#49 - Chapter 49: The heroic Yutemachi is shocked by the forest of death

"Why?"

The crowd looked puzzled, staring at Ibiki Morino, awaiting his answer.

"Answering or not answering seems like a simple multiple-choice question, but it places tremendous psychological pressure on each of you," Ibiki Morino said blandly.

"If you choose to answer, you must consider not only that you will never become a Chunin, but also whether you will implicate your teammates and prevent them from becoming Chunin!"

"If you choose not to answer, you will implicate your teammates and cause them to be eliminated!"

"You may not be able to intuitively understand the meaning of what I'm saying, so let me give you an example!"

"Imagine you are already a Chunin, and you receive a mission to retrieve secret documents, but you know nothing about the number of enemy ninjas, their abilities, or whether they have other armaments! Moreover, the enemy may have set a trap. Would you choose to accept or reject such a mission?"

"If you are afraid of death and refuse the mission, it means exposing your teammates to danger! Can you keep running away?"

"As ninjas, you will inevitably encounter extremely dangerous missions that you cannot refuse! In such situations, being able to show courage to your teammates and having the ability to overcome difficulties are qualities that an excellent Chunin must possess!"

"A coward who doesn't dare to gamble with their life, who is afraid of death, who places hope in next year or an uncertain future, and whose heart is not firm is not qualified to become a Chunin!"

"And those of you who choose to answer have found the optimal solution to the tenth question!"

"Finally... congratulations on passing the first exam of the Chunin Exams! I hope you can rise to the challenge when you encounter difficulties in the future!"

"This exam—is over!"

"I wish you all the best in the exams that follow!"

After listening to Ibiki Morino's words, Naruto was also touched.

Ignoring the part about accepting missions regardless of one's own safety, the other words made some sense.

When facing danger, as a captain, you must have courage far beyond that of others!

Because your courage is the courage of your subordinates!

If you, as the captain, are cowardly and evasive, your teammates will only be more discouraged. A team without courage is doomed to perish when facing danger!

Bang!

The window was suddenly shattered, and a dashing female ninja jumped in from outside.

At the same time, several kunai were stabbed into the ceiling, and a black cloth was suddenly unfurled!

"The proctor for the second exam... Anko Mitarashi?" Someone murmured, looking at the words written on the black cloth.

"That's right!"

"I am the proctor for your second exam—Anko Mitarashi!"

Anko Mitarashi waved her hand, throwing open her cloak, and said, "Although you passed the first exam, it's not time to be happy yet! Get tense, genin!"

"......"

Looking at Anko Mitarashi gesticulating on the platform, the classroom fell into an eerie silence.

Being stared at by so many people with strange eyes, Anko Mitarashi also blushed a little.

"Read the atmosphere, Anko," Ibiki Morino silently revealed half of his face from behind the black cloth, reminding her in a low voice.

"Cough, cough!"

Anko Mitarashi coughed to ease the embarrassment, and then immediately changed the subject, "57 people, 19 teams, there are still a few too many people left. You're too soft, Ibiki."

"There are quite a few excellent ones this year," Ibiki Morino said blandly.

This was already the final result after Naruto's disruption was removed.

That so many people passed was indeed inseparable from their individual excellence.

"Hmph, never mind. In the next exam, I will reduce this number by more than half!"

Looking at the tense examinees in their seats, Anko Mitarashi snorted, "We'll talk about the details tomorrow. We'll change locations first!"

"Ask your instructors about the assembly location and time."

"Now—dismissed!!"

......

"Phew! That scared me to death. I didn't expect the first exam to be so difficult!"

After leaving the exam room, Sakura finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although she had undergone special training from Naruto, she still felt a little unsure.

Fortunately, the first exam was a written test, which she was best at, so she passed without any real danger.

"Relax, the Chunin Exams aren't as difficult as you think."

Naruto glanced at the setting sun and said, "Let's go find Kakashi first. We need to find out the location of tomorrow's exam from him."

Although he remembered that the location of the second exam was the Training Ground, the Forest of Death, he didn't know the exact location of the Forest of Death.

"Yo, looking for me?"

Before Naruto and the others could start looking, Kakashi jumped out on his own.

"Have you been here the whole time?" Naruto asked, looking at Kakashi.

"Yeah, although I don't want to admit it, I was actually quite nervous watching you take the exam~" Kakashi smiled with narrowed eyes, "But it looks like you all performed well. Congratulations on successfully passing the first exam!"

He had a lot of confidence in Naruto and Sasuke, but the proctor for the first exam was Ibiki Morino, who tested not individual combat power, nor teamwork!

Sakura's strength and mental fortitude were not enough. This was the only thing he was worried about.

Now, judging from the results, Sakura has also grown up~

"Besides congratulations, is there any more substantial encouragement?" Naruto suddenly said.

"......"

Kakashi knew what Naruto meant by substantial reward.

Nothing more than money.

But he really doesn't have any money... does he?

"Cough, cough, the location of tomorrow's exam is Training Ground 44, the Forest of Death. The exam time is 2:30 PM. Remember to arrive early!"

"Then... dismissed!"

After speaking, Kakashi directly disappeared in a Body Flicker Technique, not giving Naruto and the others a chance to speak, as if afraid that Naruto would ask him for money again.

Seeing this, Naruto snorted and muttered, "Just as stingy as old man Hiruzen."

Sakura and Sasuke, who were on the side, couldn't help but laugh at this scene.

In their opinion,

both Naruto and Kakashi were the kind of people they needed to look up to!

But these two people would make such a funny scene over a little bit of money.

At 1:30 PM the next day,

Team 7 arrived at Training Ground 44 ahead of time.

Looking at the Forest of Death, which was sealed off by wire mesh and composed of many huge trees, Sakura and the others were quite shocked.

Naruto even suspected that the Forest of Death was the ruins left over from Hashirama Senju's battles back then!

"Is this the Forest of Death? It's a little daunting just looking at it," Sakura said, clenching her fists, with some worry.

"It may just be all show, a strange environment and a scary name giving people a mysterious impression," Sasuke said blandly, but it gave people the feeling that he was trying to convince himself.

Naruto glanced at the two of them and said, "Don't worry, this exam is a team battle. With me here, there won't be any problems."

Hearing this, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly, "That's right, with Naruto... and Sasuke-kun here, there definitely won't be any problems!"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto but didn't say anything.

Although Naruto's words were correct and did indeed relieve Sasuke of the need to worry about the risk of the exam, this was not what he wanted!

Reviving the Uchiha clan and revenge, these two things can only be done by himself!

Naruto can't help him!

Even if Naruto is willing to help him, he won't agree!

Because Naruto is not a member of the Uchiha clan, so he doesn't want to, and he's not willing to always stand behind Naruto!

He needs more power, to surpass Naruto!