A night passed, and the day of the Chunin Exams finally arrived.
Inside the building where the first exam was being held, Aoba met up with the Koki and Otsuki brothers.
Before entering the examination room, Aoba emphasized one thing to them again and again.
“Whatever the questions are later, you two have to stay calm and see how things play out.
Under no circumstances are you allowed to voluntarily quit the exam.
If it’s a written test, I’ll pass you the answers ten minutes before the end.” Since Aoba knew the plot, he was saying this to prevent the two of them from screwing him over.
If they were scared off by Morino Ibiki’s tenth question and voluntarily withdrew, ruining his grand money-making scheme, that would be a disaster.
As for actually passing them the answers, that obviously wouldn’t be necessary.
Just follow Naruto’s example.
You could hand in a blank paper and still pass.
“Got it.
You still don’t trust us?” “We’re seasoned genin, after all.
The first round won’t be difficult at all.” The Koki and Otsuki brothers’ baffling confidence left Aoba completely speechless.
He simply walked into the examination room.
Quite a few people had already gathered inside, and the noisy conversations made the whole place feel lively.
“Aoba-niisan!” In the crowd, the shy, inconspicuous Hinata, dressed in a beige jacket, waved at Aoba.
She had two teammates beside her.
One was Aburame Shino, dressed in a dark green coat and wearing sunglasses.
He wasn’t much of a talker.
The other was Inuzuka Kiba, whose unruly hair was as wild as ever, camouflage paint covering his cheeks, with the little white puppy Akamaru perched on top of his head.
Aoba brought his teammates over to the girl and patted her on the shoulder.
“Hinata, let’s all do our best on today’s exam!” Hearing Aoba’s encouragement, Hinata excitedly clenched her little fists.
Her face flushed as she nodded.
“Mm.
Th-thank you, Aoba-niisan.
I’ll do my best!” Aoba-niisan had actually encouraged me!
She absolutely had to perform well!
If she could become a chunin alongside Aoba, that would be even better.
Maybe the two of them would even get the chance to go on missions together.
Just thinking about possibly becoming teammates with Aoba in the future made Hinata even more determined to become a chunin.
Aoba had also met Shino and Kiba several times before, so the three of them casually chatted about the Chunin Exams.
Shino, who was always inadvertently overlooked by everyone, realized that someone had actually noticed him.
He became a little excited.
“Looks like my presence isn’t actually that low.” As he spoke, he even adjusted his sunglasses with a satisfied expression.
During their conversation, Team 7’s Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura entered the examination room.
“Whoa!
They’re so…
awesome!” Looking at the group of shinobi with all sorts of wildly exaggerated styles, Naruto couldn’t help exclaiming in amazement.
He was pretty bold by nature.
After spending a few minutes getting used to the atmosphere, he began looking around.
Then he spotted Aoba.
“Aoba-nii!
You’re Aoba-nii, right?” Naruto dashed straight over to Aoba, completely ignoring Hinata standing beside him.
Hinata also showed no reaction to Naruto’s appearance.
The person who had become the light of her life, the one who constantly pushed her to work hard and never give up, was Aoba.
Naturally, there was no room left in her heart for anyone else.
And so, under the inadvertent flutter of Aoba’s butterfly wings, Naruto and Hinata had never crossed paths at all.
“Yo, so it’s Naruto.
Long time no see.” Aoba greeted him with a smile.
He and Naruto had known each other for quite some time, and their relationship had always been pretty good.
As a transmigrator, how could he possibly not build a good relationship with a protagonist who had a cheat-like destiny of his own?
Aoba hadn’t deliberately gone out of his way to look after little Naruto.
He would simply run into him at Ichiraku Ramen every now and then and treat him to a lavish special bowl that he had Teuchi prepare for the poor kid.
If he made it too obvious and attracted the attention of the Anbu or worse, Danzo, that would be a huge problem.
Naruto had always been starved for affection.
Encountering someone as warmhearted as Aoba had moved him to tears.
