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The whisker marks on Naruto’s face twitched.
He looked completely lost.
“Ch-Chunin Exams?
What’s that?”
Temari crossed her arms, shook her head, and turned to leave.
She had no interest in explaining anything to this idiot.
Low IQ was contagious.
“Wait.” Sasuke dropped from the tree trunk, his gaze cold as frost.
“Red hair.
What’s your name?”
Gaara turned slowly, his voice saturated with killing intent, and yet carrying a rare flicker of genuine interest.
“I am Gaara of the Desert.
You’re interesting.
Give me your name.”
“Uchiha…
Sasuke.” Their auras met for a fraction of a second, and the air between them crackled with invisible sparks.
“Well, well — little Temari.” A called out toward her retreating back, grinning.
“We’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.”
Temari stumbled mid-step, face flushing crimson.
“Bastard,” she hissed through her teeth.
“If only I could beat you…”
Once Gaara and his teammates vanished around the corner, A turned his attention to Team 7.
Naruto was still blissfully oblivious, floating in his own world as usual.
But Sasuke and Sakura were coiled tight, staring like they’d just spotted a predator.
Sasuke didn’t care about A’s title or rank.
The only currency that mattered to him was strength.
And that “Gaara of the Desert” was at least on par with Kakashi, yet he’d openly admitted he wouldn’t dare start something with this man.
That single fact had sent Sasuke’s mind reeling eight hundred times over.
Sakura, meanwhile, had already zeroed in on the one detail that mattered.
A was from Kumogakure.
[He’s not wearing a forehead protector, so he’s clearly not here for the Chunin Exams.
Could he be a supervising jonin, like Kakashi-sensei?
He looks incredibly muscular.
Nothing like the people in our village…]
A threw up a thumbs-up and flashed a blinding white smile, pure Might Guy.
“Haha!
Relax, kids.
Your Hokage personally invited me to come see Konoha.
You’re not going to show me around?”
Sasuke said nothing, lips pressed flat.
Sakura let out a slow breath, her shoulders dropping an inch.
“No way, seriously, old man?!
Then we’ll take you on a tour!” Naruto cheered.
“Tour!
Tour!” the Konohamaru Corps echoed.
“Idiots.” Sasuke stepped to the side.
He had better things to do than play tour guide.
A chuckled and moved forward, eyes sweeping the group.
“Alright then, let’s —”
“Raikage-sama.” A purple-haired, cat-masked ANBU materialized silently at his side.
Her tone was level, professional, but something underneath it ran just a little faster than usual.
“Allow me to guide you.”
She turned to Team 7, voice clipped.
“What are you all still doing here?
The Chunin Exams are close.
Go home and prepare.”
“Huh?” Naruto blinked, mouth already opening, and then Sasuke and Sakura each grabbed an arm, clamped a hand over his face, and hauled him backwards in one smooth motion.
Unable to open his mouth, Naruto could only manage “MMPH MMMPH MMMPH,” feet dragging as he struggled, the very picture of wronged dignity.
“Read the room, moron.
Move!” Sasuke gripped his arm hard, glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds as he went.
The Konohamaru Corps saw the retreat and broke into a sprint.
“Commander, wait for us!” The whole rowdy pack thundered off down the street and disappeared around the bend.
A watched them go, then turned to Yugao Uzuki with lazy amusement.
“What’s this about?
I already gave the old monkey my word — no trouble in Konoha.
Still doesn’t trust me, huh?”
“Raikage-sama, please show our Hokage some respect!” Yugao’s voice came out sharper than she intended.
The Hokage was a sacred figure to every shinobi in this village.
Hearing him talked about that way was simply intolerable.
“Hahahaha, alright, alright.
I’ll watch my mouth next time.” A grinned wide.
“Now then, let the ‘Flower of the ANBU’ show me what this village has to offer.”
Beneath her mask, Yugao’s face went immediately crimson.
She held herself in mortified silence for a few seconds, then flickered out of sight before anything worse could happen.
That nickname, “Flower of the ANBU”, had nearly made her curl her toes hard enough to excavate a three-bedroom apartment.
Across the village, the conference room carried a very different weight entirely.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head of the table, and the room was full.
Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai stood in the front row, Konoha’s elite ranked behind them in silence.
Hiruzen drew from his pipe and exhaled a long, slow cloud of smoke, his gaze cutting through it.
“I didn’t call you all here for nothing.
Seeing the faces around you, I think you already know.”
Kakashi, hands deep in his pockets, tilted his head.
“Ah.
That time already, huh.”
“We’ve been in contact with the other nations.
We’ve been spotting their ninja around the village.”
He knew exactly what the Chunin Exams really were.
Not just a talent selection.
A stage where every hidden village measured every other hidden village, watching, probing, testing, waiting.
Kurenai’s gaze sharpened.
“When?”
Smoke drifted before Hiruzen, slow and thick, blurring his expression at the edges.
“Seven days from today.
July first.
The Chunin Exams officially begin.”
“Hm.
That’s soon.” Kakashi raised an eyebrow and nudged his headband down a fraction over his eye.
“There is one more thing.” Hiruzen set his pipe on the table.
His face told nothing.
“Kumogakure’s Fourth Raikage is currently within Konohagakure.”
“…What?”
Every ninja in the room tensed at once.
Pupils snapped narrow.
The name alone carried that much weight.
Outside, the news was already moving through the village like a current.
The joint Chunin Exams were coming, and Konoha knew it.
Shinobi sharpened their training, gathered intelligence on their competition, or stocked up on kunai and shuriken.
Honestly, for most regular genin, a well-thrown kunai beat half the ninjutsu they’d ever learned.
In less than half a day, the whole village was running hot.
The ninja clans handled it with practiced composure.
But in the civilian households, the pressure was something else.
A child who made Chunin had a future.
A child who made Chunin could rise above their station, or, of course, not come back at all.
The moment a kid stopped training to rest, a parent would lean in close: “You know what the genin from that other family is doing right now?”
The kid would drag themselves back to the training ground.
And their exhausted, grinding effort would become the example that other parents held up for their own children.
Round and round it went.
A perfect, self-sustaining loop.
Involution.
At the village gate, a lone figure stepped inside.
Bamboo hat.
An “Evil” character pendant hanging from one ear.
“Konoha…”
➤ Next: Cat-Face Mask, Letter of Recommendation
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