"Is that really a Tag?"
Instantly, a huge discussion arose among the participants. Everyone was shocked by the power of the Summon Steel Tag.
"That Summon Steel Tag is so powerful, it's ridiculous. Aren't you basically invincible if you get this?"
"No, even if the Tag is powerful, it can only be used once, right?"
"Even if it's a one-time use item, it's powerful. Any team that gets caught off-guard will be wiped out for sure."
Kabuto also looked at the traces of the slash in surprise. After all, he was very familiar with Nagasawa's power, and he could feel Nagasawa's strength in it.
"Brother Nagasawa is going overboard," Kabuto helplessly covered his face. Was it really okay to give such a powerful Tag to the participants? Even he couldn't face that attack head-on.
Fortunately, that ridiculous Tag would only be released next day, and only one would be released each day. So, at most there would only be four Summon Steel Tags at the end of this stage.
At this point, Kabuto made a decision—to quickly pass the exam, gather the Heaven and Earth Scrolls in the first three days, and then reach the central tower to pass the exam.
Although this stage lasts for five days, as long as the participant gathered both scrolls, they could even head to the central tower on the first day.
After all, Forest of Death had a radius of ten kilometers, but for a Shinobi, ten kilometers was nothing.
The reason that the participants were given five days was to gather the Heaven and Earth Scrolls.
In this exam, even those from the same village couldn't necessarily be trusted. Maybe they would try to snatch your scrolls.
In this stage, if you were unlucky and kept encountering teams with the same scroll, that would be a problem.
Coupled with the large number of poisonous insects and fierce beasts in the Forest of Death, the forest itself was dangerous, hence the five-day time limit.
Moreover, in this stage, the participants had to find their own food in the forest.
Finding a team that possessed the scroll you need and defeat them in a forest teeming with poisonous insects and fierce beasts was a challenge. On top of that, you had to stay on your toes to avoid being discovered by other teams.
It was safe to say that this Forest of Death stage truly put a Shinobi's skill to a test.
The addition of Nagasawa's Tags would intensify the competition among the participants.
To fare better against other team, the participants had to search for Tags and Summon Steel Tags. However, doing so would easily expose their location, leading to inevitable confrontations, especially with the large number of participants in this exam!
Kabuto had a feeling that that the scale of fights would gradually escalate by the third day, and things would become extremely intense in the last day. There might be battles everywhere.
On the first day, everyone would be searching for Tags and getting themselves accustomed to the situation in the Forest of Death, so there wouldn't be too many battles.
From the second day onwards, there would be occasional battles, especially to seize the powerful Summon Steel Tag.
By the third day, everyone would have gathered enough Tags, and the chaos would intensify as they fought to seize the scrolls and pass the exam.
So, Kabuto wanted to pass the exam while the situation wasn't too chaotic. After all, this was still the second stage. Kabuto didn't want to reveal too much in this stage; he preferred to showcase his skills in the final stage.
Inside the VIP room.
"This is interesting. Does Konoha sell these too?" Upon seeing the terrifying power of the Summon Steel Tag, the Daimyo was in awe and asked the Anbu beside him.
If he had a thousand of Summon Steel Tags, he could unleash such a powerful slash at will. This would make him an exceptionally powerful individual.
When an assassin approached, he could simply throw a few Summon Steel Tags and obliterate the assassin without leaving a trace.
"It should be possible, but according to Assistant Nagasawa, that Tags is exceptionally difficult to make. Even if it's purchasable, only a few may be purchasable, and the price would be very high," the Anbu replied after recalling Nagasawa's instructions.
Upon hearing that it was possible, the Daimyo smiled, completely unconcerned if it were expensive.
"This visit to Konoha turns out to be quite worthwhile," Daimyo thought to himself with satisfaction. Although he hadn't witnessed any spectacular battles yet, he felt that this trip was worthwhile.
With those Tags, Konoha's position as the most dominant village would undoubtedly be stable, and the Land of Fire would also prosper and develop safely.
On the highest level of the venue, the Tsuchikage was baffled upon seeing the terrifying power of the Summon Steel Tag.
Was this also a defect that Nagasawa made on his spare time?
He really wanted to ask Nagasawa if he could sell the information to make those defects to Iwagakure, but he knew it was impossible.
Tsuchikage was genuinely impressed. The Lightning Tag seemed intimidating, but it was essentially another type of Explosive Tag. However, he truly couldn't fathom the Summon Steel Tag. How could that small piece of iron withstand such a powerful force?
