Chapter 78: Chunin Exam Confrontation
Kaito then focused on sensing his surroundings. He thought after sensing:
"Indeed. There are two ANBU members hidden nearby. Or rather, one ANBU and one Root operative. I suspect Danzo wouldn't ignore Konoha's lone Jinchuriki."
He sighed, thinking,
"Hmm, although I really want to meet him now, it might cause too many variables in the future timeline. Not to mention, it would also attract the attention of the Hokage and Danzo. Let's save this meeting for later—at least until I can calculate and control these variables, and until I'm strong enough to face these two ANBU members, in case they have any hostile intentions. Sigh, this means I have to go to another restaurant."
Kaito then walked toward a nearby sushi restaurant. After lunch, he found a newsstand near his apartment and subscribed to the daily newspaper.
After completing the C-rank mission, Team Renjiro resumed their regular training schedule.
A week without training suddenly made the morning workout much more difficult.
When they gathered after their rest period, Mieko asked, "Sensei, when can we go on our next mission?"
Hodaka looked over with interest. Renjiro casually said, "C-rank missions take much longer than D-rank missions, so we only do one per month. The rest of the time we focus on your training."
Upon hearing this, Mieko's shoulders slumped. This meant there was no escaping these brutal training sessions.
While Kaito and his teammates were training, two genin squads confronted each other deep in the Forest of Death. Both squads consisted of three boys.
However, one squad consisted of genin who were only 10-11 years old. The other squad consisted of three genin who were nearly 17 years old.
The younger squad was from Konoha, while the older squad was from Kusagakure.
Uchiha Rai looked at his opponents. They were much older than him, but he wasn't worried. After all, they weren't from the Uchiha Clan.
Minoru Yokota, one of the genin from Kusagakure, arrogantly said, "It seems we're lucky. Konoha sent some little babies to participate in the exam."
Yoshiaki Yokota laughed and added, "You little kids, why don't you hand over your scroll to us and run back to your mommies?"
These words infuriated Uchiha Rai. He angrily said, "What did you say! I'll show you the power of—"
However, his words were interrupted by his teammate. Hatake Kaon said calmly, "Calm down. They're just trying to provoke you."
Takihiko Tomiya laughed and replied, "Oh, we're not provoking you. We're just stating facts."
Senju Teru sighed and said, "They really are arrogant."
Hatake Kaon chuckled and added, "Especially considering they're still genin at their age."
Takihiko Tomiya bristled, "Old? Then let me show you!"
He quickly began forming hand seals. However, Senju Teru slammed his hands on the ground and shouted, "Too late!"
As soon as Senju Teru pressed his hands on the ground, stone spears erupted from the earth, completely surrounding the Kusagakure squad.
Seeing their predicament, the Kusa-nin stopped their hand seals and quickly leaped high into nearby trees.
Uchiha Rai was already forming hand seals, shouting in his mind, "Got them!"
He unleashed Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique.
Seeing the fireballs flying toward them, Minoru Yokota and Yoshiaki Yokota quickly formed hand seals and cast Water Release: Water Formation Wall.
Once the hand seals were complete, a water barrier began forming between the Kusagakure shinobi and the fireballs.
The water barrier fully formed at the last moment, successfully protecting them from the flames.
However, Senju Teru used this opportunity to launch stone spears at the airborne Kusagakure shinobi.
The stone spears easily pierced through the water barrier, forcing the Kusa-nin to block them with kunai and land on nearby tree branches.
As soon as they landed on the branches, they began forming hand seals again.
However, before they could complete their jutsu, a tanto appeared behind Yoshiaki Yokota, piercing his heart. Hatake Kaon, who had appeared behind Yoshiaki, whispered, "Game over."
He pulled out the tanto, and a lifeless body fell from the tree.
Seeing their teammate die was a massive shock to the Kusagakure shinobi, especially for his cousin, Minoru Yokota. He shouted, "I'll kill you!"
Seeing Minoru Yokota lose his composure, Takihiko Tomiya panicked. He quickly shouted, "Minoru, wait!"
However, his shouts went unheard. Minoru completed his hand seals and unleashed Water Release: Water Bullet Technique. He fired the water bullet directly at Hatake Kaon.
