The Entire Village Under Attack!

"Damn it! We came from the same class, so why am I inferior to him?!"

Obito Uchiha cast a resentful glance at Kakashi in the distance, but did not pay him any attention.

"Everyone, hurry up. If nothing unexpected happens, we should be encountering other teams soon," Obito ordered.

Rin Nohara was with him, along with an extra participant who had been added in—Kurenai Yūhi. If Ye Liang had been there, he would naturally have known who she was.

A master of Genjutsu by inheritance, she could make someone lose control with a single glance. In that regard, she was extremely similar to the Sharingan's Amaterasu. Unfortunately, Obito had yet to awaken his Mangekyo Sharingan.

"Mm, then let's move quickly." Rin Nohara nodded beside him.

With that, the group swiftly began searching through the forest.

Before long, Obito's group spotted a three-man team in blue uniforms. They were crossing sideways and thus did not notice the Konoha group approaching from the side.

"Be careful. Let's sneak over," Obito said, then slipped into the surrounding brush.

These forests were terrain Konoha excelled at, while the other side was clearly from Kirigakure. They fought in rivers year-round, so Konoha should have the advantage here.

"That kid does have some brains," Kakashi muttered as he crouched atop a tall tree.

At that moment, a figure silently landed beside him.

"He has indeed improved quite a bit, but you don't seem to have made any progress."

"Who?!"

Kakashi was startled.

Before he could make out who it was, he instantly leaped several steps backward!

"Your reactions aren't bad," the newcomer said again.

"Teacher Ye Liang?"

Only then did Kakashi finally see who it was.

He approached in shock.

"Teacher Ye Liang has become this strong already!" The last time he had seen Ye Liang, he clearly had not possessed such terrifying concealment abilities. It had only been a few days, yet even Kakashi could no longer detect him!

Kakashi was already a Special Jonin, which meant Ye Liang's abilities had at least surpassed the Kage level!

"Hey, I came to take a look at you guys."

Ye Liang harmlessly rubbed Kakashi's head. He looked like an incredibly powerful big shot pretending to be weak.

"Teacher Ye Liang! I-I only became a teacher by luck. Mainly because Konoha has too few jonin. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been my turn," Kakashi said awkwardly.

"Mm, it's nothing." Ye Liang smiled, but then his gaze shifted elsewhere.

"Where is this aura coming from?"

Ye Liang sensed an intense killing intent surging toward them and immediately furrowed his brow.

"I'll take another look around. Keep an eye on Obito. Oh, right! There seems to be a problem with Kirigakure this time, so be careful." After the reminder, Ye Liang hurried off in another direction.

"Kirigakure?"

Kakashi nodded as if he understood, then fixed a cold gaze on Obito's target. Those three were from Kirigakure.

After traveling for some time, Ye Liang stopped within a patch of thick fog.

"Come out already! Stop hiding!" he shouted, but no one answered from the surroundings.

"Could it be that they aren't here?" Ye Liang asked in confusion.

But at that moment, a black shadow quietly crept closer along the nearby tree trunks.

So there really was something here!

Ye Liang's perception was no longer comparable to that of ordinary ninja. He had noticed a faint, rustling insect chirp. Some tiny creature must have been clinging to the branches.

"Behind me, huh?" Ye Liang sneered. Then, a finger-sized black shadow pounced toward his back.

Take this, Rasengan!

Ye Liang raised his hand and unleashed an attack, but after it struck, he froze in surprise!

An ant?

He stared blankly at the ant remains shattered by his Rasengan. Then, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to tremble violently. All the soil transformed into black ants the size of thumbs!

There were at least tens of billions of them!

"Looks like these Chunin Exams won't be peaceful!"

At the same time, the other ninja throughout the forest also came under attack!

Countless flying insects swept through the sky and attacked the jonin guarding the villages, while the Kage from the other villages encountered ambushes just like Ye Liang's.

"Damn it! Who is ambushing us?! Don't they know the leaders of all five villages are here?!" Ōnoki furiously knocked away every flying insect that approached him.

If he had not needed to protect his granddaughter, Ōnoki would have long since used his Kekkei Genkai to blast apart the entire forest!

The other Kage faced the same situation, and they too were restrained by concerns for the ninja of their respective villages.

At that moment, a massive wolf-like beast charged toward Ye Liang. Yagura, who had approached Ye Liang earlier, stood on its body, though several black metal rods were now embedded in him.

"I never expected Master to make a move against Ye Liang. This is exactly what I wanted!" He revealed a gloomy smile, and his pupils abruptly turned red!

It was just unknown who his master was!

At the top of a tree in the forest, Ye Liang carefully looked down. At the most dangerous moment just now, he had used Flying Thunder God to evade the ants' attack. Now, however, he discovered that nearly the entire forest was covered in all kinds of poisonous insects.

He raised a hand and swatted away several of them.

"Could they be from the Aburame Clan? Did Konoha make a move against the other villages?"

Ye Liang began to think.

Based on what he knew, aside from Konoha's Aburame Clan, there seemed to be no other possibility for anyone capable of controlling such a massive swarm of poisonous insects.

He raised his head.

A huge black shadow was charging toward him from afar.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

A gigantic three-headed hound, howling without pause, charged toward him. On its back was Yagura, whom Ye Liang had just parted from. Though tiny, he was clearly visible atop the giant hound.

"Damn! That isn't Yagura—this is the fucking Animal Path!"

Ye Liang cursed.

Mizukage Yagura's body was covered everywhere with pitch-black rods used to sense the Rinnegan, packed so densely that there was almost nowhere left to insert them.

"What's going on? Wasn't Madara dealt with for the time being? Where did this Animal Path come from?" Ye Liang was bewildered. Though he knew Uchiha Madara would not be so easily dealt with, he was still somewhat shocked upon seeing Mizukage Yagura transformed into the Animal Path.

But this battle could not be avoided!

Yagura's target was clearly him. If he ran, the other students behind him would suffer!

Ye Liang did not believe the other jonin could withstand the threat of the Rinnegan!

"No matter what the truth is, only by dealing with Yagura can I learn the real answer!"

Enhanced—Body Flicker Technique!

Ye Liang rapidly closed in on Yagura. A white afterimage shot forward like lightning.

He had already activated Sage Mode.

Whatever the truth was, strength would prove it. When had Ye Liang ever feared anyone?