bookbashuk Chapter 405 Let Ku Wufei fly for a while
Chapter 405 Let Ku Wufei fly for a while
Chapter 405 Let Ku Wufei Fly for a While
About 300 meters above the Death Forest, a giant white clay bird with a wingspan of over five meters is gliding steadily.
Deidara stood on the bird's back, his right hand resting on his forehead as if looking around, his short golden hair flying backward in the high-speed airflow.
The headband of Iwagakure was worn crookedly on his head, giving off an air of nonchalance and unruliness.
"Oh, I see it! It's over there!"
He excitedly pointed towards the center of the forest, where a tall, gray-black tower stood out prominently above the sea of trees.
"That's the destination for the second exam! Heh heh, looks like we're the first to arrive! Hmm!" Deidara's tone was full of confidence, even a little smug.
He manipulated the giant clay bird to slightly adjust its direction and flew straight towards the tower, completely disregarding the enemies that might exist in the forest below, or rather, he simply didn't care.
"Deidara, before that, we need an Earth Scroll."
A voice came from behind.
Sora Onoki stood to Deidara's right rear. The boy with short, light brown hair had little expression on his face, but his eyes were very serious.
He reached into his ninja tool pouch at his waist and pulled out a scroll, made of white silk with the character "天" (heaven) in black.
"What we have is the Heavenly Scroll. According to the exam rules, you must collect both the Heavenly and the Heavenly Scrolls to pass."
Kong continued, "Besides, flying over there now would be too conspicuous. Any team below could see us just by looking up."
"What's there to be afraid of!" Deidara waved his hand dismissively, his golden ponytail swaying in the wind.
"Since those guys are all heading to the tower anyway, we can just wait outside for them to come to us! We can grab them one by one as they come, much easier! Yeah!"
This simplistic and crude logic made Kong frown slightly.
As an artificial human secretly created by Onoki, Sora was instilled with knowledge that marked the part about the Star Country as "extremely dangerous" and "handle with caution".
In this Chunin Exam, Iwagakure is nominally an annex of the Land of Stars, but in reality, Onoki sent them to participate for two purposes: to gather intelligence and to test the strength of the younger generation of the Land of Stars.
Deidara's plan to "block the door and forcibly seize" was tantamount to suicide in Sora's eyes.
With short, golden hair and delicate features like a porcelain doll, Mica stood on the left side of the sky, looking down at the forest below, the outline of the sea of trees reflected in her pale purple pupils.
"Deidara, there are probably quite a few people who think that way."
Mica spoke softly, her voice like the tinkling of wind chimes: "Moreover, teams that choose to 'wait outside the tower' are generally very confident in their own strength. If we actually go to block the gate, we'll likely encounter multiple strong teams at the same time."
She paused, then added the most crucial point: "Most importantly, the Star Kingdom has sent two formidable teams this time. If they join forces, we'll be fighting two against one. Even without considering other teams, our chances of winning against just the six from the Star Kingdom aren't high."
"Cut one"
Deidara pursed his lips, about to retort, "What's so great about the Land of Stars?", when he was interrupted by the commotion below.
boom!
Boom!
An explosion came from the middle reaches of the river. The muffled sound of the explosion and the clanging of metal could be faintly heard from hundreds of meters away in the area shrouded in thick fog.
Another explosion came from the forest further south, seemingly accompanied by a wild beast's roar.
"Oh?" Deidara's eyes lit up, and he immediately craned his neck to look over.
Under his control, the giant clay bird began to spiral downwards, dropping to a height of about one hundred meters, where its vision became clearer.
In the middle reaches of the river, thick fog rolled in, obscuring the specific situation, but flashes of fire occasionally appeared at the edge of the fog, clearly indicating a clash of ninjutsu.
On the riverbank outside the fog, another battle seemed to be taking place, with several figures moving quickly and flashing blades.
"It's the Hidden Mist Technique from Kirigakure." Yunmu gazed into the distance and added, "Judging from the density and extent of the mist, it should be at the level of a Jonin, but the participants are Genin—which means that someone in the team sent by Kirigakure this time is particularly skilled in this technique."
Sora nodded solemnly: "The Hidden Mist Village has dispatched two Ninja Swordsmen this time. The one with white hair and sharp teeth is Hozuki Suigetsu, the last surviving member of the Hozuki clan. He is skilled in water transformation techniques and taijutsu. The other one, who wears glasses and has a shy personality, is called Chojuro. He is said to be very strong and is the successor of the blunt sword, Kabuto-giri."
He looked at Deidara: "An opponent who can put them in a tough fight, even making them use the Hidden Mist Technique to create a home-field advantage—"
This is probably not an ordinary test taker.
