When the group of Genin arrived outside the forest, an entourage awaited them. Many people had co by, whether they be ninja from Konoha, Agakure, Kusagakure, or Sunagakure. Other villages had sent teams of Ninja for the Chunin exams as well, but their teams were eliminated within the first round of the exams. Thus, they were not present.
The Kusagakure ninja were bound to be disappointed. None of their ninja had made it out of the Forest of Death. However when the Agakure ninja saw Hinata, they began pointing at her, whispering amongst themselves. One of them in particular, a Genin wearing a rebreather paled significantly.
"Saul-kun, look. He's the one who got away from earlier." Hinata motioned towards the man.
He practically hid among the ninja of his village. One of them approached the group. It was a green haired man with long, ssy hair, a sleeveless outfit, and Jonin markings. He scowled.
"Was it you?"
"What?" Hinata did not cower. Saul-kun was right by her side, filling her up with confidence.
"Did you kill our Genin using that bow of yours!?"
Saul stepped in front of her. "Yes. She did. Hinata has been learning Archery for a while, and she wanted to put her skills to the test. Who knew two of them would die from rely a single arrow each?"
"You!"
The man stepped closer angrily, but in that instant a white haired man already had a Kunai to his neck. A few monts later two Agakure nin also showed up to stop the man, but no one had been faster than this white haired Konoha ninja. He gazed over the crowd lazily with his one exposed eye.
"Now now, you all should calm down a little. Isn't death in the Chunin exams to be expected? It's war, after all."
"Calm? Calm down? Oboro was my personal disciple! This woman just blew him up without a single fuck! Get out of my way before I make you."
"Shouldn't you have taught him better then? It's your own incompetence that's at fault for his death. Plus..." He pressed his Kunai closer into the man's neck, drawing blood. "Are you in any position to be making demands, right now?"
"URGK!"
Rokusho felt the bloodlust of the white haired man behind him. The overwhelming, almost tangible bloodlust. What the hell? Was he about to die? Just like this?
"H-HELP! HE WANTS TO KILL !!!"
Kakashi kicked the feminine man onto the ground so he was forced to grovel, and then stepped on the back of his head.
"I think I recognize you..." He lifted up his Konoha headband, revealing one swirling, red eye. "Aren't you the forr Konoha-nin who defected after stealing from the village? Aoi Rokusho, who stole Toribama's Sword of the Thunder god?" Kakashi forced his face further into the ground, causing the man to groan in pain.
"Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi. Do not kill him here. After all, he cos as a representative of Agakure. He is currently a guest." A couple of Anbu had body flickered down around him. They wore animal masks that hid their identity.
"I see..." Kakashi stepped back. "Agakure should really be more selective when choosing their Jonin. I almost couldn't tell a groveling coward like this was anything more than a dirty, thieving rat."
Rokusho gritted his teeth and slowly stood up from the ground on unsteady feet, like a stray dog who had just been kicked in the streets. He hobbled out of the area while still in pain.
The Anbu disappeared in the next mont, and Kakashi lazily put his Sharingan eye back away. He then turned to announce to the rest of the group.
"The second stage of the Chunin exams are over. I won't bore you all with the specifics for everyone, so we'll focus on the exceptional ones."
The White haired man pulled out a scroll from behind his back and began to read from it directly. Around half a minute passed as Kakashi read through all the contents of the scroll. Couldn't he have at least looked at it beforehand if he was given a speech? Why was he so lazy?
"Ahem. In these Chunin exams, there are two teams who perford to an exceptional standard. First, is Team Baki. They completed the 2nd Stage in record ti, beating the previous record for the second stage by over ten hours. Must have wanted to use a real bathroom or- no. The direct lineage of the Kazekage is certainly exceptional..."
Kakashi gazed at the three Genin, an irritated Temari, a nervous Kankuro, and a stone-faced Gaara. Then his eyes went back to the scroll.
"The second is Team Eight. Even as a Rookie Genin team of Konoha, straight from the academy, they managed to gather a total of 7 scrolls. Bunch of busy bodies if you ask , but that ans they also annihilated a minimum of 6 other teams by themselves. And all that was done within the very first day of the exam."
