Neither Shigeru nor Kaiyo went against Rin's actions. They lowered their guards and stepped back as Naruto crossed his arms, clearly disappointed.
He wanted to fight.
"I dunno what we did for you to surrender so quickly," he said with a genuine smile, "but I at least enjoyed the fight."
Team Rin gave him light smiles in return, knowing the boy was sincere about his comments. More so, Kaiyo and Shigeru were satisfied. As an Uzumaki, Naruto was incredibly strong. And to be able to perform the signature chakra chains proved his potential was staggering.
An hour later, Team Rin gathered by the gates of the Sand Village.
They had the utmost confidence that this encounter was exactly what Arthur needed to see.
And whether they could have won or not during that skirmish, they were clearly limited in what abilities they could showcase while maintaining their covers.
Yet it was glaringly clear that Naruto was keeping pace with them, who were all Jōnin-level combatants.
Arthur would surely use that combat data for his upcoming plans.
As the team secured their packs and prepared to leave the village limits, a figure stepped out from the shadow of the gate's archway to block their route.
It was Alice.
They immediately stopped as they eyed her down. Alice didn't look any different than how Arthur had described her once. She still had bright blonde hair and wore an orange battlesuit. But what was truly incredible—and terrifying—about her presence was the absolute void surrounding her.
Team Rin were highly trained, yet they couldn't sense a single trace of her chakra.
"I'd like to have a word with you three," she said.
"What's the problem?" Rin wondered.
"Just follow me," Alice demanded, turning her back to them and walking deeper into the village.
Rin exchanged a brief look with Shigeru and Kaiyo. They had no choice but to comply without breaking character. So they followed the blonde woman through the sandstone streets of the village before moving away from the crowded commercial districts and into the quieter residential alleys.
As the four of them continued, Shigeru focused his hearing to determine whether there were any more surprises waiting. He found nothing around for miles.
So, he came to a sudden halt, prompting his team to do the same.
"Something the matter?" Alice asked, stopping and turning back to face them.
"Yes," Shigeru claimed. He looked around the empty alleyway and then nodded at both Rin and Kaiyo. The nod meant the perimeter was clear; no one else was around. "You stopped us because you're suspicious of something, right?"
"You can say that… But I'd prefer to talk about this elsewhere. Somewhere more secure."
"We can talk right here…" Rin declared.
"Fine," Alice yielded as her expression hardened. "It's about that messenger bird I saw coming into the village. The one that flew directly to your squad. There was absolutely nothing written on the scroll it was carrying. So, excuse me for thinking it's a little suspicious when a blank document lands right in the hands of an unknown team from the Rain."
"Now I get it," Rin commented. "If this might be because of the Akatsuki rumours, we don't know anything about them. We're just Genin trying to pass an exam."
Alice narrowed her eyes. She knew they were lying.
"Like I'd believe that!" she snapped, raising her arms toward them.
The three braced themselves for her telekinetic ability. But just as the invisible pressure in the air began to flare around her hands, a white blur materialized behind her out of thin air.
Bang!
A devastating strike hit the back of Alice's neck, causing her to instantly lose consciousness. Standing over her crumbled form was Arthur with his white cloak and an unreadable expression.
"My lord!" all three of them said in shock, immediately dropping to one knee.
Arthur didn't look at them as he kept his cold eyes fixed on the fallen woman. "Your mission's been complete… Report back to Fugaku when you return."
At that command, he performed the Flying raijin on them as they teleported back to the Bird Country.
Arthur then knelt down and examined Alice carefully. The urge to pry into her skull and extract every piece of chronological data she held was strong. But trying to read her mind was a hard line he refused to cross.
The last time he invaded her thoughts, she had seen right through his façade. That meant directly probing her mind was too dangerous.
Marking her flesh with a Flying raijin seal was also a terrible idea due to the Leaf's new and aggressive security implementations.