"It must be a squad from the Land of Stars," Kirara replied, her tone certain. "Only those two squads from the Land of Stars would warrant such attention from Kirigakure."
Deidara licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
"Why say so much? Just go down and see for yourself!"
He steered the giant clay bird into a swoop, aiming directly at the area of dense fog.
But Kong reached out and pressed down on his shoulder.
"Wait, Deidara."
"What?" Deidara turned his head in displeasure.
Sora looked him straight in the eye, his tone serious: "If we go now, it's like simultaneously intervening in the battle between the Hidden Mist Squad and the Star Country Squad. We might be caught in a pincer movement, and—"
He pointed to the forest further south: "The fighting over there is also quite intense. If we expend too much energy here, we might be picked off by a third or fourth team."
"So?" Deidara asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Therefore, we should continue towards the tower." Kong Song released his grip and took a step back. "Choose a favorable location on the outskirts of the tower to lie in ambush and observe the teams that arrive later. If any teams are separated from their groups or are injured, then we can seize the scroll. This is the safest and most efficient method."
Deidara stared at the empty sky, then looked at Mica.
Mica nodded slightly, agreeing with Kong's plan.
"Ugh, this is so troublesome—" Deidara scratched his head, but finally gave in: "Fine, fine! I'll do as you say!"
But it's a deal, if we don't find any easy targets by the end, I'm going to take action! Okay!
He maneuvered the giant clay bird to climb again, bypassing the dense fog, and continued flying towards the tower.
Sora and Mica exchanged a glance and both breathed a sigh of relief.
They are not afraid of fighting, but pointless fighting is completely unnecessary.
In particular, they did not want to lose any combat power before they had a clear understanding of the strength of the Star Country team.
At the same time, on the edge of the desert that suddenly appeared in the Forest of Death, Orochimaru, disguised as a genin, slowly walked over.
He was still wearing that straw hat and the gray clothing of the Sound Village, and his steps were quite leisurely.
It's like taking a walk in your own backyard.
He stopped at the edge of the desert.
This place used to be a dense forest, but now, not a blade of grass grows within a 500-meter radius, only golden sand gleaming blindingly in the sunlight.
The sand bore the marks of battle: deep pits, ravines, and sand crystallized from the intense heat, and—
Two bodies half-buried in the sand.
Orochimaru walked over, squatted down, and gently brushed away the sand covering the corpse's face with his index finger.
They were the two genin he sent to test Hozuki Suigetsu.
The corpse's face still bore the frozen look of shock and resentment before its death, and the fatal wound on its neck was clearly visible.
Orochimaru did not carefully examine the details of the wound, nor did he analyze the cause of death.
He didn't even show any regret or anger.
He just clicked his tongue softly.
"Waste is waste."
His voice was soft and effeminate, with a disdainful look as if he were looking at trash: "It's not even worth stalling for time or gathering any decent intelligence."
""
It was as if the dead were not his men, but two ants that had been stepped on.
He stood up, patted the sand off his hands, and then looked up at the center of the desert.
There were even stronger traces of chakra remaining there.
"Oh?" Orochimaru's lips curled into a smile.
He walked slowly toward the center of the desert, his snake-like vertical pupils scanning every trace of battle.
Footprints in the sand.
Residual chakra fluctuations.
The shuriken and kunai were half-buried in the sand.
And a small patch of dried blood.
"This chakra—it's from the One-Tailed Beast."
"That Sasuke kid, he fought Gaara?"
Orochimaru squatted beside the pool of blood and licked his lips with his tongue.
"And he was injured—quite seriously."
He could tell from the residual chakra in the bloodstains that it was Sasuke's blood.
"interesting."
Orochimaru stood up and looked south.
There, even more intense explosions of ninjutsu were being heard.
Battle along the river.
"Are all the genin from the Five Great Shinobi Villages this strong?"
"Hehehe~" He chuckled softly, his effeminate voice echoing in the empty desert: "I'm really looking forward to it—this era is about to start to get interesting, teacher."
In the southern part of the Death Forest, there is a relatively sparse woodland.
Kiba and Akamaru stood back to back, both panting heavily, with multiple wounds on their bodies.
Akamaru was in an even worse state; his right hind leg was bent unnaturally, clearly broken, and he could only stand on three legs, but he still bared his teeth and emitted a low, threatening whine.
Shino stood three meters in front of them. His face was obscured by sunglasses, but his breathing was rapid.
His trench coat had several tears, the most serious being on his right shoulder, where the fabric was torn and the skin underneath was red, swollen, and purple, as if he had been hit by a heavy object.
Behind the two, Sakura leaned against a tree trunk, barely managing to maintain her standing posture.
Her situation was the worst.
A gash was cut on her forehead, and blood flowed down her left cheek, dripping onto her pink clothes.
