Hinata lowered her head. Though she did not want to admit defeat, the situation was already perfectly clear.
Even if she refused to concede, it would not change anything.
"I concede!" she sighed unwillingly.
At the edge of the arena, the ninjas from other villages grew increasingly restless.
This Chunin Exam was simply too bizarre.
Not only were the items bizarre, even the ninjutsu was bizarre.
If this continued, how many people outside Konoha would even advance to chunin?
This was outrageously unfair!
Gekko Hayate stepped forward.
"Hyuga Neji wins this match. The next match will be Konoha's Aburame Shino versus Zaku!"
With a sinister grin, Zaku twisted his neck as he walked into the center of the arena. He shot Naruto a sidelong glance, hatred flashing in his eyes.
He would never forget the grudge from the Forest of Death—the humiliating pleasure involving his chrysanthemum.
He raised a hand and pointed at Naruto, shouting, "Just you wait! We'll definitely meet again!"
Naruto pulled a face. "Fine, I'll wait! When that happens, I'll make your chrysanthemum bloom all over the mountains again!"
Shino stood opposite Zaku. Watching him argue with Naruto, he said in a low voice, "It seems you have mistaken your opponent."
Zaku turned back with a cold snort. "You're nothing but an ant. I can deal with you without breaking a sweat!"
As he spoke, he raised both hands and roared, "Air Cannon!"
In an instant, two invisible cannonballs formed from Chakra shot out.
Shino dodged left and right without the slightest expression on his face. "Going straight for a finishing move? Let me show you my summoning technique!"
"Snot bugs, I choose you!"
As his words fell, a tiny black hole suddenly flickered into existence in midair.
A string of binary code fell from the hole, followed by a tiny green creature resembling a huge glob of snot.
"Yah, yah, yah, yah!" it squeaked softly, holding a lump of pink poop in its hands.
Less than a second after landing, it split down the middle and separated into two.
Zaku froze.
Another second passed, and the two became four.
Everyone present was astonished.
Summoned Beasts capable of dividing themselves—aside from Tsunade's slug, there seemed to be no others in the ninja world.
And even slugs only became smaller as they divided. They did not split into copies the same size as the original like these snot bugs!
In the blink of an eye, ten seconds passed, and the snot bugs seemed to stop dividing.
Looking at the ground again, it was now completely covered in snot bugs.
At a rough estimate, there were at least five hundred of them!
Zaku scratched his face. He already had trypophobia, and the sight of so many snot bugs made goosebumps rise all over his skin.
"Yah, yah, yah, yah!"
More than five hundred snot bugs held their poop and stared at Zaku with malicious intent.
No one knew which one it was, but one of them suddenly hurled a lump at him.
Immediately afterward, a sky-covering barrage of pink poop came rolling toward Zaku.
"Die!" Zaku went berserk at once, raising both hands and firing two Air Cannons.
Wherever the Air Cannons passed, the snot bugs were instantly reduced to dust.
Yet less than a second later, they divided again.
Zaku's eyes went wide, and he suddenly felt like giving up resistance.
Pfft!
A muffled impact struck his face.
His vision was instantly blocked.
He raised a hand to wipe it away and found his face warm, sticky, and seemingly a little foul-smelling.
"Ah!"
He roared in despair, "I'll kill you all!"
He raised his hands, Chakra surging through his entire body.
Unfortunately, before he could fire an Air Cannon, the unending pink poop buried him.
Even his raised hands were wrapped layer upon layer in poop, making it impossible for him to fire an Air Cannon at all.
In less than half a minute, a gigantic mound nearly two meters tall had appeared in the middle of the arena!
Seeing that Zaku had stopped moving, the snot bugs turned to look at the others around the arena.
The crowd surrounding the field immediately shuddered in horror.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
A continuous barrage tore through the air, and the entire arena fell under a poop bombardment.
At first, the ninjas around the edges still tried to resist. But after witnessing the snot bugs' incredible regenerative ability, they all fell into despair.
Shino repeatedly tried to stop them. "Don't throw any more poop!"
But the snot bugs acted as if they had heard nothing and ignored his attempts to restrain them.
Unable to endure it any longer, Gekko Hayate directly announced, "Aburame Shino wins this match. Hurry up and take your snot bugs and get the hell—"
Pfft!
Before he could finish, a warm, sticky, and seemingly rather foul-smelling thing plastered itself over his face.
Seeing this, Shino hurriedly ran out.
Earlier, he had forgotten to ask the owner how to make these snot bugs disappear.
It was clearly impossible to control them at the arena now, so he could only take advantage of the chaos and run out to find a solution.
But after he left, the snot bugs seemed to lose their center. After looking around in every direction, they all chased after him.
After dealing with the mess on his face, Gekko Hayate dry-heaved.
"The match is suspended for half an hour. Everyone will help clean up the arena. Anyone who refuses to help will be eliminated immediately!"
Honestly, this year's exam was truly bizarre.
When had matches ever been suspended in the middle before? Yet this year, after only a few matches, they had already been suspended twice!
On Konoha's streets, Shino sprinted at full speed, with the snot bugs chasing close behind.
At first, passersby were merely curious and came over to watch.
But after experiencing the warm, sticky, and somewhat foul-smelling pink poop, they all recoiled and dodged away in disgust.
The snot bugs, however, only pushed their luck.
Seeing people avoid them, they instead ran over and actively attacked them.
The streets between the arena and the scratch-off ticket shop gradually became foul-smelling on both sides.
On windows, signboards, lamp posts, and trash cans.
As long as it was somewhere one could think of, there was almost certainly a lump of mysterious pink substance stuck to it.
"Aburame Shino!"
"Clean my windows, damn it!"
"Stop right there!"
Complaints rose from both sides of the street.
Shino ran toward the little shop in embarrassment, shouting as he ran, "Boss, save me!"
Wu Di was currently lying atop a pile of scratch-off tickets, lost in a pleasant dream.
Hearing Shino call out, he sprang straight to the floor.
In the next instant, Shino rushed into the shop, followed by a long line of green snot bugs.
Before Wu Di could even ask what was going on, the snot bugs threw out the poop they had already prepared in their hands.
"Hey, take them back already!"
Shino said with great grievance, "You never told me how to call them back!"
Wu Di slapped his forehead in annoyance. "How could I forget something so important?"
Then he quickly said in a solemn tone, "If you want them to go back, just shout, 'You've worked hard, go back now!'"
Without a second thought, Shino immediately followed Wu Di's instructions and shouted at the snot bugs.
Sure enough, the moment his voice fell, the snot bugs vanished.
Only the traces they had left behind remained as clear as ever.
Before you continue