Chapter 371 Hidden Assessment
The one chasing Hinata's team is Gaara's team.

After snatching the prey from Hinata's team, they originally wanted to go straight to the finish line, but after opening the scroll, they saw the mark of the earth on it, so they hurriedly chased after Naruto's team.

After walking out of the dense forest and seeing the three Konoha teams standing side by side, Gaara frowned.

He glanced at the two scrolls of earth in his hand, his face changed suddenly, he understood everything in his heart. Konoha used the method of distributing scrolls to unite the Konoha ninjas to deal with outsiders like them.

Otherwise, during the competition, even ninjas of the same period would scheme against each other.

Thinking of this, Gaara looked at Naruto in front of him and said slowly: "Konoha ninja over there, if I guess correctly, you should all have scrolls of heaven on you. If you hand over one, I can give you the scroll of earth in my hand."

"This way, we can all pass the second round of exams and advance to the third round."

Upon hearing this, Kankuro and Temari were extremely surprised, thinking that Gaara actually chose to give in in front of a ninja of the same generation. Even if the other party was also a Jinchūriki, Gaara should not be inferior to him.

What the two didn't know was that Shukaku in Gaara's body had long wanted Gaara and Naruto to fight.

Back then, only in the desert could Shukaku avoid being bullied by the Nine-Tails. The two sides had accumulated hatred for thousands of years, and now that both were sealed, they could only rely on the Jinchuriki to decide the outcome.

But Gaara considered more.

He was worried that after a hard battle, he still would not be able to defeat the opposing Konoha ninja, and he was also worried about being attacked by the rebel ninja Rasa, so he had to maintain his full combat effectiveness at all times.

Faced with Gaara's proposal, Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other and immediately chose to refuse.

"Gaara, your proposal is very tempting, but unfortunately, we are not the kind of ninja who are willing to abandon our companions. It is best for us to compare our strengths."

There is no way Naruto would give up Team 10, not just because Hinata has a good relationship with him.

More importantly, he had to shape the image of a believer of the Will of Fire and could not act too selfishly, otherwise it would be detrimental to his future plans.

Shikamaru also didn't want to reach an agreement with Gaara.

Judging from the number of scrolls their two teams had, they could reach an agreement with Gaara to quickly pass this Chunin Exam and advance to the next round.

But if they gave up on Hinata's team, it meant that their team might also be abandoned.

Although the Chunin Exam is just an exam on paper, it is actually not much different from a real battlefield. Intrigue and killing of each other by ninjas is allowed.

From the perspective of interests, there is no way Shikamaru would accept Gaara's proposal.

After Gaara's proposal was rejected, both sides fell into a brief silence, as if they were thinking about whether to continue fighting or just give up and choose other prey.

Each party has the scroll that the other party wants, and after they separate, they don't know if they will have another chance to obtain the scroll.

After hesitating for a moment, both sides finally took action.

After getting permission, Kankuro summoned three or four puppets in front of a group of Konoha ninjas. Under the sunlight, the puppets reflected cold rays of light.

After locking onto the position of the Konoha ninja, the puppet pounced towards him.

Not all ninjas can stop the powerful puppet. After using shadow manipulation technique and mind transformation technique and failing to control the puppet, Shikamaru's face changed and Ino looked even more panicked.

Neither of them were good at ninjas, and they were no match for the Puppet Master.

Shadow manipulation has its limits. If the weight exceeds a certain level, it cannot be controlled. The mind-turning technique is completely ineffective against a body of steel.

In the end, it was Shikamaru who stopped the puppet and fought with it.

Seeing this scene, Kankuro was a little surprised. The strength of a puppeteer depends not only on his personal manipulation ability, but more on the quality of the puppet itself.

Although these puppets of his are defective products that Scorpion Sensei doesn't want, they are already masterpieces for ordinary puppeteers, and each puppet possesses the strength of a Chunin.

Temari is a ninjutsu type ninja, and she silently picked Team Hinata as her team.

After jumping onto the tree trunk to create some distance, Temari waved the three-star fan in her hand, and a series of wind-style ninjutsu condensed into shape, flying towards Hinata and the others like blades.

These wind blades are extremely sharp. When they blow on a tree trunk, they can cut it in half. When they scrape on the ground, they can also create grooves, which is terrifying to look at.

