- It looks that way," Asani agreed, picking up a bent and scratched strip of metal from a pile of torn rags bearing the Sunagakure no Sato sigil and showing it to her partner, "and the Sunovans are here.
- These are clearly not our recent acquaintances - Hoshi shook her head, examining the numerous damages to nature - with their injuries, surviving here and getting out is already a difficult task.
And if it's understandable - all really strong genin know a few combat techniques - then the damage to the giant tree in the form of an imprint of someone's figure is more difficult to explain. To drive a victim into the stone-hard wood like that, you need a huge force.
And Hoshi knew of only one Kumogakure team capable of doing such a thing - a fully clan-based team, with Ai, the Raikage's son, as well as the only competitors Ryo-sensei didn't recommend meeting one-on-one. Except for Uzumaki Kushina, of course.
- It looks like Cloud's strongest team got their bracelets and are now searching for the tower," Asani suggested, tossing aside the booty she'd found, "I'd hate to run into them.
- If they didn't make it to the target, they're looking for a place to sleep now," Surizawa shrugged her shoulders lifting her head to the barely visible gaps of sky in the dense green crown of the forest, "and we'd better hurry up too.
- I don't mind," the team leader nodded, and with another glance around the scene of the massacre, she scrambled up the tree and continued with her friends, jumping toward the tower.
Occasionally scaring away overly brave local wildlife, Team Seventeen began to see more and more evidence of genin activity in the Forest of Death - there were animals chopped up and pounded with kunaiami, here scorched and jutsu-ravaged vegetation, and occasionally the sparse, half-eaten bodies of genin who were too weak to survive the deadly ordeal. Some of them wore Konoha's hitai-te.
The closer the team got to the river that ran through the forest, the more signs of human presence became apparent, often, sadly for the losers of the encounter.
At times, the wind-driven explosions and sounds of battle caused them to veer slightly to the side so as not to interfere in the squabbles, but at some point, deafening explosions began to follow one after another, apparently from a single source, and after a few minutes, a deafening, oppressive silence descended on the forest.
All the birds and animals fell silent, the buzzing and chirping insects stopped, and the leaves seemed to rustle more quietly. A heavy, crushing aura of something powerful and malevolent descended upon the Forest of Death, causing the kunoichi to freeze like frightened rabbits in front of a pack of wolves.
Shhhh! Bang!
The ground shook, and with it the huge tree beneath their feet, and the genin almost flew down, but they recovered in time to regain control of their chakra, and their relatively high position allowed them to watch the aftermath of the explosion, after which the pressure disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
The blindingly bright flash and the blast of woody giants blown into the sky, along with a wave of earth blown in all directions, a few kilometers to the right of Team Seventeen, made an indelible impression, as did the blast wave that managed to penetrate even through the monolithic wall of green giants, hitting their ears.
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