_________ POV Narration _________
Out in the green mountain ranges of an obscure Land within the Elemental Nations, there was a mountain fully shrouded in smoke.
It was so thick that no regular human could see it through, it held a distinct smell of ash, but there was no fire to be found within the forests around it.
Within that smokey mountain was a great network of caves, one so expansive and well-hidden that it would surely go under the radar of even the most experienced sensory-type shinobi out there.
Within that cave network was nestled the headquarters of the so-called 'Green Forest Union'.
One of the higher-ups got the news that one of their larger looting parties had disappeared, believed to have died after following some rumours regarding some 'wealthy merchants'.
That was the full extent of the Association's knowledge for now.
But calling them an association was not quite right. Despite gaining a more efficient structure, they were still bandits.
Only the one leading them was different.
A four-eyed man with strange tattoos all over his body. None of the bandits could make any sense of him and his actual goals.
The man's actions were shrouded in about as much smoke as their mountain range was.
While the smoke was a regular fixture within the Land of Ash and a natural occurrence due to active vulcanos within the area, the unclarity that shrouded their 4-eyed leader's actions was anything but normal.
But even so, no one dared to question him. No one tried to defy his orders or question his actions.
He was the one to provide them with structure, and he was the one to give them all the opportunity to band together and come up with the strategies they constantly used.
They relied on their leader so heavily that they didn't even question the fact that, from time to time, people would just go missing from within their compound.
Yep, people who disagreed with their leader even slightly, as well as those who were friendly with them, would just constantly disappear at night, with no signs of conflict.
Their Leader made it clear that those matters were to not be investigated in any way either.
The bandit higher-ups also chose to ignore the muffled screams of pain that rang out through the restricted parts of the cave system at night.
All of them did come to a rather good conclusion thanks to those screams, however...
'Leader is scary...'
But for all of their fear and reverence towards their leader, the tattooed 4-eyed man couldn't be bothered to even spare them a second glance.
Even now, he was off minding his own business, standing in front of an operating table where one of his captives was currently lying, unconscious and split open, various seals littered the captive's body on different organs.
The Leader of the Green Forest Union was none other than Asai Hideaki, former head priest of the Jashin Cult and one of the world's last remaining curse technique masters.
The man had had it rough after escaping from his main headquarters within the Land of Lightning, admittedly he had gotten a bit cocky when deciding to set up his headquarters in such a powerful country.
He had figured that the constant war would provide him with a good cover, but it seemed that such things didn't matter at all since they had happened to catch the ire of the Red Dot.
Asai had learned about the fact that Ken and the Dark Brotherhood were connected to his downfall, but he was smarter than to get involved with those groups.
He only really cared about furthering his research into immortality, he only saw his altercations with the Dark Brotherhood as setbacks at first, and he was content with just continuing his experiments in silence.
But after making his most successful 'Immortal' in Akira, he had never quite been able to gain the same results.
It felt as if he was trying to contain lightning in a bottle, almost as if his previous success was nothing more than a fluke.
But at the same time, it wasn't like he had not at all made progress in his research. His projects were in fact becoming more and more successful up to a point.
But none could even get close to the near-perfect immortality that he had bestowed upon Akira.
The issue he faced now was regarding being stuck facing a rather insurmountable bottleneck in his research.
Now, Asai had made some efforts to track down his most successful experiment, as he believed it would serve as a way to break through said bottleneck.
It wasn't hard for him to read about the 'Immortal' Third Blade of the Dark Brotherhood. It was clearly his test subject now free to wander the world and shock others with his brilliant existence.
'But how exactly do I even go about getting my test subject back?'
One thing was for sure, Asai wouldn't have been able to get anywhere if he stuck to the Cult of Jashin, so he decided to merge it with as many bandits groups as he could find from all over the Elemental Nations.
And thus came the birth of the Green Forest Union.
Asai didn't start dreaming about facing the Dark Brotherhood, he instead wanted to get to a point where he had enough power to negotiate with them.
But the 4-eyed leader didn't yet feel ready to face Ken for said negotiations, he needed a few more experiments by his side just to feel safe when around Ken.
At the very least he wanted a small crumb of assurance that he'd at least be able to escape if things went down.
But for now, he was not interested in anything other than furthering his research, so he didn't pay much attention to the ongoing investigations or any Squads missing within his newfound organization.
Thankfully for the younglings of the Dark Brotherhood, nothing else happened on their way back to Konoha either.
They managed to not catch the attention of anyone else during that time. They were only really observed by the Konoha Anbu from a very safe distance.
He stuck around to them to make sure they didn't run into any issues, but there was no need for him to interfere with anything.
Still, regardless of his safe distance, Tatsukio seemed to be aware that he was watched, something that the Anbu found quite impressive.