After dodging the wind blade by leaning sideways, he was greeted by another burst of sickle-weasel aura.

With no way to retreat, Hinata raised her hands and threw a set of soft fists, using them to dissolve the incoming wind-style ninjutsu.

Hinata breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that her teammates were safe and sound under her protection.

Although her strength is not as good as that of her brother Neji, and she has not learned the family secret technique Kaiten, she is still able to block this simple ninjutsu.

After defense, it’s time to counterattack.

Aburame Shino released waves of poisonous insects towards Temari, forcing Temari to return from the high altitude to the ground, and kept following her.

Ya also sent out summoned beasts to give chase.

To deal with a ninjutsu-type ninja, you just need to prevent the opponent from using ninjutsu, and you will be able to defeat him.

Gaara faced Team 7, which Naruto was in. He raised his hand and summoned flying sand from the gourd, which flew towards Naruto and Sasuke.

Faced with such a conspicuous attack, Naruto and Sasuke could naturally deal with it easily.

After dodging the flying sand, Naruto realized that there was something wrong with the ground beneath his feet. He didn't know since when, the ground beneath his feet had been hollowed out and replaced by a ball of quicksand.

Using the treading water technique to float on the quicksand, Naruto and Sasuke were somewhat worried about attacks from underground.

Soon they felt something was wrong with the sand. The sand was surrounding them, trying to trap them to death at this moment.

After realizing this, the three of them looked towards Gaara's position.

When the enemy has the advantage of terrain, a quick victory is the best course of action. As long as Gaara is captured, this conflict will be over soon.

Not far away, Orochimaru and Rasa were watching the battle with the Sound Ninja.

For Orochimaru and Rasa, although the battle between the two sides is a bit immature, it has already taken shape. In time, both sides of the battle will definitely become good ninjas.

After observing for a while, Orochimaru said to Luosha:

"Don't you want to meet your children? Now is a good opportunity. Once the candidates enter the third round, it will not be so easy to meet."

Luo Sha frowned, then said, "There are too many people here. If we go over there rashly, we will be at risk of being exposed. It is better to complete the task assigned by Bai Ye first."

Orochimaru smiled and said meaningfully: "Lord Luosha, so this is what you think. But in the first exam, why did you deliberately pick a fight with Gaara and the others?" "Weren't you worried about your identity being exposed at that time?"

Luo Sha glanced at Orochimaru and said in a dark tone: "I think you have your eyes on a certain ninja in Konoha, so you have been instigating me. If you want to go, go ahead, just don't cause too much trouble."

"If the Third Hokage knew of our existence, things would be very difficult."

Orochimaru smiled mysteriously, and then said: "Don't worry about being exposed. My teacher should have known that I was here a long time ago. After all, I have given him a lot of gifts."

After a pause, Orochimaru continued, "We will act separately from now on, and we will resume contact after the third round of exams."

After saying that, Orochimaru waved to the Sound Ninjas, and they disappeared into the woods together.

……

Just as the battle between Konoha and Sunagakure entered a white-hot stage.

The sound of footsteps was heard in the forest, and a third party of ninjas appeared on the battlefield. This ninja team, wearing the forehead protectors of the Sound Village, rushed towards the Sand Village and Konoha ninjas silently.

The ninjas of Otogakure are elite jonin recruited by Orochimaru from various countries.

These people either have good talents but are buried among the crowd, or they have survived the experimental transformation and become ninjas with special abilities.

But what is certain is that every Sound-Ninja who takes part in the Chunin Exam possesses strength far beyond that of ordinary Chunin, and can burst out with impressive combat power at critical moments.

In the event of the attack, both the Konoha ninjas and the Sand Village ninjas suffered injuries to varying degrees.

After they snatched the scrolls from both teams, they immediately disappeared into the dense forest, not even giving Sunagakure and Konoha a chance to talk nonsense.

After the scroll was stolen, the Sand Village and Konoha ninjas lost the need to fight.

After they stopped fighting tacitly, Kanjiro said with a grim expression: "One scroll was taken from me, how many were taken from you?"

Shikamaru glanced at Kankuro and then said:
"Two... Now each of us only has one scroll left. What are you going to do? Continue fighting with us, or go after the Sound Ninja together?"

