“Two bowls of pork miso chashu ramen, coming right up!” Teuchi-ossan brought two bowls of steaming, generously topped ramen and placed them in front of the pair.
A fragrant heat rose from the broth, which was filled with chopped green onions, menma, and a seasoned egg.
Several thick slices of chashu were arranged neatly around half the bowl, complemented by two slices of fish cake and two sheets of nori.
It was a bowl of ramen made with sincerity.
Aoba’s eyes lit up at the sight.
“Itadakimasu.” He noticed Hinata sitting beside him, looking as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t quite bring herself to speak.
“What were you going to say just now?” “I…
it’s nothing.” The sudden interruption had broken the words Hinata had originally wanted to say.
All the courage she’d finally managed to gather vanished in an instant.
“Oh.
Then eat while it’s hot.” Aoba picked up a slice of chashu with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth.
The meat was tender and juicy, with a satisfying chew.
Seeing him enjoying his food so much, Hinata’s appetite returned.
She stopped worrying about it and picked up her chopsticks as well.
The sun sank toward the horizon, and the evening light slanted through the little Ichiraku Ramen shop.
The owner waited for his customers with a squinting smile, while the young boy and girl sat close together, enjoying their ramen.
For a brief moment, time seemed to freeze.
After drinking the last mouthful of delicious broth, Aoba stood up and prepared to leave.
“I’ll get going first.
See you around!” He said goodbye to Hinata.
“Um…” Hinata still couldn’t hold herself back.
“I wanted to say…” Her face turned bright red again, as if she were afraid nobody would notice.
Under Aoba’s attentive gaze, the nervous girl silently encouraged herself.
Just treat it like it’s nothing.
It’s not a big deal anyway, right?
Hinata clenched her tiny fists, filling herself with courage.
Gathering her courage once more, she finally asked, “Aoba-niisan, did you sign up for the Chunin Exams three days from now?” She had only recently graduated from the Ninja Academy and hadn’t been carrying out missions for very long.
Her team leader, Yuhi Kurenai, had registered their team for the Chunin Exams.
Hinata knew that Aoba had signed up for the Chunin Exams the previous year, which was why she wanted to ask.
If Aoba-niisan had signed up again this year, the two of them could take the exams together.
But she’d agonized over it for so long that she hadn’t been able to bring herself to ask.
Aoba had already been a genin for four years.
He had participated in the Chunin Exams three times in a row without passing.
Hinata was worried.
What if Aoba-niisan gets upset if I ask him?
But she really wanted them to take the exams together.
So after the little battle in her heart had gone on for quite some time, she finally found the courage to say it aloud.
“The Chunin Exams?” Aoba finally came back to his senses.
He had unintentionally opened the gacha interface just moments ago, and beside the ordinary prize pool, a new notification had appeared.
━━━ NOTIFICATION ━━━ 📣 Newcomer Gacha Drop Rate UP!
Your first 10 pull has an increased chance of obtaining rare ninjutsu!
Note: Based on the current economic conditions of the shinobi world, the monthly gacha spending limit is 10 million ryo.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Hearing Hinata’s question, Aoba recalled his experiences from his previous three Chunin Exams.
He had always passed the first stage with ease.
But when he reached the second stage, the practical test, his lack of strength began to hold him back.
As a result, after taking the exams three times, he had never once made it to the individual tournament that followed.
The exams were three days away.
Tomorrow, he would finally have enough money for a 10 pull and could obtain powerful ninjutsu.
Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to pass the exam and become a chunin.
But this year’s situation was a little special.
This was the year the Konoha 12 would make their appearance.
It was destined to be anything but ordinary.
Orochimaru would launch the Konoha Crush, causing the Chunin Exams to be interrupted.
Aside from Shikamaru, who would be promoted to chunin as an exception because of his outstanding performance, everyone else would have to try again the following year.
It seemed unlikely that Aoba would be able to successfully become a chunin this year.
“Of course I’m participating.
I signed up several days ago.” Aoba couldn’t become a chunin and would therefore lose his qualification to accept B-rank missions, which was certainly a shame.
But the Chunin Exams were lively, and there was an opportunity to make a huge amount of money.
There was no way he would miss it.
This year’s Chunin Exams were actually very dangerous.
But he had the system, and he was about to save enough money for his gacha draw.
Naturally— “That’s great!
I’m participating in the Chunin Exams too!” Hinata was so excited that she nearly cheered aloud.
The only regret was that the two of them couldn’t form a team.
