Once the signal was given, the gates opened and everyone rushed into the forest as quickly as possible, trying to gain ground ahead of the others to prepare ambushes.
Takara blinked for a couple of kilometers before feeling that it was enough, and with the sound of Nakime's biwa, a door opened in the ground from which a swarm of noxines sprouted and dispersed to map and explore the forest.
He only had three days to hunt, so it was best to deal with his affairs as soon as possible.
He didn't even need an hour before one of his noxines warned him that it had found one of his targets. He made Ram and Rem disappear, getting ready to use other puppets to hunt.
As Baki had said, Konoha had good trackers, so it would be best not to leave a drop of blood on his "companions".
Further north in the forest...
"Akamaru has been feeling restless for a while now," Kiba commented while stroking the dog inside his jacket and looking around with suspicion.
"I feel watched, but my bugs haven't found anything strange," Shino contributed his bit to the conversation.
"Should I... investigate with my eyes?" Hinata asked uncertainly.
Using the Byakugan is a great strain, and they hadn't planned on using their dojutsu until the second day when there's more chance of coming across others as they deepen and approach the tower in the center.
While the group deliberated, they didn't notice when, but a fog began to surround them from all directions, and by the time they realized it, it was already difficult to see even their own feet.
"I don't remember there being ninjas from Kiri?" Kiba was sure to recognize the hidden mist technique; he had been to the forest several times with his clan to train and there was never a mist like this at this time of year.
"There aren't any," Shino was spreading and communicating with his insects in the thick fog, with little or no result.
"Don't you hear that?" Shino tried to listen intently and could tell that something was moving toward them very fast.
"That's..."
In the midst of the fog, a gigantic sword spun at high speeds and struck Kiba and his dog, splitting them in half without any possibility of salvation and splashing their teammates with blood.
"Kiba-kun!" Hinata screamed horrified at the bloody scene.
A vein in Shino's forehead swelled as he released a swarm of insects that formed a dome around him and Hinata, pulling the Hyuga heiress who wanted to reach her teammate's split body.
"Focus, Hinata!" Shino told her seriously. "Don't hesitate anymore, use the Byakugan to find the attackers."
The teams of the exam are formed by three members, if one of them threw the giant sword with such force, the other two shouldn't be weak either.
"Byakugan!" Hinata activated her dojutsu forcefully. "Up there!" she pointed to a branch in one of the tall trees that surrounded them.
Knowing that it didn't make sense to hide, Takara came out from behind the tree trunk.
"Sunagakure?" both looked angrily but confused at Takara, who also seemed to be alone.
Where were his companions?
"Oh, did you think that other people can't use this technique if they're not part of Kiri? Your education is pathetic, you've been brainwashed so much that you're unable to think outside the box," he raised one of his hands to form a seal. "Secret of the Watchmaker: Borrowed Time!"
A shadow fell between them and hit the ground, revealing a puppet with its mouth tied up to the neck.
If Team Seven were present, they would recognize the identity of this puppet: Zabuza!
"And before you think of problematic ideas..." Takara made a different seal with his other hand. "Secret of the Watchmaker: Cauldron of greed!"
Another shadow fell next to Zabuza's puppet, and after the dust cloud settled, it revealed a green jar with blue lines showing a twisted, smiling human expression that could only be interpreted as that of pure greed.
"Be careful, Hinata," Shino reminded her without taking his eyes off Zabuza throughout the event. "Suna's puppeteers are fond of poison; we have to deal with the puppeteer first and foremost."
Shino sent a cloud of insects to try to kill Takara, while Hinata got into position to defend against any sneak attack.
But the insects didn't manage to go too far.
"Hehehehe," a laugh echoed from inside the Cauldron of Greed as a green specter with the same expression as the jar slowly came out of the orifice.
The insects suddenly started to be sucked in with force, entering the jar without leaving any behind. Shino was surprised not only by the nullification of his attack but also because he felt that the insects he sent when Kiba died were being recovered as well.
As Shino tried to think of how to recover his insects, Hinata maintained her state of alert while Zabuza's puppet surrounded them without entering the dome of insects and retrieved his sword replica once again.
Takara watched everything with indifference. He could have attacked before, but he needed to wait for the group to move to an area without cameras.
Besides, the toxin should have started to take effect...
"Aaaaah!" two screams echoed as both Shino and Hinata grabbed their heads, crying, while the veins on their necks swelled.
Their gaze began to wander erratically around them, and their screams repeated over and over again, as if they were surrounded by specters that only they could see.
Taking advantage of their situation, Zabuza struck Shino just as he did with Kiba and his dog while the Cauldron of Greed made sure that no insect could escape.
With the obstacles dead, the sound of a biwa resonated in the forest and Hinata found herself falling into an abyss that wasn't there a second ago. Once she disappeared and the door closed, Takara recovered both puppets.
Zabuza's puppet test wasn't bad, but it would barely be useful against someone at chunin level in his state. On the other hand, the sealing puppet was a complete success.
And the one he used wasn't even the updated version with Senju wood.
He got down from the tree and recovered the third puppet that no one noticed dozens of meters away, which had a scarecrow shape from whose toothed mouth the mist that had surrounded his targets emerged, blending in with the hidden mist technique.
"The fear toxin mixed with the mist turned out to be more practical than expected," Takara reflected. "Maybe I should have caught them alive? I need living sacrifices..."
He believed that the Inuzuka could have dodged the sword with his reflexes, so his death wasn't even planned, but the Aburame would be problematic to deal with and it was better dead.
"It doesn't matter," Takara dismissed as a door materialized on a thick tree next to him. "It's better that I finish this before moving on; the toxin doesn't last too long yet, and I don't want any unpleasant surprises."
Tsunade's puppet should be capable enough to guarantee the integrity of those eyes...