I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

Not long after Sasuke left, Ye Lan looked at the dark forest and sighed helplessly.

"Come out, everyone's already gone, do you want me to invite you?"

"Oh dear? I just got lost. How did I end up here?" A man with a head of white hair suddenly appeared and walked over with a grin.

Ye Lan was too lazy to expose him. The person who came was none other than Sasuke's teacher, Kakashi Hatake.

"I feel like you care about Sasuke more than I do. You're not even a Uchiha, are you? You must have been here since day one, right?" Ye Lan retorted.

"This is also my first time leading a team, so I always have to take care of my subordinates."

Keep pretending. Before Ye Lan left the village, it was Shisui who told him about Kakashi's reputation for being cold-blooded.

Ye Lan sneered, "If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."

"Wait a minute." Kakashi's smile faded, and he looked at Ye Lan with a serious expression. "Actually, what I'm more concerned about right now is what you said to Sasuke at the end."

"What, Kakashi-senpai, is there something you want to teach me?" Ye Lan looked at Kakashi with amusement.

“Ye Lan, I know you just returned to the village and the Uchiha clan incident has been a big blow to you, but I think you can’t let hatred blind you. Revenge will never end well.”

"Senior, preaching is fine with those low-ranking ninjas, but what right do you have to lecture me?" Ye Lan's voice gradually turned cold. Ye Lan had been suppressing his emotions all along. He understood that there were too many mysteries surrounding the night of the massacre, and it was not something that could be solved by acting impulsively.

"Do you think your words are fair to the 1257 people lying in the Uchiha graveyard? Can you imagine a mother happily opening the door after preparing a meal, only to be met with a butcher's knife? Can you imagine an elderly person lying in bed, pleading desperately? A child hiding under the bed being dragged out and killed in front of his parents?" Ye Lan's Sharingan eyes were blood-red, and his calm words recounted chilling events.

Kakashi remained silent about these things; he might have thought about them, but he never faced them.

"How can I live if I don't avenge such a great grudge?" Ye Lan ignored Kakashi. "I am a demon from the Uchiha clan who crawled out of hell. I will offer the heads of all those who participated that day on the Uchiha clan's tombstone."

Chapter 9 Chunin Exams Begin

Kakashi returned home, opened the door, and said as usual, "I'm home."

Taking off his shoes, Kakashi walked into the living room. After the sun set, the shadows on the walls covered most of the living room. Just as Kakashi was about to step forward and turn on the light, he noticed a shadow in the living room. Suddenly, the outside, which had been bright just moments before, turned pitch black. Before Kakashi could even react to why the sky had suddenly darkened, a deafening clap of thunder echoed through the sky.

The flash of lightning allowed him to see what the shadow in the living room was. It was a middle-aged man who looked about 70% like him, lying on his side on the living room floor. A ninja sword was stuck in his abdomen. Kakashi was very familiar with this ninja sword, and this scene was a childhood memory that he dared not recall.

"Father..."

Kakashi suddenly woke up, sat up in bed, panting heavily and lacking his usual composure as the Copy Ninja.

I had a nightmare? It seems Ye Lan's words that day still affected me... Kakashi looked out the window and saw that it was already getting light.

"The Chunin Exams are today, I hope nothing unexpected happens..."

"Hey, Lord Yelan, it seems your cousin has already started the first exam. Aren't you going to take a look?" Hongdou said leisurely, looking at Yelan sitting in front of the monitor.

"Captain, you're the chief examiner of the second examination room. Is it really okay to let your subordinates abandon their posts like this?" Ye Lan felt helpless towards the captain in front of him, who was spurred out in a certain way but didn't have much brain capacity.

"Well, I was just worried you'd be bored. The exams should be over soon, right? By the way, aren't you worried your cousin won't pass?" Hongdou said with a smile.

"He seems to be the top student in his year. If he doesn't even pass the first round, he shouldn't be called an Uchiha anymore. He already has the Sharingan, so even if he doesn't know how, he can just copy and pass." Ye Lan, who had participated in the Chunin Exams, wasn't worried at all.

"How could I forget that you Uchiha have the Sharingan? You can just copy it casually." Anko suddenly realized that the first test was the easiest for the Uchiha.

