Chapter 1038: Impact of Various Battles
‘Byakugan!’
As the faint sounds of explosions came from multiple directions, Neji activated his Byakugan and looked around with a frown, ‘I have a bad feeling about this…’
He had expected the second part of the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam to be Not as easy as they wanted, but he did not expect that soon after the started, multiple battles broke out in different places at the same time! What’s more, the intensity of these battles seems to be quite intense as the surrounding environment is deeply affected disturbing not only the wildlife in the forest of death but also the heavens above as it became darker and gloomier.
Noting Neji’s actions, Kiyomi on the side questioned in a low voice, “Neji-kun, did you see who is fighting?”
Neji shook his head, “The distance is quite large, it’s not within the range of my Byakugan.”
Rock Lee removed his ear from the ground, and spoke with a doubtful expression, “But this sound…” A mix of various sounds including clashing of weapons, screams of people, the collision of Jutsu, and so on was constantly reaching their side which made Lee wonder if the battle was really far away instead of being quite close to them.
Neji tried to reassure Lee, “The range of my Byakugan is a little over one kilometer, and I do not see any major battles within the range of my vision. The reason for the impact and aftermath of the battle to reach all the way to the other side of the forest of death is that the intensity of battle is probably very high…”
Lee nodded, “I see…” and asked, “Should we check out?”
Neji pondered for a moment, then shook his head, “It’s probably best if we don’t waste our time on that, instead, we should follow the original plan and group up with the other squads…”
Both Lee and Kiyomi nodded at the same time, “Alright…”Having reached a conclusion, the three members of team five were preparing to rush to the meeting point when Neji’s expression suddenly changed and he warned both Kiyomi and Lee, “Both of you… get ready, two teams are heading this way, and they are very fast!”
Both Lee and Kiyomi became alert as Kiyomi asked Neji, “Do you recognize their identity?”
“They are not from Konoha…” this was the only thing he was certain about. He did not recognize their Chakra signature, so he couldn’t exactly confirm their identities.
Neji asked Lee, “You aren’t wearing weights today, right?”
Lee shook his head, “No, Guy-sensei instructed me to not wear them as I might need to be at my full strength.”
Neji nodded, “Alright…” he was relieved that Lee would be able to use much of his strength, and instructed both him and Kiyomi, “Let’s hide and see what happens.”
The other two agreed and hid themselves. Ambush was probably impossible since Neji felt that both the teams had already discovered their whereabouts, and they did not have enough time to set up traps, so the best they could do at this point was to hide themselves and observe the situation.
Not long after, two Genin squads arrived in the area from two different directions, allowing Neji, Kiyomi, and Lee to figure out their identities.
Similar to the team five of Konohagakure, the two squads also noticed each other’s identities,
“It’s the squad from Sunagakure…”
“Turns out that the other ones are Kirigakure ninjas…”
Neji recognized both the squads. From Sunagakure it was Temari, Itsuki, and Shira, meanwhile, from Kirigakure it was Hōzuki Suigetsu, Chōjūrō, and Karatachi Tamako.
The ninjas of both the squads looked at each other in silence for a moment before turning toward the hiding places of Team Five and spoke at the same time, “There is no point in hiding… you’d better come out…”
…
Somewhere else in the Forest of Death
Shikamaru glanced at the ninjas gathered around him and couldn’t help but feel a little distressed. “Don’t tell me they got sidetracked or something…!”
Up until now, in addition to his own squad, there are only two other squads consisting of Sai, Haruno Sakura, and Aburame Shino, as well as Shin, Tenten, and Inuzuka Kiba have managed to make it to the meeting point as per their prior agreement.
Neither Neji’s squad, nor Shion-hime’s squad made it to the meeting point up until now which made him worried.
As per Shikamaru’s original plan, Neji’s squad and Shion-hime’s squad were very important, and now that both the squads have failed to make it to the meeting point. He couldn’t help but sigh. But there’s nothing he can do about it since those two squads were quite far away from the other squads, so it makes sense that it’s taking a lot of time for them to find their way here.
At this time, Shino suddenly spoke, “Another battle has started…”
Hearing Shino’s words, Shikamaru was about to speak to Sai–who was sitting on his Ink bird and circling above their group–through Ino’s Mind Body Transmission Jutsu, but before he could speak even the first word, suddenly, drops of water fell on his head, which made him look above with a frown, “Huh? The Sun… it’s gone?”
It was sunny until a while ago, but now the Sun is completely gone, covered with dark clouds that have already started to rain.
The sudden drizzle started to wash away the ink from the Ink bird which prompted Sai to immediately rejoin the others on the ground.
As Sai returned, Sakura asked, “Did you see anything useful from up there, Sai-kun?”
The others were also looking at him.
In response to their expectant gaze, Sai spoke, “I see three areas with intense battle… One side seems to involve someone fighting Otogakure ninjas… maybe, Kirigakure? I am not completely certain… For the second battlefield, it’s a little difficult to determine all the parties fighting, but there were traces of Iron Sand in that region, so maybe Sunagakure is fighting someone… Finally, the biggest battle, which is also the cause of these dark clouds and the sudden rain… Probably that…”
Before Sai could complete his words, suddenly, there were several lightning flashes in the sky which were followed by a very loud explosion, boom! It was the sound of a cloud exploding which caused too much water to suddenly fall on some parts of the forest of death. The part of the forest of Death where these three Konohagakure squads had gathered was also one such place as it was suddenly flooded with water making it hard for them to not get washed away.
…
Somewhere else in the Forest of Death
Some of the Jōnins responsible for monitoring various Ninja squads sighed in embarrassment as they looked around. It’s part of the forest where Raijin of Amegakure and Darui of Kumogakure had initially fought before changing places in the middle of their fight.
As expected, this part of the forest is nearly destroyed, and there are still no signs of either of them stopping the fight which has been going on for a while and deeply affecting the environment. The fire, the mess, the clouds, the rain, the lightning, the bursting of clouds et cetera are all the result of the fight between Raijin and Darui.
Rubbing his forehead, Kakashi asked Hizashi, “How is the situation?”
Hizashi shook his head, “There’s too much mess, and they are moving around too rapidly at a very fast pace… it’s difficult for me to keep up.”
In these circumstances, let alone others, even a highly experienced Jōnin is finding keeping up with Darui and Raijin’s battle a little difficult. Not to mention, there is also the involvement of Iwagakure’s squads that are fighting Samsara which results in occasional explosions, and the remaining two members of Kumogakure’s squad that is one-sidedly held back by Tengu from interfering.
“That’s troublesome…” mumbled Kakashi.
At this time, an Anbu ninja arrived in front of Kakashi, and the others delivered a report, “Kakashi-sama, There’s important information from the Monitoring Room. Almost all the cameras in Zone F have stopped functioning. The cameras in Zone C and B are also getting damaged… It’s become difficult to monitor the exam…”
Asuma was speechless, “All these villages are shameless… they have sent such ninjas for the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam, and I doubt either of them would take responsibility…”
Shizune added, “At this rate, wouldn’t the entire Forest of Death be destroyed?”