Nevertheless, Onoki speculated that the production of Summon Steel Tags must be extremely difficult. Otherwise, why would other Tags be scattered throughout the Forest of Death, while only four Summon Steel Tags were distributed over four days?
But Onoki was sour regardless. Even if it were hard to make, the devastating power of the Summon Steel Tag made it a decent trump card.
"Assistant Nagasawa, do you sell those Summon Steel Tags, too?" Onoki asked.
"We do, but since it's hard to produce, it's pretty expensive, and we can only sell a handful of them," Nagasawa replied with a smile and looked forward to the end of the Chunin Exams. There should be many people willing to pay handsomely for these Tags.
Rasa and the Fourth Raikage were paying attention to the conversation. Upon hearing that they were very expensive, a hint of disappointment flashed across Rasa's face.
If they were too expensive, buying them in a bulk would be unrealistic. They had no other choice but to purchase one and analysed it on their own.
Rasa sighed deep down. He found it odd to worry about insufficient funds all the time as he was a Kage.
Rasa shook it off and looked at the big screen. As long as Sunagakure Genin performed well enough this time, their financial troublees could be resolved.
After introducing the Tags, the formal exam was about to begin.
Orochimaru took out two scrolls, one white and one dark.
The white scroll had a large character "Heaven" written on it, while the dark scroll had a large character "Earth" written on it.
After revealing the Heaven and Earth Scrolls, Orochimaru had the Anbu distribute the agreement for everyone to sign.
By signing the agreement, the village couldn't raise any objection if any of their Genin died during the Chunin Exams.
Once everyone had signed the agreement, the Sannin each led a group of the participants to an isolated room to collect their scroll.
Only one person could enter the room to collect the scroll at a time. This was done to increase the difficulty, preventing the participants from knowing which scrolls the others possessed.
Of course, if you had a certain ability, you could still find out in advance. For example, if you had the Byakugan, you could simply use it to check what kind of scroll other participants had, and the examiners wouldn't interfere.
Or you could use various means to gather information about the scrolls your opponents had. As long as you didn't bust open the door of the room, anything was fair game.
After everyone collected their scrolls, Orochimaru had the Anbu distribute a flare to each team.
"If you feel that things are too dangerous and want to forfeit, just fire this flare. An examiner will immediately come to escort you to a safe zone," Orochimaru explained the purpose of the flare.
"Lastly, it's best not to stay in one place for too long, or something unpleasant might happen."
After saying this, Orochimaru summoned many Shinobi dressed in black. According to the plan, those Shinobi would escort the participants.
There were too many participants this time, and even though Forest of Death had a total of forty-four entrances, assigning one entrance for each team wasn't doable this time considering there were so many participants this time.
In previous exams, there were usually around thirty to forty teams at most.
However, this time, there were 103 teams, so it was impossible to allocate one entrance for each team as before. Some entrances had to accommodate three teams to meet the demand.
To solve this problem, Konoha came up with a solution: let the participants draw lots to determine who would enter first.
If they were lucky, a team could gain a fifteen-minute lead.
"Drawing lots, huh..." Kabuto pondered. His team was assigned to Entrance Nine.
If unlucky, they might end up being the last to enter and fell behind others by thirty minutes.
The Anbu held three lots in hand and calmly said, "Let's get started. If you don't decide soon, other teams might have already entered."
Hearing the Anbu's words, Kabuto couldn't be bothered to think too much. He randomly picked one from the three wooden sticks.
Originally, he was planning to ask Itachi to draw the lot, but then he believed that Itachi's luck might not be any better.
In the previous game with Izumi, Itachi was forced to become a girl with Transformation Technique.
Kabuto looked at his lot. His luck was neither excellent nor terrible—it was a two. Although they couldn't enter right away, at least they didn't have to wait for half an hour either.
"It's three, huh? Pretty bad luck." Riko looked at the lot she drew, and it was as if her soul had left her body.
"No worries, just half an hour. There's nothing we can do anyway," Maki patted Riko on the shoulder and consoled her.
"Tch, it's a one. Good luck, but too bad there's no Iwagakure team," a muscular and dark-skinned man in a shirt said regretfully when he saw his lot.
His teammates also seemed disappointed, as if they were ready to ambush Iwagakure Team as soon as they entered.
"But it may not be so bad if we can gather the Heaven and Earth Scrolls right away," the muscular Kumogakure Genin said as he looked at Kabuto, Maki, and others with a somewhat malicious intent.