As a recent Ninja Academy graduate, Hinata already had her own team.
Aoba, on the other hand, was completely alone and didn’t belong to any team.
Even if he wanted to form one, he would have to find other teammates.
“Then I’ll see you at the Chunin Exams.
I’m looking forward to seeing you perform well.” Aoba patted Hinata on the shoulder, encouraging the girl before turning around and leaving with a carefree stride.
Watching the boy’s departing figure, Hinata nodded firmly.
“I will!” She would definitely perform well.
Aoba-niisan would surely be watching me when the time came!
On his way home, Aoba ran into someone he knew, Takeda-san, a resident of Konoha.
The Takeda family was wealthy by Konoha standards, with a very substantial fortune.
They often hired Aoba for simple missions.
“Aoba, I’m bothering you again.” The woman warmly raised her hand in greeting.
Aoba stopped and greeted her.
“Takeda-san.
Do you have another mission for me?” Takeda-san nodded.
“I’d like you to protect my son Shota and his two friends for half a day.” “As for the payment, it’s 2,000 ryo.
I’ll post the mission at the Mission Assignment Desk later and specify that you are to take it.” Hearing the amount, Aoba was tempted.
For the missions he normally accepted, earning 1,000 ryo was already about the best he could hope for.
Nobody would hire him for missions with higher rewards.
Although he was tempted, Aoba didn’t immediately agree.
“I’d like to know the details of the mission first.” If there was any danger involved, he would definitely refuse.
He was about to save up the full 100,000 ryo.
There was no reason to cause trouble for himself at such a critical moment.
“Ah, well, it’s like this…” Takeda-san began explaining the circumstances in detail.
It turned out that her son, Shota, wanted to go exploring in the forests around Konoha with two of his friends.
As the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha’s surrounding forests were normally very safe.
It was practically impossible to encounter unknown shinobi there.
The reason they needed a shinobi to protect them was to guard against the sudden appearance of wild animals.
After all, Shota and the others were only five or six years old.
Takeda-san couldn’t feel at ease letting them go without an adult watching over them.
A mission like this wouldn’t be ranked very highly.
A lone genin was more than enough to handle it.
Besides, Takeda-san was familiar with Aoba and understood what kind of person he was, making him the best choice to entrust with the mission.
“You know how children are.
They just want to play, and I really couldn’t get them to give it up.” After saying that, Takeda-san helplessly rubbed her forehead.
“All right.
I’ll take the mission.” After understanding the circumstances, Aoba agreed readily.
“Then I’ll be counting on you tomorrow.” After returning to his place, Aoba began thinking about how he could make a good haul during the Chunin Exams.
The shinobi villages mainly participating in the Chunin Exams were Konoha and Sunagakure.
There were also some smaller shinobi villages from the surrounding areas, such as Amegakure, Kusagakure, and Otogakure.
These shinobi villages from the smaller countries were poor and didn’t have much of anything worth targeting.
Sunagakure was poor as well.
Aoba frowned.
Making money during the Chunin Exams doesn’t seem as easy as I thought.
He soon thought of a new direction.
He could start with Orochimaru’s attack on Konoha.
Selling the information that the Fourth Kazekage was dead and that Orochimaru would launch his attack in one month’s time might be a pretty good idea.
What was the most important thing in the shinobi world?
Information!
Madara had suffered precisely because of a lack of information.
He had believed Black Zetsu was the manifestation of his own will, only to ultimately be betrayed and have his heart ripped out from behind.
However, Aoba immediately shook his head.
Too conspicuous!
His strength was currently far too weak.
He was nothing more than a genin.
Even if he obtained powerful ninjutsu from tomorrow’s 10 pull, he still wouldn’t reach the level of a jonin.
When a weak person possessed extremely important information, things usually didn’t end well for them.
The “dream-fulfilling master,” Kabuto, and Yakushi Nono were perfect examples.
They had known too much because of their work as spies, only to ultimately become victims of a kill-the-witness mission arranged by Danzo, forcing them to kill each other.
Unless he could obtain the S-rank Space-Time Ninjutsu, Flying Thunder God Technique, from the prize pool, he shouldn’t even think about it!
“Let’s just take things one step at a time.” Having no idea what to do, Aoba decided not to dwell on it for now.
He slept without dreaming.
The next morning, the sun rose once again, bringing with it a new day.
Aoba left home early and headed straight for Takeda-san’s house.
Once he completed today’s mission, he’d finally be able to do his first 10 pull.