Crack. Crack.
The reddish-brown stone spire rooted in the swamp trembled as chunks of rock broke loose and tumbled downward.
A burly young man in Iwagakure's standard red uniform, his Hidden Stone forehead protector planted proudly on his brow, stood in a half-crouched stance with both arms crossed over his chest.
Though he was not even twenty yet, his thick beard made him look closer to thirty. His face was full of confidence.
"Earth Release: Hardening Technique!"
"Raiga!"
Boom!
Thunder exploded through the air, leaving behind jagged blue trails like branching limbs across the sky.
The bearded shinobi's pupils shrank. He did not even have time to dodge before the bolt of lightning pierced straight through him.
Hiss...
As the lightning faded, so did he. Smoke curled from his body, and the black and white of his eyes slowly rolled up until only the whites remained. Then he dropped with a thud, unconscious.
Despite looking much older than he was, he was still young. His quality of sleep was truly excellent.
Around twenty meters away, Sasuke stood with red reflected in his eyes. He held the twin Raiga swords raised overhead in a crossing shape, blue electricity flickering along both blades.
These swords not only boosted the power of his Lightning Release, they also made up for his previous lack of mid-range and long-range attacks.
Fire Release could reach far, too, but its hit rate was miserable because of its speed problem.
Now, with high-speed Lightning Release, the dynamic vision of his three-tomoe Sharingan, and genjutsu to back him up, if he could just solve his chakra reserves, he would leap straight into the ranks of elite jonin.
In other words, he would be at about the same level Konome had been at... when she was six.
It was absurd.
The moment he thought of that inhuman monster, the sliver of pride that had just risen in his chest was crushed flat. Looking again at the opponent lying on the ground, twitching and unable to resist, he felt only boredom.
"Leaf Strong Whirlwind: Twin Barrage!"
Naruto's roar came from behind him. Sasuke turned.
Two Narutos, one high and one low, one in front and one behind, were striking at the enemy's left cheek and right ankle at the same time.
The Iwa shinobi was forced into a frantic defense under the combo. Even with his hardened body, he could not withstand the crushing force of Konoha's taijutsu. In the end, Naruto's hidden real body finished him off with a flying kick that sent him crashing to the ground.
With both teammates already down, the last Iwa member saw the situation turn hopeless and immediately abandoned them, using Hiding Like a Mole Technique to flee underground.
But the instant he entered the earth, the ground, which should have felt soft and fluid, suddenly became stickier than glue. He struggled twice in the mud before being buried alive, with only his head left above the surface, his expression caught between terror and despair.
His chest was compressed by the mud and he could no longer breathe. His face turned bluish-purple, twitched twice, and then he fainted.
Ao would have called that professional work.
Squirm. Squirm.
The earth writhed and spat the unconscious Iwa shinobi back out. Sasuke and Naruto, who had both been about to continue the pursuit, grimaced at the same time.
Though it was nothing more than inorganic mud, the sight gave off the distinct feeling of some living creature vomiting. Just watching it made their skin crawl.
Even worse, the one responsible for controlling all of it was still over a thousand meters away.
Konome's abilities were becoming more monstrous by the day.
Every time they witnessed one of her endless new tricks, it shattered their understanding of what was possible. It was a good thing Konome was their teammate. If she were their enemy, they could not begin to imagine how anyone was supposed to defeat her.
Looking at the three Iwa shinobi sprawled on the ground in the deep sleep of infancy, Naruto dispelled his shadow clones and said with a grin, "This whole area should be cleared out by now."
"Not yet."
Sasuke was not the kind of person to let pride cloud his judgment. He shook his head, visibly cautious.
"According to Konome, there were still seventeen people in this region besides us. We've only eliminated twelve. That means there are still five left."
He had not forgotten what Kakashi had said when they signed up. In this exam, there might be prodigies comparable to Konome.
If that were true, then a truly brutal fight still awaited them.
At that moment, the radio in Sasuke's pocket crackled.
