In less than a few minutes after entering the forest, Team Eight had located four potential targets. Inumaki patted Yoshimaru and followed closely behind Shinra as he led them towards one of the teams.
Midway through the chase, Shinra felt three of the four teams' chakra signatures disappear from his chakra field. He smiled and thought, 'I'm certain they didn't expect someone to attempt to detect them from this far away, but how unlucky is it that every team we happened to find has a sensor?'
Shinra said flatly, "It seems that they found out about my chakra field and are actively suppressing their chakra. Let's get close to their last known location."
Normally, suppressing chakra is standard in ambushes, but it does leave the user vulnerable to being ambushed themselves while making it extremely difficult to cast even basic ninjutsu without alerting sensor-types.
As soon as they got close enough, Inumaki signalled for Shinra to stop. Both Inumaki and Yoshimaru began sniffing the air for enemy scents.
"Hyori, activate your Byakugan in case of an ambush," Shinra said as he kept his chakra field active and prepared for combat.
Hyori nodded her head and activated the Byakugan.
Ever since the mission in the Land of Wind, both Hyori's and Inumaki's trust in Shinra had unconsciously risen, making him the unofficial captain of Team Eight.
Inumaki looked back at Hyori and Shinra and said, "The team that was here has been treading carefully, not leaving much of a trail behind. They are also blocking their scent from being leaked."
"Are you unable to determine which team was here?" Hyori asked calmly.
Inumaki shook his head and replied, "No, I was just making an observation. Blocking the scent of an entire team is very hard to perform in such a short period. Judging from the previous scent in the area, the enemy is most likely the team from Tanigakure, which is one of our targets."
Shinra nodded his head and thought inwardly, 'Tanigakure are long-standing allies of Konoha and are also the ones who treated Yogi after his confrontation with Sasori. I guess we need to defeat them without killing them.'
It didn't take long for Team Eight to locate the team from Tanigakure with the help of Yoshimaru. They hid behind a large tree and observed the group of three.
'Judging by the fact that they suppressed their chakra signatures right after I used my sensory technique, there should be a sensor amongst them.' Shinra thought quietly about how to handle the situation.
"The one carrying the scroll is the kunoichi at the back. It's strapped to her body underneath her clothes," Hyori stated as she observed the surroundings with her Byakugan.
"So, what's the plan?" Inumaki asked, looking at the two of them.
Shinra raised his head and said, "Let's not waste much time. I will take on the tall guy at the front. Inumaki, you take slant eyes next to him. Hyori, the kunoichi is yours."
Shinra looked at them again and reminded them, "Oh, and try not to kill them unless it's unavoidable."
Hyori and Inumaki nodded their heads.
Without a sound, Shinra pulled a smoke bomb from his pouch and flicked it right into the center of the Tanigakure group.
Hiss.
A dense screen of smoke erupted instantly, covering a large portion of the field. The three Tanigakure genin reacted with textbook reflexes, violently launching themselves backward off the earth and onto the branch of a massive oak tree.
"Konoha shinobi! Stay tight and keep your guard up!" barked the genin with the slanted eyes, his voice tight with apprehension.
"Formation Three!"
Without hesitation, the kunoichi leapt backward, slanted eyes shifted to the right, and the tall genin stood at the front.
Before they could accomplish anything, a streak of blue flashed through the smoke. A lightning hound burst through the smoke and lunged towards them with terrifying speed.
They scattered instinctively, diving off the branch and back towards the safety of the smoke. A split second later, the heavy oak branch they had stood on was destroyed by the lightning hound, and burnt ashes fell to the ground.
'The smokescreen should buy us some breathing room to counter. Are they the ones that used that sensory technique a few minutes ago?' The tall genin wondered as he began forming hand signs. Yet before he could cast his jutsu, a fist landed directly on his back, sending him crashing into a nearby tree.
Shinra, who had just sent him flying, looked at his figure and thought, 'My taijutsu had already surpassed most genin a while ago, but I have been neglecting it for a bit to improve my sword skills instead. It's good to get some practice in.'
Inside the smoke screen, Inumaki and Hyori had already started battling their assigned enemies. Shinra looked at the tall genin who was trying to stand back up and walked towards him.
The tall genin looked at the approaching Shinra with slight fear in his eyes and began backing away. 'What was that punch? I hadn't been able to react to him at all, and the strength behind that punch… Is he really a Genin?'
Yet beneath that fear in his eyes was a calculating gaze hidden deep within. 'But just because you are stronger doesn't necessarily make you the winner. We didn't stay here for no reason despite knowing that our position was discovered. As long as I get rid of him and support Manamo and Keita, we might qualify for the next phase.'
As Shinra entered striking distance, the genin whipped his hand forward, flinging a concealed kunai. The sound of a wire being sliced through alerted Shinra as a heavy, weighted net fell from the top of the tree directly above him.
The weighted net crashed down with enough force to flatten a boar. Shinra reacted quickly and jumped backward into the air.
Yet that was exactly what the genin from Tanigakure wanted. The sound of another set of wires being cut was barely audible to Shinra. A rush of kunai and shuriken fired at him from all directions, leaving him no room for escape.
