Chapter 300: Gaze in the Darkness

"Academy Teacher, I Get Stronger by Teaching. Chapter 218: Gaze in the Darkness. 'Uncle Sawada, if we all get promoted to chūnin this time, will we be qualified to take A-rank missions?' Obito asked curiously."

"The ninja leading Obito and the others to the designated entrance was none other than Sawada Kazuya, whom Obito often saw in the mission hall."

"'No, but you can freely take B-rank missions,' Sawada Kazuya replied."

"'For A-rank missions, it depends on Jōnin Minato's opinion; he is the only one with the authority to take A-rank missions.'"

"'But isn't Minato-sensei part of our squad? His authority should be our squad's authority,' Obito said, puzzled by Sawada Kazuya's words."

"'After becoming chūnin, you're different from genin. You don't need Jōnin Minato to take missions on your own. Moreover, during wartime, jōnin have heavy responsibilities. If he has other missions, you'll have to do missions by yourselves,' Sawada Kazuya explained."

"The ninja rank system is simple, only jōnin, chūnin, and genin, so chūnin actually already have the qualifications to lead a team."

"As he spoke, Sawada Kazuya led them to the 44th entrance."

"Because other ninja villages were also participating, there were many people in this Chūnin Exam. Konoha had 27 teams, and the other villages combined had 17 teams."

"After arriving at the entrance, Sawada Kazuya did not immediately open the door. He glanced at his watch and saw it was two o'clock, with half an hour until the exam started."

"Sawada Kazuya told Obito and the other two the exam start time, then closed his eyes to rest and wait for the exam to begin."

"'Since we can't go in now, let's first discuss how to proceed in this exam,' Kakashi said after thinking."

"'Isn't that obvious? Just find a team, steal their scroll, and hurry to the central tower,' Obito thought it was fine to just follow the rules."

"'How do we find them? Wander around and rely on luck? Or go straight to near the central tower and wait? Or make a big noise to attract others?' Kakashi said calmly."

"The goal is certainly to steal scrolls and go to the central tower, but there are many ways to do it."

"'I feel like Kakashi is very reliable in this regard,' Rin Nohara said with a soft laugh."

"Obito decided to go back and cram on this kind of knowledge, to become a ninja with plans and strategies."

"Seeing Rin's support and Obito's tacit agreement, Kakashi stated his idea."

"'On the first day, we try to find enemies nearby. If we can gather both heaven and earth scrolls, we'll go directly to the central tower. If we don't gather them on the first day, then for the next two days we'll go to places with abundant water and food to find other teams.'"

"There are no shops in the Forest of Death; all logistics problems can only be solved by ourselves. So Kakashi thought that places with abundant food and water would most likely encounter people."

"'If we don't meet anyone in the first three days, then we'll go directly to near the central tower and ambush teams that have already gathered both heaven and earth scrolls.'"

"After speaking, Kakashi paused before continuing, 'If you don't have any other ideas, then we'll proceed like this later.'"

"Rin nodded to show she approved of Kakashi's plan, and Obito remained silent, which Kakashi automatically took as acquiescence."

"'You can go in now. Come over here.' When it reached 2:30, Sawada Kazuya immediately took out the key to open the iron door and said to Obito and the other two."

"'Uncle Sawada, after the exam ends, pick us a good A-rank mission, okay?' Obito turned around immediately after entering the Forest of Death, waved at Sawada Kazuya, and laughed."

"'First, focus on passing the exam. Be careful of those Kirigakure ninja. This Chūnin Exam is very dangerous,' Sawada Kazuya replied while locking the door."

"Sawada Kazuya wasn't worried about Obito and the others being unable to defeat ninja from smaller villages, and fights among Konoha ninja generally wouldn't be to the death. Only the Kirigakure ninja, from another major village, were the most dangerous."

"After entering the Forest of Death, the three began to act according to Kakashi's pre-arranged plan."

"Kakashi and Obito stood on either side in front, while Rin was two steps behind in the middle. The three ran quickly, searching for other teams."

"The Forest of Death has a diameter of twenty kilometers. If a hundred or so ordinary people were running around inside, it would be hard to see each other. But with a ninja's speed, the Forest of Death isn't particularly large."

"After about an hour of moving, Obito's team encountered the first team."

"'Hand over the scrolls. For the sake of both being Konoha ninja, I won't fight you. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that in a fight I won't seriously injure your two teammates,' said the tall, thin Konoha ninja standing at the front."

"'I know you, Kakashi, are much stronger than me, but even you might not be sure of winning against three of us. Better to conserve your strength and go steal scrolls from those small-village teams.'"

"He was four years ahead of Kakashi in school, but because Kakashi graduated early before the third semester, his actual graduation time was later than Kakashi's. So he knew Kakashi was a genius whose strength couldn't be judged by age."

"But he thought that even that genius Kakashi might not be able to beat them if they three teamed up. After all, each of them had trained four more years than Kakashi, totaling twelve more years of training."

"As for Obito and Rin, he directly ignored them; at a glance, they looked like fresh graduates."

"'Hey hey, you're making it sound like Kakashi is so strong. I'm stronger than him, you know,' Obito couldn't help but say."

"He was a bit speechless. The three of them together didn't have confidence to definitely beat Kakashi, yet they wanted to injure him, who had beaten Kakashi in a one-on-one fight."

"'Who are you?' the tall, thin Konoha genin gave his two teammates a look, then asked Obito."

"The two companions of the tall, thin Konoha genin began to slowly spread out, encircling Obito's team in a triangular formation to prevent them from suddenly fleeing."

"Uchiha Obito!" Obito answered proudly.

"Never heard of him." The tall, thin Konoha genin shook his head.

Obito felt his fist clench.

