At the entrance to the Forest of Death for examinees, the Genin who passed the first round were signing death waivers as instructed by the chief examiner, Anko.
Sakura was a very content and ordinary person; all she wanted was a Naruto who aspired to be Hokage and a cool Sasuke.
At the end of the written exam, chief examiner Ibiki Morino presented the final question: choose to answer, and if wrong, remain a Genin forever; choose to abandon, and lose eligibility but can re-take the Chūnin Exams next time.
To prevent Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage from turning into a bubble, Sakura prepared to take responsibility herself, risking being disliked, and raised her hand to give up.
The result is known to everyone.
After Naruto's speech expressing his firm belief, Sakura's inner self also changed a little.
She thought that in the future, even if she wasn't stronger than Naruto and Sasuke, she at least shouldn't be a burden, right?
At this moment, Sakura was organizing her ninja tool pouch.
"Eat fewer military rations pills; they'll affect your development."
Kakashi, who had specially followed along, glanced at the contents of Sakura's ninja tool pouch and blurted out a sentence.
"...Isn't that harassment?"
Temari, who heard Kakashi's remark nearby, retorted.
"Kakashi-sensei, please don't joke."
Sakura didn't pay attention to Kakashi's words. After tidying her ninja tool pouch, she went to Anko to get a consent form and signed her name.
—Seriously, how could military rations pills, something ninja frequently eat, have such a negative effect? If they really did, wouldn't all female ninja in the Ninja World be flat-chested?
Sakura thought to herself.
The second stage of the Chūnin Exams, the Heaven and Earth Scroll Battle in the Forest of Death, began.
On the other side, Bai Mo nodded to the few people around him, then flew up into the sky above the Forest of Death, preparing to watch from above.
Orochimaru was very efficient; not long after the Naruto-Sasuke-Sakura team entered, Orochimaru came knocking.
Bai Mo watched from the sky.
It was not very clear due to the trees, but Bai Mo sensed everything that happened specifically.
Under Naruto's powerful Talk no Jutsu, Sasuke overcame his fear of death and began to counterattack Orochimaru, who was disguised as a Genin.
Orochimaru was brutally beaten but didn't shed a single drop of blood.
After this battle, Orochimaru was very satisfied with Sasuke, his planned vessel, bit him, and gave him a Cursed Seal.
Sasuke fainted.
Immediately after, they encountered the Otogakure team, and Sakura cut her hair, growing up as she began to protect her teammates.
"Is this what you meant by the reincarnations of Asura and Indra? Then who is this girl?"
Konan's voice came from behind Bai Mo.
Bai Mo looked back; besides Konan, Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumī, whom Kurotsuchi had brought along, had also arrived. They were still some distance away, slowly floating over.
Hiruzen Sarutobi below watched as several people all flew into the sky. For some reason, he felt much more at ease.
When Bai Mo was alone in the sky earlier, he always felt a bit eerie.
~
"Don't underestimate her. In the future, her strength will surpass her two teammates."
"That powerful?"
Konan was stunned when she heard this, then furrowed her delicate brows, "Then why didn't you think of recruiting her into the organization, nor did you guide her? You're joking, right?"
"I'm really not."
Bai Mo smiled and shook his head, "In the future, one of her two teammates will lose his Tailed Beast, and the other will lose his Rinnegan, causing their strength to drop significantly..."
"If the strength gap isn't that obvious at this point, then later, one will be sealed in another dimension, and the other will be half-dead, becoming a vegetable."
"..."
Konan was speechless.
So there was this kind of "strength surpassing"?
Not becoming stronger herself, but others becoming weaker?
The false divine technique [Omnipotence] makes the identity of a crush and a best friend's crush swap.
The true divine technique [Omnipotence] makes the fate of the entire world begin to align with the statement, "I seem to have caught up with them," with just one sentence.
"I didn't mean to mock her. It's already very difficult for a Konoha civilian ninja to reach her strength at that time."
"It's just a pity that everyone in the future will be immersed in false peace. The Ōtsutsuki threat will be concealed by her two teammates, and by the time it can no longer be hidden, it will be too late for the entire Ninja World to develop and strive."
Bai Mo sighed.
Kurotsuchi and Mei Terumī, who had floated over, also happened to hear these words.
They had also been informed of the Ōtsutsuki threat by Bai Mo before.
After hearing this, they didn't say anything, but their hearts began to ponder improving their own strength.
Bai Mo introduced a new system to them to lighten the burden of the Kage and develop the village, not just for them to simply enjoy.
"Hmm? Is that..."
Kurotsuchi saw the black silver... uh, markings that appeared on Sasuke's body after he woke up below.
"Orochimaru's Cursed Seal, a way of utilizing Natural Energy."
"Natural Energy, isn't that Sage Mode?"
"More or less."
"..."
"His mental state doesn't seem very stable."
"Don't worry about it. If he's still obsessed with this power after knowing the way to advance the Sharingan, then that person is useless."
As they chatted and laughed, Sasuke below indeed suppressed the Cursed Seal with his willpower.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru, after leaving the Cursed Seal on Sasuke, sensed Bai Mo and the others watching from the sky before leaving the Forest of Death.
He noticed that they were the Mizukage and Tsuchikage who had just questioned Konoha about having a silver demon, and an unknown ninja, so he didn't pay much attention.
Even if they had seen him use the giant snake earlier, they wouldn't immediately associate it with him.
Thus, the Konoha Crush Plan could still proceed as usual.
Orochimaru believed that even if he hadn't discussed it with the Mizukage and Tsuchikage beforehand, when he made his move and initiated the Konoha Crush Plan, these two should not help Konoha... "I can't watch anymore."
"Me neither, we're going down first."
After watching for a while, Mei Terumī and Kurotsuchi, with dark expressions, told Bai Mo and went down.
Although their goal was to watch "master duels," they inevitably saw the rookies from their own villages.
After the written exam filtered out a large number, those remaining were still pitifully weak.
In fact, the intensity of this Konoha Chūnin Exams was inherently excessive.
Leaving aside Orochimaru, who was essentially fishing, the Otogakure team he brought, and most importantly, Gaara, pushed the difficulty of this exam to the max.
To pass the Forest of Death already meant having at least Chūnin level skill.
But what about those from Iwagakure and Kirigakure?
Their strength was inherently poor; Iruka could even overpower them.
Crucially, these people were not young either.
Adults fighting children, and getting severely beaten by children.
Some even gave up their scrolls and, not content with that, even knelt and begged for mercy disgracefully.
No wonder the two couldn't bear to watch.
Bai Mo also stopped watching.
He already knew the outcome; watching the process was just to see if Sasuke had changed after being influenced by him.
Bai Mo didn't fly back to talk to Hiruzen Sarutobi again; he went directly back to the streets of Konoha Village.
After walking for a while, Bai Mo saw piles of Hyūga Clan crests at a house entrance.
There was also a little girl with Byakugan running at the door.
"Why is no one here?"
Bai Mo looked around. It was still hard to imagine that in Konoha, a child would chase and curse the Hyūga Clan's young lady as a "Byakugan monster."
If it were during the Chūnin Exams period now, with ninja from other villages present, such an incident might be excusable.
"What do you mean, no one? What do you want to do!"
A voice came from the mansion directly opposite Bai Mo.
....
The journey continues right now for our Jade Dragons! 🐉
For just $6/month, you can step into the advanced chapters and never face a cliffhanger again. Gain instant access to 50+ chapters immediately, support the story you love, and help decide its course.
🔗 Become a Jade Dragon:
patreon.com/J_Dragon