All the candidates entered the Forest of Death from different directions one after another.
But Hidan waited until everyone else had gone inside, then casually walked up to Mitarashi Anko.
"It's you. Why aren't you going in?"
Anko recognized him immediately — the guy who looked completely uninterested while she was explaining the rules.
If she weren't the chief examiner here — and if Hidan hadn't been behaving "technically" within bounds — she would've already slapped some respect into him.
Nothing irritated her more than someone who didn't listen.
"Anko, I've got something interesting to tell you. Wanna hear it?"
Behind Hidan's tengu mask, a playful smile was practically audible.
The moment she heard him call her "Anko", three metaphorical veins popped on her forehead.
A slow, simmering irritation rose inside her.
"We don't know each other well enough for that."
Anko gritted her teeth.
"It's Examiner-sama, or Anko-sensei. Choose."
This boy's carefree, self-satisfied attitude was fueling every spark of her temper.
"You're right...we're not close." Hidan said lightly.
"But… I know your teacher very well."
He said it slowly on purpose, poking directly at the one name she couldn't ignore.
Truthfully, Hidan didn't know Anko at all.
She was a minor presence in most of the original timeline — cheerful, loud, but rarely central.
He knew almost every other prominent ninja… but Anko? Practically nothing.
But the moment he mentioned her teacher — Orochimaru — her entire body tightened.
She trembled slightly, her eyes shifting rapidly through shock, anger, and something colder.
Slowly, her expression froze into a deadly calm — like a venomous serpent ready to strike.
Her voice dropped several degrees:
"You. Who exactly are you?"
"Me?"
Hidan replied proudly.
"A glorious, excellent genin candidate!"
His tone carried the sincerity of someone delivering a school anthem.
Anko:
"…."
This boy is definitely not normal.
"What is your connection to Orochimaru? How do you know him?"
Anko's voice sharpened as she stared at Hidan's mask, trying to drill straight through it to the truth.
She needed information — any hint, any thread — that could lead her to that man.
"As for my relationship with him? That's none of your concern."
Hidan shrugged.
"But I can give you another piece of news. Something you'll like."
He knew exactly what button to press.
"…Say it."
Anko forced herself to stay calm.
This mysterious teenager unsettled her.
His presence felt… veiled. Even with her experience, she couldn't read his strength at all.
"Remember that man from Kusagakure earlier?"
Hidan tilted his head.
"The one who picked up the shuriken with his tongue?"
Anko's breath caught.
She instantly recalled the moment:
She'd flicked a shuriken at Naruto to scare him straight, and it sliced some hair off a Kusagakure ninja behind her.
That man returned the shuriken by curling his long tongue around it.
She'd warned him not to sneak up behind her — and moved on.
Now, at Hidan's reminder, a chill crept up her spine.
A long tongue…
Cold, deliberate movement…
Like a serpent.
Only one man had such habits.
Only one man with a presence that made her skin crawl.
Orochimaru.
Her face went pale.
I didn't notice him. He passed right under my nose… in my own exam…
Her stomach twisted with horror.
"Damn it! They're in danger!"
Anko hissed, realization hitting her like lightning.
"You…" She looked at Hidan, unsure what to say now.
"I don't have time for you."
Orochimaru took priority over everything.
Hidan could be a problem, sure but he wasn't that monster.
She clutched her shoulder instinctively — the place marked by the Heaven Curse Seal.
The source of strength and agony.
A memory she could never erase.
Orochimaru... the man who betrayed Konoha.
The man who destroyed her childhood.
She had no choice.
Find him. Now.
With a blur of movement, Anko vanished into the forest.
Her heart pounded, her sense of urgency swallowing every other thought.
She didn't even have time to report it to the higher-ups.
If she didn't locate Orochimaru quickly, every genin in the exam would be at risk.
Her speed increased.
And she disappeared deeper into the Forest of Death.
Hidan watched her go, satisfaction spreading across his face.
Causing trouble for others really is entertaining.
With that thought, he strolled casually toward the forest.
--
"Ugh… why are forests in this world always like this?"
Hidan grumbled as he walked.
The trees in the Naruto world were enormous — towering and thick, blocking sunlight entirely.
The dense canopy trapped cold, damp air underneath.
For someone who preferred warm, bright days, this place felt like a swamp.
Suddenly...
crack… rustle…
A soft noise broke from the bushes nearby.
Three people.
Hidden.
Waiting.
Hidan felt their chakra the moment they moved.
"So you're targeting the guy who lagged behind?"
He smirked under his mask.
A wicked smile curved at the corner of his mouth.
Meanwhile, in the bushes, the three ambushers saw Hidan stepping right toward their trap.
They quietly celebrated.
The prey is walking right into the snare.
But unfortunately for them
They had no idea who the real prey was.
Hidan walked straight ahead, pretending he hadn't noticed anything strange at all.
With the tengu mask covering his face, nobody could read a single hint of emotion from him anyway.
Snap.
A faint sound came from beneath Hidan's foot.
"Now!"
The three hidden genin in the bushes shouted in excitement.