The focus of all the returning Genin converged onto their team. This was exactly what Saul had wanted.
Kakashi gazed at the three Konoha Genin in the sa manner he had with the Sunagakure team, all but confirming the group's suspicions. "Considering that one guy's outburst, I presu they were all hunted down in the forest of death and killed. Not even one mber from the scrolls they presented returned alive." (Scrolls presented is the important distinction. Orochimaru stole the scrolls from this team.)
Hinata giggled, the normally lighthearted sound cutting through the silent tension like a knife. "Saul-kun told we had to make an impression, after all~!"
The entire group of Genin backed away from her in instinctive panic. Only a widely grinning Gaara and a blonde haired idiot remained. Naruto's voice trembled with disbelief.
"S-saul-sensei... I-is that true? Did you guys, did you all kill so many people!? Over sothing like an exam?"
Saul shook his head. "This is not 'rely' an exam, Naruto. Like Kakashi previously said, this is a war, with a ton of influence over both the village's and our future. We did what we thought was best, and we didn't touch a single Konoha ninja. Did you think the death warrants we all signed were a joke?"
"I-I see..."
Naruto backed down without saying a word. It seems he was deeply shaken. Even in the original series, he had taken great care not to kill anyone. He tried his best to rely physically subdue and talk his opponents down into reconciliation. Killing was sothing that deeply disturbed the man.
"Well, if you're both done with your little drama," Kakashi continued, "I'll announce that the next and final stage of the Chunin exams are going to be done in an arena style combat. 1 v 1, witnessed by both the entire village of Konoha, guests from your ho country, and the nobles within the Land of Fire. It will take place a full month from now in order to give you guys ti to rest and recuperate."
Kakashi closed the scroll and tossed it to the side after he was done reading it. He took out a book from his back pocket and began reading it instead.
"You all are dismissed."
The lazy man had said what he needed to say, and then headed off imdiately without another word. Team Seven quickly followed after him.
Saul yawned from boredom. "...We should get going as well. Hinata, did you manage to spot Kurenai sensei in the crowd?"
"No, Saul-kun."
"...I think I know where she is then. Follow ."
He led the group to a tall, wide building that looked to be a mixture of the modern and antique. It had been outfitted with windows, but the door was still a sliding Japanese paper door. The inside was rustic as well.
"Welco back, Saul-san. Here for another anatomy book?"
The friendly woman at the reception inquired. She was Yakushi Himari, a plain faced woman who Saul often found himself interacting with when he visited the hospital. She was a civilian who worked as both a receptionist and a first aid responder if soone who ca in needed imdiate treatnt. She had black hair and black eyes, like many in Konoha, with a slender build.
"No actually. Actually I'm here to see a patient. She should be a tall, black haired woman with a kind of gauze wrap outfit and red eyes. Did you see anyone like that?"
"You're here to see Jonin Yuuhi Kurenai?"
"Yes. We're all a part of her Genin team."
"She'll be in room 202A."
"Thank you."
Kurenai was sitting in a wheelchair, looking outside the window. From the almost transparent reflection of the glass, she saw her team enter inside. Yakumo rushed in.
"Kurenai-sensei! What happened?"
She rolled her chair back and circled to face the Genin slowly, with only one arm and unfamiliar movents. Bandages were wrapped around her arms and legs. Burns were visible along the edges of her hands, while each of her legs looked to be supported with so kind of stilt.
"Sorry, Yakumo. Your Sensei got a little bit too overconfident."
Author's Note: Saul had a pretty big reason actually for making such a fuss in the forest of death. It wasn't limited to doing sothing on a whim. Sure it backfired with Orochimaru - but it had a greater purpose besides gaining more test subjects. So among you might already be able to figure out why due to the reactions and foreshadowing within this chapter, but for everyone else don't worry. It will be revealed by stage 3 of the Chunin exams.
Also I'm still waiting on SubscribeStar to approve my page. Dunno why it's taking forever lol. But with that said, there's your ch for today :P
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