Chapter 86

The first stage of this year's Chūnin Exam took place in one of Konoha's largest forests, not the famous Forest of Death but another one without as many creatures, where the participants will be staying for a maximum of 12 hours.

And right now, all of the Genin were gathered in a single place, all curiously looking at Shikuro who stayed completely motionless, almost as if he was dozing off.

All Jōnin then gathered near Shikuro, me included as I changed my appearance not to hype the Genin up right off the bat, though a few might notice that, aside from Shikuro, there was an additional Jōnin if we took into account the number of Genin.

"Everybody, listen." Shikuro started to declare with as few words as he could since he was still an Aburame but it wouldn't last long if he wanted to be clear about the rules

Raising his arms, many insects carrying scrolls with different numbers written on them started to fly toward each team, dropping a total of sixteen scrolls.

"You will find a hint written in your scroll, a hint that you will need to find a specific insect within the forest, all scrolls will require you to find a different insect and bring it back to me." Shikuro first explained as he was only talkative when it was about insects

"You will notice that the rest of the scroll is blank, the reason for that is because you will also be able to find many shinobi within the forest who will give you another hint but be aware, they each have numbers written on their clothes and can only give a hint to those with the same number on their scroll." Shikuro then added as everyone noticed the empty spaces below the first hint on their scrolls

"Some of them might be hidden, others might not be willing to give you their hint, you will have to find a way... However, you are forbidden to kill or cripple them, this will disqualify your team." Shikuro continued before adding "Bringing the wrong insect to me will also disqualify your team, and you will have 12 hours maximum to come back to me, being late will also end with your team being disqualified."

"All teams will be brought to a different entrance and start at the same time." Shikuro finally said as all Jōnin moved to their respective team before bringing them away, while I noticed Shisui looking at me as he saw and surely already deduced that it was me and not a random Jōnin

Now that everyone left the place, I moved closer to the now immobile Shikuro and shortly asked "You alright?" to which I got no response as he was still in shock mentally after speaking so much, as if he passed out while standing

'Well, can't change an Aburame' I thought as they were truly bad at expressing themselves and Shikuro just talked to more than fifty people

The first stage was Shikuro's idea, an idea I accepted since no Aburame Clan's Genin participated this year, something he knew anyway.

There are two things Shikuro didn't tell, however, albeit it was intentional.

First, the number of hints goes up to five, but anyone coming back with the right insect after discovering five hints would be disqualified.

Second, out of the sixteen teams participating, only twelve would pass.

Also, the insects couldn't leave the forest even if they wanted to since we made a barrier just for them that could only be passed if they are near the scrolls given to the Genin.

'Let's see how it will go' I thought before closing my eyes to oversee the entire event, though I might focus more on a certain team

*Shisui's POV*

"Tsugumi, could you try and locate one of the shinobi we're searching for? We should be far enough from our entrance to find one." I asked as I waited for us to be deep enough for her to do so since we didn't find anyone before by using common sensing techniques and ran for around an hour already

"Sure, I don't think we will be able to find the right insect with such a hint anyway." Tsugumi replied as we stopped near a tree so she could use it to find anyone hidden, or not, in a large area around us

The hint we had was 'Branch', not really helpful since we were in a forest, though it was probably telling us to find an insect living in the trees and not on the ground or near the multiple ponds present all around the forest.

Yukimi and I were silently waiting for Tsugumi to finish her technique, a technique which made her produce roots from her feet while her hands seemed to be completely assimilated by the tree she used for it, making her enter a temporary state of symbiosis that allowed her to share the senses of the tree, apparently understanding what they could say with the rustling of the leaves.

After a while, we both heard Tsugumi exclaim "Got one." as she came back to her usual self and pointed towards a direction before adding "Around fifteen minutes of running northwest from where we are, someone's hiding underground."

"Good job, we should move immediately." I shortly responded since the sooner we finished the better it would be for us

After quickly moving past the trees, we found the place Tsugumi told us about as she said "There." and pointed at a rock that was honestly blending well with the surrounding since it was near a cave entrance, surely trying to make us think that someone hid inside and not in front of it

However, the moment Tsugumi talked, the rock quickly transformed into a shinobi as he started to run away since he knew that he was busted.

Noticing the number thirteen amongst three others on his clothes which was the number on our scroll, I didn't want to give him the chance to go too far as I made a one-handed hand sign and instantly moved in front of him with a Kunai at hand, taking him by surprise as he tried to stop his forward momentum to change direction.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the time as I made him trip and fall with a low kick before calling "Yukimi, hold him down!" making her move near us at a high speed as she already transformed into smoke and coiled around the shinobi's wrists, neck, and ankles

While Tsugumi arrived a few seconds later since she was the slowest among us, though she compensated for such a thing with her abnormal endurance and strength, I moved in front of the shinobi and asked "Now, instead of fleeing as you did, care to say the hint you have for the number thirteen? Oh, and don't try to lie because I will know."

