Before Keimei and her teammates left and went their way towards the center of the forest, Keimei suddenly stopped from her action and turned her head towards the specific direction in the area attracting everyone's attention.
"Keimei, what's the problem?" Karin asks, but her body is tense, especially after noticing Keimei's serious expression.
Sasuke and Kaori also frown and secretly bring out kunai and tightly hold it in their hands and patiently wait for someone to appear.
After waiting for a few moments, someone shows up behind a tree a few meters away from the group, and everyone immediately lowers their guard except for Keimei after seeing who it is.
"Looks like there was a party here and I wasn't invited," the teenager said with a voice filled with grievance.
A vein suddenly appeared on Kaori's face, and she said out loud, "There wasn't a goddamn party, you idiot!"
Kaori was relieved to see Hisateru okay after he was sent flying by Orochimaru's wind-style jutsu, but his action of being a clown isn't appropriate, especially in this situation.
Hisateru scratches his face with a wry smile on his face before turning back to a serious expression. "What happened to the Grass Ninja?"
"He escaped," Sasuke responds in a matter-of-fact tone, but Hisateru feels the frustration hidden within Sasuke's voice.
Hisateru frowns before walking towards Sasuke and Kaori, thinking deeply about Orochimaru.
'Is my assumption of his goal incorrect? I doubt that since I read about his files from the old man, so I have a 99% guarantee of his goal, but why the hell is Team 12 doing here?
Hisateru already noticed the black three tomoe on the neck of Sasuke but acted obliviously for obvious reasons, but the reason for his confusion was the fact that Hikari didn't seem to have any mark on his neck despite the fact that he had the look of someone who just fought an incredibly powerful person.
While Hisateru is walking towards his teammates, Keimei secretly observes him. She already noticed the abnormality with Hisateru, but right now it wasn't time to investigate since she had to finish the test.
But the mystery behind Hisateru will be investigated in the future by her.
"Let's go," Keimei said before jumping to the nearest branch and running straight to the center of the forest.
Karin and Hikari look at each other before slightly shaking their heads as they follow Keimei. They didn't understand the reason why Keimei seemed interested in Hisateru, but right now they had to finish the test before they asked Keimei about their question.
Hisateru wasn't unaware about Keimei's gaze but acted obliviously since he didn't want to attract anyone's attention, especially in this time.
"By the way, did the Grass Ninja steal our scroll?" Hisateru asks while staring at Kaori.
"No," Kaori slightly shakes her head.
"We better leave this place and find somewhere safe to recover before hunting for the Earth Scroll," she added while staring at Sasuke.
It was clear to her that Sasuke hadn't fully recovered himself, especially after the seal within his neck acted previously.
"I think we should focus on making our way to the center of the forest and complete this test before the 5-day time limit," Hisateru suggests.
"We don't have the Earth Scroll, idiot. Getting close to the center of the forest will only invite trouble, especially from those who are trapped in the area," Sasuke added with his signature frown on his face.
He hated the fact that he was currently weak and trouble for his teammates, but right now he had to push aside his pride and think of the bigger picture if he wanted to help his teammate pass this test.
"Don't worry about it," Hisateru cheerfully said while placing his hand on his weapon pouch.
"I just happened to snatch this scroll on my way." Hisateru shows a scroll with 'Earth' inscribed on it.
"How the hell did you steal that scroll?" Kaori asks in disbelief.
"Well, there are some idiots who didn't take the test seriously," Hisateru responded with a big smile on his face.
"Seems like we must make our way towards the center of the forest as soon as possible," Sasuke said while his eyes instantly turned Sharingan before returning back to normal, but this wasn't gone unnoticed by Hisateru, who ignored it for the time being.
In the Central Tower.
Team 13 is currently in the infirmary as Hinata and Satsuki are receiving treatment for the injuries they suffered at the hands of Orochimaru.
