Chunin Ninja Exams 3

Boom!

With the sound of a cannon blast, the second round of the Chunin Ninja Exams officially began.

The contestants at the fronts of the three suspension bridges rushed into Cloud Thunder Gorge.

"Quick! Head straight in!"

At the outset, the entire Konoha camp charged forward together, led by a seasoned Genin around twenty years old named Yoshiu Kawama.

Though he was a civilian ninja, he was quite diligent, and his taijutsu was considered excellent among Genin.

As the third-largest group present, the Konoha camp was not initially targeted by most villages. Except for Sasori of Sunagakure.

Since they had entered from different suspension bridges, there was some distance between them. But after seeing the direction the Konoha ninja were taking, Sasori broke away from the Sunagakure group and headed toward Konoha.

"Sasori! The elders told you not to act recklessly. The main objective of this round is to take first place!"

Seeing their village's greatest genius seemingly intending to make a move against Konoha right from the start, the Sunagakure ninja hurriedly tried to dissuade him.

Challenging contestants from the Shinobi World's number one village at the very beginning would consume enormous amounts of strength, even if the Sunagakure ninja believed Sasori could win.

If someone took advantage of the situation afterward, the loss would outweigh the gain.

"You just need to mind yourselves. You know nothing about my capabilities." Sasori's indifferent voice drifted back as he gradually caught up to the rear of the Konoha forces that had entered through the same bridge.

"Forget it, don't worry about him, Yehuoyuan. The moment he heard that one of the Konoha contestants was named Hatake, his next move was already predictable."

His teammate Shoya tried to persuade him.

"But... sigh. Forget it. Perhaps this is the pride of a genius." Huoyeyuan could only sigh helplessly.

"Let's go find enough scrolls first, then meet up with Sasori. The exam lasts two days, after all. We need his strength."

"Mm. That's all we can do."

The Konoha group moved swiftly along the mountain paths.

After passing through the first two mountains and arriving at the third, the Konoha ninja split up and reminded one another to be careful.

As for the so-called humanitarian rescue examiners? The contestants were not idiots. Who could not tell that they were mainly there to intimidate contestants from other countries and keep them from attacking Hidden Cloud Village ninja?

Whether contestants from other countries would be rescued when they ran into danger depended entirely on the examiners' moods. If help arrived too late, no one could say anything.

Kakashi's group chose to keep moving forward.

Their target was the fifth mountain. The sounds of battle were already echoing from the two mountains they had just passed.

Fighting had broken out too early in the first few mountains, and it would last the longest there. That was easy to predict.

As for the mountains farther in, their situation was still unknown. But no one knew whether the scrolls would be hidden especially well. It was better to start searching from the fifth mountain.

Once they found enough scrolls, they only needed to find a suitable hiding place and pass the second round smoothly.

Kakashi had never considered destroying most of the scrolls. It was thankless work, and he had no interest in pointless slaughter.

"Kakashi, my insects have already spread out. The moment they find scrolls, they'll notify me."

Having indicated that she had finished her task, Haru looked at Kakashi and waited for his next instruction.

After so many missions over time, Kakashi had earned the wholehearted trust of Aburame Haru and Inuzuka Kawa.

Without realizing it, they had begun to listen to his opinions when deciding the team's next move.

"No. Give your insects new orders. We'll leave finding scrolls to chance. Your insects will primarily scout for enemies approaching us. Pay special attention to two people. One is Kitsuchi of Iwagakure, and the other is Sasori of Sunagakure."

Kakashi thought calmly, despising his opponents tactically while taking them seriously strategically.

At this stage, Kitsuchi might even be stronger than him. After all, he was already close to twenty.

Ōnoki truly had no shame. For the sake of securing a rank, he actually had the nerve to send his own son to an exam like this.

As for Sasori, honestly, Kakashi was not afraid of him at all. No matter how strong Sasori was, that was before he obtained the Third Kazekage puppet and turned himself into a Human Puppet.

His abilities were not only countered by Kakashi; even Aburame Haru restrained him severely. With Kakashi attacking head-on and Aburame Haru supporting him, even three Sasoris would have to die.

The reason he had Haru's insects keep a close watch on him was because puppeteers were generally masters of poison and rather underhanded. They needed to be on guard.

Leaving aside Kakashi's group's preparations.

Kitsuchi, who had been advancing at an unhurried pace, had just reached the second mountain.

He casually dealt with a group of Kusagakure contestants lucky enough to have found a scroll.

"Your luck really isn't very good."

His gaze swept over the Hidden Cloud Village examiner watching him from the high cliff.

"So that's how it is? The Hidden Cloud Village really is hypocritical. One face in public, another behind the scenes."

The other side had clearly had enough time to save the Kusagakure contestants, yet they had hidden in the shadows and watched him use Earth Release to take out two contestants. Only when he snapped the third contestant's neck did they finally appear at their leisure.

"Getting the first scroll so quickly, Captain Kitsuchi is truly strong."

"Of course. Captain could have been promoted to Jonin long ago. The only reason he hasn't is because Lord Tsuchikage has been holding him back." An Iwagakure ninja nearby began flattering the Tsuchikage's son.

"Don't say that. The old man just wants to put pressure on me. But I simply don't have the potential to master Dust Release."

As he spoke of this, Kitsuchi looked deeply troubled.

Iwagakure's inherited Dust Release was extremely powerful, a Kekkei Tōta that surpassed Kekkei Genkai.

His talent for Earth Release was very strong, but his aptitude for the other two nature transformations was much poorer. That was why he had been unable to master Dust Release for so long.

Ōnoki was furious over this and hoped to give him enough pressure to spur him onward through shame.

"Let's keep going. We'll gather enough scrolls for you two as well. Then we'll get a few more for the others in the village." Extremely confident in his own strength, Kitsuchi's team had not traveled with the other Iwagakure contestants.

The most crucial point was that the chief examiner had disappeared from the very beginning. As old rivals, Hidden Cloud Village should know something about his strength.

Kitsuchi had reason to believe that the chief examiner was hiding in the shadows and monitoring him.

Meanwhile, Sasori, who had been traveling behind the Konoha camp, discovered at the third mountain that the Konoha group had split up.

At the third mountain, he had seen Yoshiu Kawama's team, but none of the other Konoha ninja.

The area was so vast that finding Hatake Kakashi was a problem. Even if he found him, whether he could catch him if Kakashi tried to flee was another problem.

So if he could take prisoners, his following plan would go much more smoothly.

Watching the three unaware Konoha ninja below, Sasori revealed a sickly smile from the shadows.

"Father, Mother. Soon... I'll let you taste the blood of Konoha ninja... Don't be impatient..."