As the atmosphere in the room grew tense, a sudden change on one of the monitors drew everyone's attention. Even Orochimaru and Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to look.
The screen showed Konoha's final three-man team encountering Hoshigaki Kisame and his group near the central tower!
"You should have enough scrolls by now…"
Uchiha Hisada, the leader of the Genin team, stood at the front with a serious expression as he coldly addressed Kisame and the other Kirigakure nin.
He had already obtained both the Heaven and Earth scrolls and didn't want to engage in a fight.
Kisame shrugged slightly and said, "Scrolls? Yeah, we've got plenty."
"Then step aside."
Hisada's voice was calm but firm.
Kisame let out a chuckle, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "Seems like you've misunderstood something… Sure, we've got the scrolls, but I'm not planning to let you pass. We'll face each other eventually in the third round anyway, might as well knock you all out here."
"oh, and just so you know, I've already collected six scrolls…"
His words made Uchiha Hisada's expression shift slightly.
Without hesitation, he activated his Sharingan, one tomoe spinning slowly in each eye as he tightly gripped a kunai and kept a close eye on Kisame.
"Attack." Kisame gave the command decisively and immediately launched the assault.
A fierce battle broke out between the three Kirigakure nin and the three from Konoha. Relying on the Sharingan, Hisada barely held the line at first, but as the fight dragged on, his chakra waned. Meanwhile, Kisame didn't seem to tire at all!
"Looks like you're running low on chakra. Maintaining that Sharingan must take a toll, huh…" Kisame grinned.
Then, suddenly forming hand seals, he unleashed a B-rank Water Style jutsu.
Hisada's face paled. He hadn't expected Kisame to still have the chakra to use such a technique. Forced to dodge hastily, he found it difficult in this terrain to avoid the wide-range water attack, and was ultimately hit.
"An abnormal chakra reserve… Looks like he really is a genetic outlier." Orochimaru's eyes sparkled with interest as he observed the monitor.
In contrast, the Konoha nin, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, all looked grim. With the elimination of this last team, all of Konoha's three-man squads had been wiped out!
only one contestant remained, a solo participant. or rather, one person: Hatake Kaede.
…
"So this is the Uchiha clan's Sharingan…"
Kisame walked up to the fallen Uchiha Hisada, crouching beside him with a gleam in his eyes.
The Sharingan was still a valuable prize.
But just as he reached for Hisada's eyes, a Konoha Anbu silently appeared.
Though all participants in the second round of the Chunin Exams had signed waivers acknowledging the risk of death, Konoha couldn't stand idly by when it came to someone trying to steal a Sharingan.
"Tch." Kisame clicked his tongue in annoyance. Seeing the Anbu, he knew he'd missed his chance. He withdrew his hand and stood up again.
"Well, the hunt's about done anyway. Let's move." The two other Kirigakure nin nodded and departed with him.
The Anbu glanced at Hisada's unconscious body, then looked toward the direction the enemy had retreated. His gaze was dark.
"Even a Sharingan-wielding Uchiha Genin was taken down… Kirigakure really sent in monsters this time. Konoha's gonna be the laughingstock of this Chunin Exam…"
…
Back in the monitoring room.
After watching the fight unfold, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was solemn. After a brief silence, he turned to one of the proctors and asked,
"Where's Kaede? Has he already completed the round?"
"uhm…" The proctor hesitated, clearly unsure how to explain. After a few seconds, he said,
"Well… technically, yes. He acquired the scrolls quite early and reached the tower, but he hasn't gone inside yet."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "He hasn't entered?"
"Yes." The proctor nodded.
Main examiner Yuhi Kurenai walked over, glancing at the monitor. "Maybe he's waiting to observe the others before entering. He's positioned himself so that he can go in anytime."
Hiruzen let out a small grunt of acknowledgement.
That certainly sounded like something Kaede would do. But now that the rest of the Konoha Genin were out, all the pressure for the third round would fall entirely on him.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen couldn't help but shake his head. He had already expected that Kirigakure and Kumogakure would send their elites, but the situation was even worse than anticipated. Luckily, he had personally appointed Kaede to participate.
With Kaede's strength, at least their performance in the third round wouldn't be embarrassing.
It would, at the very least, save face.
At that moment, Kaede sat silently on a protruding ledge near the central tower. His entire body was covered in a layer of dust, blending into the rocky surroundings so well that he looked like part of the cliff itself.
In the midst of the silence, he suddenly opened his eyes, a glint flashing within them. He murmured quietly,
"Finally… someone's coming."
He had been waiting here for a long time.
…
Not far from the central tower.
After defeating the last Konoha team, Kisame and the others were making their way to the second round's endpoint. The three moved in a triangular formation, with Kisame leading.
one of the rear teammates chuckled as he ran,
"Who'd have thought that the Uchiha guy our sensei warned us about would be so weak? We overestimated Konoha."
Totsukawa Yosuke grinned. "Twelve teams total. We took out six. That Uchiha guy took down one. That makes seven teams eliminated. If the Kumogakure guys manage to eliminate one more, then only three teams will remain for the third round. If they took out two, it'll be just us and them left."
That would mean they'd successfully completed their mission from Master Fuguki.
But just as Yosuke felt satisfied with their results, a strange voice suddenly sounded beside him—
"Is that so?"
The moment he heard it, Yosuke's heart contracted violently. Every hair on his body stood on end, and a wave of pure terror flooded his mind.
He tried to react, but it was already too late.
Shlick!!
In an instant—
Blood sprayed into the air.
It was as if he had walked straight into an invisible razor wire. Yosuke was sliced cleanly in half at the waist, his upper and lower halves separating in perfect symmetry.
His eyes still held a trace of shock and disbelief.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
Kisame and the other remaining Kirigakure ninja immediately sensed something was wrong and came to an abrupt stop, expressions changing drastically.
They turned their heads, and saw only Yosuke's corpse.
And standing calmly nearby, face expressionless, holding a short blade—
Was a silver-haired boy.
Hatake… Kaede.