The one who is healing the two is none other than Tsunade Senju, the greatest healer in the Elemental Continent. Naruto guesses the reason behind Tsunade appearing in the Central Tower.
The Chunin Exam that is currently proceeding isn't the typical one but is extremely special due to the fact that the 5 Great Ninja Villages are simultaneously participating, which hasn't happened since the start of the ninja villages.
In order to ensure fairness and avoid political problems, Minato assigns Tsunade to heal any Genins who participate in the exams and suffer injuries. Of course Tsunade's priority is for those who suffer intense injuries.
The reason why Hinata and Satsuki had a chance for Tsunade to personally heal them despite not having any lethal injuries was the fact that there were barely any genin that entered the Central Tower yet.
This also included the fact that the two of them are children of the heads of the great ninja clan of the Leaf.
Naruto wanted to leave this place since he didn't suffer any injuries, but Tsunade and Shizune, for some reason, wanted Naruto to stay in the infirmary temporarily.
"It looks like you three had quite the two days," Tsunade said while treating Hinata and Satsuki's injuries.
Hinata and Satsuki, who are being treated, take a closer look at how Tsunade treats them and compare it to how Naruto treated their injuries in the Land of Waves.
While the injuries they suffer today couldn't really compare to the injuries they suffered that time, still, they can see the difference between Naruto's and Tsunade's healing techniques.
While they had to admit that Tsunade's skills are far better compared to any medical ninja they knew, and the title of being the best medical ninja in the world is well deserved without a doubt.
But Naruto's skill also isn't something to scoff at.
While they didn't know if Naruto knew medical ninjutsu, as they believed what Naruto used back then was a jujutsu technique, if Naruto learns medical ninjutsu, Hinata and Satsuki believe that Naruto can catch up to Tsunade.
"You are actually the third team to make it here," Tsunade added, oblivious to the thoughts of Hinata and Satsuki. She turned her head to Naruto and added, "Your brother and sister came in earlier today. Another team came in yesterday."
'Not surprising,' Satuski and Hinata thought to themselves.
Both girls believe that if they hadn't encountered Orochimaru, they would have been without a doubt able to beat Team 7 and arrived at the Central Tower much earlier.
Though they are quiet, they are intrigued by the fact that someone arrived yesterday, which is an amazing feat, especially how chaotic the forest is with every team trying to steal each other's scrolls.
'Could it be...' Hinata thought to herself as the appearance of a certain team appeared in her mind.
While Satsuki and Hinata are thinking about the information they learn from Naruto, he remains leaning on the wall with his eyes closed, ignoring everyone.
If he wanted to, he could leave this place with no one being able to stop him, but after the appearance of Orochimaru, Naruto knows that Minato without doubt will appear in front of their group, questioning them about the incident.
Naruto believes he can't do the usual action he does when facing his family since Minato will certainly place people watching his moves if he did it, especially in this sensitive situation.
He'd rather avoid being watched by weaklings and have everyone gather clues about the plan he's currently taking.
Tsunade notice the lacked of reaction coming from Naruto after hearing the news of his siblings. She couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
It was well known to the Jonin-level ninja that Naruto was hiding his strength, so that not even Fugaku knew Naruto's limits despite being his Jonin sensei.
The news of Naruto's strength really ignites everyone's curiosity since every Jonin knows how rare it is for proud Fugaku to make such a statement.
They wanted to know what kind of strength Naruto is hiding, and the Chunin Exams are really the perfect opportunity for them to see if what Fugaku claims is true or not.
Tsunade, who is closer to Naruto's family, knows the problem he and his family had. Their bad relationship isn't really hard to tell if one takes a closer look.
It's just that the perfect family picture that everyone sees when Minato and Kushina interact with their three children really hides the problem the two had with Naruto.
Just as Tsunade thought deeply about Kushina and Minato's problem, she caught in her eyes Naruto opening his eyes and staring at the newly arrived man who suddenly appeared in the infirmary.