“What a pity.”
“No matter how jealous you are, I can still…
Let’s meet at the Chunin Exams.”
Ryuha Uchiha’s voice was flat; he even found this somewhat boring.
To him, the Chunin Exams were a mere formality.
The Third Shinobi World War was his true stage.
“Very well.” The Cloud youth sneered.
“My name is Shimoka.
Tell me yours.”
“Ryuha Uchiha.”
***
The arrival of the Cloud delegation made the atmosphere on Konoha’s streets visibly tense and delicate.
The Sand Village’s group had arrived two days earlier and was staying at the guest house in the west of the village.
Most of them were quiet and travel-worn, carrying the dry, desolate aura unique to the desert.
Their leader was a sharp-eyed, low-profile young Jonin named Baki.
Aside from necessary polite visits, he rarely showed his face in public.
But the Cloud was different.
These shinobi from the Land of Lightning seemed utterly incapable of keeping a low profile.
They stayed at the best guest house in the east of the village, flaunting themselves through the streets daily and drawing crowds wherever they went.
They had tall, robust builds, dark skin, and wild, uninhibited behavior.
There was also their blatant way of looking at everything in Konoha—like predators sizing up the value of their prey.
This was especially true of the young man known as “Lord Blue B.”
As the second Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, he acted somewhat lawlessly.
Of course, this was directly related to his status as a Jinchuriki; in the past, Blue B had been outstanding in every aspect.
And his lackey, Shimoka, was even more aggressive.
The shinobi of Konoha, especially the hot-blooded young Genin, felt a fire burning in their chests as they watched these outsiders act so insolently on their home turf.
But what followed was even more frustrating.
***
Three days later, registration for the Chunin Exams closed.
Team 7 secured their qualification without suspense—Ryuichi Matsumoto had submitted the recommendation form to the review office at breakneck speed.
Combined with Ryuha Uchiha’s current “fame” in the village, the reviewing Jonin stamped it without asking a single question.
When Kazuya Haruno and Itsuki Fujiwara received their admission tickets stamped in red, their hands were trembling.
The Chunin Exams!
For civilian shinobi like them, this was a chance to leap over the dragon’s gate.
Once they passed, they could promote to Chunin, gaining higher mission clearance, richer rewards, and more cultivation resources.
Perhaps even…
the chance to change their family’s destiny.
“R-Ryuha…” Kazuya Haruno stammered in his excitement.
“Can we really participate?
I-I heard that the mortality rate in previous exams is thirty percent…”
“What is there to fear!” Itsuki Fujiwara puffed out his chest, though his voice was a bit weak.
“With Lord Ryuha here, we’ll definitely make it!”
Ryuichi Matsumoto pinned all his hopes on Ryuha, practically ready to worship him like a deity these past few days.
Ryuha Uchiha didn’t mind.
What concerned him more were the outsiders in the village.
The afternoon after registration, he wandered through Konoha’s commercial street alone.
His Spiritual Pressure perception spread out silently like an invisible radar, scanning every signature on the street.
The chakra of the Sand shinobi was mostly cold and dry, like the wind of a desert night.
The Cloud shinobi’s chakra, on the other hand, was violent and searing, bearing the distinct nature of the Lightning release.
The chakra of Konoha’s local shinobi was diverse, but overall much more “peaceful”—at least on the surface.
As he passed a dango shop, Ryuha Uchiha’s footsteps paused slightly.
He “saw” a very peculiar chakra fluctuation.
A dark, pure, and massive malice.
The power within it was incredibly heavy, even surpassing Sakumo Hatake.
The owner of that chakra was a youth with white-and-green hair and gentle eyes.
“The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki…
It seems the Tailed Beast isn’t affecting him right now.”
“He must be one half of the future, world-renowned ‘A-B Combo.'”
Ryuha Uchiha withdrew his gaze and turned to leave.
Jinchuriki…
they truly weren’t on the same level as ordinary shinobi.
Even in his youth, the sheer malice originating from a Tailed Beast was enough to strike fear into an ordinary Jonin.
But for now, it had nothing to do with him.
Ryuha turned the corner and walked toward the training grounds.