"Static. Hey. Hey."
Sasuke swiftly sheathed the Raiga swords and turned on the communicator.
"The three Iwa to the north have been dealt with. Anyone else nearby?"
At the center of Death Paradise, silver hair coiled neatly behind her head and reflected the light in faint halos. Konome, quietly controlling the whole board, picked up the radio and supplied Naruto and Sasuke with coordinates.
To her, this Chunin Exam was about as difficult as trapping a fat cat. It was perfect practice for Naruto and Sasuke.
These two were now effectively her subordinates. In the future, once she inherited the position of Hokage, she even planned to place them in her shadow guard.
Once Naruto learned Sage Mode from Mount Myoboku and mastered Nine-Tails Mode, and once Sasuke awakened the Mangekyo and took Itachi's eyes, they would both become Kage-level monsters. The shadow guards of other villages were only good for show. Her guard could probably even exchange blows with Kaguya Otsutsuki.
"Your three o'clock. Three Grass shinobi and four Sound shinobi are coming from the swamp."
Konome's mood was excellent.
Her eyes blazed brighter and brighter with gray light as the three-dimensional topography of Death Paradise unfolded in her pupils. Every surviving team scattered across the land was as clear to her as lines in her palm.
A total of eighty-five shinobi had passed the written test.
Nine had failed before they even landed.
Four more had been badly injured by the fall itself. She had already ordered Yato to have them rescued.
Those four counted as being knocked out the moment they touched down.
The Konoha rookies such as Shikamaru and Hinata, Karui and Omoi's Kumo taijutsu squad, and the Kirigakure swordsman team had all landed in the Swamp Hell.
The Iwa squad with Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi, Konoha's Team Guy with Neji and Lee, Gaara's Suna team, and Kimimaro's Sound group were all mainly concentrated in the Bone Hell.
Besides them were scattered teams from the smaller villages.
The Hoshigakure trio had descended first. Thanks to their flight ability, they had already reached the edge of the giant bowl, though on the opposite side from Konome's group.
As for the Grass side, Karin was sitting near the border between Bone Hell and the bowl's outer rim, treating the useless idiots who had coughed up blood from the landing.
Only one Rain team remained. They were hiding somewhere in the swamp, protected by gas masks, patiently waiting to ambush someone.
Orochimaru and Danzo had followed Konome's team down. They were currently somewhere near the bowl, releasing snakes to scout the area, most likely trying to trace the movements of Konome and Sasuke.
At first glance, Death Paradise looked like a lifeless wasteland after Konome had devoured everything in it. In reality, it was bursting with all kinds of activity, alive with contest and conflict.
"So what are we supposed to do?"
Standing within the weird, massive depression, Sasuke was genuinely at a loss in the face of such a bizarre exam.
Anko had only told them to kill each other until the number of survivors dropped to twenty. But now that they were here, the only thing in front of them was confusion.
"The entire water supply of Death Paradise gathers here. They'll come to us on their own."
Konome did not mention the poison mist that would gradually close in from the outer zones. Instead, she pointed at the hundreds of blue streams winding their way into the giant bowl and explained calmly.
"So what we have to do is occupy this place and defeat every challenger who comes in from the other regions."
Sasuke immediately understood what she meant, and excitement flared across his face. Naruto was already rubbing his fists together, grinning from ear to ear.
They had wanted to test themselves against the shinobi of the other villages for years. At last, here was their chance.
Konome could not quite bring herself to ruin their enthusiasm.
Orochimaru and Danzo were already feeling their way toward this area. It was only a matter of time before they arrived. Without her stepping in, Naruto and Sasuke would probably be beaten so badly they would start questioning their existence.
When small fry bullied small fry, that was one thing. When big fish started bullying small fry, the bronze match instantly turned into a king's lobby.
This Chunin Exam had no room left for chunin-level survival. Even jonin and elite jonin were already sweating.
As for actual genin, they had all been filtered out by Aoba and Raidou before the first written exam even began.
