Naruto swaggered through the Forest of Death, humming a tune from his hometown with outrageous arrogance.
The goofy grin on his face seemed to tell everyone, "I'm here for a picnic. Come rob me!"
Sakura was the exact opposite. Ever since entering the forest, she had been trembling with fear, ready to throw every weapon in her ninja tool pouch at the slightest rustle.
Once she discovered it was only a plump white rabbit, she immediately sank limply to the ground with her legs splayed out beside her.
Sasuke kept a poker face the entire time, but inwardly, he had already given up all hope for these two teammates.
As expected, if I want to pass this exam, I'll have to rely on myself.
But it's too early to give up on them. The later parts of the exam might still require teamwork. Rather than forming a temporary team with strangers, I might as well keep things as they are.
Having thought it through, Sasuke got serious.
Before long, they ran into another group.
"Oh! It's you guys."
The thick-browed boy with a bowl cut and a green bodysuit suddenly brightened at the sight of them.
"What, it's just you guys." Naruto sounded a little disappointed.
Sakura, however, felt a chill run through her and immediately warned, "Don't let your guard down. Even people from the same village can rob each other."
This was not actually their first meeting. They had already met back at the registration site for the Chunin Ninja Exams.
Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten were students of Kakashi-sensei's friend, Guy-sensei. They had graduated a year before them.
When Kakashi had left to carry out the mission assigned by the Hokage, he had asked Guy to look after Naruto and the others whenever he had time.