Before he even drew near, he heard a clamor of noise, mixed with angry scolding and arrogant laughter.
Keeping his pace steady, he walked to the edge of the training grounds, leaned against a tree, and quietly watched the scene unfold.
In the center of the training ground, three Konoha Genin lay on the ground.
Judging by their forehead protectors, they were probably rookies who had just graduated this year, around the same age as Ryuha.
Right now, they were black and blue.
One of them clutched his arm, blood dripping from his temple, clearly seriously injured.
Standing before them was a Cloud shinobi nearly two meters tall, with dark skin and bursting muscles.
He looked to be in his early twenties, with short, needle-like hair standing on end.
A necklace of animal fangs hung around his neck, and his bare upper body was covered in scars.
He stood with arms crossed and chin slightly raised, his eyes filled with blatant contempt and mockery.
A crowd of Konoha shinobi had gathered around, every one of them looking furious, yet they seemed wary of something and did not step forward.
“Is this the level of Konoha’s next generation?”
The Cloud shinobi stepped on the head of one of the fallen Genin, grinding it down with force, his voice booming and arrogant:
“You’re not even worthy of warming me up!
I heard Konoha is some ‘strongest shinobi village’?
Don’t make me laugh!
Trash like this wouldn’t even qualify to be Genin in Kumogakure!”
The Genin under his boot struggled in humiliation but couldn’t budge at all, only able to let out painful groans.
“Kagura Yozuki!
You’ve gone too far!” A Konoha Chunin couldn’t help but step forward.
“This was just a spar!
Why did you strike so ruthlessly?!”
“A spar?” The Cloud youth named Kagura Yozuki sneered.
“I didn’t even use any force and they fell.
You call that a spar?
This is clearly a one-sided beating!”
He looked around, his gaze sweeping across the furious Konoha shinobi, his smile growing even more arrogant.
“What?
Not satisfied?
If you’re not happy, step up!
Let me see if Konoha has anyone who can actually fight, aside from these pieces of trash!”
He paused, his voice suddenly rising, packed with provocation:
“Where is the Uchiha Clan?
I heard you are Konoha’s strongest noble clan?
Is the Sharingan that amazing?
Why is none of you showing your faces now?
Are you all just a bunch of cowards hiding in your shells?!”
As soon as these words left his mouth, the eyes of several young Uchihas among the onlookers instantly turned blood-red.
“You’re asking for death!”
An Uchiha Genin was about to charge forward, but his clansmen held him back firmly.
“Don’t be reckless!
He’s with the Cloud delegation.
Fighting him will spark a diplomatic dispute!”
“Then are we just going to let him insult the Uchiha like this?!”
“The Patriarch ordered that no private fighting is allowed!
Wait until the Chunin Exams!”
The fists of several Uchiha youths cracked as they clenched them, but they could only suppress their rage.
Kagura Yozuki laughed even more wildly at this sight.
He ground his foot down harder, and the Genin beneath him screamed in pain.
“Trash is trash!
You don’t even dare to stand up.
How can you talk about protecting your village?
Konoha…
is nothing but this!”
The training ground fell into a dead silence.
Only Kagura’s arrogant laughter and the Genin’s painful groans remained.
All the Konoha shinobi felt a deep, agonizing humiliation.
To be insulted like this at their own doorstep, yet unable to act due to “diplomacy”…
This frustration was more painful than getting beaten.
Just then—
“Oh?”
A calm, almost puzzled voice drifted from the edge of the training ground.
It wasn’t loud, but it reached everyone’s ears clearly.
Everyone’s gaze instantly snapped to the source.
The black-haired youth leaning against a tree pushed up his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses calmly resting on Kagura Yozuki.
“Kagura Yozuki of the Cloud, is it?”
Ryuha slowly straightened up and shoved his hands into his pockets, stepping forward with an easy, strolling pace.
“Did you just say the Uchiha Clan are all cowards hiding in their shells?”
He walked toward the center of the training ground, step by step.
His footsteps were light and silent.
But each step seemed to hit a certain rhythm, causing the surrounding air to vibrate slightly.