All the participating genin had gathered at the gateway to the Forest of Death, led by Anko herself.
The second stage was simple.
They were each given a scroll, either heaven or earth.
The goal was to get both scrolls and reach the finish line, which was the tower at the end of the forest.
Benimaru collected his scroll. He got an earth scroll.
Once the exams started, all the teams scattered.
Benimaru, who was seen as "easy pickings" due to him being alone, was quickly targeted.
A Sound team had cornered Benimaru in the forest—trying to take his scroll.
"Give me your scroll and we'll consider letting you live," one Sound ninja said, trying to sound intimidating.
His comrades backed him up. Benimaru looked at them, hands still in his pockets—as casual as ever, he spoke.
"Are you talking to me?"
His tone was calm, cool. Like he was talking about the weather.
The Sound ninja grew a tick mark.
"Since you obviously don't value your life, I'll just kill you and take your scroll."
The Sound ninja drew three shuriken from his pouch. He threw them all at once, aiming to kill Benimaru.
Benimaru was unfazed. He removed one hand from his pockets.
He infused his arm with chakra and caught all the shuriken midair.
"I think you dropped this."
He threw the shuriken back towards him at full speed.
They punctured his body with no resistance: one inserted itself into his chest, another his eye, and the last one his neck.
His death was immediate.
His body fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Benimaru whistled slightly. He needed to learn to control his strength.
His teammates were mortified.
"Please, we'll do whatever you want, just don't kill us," one begged.
Benimaru turned to them. He wasn't someone who enjoyed mindless killing, so he wouldn't be opposed to letting them go.
"What scroll do you have?"
"We have an earth scroll."
Benimaru clicked his tongue. In order to pass he needed a heaven scroll.
"Fine. Get out of here."
He ordered, then began walking away.
One of the genin saw an opportunity. The enemy's back was turned—no matter how strong he was, a sneak attack would finish him.
The two weaved hand signs at a ridiculous pace, aiming to kill Benimaru.
"FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU!"
"WIND STYLE: GREAT HURRICANE!"
A huge fireball spat from the genin's mouth and flew straight towards Benimaru.
Empowered by the wind jutsu, the fireball grew much stronger and travelled much faster.
Benimaru simply sighed in response. He thought he could let them live—obviously he can't.
He made a single slicing motion with his hand, and in an instant, the fireball was cut in half.
The residual chakra from his slash made its way to the other two genin.
Their bodies were skewered brutally, their skin mangled beyond repair.
The fire in their eyes went out before their bodies even reached the ground.
Benimaru didn't like mindless killing, so if he had a chance he would have let them live—unfortunately, they just had to be stupid.
While Benimaru was walking away, the hairs on his neck spiked up dramatically.
This chakra he was sensing was far above anything a normal genin should possess.
The other chakra he was sensing—is that… Naruto?
Benimaru thought they would be in trouble, so he rushed there as fast as he could.
…..
In another part of the forest a large boom could be heard.
A large snake could be seen from afar.
It had been burst apart by a particular blond who overloaded its stomach with shadow clones.
The person who summoned the snake was still there.
He had subdued Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Seal and had escaped Sasuke's trap.
He formed a weird hand sign to keep Sasuke in place.
His neck extended obscenely, as if to bite Sasuke.
But as the neck was flying towards Sasuke, it was ripped to shreds.
In a single second, multiple slash marks appeared on it and it was torn to pieces.
The perpetrator was none other than Benimaru himself.
After dealing with the Sound nin, he had sensed a huge amount of chakra that shouldn't belong to any genin.
He had only sensed this much in a few people:
Hiruzen Sarutobi—the current Hokage.
Naruto Uzumaki—the Nine Tails jinchūriki.
And Chandler—his sensei.
So for this person to have enough chakra to compete with the likes of these monsters, it was obvious that it meant a problem.
He had rushed here as quickly as he could, but he had almost been too late.
He saw the unconscious form of Naruto and the hidden form of Sakura.
He stood side by side with Sasuke, who was confused at his appearance.
"Why are you here?" he asked.
Benimaru responded with a cheeky grin.
"I thought you may need some help."
Sasuke grunted in response.
"I don't need any help."
Benimaru rolled his eyes.
"Sure you don't."
Sasuke glared at him.
"The fight isn't over yet."
Benimaru glanced at the enemy, who seemed to be shedding their skin.
The enemy had changed and seemed to be in their true form: a pale-skinned tall man with his tongue sticking out erratically.
"It seems like there is more than one prodigy in this generation," he said with a sly smile.
"Unfortunately, I am only here for Sasuke-kun and no one else."
Benimaru and Sasuke felt a chill go up their spines.
This man's killing intent was overwhelmingly strong.
Benimaru could see hallucinations of his own death: himself being stabbed in the chest multiple times, his brain being punctured, his skull being fractured, his head being cut off in so many gruesome ways, each one worse than the last.
Sasuke could see flashbacks of his clan massacre.
He could see the dead bodies of all his family members: his mother, his father, his aunts and uncles, all his neighbors and relatives. Everyone dead on the ground.
Once Benimaru gained his bearings, he released his own killing intent, trying to fight against the man.
Though even then, it was still dwarfed by the man.
By the end, both Sasuke and Benimaru were panting heavily—sweat dripping down their faces like crazy.
The man started slow clapping for them.
"Ssssuch resilience… genin should be trembling in their own piss by now. You two… are delicioussss."
His tone was slimy, like a snake.
"Yet you are sssstill ssssstanding… barely."
Benimaru and Sasuke got up. They wiped the sweat off their faces.
Benimaru spoke first.
"Oi, Sasuke. How about we have a truce for now?"
Sasuke hummed in response.
"At least... until we finish kicking this bastard's ass."
Benimaru's eyes and hair flickered golden—a singular yellow iris in his eyes.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan, his two tomoe blazing furiously within each eye.
Orochimaru hummed in response. He was aware of the Sharingan, but the power that other boy was using… he had no knowledge of it.
"You there," he said.
"What is your name?"
"The name is Benimaru Ryota. Remember it."