Ambush

Iruka, Mizuki and Arya Akimichi. 

This was a fairly strong trio, which had gathered quite a bit of fame back in Konoha. Surely, they were not as strong as the team led by the likes of Hatake Gecko or the older veterans from the Third Shinobi War like Kakashi, but they had completed over twelve C-rank missions along with their sensei.

Iruka was especially favored by the Third Hokage, who pitied him as an orphan. After all, Iruka had lost his parents in the Kyubi incident years ago.

The chunin exam should have been a cruise...

Should.

Because after losing themselves in the Tanigakure Underground Maze, they had to run away from one summoned beast after the other, both Iruka and Mizuki's ninjutsu and shurikenjutsu being respectively too weak to take on chunin-level summoned beasts.

After hearing some explosions and infighting, they decided to bet on the fact that the parties must be from Konohagakure, which could result in an alliance to pass this stage safely. Iruka was smart, and he had seen through Tanigakure's goal in this exam, a goal that aimed at reducing the number of participants, but also mimick wars in the sense of alliances and betrayals.

You could not trust anyone in the exam, but at the same time, cooperation was necessary to survive, as ten tokens were required to pass this stage. Alone, a team was too weak to defeat the summoned beast so they would have to team up with others, and then share the rewards.

If they did not share it and instead betrayed their allied, then conflicts would arise. This stage was perfid and really encompassed the essence of shinobi. To become a true ninja, you needed to have cold bloodedness and survival skills befitting the title of chunin.

But...

After reaching the scene, they did not see a human soul.

That is, until a wave of diziness caught them offguard, followed quickly by a cloud of poisonous gas. 

"Poison? Gas?"

Soon enough, Iruka tried to turn around and break through the poisoned air, but his route was cut off by a water jutsu. Though he escaped being entraved by the jutsu, he did not have time to find another end.

His teammate, Arya Akimichi from the strong and reliable clan of Konoha, instantly used her trump card, enlarging her hand, thus multiplying its strength and impact. 

Yet...Trying to punch the tempest of aerial blades resulted in crippling herself, to which they heard a feminine chuckle.

'Sunagakure, huh', Iruka analysed. 

With hope, he turned to Mizuki, hoping that the resourceful silver-haired rival of his would find some kind of last-minute solution, but as his face grew more and more distant due to the smoke becoming more intense, he realized that Mizuki had already fainted before even beginning to retaliate.

"This is bad...", Iruka said, while taking pills to save his comrade and himself, hoping that the antidote would come before his death.

But just as he continued to apply medicine to himself, a rain of shuriken took him by surprise, blazing shuriken cutting through his hands and piercing his organs. These were not average shuriken, but rather, burning feather-like shuriken that were launched with inhuman power. Upon receiving them on his body, Iruka realized that the strength behind these shuriken exceeded even that of Mizuki, who was an expert in shuriken jutsu.

"How?", Iruka muttered as strength was leaving his body, his fate already sealed, "I swore to become an excellent shinobi, yet..."

Unable to finish his sentence, Iruka had left this world, unable to leave a mark in History. With him, Mizuki and Arya Akimichi were also written off by one anomaly who was bringing waves of changes to the world already: Kaito.

===

Far away; a hyuga witnessed the whole scene with his byakugan and told his team: "Let us turn left...There are terrifying enemies to the right"

Though the fight went roughly unnoticed, Kaito's trio still caught the attention of the Tanigakure chunin and Jonin overseeing the scene. The Tanigakure maze was a nightmare for anyone entering its walls without a proper map, or knowledge of its intricacies. It was very easy to run in circles because of its design, but the summoned beasts were meant to make it an unbearable stage where alliances were necessary.

However, nothing went as planned.

"Another summoned beast was killed", a jonin said with a bit of surprise, fully knowing the strength of his summoned jutsu, "It should not have been killed that easily"

"How many has it been? Twenty? Thirty?"

From the main room, Tanigakure Senno, Hokage Hiruzen and Kazekage Rasa looked at the chunin exam map displayed in front of them with satisfaction. The Hokage had a passive smile on his face, but Rasa could tell that both Senno and Hiruzen were in awe of the strength displayed by the shinobi he sent. Even he was surprised by Taki's elite team.

===

In the stage, a young boy that mas morphing into a seasoned shinobi received a notification.

[You have earned 10 points of world fame]