After hearing this, Naruto and Gaara, the actual leaders of both sides, looked at each other and nodded.

"Let's put aside our dispute for now and deal with those Sound Ninjas. As long as we get the Rolling Me from them, we might not have to fight."

"I don't have any objections either."

"Then let's go together. If they take a longer route to the finish line, we will all be eliminated."

After a few words, they reached a cooperation and started the pursuit.

The advantages of Hinata's team were immediately revealed. Although their three-member team leader, Jonin Yuhi Kurenai, was a ninja specializing in illusion, their team was a reconnaissance team.

With the help of the Byakugan and the summoning beasts, Naruto, Gaara and others quickly locked on the location of the Sound Ninja.

After stealing the Scroll of Heaven and Earth, this group of Sound Ninjas did not seem to intend to go to the high tower in the central area, but instead hid in the depths of the Forest of Death.

If we go a little further from here, we will leave the Death Forest and enter the vast mountain forest.

Gaara reached out to stop Naruto and said to him: "I think something is wrong here. It's like these Sound Ninjas have set up a trap and are waiting for us to pass by."

Naruto nodded slightly: "I have similar thoughts, but we still have to go. This is just an exam. If you are afraid of taking the exam, how can you perform those difficult tasks?"

Hearing this, Gaara looked at Naruto a little differently.

He sensed a similar aura from Naruto, and he had a feeling that if the two of them became friends, they would definitely have a lot to talk about.

Stepping into the depths of the Death Forest, the four teams could clearly feel that the vegetation had become much more lush. The large trees above their heads blocked the sunlight, and only a few spots of sunlight could be seen on the ground.

At the same time, a faint mist began to float in the air, further affecting the vision. Fortunately, the team had the Byakuyan, which allowed them to lock their position at all times and avoid getting lost in the forest.

Instead, the faint miasma in the air made people feel a little short of oxygen and dizzy.

A few minutes later, the group found the traces of Sound Ninja, who were sitting cross-legged on the ground to restore their chakra.

Just then, the Sound Ninja seemed to notice the team in the dark, and a female ninja began to perform ninjutsu.

The ninjutsu performed by the female ninja was not the basic five types of escape techniques, but a kind of sound wave ninjutsu, which spread the chakra in the form of sound waves to affect the enemy's five senses.

Naruto and the others were affected by the illusion and reacted quickly.

This illusion is spread through sound. As long as you create a sound louder than the opponent's, you can prevent the ninjutsu from taking effect.

Naruto raised his hand, condensed the Rasengan, and then threw it out.

The high-speed rotating Rasengan created a huge roar, clearing a path while leaving a conspicuous hole on the ground.

After seeing Naruto's strength, the Sound Ninja's face changed slightly, and he immediately started to flee again.

This time they did not flee in the same direction, but fled in all directions. They seemed to be determined to fight to the death, and were determined to stop them from passing even at the risk of not being able to advance themselves.

After the Sound Ninjas scattered and fled, Naruto and the others had to separate temporarily.

This might be a conspiracy of the Sound Ninjas, but for now they had no choice but to go ahead with it, as they didn't want to be eliminated in the second round.

A few minutes later, Naruto's team caught up with the fleeing Sound Ninja.

The other party had indeed set an ambush. In addition to the fleeing Sound Ninja, there was also an entire Sound Ninja team lying in ambush here. Judging from the smiles on their faces, the surrounding area must be full of traps.

However, they are not worried about the traps and are confident that they can beat either team.

At this time, one of the Sound Ninjas slowly took off his mask, revealing a feminine face, and slowly spoke to Naruto's team:
"Nice to meet you. I am Orochimaru, the rebel ninja of Konoha. From now on, I will be your opponent. Please take good care of me."

Gaara's team was also stopped by a mysterious man.

Before the mysterious man took off his mask, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro felt that he looked familiar. Both his figure and standing posture were exactly the same as their father.

After their father became a rebel ninja, they sometimes thought of him and the scene after they met.

But when this scene actually appeared before them, they were a little at a loss.

After a few seconds of stalemate, Luo Sha took off his mask and said slowly: "Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, let me test your skills this time."

(End of this chapter)