Naruto: Faint Smile - CH 64

[Sarutobi Hiruzen - POV.]

I was sitting in my office, trying to focus on the endless stack of paperwork in front of me, taking the time during the Chunin Exams to… get some work done, when one of my Anbu operatives burst through the door, his mask barely concealing the look of pure panic on his face.

"Lord Third," he began, his voice trembling slightly. "We have a… situation in the Forest of Death."

I put down my pen, a sense of foreboding settling in the pit of my stomach. "What kind of situation?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"It's... it's Team Yamato," the Anbu operative stammered. "They're... well, they're eliminating everyone."

I blinked, trying to process what I was hearing. "Eliminating everyone? What do you mean?"

The Anbu operative hesitated, clearly struggling to find the right words. "They've taken down almost every other team in the forest, Hokage-sama. And... well, they're doing it with alarming ease."

I stared at him for a moment, my mind racing. "You're telling me that three Genin—two of which are recently graduated Genin—are single-handedly wiping out every other team in the Forest of Death?"

The Anbu operative nodded, his silence confirming the absurdity of the situation. "And they are doing it separately, Lord Third."

I felt a bead of sweat form on my forehead. This was not how the Chunin Exams were supposed to go. Sure, I knew Team Yamato was talented—they were the prodigies of the Leaf, the best of this generation—but this was... this was something else entirely.

"They've collected more scrolls than we even provided for the exam!" the Anbu operative added, his voice rising in pitch as if the sheer ridiculousness of the situation was too much to handle. "And, Lord Third, the other teams aren't even fighting back anymore—they're just giving up! They're handing over their scrolls like it's some kind of... of charity drive!"

I could feel my eye twitching. Charity drive? Was this some kind of joke? The Forest of Death was supposed to be a place where future Chunins proved their worth through grit, strategy, and combat—not by setting up a collection box for scroll donations!

"Is this... are you sure this isn't just some elaborate genjutsu?" I asked, clinging to the hope that maybe, just maybe, this was all some sort of prank. Genins enjoyed pranking me, so it wouldn’t be that out of the question.

"No, Hokage-sama," the Anbu operative replied, shaking his head. "We've confirmed it multiple times. It's real. Team Yamato is just... too strong."

I sank back into my chair, running a hand through my hair in frustration. "Too strong? They're Genin! Sure, they are geniuses, but they're supposed to be the underdogs! The ones who learn humility through failure and struggle! Not... not the ones who turn the entire exam into a farce!"

The Anbu operative shifted uncomfortably. "What should we do, Hokage-sama? Should we... intervene?"

I waved my hand dismissively, feeling one of my eyes twitch. "Intervene? How? Are we supposed to just waltz in there and ask them to tone it down? 'Excuse me, young geniuses, could you please stop being so competent? You're making the other teams and villages look bad!'"

I could feel the beginnings of a headache forming. This was a disaster. The other villages were going to think we were cheating or, worse, that we were trying to humiliate them. Sure, this was an event to show off how strong the new generation was, but… this was a bit too much.

"Lord Third, that’s not all... as we speak, they're approaching the tower," the Anbu operative said, his voice breaking through my spiraling thoughts.

I groaned, slumping over my desk. "Of course they are. Why wouldn't they be? They probably finished the second phase in record time too, didn't they?"

The Anbu operative nodded. "They didn’t break the record, but their time is in the top ten…"

"Great," I muttered, rubbing my temples. "I need to retire."

"That’s not all," the Anbu muttered.

I glanced up, already dreading the news he was going to deliver. "What is it?" I asked, bracing myself for yet another layer of disaster.

The ANBU operative hesitated for a fraction of a second—just long enough to make me want to retire even more—before he finally spoke. "Takeshi Arata… well… he killed 25 participants."

"He… what?" I replied.

"Yes, Lord Third. In the course of the exam, Takeshi Arata has eliminated 25 genin from the competition."

I blinked, struggling to process the information. "Eliminated… as in…?" Please say incapacitated, not killed.

"Killed, Hokage-sama," the ANBU clarified, his tone neutral.

"Twenty-five?" I repeated. "He… killed twenty-five genin?"

The ANBU operative nodded once. "Yes, sir."

I slumped back in my chair, the full impact of what I’d just heard hitting me like a ton of bricks. "Twenty-five…" I muttered, my mind racing. This wasn’t just an overzealous display of skill—this was a massacre! The implications of this were enormous, and none of them were good.

"How… how did this happen?" I asked, more to myself than to the ANBU operative. "Was he provoked? Did something go wrong? Why in the world would he…?"

The ANBU operative remained silent, offering no answers—only the cold, hard facts.

I rubbed my temples, trying to stave off the impending headache that was now unavoidable. "This is a catastrophe," I whispered, the words barely audible. "How am I supposed to explain this to the other Kages? Twenty-five genin, dead, in what was supposed to be a controlled environment?"

Suna would deny sending 18 genins to kill Takeshi…

I could already imagine the outrage, the accusations, the demands for answers. This was no longer just a simple exam—this was a diplomatic disaster waiting to explode.

I looked up at the ANBU operative, my voice strained as I asked, "Has anyone else been killed?"

"Itachi has killed six participants," the ANBU replied. "And Shisui has killed one, but that was mostly an accident—the kid slipped trying to avoid Shisui."

"I need a drink…" I muttered.