched Qianyu's dazed expression, as though his worldview had been hit by a nuclear strike, and undisguised delight flashed through his slit pupils. He thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of completely throwing someone's mind into chaos with a single sentence.

Before Qianyu could sort through his overwhelming shock and confusion, Orochimaru moved.

He formed a hand seal.

"Bang!"

The gigantic purple summoned snake turned into a cloud of white smoke and vanished instantly. At nearly the same moment, Orochimaru himself seemed to blend into the shadows of the forest, his figure blurring and fading before disappearing without a trace. Even the faintest remnant of chakra rapidly dissipated, as though he had never been there.

All that remained was the battlefield's thick stench of blood—and Qianyu, whose mind was still wildly overloaded.

"Qianyu! Qianyu! What's wrong with you? Hey!"

Naruto vigorously shook Qianyu by the shoulders, his face filled with worry and confusion. He had not understood the bizarre exchange between Qianyu and that strange man at all. He had only seen Qianyu freeze as if struck by a paralysis jutsu after the man said something incomprehensible.

"Uh... huh?" Qianyu came back to himself from the shaking, though his gaze was still somewhat unfocused. He shook his head hard, forcibly pushing that damned phrase—"When the odd changes, the even remains unchanged"—to the back of his mind for now.

This was not the time to dwell on it!

He took a deep breath, forced himself to focus, and quickly walked over to Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura was anxiously supporting the unconscious Sasuke. When she saw him approach, it was as if she had grabbed hold of a lifeline. "Qianyu! Sasuke, he..."

Qianyu crouched down and carefully examined the black Three-Tomoe Curse Mark on Sasuke's neck. The curse mark had stabilized and was no longer writhing, but the cold chakra belonging to Orochimaru mixed with natural energy was still clearly detectable within it.

"He's not in immediate danger," Qianyu said grimly. "But this thing is troublesome. It'll erode his mind and chakra. Once the exam is over, we need to get Master Tsunade or Kakashi to deal with it immediately."

Though Sakura was still worried, she finally let out a small sigh of relief.

Just then, a succession of whistles cut through the air.

"Qianyu! Naruto!"

Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten were the first to arrive. Neji had already activated his Byakugan while rushing over and had spotted this area of chaotic chakra from afar.

"We saw the distress signal and came right away." Neji's gaze swept over the wrecked battlefield and unconscious Sasuke, his brow furrowing slightly. "What happened? There's a powerful chakra residue here..."

"It was that freak pretending to be a Grass ninja! He was ridiculously strong! And he could summon a snake this—huge!" Naruto exclaimed, gesturing wildly as he spoke.

Soon after, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino appeared as well, panting for breath.

"What a drag... That signal flare really works, huh?" Shikamaru scratched his head, sighed as he looked at the disastrous scene, and said, "Looks like we missed the best part?"

Ino immediately rushed to Qianyu's side and looked him over from head to toe. "Qianyu! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" She sharply noticed the dried but still glaring bloodstains on his clothes, and her little face instantly turned pale.

"I'm fine. It's other people's blood." Qianyu shook his head, though a warm current rose in his heart at his companions' swift support. When he had fired the signal flare, he had only hoped that Konoha jonin—or perhaps he himself—could arrive in time. He had never expected these fellow examinees to choose, without any prior agreement, to come support him despite the possible danger and risk of failing the exam.

Perhaps this was the bond of Konoha's new generation—something more important than the rules.

After that, Team 8—Hinata, Kiba, and Shino—also arrived. Seeing Naruto safe and sound, Hinata blushed and quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Surprisingly, they had not yet gathered both scrolls, yet the moment they saw the signal flare, they had unhesitatingly abandoned the tracking they were conducting and rushed over.

Afterward, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka appeared one after another as well.

In the end, all twelve Konoha rookies taking the exam, aside from the unconscious Sasuke, had gathered in this clearing. They looked at one another. Though they were somewhat bedraggled, there was a strange sense of connection in their eyes, one born from having weathered hardship together.

Qianyu looked at those young yet resolute faces, feeling deeply moved. This was Konoha's future—the other manifestation of the "Will of Fire," in which they would illuminate one another even in the darkness and move forward hand in hand.

"Looks like we'll have to move together," Qianyu said with a smile. He pulled out a large handful of scrolls from his clothes—the spoils he had collected earlier. With a broad sweep of his hand, he directly completed the Heaven and Earth Scrolls for Hinata's team and the other two teams that might have missed their chance because they came to help.

"Qianyu, this..." Hinata said, somewhat embarrassed.

"Take them. They were extras anyway," Qianyu said indifferently. "Now, we need to get Sasuke to the central tower. His condition needs to be stabilized as soon as possible."

At that moment, Sasuke let out a low groan and slowly opened his eyes. Having just awakened, he was initially somewhat confused, but his eyes quickly regained focus and became even sharper, carrying a faint excitement that he could barely suppress.

He suddenly sat upright and touched the curse mark on his neck. Feeling the unprecedented surge of chakra within his body, the corner of his mouth curled uncontrollably into a faintly sinister arc.

"I feel... amazing," he said softly, his voice carrying a dangerous exhilaration.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"I'm fine." Sasuke stood up and moved his body a little. His gaze swept over the companions around him before finally landing on Qianyu. He gave a slight nod. "Thanks."

