Chapter 48: Gathering

"The Forest of Death!!" 

Just hearing this name gave people an extremely unpleasant feeling. However, Minato had heard from his teacher, Jiraiya-sensei, that the Forest of Death was often used as the venue for the Chunin Exams, and it was the place with the highest dropout rate for the Chunin Exams. More importantly, it was not uncommon for examinees to lose their lives in the Forest of Death.

He had not expected that this time's ninja ability trial would choose that place as the venue for the examination. After the man announced this, he prepared to leave.

Upon hearing this ominous name, the students in the class had various expressions, and some had even started to become discouraged.

Only Minato, after pondering, stood up and said, "Wait a moment, I have something I want to ask you."

"Speak," the man slowly turned around, seeing that the person asking him was that calm, blond-haired boy who was looking at him steadily.

"What are the conditions for passing the trial?" Minato asked. When the man heard this, he slightly raised his eyebrows, turned around, and smiled, "You're a sharp brat, noticing the most crucial question."

"However, you're still too impatient. The final question will be announced to all the participants tomorrow."

After saying that, he left the classroom.

Not receiving an answer, Minato was slightly surprised. It seemed that this so-called qualification method would also involve issues of fairness, so it was not announced in advance.

However, they would know tomorrow.

Kushina was still unsatisfied, and when Minato looked at her, he slightly frowned.

She was also a student at this ninja academy, so she would naturally participate in the ninja ability trial. In that dangerous Forest of Death, would the Anbu be following her all the time?

Or was protecting Kushina's safety also part of the Third Hokage's test for him?

However, even without this matter, Minato would not allow anyone to harm her.

Afterward, Kunio Shindo came in, and there was a strange expression on his face, indicating that he had just learned about the location for this trial.

None of the students were familiar with the unfamiliar name "Forest of Death."

According to Kunio-sensei, tomorrow morning, staff members would lead all the students from the ninja academy to the Forest of Death.

After school, each student left the ninja academy with different expressions.

At this time, in the highest room of the ninja academy, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, looked at these children through the window with a slightly complicated expression.

"Letting you all bear this so early, it's my failure," the Third sighed, but he also had some expectations.

Not only Minato Namikaze but also Uchiha Homura and a few other kids.

After school, Minato went straight home and did not train. Instead, he organized everything he had learned over the past year or so. Temporary training was meaningless now.

The only thing to do was to summarize his own abilities so that he could better utilize what he had learned when the time came.

To gain the Third Hokage's approval was no easy task, and apart from the known strong opponents like Uchiha Homura and the senior Nawaki, who had graduated nearly a year ago, there were also a few other capable upper-classmen.

Moreover, he had recently heard that there were a few exceptionally talented individuals among the new students.

With different mindsets, these children spent a night that was difficult to fall asleep.

The next morning, a large crowd had gathered at the entrance of the ninja academy, gathering in groups of three or two. Among them were naturally Minato, Kushina, and Mikoto.

"The eyes of those two guys are really strange, they have no pupils at all."

Kushina glanced around and saw a pair of similarly aged boys with somewhat similar facial features, the only peculiarity being their eyes, which had no pupils.

Mikoto gently explained from the side, "Those are the senior students Hiashi Hyuga and Hizashi Hyuga. They are from the Hyuga clan, a major clan in the village, and they have inherited the Byakugan of the Hyuga family."

"Byakugan? What's that?" Kushina was not good at all with such theoretical knowledge.

"It's a type of Dojutsu. The Byakugan has extremely strong reconnaissance abilities, with a 360-degree field of vision. It can also see the flow of chakra and even the tenketsu points within a person's body. The Gentle Fist taijutsu that the Hyuga clan excels at uses strikes to attack these tenketsu points, affecting the flow of chakra. It's very formidable."

Mikoto, who also came from the prestigious Uchiha clan, naturally knew a lot about the information on the Byakugan. She intentionally told Kushina about this because Kushina was a bit reckless and often rushed into battles with others.

She might be able to handle ordinary people, but against those two brothers, brute force would not work.

Mikoto didn't know the specific details of this trial, so she hoped to help Kushina as much as possible.

"Mikoto, thank you for telling me this," Kushina smiled at Mikoto, understanding her intention.

At this moment, Minato was observing the surroundings. The Anbu protecting Kushina were still hidden in the shadows.

Uchiha Homura slowly approached, and the first thing he noticed was Minato, who was looking around. He frowned slightly, and his expression gradually became more solemn as he glanced around.

Apparently, Minato was not the only one who noticed the presence of the Anbu.

"Yo, Minato, long time no see!" A very fast figure landed in front of Minato and the others, a gentle smile on his clean face.

"Senior Nawaki!" Minato's eyes lit up when he saw the person.

Behind Nawaki were two young men and women wearing Konoha forehead protectors, standing there.

These two were likely Nawaki's teammates after graduating from the ninja academy and becoming Genin. Usually, they would be grouped into three-person teams.

Apart from Nawaki, the other Genin participating in this trial looked down on mingling with the students from the ninja academy, so most of them were gathered in their respective groups, which should be their teams.

After a while, nearly two to three hundred people had gathered here, with students from the ninja academy accounting for nearly three-quarters. They were of various ages, and Minato's age group was actually on the younger side.

Once the participants in this trial had mostly gathered, ten Chunin appeared around the ninja academy and divided the crowd into smaller groups, with each Chunin leading a few dozen participants toward the Forest of Death.

When everyone arrived at a relatively secluded location in Konoha, they could clearly see the somewhat ominous area enveloped within the iron fence.

That was the venue for this trial, the Forest of Death.

At this time, a young white-haired man also appeared in front of everyone. He had a rather handsome face, and unlike the other ninjas, he had a short sword strapped to his back.

He looked at the vast crowd before him, a friendly smile on his face, and said, "I am the chief examiner for this trial, Sakumo Hatake."

(End of Chapter)