"That guy is taking too long," Shiro said as he and his teammates waited for Kabuto who was still missing.
Shiro was able to reunite with Yoroi after a few hours since reaching near the centre of the forest.
So all they have to do is wait for him to finish this stage of the exam but he was taking too long.
"Something might have happened to him," Shiro said.
"Unlikely, Kabuto is a smart guy. Even if he cannot defeat his opponent he won't struggle to escape." Yoroi said to me.
It seems like he was not worried about Kabuto.
Not only that it seems like he didn't want me to go and check on him.
"And the thing is that we don't know where he really is. Trying to search for him in such a big and dangerous forest is not a good idea."He tried to persuade Shiro.
"Don't worry about having trouble searching for him. I have a solution for that." Shiro replied.
He then started to do some hand signs as he pulled out a scroll.
"A summoning jutsu?" Yoroi asked.
"Summoning jutsu. Fukuro." Shiro said as he opened the scroll, bit a small part of his thumb so that blood came out and stamped the tumb with the blood on it onto the scroll.
A blue-eyed owl with white feathers appeared alongside a small smoke screen near the scroll.
"Find the guy who is wearing glasses and has white hair," Shiro commanded as the owl flew up into the sky.
"Now all we have to do is follow him," Shiro said to Yoroi.
Yoroi's face was covered so his facial expression was not very clear but Shiro could tell it was not concealing a smile.
"A blue-eyed owl. It's kind of rare isn't it?" Yoroi asked.
"Yeah. It took a lot of time for me to find one." Shiro replied.
"Wait. I think it found Kabuto. That bastard is not very far from the place where we were at." Shiro said as he realised that the owl he summoned started flying very fast towards a direction.
He activated his enhanced form and followed the owl.
Yoroi was unable to keep up with the two but he was still able to follow them through the footprints that Shiro left behind.
*****
Shiro quickly arrived at the place where Kabuto was.
But he also saw a few familiar faces.
A pink-haired girl with a huge forehead. And Naruto and Sasuke.
They were surrounded by a horde of people that looked exactly like one another.
"Is this some type of jutsu?" Shiro said to himself.
"It must be."
Shiro did not want to jump into danger in order to save team 7 but he still needs to save Kabuto as losing one of your teammates in this test meant your whole team would be elimiated.
Naruto tried to punch one of his enemies but his body slipped through him instead of colliding.
He didn't give up and he seemed like he was trying to find the real body of his opponent but attacking one body after another but it seemed like it was all futile.
"Haaa. It seemed like I had to get into this fight after all." Shiro said as he threw two small balls made of gunpowder into his mouth.
Shiro first created a shadow clone.
Then started to do hand signs.
"Fire style. Burning ash." He said as he launched a large powerful fireball into the battlefield.
His clone tackled Naruto out of the way before his attack landed.
He then looked at the battle scene.
"It's a Genjutsu technique," he said.
It seemed like most of the body were not affected by anything apart from one body in particular that had a kunai lying beside it.
It was rolling on the ground due to the pain from the heat.
"Damn it. I was too late to get back into the ground." He cursed as he tried to put out the remaining flame on his body.
Shiro immidealy realized that he seems to be planning to use the illusion technique with an Earth release technique to eliminate Team 7 and Kabuto just from his words.
"You are finally here. Phew. I thought I was a goner for a second." Kabuto said as Shiro's real body appeared in front of him.
Shiro just looked at Kabuto.
He would complain about Kabuto's actions to help team 7 without getting any kinds of benefits if he could but the jutsu he used earlier makes him unable to speak for a while.
It was because the fire released by using two gunpowder balls was not very chakra taxing but so potent that it burned his mouth a little.
Unless he gets a lot of water or some ice he won't be able to speak for a while.
But there was a way around this.
"Why are you saving them?" Shiro's shadowclone asked Kabuto.
While it's true that Shiro's main body could not speak temporarily that does not mean a clone he created before would not be able to speak either.
"Oh. It's just that I feel like it will really be a waste if someone like Naruto or Sasuke is disqualified because of unfortunate circumstances." He replied.
At that moment Yoroi also arrived.
"Kabuto. You are late." He said.
Shiro knew that both Kabuto and Yoroi were acting a bit strangely during the entire test.
And he knew they themselves should know it too.
Which is why he is showing that he is suspicious of them.
Because if he acts clueless they will either make him cannon fodder in the future if some sort of crisis shows up or he will be used as a tool.
As long as their motives does not clash with his goal of becoming a Chunin he has no intention to clash or work alongside them.
"Let's hurry up. There isn't much time left. We need to get to that area and open the scrolls." Yoroi said.
"You were gone for a while. So you have the other scroll that we need. Right?" Shiro asked.
"Here it is." Kabuto showed the scroll out in the open like a dumbass.
Shiro was a bit irritated because he knew Kabuto was just pretending to be dumb and kindhearted.
"Then let's meet again," Kabuto said goodbye to Team 7.
"Hmm."
This is the second time he has helped them in particular. Whoever he is working for must be after the Nine-Tails fox or the Uchiha's unique bloodline power. Shiro thought in his mind.
Well if that's all that they are after it has nothing to do with me. Shiro thought as he tagged alongside Kabuto and Yoroi to complete the second phase of the exam.