'A young teen already able to sense my presence? I guess the Dark Brotherhood's methods are more impressive than one would expect...'
But the Anbu was in no way concerned. He was among the best that the leaf had to offer after all.
He was one of Lord Sakumo's most trusted followers, so while the children were skilled, they were still quite some ways away from being able to seamlessly detect him.
And when they finally reached the village gates, Anbu finally decided to show himself.
He appeared in front of the children, causing all of them to take a step back and become wary.
"Finally showing yourself..." That was all that Tatsukio said as he caught a glimpse of the man who had been trailing behind them for so long.
"Why of course, I am still quite surprised that my presence was noticed, but it didn't alter the results of the test, so all is fine in the end."
The Anbu shook his head before taking out his notebook.
"Test?" Bull asked as he rubbed the back of his head with a bemused expression.
"Well, I guess it's quite obvious at this point... But our entire journey here was likely part of the Exams, right? Yue looked towards the Anbu for confirmation, which she received instantly.
"Indeed. I am pleased to inform you that you have all passed this first part of the exams. Just getting here usually means passing, but you folks were quite impressive... For the most part anyway..."
The Anbu silently started going through his notes once more.
"You are all already at least at the level of fully-fledged Chunin in everything it seems.
From deductive reasoning to character and composure as well as your combat prowess.
The challenges you have met along the way were meant to test every aspect that is needed in the life of a shinobi or assassin in your case..."
"I mean, those were some interesting challenges, did you just set up a village for us to destroy midway? And people to kill?" Morita seemed a bit confused, feeling that the test had gone a bit too far.
"Well, the people within that village were either clones or convicted inmates waiting for their deaths placed under Genjutsu to follow orders." The Anbu seemed amused by the group's question.
The test may have seemed farfetched to the children, but for a hidden village like the Leaf, it was very easy to get the resources to set up such a test.
All the other groups travelling towards Konoha had gone through or were currently going through very similar tests.
Their results were to be compiled and compared to one another, and those that had performed worst from the groups would be disqualified.
"... So you made us clash with a group of the Green Forest Union? Isn't that a bit dangerous for just a test? They may be just bandits, but they're a pretty sizable group that may become a nuisance to the Dark Brotherhood..." Tatsukio crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed slightly at the Anbu.
"That was to test your awareness of the World Stage, as well as your ability to act for the greater good of the organization you represent.
Not all of you were informed, sure, but you had someone to share that information with you, so as a group, I can say that you've passed here.
Had you failed to cover your tracks properly, I would have made sure to burn everything there myself."
The Anbu started walking towards the village gates and gestured for the masked child assassins to follow him.
"There are really few things that I can point out as mistakes. Right now the only one to make mistakes was the Bloody Princess."
Yue scowled when hearing that, she did somewhat expect it, but that didn't mean she was happy.
Sure she had an issue with her temper. She found it hard to always act calm and collected like her beloved master.
"Whatever..." She muttered under her breath, gaining a few gazes from her comrades and the Anbu.
"I'm assuming Lord Red Dot had already assumed that this would happen given your attitude... But you are the only one to have failed in this assignment."
Everyone from the Dark Brotherhood, except for Tatsukio and Morita, stopped at that moment, looking at the Anbu with startled gazes through their masks, Yue herself seemed beyond taken aback.
The other two squad leaders from the Dark Brotherhood seemed to be expecting that already. So they only sighed in acceptance.
"W-what?!" Yue immediately took a step forward and was about to try and assert herself, but Morita stepped out in front of her.
"Now, now. You should have expected that. Your actions in the village put yourself at risk, and by extension put your team at risk as well." Morita patted her on the shoulder and sighed once more, this time a bit more regretful.
"He is very much correct... Not only were you about to lose your temper whilst undercover, but you also overestimated your strength and almost got severely injured because of it." The Anbu shook his head and pointed at the ground.
"In a real mission, you could prove to be a genuine burden to your team by acting like that.
Your strength is certainly decent, and your fighting style and skill are impressive, but that won't be enough to cut it at all times."
Yue seemed to become more and more disappointed by the second.
"That is the only elimination within the Dark Brotherhood teams. As I've said, impressive results overall.
You will be led to your accommodations, you will be given around a week till the next round starts."
The Anbu led the Dark Brotherhood participants to a nice small compound with quite a few rooms.
"... And what am I supposed to do now?" Yue asked, looking at the compound with a rather unsure gaze.
"Well, you can remain here to cheer on your comrades." The Anbu gestured for her to go on in as well, before turning into smoke and vanishing from sight.
And that concluded the first part of the Chunin Exams for the Dark Brotherhood participants.
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