Several days flew by. After the Forest of Death, White Zetsu seemed to have evaporated, leaving no trace of his presence.
This left everyone in Konoha, who remained on high alert, feeling a little uneasy.
Just a few days earlier, the team of Chino, Izumi, and Itachi had demonstrated astonishing strength and speed.
They had steamrolled through the second exam in the Forest of Death, reaching the central tower faster than any other team, turning in the Heaven and Earth Scrolls, and advancing without a hitch.
The next to finish the exam had been Mei Terumi's team from Kirigakure.
Although Mei Terumi was extraordinarily talented and powerful, her teammates were only at the level of ordinary Genin.
To ensure the entire team could complete its task successfully, she had often had to handle the fighting herself, so they had finished a little slower than Chino's team.
After completing the exam, Chino and the others had immediately sought out Yūto to report their encounter with that strange white humanoid creature in the forest.
"Teacher! We ran into something weird during the exam! It was posing as a contestant, and only after we killed it did we find out it was white, like tree bark!"
Izumi added, "Yes. Itachi suspected at the time that more than one of those things might have infiltrated the exam grounds beforehand."
After hearing them out, Yūto showed none of the surprise they had expected. He simply nodded calmly. "Mm, understood."
He even looked at Chino and said quite naturally, "And I also know you left that white corpse right where it was."
His words made all three freeze, embarrassment immediately creeping onto their faces.
While reporting, they had been so focused on describing the monster they had discovered that they had completely forgotten how they had