After killing the Genin team of three from Kirigakure, Shamrock and Uta started searching their bodies. The forest around them was still eerily quiet, with only the rustling of leaves and the faint smell of blood lingering in the air.
Soon, inside one of the ninja's pouches, Shamrock found the Earth Scroll they required.
Holding the Earth Scroll in his hand, Shamrock looked towards Uta and said, "Look, sister, we got the Earth Scroll. We already have the Heaven Scroll. Now, with the Earth Scroll, we can directly go to the building in the center of the Forest of Death and create a record for finishing the Forest of Death examination the fastest, I guess."
Uta, after hearing Shamrock's words, nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, brother, we can definitely do so."
A small grin appeared on Shamrock's face. He then carefully placed the Earth Scroll into the inner pocket of his ninja outfit and said to Uta, "Sister, let's go, and let's compete. We should race and see who reaches the center building first."
As soon as Uta heard this, a competitive look immediately appeared on her face. Her eyes sharpened, and she said, "Very well, let's go."
The moment she finished speaking, she immediately dashed forward through the trees.
Shamrock's eyes widened slightly before he also started running after her. While leaping from one branch to another, he shouted, "I did not say the race began. You are cheating."
Uta laughed lightly as she moved ahead, her figure flashing between the branches like a blur.
And like this, both brother and sister started running, racing directly towards the central building located in the middle of the Forest of Death.
Both of them were running happily, and there was not much real competition between them. They already had both the Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll, so there was no need for them to fight any other ninjas from any village anymore, as it was completely unnecessary.
Because of this, they even deliberately avoided paths where they might collide with ninjas from other shinobi villages. Most teams were still moving slowly in the first place, carefully searching for enemies and scrolls, so not many people were directly rushing towards the final destination—the building at the center of the Forest of Death.
Still, there were always a few smart, or perhaps over-smart, teams who would directly head near the central building and remain hidden in its vicinity. Their plan would be simple: wait for other exhausted teams to arrive, rob them of their scrolls, and see if they could pass the exam without doing much work themselves.
After Shamrock and Uta left the location where they had killed the Kirigakure Ninja team, a white snake appeared from the grass and looked in the direction they had gone.
…
Shamrock and Uta continued jumping from tree branch to tree branch, the wind brushing against their faces. Leaves rustled around them as the two of them moved quickly through the forest.
Suddenly, Shamrock's face changed.
Without even a moment of hesitation, he immediately unsheathed his sword.
The very next instant, a giant snake burst towards him with its mouth wide open.
Its fangs gleamed as it lunged straight for his head.
Shamrock reacted instantly and defended himself. The upper jaw of the snake collided heavily against Shamrock's sword with a loud metallic sound.
Clang!
The force behind the attack was so great that Shamrock was pushed away by the snake. His body flew backwards through the air, and at that moment, he was no longer standing on the ground or even on a tree branch.
Even though both Shamrock and Uta were using Observation Haki, neither of them had been able to react to the snake attack beforehand.
It was simply too sudden.
The giant snake had appeared out of nowhere.
And there could only be one reason for that.
Someone had summoned this snake deliberately to attack them.
But this snake was very powerful and had the strength of a Jonin at the very least. So this definitely could not be the work of some normal graduate.
Uta also realized this immediately because, as Shamrock was pushed away by the snake, a ninja stepped out from the shadows.
Although Uta did not know this ninja's name, both she and Shamrock had already felt this ninja's abnormal strength before. He was also one of the participants among the Chunin Exam candidates, so the two of them had paid some attention to him earlier.
Even back then, they had both felt that this person's strength was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Still, they had not been able to pinpoint exactly what was abnormal about him.
Because of that, Shamrock and Uta had not thought too much about it before.
But now, the strength radiating from this person was far greater than it had been earlier.
The air around him felt cold and dangerous.
Whatever technique the person standing in front of her was using was definitely superb because it had even managed to hide from their Observation Haki. That was not something normal sensory techniques could achieve.
Observation Haki was far beyond the sensory abilities of ordinary ninjas, yet this person had still managed to bypass it.
Uta's expression turned serious as she looked towards the ninja and immediately asked, "Who are you?"
As soon as the ninja opposite her heard this, he gave a faint smile and said, "I am Shiore. At least, for now, I am going as Shiore."
As soon as Uta heard his answer, confusion appeared in her eyes.
At least for now?
What exactly did he mean by that?
But she also knew that asking further would probably not yield any result.
And neither was she going to hold back and say something like, "Let's not fight."
This man had already attacked them.
And if they let this Shiore leave unharmed after that, then they were not the children of the Uzukage.
Thinking of this, Uta did not hesitate at all.
She immediately unsheathed her sword, and in the next moment, she moved at an extremely fast speed, attacking Shiore directly.
Shiore also reacted quickly.
He took out a kunai and blocked Uta's sword.
Clang!
Sparks burst into the air at the moment of collision.
Soon, both of them started moving rapidly, attacking each other from different angles. Uta's sword and Shiore's kunai repeatedly collided with one another, creating bright sparks again and again in the middle of the dark forest.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their figures blurred between the trees as they exchanged blows.
Uta slashed towards his neck.
Shiore tilted his head and avoided it by a small margin.
She immediately changed the direction of her sword and attacked his side.
Shiore blocked again.
Then he counterattacked with his kunai, forcing Uta to step back before she rushed forward once more.
But the more Uta fought with Shiore, the more surprised she became.
Shiore was becoming faster and faster.
He was not only keeping up with her speed, but he was also reacting perfectly to all of her attacks, as if he had already predicted where she would strike next.
This was really surprising for Uta.
It felt like Shiore was balancing his strength deliberately, just to test her strength.
This guy... he is not serious yet.
On the other side, Shamrock had been pushed quite far away by the giant snake, around fifty to sixty meters away from Uta.
The giant snake once again opened its massive mouth and lunged towards him.
Shamrock's expression turned cold.
Looking directly at the snake, he shouted in a loud voice, "Quiet, you stupid snake!"
The moment he said this, he released his Conqueror's Haki.
An invisible pressure immediately spread outward from him, causing the nearby branches to tremble slightly and the leaves around him to shake.
The immediate effect was on the snake attacking him.
The giant snake suddenly froze for a brief moment.
Its massive body stiffened, and its eyes lost focus for an instant.
On the other side, as Shamrock released his Conqueror's Haki, a strange glint immediately appeared in Shiore's eyes.
He licked his lips slowly, and a smirk appeared on his face, as if he was enjoying all of this.
----
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