Shinra formed a shadow clone mid-air and used his hand as a foothold to fling himself towards the enemy. The enemy genin, noticing that his plan had been seen through and that Shinra would reach him in a few moments, decided to retreat.
Shinra landed directly on top of where the enemy had been standing and thought, 'A trap of this magnitude couldn't have been prepared in such a short time. These guys are undoubtedly campers who took the opportunity of us knowing their location to lead us to their traps.'
The tall genin hid behind one of the trees as he monitored Shinra. The smoke still lingered between the trees, and he had no intention of lowering his guard against an unknown opponent.
'Why isn't he looking for me? Did he give up, or is he still hiding something?' The tall man observed the stranded Shinra and clenched his kunai. 'Or is he waiting for reinforcements?'
Having no answer to his question, the tall genin formed another sequence of hand seals before slamming his palm against the ground.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow River."
The solid ground in a straight line rapidly softened into mud, dragging Shinra deeper into the earth.
Little by little, Shinra's body was slowly starting to sink into the earth. The tall genin merely observed him from a distance.
'What the hell is going on? Does he plan on being buried alive?' The tall genin was very much confused. He tried to disrupt his chakra flow to check if he was under a genjutsu, but there was no effect.
"No hard feelings, we both signed the consent forms before entering this exam," the tall genin whispered softly.
Before another word left his mouth, a calm voice sounded from directly behind him.
"Your generosity is very much appreciated."
The tall genin's pupils contracted.
He twisted his body instinctively, but it was already too late. A fist smashed into his shoulder, throwing him sideways and sending him crashing into the trunk of a nearby tree.
"Is this really the standard for a normal village's genin, or are these guys just bottom-tier?" Shinra murmured, dusting off his jacket.
"A clone… but how?" the tall genin muttered bitterly as realization dawned. His body felt increasingly heavy despite only being hit twice. Each attack felt like a boulder slamming into him.
It didn't take long for Shinra to reach the battered genin and knock him out with a punch to the face.
The Shinra standing in the mud river dispelled himself into a cloud of smoke, while the real Shinra looked towards Hyori and Inumaki. Hyori had landed a vicious combo on the kunoichi's chakra points, while Inumaki and the slanted-eyed genin were engaged in a taijutsu fight.
'Maybe I should've picked slanted eyes instead,' Shinra thought.
After he had sent the genin flying with the first punch, he had formed a shadow clone and observed the fight from a distance in case of a trap. Only after baiting him into using ninjutsu did Shinra decide to wrap up the fight.
Manamo, the slanted-eyed genin, caught sight of Shinra standing casually on the sidelines while his teammate Wasabu lay unconscious in the dirt.
Manamo kicked Yoshimaru aside and thought, 'He took down Wasabu that fast?! This is a disaster. We need to retreat immediately. But we can't leave without Wasabu, or we will end up disqualified.' Manamo panicked as he kept enduring Inumaki's and Yoshimaru's combined attacks.
He glanced over his shoulder and noticed Keita coughing up dark blood while kneeling on the ground and came to a decision.
A heartbeat later, Yoshimaru bit into his wrist from behind, and Inumaki's fist landed directly on his face.
He flung Yoshimaru off and barely managed to create some distance before throwing his hands up. "W-wait! We surrender!" Manamo choked out.
Shinra tilted his head. "You surrender?"
"Yes. We will hand over the scroll in exchange. Just let us leave," Manamo said hurriedly.
Shinra looked him in the eyes and decided to test him, "What type of scroll do you have and where is it hidden?"
"We have a Heaven Scroll. It's with Keita—the one coughing up blood behind us."
Understanding the severity of the situation, Keita unfolded the bandages on her abdomen and presented the scroll to Hyori.
Hyori took the scroll from her and confirmed its authenticity before giving a sharp, affirmative nod to Shinra and Inumaki.
"Take your teammates and leave."
Shinra flickered away from the battlefield, followed by Inumaki and Hyori. Their destination was none other than the central tower.
Manamo looked at both of his teammates with sorrow. 'I didn't think the difference between our genin and Konoha's genin would be so massive that we actually got swept by a squad of ten-year-olds.'
For now, their priorities shifted to hiding and tending their wounds, hunting down a much weaker squad, and praying Lady Luck smiled on them. They still had five days left on the clock. Maybe, just maybe, they could salvage it.
A bit further away from the battlefield, Team Eight was currently dashing towards the tower with both scrolls in hand.
"Be ready. When we reach the tower, there might be teams waiting for us there," Shinra said as he jumped onto the next branch.
"If they end up being only as strong as the last team, then we shouldn't worry about it," Hyori replied flatly.
"Don't get too comfortable. That team was most likely one of the weakest teams in this exam. If we end up facing that Sunagakure team or Team Five, then don't be complacent," Shinra responded as he side-eyed Hyori.
Shinra tucked the Heaven Scroll inside his jacket and continued moving.
Yet, as Team Eight disappeared deeper into the forest, they weren't the only ones moving towards the center.
Several teams had already begun approaching the central tower from different directions. Some were laying traps around the surrounding forest, while others had chosen to remain in the outer regions and wait for the competition to thin out.
None of them knew who possessed the scroll they needed.
And none of them wanted to waste their strength fighting a team that might be carrying the same scroll.
For now, the Forest of Death remained quiet.