“Natsume Aoba, are you screwing with us?” “You made 30,000 ryo off us without doing a damn thing.
Do you have no shame?” “Give us our money back!” Several of them pointed at the young man, wearing expressions of righteous indignation.
The three-man team that had voluntarily forfeited the first exam had heard that someone had passed by handing in a blank paper.
The more they thought about it, the more something felt wrong.
So they hurriedly stopped the candidates heading to the second exam.
After discussing it among themselves, they came to the conclusion that they’d been completely swindled.
“You guys can’t do this.
We made a legitimate transaction.
How can you just demand a refund?” Naturally, Aoba wasn’t going to agree.
Never mind that he didn’t have any money right now.
Even if he did, he’d already dumped it all into the system.
“You didn’t do anything!
How is it reasonable for you to take our money?
It isn’t!” The group was furious, looking ready to start a fight at the slightest disagreement.
“Then did you pass?” Aoba glanced at the three who had forfeited.
“Money paid by people who voluntarily forfeited is obviously non-refundable.
Don’t even think about extorting me.
I’m a Konoha shinobi, and I’m protected by the rules of the village!” They had never encountered someone so shameless before.
For a moment, they didn’t even know how to argue back.
Seeing their momentum weaken, Aoba patiently began reasoning with them.
“Think about it carefully.
Wasn’t what I just said perfectly reasonable?
“Before the exam, I told you the rules.
As shinobi, breaking the rules is a major taboo.
“I followed the rules.
Yet now you’re trying to break them.
So tell me, who is actually screwing around with whom?” The genin calmed down and thought about it.
They realized that Aoba wasn’t actually wrong.
If they hadn’t forfeited, all of them really would have passed.
Regardless of how the process had gone, the result fulfilled the promise he’d made at the beginning.
But why did they still have this nagging feeling that they’d been completely conned?
Seeing this, Aoba pressed his advantage.
“The ones who forfeited don’t have anything else to say, right?” The three blankly shook their heads.
“Seems like we don’t.” “Then you can leave.
We still have to take the second exam, and it wouldn’t be good to waste any more time.” He pointed toward the village street.
“Oh.
Okay.” They couldn’t win an argument against him, and they didn’t dare try to play dirty while they were in Konoha.
So they could only nod and leave helplessly.
Looking at the three people remaining beside him, Aoba immediately came up with another brilliant money-making plan.
“Want to buy a guaranteed-pass package for the second exam?
“Each team only needs to pay 100,000 ryo.
I guarantee you’ll clear it without getting hurt.” By this point, the candidates had arrived at the outskirts of the Forest of Death under the guidance of Mitarashi Anko.
It was obvious that the second exam was going to involve bloodshed.
If your luck was bad, you might even lose your life.
The three who had initially thought they’d been tricked couldn’t help becoming tempted when they heard Aoba’s offer.
A real combat exam obviously wasn’t going to be as safe as the previous test.
Being able to lie back and win without doing anything sounded pretty damn good.
“Kid, I’ve been putting up with you for a long time!” Anko, who was leading the candidates, suddenly turned around and glared at them.
The three who had been about to pay immediately vanished into the background.
She weighed a kunai in each hand, looking eager to throw them, apparently trying to use her authority as an examiner to give the genin in front of her a terrifying demonstration.
Aoba hurriedly waved his hands.
“Examiner Anko, don’t get worked up!
I was just joking!” He felt exhausted.
Why is the road to making money so damn difficult?
“Are you really that short on money, kid?” This was the first time Anko had ever seen someone conducting business in the middle of the Chunin Exams.
“Yep, I’m really short on money.
Examiner Anko, could you lend me one million ryo?
“If you don’t have that much, 500,000 works too.
I won’t complain.” Aoba honestly confessed to his poverty.
He’d even started considering borrowing money.
Once he became stronger in the future, paying it back would be a matter of minutes, wouldn’t it?
“One million?!
