Orochimaru's strategy worked flawlessly.
Over the next day, two or three Kumo squads were drawn in by the signal flare and were swiftly eliminated by Orochimaru and the others.
With Orochimaru's Earth Style, Shinku's genjutsu, Jiraiya's Needle Jizō, and Sakumo's assassination techniques, not a single Kumo shinobi managed to escape.
Three Konoha squads also arrived after spotting the signal. One of them had previously been ambushed near the Central Tower and barely escaped, so they wholeheartedly supported Orochimaru's plan.
Thanks to this team's firsthand account, combined with Orochimaru and the others' overwhelming strength—and after subduing a few arrogant Uchiha and Hyūga members—the effort to rally the remaining Konoha genin went remarkably smoothly.
With the aid of the Byakugan, they located several more Konoha shinobi. By dusk, Orochimaru had assembled a team of eighteen—practically every remaining Konoha genin left in the Forest of Traps.
"We can't delay any longer," Orochimaru declared. "If we wait, the Kumo squads roaming outside will regroup. We hit the Central Tower now."
There was no doubt—Orochimaru, before his descent into darkness, had genuine leadership. He didn't speak often, but when he did, his judgment was always on point.
All the gathered genin nodded and prepared for the march.
As they moved, the group naturally formed a three-layered formation. Hyūga clan members took the outermost ring, using their Byakugan to scout for ambushes and traps. Alongside them were Sakumo, Jiraiya, and other taijutsu specialists forming the first defensive line.
The second ring was composed of ninjutsu specialists like Orochimaru.
The innermost layer held support-type ninja like Shinku and Tsunade—those skilled in genjutsu or medical techniques but not suited for frontline combat.
As they approached the Central Tower, Orochimaru's ninjutsu squad began preparing techniques in advance.
At his signal, all Konoha genin let out a unified shout and charged. A massive combo of Wind Style and Fire Style jutsu surged toward the enemy's densest position—scouted earlier by the Hyūga.
Massive fireballs instantly incinerated several Kumo genin, catching their ambush squad completely off guard. As they scrambled to counter with their own jutsu, a second wave of Earth Style techniques formed defensive walls in front of the Konoha side.
The Kumo Lightning Style attacks fizzled harmlessly against the combined Earth Style walls, unable to make a dent.
After just two waves of coordinated ninjutsu, the Konoha forces had broken into the Kumo perimeter. What followed was close-quarters combat.
In that melee, Sakumo, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were unstoppable. Void Severance, Needle Jizō, and Chakra Scalpel—those three techniques alone claimed the lives of several Kumo genin in mere minutes.
Within five minutes, more than half of the Kumo ambush squad had fallen. The remaining Kumo shinobi panicked. Against a fully coordinated squad of nearly twenty Konoha genin, their fragmented resistance was hopeless.
Five or six Kumo genin fled in terror, abandoning their position at the Central Tower.
It was a decisive victory for Konoha.
Counting the survivors still scattered in the forest, Kumo's remaining force was likely less than twelve. Konoha still had all eighteen of their genin intact. The most severe injury was a few broken bones.
Even better, scavenging through the bodies yielded six more scrolls.
With those, plus the five already held by Orochimaru's group and the ones brought by the newly joined squads, Konoha had amassed fourteen scrolls—securing absolute control of the Chūnin Exams.
Orochimaru kept only one scroll to ensure Hoshiyomi's advancement. The remaining scrolls he left for the teams to divide as they saw fit. No one complained; in fact, they praised Orochimaru's fairness and selflessness.
The Konoha group camped outside the Central Tower until noon the next day.
At exactly twelve o'clock, the tower's gates opened.
None of them paid attention to the enraged Kumo survivors glaring from the treeline. With fourteen scrolls in hand, it no longer mattered. No matter how the third round played out, Konoha had already won.
This wasn't just a Chūnin Exam anymore—it was a tactical showdown between nations.
And Konoha's dominance was now undeniable.
When the scrolls were handed over, the sheer number—fourteen—shocked every other village. Orochimaru and the others immediately gained notoriety, their names rapidly spreading throughout the shinobi world as rising stars of Konoha.
Kumo, in contrast, submitted only five scrolls.
The final scroll came from a team from Yugakure (Hot Water Village), who had gone completely to ground. It was later said that they spent three days hiding in swampy terrain, barely surviving on rations, avoiding all conflict.
Most had assumed their scroll had been destroyed like Hoshiyomi's. But just before time expired, the trio staggered into the Central Tower, muddy and starved.
No one could decide if they were pacifists… or simply masters of evasion.
From Konoha's side, all candidates successfully advanced. Gekkō Hoshiyomi passed without lifting a finger. The remaining eight advancement slots were given based on ranking and performance to eight other genin.
Kumo and the surviving team from Yugakure gave their single scrolls to their strongest team members.
With that, the second phase of the exam officially ended. Tsunade and the others escorted Hoshiyomi back to the hot springs inn.
He woke up shortly after arriving.
When told he had advanced without doing anything, Hoshiyomi didn't complain. Konoha had already crushed Kumo in terms of numbers. There was no need for him to heroically give up his advancement slot just because he wasn't in perfect shape.
It wasn't like he was some martyr.
Besides—wasn't there that "master of hiding" from Yugakure still in the running? If he got matched against that guy, he might win without ever needing to use chakra.
What mattered now was figuring out the curse mark on his back.
Back at the inn, Hoshiyomi checked his reflection in the mirror.
Yep. Definitely edgy as hell.
He gave a full report to Torifu on everything that had happened in the Forest of Traps.
When Torifu heard about a Kumo genin enhancing himself by consuming Two-Tails flesh for a suicidal battle against Hoshiyomi, his eyes lit up.
That incident alone would give them the leverage they needed to strike Kumo politically—such underhanded tactics wouldn't go unanswered.
As for the Kaga Cult, Torifu promised to report it directly to the Hokage. He vowed to send a squad to the Land of Rivers to completely root out any remaining cultists.
With those matters handled, it was time to examine the strange marking on Hoshiyomi's back.
Torifu summoned Koharu Utatane, and the two of them had Hoshiyomi lie down and remove his shirt. They began studying the eerie skeletal sigil burned into his back with the intensity of researchers dissecting a newly discovered jutsu.