Chapter 992

"In reality, most of the Leaf Anbu and the active jonin have already been dispatched. The ones here are all the high-level combat power Konoha has left." Orochimaru pointed at Kakashi and the others not far away. "Honestly, with combat strength this thin, if I were to get a little serious on my own, I could cause a great deal of chaos."

"So you were planning to strike first?" Orochimaru's target was not Konoha itself, but rather to use the second match to eliminate those Kumogakure spy-ninja disguised as shinobi from other nations.

This was based on the previous intelligence of the Kumogakure's kidnapping of Lin Cheng—first cut off the hand that had reached in, and the ones waiting outside to provide support would have no choice but to return empty-handed.

"Mm, already got it done." Just like the other team leaders, Orochimaru had begun watching the images gradually covering the entire field. It seemed Konoha's intelligence unit had finally managed to recall all those scattered, fleeing summoning-beasts.

Kimimaro raised her head. A summoning hawk was circling in the sky. She was well aware that the destruction she had caused to the surrounding terrain had drawn the attention of the people in the central tower, but the mission Lord Orochimaru had entrusted to her could already be considered successfully completed.

All the Grass ninja squads had been wiped out. Next was heading to the retreat point agreed upon with Yakushi Kabuto.

In the dense forest roughly a hundred paces from her, Naruko, Sanai, and little Sakura didn't even dare to take a single breath. They suppressed their breathing and heartbeats with all their might, until that white figure disappeared from the other end of their line of sight.

· ·······Seeking fresh flowers····· ·····

"What on earth was that bone monster?" A long while later, when that suffocating atmosphere finally dissipated, little Sakura was the first to go weak in the knees and slump to the ground.

Naruko's expression was already very solemn. She exchanged a glance with Sanai, and both detected that the other's view matched their own—this kekkei ninja who could transform her own bones into all manner of weapons absolutely could not be a genin.

But what they didn't understand was why the other party, while killing those people, had also destroyed the intel scrolls used to add points.

The purpose wasn't to help some team cheat—it was simply killing every squad they came across. Absolutely do not run into this one!

In an instant, the three of them reached a consensus.

From the very beginning, Mitarashi Anko had already stressed that the time limit for the second trial was three days.

In fact, this statement itself contained a trap. She hadn't told these rookies that arriving early near the tower in the center of the forest to lie in ambush and wait for victorious teams was also perfectly fine.

Because before the trial began, Mitarashi Anko figured that if there were clever enough people among them, they would surely think of this point, so she had specifically arranged for the Anbu to set up many supply caches in the forest surrounding the tower.

"Some people have already started giving up on the match." Kakashi observed for a moment. Because of firing signal flares, the failed teams that had been taken into the tower for shelter by the Anbu led by Mitarashi Anko now numbered three squads—and "covered in dust" would be putting it kindly. Among them, two members of one squad had injuries so severe they had to be airlifted directly to the intensive care unit of Konoha Hospital. W.