"Quiet!"
Just then, a woman's voice rang out, her emotions clearly suppressed.
Mitaraishi Anko emerged from behind the towering iron fence. She had changed into a more practical outfit today, but her face carried an unnatural pallor.
The moment she appeared, her gaze unconsciously swept across the crowd. When it landed on the lazy orange figure standing there, her body stiffened almost imperceptibly before she quickly looked away.
She did not dare look at Naruto a second time.
"Before the second exam begins, you need to sign this."
Anko patted the stack of documents handed over by the ninja beside her. They were liability waivers.
"Because people really can die in this exam."
She deliberately lowered her voice, trying to create a frightening atmosphere and restore her authority as an examiner.
However, after witnessing Naruto's overwhelming dominance, the examinees found this little trick somewhat lacking.
Especially when Naruto was the first to step forward and signed his name with a sweeping flourish without even reading the terms, the presence Anko had painstakingly built up instantly deflated again.
"Naruto Uzumaki, Book of Heaven."
The ninja in charge of distributing the scrolls handed one over in a businesslike manner.
Naruto casually took it, as if he had just received a ticket to an amusement park, then turned and walked back to the group.
His movements were so casual, so utterly natural, as though he was not about to enter the deadly Forest of Death, but his own backyard.
Driven by his example, the other examinees stepped forward one after another to sign their names and collect their scrolls.
Over at Team 7, Sasuke and Sakura also received their "Book of Earth."
"The rules are simple," Anko's voice sounded again. "Gather both the Heaven and Earth scrolls, then reach the Central Tower within five days! The exam begins now!"
Rumble—
At her command, the iron gates at dozens of entrances to the training grounds opened at once, revealing the bottomless dark forest beyond.
Almost the instant the gates opened, every team became a blur and charged inside frantically, terrified of falling even one step behind.
"We're going too."
Before Naruto had even finished speaking, he turned into a streak of orange light and vanished into the depths of the dense forest.
Sasuke and Sakura exchanged a glance. Not daring to delay in the slightest, they immediately followed after him.
The moment they entered the forest, the light dimmed sharply.
Ancient trees towered overhead, blotting out the sky. The hot, humid air was mixed with the stench of rotting leaves and unknown beasts, enough to make one retch.
Everywhere around them came scalp-prickling rustling sounds. Giant venomous centipedes crawled past their feet, basketball-sized spiders spun webs overhead, and savage beasts lurked in the darkness, ready to strike with lethal force at any moment.
"Ah!"
With a suppressed cry, Sakura felt a chill around her ankle, followed by a slick touch.
She stiffly lowered her head and met a pair of cold vertical pupils.
A brilliantly colored venomous snake was tightly coiled around her leg, its scarlet tongue nearly licking her skin!
The calm she had learned in training and the knowledge from her textbooks shattered in that instant.
An icy chill shot from her tailbone to the crown of her head. Her mind was seized by the fear called "death," leaving it completely blank. Even her scream died in her throat, and she could only make meaningless gasping sounds.
Sasuke's expression was grim as well. He tightly gripped a kunai, his Sharingan vigilantly scanning the surroundings, but in this oppressive environment, his perception range had been compressed to its limit.
Just as Sakura was on the verge of breaking down, an orange figure flashed past.
Naruto did not even turn around. With a casual backhanded flick, a gust of force sent the venomous snake flying and nailed it to a distant tree trunk.
"Stay close. Don't hold me back."
His words were as blunt as ever, but Sakura felt an unprecedented sense of security.
She nodded hard, tightly clutching the hem of Sasuke's clothes and no longer daring to let her attention wander.
Naruto appeared to be walking carelessly at the front, but his senses had long since spread out.
Although his Pure Byakugan was sealed, the Biological Radar inherent to his Perfect Sage Body, combined with the Great Evolution Divine Soul Art's sharp insight into spirit and killing intent, made this so-called Forest of Death nearly transparent to him from one side.
He could "see" the chakra signatures hidden behind every tree and "hear" the suppressed breathing beneath every leaf.
This forest was hell to others, but to him, it was home turf.
"Heh, there really are plenty of useless trash."
Naruto sneered inwardly.
Within his perception, two unlucky teams had already encountered giant beasts and immediately suffered casualties.
Another team had begun slaughtering one another over a scroll.
Just then, Naruto stopped.
A faint yet extremely cold aura flickered through his sensory network.
"Someone's coming from the nine o'clock direction."
Naruto spoke blandly, his hands still in his pockets, his posture unchanged.
"!"
Sasuke and Sakura immediately stopped, taking up defensive positions back to back.
The moment his words fell, a strange gale howled past, sweeping fallen leaves into the air.
The wind stopped, and the leaves fell.
Three figures appeared soundlessly before them, blocking their path.
They all wore Kusagakure forehead protectors. The leader was a short ninja wearing a conical hat, his face hidden from view.
But Naruto did not need to look with his eyes.
He could clearly feel the gaze concealed beneath the hat's shadow—clingy, greedy, and utterly indifferent to life.
It was that venomous snake that had spied on him and Sasuke from atop the academy building yesterday!
Orochimaru!
"Hand over your scrolls."
The ninja in the conical hat spoke, his voice hoarse like two pieces of sandpaper grinding together, sending chills down their spines.
Along with his words, an indescribably terrifying killing intent erupted like an invisible tidal wave!
Just a trace of that leaked aura made the surrounding air seem to freeze into solid ice!
Death!
It was the only word that surfaced in Sasuke and Sakura's minds.
The instant that killing intent enveloped them, they felt like naked ants thrown into an ice pit, while their opponent was a god high above them, ruling over life and death!
Sasuke's Two-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, yet all he could see was a sea of blood.
He saw himself wrapped in countless venomous snakes, his body torn apart inch by inch, his soul dragged into an endless abyss.
He wanted to resist. He wanted to draw his kunai. He wanted to form seals and unleash the Fireball Jutsu... but his body betrayed his will!
His limbs felt as though they had been filled with lead, so heavy that he could not move even a finger.
Cold sweat soaked his back, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably.
Despair rose from the depths of his heart, nearly swallowing him whole.
Sakura was in an even worse state. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground. Her pupils were unfocused as meaningless gasps escaped her mouth, as though she were seeing a horrific illusion of herself being hacked to pieces.
Suffocation!
An overwhelming sense of suffocation gripped their throats!
Even breathing had become a luxury!
Yet amid that dead-silent despair, an incongruous sound suddenly rang out.
Crack.
It was the crisp sound of joints twisting.
Under this Shadow Level killing intent, enough to make even Jonin tremble, Naruto Uzumaki—the lazy orange-haired boy who always kept his hands in his pockets—merely, with complete boredom...
Cracked his neck.
"Tch."
He curled his lip in disgust.
"Hey, old man."
"Do you... have bad breath?"
Before you continue