A dark, silent cave tunnel. From time to time, a cool breeze blew in from the entrances, brushing against the faces of the two utterly dumbfounded individuals.
"Bai Xing, are your feet fitted with some kind of tracking device or what?"
The black-haired youth with a senbon in his mouth couldn't help complaining as he looked at the deep pit in the middle of the tunnel floor. Inside it, a boy was bracing himself in a spread-eagle position against the stone walls, desperately avoiding the "paint" trap below.
"Why is it that every single time you run into this trap, you manage to step right into it with such perfect luck?!"
At this moment, Shiranui Kumo was holding a small portable candle, the flickering light illuminating the face of the boy struggling below.
"I don't know either."
"Last time it was on the left! Who knew they'd switch it to the right this time!"
Nearby, the curly-haired, red-eyed young woman covered her face in embarrassment.
"Bai Xing, why do you run into problems like this every exam? Someone who can complete D-rank missions at a hundred percent success rate should have great observational skills."
As Yūhi Liuyun finished speaking, Bai Xing exerted a bit of force with both hands and feet. With a neat, graceful motion, he sprang out of the pit and landed on the tunnel floor behind them, calmly dusting off his hands.
"Relax. A little difficulty like this won't be able to—"
Whoosh!
Before the other two could even turn their heads, Bai Xing vanished straight into the ground again.
Shiranui Kumo covered his face. At this point, he felt that teaming up with Bai Xing was truly a pitfall—though, unfortunately, Bai Xing's combat power was indeed solid.
"I forgot to tell you," he added, "there's another trap there too."
"And it's the last trap on this stretch of the path."
"I know! I just let my guard down for a second! Once we're out, I definitely won't fall for it again!"
"..." ×2
Somehow, it felt like someone's mouth had been blessed with bad luck.
Hidden in a corner of the cave wall, a surveillance camera perfectly captured the entire scene.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke was clutching his stomach, laughing so hard he was nearly out of breath.
Yūhi Kurenai also covered her face, feeling that Bai Xing always seemed to deliberately showcase his unexpected antics right under the cameras.
There were only three exits in this cave, and each one had traps placed nearby. Last time, Yūhi Kurenai had personally watched footage of Bai Xing falling into a trap.
But this time was even more outrageous.
He fell into traps twice—right at the start!
Among the spectators, Orochimaru frowned slightly. He felt that something about Bai Xing was off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
At this moment, having laughed his fill, Sarutobi Shinnosuke wiped away tears and stepped forward, mocking Bai Xing:
"Impressive. Truly impressive. This is the legendary six-year genin who failed the Chūnin Exams for six straight years—the one my father thinks so highly of."
Orochimaru glanced at Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
"This is only the beginning. Let's see what happens next."
If things continued like this, he would be deeply disappointed in Bai Xing as a team-leading teacher.
—A teacher whose performance was worse than his own students' had no business being called qualified.
...
Time ticked by, second by second. The various teams began searching for one another, attempting to seize the scrolls in their opponents' possession.
This time, the scroll distribution allowed for four and a half pairs of Heaven and Earth scrolls.
"Ahhh!!!"
A genin walking through a river stepped on a trap hidden beneath the water. A net of rope instantly snapped shut, binding him tightly.
"Help me—!"
His two teammates rushed over immediately, but a Konoha chūnin squad—lying in ambush nearby and playing the role of Iwagakure ninja—suddenly emerged.
"What an unexpected bonus. We were ambushing Rain ninja, and instead we caught a few Konoha ninja."
"Right? Can't even walk on water properly and you dare come to the battlefield. Typical Konoha ninja."
"Why waste words on them? Just deal with them."
As the jōnin spoke, the two chūnin fell silent. The Konoha jōnin began forming hand seals. The three genin swallowed nervously, but one of them reacted in time and shouted:
"We're no match for him—retreat!"
The boy grabbed a kunai and cut loose the teammate hanging by the rope at the riverbank, who had already swallowed several mouthfuls of water.
"Run! Xiao!"
At that moment, the Konoha jōnin completed his jutsu—truthfully, he had finished long ago, but had deliberately slowed his hand seals.
