The Chūnin Exams jointly hosted by Konoha, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure were finally officially announced over the past two days.
The scale of this Chūnin Exam could be described as unprecedented. Previously, the largest exam in history had only been the joint exam held by Konoha and Kumogakure at the end of the First Great Ninja War.
This time, however, three of the Five Great Ninja Villages were jointly organizing the exam. Such a massive event immediately drew the attention of the entire shinobi world, and for a time, forces from all sides turned their gaze toward Konoha.
As a result, Konoha became livelier than ever before.
"Dad, the Ninja Academy is actually on break today! Why won't you go shopping with me?"
In the Gekko family courtyard, Rinne puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction as she shook her father's arm. Thankfully, Hoshiyomi was strong and thick-skinned—if it were anyone else, their whole arm might have been shaken clean off by now.
While signaling Ryūshin that today's training could stop, Hoshiyomi pulled his clingy little daughter into his arms with a slight headache. He gently rubbed the stubble on his chin against her soft cheek, tickling her so much that Rinne collapsed against him in giggles.
"Good girl, give your dad a break. These past couple of days are a special time—it really isn't convenient to go out. You've heard about it at the Ninja Academy too, right? The joint Chūnin Exams between the three villages are about to begin. There are all kinds of people in Konoha these days.
"If some bad guy were to kidnap my little Rinne, your dad would be heartbroken."
Already laughing uncontrollably from the stubble attack, Rinne momentarily forgot the fact that her father was the strongest shinobi in Konoha. She leaned back in his arms and laughed.
"Alright then, I'll forgive you this time, Dad. But after the Chūnin Exams are over, you have to go shopping with me!"
Nearby, Ryūshin slowly sheathed his sword and shook his head helplessly at the sight.
His younger sister's clingy personality was really troublesome. Having such a not-so-bright little sister put a lot of pressure on him as an older brother.
Still, being clingy at home was better than being one of those chunni kids at school. Hanabi aside—at least she still had some sense and only acted edgy around people she knew.
Konohamaru and his friends, though—that was a real headache. They had actually announced publicly that they'd formed something called the "Konohamaru Team." Just thinking about it was embarrassing.
He'd even learned some joke ninjutsu called the Sexy Technique from Naruto and used his tutor, Ebisu, as a test subject every day.
With seedlings like that, was Konoha's future really not something to worry about?
Just as Ryūshin stood there with dead fish eyes, lamenting the future, Tsunade appeared out of nowhere and flicked him on the forehead.
"You, honestly—you're still so young, stop making that world-weary, worrying face. Really now, can't you show a bit of the innocence someone your age should have, like your sister?"
Covering his forehead, Ryūshin glanced at his sister, whose eyes had already turned into a comical "><" shape, and shuddered.
"I'll pass."
Tsunade shook her head helplessly, clearly at a loss with this son of hers, but still added:
"Anyway, you should listen to your dad and go out less for now. Shinobi from other villages aren't as easygoing as the people of Konoha…
"But if someone tries to provoke you maliciously on your way to or from school, don't hold back.
"Whether you use a blade or your fists, teach them a harsh lesson. They're just the children of people I defeated back in the day. How dare they bully my kids—are they tired of living?"
As she spoke, an inexplicably satisfied smile appeared on Tsunade's face, as if she were recalling the days when she brutally beat up enemy village shinobi.
Come to think of it, she hadn't used her monstrous strength in years—she wondered if it had weakened at all.
Seeing the unsettling look on his mother's face, Ryūshin couldn't help but glance at his father.
Marrying a woman like this really must've been tough on you, Dad.
...
While the Gekko household enjoyed their warm daily life, the very thing Hoshiyomi was most worried about—or perhaps had already expected—was unfolding at the village gates.
At the entrance to Konoha, Naruto and Sasuke were arguing about the results of their Land of Waves mission.
"No matter how you look at it, I was obviously more impressive on this mission, right? Sure, you beat a few more samurai than I did, but in the end, the bridge in the Land of Waves was named after me, Naruto-sama!"
Sasuke glanced at the hopping and shouting Naruto and coolly spat out two words:
"Idiot. I don't have time to argue with you about this. I'm going back to do special training with my brother."
"Tch, what's so great about having a brother? When I get home, I'll have my dad train me too."
After snorting at each other, the two went their separate ways. Sakura had wanted to say a few more words to Sasuke, but he clearly wasn't giving her the chance. After letting out a long sigh, Sakura could only choose to head home along the same route as Naruto.
They had only walked a couple of steps when a perfectly square "rock" followed after them.
Naruto couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth. He sped up and jogged forward a few steps—the square "rock" actually followed along.
A vein popped on Naruto's forehead. He flipped the "rock" on the ground over and complained:
"Hey, you three, cut it out already! Since when do rocks come in perfect squares and walk after people?!"
Hearing that, Konohamaru stopped hiding. He lifted his "brilliant" disguise and snickered proudly.
"As expected of the Naruto-nīchan recognized by me, the great Konohamaru!"
"Udon!"
"Moegi!"
"Konohamaru!"
"The Konohamaru Team, reporting for duty!"
Seeing passersby cast openly disgusted looks their way, Sakura felt her image as a proper young lady shatter completely. With that thought, she couldn't help shouting angrily:
"If you're going to embarrass yourselves, don't drag me into it!"
Konohamaru jumped in fright at Sakura's shout. While yelling in panic, "What's with this scary woman?!", he turned around and bolted.
Focused only on running away, Konohamaru failed to notice what was ahead of him and slammed straight into a strange man.
Baring his teeth in pain, Konohamaru was just about to ask what the guy's problem was when he was suddenly yanked up by his scarf.
Kankurō looked at the struggling Konohamaru in his hand, clicked his tongue in annoyance, and said:
"Tch. Konoha brats really have no manners. I hate kids who go crashing around like this the most. How about I just kill him?"
Temari, standing beside him, frowned and said unhappily:
"Kankurō, this isn't Sunagakure. At least show some restraint."
But Kankurō treated Temari's warning as if it were nothing but background noise.
"It's fine. He's just a little brat—"
Before he could finish speaking, a black shadow rapidly expanded in his vision. Kankurō's expression changed. He tried to stop it with chakra threads, but the opponent's speed was unbelievably fast.
Before his chakra threads could even touch the man's arm, he was sent flying by a single punch.
...
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