Chunin Ninja Exams 7

The next day, Kakashi and the others found another ambush location.

They patiently waited all morning for prey to come to them.

Just as the three of them were starting to get a little anxious, a group of Hidden Cloud Village ninja leisurely wandered into their encirclement.

Kakashi expanded his sensing range to its limit and, with the help of Aburame Haru's scouting insects on the perimeter, confirmed that the enemy had only this lone squad.

Kakashi's group of three struck with lightning speed and defeated them.

Since they were the host team, the Fifth Peak examiner had appeared in the shadows as soon as Kakashi's group began their ambush.

Seeing this, Kakashi, who had led the attack, decided not to make unnecessary trouble.

He merely knocked the three defeated Hidden Cloud Village Genin unconscious.

After searching them, the results were fairly good. This squad had two scrolls. They had probably been heading deeper in to obtain more scrolls as well.

Perhaps their luck had arrived. Before Kakashi and the others could finish cleaning up the battlefield, more customers came knocking.

This time, they were ninja from Amegakure.

Seeing the three Konoha ninja picking up ninja tools from the ground, as well as the examiner in the distance carrying several candidates away,

the Amegakure ninja wisely handed over one of the scrolls their team had collected.

The surprise had come too quickly. With this scroll, every member of Team 7 now had one. As long as they waited for the match to end tomorrow morning, all of them would pass the second round.

Since they already had the scrolls, Team 7 did not make things difficult for the Amegakure ninja. They readily let them leave and did not bother asking whether they had any extra scrolls.

Each of the three carried a scroll as they hurried toward First Peak, the starting point.

For the remaining time, all they had to do was safeguard their scrolls and wait for the match to end.

On their way back, the three encountered two ambushes.

However, Kakashi and Aburame Haru spotted them from far away and leisurely avoided them.

Time passed smoothly until the next morning.

With the boom of a cannon from across the suspension bridge, fireworks burst in the sky, clearly visible even in broad daylight.

The second round of the Chunin Ninja Exams officially ended.

Amid the crowd of surviving candidates, the three members of Team 7 left Cloud Thunder Gorge.

Waiting outside were personnel from every village: the Jonin leading their teams, those who had been eliminated earlier and sent out for treatment, and those who had voluntarily withdrawn and run out themselves.

The entrance to Cloud Thunder Gorge became crowded once more.

After handing their scrolls to the chief examiner, Kakashi's group of three successfully obtained their places in the third round.

Only twenty people passed this round of the exam in total.

Most of the extra scrolls had been destroyed, while a small number had gone undiscovered.

After returning to the Konoha camp, Kakashi noticed that Shimura Ran's already ugly face looked even more unpleasant due to his mood.

Konoha had sent eight squads, twenty-four Genin, to participate in the exams.

Yet unexpectedly, only the youngest squad of recent graduates had passed the second round.

All the other Konoha candidates had fallen in Cloud Thunder Gorge.

Twelve candidates had even died.

As the Jonin leading the team, he would not be held accountable, but his evaluation for this mission would certainly look terrible.

"Hmph! What a bunch of trash!"

The Konoha candidates whom Shimura Ran had humiliated in public without holding back looked blank and incomparably embarrassed.

"Shimura Jonin, we were surrounded and attacked by the Hidden Cloud Village people this time. That's why it turned out so badly," Hirano Mio said from the side, trying to ease the atmosphere.

Aside from the six Genin killed by Sasori, the other fifteen defeated Konoha candidates

had all been eliminated by Hidden Cloud Village ninja teams.

During the process, seven Konoha candidates had died on the spot, or like Yoshiu Kawama, had died because treatment came too late.

After Yoshiu Kawama was sent out of Cloud Thunder Gorge, the Hidden Cloud Village medical ninja outside merely took one look before telling Shimura Ran and the other man that he could not be saved.

Sasori had injected a large amount of poison into his body and had even implanted a chakra-sensing explosive device.

As long as foreign chakra entered his body, or Yoshiu Kawama circulated the chakra within his own body, the explosive device would be triggered. It was truly vicious beyond measure.

