Chapter 72
Meanwhile, on the other side of the training ground.
Inuzuka Kiba was strolling leisurely through the woods with his hands in his pockets, Akamaru trotting beside him.
Since he already had one mission scroll that guaranteed passing the exercise,
there was no need to rush like the other students—he could just take his time wandering.
Finding more scrolls would earn higher marks, but even without them he had a safety net.
Suddenly, the bushes ahead rustled, and a familiar figure stepped out.
Kiba tensed defensively at first, but relaxed immediately when he recognized the person.
It was Iruka-sensei passing through the area.
"Oh? It's Kiba."
Iruka smiled warmly, as though surprised to run into him here: "How's the exercise going? Any luck?"
"Iruka-sensei!" Kiba snapped to attention, his face lighting up with delight: "Are you patrolling this area?"
"Yeah, just checking on everyone's performance."
Iruka nodded naturally and continued: "If you've already found a mission scroll, you can hand it to me now. I can give you early credit for perfect completion."
His tone was full of encouragement.
Kiba's eyes widened in joy: "Really? Awesome! I just found one!"
With that, he smoothly pulled a scroll from his back pouch.
Clearly written in the center was the character "壹" (one).
He held it respectfully in both hands and offered it to Iruka.
Yet the corner of his mouth curled into a faint, barely noticeable smirk.
Iruka looked at the scroll before him, his expression seeming to soften for a moment. He reached out and took it.
"Well done," he said warmly to Kiba. "You actually found one first."
"Now you can head back to the entrance and wait for the others. I won't disturb you—I'll just…"
Before he finished speaking, the scroll in his hand suddenly began to writhe!
The surface "壹" character twisted and morphed into patterns.
In the blink of an eye, the scroll in his palm transformed into a fat, furry, palm-sized caterpillar that wriggled nonstop!
"Aaaahhh—BUG!!!"
Iruka-sensei let out a piercing shriek.
His hand jerked as if electrocuted, flinging the caterpillar away.
Even after throwing it, he kept shaking his hand frantically, his face pale as death.
With his frantic movements and reaction—
Poof!
White smoke burst open. Iruka vanished.
In his place stood Haruno Sakura, eyes brimming with a few tears of lingering shock.
From the nearby bushes, Yamanaka Ino poked her head out, face full of disbelief.
This plan had been her idea.
She had overheard Kiba's voice nearby earlier and guessed he might have a scroll.
So she convinced Sakura to use Transformation Technique to impersonate Iruka and trick the scroll out of him.
Sakura's chakra control had always been excellent—her transformation was virtually flawless.
She never expected Kiba to see through it…
"Pfft—Hahahahahaha!"
Across from them, Kiba was already doubled over clutching his stomach, laughing so hard tears streamed down his face.
Akamaru spun in circles beside him, barking happily.
"My nose and Akamaru's aren't decorations!"
Kiba finally managed to stop laughing, raising his chin proudly.
Pointing at the black-faced Ino who was walking out, he taunted: "We already noticed you two hiding over there watching us."
"We thought you were just passing by at first, but you actually followed us the whole way."
"Trying to trick me? You're a hundred years too early! Bleh~"
He stuck his tongue out at Ino.
Then he scooped up Akamaru: "Akamaru, let's go!!"
With that, his figure flashed and skillfully vanished into the woods.
"Don't run—!"
Ino stomped her foot in frustration on the spot, realizing she couldn't catch up to Kiba.
Helpless, she could only comfort the still-shaken Sakura, who was staring at her own palm in lingering horror.
"Damn Inuzuka Kiba! I'll remember this!"
Ino's shout echoed through the training ground.
…
"Huh? Did I just hear Ino's voice? Or am I imagining things?"
Unlike the tense atmosphere gripping most of the students in the training ground, a peaceful scene unfolded beside a small stream on the eastern side.
Nara Shikamaru lay lazily in the shade of a large tree on the riverbank clearing.
A blade of grass dangled from his mouth, eyes gazing at the sunlight filtering through the leaves, looking on the verge of falling asleep.
Crunch… crunch…
Chōji was focused on demolishing his bag of chips.
"I heard it too—sounded like it had something to do with Kiba. Hey, Shikamaru…"
Chōji mumbled through a mouthful of chips: "Where do you think the teachers hid the scrolls?"
Shikamaru rolled over: "Obviously, the kinds of places ninja hide intel—hollowed-out tree trunks, hidden rock crevices, buried in the ground, bird nests in the treetops… heck, there might even be one in the river right next to us."
He paused, continuing his analysis: "And to make sure we can find them, they'd definitely leave some traces on purpose."
"In the end, if you're willing to spend the time searching, you'll find them."
Chōji stared wide-eyed and let out an exaggerated "Wow!"
"Shikamaru, you're so smart! Then let's go look for them!"
"Nope." Shikamaru shot him down immediately: "Searching for this stuff is too much trouble. Plus there might be people trying to steal them later. I'd rather just lie here until the exercise ends."
He only wanted to be a theoretical powerhouse—brain work was fine, physical work was a no.
Chōji nodded half-understandingly, feeling Shikamaru had a point.
So he contentedly kept Shikamaru company in this peaceful, timeless moment.
The two continued enjoying their leisurely time during the exercise.
…
Guided by the reflection map from the watchtower,
Naruto's team didn't waste much effort before finding their second hidden mission scroll atop the canopy of a massive tree.
The scroll was marked with (seven).
"Great! The second one!"
After stowing the scroll, all three broke into happy smiles.
Now their team only needed one more—they were in the lead.
However, their good mood didn't last long.
When the trio hurried toward the third suspected location based on the map in their memories,
they found the spot had already been disturbed. A shallow pit lay exposed, completely empty.
"Someone beat us to it… They probably just left not long ago."
Sasuke crouched down and carefully examined the traces.
Fresh footprints in the soil—not just one person. Their classmates really weren't slow.
They were all students from Iruka's class—their basic ninja skills were quite solid.
Hinata activated her Byakugan and scanned the surroundings. She couldn't spot the classmates who had taken the scroll anymore.
Naruto scratched his head, though he wasn't too discouraged: "Can't be helped—everyone's pretty fast. Only one location left we haven't checked…"
But Sasuke looked eager to test himself: "How about… following the tracks and tracking down the ones who found that scroll?"
Taking scrolls from others was part of the exercise rules.
Naruto fell into thought as well.
It wasn't that he had any psychological resistance—he just didn't want to prioritize stealing scrolls yet.
If possible, he'd rather try to find the last scroll at the remaining point first.
At that moment, Xuanming inside the seal space sensed something unusual.
He appeared directly before Naruto.
"Naruto, it seems some strange creature has entered the training ground. Want to go check it out?"
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