They immediately pulled out several shuriken and launched them toward the space directly above Hidan's head.
Dozens of shuriken whistled through the air...and hit nothing.
Every blade passed straight through empty space, leaving not even the smallest scratch.
The three attackers rubbed their eyes in disbelief.
They had calculated everything perfectly.
The timing, the position, the angle—
Yet it all failed as if the laws of physics simply refused to apply.
Even worse, the rope trap they laid earlier produced something even more impossible.
Hidan had stepped directly on the loop meant to clamp his ankle and yank him into the air.
It should've snapped tight around his leg and lifted him upside down—
But the rope loop passed through him like mist.
Not a single thread touched him.
"B-Boss… let's… let's just leave…"
The scrawny genin trembled.
As bottom-tier genin, they had never seen anything like this.
Abilities like this belonged to monsters, not exam candidates.
"Tch… withdraw."
Their "leader" gritted his teeth, glaring at Hidan with reluctant frustration.
They'd hoped a three-on-one ambush would be easy.
Instead, Hidan's intangible body terrified all of them.
They hurled three more shuriken toward where Hidan stood—then immediately prepared to run for their lives.
Hidan watched the blades fly at him with a relaxed smile.
Every shuriken passed straight through his body harmlessly.
He raised an eyebrow.
"These guys have functioning brains, right?
They saw nothing hits me…
And they're still wasting shuriken like they grow on trees?"
He sighed dramatically.
"Fine. My turn."
"Lightning Release: Chidori Nagashi!"
A burst of white-hot lightning erupted from Hidan's hand, screeching like a thousand birds as it spread across the ground in a wave.
The three genin tried to leap away—
But the lightning was already upon them.
"G-G-Gh—! Wh-what—! Eeeek—!"
All three convulsed violently, hair spiking upward like porcupines, smoke curling from their mouths as their limbs twitched uncontrollably.
They collapsed in a heap, barely conscious.
Hidan crouched beside them with disappointment.
"See? Why run? You made this so much more troublesome. If you'd stayed put, I'd have finished sooner."
The three twitched harder.
Hidan stared at them thoughtfully.
"I wasn't planning to kill you. Small fry like this don't give many kill-points anyway.
Better to let you entertain me for a bit in this gloomy forest."
He examined their fried expressions.
"…Looks like the lightning really scrambled your brains. Well, since you're practically useless now… maybe I should kill you."
The moment they heard that, all three shot upright like scared animals.
"We're not stupid!"
"We're not stupid!"
"We're totally fine!!"
Their hair was standing straight up, their faces pitch-black from being electrocuted, but they forced out a desperate declaration.
Hidan tilted his head.
"…How do you prove that?"
The trio stared at him in horror.
Proof?
What did he want, a medical certificate?!
They couldn't even choke out something dramatic like
"We accept our fate"
because they absolutely—weapons-down—refused to die here.
Hidan let out a long sigh and shook his head.
"This is troublesome…"
He stretched the moment out deliberately, raising their anxiety to its limits.
Messing with weaklings like this really was satisfying.
It was like playing a game with a max-level character and teaching clueless newbies the harsh rules of reality.
Finally he said:
"Alright. I'm done playing."
The three genin nearly collapsed in relief.
But the next moment—
"Genjutsu."
Hidan's eyes flashed behind the mask.
"You three will stay right here.
And you'll perform the National Academy Radio Exercise Routine #8 inside the illusion.
If your bodies aren't trained, how are you supposed to be real shinobi?"
The three genin were instantly dragged into the illusion world.
Inside the Genjutsu realm, they found themselves staring blankly at an overly-enthusiastic fitness instructor calling himself Johnny Sims, who wore a neon jumpsuit, sweatband, and sunglasses for absolutely no reason.
He blew a whistle.
"Alright kiddos! Today's training is Routine #8: The Full-Body Shinobi Warm-Up!
Step One: Throw Your Hips Like You Mean It!
Step Two: Mysterious Pelvic Rotation for 'Chakra Flow.'
Step Three: Shake Your Ass Like You Just Failed the Academy!
And remember —
if you don't commit, you won't transmit… chakra!"
Anyone who didn't follow his gyrations exactly was immediately dragged off for a "study trip" featuring flaming pits, a mountain of blades, and frying-pan torture.
Time moved according to Hidan's will, and with his Eternal Mangekyō, his Genjutsu far surpassed Uchiha Itachi's in endurance, creativity, and sheer psychological cruelty.
Meanwhile in the real world, their actual bodies were performing the exact same humiliating routine — hips swinging, arms flailing, asses shaking like they were auditioning for some cursed taijutsu dance club.
Hidan watched with his arms folded.
"Now that's a decent student. Their posture's way better than half the kids from my old academy. Damn fine hip rotation."
Nodding in satisfaction, he rummaged through their belongings, pulled out their Earth Scroll, and tossed it into his Kamui space.
Then he walked away without a care, leaving the three traumatized genin standing stiffly in place...condemned to eternally perform Johnny Sims Horrifying Chakra-Aerobics Routine #8 inside a nightmarish illusion.
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