"By the way, would you like to come with me to welcome the students who passed the first exam? I haven't met this year's freshmen yet; they must be quite interesting," Hongdou said enthusiastically.

"I think I'll pass..." Ye Lan felt that something bad was going to happen because of Hong Dou's thought process.

"Let's go together, let's see your lovely juniors. This is an essential lesson in life. Maybe you'll become a Jonin instructor someday, so let's get to know each other first." As she spoke, Hongdou hugged Yelan's neck, looking like she absolutely had to come with her.

Ye Lan blushed instantly when she felt something soft touch her neck, and quickly said, "Let go, I promise you."

"The first round of the Chunin Selection Exams is over. Congratulations on passing the first round!" Ibiki Morino said to the genin who chose to stay.

The examiner for the first exam gave the candidates a choice: those unwilling could leave and forfeit the exam, participating in the next Chunin Exam; those who stayed to answer the last question would continue the exam, but if they failed the tenth question correctly, they would be eliminated and unable to participate in future Chunin Exams. This choice caused panic among many genin, but Ibiki, who remained, immediately declared that they had passed the exam.

"Great! Great! I passed the test! Yay!" Naruto danced with excitement. He had left without answering a single question, but he still managed to pass the first test.

Click—

Just as Ibixi finished announcing the end of the exam, a round object smashed the classroom window.

The object flew into the classroom and there were two kunai and a large cloth hanging in front of the teacher's desk, directly covering Ibihi.

Honestly, it's only you... Ibiki looked awkwardly at the piece of cloth in front of him.

Thud—

A puff of smoke cleared, and a group of Konoha ninjas stood in front of the cloth. The female ninja in the middle was Anko, and the cloth read: "Second Exam Examiner, Mitarashi Anko, reporting for duty!"

"This is not the time for you to be happy!"

Seeing Hongdou's expression, Ye Lan couldn't help but cover his face. He wondered what had gotten into him to agree to her. Luckily, he had his other colleagues with him. He hoped Sasuke hadn't seen him.

"Let's get moving! The next exam is about to begin!"

Somewhat stunned, Sasuke stared at the ninja covering his face in the corner, feeling a sense of familiarity. Come to think of it, Ye Lan was also an examiner in the second examination hall; could that person be him?

Seeing that the genin didn't react, Anko raised her arms and shouted, "Follow me!"

The classroom fell silent instantly, and a group of genin stared at Anko in disbelief.

Ye Lan really wanted to crawl into a hole, but finally Ibiki came out from behind the curtain and said, "Look at the atmosphere, you idiot."

Even the usually outspoken Hongdou blushed; she had been thinking about this opening line for many days.

"Ibiki, you're going to hold back? There are still so many examinees." But who is Hongdou? Her ability to adjust is always very quick.

"There are many outstanding candidates this year."

"Hmph, I'll eliminate half of you next," Red Bean sneered, feeling embarrassed by the humiliation these low-ranking ninjas had caused her.

It was only then that the group of genin realized that the female ninja in front of them was actually the chief examiner for the upcoming exam.

Following the instructions of the Jonin, the Genin finally arrived at the location of the second examination site, the Forest of Death.

At this moment, Naruto, who was always curious, asked, "Why is it called the Forest of Death?"

"You'll find out soon why I say that," Hongdou said with a smile.

Hearing Anko's perfunctory answer, Naruto started to act silly, imitating Anko's speech, only to be startled when Anko threw a kunai that cut his face.

Just then, Ye Lan, who was hiding in the shadows, suddenly appeared behind Hong Dou. Hong Dou also reacted and took out another kunai to look behind her.

Just as Ye Lan was about to grab the examinee by the neck, the examinee stopped, stuck out half a meter of tongue, and held the kunai, saying, "Give the kunai back to her."

Hongdou smiled and accepted it, saying, "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome." Although he said that, the genin looked at Ye Lan meaningfully.

A very uncomfortable feeling. Ye Lan slowly lowered his guard. After all, this was Konoha, and even Kage from other countries would need to be careful here.

He glanced at Sasuke not far away, nodded to him, and then disappeared from everyone's sight.

That guy is so fast, even with the Sharingan activated, I couldn't catch him at all. Looks like my training still isn't enough.

