“It’s only the second day, and someone already couldn’t hold themselves back?”
When Isamu sensed a group of seven or eight people breaking away from the main force, he was genuinely surprised.
Wasn’t that a little too few?
Isamu had anticipated two possible scenarios after he disappeared without a trace.
The first was for the examinees to use the water source as a defensive position and hold out.
However, if the examinees ultimately won simply by dragging things out for seven days, then the prestige of these so-called great clans might really take a hit.
The second possibility was that they would split into teams to search for Isamu’s location in an attempt to end the battle early.
But Isamu had expected them to send out multiple teams, with shinobi possessing reconnaissance abilities such as those from the Hyūga clan serving as the core of the search parties.
Not for just a single team to head out like this.
Isamu thought for a moment before roughly figuring out what was happening.
From what he could sense, there was no one from the Hyūga clan among those approaching.
But anyone bold enough to do this must possess some kind of reconnaissance ability.
Based on the information he had, the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan could fulfill that role as well.
In other words, this team should be from the Uchiha clan.
Unfortunately, it still wasn’t the right time for a direct confrontation.
To avoid exposing himself, Isamu left the underground chamber and used his Sensory Perception, whose range extended beyond normal visual distance, to avoid the Uchiha team in advance.
As a result, after an entire day of searching, the Uchiha team came away empty-handed.
They could only return to camp in frustration and discuss what they should do on the third day.
“This Isamu is like a rat.
We don’t even know where he is.”
The Forest of Death was more than twenty kilometers in diameter, covering an area of roughly four hundred square kilometers.
If Isamu was determined to hide, there was no way a single group like theirs would be able to find him.
After all, even the team’s Sharingan couldn’t remain active every moment of the day.
Could they really have to cooperate with the Hyūga clan?
The proud young Uchiha were unwilling to do such a thing.
But compared with the descendants of the great clans who wanted to end the examination early, the civilian-born shinobi on the other side were more than happy to simply let things end this way.
They had no clan honor to worry about.
As long as they could keep the forehead protectors they had been issued until the end of the examination, they could become Genin.
And if Isamu was so intimidated by their strength that he simply gave up, then that would naturally be the best possible outcome.
Why go through the trouble of doing anything unnecessary?
They could only hope that Isamu wouldn’t attack them today either
Minato Namikaze was one of the few civilian-born shinobi who remained clear-headed.
He believed that, given Isamu’s strength and personality, there was no way he would simply abandon the mission after a single probe.
Isamu must be planning something in secret.
Minato stared at the dark forest beneath the night sky, worry filling his face.
What exactly are you waiting for?
On the third day, the Uchiha team once again set out to search the forest.
This time, Isamu judged that the temperature was low enough for his Blood Clones to operate effectively.
He deliberately exposed an opening and engaged the Uchiha team in close combat, using the encounter to test their strength.
The Sharingan truly deserved its reputation as one of the most famous Kekkei Genkai in the shinobi world.
Its exceptional dynamic vision allowed one of the Uchiha to fight Isamu’s “Fifty-Blood Clone” on even terms.
Isamu had divided his Blood Clones into several levels according to the amount of blood used to create them.
For example, a Blood Clone containing a single drop of blood was roughly equal in strength to an ordinary Shadow Clone.
However, that single drop of blood allowed Isamu to control it remotely to a certain extent.
Isamu called this type an Ordinary Blood Clone.
The next level was a Blood Clone containing ten drops of blood.
Isamu called these Ten-Blood Clones.
Their durability and chakra control were superior to those of Ordinary Blood Clones.
And because they didn’t consume much blood, they could also serve as fairly useful expendable units.
Above that were the Hundred-Blood Clones.
According to Isamu’s estimates, a Hundred-Blood Clone could handle one or two Chūnin by relying on Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, and even single-handed hand seals.
Of course, Isamu had also considered creating a Thousand-Blood Clone.
But with his current physical condition, actually using a thousand drops of blood to create a single clone would probably have a severe impact on his own condition.
The Blood Clone he had used to test everyone a few days earlier had contained three hundred drops of blood.
Isamu currently weighed less than thirty kilograms.
Assuming blood accounted for 7.5 percent of total body weight, he had only about 2.1 kilograms of blood.
In terms of volume, that was less than 2,000 milliliters.
Fifteen drops of blood were roughly equivalent to one milliliter, while three hundred drops amounted to about twenty milliliters.
A blood loss of more than one percent was already the limit he could tolerate without affecting his main body’s combat ability.
The Uchiha boy who could fight Isamu’s Fifty-Blood Clone to a standstill should therefore have been approaching Chūnin-level strength.
Someone like that was actually participating in a Genin examination?
Ugh.
Shameless.
A single Blood Clone ultimately couldn’t withstand being surrounded and attacked by the entire Uchiha team.
After receiving the clone’s memories through the feedback, Isamu quietly withdrew.
When the Uchiha team discovered that the opponent they had defeated with everything they had was actually nothing more than one of Isamu’s clones, their mental state collapsed.
No matter how proud they were, they still had to bow their heads before the facts.
The gap in strength made them realize that they had no chance of confronting Isamu on their own.
If they wanted to win, they had to seek help.
Otherwise, even if they became Genin when the time limit expired, it would still be an embarrassment.
That evening, the Uchiha approached Nara Shikaku and proposed working together.
When Shikaku learned that they had encountered one of Isamu’s clones that afternoon, and that a single clone had been enough to contend with the entire Uchiha team, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread at such strength.
Was he really only nine years old?
Isamu was one or two years younger than everyone else, yet looking across all of Konoha, there wasn’t a single person among his peers who could stand against him.
Now, once tonight passed, three days of the examination would have elapsed.
And another problem was now before everyone:
Food.
Although they were right next to a river, catching fish required skill.
Shinobi were physically stronger than ordinary people, but they weren’t fishermen who caught fish every day.
Their efficiency was actually inferior to that of professional fishermen.
They had accumulated a little food over the past three days, but it still wasn’t enough.
Without additional supplies, they would probably run out of food after tomorrow.
“Starting tomorrow, we’ll select the strongest people from each team and form patrol groups.
The Hyūga and Uchiha will serve as the core of the search operation.
The remaining strong shinobi will stay behind to protect the students who are gathering food.”
After discussing the matter, everyone reached a rough plan for the following day’s operation.
That night was undoubtedly an ordeal for those standing watch, especially after everyone learned that one of the teams had already clashed with Isamu.
Everyone was worried that Isamu would launch a night raid, and the night passed in a state of constant anxiety.
Yet once again, the night passed peacefully.
At dawn, after everyone had awakened, representatives from the various teams called everyone together and assigned the day’s tasks.
Based on the strengths they had demonstrated during their time at the Academy, they selected forty people and divided them according to their specialties into five relatively powerful search teams.
Of course, their mission that day wasn’t to search the entire Forest of Death.
Instead, they would patrol several kilometers around the outer perimeter, preventing Isamu from attacking the weaker examinees who remained behind.
Another ten capable shinobi formed a guard team, responsible for protecting the students who were gathering food.