Death Paradise was divided into three major regions.
The giant "bowl" Konome had blasted into existence through sheer force sat at the very center of the park, and it was also the smallest region in terms of area.
The largest region lay to the northwest: the Swamp Hell.
All the rotten trees, dead weeds, and withered vegetation from the Forest of Death, all the plant life she had drained of vitality, had been piled there. Over time, layer upon layer of decay had turned it into a revolting sea of marshland. The dense cone-shaped stone spires rising throughout the swamp, along with the web of vines stretched across the sky, were the footholds she had created specifically for the exam.
And the poisonous haze that blanketed the sky above Death Paradise was, naturally, the product of that fermented mass of rotting vegetation.
Its toxicity was moderate, but it made breathing difficult, caused mushroom-like hallucinations, and induced constant vomiting. In short, it was miserable.
Once poisoned, a person would lose all combat effectiveness almost immediately.
The second region was the terrifying-looking White Bone Hell in the southeast corner of Death Paradise.
Though it was called White Bone Hell, the animal remains Konome had consumed over the years made up only a tiny fraction of it.
The white material covering the ground like bones was, in truth, a concentration of underground saline-alkaline mineral deposits exposed after the vegetation had been cleared away.
As for the dark clouds in the sky, they were the impure life residue filtered out when she devoured vitality.
At first, she had not paid those impurities much mind. But one day she discovered that, catalyzed by the bones and those life-energy remnants, a strange scarlet fungus had started growing in the region.
That crimson fuzz-like fungus possessed both plant traits and animal characteristics, and it could rapidly multiply by absorbing life residue. So Konome used Takamagahara to gather all the bones and life impurities together, creating a gigantic cultivation bed for the red filament fungus.
That was how the so-called White Bone Hell had come to be.
"What's a final circle?"
Hearing the unfamiliar phrase from Konome's mouth, Naruto looked puzzled even as he admired the spectacular landscape before them.
Over the years, he had grown used to hearing weird terms from her every now and then.
"It means the final qualification slots will be decided here. This is the final circle."
Konome pointed at the giant bowl beneath their feet as she explained.
This was the final zone she had chosen. The pale violet poisonous haze had already begun spreading inward from the outer edges. In about two days, it would drive everyone toward the bowl. Whoever made it there alive would become the candidates for the third round.
Her gray eyes burned brighter, and a three-dimensional map of Death Paradise unfolded in her vision. The genin teams scattered throughout the different areas looked as clear to her as lines in the palm of her hand.
A total of eighty-five candidates had passed the written test. But nine had failed to jump from the sky at all, and four others had fallen badly enough to suffer serious injuries after leaping down. She had already sent Yatō's men to retrieve them.
Those four counted as landing dead.
The Konoha rookies like Shikamaru and Hinata, the Kumogakure taijutsu squad of Karui and Omoi, and the Kirigakure blade team had all landed in Swamp Hell.
Meanwhile, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi's Iwagakure team, Neji and Lee's Konoha team, Gaara's Sunagakure squad, Kimimaro's Otogakure group, and the rest were mainly concentrated in White Bone Hell.
There were also scattered small-village teams here and there.
The Hoshigakure trio had been the first to descend, and thanks to their flight ability, they had already reached the outer edge of the giant bowl, though on the opposite side.
As for the Kusa group, Karin sat at the border between the Bone Forest and the outer rim of the bowl, currently treating a bunch of useless idiots who had coughed up blood from the landing.
Only one Amegakure team remained. Making use of their gas masks, they were hiding somewhere in the swamp and waiting to ambush people.
Orochimaru and Danzo had followed Konome's team down and were now near the bowl as well, currently releasing snakes to scout the area, most likely searching for her and Sasuke.
For a land she had devoured until only silence remained, Death Paradise was, in a strange way, thriving with life.
"So what are we supposed to do?"
Standing in that bizarre giant crater, Sasuke found himself totally lost in the face of this absurd exam.
Proctor Anko had only said they were to fight and eliminate each other inside the park until only twenty people remained. But right now, they had no idea where to even start.
"They'll come looking for us on their own. All the water in Death Paradise flows here."
Without mentioning the shrinking poison zone, Konome pointed toward the hundreds of blue streams converging into the giant bowl.
"So what we need to do is occupy this place and crush every challenger who comes from the other zones."
Sasuke instantly grasped her intent, and excitement surged onto his face. Naruto cracked his knuckles with a bright grin.