Are you insane?
Forget it!” Anko flatly refused.
Aoba was just about to try harder to convince her to lend him some money when he suddenly noticed a cold, sinister gaze fixed upon him.
Shit.
I forgot Orochimaru is here too!
He silently berated himself for being careless.
In the original story, in order to investigate Sasuke’s proficiency with the Sharingan, Orochimaru had used his maxed-out main account to play the part of a weakling, disguising himself as an ordinary Kusa shinobi.
Of course, after using Living Corpse Reincarnation to change bodies so many times, calling Orochimaru “Snake-sensei” wasn’t quite accurate anymore.
“Snake-lady” was technically more appropriate.
The Orochimaru standing here now was in his prime.
He was absolutely one of the strongest shinobi at the Kage level.
How impressive had the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, been?
Orochimaru still killed him like it was nothing.
And before long, even Rasa’s face would be peeled off.
Aoba was nervous now because he’d killed Orochimaru’s subordinate, Kidomaru.
He’d cleaned up the evidence, but there was still a chance that Orochimaru had discovered it.
What kind of person was Orochimaru?
A powerful shinobi of the world who was constantly associated with human experimentation and had become a ruthless killer after becoming a missing-nin.
Aoba remembered that in the original story, even after Hiruzen had sealed both of Orochimaru’s arms, Snake-sensei had casually killed a doctor who tried to pressure him into taking his medicine.
His summon, Manda, was even more terrifying.
Every time it appeared, it demanded to eat hundreds or even thousands of people.
If Orochimaru discovered that Aoba had killed one of his subordinates, the outcome probably wouldn’t be pretty.
Unless absolutely necessary, Aoba didn’t want to clash with Orochimaru.
His current strength wasn’t enough.
The Flying Thunder God Technique could at most guarantee his escape.
It was nowhere near enough to actually deal with Orochimaru.
For now, quietly developing his strength while keeping a low profile was still the best option.
“Interesting.
If I give you money, can you help me pass the second exam?” A long tongue suddenly slid across the air.
Orochimaru, disguised as a Grass shinobi, suddenly appeared beside Aoba.
His dangerous eyes contained a trace of interest.
Aoba quickly dodged Orochimaru’s tongue and shook his head righteously.
“No.
After Examiner Anko’s valuable lesson, I’ve come to deeply understand that what I was doing is wrong.
You should rely on yourself and pass the exam!” His entire body was tense.
He held his breath.
I’ve been found out!
He casually wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead.
Aoba could feel an enormous pressure bearing down on him.
He knew it.
The matter of killing Kidomaru had been exposed.
It made sense when he thought about it.
Orochimaru was a top-tier powerhouse.
A few little tricks on Aoba’s part were never going to fool him.
“That’s a shame.
I was actually curious to see how you’d help someone lie down and win their way through the Forest of Death.” That’s what Orochimaru said aloud, claiming he wanted to know how the young man intended to let someone coast through the second exam.
But only Aoba knew what he was really interested in.
He wanted to know how Aoba had killed Kidomaru.
Kidomaru was no weakling.
He was unquestionably at Special Jonin level, and even among Special Jonin, he was on the stronger end.
Orochimaru simply couldn’t understand how an insignificant character with ordinary chunin-level strength had managed to accomplish it.
“Hehe.
What if I told you I was just bragging earlier?
Would you believe me?” Aoba chose to play dumb.
Orochimaru didn’t seem interested in pressing the matter further.
“Actually, I just thought you seemed somewhat familiar.
Looks like we’ll be seeing each other again soon.” It seemed he had had enough fun.
He didn’t say anything more.
After Snake-lady left, Aoba’s body finally relaxed.
For now, it seemed Orochimaru wouldn’t reveal his identity before testing the depths of Sasuke’s abilities.
Next, Anko began explaining the rules of the second exam.
After signing the death waivers, the various shinobi teams rapidly charged into the examination grounds.