After Team 7 completed the Wave Country mission, they only carried out a few D- and C-rank missions not far from the village.
But their minds had long since stopped being focused on that.
As July drew closer, new faces poured into Konohagakure every single day.
Some were wealthy merchants and tourists from various countries. Others were participating genin teams from smaller shinobi villages nearby.
Konoha's four outer perimeter patrol divisions were on maximum alert. As two of the four division commanders, Higashino Jirō and Uzuki Yūya personally led patrols every day.
The Military Police Force was running around nonstop, while the Anbu had fully mobilized to eliminate every possible threat to Konoha.
With both Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi possessing Mangekyō Sharingan, nobody could pull tricks right under their noses.
Anyone stubborn enough to try would instantly behave after getting hit with a genjutsu.
The Konoha genin who had decided to participate in the exams were also starting to feel nervous. Every genin from another village could potentially become their future opponent.
Quite a few of those foreign genin looked hard to deal with at first glance—fierce expressions, bizarre outfits, all kinds of strange appearances.
Unfortunately, the kids still didn't understand one truth:
The stronger someone truly was, the less they needed flashy clothes to intimidate people.
The panda-eyed guy carrying the giant gourd was the lone exception.
Among all of Konoha's residents, probably only the local businesses were overjoyed, making a fortune off this grand event.
If the authorities hadn't directly imposed price caps on goods and services, they would've happily raised prices tenfold just to teach these country bumpkins from outside what "Konoha's ruthless locals" really meant.
The day before the exam, every genin squad received time off to prepare.
A lot of genin liked hanging around near Konoha's main gate, observing competitors from other villages and gathering surface-level intelligence.
That morning, Sakura met up with Sasuke and Naruto. The three of them sat outside a drink shop along the main road near Konoha's entrance, each ordering a cup of milk tea while watching the pedestrians passing by.
...
Not long after Sakura's group sat down, Ino followed Sasuke's scent and automatically found her way over, directly squeezing herself between Sasuke and Naruto.
Being surrounded by two male idols at the same time filled Ino's heart with pure happiness.
"You got the wrong seat, Ino-pig."
"Eh? Sakura, are you jealous of me?"
Shikamaru, following behind them, looked completely helpless.
"You said we were coming to observe the competition, but this is obviously just an excuse to see Sasuke. What a drag. The people coming to this Chūnin Exam are definitely elite genin from every village. I'd rather just get eliminated early."
"But if you get eliminated too early, won't you get beaten to death when you get home?" Chōji pointed out.
Shikamaru looked even more despairing after hearing that.
A while later, Tenten's group also came over. Both Sasuke and Naruto turned to look at them.
Especially Tenten and Neji—they were targets the two of them wanted to challenge.
As for Lee, he normally didn't use the Eight Gates during sparring matches with companions, so neither of them had yet witnessed the terror of a true taijutsu monster.
"I'm so jealous of Team 7," Tenten complained. "Why couldn't my sensei become my jonin instructor instead?"
"You're the one all of us envy the most," Sakura replied.
Everyone else agreed with that statement.
Out of everyone present, only Tenten had formally performed a disciple ceremony and could openly call Higashino Makoto "Sensei." She was his first official disciple.
"Why envy her?" Neji said calmly. "Makoto-sensei isn't the type to play favorites. If anyone has questions about training, they can always go to the dojo for guidance."
At that moment, Naruto suddenly spoke up.
"Another foreign team just arrived. I've got a feeling there's someone among them everyone should pay attention to."
That so-called "feeling" was actually the Nine-Tails informing him that an annoying person had arrived.
Only a very small number of people knew Naruto was a jinchūriki. Because Makoto had previously entered the seal several times to have "friendly discussions" with the giant fox, the two sides had eventually reached an agreement. As a result, the Nine-Tails hadn't caused trouble over the years and actually got along fairly well with Naruto.
Hearing Naruto's words, the others saw several adult shinobi leading their teams into Konoha. Judging by the forehead protectors, they were from Sunagakure—Konoha's ally and one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Among them, Gaara, carrying the massive gourd on his back, also noticed the group of Konoha genin staring at him.