They had wanted to clash with shinobi from the other villages for a long time. Now they finally had their chance.
Konome almost felt bad crushing their enthusiasm.
Orochimaru and Danzo were already feeling their way toward this area. It was only a matter of time before they arrived. If she did not step in herself, Naruto and Sasuke would probably be beaten into questioning their lives.
You think you're farming noobs. I think I'm farming noobs. Bronze suddenly turns into a king-tier lobby.
This Chunin Exam quite clearly no longer had room for actual chunin-level survival. Even jonin and elite jonin were sweating.
As for the genin, there were none left.
The truly ordinary fresh graduates had already been weeded out at the entrance by Aoba and Raido before the written exam even began.
Come, then. Let me see who reaches me first.
Konome's smile stayed soft, but her eyes flashed, and the thick poisonous clouds in the sky rolled like an ocean tide.
Along the outer edges of both Swamp Hell and White Bone Hell, the deep violet fog began to spread and creep inward.
Blub blub.
The yellow-green swamp bubbled more violently than before, like a gigantic cesspit fermenting anew after countless years. The stench in the air turned even fouler.
"This really is a battlefield made just for us."
With all three of them wearing gas masks, the Amegakure trio crouched behind a reddish-brown stone pillar. Even their feet were sunk into the swamp.
Their raincoat-like cloaks were smeared with yellow-green muck, turning them into perfect moving camouflage. Unless one looked very carefully, they were almost impossible to spot.
"Compared to Lord Hanzo's breath, this miasma is nothing."
With a gas mask on his face, Oboro chuckled in a low voice, utterly unbothered by the poisonous fog. Beside him, Mubi and Kagari both nodded quickly in agreement.
In Amegakure, there was a giant black salamander that carried deadly poison. After it died, its poison sac had been implanted into Hanzo's body.
Every time Hanzo breathed, anyone near him would inhale his poison. That was why every shinobi who served under him always carried enough gas masks in their storage scrolls to avoid being dropped by their own leader's toxins.
To others, this swamp full of miasma was a death zone. To them, it felt like home.
"Oboro, we don't fear poison, but what about food?"
Mubi, showing only one eye behind his mask, still looked resentful over the confiscated food pills.
"Those Konoha bastards took all our rations."
Amegakure was not rich to begin with. He had prepared those supplies specifically for this exam. Losing all of them had genuinely hurt.
Oboro's eyes shifted slightly as he answered casually, "Since Konoha confiscated our food, they definitely left some way to obtain it inside this exam area. We'll let others search first. All we have to do is wait for someone to deliver it to us."
"But what if…"
"Quiet."
Before Mubi could finish, Kagari abruptly cut him off.
Oboro immediately tensed. Kagari was their sensory ninja. Though his eyes were covered, he was not blind. The blindfold actually sharpened his sensory abilities.
Kagari focused for a moment, then suddenly turned around.
"Behind us… AHHHHHH!"
Buzz buzz buzz.
A cloud of black insects instantly engulfed Kagari.
Mubi and Oboro heard the warning too late. Before they could react, a furious shout rang out.
"Fang Over Fang!"
Two enormous spinning drills tore straight into them, blasting the pair away before they even knew what was happening. In the air, swarms of insects caught them and began draining their chakra at once.
Their screams quickly weakened.
Before they even hit the ground, the little chakra they had left had already been completely devoured. The Ame trio, who had only ever known how to hide and ambush, lost all resistance and collapsed limp into the swamp.
"Got them."
"Woof!"
Kiba and Akamaru stopped spinning, both panting.
Looking at the defeated Amegakure trio, Kiba grinned with excitement. This swamp had been hell on earth for someone with his nose. The gas masks on those people's faces had meant more to him than food or water ever could.
From the distance, Shino and Hinata both smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.
As an all-sensory team, Team Eight found these hidden Ame shinobi laughably obvious. One sweep of Hinata's Byakugan and their chakra signals had shone as brightly as lanterns.
"Three gas masks, a bunch of kunai, senbon, and shuriken, but no food, no water, no medicine…"
Kiba looted the bodies quickly and efficiently.
When Hinata saw how many gas masks they had, she brightened for a moment, only to sigh again the moment she heard there was no food.
This swamp had no living creatures at all, let alone food or drinking water. Even the air itself was toxic. According to Shino, not even insects or plants lived here. It was completely dead.
They had hoped to get some supplies from these people, but they had not found anything.
"Could it be that there really is no food in this zone?"
