Chapter 997

But clearly, they understood a little too late.

"With these scrolls, it should be enough, right, Sanai?" Naruko snatched the ninja tool pouch from the waist of the defeated opponent who could no longer move, rummaged through the spoils inside, and without even looking handed them all over to Sanai, who was tallying the count. Why would Naruko willingly acknowledge Sanai as the captain of their squad?

In truth, Naruko felt very guilty about the reason for this.

After entering this vast jungle, they happened upon a slaughter scene left behind by Kimimaro. After analyzing it and concluding that there was an extremely powerful individual whose purpose was not the exam, the two of them put their heads together and decided on their route from then on, trying to avoid clashing with most of the enemies.

They chose to ambush weakened enemies before the finish line, and Haruno Sakura further supplemented this with a triple ambush position—setting up ninja tool traps and escape technique traps—that would only be used in wartime.

To many people, perhaps such a plan was very shameless, but the actual effect was very effective.

In just one afternoon, Naruko and the others had already harvested enough scrolls. As a ninja, one needs no so many principles and rules; as long as you can complete the mission originally assigned to you, then you are qualified.

Naruko was Mizuki's child, and Sanai had just lost her closest clansmen and had nothing left to lose.

As soon as Kakashi saw them and compared them slightly, a strong emotion inside told him.

Teach them well, never let them end up becoming like me!

In fact, this was because the teacher of Squad Seven, Hatake Kakashi, in his recent teachings would often instill such views in them, perhaps because his own experiences differed from those in the original work.

For this "Konoha's Number One Copy Ninja," who had long been immersed in Leaf Anbu missions and refused to face reality, transforming into a "tool" that needed no emotions might be a more bearable way to live.

If such signs had appeared before, Mizuki would have enlightened him from time to time, but now that the Fourth Hokage had gone missing, no one would stop Kakashi from walking back down his old path.

His teaching methods underwent a great change. This began on that day after Mizuki went missing and the Uchiha clan was massacred. When educating the two, Kakashi seemed to transform back into that "Anbu" who could execute any order without hesitation.

"Honestly, we're already this close to the tower, there's no need to bother with a delayed fuse, right?" Naruko pointed at the ninja hawk still circling in the sky, but there was nothing she could do—Sakura basically obeyed Sanai's instructions without question, and as for what she herself said, it would always be ignored by the other party.

"Even at one step's distance, we must make full preparations. A ninja carrying out a mission is in danger at every moment!" It looked as though Sanai was helping Haruno Sakura tie up a few unlucky fellows they had robbed with rope, but in truth her Sharingan had already seen through the three fellows not far away who were attempting to sneak past them.

Although they already had enough scrolls, Sanai did not mind moving her ranking up a bit.

"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"

Just as those three thought they could slip through, Sanai's ninjutsu activated in an instant!

Orange-yellow flames crashed into the seemingly empty thicket like meteors.

"Waaah! So hot, so hot!"

Tch! As expected, we were seen through by the Sharingan?"

At times like this, there were quite a few squads like Naruko's hiding in the safe zone waiting to harvest a wave. In fact, when most squads thought of this method, they had already been fighting to exhaustion for two days and two nights, and the paths leading to the tower had long been turned into positions by those who arrived first.

At Sakura's suggestion, the three chose a relatively remote spot, specifically lying in wait for squads that wanted to avoid combat or were in poor condition—the so-called principle that soft persimmons are easier to pinch.

"You're from Moon Ninja Village, huh." Naruko identified the three girls' identities through the symbol on their forehead protectors.

"Why be so guarded? Since you all came from the village Young Yuanzi established, in my view becoming companions is completely fine."

Clearly their own side hadn't deliberately concealed anything, but the other party showed no sign of relaxing at all. Obviously, Sanai's way of greeting them directly with ninjutsu made the other side feel their squad was too "enthusiastic."

"Hmph, you really dare to say that. Sorry, but our squad previously ran into another Konoha squad, and we got along very 'pleasantly'!" Chimiya Otoriri's pretty eyebrows rose as she stepped in front of her two teammates. Because of what happened before, she, eager to prove herself, stepped forward without hesitation.

Sanai's Sharingan was in its activated state, her scarlet twin-tomoe eyes looking at the three.

"So that means you want to fight? We don't mind collecting one more set of scrolls."

"Hey, clearly Jiliang Miye instructed us to pass through quietly, yet you're the one who struck first!" Chimiya Otoriri was a little angry. A glow of "Dragon Pattern" flickered on her hand, as if the moment talks broke down she would unseal and start fighting.

GLOSSARY:

- Young Yuanzi

- Leaf Anbu

- Jiliang Miye

- my lord

- Wangwangdou Society