"Someone intruded; let's go check quickly," said Satoru and immediately went outside with his teammates.
Explosions sounded around immediately; many traps had already been triggered. Obviously, the enemies had infiltrated.
"Get ready; looks like we're in for a fight. Didn't expect someone to be watching us so closely," Satoru frowned too.
The Forest of Death connected to Konoha's Forest and was, one could say, very vast. But the fact that enemies, knowing the danger, still rushed in somewhat surprised Satoru.
*Boom!*
The traps Satoru had set were finally fully activated. In the smoke, three figures were vaguely visible.
"Who are you?" Satoru asked very directly.
"Us? We're the ones who'll take your scroll," the speaker had a Hidden Grass Village forehead protector on his head.
This time, at the Chunin Exam in Konoha, not only local teams were participating.
There were also ninja from the Hidden Rain Village, Hidden Grass Village, Waterfall Village—they were all allies of Konoha in name.
These were small countries and villages. At the end of the Second Shinobi World War, the Hidden Rain Village leader, Hanzō Salamander, granted three Konoha ninja the title of Sannin and ultimately allied with the Leaf. Other small countries also became Konoha allies.
And the three ninja standing before them were from the Hidden Grass Village, that is, from another country.
"Ah, so Konoha ninja—what a surprise! Didn't expect you to be living in such a luxurious house!"
"And what's with this brat? He doesn't look even five years old? What can a brat like you do?" said the Hidden Grass Village ninja.
"Don't waste words on him; just finish them," another Grass ninja interjected.
Yoshime said:
"You have a scroll, so why attack us first? In theory, you should avoid fights and conserve strength, right?"
Another Hidden Grass Village ninja replied:
"Ha-ha! That's just in theory. We three are terrible monsters. We're participating in this Chunin Exam not to become Chunin."
"We just want to fight stronger ninja."
"I wonder, are you three the opponents we're looking for?" The three Hidden Grass Village ninja focused their aura on Satoru and his teammates.
Satoru said:
"Leave the scroll and get lost while you're intact; that'll hurt you less."
"Ha-ha-ha! Hear that? Hear how this brat threatens me?" The Grass ninja burst into laughter, not taking Satoru's words seriously at all.
"Seems you really don't understand how strong we three are," then the Grass ninja added. "We three were born for killing!"
After that, Satoru noticed the aura of the three Grass ninja suddenly change noticeably. If before they looked like ordinary ninja, now their chakra had increased nearly tenfold.
Moreover, their bodies changed too; all three turned into monsters.
"This? This is Cursed Seal?"
Satoru knew that the current Orochimaru hadn't developed the Cursed Seal yet, but these three Grass ninja had the ability to turn into monsters.
"Maybe they're like Jugo? Innate Sage Mode possessors?" Satoru pondered to himself, but the three ninja before him clearly weren't giving him time to think.
*Dong-dong-dong!*
The three ninja had incredible explosive power and quickly rushed at Satoru and his teammates.
Satoru immediately used the Body Replacement Technique to dodge this attack.
However, the tree used for the replacement was completely destroyed.
"What power!" Yoshime couldn't help exclaiming.
These three ninja were different from everyone they'd faced before.
*Boom-boom-boom!*
The target of these three ninja wasn't just Satoru, but also Minato and Yoshime. Seeing that the first attack had failed, they continued attacking relentlessly.
"Ya-ha-ha-ha! This is so good! We want to kill! We want to kill!" the three Grass ninja acted like madmen, but Satoru knew their condition was exactly like Jugo's.
"These three have completely lost their minds!" Minato said, using the Body Flicker Technique to dodge quickly.
Yoshime used Wood Style, trying to hold them back. But they were not only fast but also strong. They easily broke through even Yoshime's Wood Style.
"If that's the case..." Satoru immediately unleashed his power and, using the Super Body Flicker Technique, appeared in front of one of the Grass ninja. The Great Rasengan in his hand had been ready for a while, and Satoru slammed it forcefully into the opponent's stomach.
The other two charged at Satoru simultaneously, attacking from above. They were about to crush him.
"Raijin!" Satoru's shadow clone used the abilities of the Goro Goro no Mi Fruit, and the two Grass ninja were instantly repelled.
"What terrifying ninjutsu!" said the Grass ninja who had taken the Great Rasengan hit. He had already reverted from the Cursed Seal state to normal.
"You're the first to overpower our might with brute force!" the Grass ninja said. "But that technique must have taken a lot of chakra, right? There are still two left—let's see how you handle them!"
"Very simple!" Satoru didn't think dealing with them would be that hard.
"Yoshime!" Satoru shouted, and Yoshime immediately understood what to do. After all, they'd worked together for so many years and could read each other perfectly.
"Wood Style: Shinra Tensei!" Yoshime immediately used Wood Style to bind the two Grass ninja. At the same time, Satoru, using his Sharingan, cast genjutsu on them.
Even if it immobilized them for just a second, that would be enough time for Satoru to use ninjutsu.
"Combined Ninjutsu: Flying Thunder Fire Dragon Explosion!"
This was a three-element combined ninjutsu—Wind, Fire, and Lightning—and Satoru's strongest combined technique. Wind amplified Fire, and Fire amplified Lightning!
In the end, it hit the two Grass ninja squarely.
Combined ninjutsu—the Third Hokage had perfected it. Though it couldn't change the nature of elements, combining attacks from different elements greatly increased their power.
Satoru, having trained rigorously under the Third Hokage, had also mastered combined ninjutsu to the highest level. After this attack, the two Grass ninja couldn't stand for even a moment.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha! Nice attack! I hope your technique can completely destroy our bodies!" The Grass ninja showed no fear, their eyes full of bloodlust. Even as their bodies gradually disintegrated, they remained just as insane.
'Looks like these three Grass ninja's bodies and minds were affected by the Cursed Seal.'
'Since this isn't Orochimaru's Cursed Seal, they must be like Jugo, influenced by their environment, triggering Sage transformation signs. But they couldn't control it well, leading to some mental instability...'
*Boom!*
Satoru showed no mercy. Since these three Grass ninja would suffer terribly even alive, Satoru simply helped them find release.
Satoru easily obtained the scroll.
"Excellent, we have a passing scroll now. If we avoid fights and head straight to the central tower, there shouldn't be any problems," Yoshime said upon seeing it.