After stuffing the precious gas masks into a storage scroll, Kiba handed one to each teammate and even put one on Akamaru. The dog instantly looked much more energetic.
"Maybe not."
With his voice muffled behind the mask, Shino still sounded more relaxed than before.
"The exam rules said we'd have to fight over food. That means food must exist somewhere. Perhaps we simply need to leave this swamp to find clues."
"Then how are we supposed to get out? We can't even tell which direction is east, west, south, or north."
With his sense of smell blocked by the mask, Kiba looked helplessly at the sky. The poison clouds had completely covered the sun. At this point, they could not even tell the time.
This environment was truly terrible for him.
Hearing that, even Shino felt troubled.
Even with a Byakugan user who could see a thousand meters, they still could not find an exit. The swamp was far larger than any of them had imagined, and with no sense of direction, finding a way out would not be easy.
"Shino, over there!"
Hinata's muffled voice suddenly cut in.
Kiba and Shino lit up at once.
"You found a way out?"
"No. There's a very strong chakra reaction in that direction."
Hinata's eyes sharpened as she stared at one of the reddish-brown spires rising a thousand meters away like an upside-down bamboo shoot.
"Six... no, eight people. A lot of them. Shikamaru and the others are there too. Choji looks injured."
"That's bad."
"Woof!"
Kiba and Akamaru reacted so identically they might as well have been twins.
Shino and Hinata were not surprised. About a year ago, Kiba had decided to develop a powerful new move, and since then he had been training specifically to improve his coordination with Akamaru. By now, the results were already clear.
Their Fang Over Fang attack had been executed with perfect synchronization, which was why the Ame pair had gone down before even reacting.
"We're going too."
As the team's strategist, Shino pondered for a second before deciding they needed to investigate. If Shikamaru was in mortal danger, they could offer help. And with so many people gathered in one spot, there was a good chance that food or water could be found there as well.
No matter how one looked at it, they could not ignore this.
After tying the Ame trio to the stone pillar and leaving them three gas masks, Team Eight headed toward the spire Hinata had pointed out.
"I'm sorry, Shikamaru. I didn't know…"
"Stop talking."
On a peak wrapped in giant vines like chains, Ino and Shikamaru stood with kunai drawn, protecting the badly wounded Choji between them.
Up on the thick vines coiling around the stone summit, teams from Kumogakure and Kirigakure had completely surrounded the trio.
Looking at the foreign shinobi above them, Choji clenched his teeth in regret as he continuously burned fat to generate Yang chakra and heal himself.
Their descent had not gone well at all.
His original plan had been to use the natural defense of his Expansion Technique to absorb the impact while letting Shikamaru and Ino use him as a cushion, ensuring a safe landing.
But who could have guessed the terrain would be like this?
The countless jagged stone pillars had been like a trap built specifically to impale wild boars. If they had been any sharper, Choji would have been skewered alive in his enlarged form.
Even so, he was badly hurt. His legs in particular were so damaged he could barely move.
And worse, his gaze dropped to the black supply crate sitting open at his feet.
After they landed, Shikamaru had told him to rest there until his injuries improved before going to look for food and water. But then he had spotted that strange box on the summit and opened it without thinking.
The next moment, a black signal flare had shot straight into the sky and punched through the poisonous clouds.
"What was in the box you found?"
Standing on one of the giant chain-like vines, Karui stared down at the Konoha trio with her sword raised high in a Kumo-style high stance.
Omoi and Atsui held the left and right flanks behind her, the three of them forming a triangle like a rhinoceros's horns.
"There was nothing in it except a signal flare!"
Sweat beaded on Shikamaru's forehead, but he did not dare wipe it away.
He had already seen the Kumo trio's speed during the written exam. Even though they were over twenty meters away, they could cross that distance in the blink of an eye and cut them to pieces.
Beside him, Ino's eyes darted rapidly. One hand held her kunai defensively, while the other had already formed the opening posture for Mind Body Switch as she kept it trained on the three Kiri shinobi to the other side.
"You think anyone's going to believe that?"
Suigetsu rested his oversized blade on one shoulder, while his right hand was hidden in his sleeve in the shape of a finger gun. Behind him, Chojuro and Ringo stood in the same triangular formation as the Kumo team.
The three squads stared one another down, locked in a fragile and bizarre balance. For the moment, none of them dared make the first move.
Only the black flare still glowed faintly where it had punched through the cloud cover overhead.