'Let's use this Konoha ninja to warm up!'
Samui shifted all her resentment toward Uchiha Kage onto this masked Konoha Anbu.
And Sai, who had thought he wouldn't fall behind even when facing two opponents, soon tasted the bitter fruit due to Samui's astonishing speed.
Pff!
If it weren't for the extreme reflexes trained from surviving piles of corpses, he could've been pierced through the heart by this kunoichi at the very first encounter.
Even though he dodged the first attack, Sai's shoulder was still slashed with a deep wound.
'How is this possible? This newcomer actually possesses taijutsu speed rivaling jonin, even faster than the average jonin?'
Sai's calm expression finally broke.
'If even the subordinates are this powerful, what kind of strength does Uchiha Kage have?'
———
"Shika, Shikamaru, d-did you hear something?"
In the danger-filled Forest of Death.
Filled with even more dangerous various other ninjas.
Yamanaka Ino was as scared as a startled fawn here, and could only hide in the bushes holding camouflaging branches alongside Shikamaru and Choji.
"I heard it."
'Geez, the ninjas in this Chunin Exam are way too strong, huh?'
'One plays with sand, killing everyone he sees.'
'Another has the Sharingan and also attacks everyone on sight.'
If they weren't Konoha ninjas, they probably would've been wiped out by Sasuke already.
Shikamaru was also very frustrated.
'If I had known it would be such a hassle, I wouldn't have come to take the Chunin Exam.'
"We're out of chips... What should we do now…", Choji sighed from the side.
"We're in this kind of situation and you're still thinking about food... I can hear the sounds; it seems like they're coming right to us. Should we run?", Ino asked Shikamaru.
"Let's just hide. Maybe they won't find us," From the noise not far off, Shikamaru judged that the incoming person was probably a speed-type ninja. Coming out of the grass rashly would only get them killed faster.
Might as well stay curled up in the grass like dead fish.
And hiding in the dark, maybe they could even launch a surprise attack later.
Although the three of them weren't strong at the moment, if they coordinated, they could still pull something off.
"They're coming...", Shikamaru lowered his voice even more and reminded the two companions next to him.
'Ugh... If only Kage were here too…', Ino, hearing the approaching sounds of blades and kunai clashing, couldn't help but tremble.
The scene of the sand ninja from Sunagakure cruelly killing ninjas from other villages, which she had secretly witnessed earlier, still lingered vividly in her mind.
'No, even if I die, I want to die beautifully.'
'I definitely doesn't want to become a bloody rag!'
———
'Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation Drawing!'
Sai, now already wounded, finally found a chance to use his unique jutsu.
After first summoning two paper warriors from his scroll to stall the enemy before him, Sai quickly drew an eagle on the scroll.
If he could fly into the sky, he could escape the chase from this kunoichi.
Then he might have a chance to turn the tables.
"Hmph!"
'What a difficult little brat to kill.'
'Are all Konoha brats this troublesome?'
Seeing the Konoha ninja, whom she had stabbed multiple times, still able to move, Samui grew even more furious.
She was a jonin, yet not only had she failed to take the opponent down in one strike, she had also let him escape for this long.
'Utterly disgraceful.'
The more she thought, the angrier she got.
Samui decided not to hold back anymore.
'He told me not to kill, but I'm going to kill anyway, he's the one who'll have a headache, not me.'
Thinking this, Samui once again increased her speed. Like a flash of blue lightning, she easily cut through the paper warriors summoned by Sai, then slashed down the eagle that was about to take flight from the scroll.
At the same time, she also cut through the scroll Sai had laid on the ground.
"What…"
'This woman's speed can increase even more?'
This time, Sai completely failed to catch her movements. Before he could take out a new scroll, his chest was pierced heavily by the enemy, and then he was kicked into the bushes.
"Hmm? There are others?"
Samui followed the ninja she had pierced into the bushes and then saw three Konoha genin emerge from within.
"You are… Konoha's Anbu?", Shikamaru, who had planned to ambush the intruder, saw the outfit on the person.
'Doesn't seem like a ninja from another village or an enemy?'
"This... a shadow?"
'Is it a Konoha secret technique?'
Samui had just tried to move when she realized her feet had been bound by a shadow that stretched toward her.
She couldn't move for the moment.
"Yah! This person is a piece of paper!", Ino, seeing the bloody corpse flying past her feet, hadn't even screamed yet before she noticed it suddenly turned into a torn piece of white paper.
"Not good, it's a clone," Samui, upon seeing Sai's body disappear, instantly realized something was wrong.
"Such luck!", Seeing the kunoichi who had been chasing him suddenly trapped by others, Sai of course wouldn't miss this great opportunity.
'Ninja Art: Grassland Serpents!'
Poof!
After a puff of white smoke.
Countless white paper serpents, under the effect of chakra, took on physical form, with bloody maws lunging from the grass toward Samui and the others.
"Damn it!"
'This shadow is really binding tightly…'
Samui couldn't break free for the moment.
'But don't think you can defeat me with just this jutsu...'
Though her feet couldn't move, Samui's hands had already broken free and began forming hand signs.
"This is too chaotic!"
'She's already about to break through my Shadow Possession Jutsu this fast? This is definitely not at a genin's level…'
'And the Anbu just now even attacked everyone indiscriminately.'
'Could it be that these two wearing Konoha Anbu uniforms are actually enemies?'
Shikamaru couldn't figure out the current situation either, but seeing the female Anbu in front of him almost break free from the bind, and the giant white python about to come crashing down on them, he quickly released the shadow bind jutsu and rolled away with Choji.
'Ino is a bit farther away and should be able to run… right?'
"Ah!", But what Shikamaru hadn't expected was that Ino was so terrified of snakes that she froze, unable to move.
"Ino…"
'At this rate, she'd be bitten by the indiscriminately attacking giant python!'
Shikamaru quickly used his shadow again.
But he was still too late.
BOOM!
The giant python with its gaping maw fiercely bit down at the ground.
"Huh?"
As the smoke and dust cleared, the imagined scene of Ino being bitten while cowering did not appear.
Other than a few pieces of torn paper and a huge hole made by the giant python in the grass, there was nothing.
"Ugh…", Opening her eyes, thinking she was about to be swallowed by the giant snake, Ino found herself in a warm embrace.
"Are you alright?"
"I… y-you're?", Realizing she was being carried princess-style by a man, Ino instinctively wanted to pull away.
But upon hearing the familiar voice and smelling the familiar scent, she stopped.
"Kage?", Ino reached out and removed the mask on the person's face, and sure enough, saw Uchiha Kage's face beneath.
"Knew it was you! I knew you'd come save me!", Overjoyed, Ino wrapped her arms around Uchiha Kage's neck and leaned closer against him.
This was the first time she had ever been princess-carried by Kage.
"Mm," Gently setting down the girl who clung to him so dearly, Uchiha Kage then turned his gaze to the battle between Samui and Sai.
Completely out of options, Sai had already been nailed to the trunk of a big tree with Samui's ninja blade.
He was now both bleeding and gasping weakly.
Although Samui had completely overpowered Sai, she handled the unexpected situation very poorly.
Just now, if Shikamaru hadn't released the Shadow Possession in time, not only Ino but Samui herself might've been hurt by Sai's jutsu.
And not like now—standing flawless before the barely breathing Sai.
"So it's you, Kage. Are you Anbu now?"
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