"It's almost over."
Not far away, Orochimaru watched Sarutobi Enjun and gave a faint, regretful shake of his head. Enjun's performance had actually been quite solid. Other than his obvious lack of field experience, his overall ability already surpassed that of most ordinary genin. But in Orochimaru's eyes, it still fell far short of anything that could stir real emotion.
He had graduated from the Ninja Academy at six and become a Jonin at fourteen. Compared to his own standards at the same age, Sarutobi Enjun was still a long way off.
"Orochimaru-sensei, Hayabusa still clearly has some energy left. Are you really ending it here?"
Uzuki Ruri had long since recovered from the frustration of being the first one eliminated. At the moment, she sat nearby holding a few wild fruits she had gathered, looking at Orochimaru with open curiosity.
"His stamina isn't the issue," Orochimaru said flatly. "He has already repeated the same responses several times. His combat awareness is average, his tactical thinking is average, and there is nothing new left for me to observe. There is no point dragging it out."
His golden eyes narrowed slightly. "Besides... there isn't much time left. I still need to see Uchiha Gen's performance with my own eyes."
For Orochimaru, the purpose of this exercise had never been limited to giving the three of them their first taste of battlefield evasion. He also wanted to see what kind of people they really were once they were cornered. How they fought, what they prioritized, how they processed danger, how they used what they knew—all of it mattered.
Sarutobi Enjun had already shown enough. It was time for his part to end.
"Stop. You may take out the bell now, Flame Falcon."
Orochimaru's voice drifted over from not far away, and at once the snakes hemming Sarutobi Enjun in withdrew like a receding tide.
Enjun was still breathing hard, his clothes torn, blood smeared over his skin, his feet surrounded by broken snake corpses. Even so, he lifted his head stubbornly. "It's not over yet. I could keep fighting like this all day—"
Bang.
A crisp tap landed on his forehead before he could finish. Sarutobi Enjun crumpled to the ground on the spot, a swelling bump immediately rising on his head.
To Orochimaru, dropping a genin in an instant was an effortless thing. Even a genin like Sarutobi Enjun—gifted, strong, and far beyond the ordinary despite his inexperience—still had no real room to resist before someone of Orochimaru's caliber.
Anything below the Jonin tier would struggle to offer meaningful opposition to a monster like him. The only reason Gen and the others had managed to hold out this long was because this was a test designed by Orochimaru, and the difficulty had been deliberately controlled so it would not exceed what newly graduated genin should, in his judgment, barely be able to handle.
At least, that was the standard Orochimaru used for students worthy of being taught by him.
"Let's go," he said. "There's less than twenty minutes left. We don't have time to waste."
He signaled for the two-headed snake to carry the unconscious Sarutobi Enjun onto its back. Then he formed hand seals and pressed a hand to the ground.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Formation: Ten Thousand Serpents."
A moment later, countless giant snakes flooded out from around Orochimaru, surging across the Forest of Death in all directions. Their movement was so fast that it looked less like a swarm and more like a natural disaster given flesh—far deadlier than the ordinary waves of serpents he had used earlier.
Uchiha Gen was indeed slippery. Even now, he was still sending ninja crows carrying scent-laced objects all over the forest, trying to distort Orochimaru's judgment.
If Orochimaru continued searching at the previous, measured pace, he might still fail to catch that cunning little brat before the time limit ran out. Since that was the case, then it was time to increase the pressure properly.
***
A few minutes later, Uchiha Gen noticed the change almost at once.
"Hayabusa's been eliminated, and the snake count just increased. Their aggression went up too."
The Forest of Death had never lacked snakes. It was their natural territory, a place where crawling bodies and hidden fangs were as common as tangled roots. Among them were even large species with considerable chakra. But now the number had exploded, and the hostility in the air had changed with it. The moment one of them discovered him, it attacked without hesitation.
These serpents raised by the natural energy of Ryuchi Cave were different from the ordinary snakes native to the forest, even if they had not reached the level of true sage beasts. They were faster, tougher, more coordinated. Some slid over the ground like black water, while others launched themselves so violently they almost looked airborne.
Their bodies were hard as iron, their vitality astonishing. Uchiha Gen had to put real force into every kunai throw just to kill them cleanly. Some were still alive even after being nailed to tree trunks or the ground, twisting frantically in place.
Worse, the snakes worked together. Those pinned down were quickly freed by others that rushed in to bite and tug the kunai loose. Their movements had obvious structure: some drew attention head-on, some struck from blind angles, and some supported from the rear. A few might even have been larger snakes trained to direct the rest through scent alone.
There was no doubt about it—Orochimaru had become serious.
Not serious enough to use his full strength, perhaps. But serious enough to make the situation far uglier than before.
Trying to keep moving, keep hiding, and keep slipping through gaps the way he had earlier was becoming harder by the second. There were simply too many snakes now, and they were too fast, too strong, and too coordinated. Even for him, shaking them off cleanly felt difficult.
Orochimaru had made his intentions obvious. He no longer wanted Uchiha Gen to hide. He wanted him dragged into the open.
Gen dispelled the remaining ninja crows circling him. They vanished one by one and returned to the Uchiha clan's crow-breeding grounds.
Their strength was too limited. They were useful as scouts and lookouts, but if they tried to tangle with Orochimaru's snakes in this cramped forest, they would likely be torn apart before they even had the chance to dispel themselves. There was no point throwing them away needlessly.
Fortunately, after circling through the forest for so long, Gen had already memorized much of the route he had taken. He was no longer unfamiliar with the surrounding terrain. The moment he chose an escape line, his body moved before the thought had even fully settled.
Several shuriken flashed from his hand. Then he clapped both palms together and thrust them forward.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
He had not truly mastered the technique yet. In a battle against someone on his level, Gale Palm was still too rough, too shallow, too incomplete to count as a polished combat ninjutsu. But even in this immature state, it still had value. The wind pressure was directional, broad enough to matter, and strong enough to accelerate whatever lay in front of it.
The shuriken shot forward like bullets, their speed increasing dramatically as the wind struck their backs. In an instant, they pierced through several pythons blocking his path.
Gen moved at once, slipping through the opening without the slightest pause.
When it was time to run, then he would run. There was no point pretending otherwise.
He had not forgotten the reward Orochimaru had mentioned for the last person caught. A powerful ninjutsu, personally taught by Orochimaru, plus help mastering it. No matter how one looked at it, something coming from Orochimaru's hands could not possibly be ordinary.
And this was still Orochimaru before betrayal, before severing all ties with Konoha, before sinking completely into the darkness. That made the offer even harder to ignore.
It was impossible for Uchiha Gen not to be tempted.
So he ran in the direction opposite the line connecting the locations the ninja crows had previously relayed back about Orochimaru's movements. Every second mattered now. Every heartbeat counted.
Behind him, the snake swarm poured forward like a black flood rolling through the forest.
Under that terrifying pressure, the beasts of the Death Forest fled in panic. Insects disappeared into the soil. Birds burst from the treetops in alarm. Even the forest itself seemed to recoil before the advancing tide of serpents.
Gen did not look back again.
If Orochimaru wanted to raise the stakes, then he would answer in kind. He would keep running, keep thinking, keep adapting, and force this trial to last until the very last second if he had to.
Because surviving wasn't enough anymore.
Now, he wanted to win something from it.