Is It All Cleaned Out? (Seeking Collections, Recommendations, and Monthly Votes)

The corpse collection process went smoothly.

After all, those who were already dead and had lost their Heaven and Earth mission scrolls were no longer important.

There were plenty of Konoha Genin, along with a few ninjas from other villages.

"Just one last place left." Qifeng wiped the sweat from his brow.

Corpse collecting was exhausting work, especially in a place as vast as the Terrifying Cave—running back and forth was still very tiring.

After a moment, when he saw those three bodies, Qifeng stopped.

"The heavens have a cycle of retribution; let's see who fate spares, tsk tsk."

They were three Mist Ninjas.

Looking at the three Mist Ninja corpses, one of them had green light particles floating above it.

He couldn't help but curl his lips.

They called it the Chunin Exams, but every village did the same—sending out nominal Genin whose real strength was around Chunin level.

This was a small-scale, simplified military showcase.

He skillfully pulled out a scroll, ready to collect the bodies and go home to rest.

But just as he crouched down, his movements froze.

He looked up, frowning at the rocky area not far away.

Three figures slowly emerged.

"You?"

They were Mist Ninjas, led by Kisame Hoshigaki.

"We meet again. Should I call you Mr. Examiner, or Mr. Corpse Collector?" Nashii Yoshida asked with a smile, leaning against a tree trunk.

Qifeng slowly stood up, furrowing his brow. "You were waiting for me?"

How did they know he would come here to collect bodies? And they looked like they'd been waiting for a while.

"Qifeng, Maruyama Qifeng. Now that we know your name, investigating your identity isn't hard—just takes some time." Kisame Hoshigaki grinned, his distinctive voice ringing out.

Having been valued by Suikazan Fuguki since childhood and trained as an Anbu, Kisame Hoshigaki was certainly skilled in intelligence gathering.

Even if this was Konoha, they hadn't restricted their movements.

That was the confidence of a Great Hidden Village, and they also wanted to let foreign ninjas investigate on their own to understand Konoha's strength—a form of intimidation.

But that just gave Kisame Hoshigaki the chance to investigate Qifeng's identity.

Hearing this, Qifeng clicked his tongue. "Pretty dedicated."

With that, he lowered his head and continued handling the bodies on the ground.

What was the point of lying in wait for him here?

The entire Terrifying Cave was under Konoha's surveillance. Anyone who dared attack an examiner here wouldn't survive the next day.

Especially now that Konoha's higher-ups were already furious. If Kisame Hoshigaki and his group courted trouble, their fate would likely be grim.

But the next second—

"Water Style: Explosive Water Wave!"

Whoosh!

A torrent of water surged forth, like a flood pouring out.

Faced with the overwhelming deluge, Qifeng's figure was instantly swallowed.

"Tch—"

The Mist Ninja who launched the attack was about to sneer when he heard—

"Watch out!"

Kisame Hoshigaki's form flashed, appearing beside that Mist Ninja and kicking him away, dodging a fist that suddenly appeared.

It was Qifeng.

Carrying the last Mist Ninja corpse he hadn't had time to store, he said in a low voice, "Hey, don't you Mist Ninjas have any brains? No matter what, these are still your comrades' bodies, right?"

What a waste to destroy them.

The one kicked away by Kisame Hoshigaki quickly stood up, not blaming him, but glaring viciously at Qifeng. "The weak die when they die. So what?"

Qifeng rubbed his head in frustration.

Kirigakure's education system really needed a serious upgrade.

Right now, Qifeng was starting to support the more bloody and brutal Blood Mist policies that Obito would later initiate.

These people definitely had screws loose—they acted without thinking.

"I said, you're attacking an examiner. Don't you want to take the exam anymore?"

But Kisame Hoshigaki raised his hand, rolling his fingers as a mass of mechanical parts slipped from his fingertips.

"Surveillance? Any three-year-old Mist Genin can dismantle that."

As an Anbu operative, of course he knew how to handle surveillance.

