After he finished speaking, Orochimaru let out a final, sinister laugh as his body slowly sank into the ground. Seeing him leave, the four Sound ninja did not dare to linger. They dissolved into a cloud of smoke, vanishing from the spot.

"Don't run!" Sasuke yelled, about to give chase when Shiro dropped from the trees, blocking his path.

"Don't chase them," Shiro whispered, his voice a firm warning. "There's no point in getting entangled with them. With our current strength, we cannot kill Orochimaru."

"Shiro," Izumi said, her voice laced with concern, "I have a feeling Orochimaru has another purpose for being here. I fear it will be detrimental to our own plans."

Shiro smiled calmly. "It doesn't matter. With my father here, what is there to fear? We just need to go through the motions of this exam. Don't forget our true objective: to humiliate Konoha's elite Genins in front of the assembled leaders."

"Let's go," he continued. "We'll head for the finish line. We have the Heaven Scroll, so all we need is an Earth Scroll to end this stage of the exam. This forest is far too humid; it's bad for the skin. The sooner we finish this and get some rest, the better."

"Right! I understand!"

At the same time, just outside the walls of Konoha, in a memorial field filled with stone tablets, Konoha Chunin Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki stood with solemn expressions. Before them lay the corpses of three Genin from the Hidden Grass Village.

"How cruel… This had to be the work of a ninjutsu."

"To think something like this would happen right at the beginning of the exams. What a mess."

"There's no point guessing here. We need to notify the second exam's proctor, Anko!"

"Right!"

At the entrance to the Forest of Death, inside the proctor's tent, Anko Mitarashi held three skewers of dango in one hand and a cup of red bean soup in the other, a look of pure bliss on her face.

"Hehe, dango and red bean soup. The perfect combination."

"After I finish this, I'll head to the tower to wait for the kids."

Just then, a figure appeared in a blur of movement. "An emergency, Proctor Anko!"

Anko turned. "Oh, it's Kotetsu. What's wrong?"

"We found three bodies among the memorial stones. Their deaths were… extremely strange. Please, come and see for yourself."

"!"

Hearing this, Anko immediately dropped her food and followed Kotetsu to the scene. Izumo was already there. "Proctor Anko. Based on my preliminary judgment, from their belongings and attire, they should be the Grass ninja who registered for the exam."

"But… their faces are gone. It looks as if they've been melted away."

"!!!"

A terrible premonition bloomed in Anko's heart. She had seen this kind of gruesome work before. And only one person was capable of it. Her former teacher, Orochimaru.

"Show me their registration photos! Now!" Anko shouted.

Kotetsu quickly produced the photos. The moment Anko saw the picture of the long-haired Genin, she remembered the Grass ninja with the unnaturally long tongue from the exam entrance.

"It's really him!"

Anko panicked. She had been suspicious before but had dismissed it as her imagination. Now, she was certain. The person she had met was Orochimaru in disguise.

"This is a disaster! Report this to the Hokage at once!"

"Request that the Anbu dispatch at least two squads into the Forest of Death. This is an emergency, no time to explain! I'm going into the forest to find him now!"

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