His right arm hung down unnaturally, probably dislocated, and he had abrasions on his knee and elbow, making him look quite disheveled.
Their opponents were three Sound Ninja.
Toss anvil, saxophone stirrup and mallet.
-
"We didn't find that guy, but we did find you three brats," Toshen said, his voice hoarse and unpleasant.
"In that case, let's kill you first, then go find that guy."
The "that guy" he was referring to was Hozuki Suigetsu, the target Orochimaru had assigned to test.
But after searching the forest for a long time without finding it, they instead ran into the Tooth Squad.
"Hurry up."
Sakstedt urged impatiently, his eyes glancing towards the river: "There's quite a commotion over there. I wonder if the adults' target has been attacked. If we're late, we'll get scolded by the adults—"
He didn't finish speaking, but all three of them understood what that "blame" meant.
Orochimaru's methods of dealing with losers are chilling to even think about.
The hammer's gaze remained fixed on Sakura.
To be precise, he was staring at Sakura's long pink hair.
Her eyes were filled with jealousy and malice.
Why is it that this kid from Konoha can have such beautiful long hair, wear clean and tidy clothes, and be protected like a princess?
And what about yourself?
Growing up in a godforsaken place like the Sound Village, struggling to survive every day, his hair had long since dried up and split, and his skin was rough, making him look like a beggar.
unfair.
That's so unfair.
"That woman," the harp mallet whispered, the brass bell in its hand swaying slightly, "I will kill her with my own hands."
"Whatever you want," Tos said indifferently. "I'll take the one playing with the insects, and you take the dog and its owner. Get rid of them quickly, then head to the river."
Clear division of labor.
Battle is imminent.
"Fang!" Shino roared, forming hand seals.
"Mushidama!"
Black swarms of insects poured out from his cuffs and collar, but instead of attacking the enemy, they coalesced into a rotating wall of insects in front of him and Fang, in a defensive form!
Almost simultaneously, the sonic attack from the anvil struck.
Buzz—! ! !
An invisible shockwave slammed into the insect wall, causing the insects to fall off in a flurry, but the insect wall did not collapse, stubbornly blocking the attack.
Meanwhile, Kiba and Akamaru had already rushed out.
"Orc clone!"
Kiba and Akamaru simultaneously transformed into two afterimages, lunging at Sakatsu from the left and right respectively.
This is their combined tactic: Kiba is responsible for frontal containment, while Akamaru is responsible for flanking attacks.
But Sak was prepared.
"Sky-Slicing Wave!"
He fired simultaneously from the holes in both palms, sending out two high-pressure air cannons from the left and right, accurately hitting the paths of Kiba and Akamaru's charge.
Ya's pupils contracted, and he forcefully twisted his body to avoid it.
But Akamaru wasn't so lucky. Its leg was already injured, making it difficult to move. Despite its best efforts to dodge, it was still grazed by the edge of the air cannon.
"Awooo—!"
Akamaru screamed as he was thrown to the ground, rolling several times before stopping. He struggled to get up, but his injured hind leg wouldn't give him any strength.
"Akamaru!" His teeth were about to burst.
At that moment, the piano mallet had already hurtled towards Sakura.
"Go to hell!"
She waved the copper bell in her hand, and the bell emitted a piercing high-frequency sound wave.
Sakura was already injured, and the sound waves made her dizzy and her ears ring. She couldn't even stand up straight.
With his left hand, Qin Hammer drew a senbon from his waist and aimed it at Sakura's throat, stabbing it down hard!
"Sakura!" Kiba tried to come to her rescue, but was forced back by Sakka's air cannon.
Shino wanted to provide support, but the second sonic wave attack from Toshin had already arrived, so he could only do his best to maintain the insect wall defense.
Sakura's pupils contracted as she watched the Senbon needles draw closer.
Am I going to die?
"Just like that—to die?"
"I really am too weak."
He can't even protect himself.
Just as the thousand needles were about to pierce her throat, "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!!!"
A familiar voice, filled with passion and anger, came from above the forest.
Then, hundreds of orange figures descended from the sky!
"What?!" The harp hammer was startled, and the senbon it thrust out was half a beat too late.
It was that half-beat of hesitation that saved Sakura's life.
A shadow clone of Naruto lunged forward and slammed the harp mallet aside with its body.
The senbon flew past Sakura's neck, only scratching her skin slightly.
Meanwhile, even more shadow clones had already overwhelmed the Sound Ninja trio.
"Watch me!"
"Take this!"
"I'm going to beat you all to a pulp!"
Hundreds of shadow clones, like a yellow tide, surrounded the anvil, saxophone, and mallets.