Come on, then. Let me see who reaches me first.
Her smile remained gentle. Her gray eyes flickered, and the thick poison clouds overhead churned like a purple sea.
Even without using Takamagahara, her chakra, already beyond the level of a tailed beast, was enough to affect the natural environment.
At the same time, in the southern part of the giant bowl, dozens of narrow clear streams coiled across the ground like silver snakes.
Hiss. Hiss.
A yellow snake with purple-black markings slithered across the earth, its dark tongue flicking in and out. The soil it passed over wrinkled behind it like the folds of an accordion.
"There's food!"
Hokuto, her short tea-colored hair bouncing, lit up at once.
Ango, who had been crouched by the water collecting it, immediately turned around when he heard that word. But the moment he saw the thick, venomous snake, the joy on his face turned into intense caution.
Beside him, Sanchou was so alarmed she leapt to her feet.
The three of them, as the first shinobi to enter Death Paradise and the only team with true flight ability through Peacock Mystical Method, understood the terrain here better than most.
This place deserved the name "death."
They had already flown over both the swamp and the Bone Hell.
There were no wild animals. No vegetation. No insects.
The red fungal growths spreading over the bones looked obviously toxic. The only water anywhere in sight was inside this giant bowl. They had searched the area for half a day and had not even found a single fish, not even a patch of moss, in the streams.
This place was dead.
That was why the sudden appearance of a thick, healthy snake, an ordinary sight elsewhere, was so utterly unnatural here.
"Stay alert!"
Without even bothering to take the time to analyze further, Ango's wings of chakra burst open behind him.
"Star ninja. Peacock Mystical Method. Interesting."
A male voice, dry and magnetic like scales dragging across sand, came from behind them.
The three Hoshi shinobi shuddered as one.
They did not even waste time turning around. Their wings beat furiously, and all three shot into the sky at once.
Only after they rose into what they believed was the safety of open air did they dare look down.
At some point, two pale-skinned female shinobi had appeared where they had just been standing. The one in front lifted the brim of her straw hat slightly, as if examining them.
"Full attack. Kill them!"
Glittering translucent wings spread wide. Ango clenched a kunai between his fingers and hurled it downward at the mysterious pair below.
Sanchou and Hokuto followed immediately, each throwing their own kunai as well.
Hoshigakure had always styled itself as the sixth great hidden village. In order to match the great five, its leader called himself the Star Shadow, and the source of their confidence lay in the strange chakra generated by the meteorite.
But in truth, besides Peacock Mystical Method: Beast Imitation, the village had almost nothing else.
And as genin, they had only mastered the most primitive version of it, the bird-form of shapeshifted chakra wings.
So when Ango shouted "full attack," what he really meant was this:
Crackle.
The explosive tags tied to the rings at the ends of the kunai began to hiss with fire in the wind.
Ninja tools and explosive tags were precious resources in the sealed-off and impoverished Hoshigakure. Throwing out three explosive tags in one exchange and losing three perfectly good kunai at the same time already counted as going all in for them.
Orochimaru and Danzo almost lost control of their expressions.
They had actually wanted to see if the trio could produce anything new with Peacock Mystical Method. But the tiny sparks falling from the sky and the all-or-nothing resolve on Ango's face almost made them rediscover a kind of innocence they had buried in childhood.
Orochimaru did not dodge, and he did not use Earth Release.
"Water Release."
He crossed his thumb and forefinger, and a stream of clear water shot skyward, swallowing the kunai and their still-burning tags in an instant.
The current struck the kunai from their trajectories, and the explosive tags, soaked before they could go off, died at once.
It was over just like that, the Hoshi trio's desperate attack evaporating into nothing.
Ango gritted his teeth. "That Water Release was so fast. Damn it."
He had just flown a little lower, and already their strongest move had been completely neutralized. Outside of throwing more explosive tags, they had no idea what else to do.
"What a pity. Your talent is too poor."
Looking up at the three in the sky, Orochimaru felt only disappointment.