"As if I would tell you." the man replied as he struggled to leave Yukimi's binding but kept a straight face

'Mmh, that's to be expected since you would have to be a pretty bad shinobi if you spill the bean just by getting caught by the enemy... Since we are only in a test then they should tell us if we threaten them enough or use a good enough Genjutsu, let's try the former first' I thought before sighing as I declared "Your choice then, after all, breaking one arm or two wasn't against the rule."

The man didn't flinch at my words, surely thinking that I was all bark no bite, but I then looked at Yukimi who was only partially smoke, and asked her "Start with his right hand, and if that's not enough, break his right leg as well."

Yukimi nodded before slowly tightening her grip on the man's right wrist, making him clench his teeth while I said "It's your last chance before you lose the usage of your right hand for quite some time."

But even then, he didn't give in as he looked at Yukimi who had a troubling expression, surely thinking that she didn't want to really hurt him... How wrong he was.

The true reason for Yukimi's face to be like that was not because she felt guilty about breaking his wrist but because she struggled to hold her strength enough to not make his bones become dust, her power when transformed being extremely enhanced.

*Crack*

"Aargh! Fucking hell! What kind of Genin- Fine, I will tell you!" our captive exclaimed as he felt his wrist on the verge of being broken

"Number thirteen was it? 'Mistaken', that's the hint I have for your number." he revealed as he was still under Yukimi's grasp

'Mistaken?' I thought before opening the scroll to see that the second line was now confirming this word

"You can let him go, Yukimi." I said as I tried to find whatever the word 'Mistaken' could mean for us but suddenly heard a great cracking sound as Yukimi exclaimed "S-Sorry!" while the shinobi she previously held shouted in pain as his wrist was now completely broken

"It's fine Yukimi." I said as she was now truly feeling guilty since she didn't need to break his wrist after he told us the hint, her control over her strength was still something she trained daily

"I will heal him, it's not like we have to immediately leave, do we?" Tsugumi suggested to which I nodded since it was better for us to calmly think about what our hints could mean first

"Sure." I said before looking at the scroll as I tried to think of an insect that could match the words we had

'My knowledge of insects stops at those that are poisonous or useful to make medicine' I thought as I couldn't match our current hints to any of them

"Hum, Shisui-san." I heard Yukimi mumble as she was also looking at the scroll with me

"What is it?" I asked as I shifted my focus to her, to which she surprisingly declared "I think I know what we are looking for."

"Really?" I asked again as it was good for us if she was right about it

"Doesn't our hints outright tell us to find a kind of phasmid? I mean, while we thought that the first hint was the location, the addition of 'mistaken' might refer to the insect being 'mistaken' to a branch?" Yukimi then explained which made me speechless since I didn't think about such an insect that didn't live in the Land of Fire

'They intentionally gathered insects from other regions to make it harder for us, I should have expected it' I thought before looking at Yukimi to ask her "How did you think of it? I know little about them since they aren't useful in any way..."

"I read about them in a historical book I found in Yuichi-sama's library, from what I recall, there was once a kind of Phasmid that could blend with its surroundings using chakra, and apparently, it was then that shinobi started to use the 'Hiding with Camouflage Technique', a technique that was, and still is, mistakenly believed to be taken from chameleons since they are more known." Yukimi then explained to me as she was thrilled to talk about it

When fa-, Yuichi-sama introduced Yukimi to us, he told us how she lived until he found her and the Iburi Clan, and I later learned that she passed most of her time reading books related to nearly everything, like history, geography, nature, and so on because she wanted to know what the 'outside world' had to offer.

"Let's assume that a couple of different phasmids are present in the forest, you could describe how the one we need to find looks to Tsugumi? I think we should still find another hint just in case, since finding the wrong one could make us fail the stage." I suggested as we still had the time to find another shinobi unless something unexpected happened

"Sure!" Yukimi replied with a smile as she moved near Tsugumi who was still healing the shinobi we accidentally injured

'Things are going well for now' I thought as I joined both of them and put the scroll back into my pouch

It was time for us to hunt for an invisible insect.

*Yuichi's POV*

'Eh, most of them are doing better than I expected' I thought as I saw how nearly all teams passed the first stage, with eleven teams who did it and only fifteen minutes left on the clock for those left

Three teams were already disqualified, leaving only two teams inside of the forest and one of them was Minato's team which had yet to show themselves.

'Oh?' I thought as I noticed many people rushing towards the entrance of the forest

"WE MADE IT!" someone yelled before another voice said "Hey, we made it first!"

I recognized the young Obito who started to argue with a girl from the last team to leave the forest about who left it first, and unfortunately for them, Obito's team was indeed second to leave which gave the priority to the other one.

Since most Jōnin were now back here, I could see Minato's expression crumble as he didn't expect his team to fail the first stage, after all, there was only one place left...