He would bawl his eyes out while repeatedly calling him “Aoba-nii.” After seeing each other a few times, the two naturally became quite close.
It could be said that, in Naruto’s heart, aside from Iruka and his Third Hokage Grandpa, Aoba was the person he cared about most.
Well, no.
His best bro Sasuke was still the most important.
As for the love-hate entanglement between the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, Aoba decided it was better not to get involved.
Of course, after obtaining the Positive Energy Gacha System, he no longer had any intention of clinging to someone else’s coattails.
We transmigrators are born beneath Heaven and Earth.
How could we be content to remain beneath another man for long?
Why cling to someone else’s leg when being the big shot yourself is so much better?
“It’s such a coincidence that I get to take the Chunin Exams together with Aoba-nii!” Naruto was naturally friendly with everyone, and once he ran into someone he knew, he became even more talkative.
Then he finally noticed Hinata standing nearby.
“Oh, right.
You’re…
uh…
what was your name again?” “She’s Hyuga Hinata.
If I remember correctly, you two were classmates at the Academy.” Aoba introduced her.
“Haha, of course I know her!
I just suddenly forgot her name.” Naruto really did have a terrible memory.
He couldn’t even remember his own classmate’s name.
“Hello, Naruto-kun.” Hinata was especially shy around Aoba, which made speaking to anyone else feel even more awkward.
Watching the girl repeatedly sneak glances at Aoba, Naruto suddenly understood.
“Wait, Hinata, don’t tell me you like Aoba-nii and want to become my big sis-in-law?” As he spoke, he wore a mischievous grin.
He thought he was incredibly clever for figuring out Hinata’s feelings at a glance.
If only Sakura could understand how I feel about her.
His mind immediately wandered into a fantasy.
He even started wearing the same lecherous grin as the teacher he had never met before, Jiraiya.
Naruto’s voice was so loud that it attracted the attention of everyone nearby.
Hinata immediately panicked and hurriedly waved her hands.
“No…
That’s not…
I mean…” She was so embarrassed that her mind went completely blank, just like those pale Byakugan eyes of hers.
Seeing how flustered she was, Aoba stepped in to save her.
“Enough, Naruto.
The most important thing right now is the Chunin Exams.
If you fail this time, who knows when you’ll become a chunin?
If your luck is bad, you might end up being a genin for the rest of your life.” Aoba wasn’t exaggerating.
He knew the plot, after all.
Naruto was probably going to have quite a difficult time getting rid of that genin title.
Naruto completely failed to catch the hint about being a lifelong genin.
He had absolutely no worries about failing the exam.
“I’m the man who’s going to become Hokage!
There’s no way I’m going to fail the Chunin Exams!” His entire body was brimming with fighting spirit, looking as though he wished the exam would start immediately.
“Sorry.
Naruto has caused trouble for you, senpai.” At that moment, Naruto’s two teammates also came over, and Sakura was especially polite as she apologized.
Sasuke looked as cool and aloof as ever, both hands in his pockets and radiating an unmistakable ‘don’t come near me’ aura.
He merely gave Aoba a brief nod in greeting.
Coming along with them was a young man wearing glasses, his demeanor gentle and mild.
“Hello, Natsume Aoba.
I’m Yakushi Kabuto.
It’s a pleasure to meet you.” “Not at all, not at all.
Kabuto-senpai is much stronger than me.” Aoba knew exactly who he was.
A trusted subordinate of Orochimaru, an agent secretly planted in Konoha as a spy.
His participation in the Chunin Exams was intended to gather information about Sasuke.
Aoba remembered that he had killed Kidomaru just a few days ago.
The last thing he wanted was to get entangled with Kabuto now.
So he decided on a tactical retreat while also getting started on his grand money-making plan.
Once his strength was high enough, there would be no need to live in constant fear.
Getting stronger through the gacha was the true path.
Soon, he picked out his target.
A group of Suna shinobi who looked like they weren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.