Standing on the riverbank, dressed in Iwagakure attire, the Konoha jōnin completed the final Snake seal.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
"Konoha ninja—just obediently die here!"
As the jōnin roared, the three genin felt the ground tremble beneath their feet. In the next instant, countless sharp, cone-shaped stone spikes erupted continuously from the ground in front of him.
Rumble—!
When the jōnin looked up, he saw that all three genin had barely managed to evade. He nodded faintly in approval.
Whether it was the casting speed, the range, or the power, this was far inferior to a real B-rank ninjutsu.
"Running away is a good instinct. If you'd gone down that easily, that would've been…"
Whoosh—
A kunai shot out from the forest. The Konoha jōnin twisted his body and dodged it.
A trace of anger appeared on his face.
"Hahaha—"
"Stop laughing. The captain's face just went dark."
The two Konoha chūnin straightened immediately, standing at attention and awaiting orders.
"The mission requirement was for the examinees to avoid attacks—not to provoke us."
"But since they chose to provoke…"
The jōnin's face curved into a "kind" smile.
"Then don't blame me, a jōnin, for suppressing these little seedlings."
"Pursue them and capture them. Otherwise, you can forget about keeping your chūnin status."
"Yes!" ×2
The two chūnin immediately gave chase in the direction the three genin had fled.
"Hey, he looks like he snapped."
"And you still say that! Weren't you the one who threw the kunai and pissed him off?!"
"It should be fine, right? We're running now."
The team—two boys and one girl—raced deeper into the forest, with two "Iwagakure ninja" in hot pursuit.
Before long, however, the genin's stamina clearly began to drop. And since the Konoha chūnin chosen for these roles were no weaklings, the distance between them rapidly closed.
"I say, you three," one of the chūnin called out as he ran along the tree trunks, forming seals at such speed that it was almost impossible to follow,
"You've angered Captain Hirata. We can't just let you go now."
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
Hearing it was Water Release, the male and female genin at the front tried to use the Substitution Technique. At the same time, the other chūnin unleashed his own jutsu:
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A violent gale slammed into the two genin, pinning them in place and preventing them from forming seals. Simultaneously, the torrent of water shot forward.
Bang! Bang!
The two were slammed one after the other into tree trunks ahead, collapsing to the ground and losing all combat capability.
Only one genin remained—Xiao—clutching a kunai, nervously forming hand seals. The two chūnin crossed their arms, standing on tree branches, looking down on him with disdain.
Under their gaze, Xiao finally completed the last Tiger seal.
A blazing orange-red fireball shot forth from the black-haired boy's mouth.
"Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"
"As expected, a D-rank technique. No improvement at all among this year's genin."
One of the chūnin scratched his head. Facing the incoming fireball, he merely sidestepped to dodge it.
Believing he had found an opening, Xiao gripped his kunai and charged forward.
The other chūnin noticed that, in his panic, the boy had completely ignored his presence.
The chūnin instantly appeared at Xiao's side and drove a punch into his abdomen. The intense pain made Xiao drop his weapon, clutching his stomach as he rolled across the ground.
"Feels like it's your first time taking the Chūnin Exams. How many C-rank missions have you even done?"
Hearing the ridicule, Xiao gritted his teeth.
"Konoha ninja would never leak their village's intelligence!"
The two Konoha chūnin: "..."
Did he seriously think he was still in the exam?
Just as they were about to continue questioning him, a rustling sound came from behind. Neither chūnin dared to be careless. The closer one immediately grabbed Xiao and dodged forward together with his teammate.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Three shuriken struck the ground where they had just been standing.
"Who's there?!" one of the chūnin shouted, turning toward the seemingly empty forest.
"Team Eleven. Uchiha Mikoto."
"And I don't recall the exam rules saying we can't attack 'enemy-nation ninja,' right?"
On a tree trunk above, the figure of a long, straight-haired black-haired girl appeared.
Before one of the alert chūnin could react—
Two youthful hands suddenly emerged from the ground beneath him.
"You let your guard down."
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
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