"You two wouldn't happen to be those early-graduated prodigies, right?" A tall and thin Genin from Kumogakure Team looked at Kabuto and Itachi curiously.
Although Itachi and Kabuto weren't short among their peers, most participants in the Chunin Exams were around thirteen to fifteen years old. In this case, the age difference was quite noticeable.
Facing the nasty Kumogakure Team, Kabuto remained calm. Despite his small stature, he had encountered many powerful individuals, and those Kumogakure Genin certainly couldn't intimidate him.
"Perhaps, but if you're thinking of taking advantage of entering first to ambush us, I'd welcome that. I've heard Kumogakure Shinobi are quite skilled in swordsmanship, and I have been wanting to see it for myself," Kabuto said tauntingly.
When dealing with polite classmates, he would reciprocate politeness. When dealing with fellow Konoha Shinobi who belittled him, he would teach them a little lesson but not go too far. However, if he was dealing with an outsider with malicious intent, Kabuto would strike back with full force!
The tall and thin ninja raised an eyebrow, not expecting Kabuto to be so arrogant. After all, among his team, he was the only one who carried a sword on his back.
He certainly didn't find Kabuto's words pleasant. His time in Konoha was far from pleasant. He was scared out of his wits ever since entering Konoha thanks to Nagasawa, and this Chunin Exams was the perfect chance to take revenge.
"Save your fight for later," the Anbu, who was opening the door, glanced at the Kumogakure Team indifferently.
"Kid, you're in for it," after receiving approval from the Anbu, the three Kumogakure Genin entered the Forest of Death, leaving Kabuto and Maki waiting.
"What's the plan now? I think those three may actually ambush us," Isamu Uchiha spoke up, ready to discuss a strategy with Kabuto and Itachi.
Kabuto glanced at Riko and her team. The Sunagakure Team then backed away a bit, giving Kabuto and Itachi some space.
"Among those three, the muscular one in the white shirt seems to be the strongest. Still, he's probably only at the same level as you, Isamu. Next is the tall and thin one with the sword. The weakest is the brown-haired one," Kabuto shared his opinion.
"What do you mean by 'at the same level as me'?" Isamu Uchiha didn't seem so happy as he was being used as a unit of measurement.
Kabuto thought for a moment, realizing he might not have been specific enough. After a brief pause, he added, "The muscular one is likely about your level, Isamu. The tall and thin one is three-fourth of your strength, and the brown-haired one is only half."
Isamu Uchiha: ...
So now he was a unit of measurement.
"If you're right, then they shouldn't be too difficult to handle. We can each take on one of them when we go inside," Itachi casually suggested.
"I..." Isamu Uchiha felt somewhat insulted.
Even though Itachi didn't say a word about him, Isamu Uchiha felt insulted.
Isamu was pretty confident in his skill. Aside from Kabuto and Itachi, he believed that there was no one else in Special Combat Division who could defeat him.
"I'll take the one with the sword. Itachi, you deal with the muscular one, and Isamu, you handle the brown-haired one. How does that sound?" Kabuto asked.
"I'm fine with that," Itachi nodded.
He was confident in dealing with any of them.
"Can I handle the one with the sword?" Isamu Uchiha scratched his head in embarrassment.
After all, he did say that he would follow Kabuto's orders earlier.
But he really wanted to see how far he had come. The brown-haired Kumogakure Ninja, being the weakest, seemed too easy for him.
Despite his earlier agreement to follow orders, Isamu Uchiha felt a bit embarrassed.
However, he really wanted to test his progress, and the brown-haired Kumogakure Genin, being the weakest, seemed too easy for him.
According to Kabuto, the muscular Kumogakure Genin was about as strong as him, and there was no telling what would happen if Isamu fought him.
Isamu Uchiha wasn't brazen enough to challenge an opponent that he wasn't sure he could defeat.
If Kabuto and Itachi failed because of him, Isamu Uchiha certainly couldn't forgive himself.
"Okay." Kabuto nodded.
He didn't mind who his opponent was. The choice he made was the safest one in addition to his genuine curiosity about Kumogakure's swordsmanship.
Soon, fifteen minutes were about to pass. The Anbu ninja glanced at the timer, signaling Kabuto and others to get ready.
At this moment, the large screen in the arena no longer displayed a single scene but transformed into a grid, simultaneously showing nine different scenes.
However, due to the screen's size, all nine scenes were clear and visible.
As luck would have it, when Kabuto and his team entered the Forest of Death, their figures appeared on the large screen.