Why Won't Anyone Let Me Sleep?

Every team entered through a different entrance.

This also prevented them from starting fights before they had even reached the depths of the forest.

Kanami, Yuzuki, and Fūka entered the Forest of Death through Entrance Seven.

After entering the grounds, Kanami led the two of them deeper into the forest, found an empty corner, and lay down to rest.

Yuzuki and Fūka looked at each other, unsure what he was doing.

"Kanami, aren't we going to steal scrolls?"

Kanami lay in the shade with his eyes closed and said calmly, "Rest first. There's no need to rush."

Everyone was full of energy on the first day. Trying to snatch scrolls now would be terribly inefficient.

Yuzuki and Fūka wanted to go seize scrolls, but their team's big brother had said they were resting. What else could they do?

It was not like the two of them could run off to pick up scraps.

"Let's rest."

After thinking it through, Yuzuki lay down near Kanami to rest as well.

Seeing her sister lie down just like Kanami, Fūka was completely dumbfounded.

"So both of you are just giving up now?"

Then I'll slack off too!

Fūka sat down angrily a short distance away from them.

She was not going either. They could all slack off together.

Meanwhile, after Hinata's team entered the Forest of Death, Kiba Inuzuka kept clamoring about finding another team to spar with.

"Let's find a team and fight them!"

Seeing how energetic Kiba Inuzuka was, Shino and Hinata both responded, "..."

Since the other two members of the team did not like talking, Kiba Inuzuka naturally took on the role of team leader.

Of course, there was no actual team leader. He had simply appointed himself.

He had wanted to be squad leader for a long time, but Kanami had been around before, and he could not beat Kanami, so he had no choice but to give up.

"Since you agree, we'll head in that direction!"

Kiba Inuzuka led the two of them forward for a short distance before spotting a red-haired boy holding an umbrella amid black rain.

"That's strange. Why is it only raining over there?"

Sniff, sniff.

Kiba Inuzuka's nose suddenly caught an unbearably pungent stench of blood.

His expression changed drastically.

He crouched down and hid behind the bushes.

Only then did Hinata and Shino catch up from behind.

"Kiba? What's wrong?"

Hinata saw Kiba Inuzuka crouching behind the bushes and asked him.

"Shh."

Kiba Inuzuka hurriedly told the two of them to be quiet.

"Byakugan."

The instant Hinata activated her Byakugan after crouching down, she saw that the area around the red-haired boy with the umbrella was littered with severed limbs and corpses. The rain falling from the sky was those people's blood!

Then, when she looked higher, she saw the word "love" carved into his forehead!

He was Gaara, the Sunagakure ninja Kanami had mentioned.

She also noticed that the direction he was staring at was the very bush where they were hiding.

What should they do?

Hinata trembled all over and quickly covered her small mouth, afraid that her terror would make her cry out.

Sensing that something was wrong, Kiba Inuzuka whispered, "Hinata, what did you see?"

Feeling chilled to the bone, Hinata said:

"Kanami... it's the Sunagakure ninja Gaara that Kanami mentioned, the one with the word 'love' carved into his forehead."

"He... he killed all three members of a team! And, and he's staring at the bush we're hiding in right now!"

Kiba Inuzuka's eyelids twitched.

That meant the overwhelming smell of blood he had caught earlier was Gaara's doing!

The three of them were pale as paper, hiding motionlessly behind the bushes.

Kiba Inuzuka had known people might die, but this was the first time he had truly faced death—and the deaths had been so gruesome.

Kanami had said to run, but their bodies seemed incapable of moving...

Just as Hinata kept a close eye on Gaara's movements with her Byakugan, two ninjas appeared beside him.

One of them, a woman with four blond Naruto-style ponytails on her head, said to Gaara:

"Let's go, Gaara."

Gaara stared at the bush for a second, then turned and followed the two ninjas away.

Hinata kept using her Byakugan to watch them until they were over a kilometer away.

Kiba Inuzuka whispered, "Did... did he leave?"

Hinata nodded.

Only then did the three of them finally breathe a sigh of relief, some color gradually returning to their faces.

The passion burning in Kiba Inuzuka's heart had been extinguished by the black rain Gaara created.

He asked sheepishly, "How about we find somewhere to rest first?"

"Okay."

Hinata and Shino agreed with Kiba Inuzuka's suggestion.

What they had just seen had left a deep shadow over all three of them.

Meanwhile, the three members of Team of Courage, who had been resting, were awakened by the occasional screams rising from nearby.

Kanami sat up angrily and growled, "Will you people let me sleep or not?!"

Fūka shot him a disdainful look.

Only you would take a nap in the Forest of Death.

Yuzuki, who had been awakened by Kanami's shout, rubbed her eyes.

"Mm? What happened?"

Fūka looked at her sister and shook her head with a hand on her forehead.

This one was even more outrageous.

By then, the people who had screamed had already fainted on the ground.

Someone was searching their bodies for scrolls when he suddenly heard the growl from the side and jumped in fright.

He glanced over and saw a man glaring at him with an unfriendly expression.

His face changed. He grabbed the scroll from one of the fallen people and ran.

At the same time, he shouted to his two teammates, "Brothers, run! There are three sneaky bastards here!"

They only wanted to seize a Heaven Scroll and then head to the tower to turn it in and pass.

Seeing how tactfully the three of them fled, Kanami did not hold it against them for interrupting his nap.

"Sleep."

Then he closed his eyes and lay back down.

Fūka angrily walked over to Kanami and kicked him.

"Such a good opportunity, and you just let them go?"

"They just fought another team. If we put in a little effort, couldn't we have gotten two sets of scrolls?"

Kanami frowned and rubbed the spot she had kicked.

"There will be plenty of opportunities later."

There was a faster way to pass: they only needed to go to the tower and wait for people to deliver scrolls to them.

To others, that might have sounded overly arrogant, but Kanami simply had an accurate understanding of his own strength.

In this Forest of Death, no one could threaten him unless Shukaku, the One-Tail, went berserk.

Kanami was waiting—waiting for an opportunity to show himself and let Hyuga Hiashi see his potential.

That was his true purpose for entering the Chunin Ninja Exams.

For now, he only needed to conserve his strength. Once the various teams had fought each other to exhaustion, he could stand at the tower in peak condition and achieve half of his goal for entering the exam.

"Fūka, it's fine. We were only able to pass the first exam safely because of him. I believe he has his own plan for this round too."

Yuzuki shifted her body and adjusted herself into a more comfortable position.

Fūka rolled her eyes at her. "I think you're just smitten with him."

The three-person team that had just run away stared blankly at the two Earth Scrolls in their hands.

One of them, a burly man, said gloomily:

"So we did all that for nothing?"

A shrewd gleam flashed through another man's eyes. "Why didn't that team back there chase us?"

"There's only one possibility: even though we're badly wounded, they still aren't strong enough to take our scrolls."

"They might not have left yet. Let's head back immediately!"

Following his analysis, the three of them quickly put away the two Earth Scrolls and rushed back!