Chapter 10: An Unexpected Challenge

The forest was eerily silent. Too silent.

Ryūsei didn't like it.

His Byakugan pulsed as he scanned the surroundings, but something was off. The usual stirrings of chakra signatures—students hiding, animals moving in the underbrush, the subtle flickers of chakra suppressing techniques—were too few. The survival trial was meant to be chaotic, yet everything felt unnaturally still.

Orochimaru noticed it too. His sharp eyes narrowed. "The teams that were nearby… they've either disappeared or stopped moving altogether."

Jiraiya frowned. "That's weird. Are they hiding?"

Tsunade, crouching on a thick tree branch above, shook her head. "If they were hiding, we'd still sense them moving. Something happened."

A cold sensation settled in Ryūsei's stomach. His instincts told him that this was no longer just a test.

Then, he saw it.

Far ahead, past the thick foliage, a body lay slumped against the base of a tree.

Without a word, they moved.

The underbrush rustled beneath their feet as they reached the fallen student. Ryūsei immediately took in the details—his uniform was torn, a deep gash ran across his shoulder, and his breathing was shallow. The blood pooling around him was fresh, the wound clean. Too precise.

This wasn't an accident. This wasn't a student's attack.

Jiraiya knelt beside him, shaking his arm. "Hey! Wake up!"

The boy groaned weakly, his eyelids fluttering.

Ryūsei placed a hand over his wound, channeling a slow stream of chakra to stabilize him. "What happened?"

The boy's breath was ragged. "We… we were attacked…"

Tsunade's expression darkened. "By another team?"

"No…" The boy trembled. "Not students. Someone else. They—they weren't from Konoha."

Silence.

The wind rustled the trees, and suddenly the quiet felt suffocating.

Jiraiya's jaw tightened. "You mean there are actual enemy shinobi in the trial grounds?"

The boy nodded weakly. "They… they were fast. Too strong. My team didn't stand a chance." His voice wavered, his panic barely restrained. "They weren't testing us. They were trying to kill us."

Ryūsei's gaze sharpened. "Where did they go?"

The boy's breathing quickened. "They—they're still here."

At that moment, Ryūsei felt it.

A flicker of movement—fast, too fast. The air shifted behind them.

"Move!" Ryūsei shouted.

Tsunade leaped away just as a kunai embedded itself in the ground where she had been standing. Jiraiya barely dodged another, rolling to the side. Orochimaru slid back, eyes gleaming with something between curiosity and amusement.

Ryūsei turned sharply, his Byakugan catching the attacker's movements. A dark figure dropped from the trees, landing with a soundless grace. Then another. And another.

Three figures in dark cloaks stood before them, their faces partially obscured by cloth masks.

They weren't students. They weren't Konoha shinobi.

Their presence was wrong. Their stances, the way they moved—it was too refined, too deadly. These were trained ninja.

Orochimaru smiled slightly. "Well, this just got interesting."

The tallest of the rogue shinobi stepped forward, his voice low and calm. "You children are perceptive."

Tsunade's fists clenched. "Who are you?"

The man tilted his head slightly. "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you don't leave this forest alive."

Jiraiya scoffed. "Wow. No subtlety at all."

The rogue ninja didn't react. Instead, he simply raised a hand.

In a flash, his two comrades vanished.

Ryūsei's Byakugan followed them instantly—they were fast, but he was faster. One moved to flank from the left, the other from the right. The leader remained in front, standing eerily still.

"They're coming," Ryūsei warned.

Orochimaru chuckled. "Let's see how good they really are."

The First Strike

The first attacker lunged from the left, a blur of motion aimed directly at Tsunade.

She didn't hesitate.

Pivoting on her heel, she swung her fist in a powerful arc. The rogue ninja barely managed to twist mid-air, avoiding a direct hit—but Tsunade's strike still clipped him, sending him skidding across the ground.

Jiraiya moved next. The second attacker closed in from the right, slashing with a short blade. Jiraiya ducked, rolling under the attack before kicking upward, forcing the enemy to leap back.

The leader finally moved.

He rushed at Ryūsei—fast, precise, calculating. Ryūsei's Byakugan tracked every movement, but something was strange. The man's chakra flow was refined, controlled like a veteran shinobi's.

This wasn't a rogue genin or a simple mercenary.

This was a trained assassin.

Ryūsei met his attack head-on.

Gentle Step.

Their first exchange was lightning-fast—palms clashing, chakra flaring. The man's speed was unnatural, but Ryūsei's movements were more refined. He countered each strike, redirecting the force effortlessly.

Then the assassin changed