The rules for this squad confrontation test were simple: teams would act freely, scoring one point for every team they defeated. The team with the highest score in the end would be declared the winner.
The rules were simple, but the tactics were not.
Because there was no prohibition against forming alliances, just as Sasuke had suspected from the beginning, the shinobi school had quietly allowed the possibility that other squads could team up to handle Yakumo's squad, given their overwhelming strength, in order to create a fairer chance for victory.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
In just a blink, the Hidden Leaf academy students surged into the Forest of Death, their figures quickly disappearing into the dense and shadowy woods.
"So fast!"
"Has it begun?"
"Come on, you can do it!"
The atmosphere instantly grew heated, and the gathered crowd began to stir with excitement.
"Huh? Why aren't those ones moving?"
"They're not our village's shinobi, right?"
"Are they really participating in our Hidden Leaf shinobi school's confrontation test?"
Soon, people noticed that a few teams remained motionless instead of charging into the Forest of Death like the others. It didn't take long for someone to recognize that these four teams weren't from the Hidden Leaf.
Clearly—
The ones who hadn't rushed in were the squads from the other four villages.
Darui of the Cloud looked lazily at the others and yawned. "Why aren't you moving?"
Suigetsu of the Mist chuckled weirdly. "You're not moving either. Why should we go first?"
Kurotsuchi waved a hand casually. "Alright, let's hurry up a little. Don't want to keep the Leaf waiting!"
At that moment, Gaara from the Sand was the first to step forward, heading toward the Forest of Death. As he walked, he coldly said, "Uchiha Sasuke is mine. If you get in my way, I won't hesitate to eliminate you too."
"So scary!" Kurotsuchi stuck out her tongue and then added, "I'll take care of that guy named Kimimaro. You guys better not fight me for him!"
Suigetsu said, "Then I'll deal with Hyuga Neji!"
Chojuro whispered, "Suigetsu, our mission is to target Kurama Yakumo, who has the Wood Release."
"It's fine," Suigetsu shrugged and grinned. "After I beat the Hyuga genius, we'll go find Kurama Yakumo."
Omoi smirked. "You better be quick, otherwise we'll finish off Kurama Yakumo before you get the chance."
Kurotsuchi then remarked lightly, "Hmm? Looks like there's another one — Uchiha Shinji! None of you planning to take him?"
Suigetsu said dismissively, "He hasn't even awakened his Sharingan yet..."
Omoi waved his hand, also showing no interest.
Kurotsuchi sighed helplessly. "Fine, I'll handle him, then."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Having agreed on their targets, the squads from the four villages tacitly formed a loose alliance and disappeared into the forest together.
From atop a large tree not far away—
Tsunade, Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Shizune stood side by side, quietly observing the Forest of Death.
Shizune asked, "Lady Tsunade, do you think Yakumo can win?"
Tsunade nodded. "She's the strongest — there's no doubt."
Jiraiya nodded in agreement as well.
During their recent training sessions helping Naruto, Yakumo's growth had been entirely visible to him. With his keen eye, he could tell that Yakumo had already reached jonin-level strength — and it was clear that this wasn't her limit yet.
Kakashi spoke gravely, "However, with geniuses from other villages joining the test, there might be unexpected variables. Especially Sunagakure — their One-Tails jinchuriki is participating today."
Jiraiya agreed. "Yes, the intel division reports that the Sand's One-Tail jinchuriki's condition is highly unstable. If he loses control inside the Forest of Death, it'll be a huge problem."
"Even so, Yakumo can handle it," Tsunade said calmly after a brief pause. Then she instructed, "Shizune, have the medical team ready to deploy at any moment."
"Understood!"
Shizune immediately responded.
Tsunade then turned to Jiraiya. "The Sand's jinchuriki is your responsibility."
"I'll keep an eye on him," Jiraiya nodded.
Kakashi added, "I'll arrange for the ANBU to monitor everyone else."
Within the Forest of Death—
As previously arranged, Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji gathered beneath a towering tree.
Sweeping her gaze across Shinji, Sasuke, and Neji, Sakura couldn't help but feel a surge of joy. With these three geniuses teaming up, victory is ours!
Tenten also felt reassured.
In her eyes, this lineup was no weaker than Yakumo's squad!
After surveying the surroundings with his Byakugan, Neji's expression turned grim. "Not good. The squads from the other villages seem hostile toward us. They might interfere."
Sasuke sensed the hostility too but didn't care much. "Ignore them. If they get in our way, we'll just crush them."
Neji turned to Shinji. "What do you think?"
"Stick to the plan," Shinji replied indifferently.
For Shinji, this confrontation test served only one purpose — to divert the attention of the academy and even the entire village, providing cover for Karin's secret completion of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan fusion.
From his perspective, the more chaos, the better — it would only help him.
In addition—
He glanced at Sasuke.
If he had any additional goal, it was to push Sasuke to grow faster, to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan as soon as possible.
Because once Karin completed the fusion of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, the next step would be to have her attempt to evolve the Rinnegan.
For that, Shinji needed a backup plan — and that meant he needed the reincarnation of Ōtsutsuki Indra in this era to grow rapidly. He had already confirmed multiple times that Sasuke's chakra currently didn't show the attributes of Indra.
This indicated that Indra's chakra was buried deep within Sasuke's soul — even with the full development of the three-tomoe Sharingan, it wasn't enough to awaken it.
It would likely require Sasuke to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan in order to reach deep enough into his soul and fully unlock that hidden chakra.
Thus, Sasuke's awakening of the Mangekyo Sharingan was not only Shinji's backup plan for the "Rinnegan Project," but also a way for Shinji to use Jikibi to directly extract the high-quality Yin Release chakra infused with Indra's power to assist Karin's Rinnegan evolution.
If that succeeded, Shinji could then replicate the same process on himself—
And finally obtain his very own Rinnegan.