"Byakugan—activate!"
As the deafening roars of battle echoed from all directions, Neji halted in the Forest of Death, suspicion flashing across his face as the veins at his temples bulged.
He had known the second stage of the Chūnin Exams wouldn't be easy—but he hadn't expected combat to erupt everywhere so soon after it began, pushing the situation to such an extreme. Even the sky, which had been clear just moments ago, now seemed noticeably darker.
After a brief scan, Tenten asked, "So? Did you see anything?"
Neji shook his head. "The fighting isn't near us."
Lee looked puzzled. "But the noise…"
The continuous thunderous booms ringing in their ears, along with the faint tremors underfoot, clearly indicated fierce battles nearby—and not just at one location.
Neji explained grimly, "My Byakugan can observe up to a one-kilometer radius. These battles aren't within that range. The reason we can still feel the aftershocks is because the fighting is extremely intense—powerful enough to create massive repercussions!"
Tenten frowned. "Then what should we do?"
After a moment's thought, Neji said decisively, "These opponents aren't simple. We stick to the original plan and rendezvous with Shikamaru and the others first."
"Right!"
Lee and Tenten nodded in unison.
Just as the trio prepared to move, Neji's expression suddenly changed.
"Be careful," he warned. "Someone's coming—and they're fast!"
Lee and Tenten instantly went on guard.
An enemy charging straight toward them meant their position had already been exposed!
Moments later, three figures emerged from the forest. They were Temari, Kankurō, and Shira of the Hidden Sand.
"Oh? I was wondering who it was," Temari said with a smile. "So it's a Leaf team."
Her gaze shifted to Neji's eyes. "That Byakugan… You're from the Hokage's clan, huh? In that case, be smart and hand over your scroll."
Tenten immediately shot back, "Neji is the Hokage's disciple! Do you really think we'd be afraid of you?"
Temari raised an eyebrow, studying Neji with interest.
"Oh? If that's the case, then this should be a worthwhile match."
---
On the other side of the Forest of Death.
Shikamaru looked at the teammates gathered around him, a headache forming.
In addition to his own team, Hinata's team, Kiba's team, Shino's team, Shion's team, Yakumo's team, and Sai's team had all successfully converged according to plan.
But Neji's team was still missing.
In Shikamaru's calculations, the strongest combatants among their year were Sasuke, Naruto, and Neji—or more precisely, the giant summoning beasts they had contracted.
Sasuke and Naruto aside, Neji's absence was unexpected and deeply troubling.
The usually quiet Shino suddenly spoke.
"Another battle has broken out in the forest."
"Woof! Woof!"
Akamaru, perched atop Kiba's head, barked sharply toward a certain direction.
Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked where Akamaru indicated.
"It's far away—at least three kilometers from us."
The effective range of the Byakugan varied with the user's skill. Normally, it could directly observe within one kilometer. Both Neji and Hinata were at that level.
However, by analyzing subtle details like airflow disturbances and chakra fluctuations, they could infer events occurring two—or even three—kilometers away, though such deductions naturally carried some margin of error.
Even so, no one doubted Hinata's judgment.
With the Byakugan, parasitic insects, and Akamaru's keen sense of smell, their group was unquestionably the strongest reconnaissance unit among their peers.
Everyone tensed up.
Shikamaru quickly pulled out a map of the Forest of Death and spread it on the ground.
After marking the approximate battle zones, he frowned and analyzed aloud,
"Judging by where the clashes are happening, the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Mist, and Sound ninja have likely already engaged each other. And this latest battle is right at the overlap between Neji's route and the Hidden Sand's activity range…"
He paused, eyes narrowing.
"So there's a high chance Neji's team has run into the Sand ninja."
To help Konoha's performance, Asuma—chief examiner for the second stage—had privately informed Shikamaru of each team's general deployment.
By combining that information with the battle locations, Shikamaru could roughly deduce who was fighting where.
Drip.
Drip.
A few drops of water splashed onto the map.
Shikamaru froze, then slowly looked up.
The sun, which had occasionally peeked through earlier, was now completely obscured by dark clouds. Raindrops began to fall one after another.
"It's raining?"
"It was sunny when the exam started—how did it suddenly rain?"
"Is this because of that Lightning Release over there?"
"No way… How powerful would a jutsu have to be to affect the weather?"
The genin murmured uneasily beneath the rain.
Boom!
A blinding bolt of lightning tore through the dark clouds above the Forest of Death.
With that thunderclap, the rain no longer fell in scattered drops—it came crashing down in sheets, forming a dense curtain of water!
---
Within the rainstorm.
The jōnin overseeing the exam all wore grim expressions.
Darui of the Hidden Cloud and Kirin of the Hidden Mist had already devastated a massive portion of the forest—and showed no sign of stopping.
The spreading wildfires and surging lightning had genuinely altered the environment, forming artificial storm clouds above the Forest of Death and turning what had been a clear day into a violent tempest.
With rain pouring and lightning raging, even elite observers struggled.
Forget ordinary reconnaissance ninja—even Hiashi, with his Byakugan, found it difficult to clearly perceive the battlefield.
Whoosh!
An ANBU suddenly landed before the assembled jōnin.
"Report from the monitoring room," he said quickly. "Nearly all monitors in Sector F have been destroyed by Lightning Release jutsu. Sectors E and G have also suffered severe interference. Several battles there are no longer being monitored!"
Asuma rubbed his temples.
"These people are unbelievable. They're already this strong, yet they're still pretending to be genin in the Chūnin Exams."
Shizune hesitated.
"Uh… the Forest of Death isn't going to be completely destroyed, is it? Should we start preparing compensation agreements with the other villages now?"
Silence followed.
Because… that might not actually be a joke anymore.