Some of the genin who received the Heaven Scroll glanced indifferently at Kaede but didn't pay much attention to him, their targets were the genin who held the Earth Scroll.
"All right,"
"The scrolls have been distributed. Now follow the proctors to your designated entrances… The exam will begin in thirty minutes. Everyone enters the cave at the same time!"
Yuhi Kurenai stood with her hands behind her back and addressed the genin in a serious tone.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The proctoring chunin appeared before each team, gesturing for them to follow as they led the groups off in various directions.
Kaede's proctor was none other than Kakashi.
Bringing Kaede to Entrance No. 5, Kakashi opened the gate and warned him, "The Kiri and Kumo teams have their eyes on you. Watch out for their coordination."
"Also, the cave is under full surveillance. Kiri and Kumo jonin, along with our Konoha examiners, are monitoring everything from the observation tower in the center. The Hokage will likely be watching too."
Although Kakashi knew Kaede's strength well and wasn't particularly worried about his safety, no one could defeat him one-on-one, he still felt it necessary to give a heads-up. After all, Kaede lacked experience in multi-opponent combat.
"Relax,"
Kaede shot Kakashi a calm smile and said, "If you're fine, how could I have any problems?"
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
That line really rubbed him the wrong way… and yet, it was hard to argue with.
Soon after, the second round of the Chunin Exams officially began. Kakashi nodded at Kaede, who then stepped into the exam field.
Almost simultaneously, two nearby teams that had entered from adjacent gates began heading in Kaede's direction.
"That guy probably went through Gate 5, right?"
"If not 5, then 4. Either way, this is the right direction."
Leading the pack was Inuzuka Claw, eyes gleaming as he ran ahead with a ninja hound at his side.
Sure, Kaede might have some hidden strength to dare enter the exams alone, but compared to three-person teams, a lone participant like him looked like an easy target, a ripe persimmon just waiting to be squeezed.
Shino Aburame followed behind, frowning slightly. "I still don't think targeting him is the best idea. He's Kakashi's older brother, he might have hidden abilities… Besides, he's from Konoha too. Wouldn't it make more sense to go after those Grass ninja?"
"What are you talking about?" Claw scoffed and glanced at him. "If he doesn't have the strength, he doesn't deserve to be a chunin. Since he's bold enough to go it alone, if he's weak, eliminating him early is better, no? It's better for us to take his scroll than let it fall into Kiri or Kumo hands."
Shino shook his head. "My gut says we shouldn't mess with him."
"The intuition of your bugs, huh?" Claw said with disdain. "Kuromaru, tell him your instincts."
Kuromaru: "Awoo!!"
Claw grinned. "Kuromaru says: fight. And between your bugs and my partner, I'll trust him any day."
"…Fine." Shino furrowed his brow but didn't argue further.
Even though he felt Kaede might be trouble, that was just a hunch. Since Claw and Kuromaru had made the call, he wouldn't split the team over it.
Before long…
The three of them arrived on the path Kaede had taken.
After sniffing around, Kuromaru quickly picked up Kaede's trail and barked, sprinting off in a specific direction.
"We've got him!"
Claw and Shino immediately followed, racing through the rocky terrain behind Kuromaru.
After chasing for quite a while, Kuromaru suddenly stopped, lowered his head, and let out a low growl, signaling something to Claw.
"He's just ahead."
Claw caught on instantly and signaled to the others.
The trio split up, flanking the hills from both sides. As they crested the ridge, they finally spotted a figure below.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
All three dropped down at the same time, surrounding Kaede from three angles.
But instead of immediately attacking, all three were briefly stunned.
There wasn't just one person down there.
on either side of Kaede lay three unconscious genin, clearly from another team. Kaede was calmly frisking them, pulling a scroll off one of them without the slightest urgency.
"Did you take them all down?!" Claw asked in disbelief.
They couldn't tell how strong the fallen genin were, but they were still a full team. For Kaede to take out all three solo... Could Shino's gut feeling have been right after all?
"Yeah. I didn't want to fight them, but they were too persistent."
Kaede tucked away the Earth Scroll and glanced at the trio. "You here to steal my scroll too?"
"…"
Claw didn't answer right away. A flicker of wariness passed through his eyes.
But just then, Shino stepped forward and said in a low voice, "Attack! He just finished a fight, we can't give him time to recover!"
Though Shino was originally against targeting Kaede, he now saw an opportunity and didn't hesitate. With a wave of his hand, a black cloud of kikaichu surged forward.
Claw also snapped back to his senses.
Almost got fooled by this guy!
"Beast Clone Technique! Fang over Fang!"
With a shout, Claw and Kuromaru spun together like a drill, charging at Kaede with deadly force.
Kaede's eyes remained expressionless.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, he vanished.
His speed was far beyond Fang over Fang his afterimage barely faded before he reappeared behind Shino.
Shino's eyes widened in shock. "That speed… How?!"
He flung his arms open, sending out his bugs to intercept, but Kaede moved too fast, he dodged around the swarm and appeared behind him in a blink.
The gleam of the White Fang blade flashed.
Slash!
Though some bugs managed to soften the blow, the blade still slashed across Shino's back. Blood sprayed as he collapsed with a groan of pain.
"Shino!" Claw cried out in alarm.
Now it was clear how Kaede had taken down a whole team, his speed was simply inhuman for a genin.
Whoosh!
Kaede vanished again, reappearing before Claw.
A single exchange, and Claw was down, badly wounded.
The last genin tried to run.
Kaede didn't let him.
The flash of his blade ensured he went down like the rest.
"Wrong choices come with consequences."
Kaede looked back at the six fallen ninja.
Since they were all from Konoha, he hadn't killed them, just incapacitated them. Mistakes like this couldn't be left unpunished. on the battlefield, enemies don't go easy on you, so if they wanted to be chunin, they'd have to wait for next time.
"That was a bit of a delay… but nothing serious."
Pocketing the scrolls, Kaede turned toward the center of the cave and vanished into the shadows.