Although a single shadow clone is not strong, there are simply too many of them. The sonic attack can only disperse a few at a time, while the remaining dozens have already pounced on them.
Punching, kicking, even biting.
It was completely haphazard, but chaotic enough.
"Damn it! How come there are so many!" Sakstedt roared, firing air cannons continuously with both hands, but the shadow clones kept coming one after another, and he couldn't kill them all.
Tos's face also looked very bad.
His sonic attack range is limited, capable of destroying at most five or six shadow clones at a time, but there are at least fifty around him.
At that moment, Menma and Hinata jumped down from the tree canopy on the other side and landed next to Kiba and Shino.
"Why do you guys look so bad?" Menma glanced at the injuries on the three of them.
Kiba dispelled his beastman clone form, panting heavily, and said, "Damn it! We were ambushed—these three Sound Ninja's ninjutsu is very effective against us."
Akamaru was also lying on the ground, his ears drooping, looking somewhat listless.
"Sonic attacks are very effective against my insects." Shino pushed up his sunglasses, revealing a pale face underneath, clearly indicating that he had exhausted too much chakra and insects.
"Insects sense their surroundings through vibrations. High-frequency sound waves can disorient them or even kill them outright."
With Hinata's help, Sakura managed to stand. Her head was bowed, tears welling in her eyes, her voice filled with self-blame and shame: "I'm sorry—it's all my fault—I'm too weak—I've dragged Dai down—"
Hinata gently patted her shoulder and softly comforted her, "Sakura, don't say that. You've already tried your best. Don't move yet, let me bandage you up a bit."
She took out a few soldier pills and hemostatic medicine from her ninja tool bag, fed Sakura a soldier pill first, and then began to treat the wound on her forehead.
Kiba looked at the three Sound Ninja who were temporarily trapped by countless shadow clones, then at the injured Sakura and his teammates who were in poor condition. A bitter expression appeared on his face, and he sighed, "It seems that our Team 8 is going to be eliminated early this time. Sakura is seriously injured, and Shino and I have also exhausted a lot of chakra. It's too dangerous for us to stay in the forest any longer."
Shino nodded silently, which was taken as agreement.
Mianma looked at the battlefield.
Although Naruto's shadow clones were numerous, they were not his original body. As Tosukino and the other two gradually regained their footing, they were quickly destroyed and turned into puffs of white smoke.
The sonic vibrations from the Tos anvil, the air-slicing waves from the Saxe stirrups, and the disruptive bell-like sonic waves from the harp hammers all effectively damaged the shadow clone group.
At this rate, the shadow clones will be wiped out in no time.
"Yes, the situation is not good." Menma calmly analyzed, "There are quite a few strong teams among this year's candidates, and it will indeed be difficult for them to go far with injured players."
Compared to the Chunin Exams in the original work, this year's Chunin Exams can be said to have swept up the new generation of all the major ninja villages. For example, Kiba, Shino, and Sakura had just graduated from the Ninja Academy, and there was a significant gap in experience and strength.
The Sound Ninja trio weren't particularly strong, but their sneak attack rendered Sakura unable to fight, and their sonic attacks were effective against Shino's insects, putting Kiba in a very passive position.
Just then, after clearing out most of the shadow clones, the Sound Ninja trio seemed to realize that they couldn't deal with this blond kid with an absurd amount of chakra in a short time, not to mention that Menma and Hinata were there to provide support. The situation had reversed.
Moreover, their main task is not to seize the scroll, but to find the mission target assigned by Lord Orochimaru!
Toss, without hesitation, shouted, "Retreat!"
The three launched a fierce attack simultaneously, forcing back the remaining shadow clones. Then, without hesitation, they turned around and disappeared into the depths of the dense jungle in a few leaps, swift and clean.
"Damn it! Don't run away!"
Naruto's remaining shadow clones chased after them for a short distance, still somewhat unsatisfied, before turning back to Menma: "Are we just going to let them go like that? They did something really awful to Sakura!"
Although Naruto didn't have any crush on Sakura under Menma's guidance, he still valued their friendship as classmates.
Menma shrugged, looked in the direction the Sound Ninja trio had left, raised his hand and shot a kunai with an explosive tag into the sky.
Kiba and Shino watched the kunai arc through the air with some confusion, while Naruto shouted, "Hey! Menma-san! They've all gone far ahead! And your kunai went way too high!"
"It's alright, let Kunu fly for a while." Menma raised his head and smiled confidently.
A short while later, a series of explosions came from the forest, accompanied by piercing screams.
Kiba's hearing was very sensitive, and he immediately recognized that the scream came from the three Sound Ninja from earlier. He looked at Menma in surprise.
"Explosive tags are still the most useful." Menma fiddled with a kunai in his hand.
>