He just liked letting the Konoha higher-ups watch their own genin get slaughtered, so he hadn't bothered to take them out.

"Tch." Qifeng clicked his tongue.

They'd prepared pretty thoroughly.

From the looks of it, they really were targeting him.

Why?

Because he'd been targeting Mist Ninja?

Thinking about it, that was reason enough.

He'd been going after them—why wouldn't they be allowed to fight back?

"Did you clear out all the nearby surveillance?" Qifeng asked, stowing the corpse over his shoulder.

"What do you think?"

"Nothing left behind, right? I'm asking for your sake—if you get caught, you're the ones who'll suffer."

"..."

Kisame Hoshigaki frowned.

Something felt off.

As a shark, as an Anbu, as a Mist Ninja, his perception was top-notch.

Right now, the harmless-looking Qifeng in front of him was acting like a goofy husky, yet his muscles, skin, and pores instinctively tightened.

His pale, shark-like eyes locked onto Qifeng. His body arched slightly, and his hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his back.

"Should be all cleared out, right?" Qifeng muttered to himself.

Inside the surveillance room at the center of the Terrifying Cave.

"Lord Danzō! Lord Shikaku! An entire zone's surveillance in the cave has gone down!" a Konoha Ninja monitoring the feeds called out.

Danzō said nothing, silently watching a split-screen display of a Konoha squad slaughtering ninja from other villages.

Nara Shikaku frowned. "What's the cause?"

"Unknown. Suspected sabotage—every camera in the zone is down, even the backup lines were cut," the ninja replied.

"Who was near there recently?"

"It's a remote area. Only one of our Corpse Collector staff was there, but..."

A corpse collector?

Shikaku's mind flashed to Qifeng's face, and his frown deepened.

"But what?"

"But a squad of Mist Genin has been staying in that zone without leaving."

Shikaku's expression darkened. He turned his head to glance at the tall Mist Jonin not far away, the one carrying an oddly shaped sword on his back—Suikazan Fuguki.

He'd heard a brief report from Nara Chuichi about the first round of the Chunin Exams.

Thinking of what might be happening, he barked, "Send a squad there immediately! Restore the surveillance. Anyone violating the Chunin Exam rules..."

He shot another look at the unflappable Suikazan Fuguki and snapped coldly.

"Kill them!"

The Mist Ninja had some nerve, daring to target an Examiner during the Chunin Exams!

Never mind their goal—just the act itself crossed Konoha's bottom line.

They were practically dancing on the edge of death!

Shikaku's temples throbbed as his sharp mind raced, analyzing what this move meant and what it implied.

What seemed like a routine Chunin Exam was actually a high-stakes game between multiple factions.

The final outcome might not matter, but the process of the game itself was critical.

Many actions within it could carry special implications, hidden agendas, or even signs of war.

As a Hokage Advisor sent to oversee this exam, his job was to read between the lines and catch those signals.

Seeing Shikaku look away, Suikazan Fuguki's lips curled into a smirk.

Kisame Hoshigaki was his protégé—he knew his strength well. This move was made on his orders.

Per the Third Mizukage's directive, they were to probe Konoha's limits as far as possible.

If the Examiner was killed in this exam and Konoha reacted harshly, the loss would be three Mist Genin. Kisame Hoshigaki would be a shame to lose, sure.

But right now, Kisame hadn't shown any exceptional talent.

Besides, even if he, Suikazan Fuguki, died, as long as the Mist Ninja gained an advantage in the war, it wouldn't matter. The Third Mizukage wouldn't shed a tear.

It didn't matter who died—what mattered was gauging how tough Konoha would be, which would force a reassessment of whether war was necessary.

But if Konoha's stance on the death of an Examiner wasn't clear-cut, then things would get interesting.

Kirigakure might rally the full strength of the village and throw everything into launching this war.

All of it was to test Konoha's resolve.

To see if they had the will to fight to the end against the Three Great Hidden Villages at once!

As a village out at sea, Kirigakure held an undeniable geographical advantage—they controlled both offense and retreat.

So the probing began with them.