"Hizashi, what can you do?" Hyuga Hiashi asked in a deep voice.
"..."
Hyuga Hizashi felt helpless. What could he do? The strength gap was evident, and there were five people on the opposite side, whereas they were only two.
After thinking for a moment, Hyuga Hizashi suggested, "We can wait for the other teams. Once they secure the required scrolls, they should leave. It won't be too late for us to proceed to the finish line then."
Hyuga Hiashi felt frustrated. As the next leader of the Hyuga clan, he disliked the idea of passing the Chūnin exam in such a manner. However, Hizashi had a point—their scrolls had not been easy to obtain.
"Alright, let's retreat for now and approach later once they have left," Hiashi agreed.
Chiba found it strange that Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Hizashi suddenly left without submitting their scrolls.
"Do you know what they are planning?"
"No idea," Nawaki replied, just as confused.
At that moment, Shikaku pondered for a moment and said, "I believe they realized we are waiting and feared we might try to take their scrolls. They're probably waiting for other teams to scout the way first."
Chiba had to admire Shikaku's intelligence.
"Forget it. I didn't intend to rob them anyway. If they want to wait, let them," Chiba said indifferently.
An hour later, Chiba and his group finally saw the second team arrive at the finish line.
Fortunately, this team was from Iwagakure Village.
Nawaki sighed in relief upon seeing them. He had felt uneasy about taking a scroll from another Konoha team, but now he had no qualms about attacking a team from Iwagakure. It wasn't his first time doing so anyway.
As soon as he saw this, Chiba acted without hesitation, having grown impatient.
Boom!
Activating the Eight Inner Gates technique, he rushed towards the three-person Iwagakure team.
He had no intention of dragging out the fight—he wanted a swift resolution.
The Iwagakure team had been feeling joyful, believing they were about to reach the finish line.
But reality struck fast. Before they could react, darkness overtook their vision, and they lost consciousness.
The three teammates of Chiba and Nawaki exchanged confused glances. They had been preparing to assist, but before they could even take a few steps, Chiba had already ended the battle.
After searching the Iwagakure team, Chiba retrieved the Earth Scroll as expected, leaving the Heaven Scroll behind.
From a distance, Hiashi and Hizashi, who had been observing, broke into a cold sweat.
They had not anticipated that Chiba's strength would be so terrifying. The Iwagakure team had seemed formidable enough to reach the finish line, yet they had been completely overwhelmed by Chiba in an instant.
They felt relieved. Their caution had spared them from becoming Chiba's next victims.
"Hizashi, let's go after they leave," Hiashi said, swallowing nervously.
"Agreed," Hizashi nodded mechanically.
After securing the scroll, Chiba returned to his teammates.
"Let's go hand in our mission."
Without waiting for a response, he strode toward the Konoha ninja at the tower.
"Hello, we're here to submit our mission," Chiba said, taking out the Earth Scroll and handing it over.
The Konoha ninja in front of him responded respectfully, "Understood. Please sign your name here, and then you may leave."
His deference stemmed from witnessing how swiftly Chiba had dispatched the Iwagakure team. In a world where strength dictated status, the weak had no choice but to show respect to the strong.
Chiba nodded and signed the form. By then, Nawaki and Ino-Shika-Cho had also arrived.
"We're here to submit our mission as well," Shikaku said, handing over their Earth Scroll.
...
Once they had all signed the forms, the Konoha ninja looked at them and announced, "The first and second exams are now complete. The next exam will take place in half a month."
"Half a month? That's quite a long break," Nawaki commented.
"Yes. The interval allows candidates who passed the second exam time to recover and prepare for the next challenge."
"Got it," Nawaki nodded in understanding.
When they finally left the Forest of Death, two days had passed since the start of the exam.
Standing outside the examination hall, Chiba gazed at the sky. Seeing the sun setting, he turned to Nawaki and said, "Hey, Nawaki, weren't you planning to treat us to dinner? Now's a good time. We barely ate anything decent in the Forest of Death."
Chiba felt nauseated at the thought of the food they had eaten in the past two days—grilled fish with no seasoning. If he hadn't used the Flying Thunder God technique to sneak home at night and grab some real food, he might not have survived.
"No problem. What do you guys want to eat?" Nawaki asked, though he was already worried about his wallet.
"How about barbecue?" Akimichi Choza suggested enthusiastically.
"..."
Nawaki nearly fainted.
It wasn't surprising. If they really went for barbecue, he wasn't sure if he had enough money to cover it. Uchiha Chiba and Akimichi Choza were both known for their large appetites.
"Choza, you should consider Nawaki's financial situation," Yamanaka Inoichi pointed out. "Nawaki, don't listen to him. It's getting late, so let's just eat ramen and go home early."
Inoichi wasn't trying to save Nawaki's money—he simply wanted to get home early and reassure his family after being away for two days.
Although they had faced some danger on the first day, it had been swiftly dealt with by Chiba. However, their families were unaware of this.
Hearing Inoichi's words, Nawaki looked at him with gratitude. "Inoichi, you're the best."
"Ramen is fine too. Let's go to Ichiraku Ramen," Chiba decided.