"You should be the ones handing over the scrolls. This guy's individual combat ability is indeed not inferior to mine." Kakashi changed his breathing rhythm and entered the Thunder Breathing state.

However, the tall, thin Konoha genin did not believe Kakashi's words. He quickly took out a kunai from his tool pouch and said:

"Kakashi, you know, saying things like that only makes others think you're bluffing."

He naturally didn't believe Kakashi's nonsense. How could some random genin who looked stupid be as strong as Kakashi?

After speaking, the tall, thin Konoha genin made a hand sign and immediately charged at Obito. His two teammates also quickly launched an attack upon receiving the signal.

"Flame Breathing, Total Concentration!"

Obito pushed his breathing to the limit, inhaling a large amount of oxygen to enhance his body with chakra.

Whoosh!

When the tall, thin Konoha genin rushed in front of Obito, he found Obito's figure had vanished directly before him.

"Could it be that Kakashi wasn't bluffing?" The thought immediately appeared in the tall, thin Konoha genin's mind.

Bang!

Using Shave to burst out at high speed, Obito instantly appeared behind the tall, thin Konoha genin. A full-power punch sent the tall, thin Konoha genin flying backwards, knocking down a large tree in the process.

"Such speed!" The tall, thin genin was extremely shocked.

Bang! Bang!

Before the tall, thin genin could think too much, he found that his two teammates had also been sent flying like him.

"Hiss." The tall, thin genin stood up and couldn't help but inhale sharply at the pain coming from his body.

"Crap, we've hit a wall." The tall, thin ninja sensed great trouble.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Taking advantage of the situation, Obito formed hand signs and used Fire Release. With the enhancement of Flame Breathing, he quickly condensed a three-meter-high large fireball.

Seeing that Obito also had an excellent Fire Release, the tall, thin genin's original thought of going all out was completely extinguished. He quickly shouted:

"We concede. Take the scroll. Stop fighting."

The exam had just started, and there would be many opportunities. If they got injured here, it would greatly affect the subsequent exams.

Obito spat the incomplete Great Fireball to the side and said smugly, "I told you I'm stronger than Kakashi. Remember the name Uchiha Obito well."

"Even if you didn't say it, I'd remember." The tall, thin ninja sighed. When he first saw Kakashi and the others, he thought he was lucky, but he never expected that this seemingly harmless team had no one simple.

"Here's the scroll." The tall, thin ninja took out a white scroll with the character "Heaven" on it and tossed it to Obito.

When Obito saw it was a Heaven scroll, his excited expression immediately turned to disappointment.

"This was a waste. It's a Heaven scroll." Obito sighed.

In this exam, getting duplicate scrolls was useless. Only by collecting one Heaven and one Earth scroll would it work.

Kakashi frowned slightly. Obito's awareness of secrecy was too poor. That directly told the team their scroll information.

"You also have a Heaven scroll? Then having two Heaven scrolls is useless for you. How about returning it to us?" The tall, thin ninja's eyes lit up as he said.

"Two Heaven scrolls cannot pass, but we can search for other teams with extra Earth scrolls to trade." Kakashi spoke up to reject the tall, thin ninja's request.

Two scrolls were better than one. Although they were from the same village, this was the Chunin Exam. Kakashi didn't want to return the scroll they had taken.

"I can trade information. I've collected a lot of intel on the participants in the village's Chunin Exam. Even if it's useless for the second round, it might work for the third." The tall, thin ninja quickly said.

"Then we'll see if your information is worth it." Kakashi didn't agree immediately. Information was indeed important for ninjas.

The tall, thin ninja rummaged through his belongings and tossed two small cards to Kakashi.

"Nara Saltwater, a ninja of the Nara clan, skilled in Shadow Imitation Technique, high intelligence, very calm in battle..."

"Inuzuka Midori, a ninja of the Inuzuka clan, skilled in fighting in cooperation with ninja dogs, rather impulsive in character..."

Kakashi glanced sideways at the tall, thin ninja, somewhat surprised that these cards even had small photos attached. He was curious how the other had managed to obtain them.

"Exchanging unneeded Heaven Scrolls for information is a great deal, isn't it?" The tall, thin ninja saw that Kakashi seemed a bit tempted, so he struck while the iron was hot.

"I need to verify the accuracy of your information first." Kakashi thought for a moment and recited the names of two Leaf genin he had met during the first exam.

If this information was correct, it would indeed be quite useful, but if it was false, it would have a negative effect.

The tall, thin ninja swiftly found the information cards for the two people Kakashi had mentioned and tossed them over.

After looking them over and finding no problems, Kakashi agreed to the deal of exchanging a scroll for information.

Although it was all basic information, it was worth exchanging a spare scroll for it.

"Thanks. If none of you make it through this time, I'll give you information for free next time." Taking back the scroll, the tall, thin ninja chuckled.

"Then we definitely won't need that. We'll definitely succeed." Obito replied while looking at the information cards.

"Well, good luck to you then." The tall, thin ninja quickly turned back with his teammate.

Continuing forward, he worried about encountering other teams. Their condition wasn't very good right now — that punch from Obito had been pretty harsh.

After sorting through the information, Obito and Kakashi and the others continued forward, looking for the next team.

However, as Obito and his group advanced, they didn't notice a half-black, half-white figure watching them from the darkness.

Today has been very painful. You definitely don't want to know what it's like to eat something extremely spicy and then have diarrhea. I can only say it seriously affected my typing.

Also, let me clarify a misconception about Blood Mist. Some people think Obito created the Blood Mist, but that's not true. In the manga, during Obito's flashback, when a Mist ANBU fought Obito, he said, "Don't underestimate our Blood Mist Village."

Obito at most inherited or advanced the Blood Mist policy; he was definitely not its founder.