It's better to be a rebel ninja than to be a Hokage

Konoha, Training Ground No. 44, Forest of Death.

The animals and plants growing in the Death Forest are dozens of times larger than those in the outside world.

The towering trees swallowed up even the sunlight, and all you could see was darkness.

It was as if it was indicating that any ninja who entered would eventually be swallowed by the darkness.

Outside the Death Forest surrounded by iron bars, the examiner of the second exam, Mitarashi Anko, was watching the three members of Team 7.

"You are so lucky. I was just about to disqualify you from the exam."

Hongdou looked at the candidates gathered in front of her, a total of 60 people, all present.

"I will now explain the rules of the second exam to you in detail."

Hongdou shook the stack of papers in her hand and said, "While I explain the exam rules, please pass the consent forms to each other and sign your names."

Naruto took the consent form from the other examinees and briefly read through its contents.

There are quite a lot of words, but there is only one meaning between the lines.

That is, the candidates are fully responsible for their own death or injury while taking the second exam.

"I didn't expect that they would give compensation."

Naruto took the pencil from Sakura and signed his name on the consent form.

But think about it, this is a multi-national joint exam after all. Ninjas from friendly countries come to take the exam, and if they die in Konoha and can't go back, they have to find another way to return home.

Konoha is not a poor small ninja village, so it is naturally willing to use some compensation to resolve possible conflicts between countries.

"Naruto, this is not funny."

Sakura took the pencil back from Naruto and handed it back to Sasuke.

"It looks like you've all signed your names."

Hongdou pointed at the small wooden house behind her which was covered by a black cloth and the interior could not be seen clearly:

"Those who have signed the consent form will go to the exchange office in the form of three-person ninja teams to exchange the consent form for the scrolls used in the exam."

"But before you exchange the scroll, listen to my explanation of the exam first."

Hongdou took out a map of the Death Forest and showed it to everyone.

The diameter of the Death Forest is 20 kilometers, and it serves as both a training ground and an ecological park.

The second exam was a "survival exercise".

Candidates will be assigned to one of the 44 entrances of the practice field to take the formal examination.

But there are additional requirements.

First, candidates must move towards the 10-kilometer radius of the Death Forest, which is the tower built in the center of the training ground;

Secondly, the second exam is a ninja class vs. ninja class team battle;

Third, before the second exam, the Chunin examiner will use the consent form in the hands of each ninja class to exchange one of the black and white scrolls of "Heaven" and "Earth" for the examinees - that is, the 60 examinees will be divided into 20 ninja classes, 10 of which will have the scroll of "Heaven" and 10 of which will have the scroll of "Earth";

Fourthly, the three members of the same ninja class must collect the "Heaven" and "Earth" scrolls and enter the high tower in the center of the training ground to pass the test;

Fifth, there is absolutely no restriction on the means by which candidates compete for the scroll, nor on their killing behavior;

Sixth, no form of waiver is allowed after the exam begins. The exam will last for 5 days, starting at 6 pm today and ending at 5 pm on the 6th day.

“The ninja class that exceeded the exam time did not get the complete ‘Heaven’ and ‘Earth’ scrolls to enter the tower;

Open the scroll without permission before entering the tower;

And if a member of the ninja class dies or is unable to continue the exam midway - the above situations will be judged as a failure of the exam. "

Hongdou explained the elimination rules to everyone again.

"Examiner Anko! It's almost time."

Other Chunin examiners spoke up to remind Anko.

"I see!"

Hongdou turned her head and responded, saying to everyone, "Now wait for our examiner to call and go to the exchange office to receive the scrolls in the form of ninja class."

"Then each of you will choose the entrance to the exam. The examiner waiting in front of the entrance will open the entrance for you at six o'clock sharp!"

Anko left the next task to the other Chunin examiners.

"Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura!"

Shouts came from inside the tightly covered wooden house.

Unexpectedly, Class 7, which arrived at the examination room last, would be the first ninja class to receive the scroll.

"Let's go."

Naruto glanced at the other examinees and motioned for Sasuke and Sakura to follow him as they headed towards the cabin.

……

Death Forest Training Ground, Entrance 14.

The three students from Class 7 waited quietly for the official exam time to arrive.

"Time is up."

In front of them, the Chunin examiner in charge of opening the training ground suddenly spoke.

As soon as the entrance door was pushed open, the three members of Class 7 rushed into the training ground in an instant.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto, the three of them jumped on the tall trees in the order of front, middle and back.

The sun can still be seen at six in the evening in summer, but the densely packed trees in the Death Forest are too huge.

No matter what time of day it is, it is "night".

"You can't rely on light to tell the time, so you might end up exceeding the five-day time limit before you know it."

As soon as he entered the Forest of Death, Sasuke discovered the first difficult problem.

"We can only find the ninja team that has the scroll of 'Earth' that corresponds to the scroll of 'Heaven' in our hands as soon as possible!"

Sakura responded.

Sasuke looked back at Sakura.

"Don't be too anxious for now. As we discussed when we entered the training ground, tonight we will mainly search for places that can be used as bases. If we encounter other ninja squads along the way, we will decide whether to contact them based on the actual situation."

Then Sasuke said to Naruto:

"Once we have found a place to rest, Naruto will use his shadow clone to confirm the safety zone around the place. We should try to avoid conflicts on the first night. Everyone is most energetic when they first enter the training ground. If we cannot end the battle quickly, it is likely to attract other people."

"I see."

Naruto replied to Sasuke that he understood.

But his mind wasn't on his conversation with Sasuke.

As soon as he entered the Forest of Death, Naruto used the Wind Caressing Dawn Technique.

There was a powerful chakra that seemed to know the route of Team 7.

Heading straight towards the direction of Class 7.

Naruto knew very well who the owner of this chakra was——

——Orochimaru is really... impatient.

"dangerous!"

Sasuke finally noticed something was wrong, and he immediately reminded Naruto and Sakura loudly.

But the next moment, a violent hurricane blew towards the three people in Class 7!

This hurricane can even uproot the towering trees in the Forest of Death!

"Damn it!"

Sasuke cursed as the hurricane separated him from Naruto and Sakura.

……

Naruto looked at the 14th entrance to the training ground.

With the perception of the Wind Caressing Dawn Technique, Naruto already knew that the Chunin examiner who was originally responsible for opening the door had already left after locking it again.

Just like in the original work, Orochimaru's technique to attack Team 7 is still the powerful wind jutsu.

This saved Naruto from having to bother with a cumbersome backup plan.

Naruto reached out and erased the Flying Thunder God Seal from the iron bars.

Once again, he used the Wind Caressing Dawn Technique to sense the location of Sasuke and Sakura.

Orochimaru was near Sasuke, but Sakura was farther away.

Orochimaru, who desires Sasuke's body, will not kill Sasuke, and no matter where Sasuke is in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru will definitely find him.

But that's not necessarily the case for Sakura.

Sasuke now only has a single magatama Sharingan. Orochimaru, who has studied the Sharingan, is likely to kill Sakura in order to evolve Sasuke's Sharingan into a double or even triple magatama.

But as long as Sakura was kept away from Orochimaru, Orochimaru wouldn't waste his time dealing with her.

So Naruto had marked Sakura with Flying Thunder God before, and then with the help of Orochimaru's hurricane, he created the illusion that Sakura was blown away by the wind.

Pull her out of the battle between Sasuke and Orochimaru.

After making sure he had no worries, Naruto sensed another stream of chakra.

It seems that those three still couldn't escape the fate of being killed by Gaara...

In that case——it’s time to deal with Yakushi Kabuto.