"Do you have anything here to contact Orochimaru?"
Shiro had no interest in this ninja from the Sound Village. He just wanted to see if she had a direct line to the Snake Sannin.
"It's... it's with Dosu!"
Kin Tsuchi didn't dare hide anything now. Trembling, she directly told Shiro about the sound transmission scroll Orochimaru had left them for emergency updates.
"Interesting."
Shiro glanced at the pile of discarded items Dosu had left behind in his cowardly flight and spotted the unique scroll immediately. It seemed Dosu had thrown away everything he could to lighten his load.
"How do you use this thing?"
After studying the fuinjutsu markings for a moment, Shiro decided to have the surviving Kin help him operate it.
Kin didn't dare disobey and obediently channeled her chakra, activating the transmission link to Orochimaru.
"Dosu? Is there something urgent for you to contact me?"
Deep in another sector of the forest, Orochimaru was somewhat surprised to receive a transmission from his pawn. *Could it be that Dosu and the others actually succeeded in testing the boy?*
"Ahem. Orochimaru, you'd better wash your neck and wait for me."
It wasn't until Shiro's calm, mocking voice came through the scroll that Orochimaru realized something was wrong. The air on his end suddenly became very still.
"Interesting..." Orochimaru hissed, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Just as Orochimaru was about to respond, the connection cut dead. Shiro had unilaterally ended the call.
Then, Shiro turned to the trembling Kin. With a single, swift palm strike to the back of her neck, he sent the Sound ninja into a deep, peaceful sleep.
"Sigh, I really am too kind," Shiro shook his head, muttering to himself.
This was no lie. If he hadn't incapacitated them here, their final fate would have been to serve as living sacrifices for Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation technique—a much more miserable end than a simple knockout. Doing this could be considered saving them from a fate worse than death.
"Next, let me see who the next group is."
Shiro closed his eyes, extending his sensory net again. "Found them!"
Seeing the chakra signatures of the next team, Shiro revealed a smile of genuine excitement. Smurfing once was fun, but chain-smurfing was even better. No gamer would refuse the chance to keep dominating the lobby.
His luck seemed pretty good today.
---
On the other side of the forest, Gaara's team had just successfully massacred a team of Rain ninja, seizing both Heaven and Earth scrolls from their corpses.
"With this, we have collected both the scrolls," Temari said, her expression serious as she wiped blood from her fan. "I suggest we head to the tower immediately."
She always felt that this forest was a bit too eerie, and Gaara's instability was growing.
"Why leave? I feel like the competition here is weak," Kankuro disagreed, smirking. He still wanted to continue toying with the Konoha genin. "The people here are so bad, what's there to worry about?"
"Shut up!" Gaara snapped, his eyes wide and fearful. His expression began to turn solemn as he looked toward the treeline.
---
Kankuro was stunned, having been scolded by Gaara so abruptly. He lost all face in front of his sister.
Just as he wanted to retort...
*RUMBLE!*
A massive vibration came from the ground, shaking the entire forest floor.
Outside the Forest of Death, near the monitoring station.
"What's happening? Why is the entire ground shaking?!" Anko Mitarashi shouted, grabbing a railing to steady herself. "An earthquake?"
"Quick, report to Lord Hokage!" Anko ordered a nearby chunin.
"No need. I'm already here."
In the next second, the Third Hokage appeared directly in front of everyone, his expression grave.
"Lord Third, this is...?" Anko asked, confused about what exactly was causing such a disturbance.
To this, the Third Hokage was all too familiar. From the very beginning of the exam, he had been using his Telescope Jutsu to observe every move in the Forest of Death. Therefore, Hiruzen knew everything Shiro was doing.
It was just that Shiro hadn't seriously harmed the Konoha ninjas; he had only taught them a lesson and snatched their scrolls. To put it simply, he was relying on his own overwhelming strength to stomp noobs. The nature of it wasn't malicious, just... dominant.
"Let me see what this kid is doing now," Hiruzen muttered.
He activated the Telescope Jutsu again, projecting the image onto a crystal ball.
"This is...!"
In the image, Shiro was seen surfing atop a literal tidal wave of massive trees, controlling an entire section of the forest as he rushed toward a specific location.
"Hiss... has Shiro's strength already reached this terrifying level?" Hiruzen hissed, shocked by the scale of the jutsu.
One should know, Wood Style was originally much more difficult to control than other Bloodline Limits. But Shiro was manipulating the forest with the ease of breathing!
"Shiro's talent is truly terrifying," Hiruzen lamented, feeling both pride and a tinge of fear.
"Lord Hokage, should we step in to stop him?" Anko asked, sweating as she watched the destruction. "The power he's displaying... none of the candidates stand a chance!"
"No. Shiro's behavior hasn't violated any exam rules," Hiruzen waved his hand. It was clear he was biased toward Shiro. "Let it play out."
---
Soon, Shiro, riding a sea of churning wood, completely surrounded Gaara's trio.
"What a coincidence, for us to meet here!" Shiro called out from atop a massive tree root.
It must be said that Gaara and his team were incredibly unlucky.
"Do you want our scrolls? We can give them all to you!"
It was hard to imagine such submissive words coming from the mouth of the arrogant Gaara. So much so that even Kankuro couldn't believe his ears.
Gaara's expression as he looked at Shiro became increasingly solemn. His internal demon, Shukaku, was screaming in fear. He knew he absolutely couldn't be a match for Shiro, even if he fully transformed. He probably wouldn't even last three moves.
And for some reason, Gaara instinctively feared that sea of trees beneath Shiro's feet. It felt like a natural predator.
"Scrolls? I don't care much for those things," Shiro shook his head, his gaze directed straight at Gaara. He had already collected enough scrolls to pass ten times over just by catching a few unlucky teams.
"Then what is your goal?" Gaara asked, feeling very passive. Facing Shiro, he didn't even know how to resist.
"How about this, I'll give you a chance," Shiro said, a wicked glint in his eyes. "In three seconds, I will attack your brother and sister. Let's see if you can protect them."
Shiro suddenly thought of a game full of wicked humor. He wanted to test Gaara's absolute defense against his Wood Style.
"Hmph. If you kill them, what does it have to do with me?"
Unexpectedly, Gaara replied without a hint of hesitation. His expression was full of indifference.
"Wait, Gaara, are you serious?!" Temari looked at Gaara with a face of disbelief. Did she, his sister, have no place at all in his heart?
"What a cold and heartless man," Shiro sighed theatrically. "Well, let's see if you stick to that."
Shiro immediately began to control the sea of trees beneath him to attack in the direction of Temari and Kankuro. The branches on the trees twisted into sharp thorns and shot toward the two of them.
"Wind Style: Sickle Weasel!"
Temari pulled out her giant folding fan, frantically waving it to repel the barrage of wooden spikes.
But how could Shiro's max-level Wood Style be so easily broken? Just a few thorns had already forced Temari to use up all her energy, and more were coming.
Kankuro was much unluckier.
High EQ: Puppet-style ninjas are not specialized in close-quarters combat.
Low EQ: He sucked at dodging.
Kankuro didn't even have time to deploy his puppet before a wooden thorn pierced right through his thigh. Luckily it didn't hit a vital artery, otherwise Kankuro would be saying goodbye to the ninja world in the next second.
"Kankuro!" Temari cried out, her expression becoming anxious upon seeing her brother injured.
"Wind Style: Great Sickle Weasel!"
Temari used all her remaining strength, trying to summon a gale powerful enough to block the relentless assault.