After learning this from Hirano Mio, Inuzuka Kawa felt both furious and faintly afraid. He had nearly brought harm upon his teammates in Team 7.

Meanwhile, Sunagakure had already left.

Having lost their strongest team member while Sasori was severely injured and on the verge of death, they decisively withdrew from the competition. Sasori's safety came before everything else.

Otherwise, all that would await them upon returning to their village would be endless regret.

The third round was scheduled for seven days later. The venue would be the largest arena within Kumogakure.

The matches would use a single-elimination format.

Twenty would be narrowed to ten, ten to five, and the final match would be a melee. The winner of this Chunin Ninja Exams would ultimately be decided.

It was said that on the day of the matches, four of the five great nations' daimyo would attend, with only the daimyo of the Land of Wind absent.

After returning to their quarters at the embassy, the other surviving Konoha candidates packed their belongings under Hirano Mio's lead and returned to the village first. Only Shimura Ran and Team 7 remained.

This itinerary had been planned from the start, but as Kakashi looked at Shimura Ran before him, a sense of unease still rose in his heart.

Shimura Ran did not treat Team 7 any differently just because they were the only Konoha candidate squad to pass.

Still arrogantly, he ordered the three to stay obediently in the embassy and cause no trouble during the coming days, then strode away.

"Tch, that Shimura Jonin really is..."

Once the haughty Shimura Ran had left, Inuzuka Kawa muttered in dissatisfaction.

"Can't be helped. The Shimura Clan has an elder, after all," Aburame Haru said seemingly casually.

"He's nothing but dry bones in a grave," Kakashi stated his opinion. Amid their bewildered expressions, he turned and returned to his room.

There was no point overthinking it. Spending the time training was the proper path.

The Shinobi World never lacked geniuses. To climb step by step toward the peak, one had to put in more effort and sweat than others.

Influenced by Kakashi, the other two also began training seriously.

Shimura Ran avoided the tails watching him all the way, slipping into an alley. After checking his surroundings again and confirming that no one was following him, he entered a small door at the end of the alley.

"You're here, little brat of the Shimura Clan." A slightly hoarse voice sounded within the dimly lit room.

"Sashō, Lord Danzo sent me to ask you. Does the promise from back then still stand?"

Shimura Ran no longer had any of the arrogance he displayed before Kakashi and the others. There was only the outward fierceness he used to conceal his inner weakness.

The man before him had once attempted to assassinate the Second Hokage.

Though during that operation, he had merely been an insignificant minor leader.

Still, in this world, living a long life was a skill in itself.

The Hidden Cloud Village ninja named Sashō had once followed Kinkaku and Ginkaku in the assassination attempt against Konoha's Second Hokage.

The operation ended with Kinkaku and Ginkaku being killed by the Second Hokage, though the Second Hokage himself also died from severe injuries.

Sashō had been a minor leader in the Hidden Cloud Village's Gold Horn Unit at the time.

After the assassination attempt, Sashō and the others were imprisoned by Kumogakure. Later, he participated in an assault on Konoha as part of a suicide squad and was captured by Danzo.

Sashō had thought the Konoha ninja would kill him, but things took an unexpected turn. Danzo secretly released him, asking only that he make a promise.

If Danzo ever needed his help with something that did not betray Kumogakure's interests, Sashō would give his all to help once.

And thus came today's meeting.

"Heh heh, I'm not one of those important people who go back on their word. As long as it doesn't violate my principles."

"Then good, Sashō. Lord Danzo hopes you will help. After the Chunin Ninja Exams end, within the Land of Lightning, send people to hold me back, then kill the Konoha ninja Inuzuka Kawa and Aburame Haru, and capture the Konoha ninja Hatake Kakashi."

"Hahahahaha! Hahahaha! I just love watching you people kill your own people. It really is a tradition of your Shimura Clan. Hahahaha!"

His throat had been injured during his punishment years ago, leaving lasting effects. His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, and Sashō's laughter at that moment sent chills down one's spine.

Ignoring Sashō's mockery, Shimura Ran waited quietly for his answer.

"Fine, I understand. After this, I won't owe Danzo anything."

"Then farewell!"

"Heh, Konoha truly is a great tree being eaten away from the inside..."