Chapter 137: Battles Everywhere
On the western side of the canyon, a team from the Hidden Grass Village was cautiously exploring. It had been fifteen minutes since they had entered from starting point 3. Though they didn't have all the information, they had already discovered that their map was incomplete. But they couldn't deduce anything more from it and decided to explore the canyon first.
They came to a stream, the sound of a distant waterfall echoing through the canyon. The rushing water was a helpful cover, masking their movements.
Suddenly, a large boulder by the stream shed its disguise, and a Stone Village team emerged, launching a surprise attack.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Three earthen walls shot up from the ground, trapping the Grass team in a U-shape. The Stone team surrounded them. "You're in an ambush," the leader said, his eyes predatory. "Hand over the map."
The three of them seemed to have just graduated from the Academy and were not yet so ruthless as to kill for the map.
The Grass team, of course, was not willing to give it up. They drew their kunai.
"You've probably already figured out that the map is incomplete," the Stone leader said. "But there are dozens of teams, and there can't be dozens of different maps. Why don't you just show us your map? If it's the same as ours, we'll let you go."
The Grass team hesitated. They were no match for the ninja of a great village. Though it seemed they still had a fighting chance, the exam had just begun, and they didn't see the need for a fight to the death, especially since they didn't even understand the rules yet. "We can show you," their leader said, "but we have to look at it together."
The Stone team thought for a moment and agreed.
Just as the two teams were about to take out their maps, a senbon shot out from the forest and embedded itself in one of the Stone ninja.
"Ah!"
Both teams immediately turned to the forest. A wooden puppet, draped in a tattered cloak, floated out from the trees.
"Dammit, it's a puppet! Those Sand bastards! Find the puppet master!"
The Stone leader charged at the puppet. The puppet master couldn't be far. If he could just hold the puppet, his teammates could find and defeat him.
"I'll cover you!"
But he soon discovered, to his horror, that he was no match for it.
The puppet was humanoid, and it moved with no lag, its taijutsu skills even greater than his own. He felt that his own body was less flexible than this block of wood.
The Grass team had been about to join the fight, but seeing this, they decided that this unknown enemy was too strong. They prepared to flee. They had only agreed to the Stone's demands under duress anyway.
But a female ninja had appeared behind them. She charged forward, kicked one of the stunned Grass ninja, and then, with just her taijutsu, quickly knocked them all out.
"Tch. Are the ninja from the small villages this weak?"
On the other side, the Stone ninja who was fighting the puppet was also losing. His only hope now was that his teammates could find the puppet master.
But his only answer was the sound of his teammate's scream.
Hearing the scream, he lost his focus and was caught in the puppet's embrace. A barrage of poison needles shot from its various mechanisms, and he was turned into a human pincushion, collapsing in a pool of his own blood.
Sasori emerged from the forest, his face a mask of calm. Behind him, another puppet was dragging the last of the Stone ninja. He had been controlling two puppets at once, and had taken out two of the Stone ninja by himself.
Pakura was not surprised. This puppet master, the youngest of their team, was a terrifying prodigy. He could already control two puppets at once, and she felt that this was not even his limit.
Seeing that the battle was over, Yashamaru, the medical-nin, also emerged from the forest. But since no one on their team was injured, he hesitated for a moment, then began to treat the wounded Stone ninja.
Sasori said nothing. Pakura just sighed. "Just patch them up," she said. "Don't waste too much chakra. The Rain ninja will be here to deal with them soon."
Yashamaru nodded.
Pakura took the maps from the two teams and compared them to her own. One of them was the same, the other was different. She began to study it.
Just then, a Rain ninja appeared from nowhere. From his height, he was clearly not a contestant. He was wearing a mask with the character for "test" written on it.
He saw Yashamaru treating the wounded and gave a silent thumbs-up. He would report this. This kind of behavior would surely earn him some extra points. Though the Rain was prepared for deaths, they wanted this to be a "grand event," not a brutal death match. They didn't want too many casualties.
"We'll take it from here," the masked ninja said. "You can go."
Pakura nodded and left with Sasori and Yashamaru.
Meanwhile, in the central part of the canyon, two lucky Sand teams had drawn the same starting point. They had immediately met up, exchanged information, and the other teams, seeing their numbers, had cautiously avoided them.
A Sand ninja with a headscarf was carefully studying the two maps. He was clearly the brains of the group.
Besides the fact that they were for different areas, there seemed to be nothing special about them. With no labels, no scale, and no contour lines, they looked more like landscape paintings.
"Well? Find anything?"
"Not yet," the man with the headscarf said, shaking his head. "We probably need to find two maps of the same area, or we just don't have enough pieces. But in any case, the map is the only thing the examiners gave us. We should try to get more."
"We were lucky to meet up so early," another said. "We can try to find the other Sand teams. If we can find Pakura-senpai's squad, that would be great."
The others all nodded. Pakura was a little older than them, a famous prodigy of the village's younger generation. If they could team up with her, things would be much easier.
Just then, an arrogant voice came from above. "A bunch of small fry are still small fry, even when they're together. Why don't you just hand over the maps? We might let you live."
A girl with a strange hairstyle and a pair of swords on her back was looking down at them from a large boulder. Beside her were two others, a very tall male ninja, who looked to be about two meters tall, and a pale-faced female ninja who said nothing.
The Sand ninja immediately stood up and faced them.
"The exam has just begun," the man with the headscarf said calmly. "We should probably avoid a conflict. Otherwise, if we attract other teams, who knows who will have the last laugh."