However, Hatake Kaon simply moved behind the tree trunk, completely dodging the attack.
Seeing his attack miss, Minoru Yokota became even more enraged. He leaped toward Hatake Kaon's position.
Sensing this opening, Senju Teru quickly formed hand seals.
Seeing Senju Teru preparing his jutsu, Takihiko quickly completed his hand seals and shot a water bullet directly at Senju Teru.
But Uchiha Rai noticed this and thought, "Not on my watch."
He quickly unleashed Fire Release: Fireball Technique, intercepting the water bullet.
Meanwhile, Senju Teru fired a stone spear directly at Minoru Yokota. The jutsu struck Minoru Yokota's left ribs, knocking him off balance.
Seeing his teammate at a disadvantage, Takihiko Tomiya wanted to rush over to help.
However, he was intercepted by Uchiha Rai and Senju Teru. They engaged him in combat, preventing him from reaching Minoru Yokota.
The stone spear had caused significant damage to Minoru Yokota, but he gritted his teeth, endured the pain, and continued fighting.
He grabbed a kunai and continued advancing toward Hatake Kaon.
After closing the distance, he attacked with the kunai. Hatake Kaon raised his tanto to block the strike.
Although Minoru Yokota's attack was powerful, when the kunai and tanto collided, an electric current surged through the kunai into Minoru's hand.
Though not fatal, it was extremely painful, and Minoru Yokota had to release the kunai.
Hatake Kaon sneered, thinking, "Lightning Release: Current Transfer Technique. Never fails!"
He stepped forward and slashed at Minoru Yokota's neck with his tanto.
Minoru Yokota, blinded by rage, with damaged ribs, excruciating pain coursing through him, and still feeling the electric shock, was unable to dodge. The blade slashed straight across his throat.
His throat split open, and blood gushed out.
He looked at Hatake Kaon, his eyes full of unwillingness and regret. Unfortunately, he could no longer control his body and collapsed to the ground, dead.
Meanwhile, Takihiko Tomiya was fighting both Senju Teru and Uchiha Rai.
After several exchanges, Uchiha Rai closed the distance and unleashed Fire Release: Fireball Technique.
Senju Teru knew Takihiko would try to dodge, so he threw shuriken to cut off his escape routes.
Takihiko Tomiya had no choice but to use Water Release for defense.
After seeing the water barrier created by Takihiko Tomiya, Senju Teru thought, "All three of them have Water Release affinity, don't they? However, that isn't working in their favor."
He quickly formed hand seals and placed his hands on the ground.
Just then, the fireball had already engulfed the water barrier. Due to the shield's presence, Takihiko Tomiya was temporarily safe from the flames.
Tragically, at that exact moment, a stone spear erupted from underground. It easily pierced through the water barrier and rushed toward Takihiko Tomiya.
The stone spear caught him completely by surprise. He grabbed a kunai and tried to deflect the spear.
But the stone spear's momentum pushed him backward, knocking him out of the water barrier and directly into the fireball, burning him alive.
Seeing him dead, Senju Teru breathed a sigh of relief. He said, "That takes care of all of them."
Uchiha Rai nodded and said, "Yeah, that was easier than expected."
Senju Teru chuckled, "Indeed. I just hope that guy didn't have the scroll on him."
Uchiha Rai looked at Senju Teru with a confused expression, but he quickly realized the implication and cursed, "Damn it! If the scroll was on him, it would have turned to ash in the flames."
Just then, Hatake Kaon appeared from the shadows. He said, "Don't worry. That hothead didn't have the scroll."
Then he gently tossed the scroll into the air and said, "We're lucky that such a weak team had the exact scroll we needed."
Senju Teru said, "Perfect, we got the Earth scroll. Let's head to the Tower."
Uchiha Rai objected, "That's too boring. Why don't we try to eliminate the weaker teams still in the forest? That way there will be less competition in the next round."
Hatake Kaon shook his head and said, "That's unnecessary. This forest will naturally weed out the weak teams."
Senju Teru nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Besides, the longer we stay in the forest, the more teams will set traps near the Tower. If a team is weak enough to be eliminated by us in this round, then we can do the same in the next round anyway."
Seeing both his teammates oppose his idea, Uchiha Rai reluctantly agreed and followed his team toward the Tower.
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