Watching the badge that Yuki Seisui tossed lightly into the air again and again, along with the faint smile tugging at his lips, and the fresh blood staining his clothes, Uchiha Fugaku and his two teammates exchanged uneasy glances.
Why did it feel like… if they didn't buy the badge, something terrible might happen?
"Is that badge still for sale?" Yuhi Makoto asked timidly.
"Of course it is!" Yuki Seisui planted his hands on his hips, full of confidence. "This is our spoils of war, why wouldn't we sell it?"
"The rules don't care how you complete your mission."
"The Chunin Exams are the same. As long as you pass, no one asks how you did it."
Okay, that… kind of makes sense.
As soon as Yuki Seisui finished speaking, the three looked at each other again.
"So, how much are you charging?" Fugaku asked, curious.
"Original price: 500,000 ryo per badge," Yuki said matter-of-factly. "But since you're related to Haru, I'll give you a discount, 200,000 per badge. And if you buy two, I'll make sure all three of you get through. I won't block your way at the gate."
"How about it?"
He rubbed his hands together, then pulled out another badge and waved it in front of them. Including the one just taken from Team A, he now had five, enough to sell two and still have three left for his own team to pass.
Fugaku looked hesitant after hearing that.
But Yuhi Makoto had clearly caught the hidden message. She tugged at Hyuga Hiashi and Uchiha Fugaku's sleeves, then gave Yuki a polite smile.
"Can we have a moment to discuss it?"
Yuki barely gave them a glance and nodded without hesitation. "No problem."
Makoto pulled the two aside and lowered her voice. "So… are we buying?"
"No!" Hiashi said firmly, his expression stiff. "We can pass on our own!"
He had complete faith in their team. He'd seen Yuki Seisui fight against A just moments ago and knew that such monsters were rare. With his Byakugan, collecting three badges wouldn't be hard.
Fugaku, on the other hand, looked thoughtfully at Makoto. "You're worried he'll block the gate, aren't you?"
Makoto nodded. "Yeah. If that kind of monster is standing in front of the exit, even if we get all three badges, we probably won't make it through."
"And we'd have to pay then anyway."
She glanced toward Yuki Seisui, who was now chatting quietly with Haru and Minato.
"...He wouldn't really do that, would he?" Hiashi frowned, clearly uncertain. "We're all from Konoha."
"He probably wouldn't, " Fugaku cut himself off, then shook his head. Because of Haru, he understood Yuki Seisui better than either of them.
Blocking the gate was exactly the kind of thing Yuki would do.
"We might as well just pay him."
"400,000 ryo isn't much."
When Fugaku said that, he didn't even think twice. As the heir of the Uchiha Clan, a thousand-year-old legacy, he had no idea how much wealth the clan actually had.
He just knew they had enough.
Enough to cover whatever they needed.
Hiashi was in a similar position. As the heir of the Hyuga Clan, while not quite as powerful as the Uchiha, his family wasn't far behind. A few hundred thousand ryō was pocket change to them.
Makoto looked at the two and said, "Then let's split the cost three ways."
They both nodded. Since this was a temporary team-up, none of them were going to insist on paying the full amount themselves.
Later, Fugaku looked at the badge in his hand, then at Yuki Seisui and his team walking away in the distance, and sighed.
As for Uchiha Haru, she hadn't acknowledged him even once during the whole exchange.
But he didn't mind.
He'd originally wanted to test Yuki Seisui's strength, but after witnessing the fight against A, he abandoned that idea.
Try and die.
Still, he was actually quite happy to see how powerful Yuki had become.
"I hope you keep growing," Fugaku thought to himself.
The gap between the village and the Uchiha Clan was only getting wider.
==========
Meanwhile, Yuki Seisui held three IOUs in his hand and handed two of them to his teammates with a satisfied smile.
"One each."
"When the exam ends, we collect!"
Uchiha Haru silently slid Yuhi Makoto's IOU into her tool pouch, then looked up.
"Where to next?"
"Obviously, go find more teams!" Yuki said matter-of-factly.
==========
Two days later.
It was the final day of the exam. Yuki and his team were stationed directly in front of the central tower.
The area around them was littered with broken limbs and scorched remains, much to Yuki's dismay.
Several people had tried to get a head start by sneaking in early, but triggered explosive traps and got blown to bits.
"So many stalks of wheat, cut down too soon..." Yuki sighed mournfully.
Every dead participant was a lost paycheck.
Staring at the scattered limbs on the ground, he let out a deep sigh.
"Humans… so fragile."
"Small, pitiful things."
Yuki was lamenting his lost income, but hidden in the trees nearby, a small white snake was curled up silently in the branches, watching him with a thoughtful look.
"Seems we share the same ideals..."
Jiraiya had been worried about his three students, but his stealth skills weren't good enough to monitor them without being caught. So he'd asked Orochimaru for help, to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn't die during the exam.
Jiraiya knew the Four Kage were all secretly watching the Forest of Death. If Yuki's team really got into trouble, his old teacher might intervene.
But he didn't trust the other Kage. That's why he'd asked Orochimaru to come in person.
"What is the meaning of life?" Orochimaru, now disguised as the white snake, listened to Yuki's philosophical musings while flicking his tongue and pondering the question.
Yuki, of course, wasn't thinking anything that deep. He was just parroting phrases he'd heard before. All he really cared about was the lost income.
By now, participants were starting to arrive at the tower.
Yuki and his team were positioned just outside the main gate, traps set all around to prevent anyone from bypassing them.
The first group to arrive was Uchiha Fugaku's team. Not far behind them came Kitsuchi from Iwagakure.
When Yuki saw Fugaku, he smiled and greeted him warmly. True to his word, he let them pass without any trouble.
After all, honesty was important. They were from the same village, cross paths now, cross paths later. If he went back on his word, it'd be hard to explain things to that old fart Sarutobi.
When Kitsuchi showed up, he gave Yuki a friendly wave.
"Long time no see!"
"Don't joke around with me!" Yuki barked, putting on a stern face. "This is the Chunin Exams, show some respect!"