"Team 7, you did come out of the forest after Team 15, so you will have to wait for me to check if they passed." Shikuro said as he approached them and started to look at Team's 15 insect who had the scroll number two

"We will all pass as long as we caught the right one so it doesn't matter, right?" Obito asked but didn't get an answer before feeling Kakashi's hand on his shoulder who then pointed at Minato, making them understand that there might be a ceiling to the number of teams that could pass the test

"I see that you caught the right insect, as for the number of hints you required... Five..." Shikuro mumbled while Team 15 was getting happier after knowing that they weren't wrong

'Hard to be wrong when the fifth hint literally tells you what you need to find' I thought before Shikuro declared "Team 15, congratulation on catching the right insect, however, you are disqualified." making the youngsters' eyes wide open and speechless as they were ready to celebrate but got completely surprised by the turn of events

"W-What do you mean? We found what we were supposed to!" the same girl shouted but was quickly shut off by Shikuro who explained "You did, but you were disqualified for revealing and using the fifth hint."

"B-But we weren't made aware of such a rule!" she added as she continued to be outraged by such disqualification

"If you are to become Chūnin you should be prepared to face unexpected situations, after all, you will never know everything a mission might contain the moment you decide to do it." Shikuro explained before moving toward Team 7 to see if they passed or not

"Mmh, scroll number ten? That might explain why you took so much time, this dragon millipede is such a great specimen and we could only leave one inside of the forest, and in such a place too... Four hints for it, congratulation Team 7, you passed." Shikuro said as Obito suddenly jumped with joy and brought both of his teammates for a group hug

So Team 7 had the dragon millipede, or the Desmoxytes Purpurosea back in my previous world, a toxic millipede with a wonderful pink color found only in Thailand capable of producing Hydrogen Cyanide to defend itself... We found such a specimen in the Land of Jungles, far underground near a river within a giant cave system.

While the forest we chose for the test had many caves, only one of them led to an underground river and it was there that we left the dragon millipede, this explained why they took so much time even with four hints since they had to find the right one.

On a side note, I was fascinated by the effect of chakra on most living species, especially this one since it was able to produce far more Hydrogen Cyanide than what could have been artificially made by humans, a highly dangerous arthropod that I will have to watch over since I knew how such chemical could be used against human beings, and I do not want to see such a thing in this world.

Also, the reason why such a dangerous and unknown arthropod was used in a Genin test was that I already found a way to negate the production of Hydrogen Cyanide by sealing the glands it used to produce it, though it could still produce small explosions without a hint of toxicity in the air.

Nevertheless, most insects we gathered were to be potentially used by the Aburame Clan, all under Shikuro's supervision, after all, the phasmid my daughter, Yukimi, and Shisui brought back could be used as a sentry in spy missions, while the millipede could be used offensively by a selected few but only for its explosive properties, the chemical aspect being forbidden.

"So I have twelve teams to accommodate for the second stage? I expected less, honestly." a woman's voice exclaimed as she appeared near Shikuro and looked over the Genin who passed the stage

"Some look quite tired too, well, good for you since you will have tomorrow to rest." the young woman

with blue-ish silver hair declared before adding "The second stage will take place in the Kurama Clan's compound in two days at nine p.m, do not be late unless you want to be disqualified."

The moment she finished talking, her body seemingly vanished as if it was fake, making most of the Genin surprised by such a short and unexpected introduction.

She was Uroko Kurama, the granddaughter of the previous Kurama Clan Leader and also currently the only one who awakened her Clan's powerful 'Kekkei Genkai', with my help, making her the strongest Genjutsu user within Konoha.

Honestly, not even the Uchiha could compete against her since she could create Genjutsu that also affect her target's real body, meaning that she not only affected them mentally but also injured them physically.

Well, unlike most Genjutsu, she didn't need any sort of eye contact but instead made a whole area fall under it, making anyone inside 'trapped' by her Genjutsu while conventional ways of getting out of it didn't work.

You couldn't feel the moment you step inside the Genjutsu, and while some might believe that 'walking out' of it worked, it wasn't so simple.

There was still a way to know if you fall under her Genjutsu by carefully watching over your own cerebral activities which will be slightly altered the moment you are caught.

Unfortunately, it doesn't last for long since your brain will be back to 'normal' not even a few seconds later, as such, you only have one shot, one opportunity to know when you are caught and therefore have to use it to get out or it will be too late.

Well, too late to leave without any injuries since you still have one way to get out, unfortunately, it requires a self-inflicted near-death experience...

Nevertheless, while Shikuro was brought back home by his wife since he was mentally exhausted from speaking so much in a single day, I joined Tsugumi, Yukimi, and Shisui as they were going back to the Senju Clan compound with Chizu and said "Congratulation for passing the first test."

"It was easy!" Tsugumi exclaimed as she made a thumbs up and expressed a proud smile while Shisui replied "We were lucky that Yukimi knew about such an insect or we would have needed a lot more time." as he patted Yukimi's shoulder who was slightly blushing since she wasn't used to being complimented yet

"I saw, while luck is also part of a shinobi's arsenal, knowledge is the strongest element you need most of your life." I explained as I saw Tsugumi look away since she skipped a lot of my teaching when it wasn't about Ninjutsu or Taijutsu

"Anyway, how about eating at Teuchi's restaurant? I don't feel like cooking tonight, I will just notify Tsunade beforehand." I suggested which made all three Genin nod their head while Chizu politely accepted

They should rest while they still can because the second stage will be quite taxing mentally.