"Sasuke, who is that?" Sakura had also seen Ye Lan before, and she didn't expect that he really was the examiner of the second examination room, just as Kakashi had said. She didn't seem to have seen him when the first examination room ended.

"Hey Sakura, did you see that? That examiner was so handsome! I couldn't even see his movements clearly! He doesn't seem to be much older than us, so he must be a Chunin already! I didn't expect to see such a handsome guy today!" Ino said in a daze after Ye Lan left.

"Ah, right. But she's a Jonin." Sakura said to her as she saw her nemesis acting up again.

"Huh? Jonin! How did you know?" Ino put her finger to her lips and thought for a moment. "I think he nodded in your direction just now. Do you know him?"

As she spoke, Ino grabbed her arch-nemesis Sakura's shoulders and shook her repeatedly.

"Tell me quickly, what kind of person is he!"

"Ah! I'm not quite sure! Sasuke is closer to him!" Sakura finally said, unable to bear being shaken any longer.

Hearing that Sasuke sounded familiar, Ino started to feel conflicted again. She felt a little embarrassed to ask Sasuke, a boy, for information, since Sasuke was also her idol.

Then Hongdou began to explain the rules of the second exam. Simply put, each team gets a scroll, and there are two types of scrolls: Heaven and Earth. To pass the second exam, you need to have both Heaven and Earth scrolls within 120 hours and reach the tower in the middle of the exam hall. That would complete the exam.

After the rules were explained, each team entered the examination room through a different entrance, and the second exam officially began.

Chapter 10 The People Spying on the Uchiha Clan

When the person in front of him, whose gender was unclear, released a strong killing intent, Sasuke immediately realized that this person was not someone he could handle.

Sakura collapsed to the ground, her expression filled with terror and panic, completely out of her mind. Naruto's fate was unknown. Sasuke gritted his teeth, gripping his kunai tightly, his two-tomoe Sharingan swirling wildly in his pupils.

"Oh? You can still move? Sasuke-kun, you really surprise me." The androgynous voice rang out again. "So, what do you plan to do?"

"Tch—" Sasuke grabbed Sakura and ran away as fast as he could.

"Should we just run away...?" The person stuck out their tongue and licked their face.

...

"Huff, listen to me, Sakura. That person is someone we absolutely cannot deal with. We have no chance of winning. He's at least a Jonin." Sasuke said to Sakura, panting. "You run away right now. Head back to the gate we came in through, find the examiners, and tell them what happened here. No, you'd better find Ye Lan and have him handle it."

Sakura stared blankly at Sasuke, the little girl still unable to react.

"Did you hear that, Sakura!"

"Where are you going, Sasuke-kun?" A voice that sent chills down Sasuke's spine rang in his ears again; it was the same person from before.

"Red Bean, something's happened!"

Just as Hongdou was leisurely drinking her red bean soup, a Chunin ran over.

While Ye Lan was still wondering, Hong Dou returned shortly afterward, looking at Ye Lan with a serious expression and saying, "There's a dangerous individual in the examination hall, and he's very strong. I've already notified the Hokage and dispatched the Anbu. I'm going to pursue him now, and you'll come with me."

Hongdou understood that most of the examiners in the second examination hall were Chunin, and facing Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, was no different from being a Genin. The only one she could rely on was Yelan.

"I'll go find that entrance myself. I'm faster than you, and the Sharingan is still somewhat useful for finding people. I'll signal you as soon as I find it." Ye Lan agreed immediately after packing his ninja tool bag.

"Okay, right there..."

"what-"

Orochimaru, seeing Naruto going berserk, immediately used the Five Elements Seal on Naruto's stomach. Naruto's rampaging chakra vanished instantly, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Damn it. Sasuke watched as Naruto, who had just arrived, was easily defeated, and felt a strong hatred for his own weakness.

Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique.

Sitting idly by and waiting to die is not Sasuke's choice. Since escape is impossible, he might as well fight to the death.

"Hmph, then I'll play along with you." Orochimaru thought to himself as he saw Sasuke resisting.

Orochimaru easily dodged the Phoenix Flame, closed in on Sasuke, and punched Sasuke in the head.