"Looks like it should be over now." Kabuto breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the tower in front of him.
The tower before him was one of the few large structures in Konoha, known as the Central Tower, the landmark that one would aim for to finish the Chunin Exam.
According to the rules, as long as you collect the Heaven and Earth Scrolls within five days and then reach the Central Tower, you pass the exam and earned the right to proceed to the next and final stage.
"Let's go!" Kabuto smiled, approaching the Central Tower with Itachi and Isamu.
After winning the brawl over Summoning beast Steel Tag in the morning, Kabuto suddenly had a frightening conjecture.
Perhaps it wasn't just bad luck. The location that Summoning beast Steel Tag was dropped was indeed manipulated.
But the person who had control over the Summoning beast Steel Tag was quite troublesome to deal with. That person didn't care about the intense battles in other areas. Kabuto knew that this man could be whimsical at times.
To avoid being in the centre of fight over Summoning beast Steel Tag for all four days, Kabuto didn't explain much to Itachi and Isamu. He hurriedly led them towards the Central Tower to quickly finish the exam.
As speed was their priority, keeping a low profile was challenging. In the Forest of Death, there were three hundred Genin from all directions, and they were keen. The trio faced numerous attacks along the way, but with their strength and Kabuto's Sensory Abilities, ambushes didn't pose much of a threat.
Most teams withdrew after realizing their strength, and some fought for a while before withdrawing. That was how the trio managed to reach the Central Tower swiftly. After all, there were a lot of participants in this Chunin Exam.
The first floor of the Central Tower had several rooms. Kabuto randomly chose one and entered.
The room was extremely plain, devoid of unnecessary decorations, with only a pair of words.
Kabuto looked around; there were no stairs in the room, but the second floor did exist.
He wasn't sure if it could be called the second floor because it was mostly hollow, not much larger than a regular corridor, with wooden guardrails.
Kabuto took out the Earth Scroll and the Heaven Scroll he had obtained and opened them simultaneously.
According to Orochimaru, by reaching the Central Tower and opening the Heaven and Earth Scrolls simultaneously would result in passing the exam.
As Kabuto opened the Heaven and Earth Scrolls, white smoke appeared instantly, and a Shinobi dressed in black popped out of thin air and said, "Congratulations, you've passed the exam. Now you can come with me to the waiting area."
Without further explanation, the Shinobi jumped to the second floor.
Kabuto and his team leaped and reached the second floor. After they got to the second floor, Kabuto realized that the Central Tower was actually an indoor training ground.
Upon walking further into the corridor on the second floor, they could see a spacious square.
At this moment, the Shinobi that escorted them said again, "You are the first to pass the exam. Now you have to wait here for others to pass the exam until the final begins."
"We have to wait here for two days..." Kabuto was at a loss for words for a moment. It seemed completing the exam too quickly wasn't a good idea either. Although he made it through, it was still quite early before the exam ended.
However, the Shinobi assured them that food would be provided there.
As the first team that passed the exam, the large screens in the arena immediately highlighted Kabuto's team.
"So, they actually passed just like that, huh?" Watching Kabuto and the others slowly enter the room, Nagasawa stroked his chin, feeling that Kabuto had it too easy this time, not the challenging experience he had envisioned.
In his imagination, Kabuto would be all team's common enemy, or at the very least, the public enemy for everyone in the southwest region. Eventually, Kabuto would clear the exam after battles with dozens of Genin.
After all, wasn't that how protagonists usually do it?
Although Kabuto wasn't the protagonist of the manga, with all the training he had received, following the protagonist's path shouldn't be too far-fetched.
"Nagasawa, you make it sound like it's a breeze for Kabuto and his team. This Chunin Exam is different from the ones before; it's safe to say it's tougher than the ones we've had so far." Minato commented, sensing that Nagasawa wasn't quite satisfied.
Kabuto's strength surpassed him by a significant margin when Minato was his age. When Minato was nine, he was still in the Academy, while Kabuto was already wreaking havoc in the Chunin Exams.
"Haha, if Naruto participates in the Chunin Exams in the future, Minato, you may understand my feelings right now." Nagasawa laughed it off.
Just as the two were joking, suddenly, Nagasawa and Minato's expressions changed at the same time.
A hint of surprise flashed on Minato's face, followed by anxious and anger.
"You sensed it, right?" Although it sounded like a question, he already knew the answer.
Just a moment ago, he sensed a sudden appearance of a Flying Thunder God Mark and an exceptionally powerful evil presence.
Flying Thunder God Marks never disappeared! In other words, someone he had marked with a Flying Thunder God Mark suddenly reappeared!
Minato didn't mean to brag, but apart from the mysterious masked man that night, no enemy had managed to escape after being marked by him.
So, there was no other possibility— the mysterious masked person, who had caused chaos in Konoha, had come back to Konoha!
What puzzled Minato was that the masked person immediately disappeared. He was about to use the Flying Thunder God Technique, but the mark vanished, leaving only the unusually strong evil presence.
Helplessly, Nagasawa pointed to the southeast of Konoha and said, "With such a massive stature, anyone should be able to tell."
Minato followed Nagasawa's direction and immediately saw an extremely repulsive giant monster.
Minato had never seen such an ugly creature.
The monster had a massive and bloated body covered in a gel-like substance that seemed to be scales. Its gigantic feet had long and thick claws, resembling a giant's arms. Behind it were long and narrow gray wings.