The village were thoroughly checking their operatives for any and all types of foreign seals after missions. Should someone recognize Arthur's specific formula on Alice's skin, they'd know instantly that he was still alive and ruin his advantage of being a dead man.
The best he could do was plant his mark close by. So he pressed his palm against the underside of a nearby sandstone archway and burned a microscopic Flying raijin mark into the structure that perfectly blended in.
'Flying raijin…'
When Arthur returned to his throne, he sat in the silence.
It only took half an hour for him to sense someone rushing down the area he had just left.
"Mom, what happened to you?!" a girl screamed.
It was Margaret.
Arthur watched as she hauled Alice off the ground.
"Marge…?" Alice groaned. "Ugh… My head hurts. I think I was ambushed from behind or something."
She would go on to explain that she was trying to interrogate those "Rain' ninjas about the blank bird scroll she saw, right up until her vision went entirely black.
Margaret sounded baffled. She couldn't quite understand who would be able to sneak up on the world's greatest sensor.
"What about you?" Alice asked as the pain subsided. "What happened in the exam?"
As much as Margaret wanted to obsess over the ambush, she quickly pivoted to her own debriefing and explained that they had successfully captured both Fugi and Hōichi before the extraction could occur.
The One-Tail was safe, and Gaara had officially cancelled the remainder of the Chūnin Exams.
"Why?" Alice asked.
"Because rogue ninjas from different villages used the exams as cover to attack me for my cells…"
Alice sighed at that. She had almost forgotten that because Margaret was fully recognized as a Senju descendant in this timeline, black-market enemies were always trying to hunt her down whenever she stepped outside the Leaf Village walls.
Either way, Margaret confirmed that she and the Sand Siblings had handled the assassination threats without a problem.
"Think this had anything to do with his village?" Margaret asked, referring to Arthur.
"I don't know," Alice admitted, sounding frustrated. "But I can't sense that Rain team anywhere in the village now."
The two would spend another minute to check if anything strange had been done to Alice's body. They found nothing.
"I… I think it would be best we try and help Fū now before we return to the Leaf," Alice finally suggested."
Arthur's eyes flared slightly at that news. He had almost forgotten what happened next in the timeline after these exams concluded.
Hidan and Kakuzu were stated to have ambushed Fū's team to extract the Seven-Tails.
Arthur couldn't accurately predict when this extraction would happen because the specific timing was never explicitly canonized in the old lore.
Nonetheless, he gathered enough actionable intelligence just from listening to those females' brief conversation.
Tsunade would undoubtedly promote most of the participants despite the exams being cancelled. The only difference this time around would be that Neji was far less likely to receive his double promotion, simply because it was Margaret who had assisted the Kazekage during the coup.
And when all this administrative cleanup finished, it would signify the definitive end of this filler arc.
✟
One week later.
The midday sun beat down on the Hidden Leaf Village.
Inside the Hokage's office, Tsunade stood behind her desk. Margaret stood to her right, acting as a liaison, while Shizune stood to her left holding a clipboard.
Lined up in front were the Genin teams who had participated in the exams.
"I've gone over the reports," Tsunade announced. "And… Hinata, Shino, Jugo, Chōji, Ino, Shikamaru, Sakura, Karin, Lee, Neji, and Tenten… You eight passed with flying colours, and are hereby promoted to Chūnin."
The names called out instantly broke into excited grins. Lee pumped his fist, Tenten let out a sigh of relief, and Sakura beamed.
But the celebration was cut short when they noticed she didn't say a specific name.
"What gives, granny?!" Naruto challenged. "How come I didn't get promoted?"
"If you let me finish!" Tsunade yelled, making him flinch and Margaret smirk. "Based on your performance and the recommendations of the proctors, you've been given a special double promotion to Jōnin."
The room went silent for a fraction of a second before the office erupted in cheers.
Sakura praised; Lee shouted his congratulations; and even Shino offered a rare nod of approval. They were all genuinely excited for him.
Naruto Uzumaki, the village outcast, had just bypassed an entire military rank, setting the stage for the next era.