Not long after Sora left, a team of three Genin arrived at the site.
"Looks like a fight went down here. Use your sensory jutsu—see where he is."
Glancing over the messy ruins, the three quickly came to a conclusion.
Moments later, a pudgy, unremarkable Genin said, "Sora already left. As for those three idiots—they're dead."
"Pursue him."
With a low growl, the sturdy man in the lead charged forward, with the pudgy one and the third teammate exchanging a glance before following.
Even though the others had died by Sora's hand, the three showed no signs of concern.
The wreckage said it all—they hadn't even had a chance to fight before being taken out by explosive tags. Clearly, they'd walked into a trap.
As long as they avoided falling into a similar ambush, taking down Sora wouldn't be a problem.
Truthfully, they found the entire organization a bit bizarre. Most of its members lacked emotion, and some even had grudges between them.
Yet once someone was killed, the Absolute Death Bounty was immediately issued—completely ridiculous.
Still, they didn't care about that. All they needed was the credit for completing the mission.
After they left, others also arrived at the ruins, but seeing the aftermath, all of them turned away.
Scattered battles broke out across the forest. Some fled, some were eliminated. The brutality of the Chūnin Exams had begun to unfold.
…
After leaving that area, Sora didn't linger—he used his fastest speed to head straight for the central tower.
He had no interest in playing ninja games with a bunch of Genin. The real goal was to wipe out the Exchange House. The sooner, the better.
Blazing forward like lightning, Sora reached the base of the central tower in just two hours.
He surveyed the area and, satisfied, began reburying the explosive tags he'd dug up earlier—then added even more.
Soon, the entire 300-meter perimeter around the tower's entrance was littered with explosive tags in various configurations.
This barricade ensured that no one could enter unless Sora allowed it.
After so many encounters, Sora was starting to really enjoy using explosive tags.
He didn't even need to fight—just let the tags do all the work. It was too satisfying.
Once the setup was complete, he casually found a place to lie down and sleep, though he remained alert beneath the surface.
Among the remaining participants, he had no idea who might be affiliated with the Exchange House—caution was essential.
Before long, three ninja came speeding toward the tower from the direction Sora had arrived.
Sora cracked his eyes open and gave them a quick glance—he instantly knew what was going on.
They were coming from the same direction he had, and at such speed? They were clearly coming for him.
In this exam, the only ones willing to give up on scrolls to pursue him were likely from the Exchange House.
Sora glanced at their forehead protectors—and was genuinely confused. He didn't recognize the symbol. What village were they from?
"Be careful. There are definitely explosive tags nearby!"
The moment the burly man saw Sora apparently sleeping, his instincts screamed danger.
The trio stopped 500 meters out and began scanning the area—and instantly turned grim.
"Three hundred meters... Just how many tags did this guy use?"
If they weren't out of range, they'd beat this extravagant freak into the dirt for wasting so many tags.
But now, they had a problem. Their jutsu couldn't reach 300 meters.
They'd need a Kage-level powerhouse to attempt it.
They considered circling around, but the dense field of explosive tags offered nowhere to step.
"So what now? We can't reach him."
"I've got no clue. What are we gonna do, try to trick him? He's not an idiot."
The pudgy one and the third ninja turned to the burly man, waiting for a decision.
With a sigh, the man plopped down and said, "We wait. There's no way we can get through with our current chakra reserves. You want to reach him and then be too drained to fight?"
Blasting through the tags with repeated jutsu might work, but they didn't have enough chakra for that. What would they do once they got close—collapse?
But while they were planning to wait, Sora had no intention of letting them go.
The moment he saw them, he'd already made up his mind: all Exchange House operatives must die.
He left behind a max-level shadow clone at his current position and burrowed underground, slowly making his way behind the trio.
A max-level clone was nearly impossible to distinguish from the real thing, and with the 300-meter gap between them, the three never noticed Sora had vanished.
After five minutes, Sora emerged in the forest behind them.
"Water Style: Super Exploding Water Wave!"
"Lightning Style: Ground Walk!"
After a brief rest, Sora's hands blurred with speed—two jutsu activated in sync.
The wave of water reached the trio before they could react. Lightning followed immediately.
Though the lightning didn't do much damage, it stunned them for a brief moment.
In that instant of paralysis, Sora launched his next combo.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"
Two dragons—one of water, one of flame—roared through the air without mercy.
Boom!
They crashed down, carving out massive craters. Burn marks scorched the earth.
Maybe it was because he was a "descendant of the dragon" in his past life, but Sora really liked dragon-themed jutsu.
Ever since mastering these two, he used them in every fight.
When the dust settled, only the burly man remained. The other two had been completely obliterated.
"Huff... Huff..."
Gasping for air, the burly ninja had barely survived thanks to a hastily cast Water Formation Wall. Even so, he was badly wounded.
"Stop! I forfeit!"
Seeing Sora preparing another jutsu, the man panicked.
Sora's mouth curled into a cruel smile. His hands didn't stop. "You wanted to kill me? And now you want to run?"
The man's face went pale. Now that Sora knew who they were, there was no way he'd let him go.
Cornered, the man burst into action.
His hands flew through seals, almost matching Sora's speed—a blur of movement.
If his legs hadn't been injured, he would've run long ago. Who'd be dumb enough to trade blows?
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
He was just about to unleash it—but he was already too late.
Sora had begun earlier, and his speed was superior. He had no chance.
"Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
Just like before, a massive yellow dragon surged forward like a runaway beast.
Boom!
The ground quaked. The man's body was pulverized, his remains barely recognizable.
Sora wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Ugh. Water and fire dragons are better—no body left behind. Earth dragon's just nasty. All that's left is meat paste."
Still, he didn't bother cleaning up. Instead, he rushed to collect the dropped cards.
[Purple Card: Fire Style – Great Fire Annihilation — Fuse?]
[Purple Card: +100 Speed — Fuse?]
[Purple Card: Multi Shadow Clone Technique — Fuse?]
[Blue Card: +100 Chakra — Fuse?]
Another round of purple and blue cards. Without hesitation, Sora fused them all.
He noticed that defeating Jōnin-level opponents dropped higher-grade cards, making him lose all interest in fighting Genin or Chūnin.
After this fusion, his physical stats rose to that of an Elite Chūnin—but his overall combat rating remained the same.
That annoyed him a little.