But something was clearly off about him. The chakra leaking from his body, carrying the aura of the curse mark, made even those with keen senses, such as Neji, secretly frown.

Qianyu sighed inwardly. The Heaven Curse Mark had already begun to affect Sasuke's temperament. But this was not the time to deal with that.

"Now that everyone's here, the scrolls are complete, and our goal is the same." Qianyu clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention. "Then let's march grandly to the central tower. I doubt the examiners have ever seen a lineup like this."

And so, Konoha's thirteen genin from this year's exam formed an unprecedentedly massive group. With ample scrolls in hand, they advanced toward the central tower in the Forest of Death as though sweeping everything before them.

Naturally, they encountered teams from other countries along the way, some hoping to fish in troubled waters and others trying to seize their scrolls. But before the combined force of thirteen elite Konoha genin, every attack became a joke. Naruto took the chance to vent the fighting spirit he had not spent earlier and brawled fiercely with several Rain ninja who tried to ambush them. With Rock Lee and Kiba assisting him, he dealt with them easily.

When this astonishingly large group appeared before the central tower's gates, the two Konoha chunin responsible for guarding and registering examinees stared so wide-eyed that their jaws nearly hit the floor.

"Y-you... you're all together?" one chunin stammered.

"Yeah, we came to turn in the mission together." Qianyu calmly handed over several pairs of Heaven and Earth Scrolls and pointed at the group behind him. "Theirs are complete too."

The two chunin looked at each other. They flipped through the rulebook for a long time but could not find any clause explicitly forbidding examinees from "forming a huge group." In the end, they could only record everyone's information and announce that they had passed the second stage of the exam.

Preliminary elimination arena.

There were still quite a few examinees who had passed the second stage, so one-on-one preliminary eliminations were needed to determine who would enter the official finals.

Qianyu stood in the shadows of the spectator stands, watching the battles unfold one after another below, but his mind was completely elsewhere.

That phrase—"When the odd changes, the even remains unchanged"—kept echoing in his mind, along with Orochimaru's all-knowing gaze and his detailed familiarity with Abin and Qianyu's early training...

There was too much information and the clues were too fragmented. He needed time to sort it all out, but his chaotic thoughts were like a tangled ball of thread, with no beginning to be found.

"Next match: Cangshu Qianyu of the Hidden Leaf Village versus Araki Shinichi of the Hidden Sand Village."

Hearing his own name, Qianyu barely managed to rein himself in. Expressionless, he walked down the steps and entered the arena.

His opponent was a tall Hidden Sand genin who used puppetry, accompanied by a sinister-looking scorpion-shaped puppet. Seeing Qianyu enter, the Sand ninja's gaze turned grave.

Moonlight Hayate announced the start of the match.

Araki Shinichi of the Hidden Sand immediately controlled his puppet. The scorpion tail's poisoned needle shot out with a whoosh, stabbing straight toward Qianyu's face, while the puppet opened its mouth and sprayed a cloud of purple poison mist.

Qianyu had not even fully focused his eyes. Chakra burst beneath his feet, and his figure vanished from the spot like a ghost.

So fast!

Araki Shinichi only saw a blur before Qianyu appeared at his side. He did not even see Qianyu move, only felt a precise chop strike the side of his neck.

His vision went black, and Araki Shinichi crumpled limply to the ground. Having lost control, the scorpion puppet fell apart with a clatter.

The entire process took less than three seconds.

A low wave of gasps rose from the stands. Several perceptive jonin and chunin frowned—this speed, this clean and decisive strike, had absolutely reached jonin level.

Moonlight Hayate checked the unconscious Sand ninja. After confirming that he was unharmed, he announced, "The winner is Cangshu Qianyu."

Qianyu nodded and turned to leave without even sparing his opponent another glance. His mind had long since drifted elsewhere.

The results of the following preliminaries did not differ much from what he remembered. Though Sasuke had become ruthless and impatient under the influence of the curse mark, he still defeated his opponent through sheer strength.

Naruto faced Kiba Inuzuka and won with the help of Fart Style. Neji easily defeated some nameless participant from the same village. Hinata, meanwhile, was severely injured during her match against a Sound ninja. Though her determination to never give up moved everyone, she still lost regrettably and was rushed away by the medical team.

In the end, several examinees, including Qianyu, Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara, qualified to participate in the official finals a month later.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, appeared and announced that the finals would be held publicly in the Konoha arena, giving the examinees a month to prepare.

As the crowd dispersed, Naruto excitedly suggested that everyone go out for a celebratory meal. But Qianyu only forced a smile and declined, saying that he needed rest. His distracted appearance worried Ino, but Qianyu merely patted her head to show that he was fine before leaving the venue alone.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long behind him, making him seem somewhat lonely and weighed down.

When he reached his front door and was about to push it open, the ground beside him began to squirm, and Abin emerged.

"Little Dried Fish, you're back." Abin lowered his voice. "Inside the house... there are two chakra signatures. One belongs to that red-haired little girl. She's still asleep. The other... is very well hidden, but it feels a little familiar. Could it be that strange snake person from the forest?"