Its head was an irregular triangle with no hair. It had two pairs of enormously round eyes, staring intently at anyone looking at those black hole-like eyes. It seemed like countless eyes were watching whoever gazed into them.
Below the eyes was the chin, and from the chin sprouted many green, big tentacles, resembling a poisonous octopus.
Its mouth was located in the middle of the abdomen, slightly below. This huge mouth had numerous tentacles, each adorned with glistening, cold-shiny teeth. The white teeth also had white tentacles growing on them.
Looking at the grotesque monster in the distance, Nagasawa was momentarily stunned and quipped, "What is this, Cthulhu invading Naruto world?"
Of course, Nagasawa was just joking. He could sense the Chakra emanating from the monster, indicating that it was a summoning beast, probably a creature created by some ambitious person whom he was unaware of.
Minato looked at Nagasawa with some confusion, obviously did not quite catch the meaning of Nagasawa's words.
However, Minato didn't pay much attention to Nagasawa's words; instead, he stared intently at the ugly monster.
Minato had strong sensory abilities, so he could clearly sense the opponent's extraordinary power, surpassing even him and the Third Hokage. Nagasawa might be the only one who could subdue this monster.
Moreover, the monstrous size of the creature was something else. It was the type of opponent that Minato disliked the most, an opponent with absurdly tough defense.
Even in the remote southeast forest of Konoha, the monster still attracted a lot of attention due to its massive size!
"What is that thing? So ugly! I've never seen anything this ugly!"
"Ugh... it's indeed so ugly!"
Perhaps due to the ultimate summoning beast beast's appearance being excessively repulsive, some residents didn't run away immediately upon seeing it and were baffled at its true ugliness.
Due to the Chunin Exam, Konoha was extremely cautious at this time.
Immediately after the appearance of the ultimate summoning beast, Anbu and Konoha Military Police Force were mobilized to evacuate some residents who were close by.
With such a massive size, even ordinary citizens would notice, let alone the keen Shinobi. Discussion immediately broke out at the arena, where a lot of Jonin gathered.
"What is that monster? Why did it suddenly appear in Konoha? Is someone trying to sabotage our Chunin Exam?" A Konoha ninja quickly took out kunai and observed the surroundings, casting suspicious glances at Shinobi from other villages, as if he would throw that kunai the moment he saw any unusual movement from them.
No one could blame Konoha Shinobi for being so cautious; after all, just a few years ago, everyone was fighting for their lives. It's impossible to forget that in an instant.
Foreign ninjas also felt wronged, being stared at with such suspicion. If it was really their doing, it would be one thing, but they truly didn't know anything.
"There's no way we did this no matter how you think about it. The Kage are still up there, and none of them makes a move." A Shinobi from other villages explained, fearing that Konoha Shinobi might strike at any moment.
Several ninjas looked up, and indeed, the Kage were sitting there, calmly discussing something.
Some anxious Konoha Shinobi immediately breathed a sigh of relief. If it were really Sunagakure, Iwagakure, or Kumogakure's doing, this would be the perfect time to strike! However, the Kazekage, Tsuchikage, and even the Raikage were sitting quietly up there. It seemed that the three Great Shinobi Countries weren't behind this disturbance.
"Third Hokage, it seems like you've run into trouble. That monster doesn't look easy to deal with. Need my help?" Onoki looked towards the enormous, ugly creature with a genuinely surprised look.
He was constantly speculating who could be behind this.
The monster's aura was too strong; it probably wasn't easy to handle. There weren't that many people in the world who could create something like that.
Upon seeing the Fourth Kazekage and the Fourth Raikage being equally surprised, Onoki shook his head, dismissing the possibility of it being Sunagakure or Kumogakure's doing.
Sunagakure was too poor to waste resources on such experimentation, and it would be too risky if they were discovered. As for Kumogakure, Onoki believed that, Kumogakure was the village that knew Konoha's strength the most. Unless they intended to take down Konoha in one fell swoop, they wouldn't think about sabotaging the Chunin Exams.
Before the Third Hokage could say anything, Rasa spoke up, "Our ally is in trouble, and us Sunagakure, won't just stand by. I'll lend a hand."
Even though the ultimate summoning beast appeared formidable, Rasa doubted that it could cause significant damage on Konoha. He saw this as an opportunity to curry some favour from Konoha.
Seeing both Onoki and Rasa expressing their readiness, the Fourth Raikage chimed in, "Count me in too. That creature is just too ugly and deserves a beating."
The Third Hokage didn't respond immediately. Instead, he turned his attention to Minato, who shook his head and said, "Thank you all for your kind offers, but this is Konoha. We can't let our guests engage in battle on our behalf."
As Minato spoke, he glanced at Nagasawa, who nodded indifferently, indicating that this wasn't a big deal.
"What's going on? Do you want us to deal with that monster? Curious about the situation, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru reached the top floor. While they were examiners, their role didn't involve escorting the participants. They observed the overall situation of the exam from the monitoring room, and there hadn't been any intruders as far as they were concerned.
The monitoring room was close to the venue, so the Sannin came to ask Nagasawa and Minato about their next move.
"Please create a Four Crimson Ray Formation. I'll handle it alone," Nagasawa said as he stood up with a faint smile.
The reason he asked them to erect the Four Crimson Ray Formation was not to prevent the creature from escaping but to avoid collateral damage to the village. Nagasawa was confident in controlling his power, but if the aftermath damaged the village, he wouldn't be pleased.
"Roar!!!" The ultimate summoning beast was overjoyed as it was finally free from Obito's control. On top of that, he saw a lot of food around him!