CH_86

In reality, Tōji and the others had only talked for a few minutes before most of the other squads had already left.

After picking up their consent forms and glancing at the contents, they immediately departed—without signing or submitting them on the spot.

"It looks like the exam venue isn't just the Forest of Death." Tōji muttered quietly. Neru, walking beside him, caught his meaning immediately. Natchi probably pretended to understand.

After getting the consent form, Tōji read it through. There was nothing particularly noteworthy, so he signed it.

But the consent form wasn't submitted to the proctors right away—it served as the "entry ticket" to the Forest of Death. At the forest's gate, you'd hand in the form and be allowed in.

"I'm going to buy some blank scrolls. You two need to prepare anything?" Tōji asked Natchi and Neru.

"Nothing to prepare." Natchi replied.

"We'll wait for you at the south entrance to the Forest of Death." Neru meant she didn't need any extra prep either.

"See you in a bit."

Tōji already had his other tools ready, but he was concerned about one thing—the scroll that served as the pass for the second exam looked like an ordinary white scroll. So he planned to buy a few blank scrolls that looked exactly the same, in case they came in handy.

On his way to the shinobi tool shop he frequented most often, he noticed it was running a promotional sale. A wooden sign hung outside, reading: "30% off all tools this week — March 9."

"Boss lady, what's with the sudden sale?" Tōji asked curiously.

After all, this shop rarely held promotions.

"My niece was born yesterday, so I'm celebrating!" The shop owner, in her cheongsam, wore her joy plainly on her face.

『Could it be Tenten being born?』 Tōji calculated in his mind. 『So this owner is Tenten's biological aunt.』

"Congratulations! But I'm in a bit of a hurry right now—I'll definitely stop by again in a couple of days." After offering his congratulations, Tōji stepped into the general store next door.

He quickly picked out a plain scroll that looked identical to the white scroll he'd seen as the exam token, grabbed five, paid, and left.

In less than ten minutes, Tōji arrived at the south entrance of the Forest of Death.

Natchi and Neru were waiting. The moment they saw him, they handed their consent forms to one of the gatekeeping proctors and entered the infamous Forest of Death.

At first glance, the forest didn't look all that special—the trees were just a bit larger than those outside.

"Here's a map of the Forest of Death…" Neru pulled out a scroll of parchment—she'd come prepared. She pointed to the center. "Let's head to the tower in the middle first. Finding clues near the center might be easier."

That was a fairly subjective thought from Neru, but Tōji didn't have any better ideas, so he didn't mind.

"Alright—let's go." Tōji didn't even ask Natchi for his opinion. Two agreeing was enough to call the shot.

This was the least guidance Tōji had ever seen for an exam mission. At least in other cases they'd specify things like "Heaven and Earth scrolls."

They didn't even know what the pass scroll actually looked like.

But gathering clues was a standard part of any shinobi mission.

What Tōji cared about most was the proctor himself. Yūhi Shinku's specialty was genjutsu. And he'd already used genjutsu in the first written exam.

Could the second exam also involve genjutsu? Otherwise, giving absolutely no leads would be excessive—the Forest of Death was too large to fully search in three days.

"Natchi, Neru—let's stay alert for any genjutsu barriers. The proctor is a genjutsu specialist from the Yūhi clan…" Regardless of whether his guess was right, Tōji wanted to put it out there.

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