The moment he saw that they could fly, he had actually felt a trace of appreciation. But their talent was so low it truly offended the eye.
His gaze first landed on their awareness.
He had appeared right behind them, and they had not noticed him at all.
Their caution was decent, but the moment they rose into the air they flew in straight lines. There was no instinct to vary position or evade, which meant it had never even occurred to them that long-range ninjutsu might target them during ascent.
Their battle sense was negligible.
Then came the explosive tags.
It was not their lack of stronger attacks that amused him. Ninja tools were the primary means of attack at the genin stage, and there was nothing wrong with that. He and Danzo had once gone through that phase as well.
What truly amused him was their total lack of combat awareness.
They occupied the entire open sky, yet had not even considered attacking from different angles. Instead, they had formed up in neat ranks as if they were still on the ground, throwing away their advantage in mobility and numbers. That was exactly why one Water Release technique had completely ruined them.
They had also ignited the explosive tags at the wrong time.
The correct method would have been to wait until the kunai was close to the target, then ignite the tag in that instant. The kunai would create the initial penetrating wound, and the explosive tag would follow immediately as a second burst of damage.
Instead, they had ignited the tags the moment the kunai left their hands. Even if Orochimaru had not interfered, the explosion would have destroyed the kunai in midair, wasting the first stage of the attack entirely. On top of that, because the blast occurred too far from the target, its power would have been reduced to perhaps one-third.
This was a textbook example of how not to fight.
Battle sense, talent, use of ninja tools, all garbage.
The only thing even remotely worth noting was the unusual flight technique itself.
"Kill them."
Danzo, standing nearby, shook his head in visible disappointment. He had clearly seen no value in them either. These genin were not even good enough for Root's training camp.
"Such a waste."
A cold gleam flashed in Orochimaru's golden vertical pupils as he looked at the Hoshi trio, who had drawn more kunai but were now hesitating, reluctant to use any more explosive tags.
Even their mentality was poor.
Wind Release: Air Cutter.
The air along the back of his hand distorted into a blade shape. Orochimaru casually flicked his hand toward the sky, then turned as if the matter was already finished.
With the speed and concealment of Wind Release, they would be sliced apart before they even understood what had happened.
What a waste of a useful secret technique.
"Watch out!"
"You're Konoha's..."
The Hoshi trio's startled cries rang down from above, and Orochimaru stopped in place.
His back still to the silver-haired figure in the sky, his golden pupils contracted until they became narrow vertical slits.
"She... she's here!"
Danzo hid behind him, his one visible eye blinking furiously. "It's her. That's her."
Just seeing the silver-haired girl standing above the Hoshi trio, her brilliant eyes blazing like twin suns, was enough to make his face twitch uncontrollably.
That same terror.
He had felt it once before, when he had barged into that Thunder Pool chamber. The memory had never left him.
Even later, after he escaped that room, his legs had remained weak for a long time.
From that day on, fear had taken root in his heart like a seed. Just recalling her face made his whole body tense. When he later discovered that Root shinobi had turned on him, he had not even had the courage to fight Konome. He fled Root overnight.
If Orochimaru had not gone mad and decided to attack Konoha, Danzo would never have dared come back.
The Hoshi trio, meanwhile, stared in horror.
The silver-haired girl standing above them blocked Orochimaru's invisible Wind Release with a crystalline, faintly red polyhedral barrier that had unfolded in front of her.
"We're done."
Hokuto's face turned deathly pale.
They had already been unable to beat the two disguised Grass ninja below. Now a new enemy had appeared in the very skies that should have been their safe domain.
They were trapped from both sides.
Sanchou stared at the girl suspended in the air, feeling the pressure rolling off her like a storm.
Then Ango spoke.
Unlike his two teammates, he still held himself together.
"Ango, come up with a plan!"
Hearing the panic in Sanchou's voice, Ango, as the squad leader, forced himself to remain calm.
"Three against three. It's not like we can't win."