His icy gaze swept across everyone present as he silently memorized the individuals he considered threats.
Temari instantly took a liking to Sasuke. Then she glanced at Naruto. "Konoha's pretty high quality when it comes to handsome guys."
Kankurō sneered. "What a carefree bunch of brats. My Crow puppet can hardly wait anymore."
"They're my prey," Gaara said coldly. "If you make a move before I do, I'll kill you."
Kankurō thought to himself:
What an impossible little brother to like.
Their squad leader, Baki, looked somewhat helpless. He paid no attention to Konoha's "genin observation squad" and simply followed the reception staff toward the lodging hall.
"That guy carrying the gourd is the one you meant, right?" Sasuke said. "He doesn't seem that special."
Naruto said, "Trust me. He's going to be a troublesome opponent."
"Really? That's actually pretty surprising," Tenten replied.
The others also became more alert internally. No one doubted Naruto's judgment.
After the Sunagakure group left, another eight shinobi arrived. Two jōnin leading their respective teams—it was a delegation from Takigakure.
Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly.
"That green-haired girl is the same as the guy with the gourd from earlier."
Before anyone could figure out what was special about her, however, the girl suddenly broke away from her team and ran straight toward them.
She looked at everyone excitedly.
"Hey, hey! My name's Fū, I'm from Takigakure! You're all Konoha genin participating in the exam too, right? Want to be friends with me?"
"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. If you want, then we're friends now."
"Really!? Then no take-backs! From now on, we're best friends!"
Fū grabbed Naruto's hand as if she had finally met long-lost family. Then she turned toward the others, enthusiastically shaking hands with each of them after everyone introduced themselves.
Only after her team's jōnin instructor repeatedly urged her on did she finally leave, looking extremely reluctant.
That maxed-out, born-social-butterfly personality left everyone completely dumbfounded.
"Naruto… are you sure you didn't sense wrong?" Sakura asked.
Naruto fell silent.
He was definitely sure. But how was he supposed to know the girl would be this enthusiastic?
If the entire shinobi world were like her, what wars would there even be? Everyone could just become friends instead.
After Takigakure, Iwagakure's team also arrived successfully.
This time, however, Naruto said nothing. Apparently, there wasn't anyone in that team worthy of special attention.
Only one black-haired girl glanced in their direction, seemingly quite interested in Konoha's genin.
Meanwhile, Ōnoki silently suffered inside.
No worthy successors. Life was pain. He didn't even feel like talking.
The four great shinobi villages seemed to have coordinated things in advance, all choosing to arrive in Konoha on the same day.
After Iwagakure came Kumogakure's team, but there still wasn't anyone who gave Naruto a particularly special feeling.
Which made perfect sense.
Both Iwagakure's and Kumogakure's jinchūriki were adult shinobi who had long since become jōnin. Naturally, they wouldn't be participating in some Chūnin Exam.
Even more awkwardly, aside from Han, the other three jinchūriki had all previously gotten completely crushed by Makoto. They probably didn't want to come to Konoha in the first place.
Even so, there was still someone in the Kumogakure group who drew everyone's attention.
There was no helping it.
She was just way too huge.
Combined with her extremely revealing outfit, the deep cleavage was enough to make pure-hearted boys like Sasuke blush slightly.
Tenten, Sakura, and Ino looked at each other, then lowered their heads to look at their own chests, tears of envy and jealousy silently streaming down inside.
...
Kirigakure's team arrived last.
Like Iwagakure and Kumogakure, they had sent three elite squads, three jōnin instructors, and one overall commander.
And the leader of Kirigakure's delegation was an old acquaintance of Team 7's:
Momochi Zabuza.
Not Ao. That guy literally had a Byakugan installed in his eye socket, so unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't come swaggering into Konoha.
Human relationships really were strange.
Less than a month had passed since Zabuza's battle against Team 7, yet now they were meeting again in Konoha.
Zabuza gave Sasuke's group a slight nod in greeting.
Inside his squad, an absolutely beautiful genin said something to Zabuza before walking directly toward Konoha's "genin observation squad."
Following behind him was a boy carrying a giant sword and wearing a mischievous grin.
As for the third teammate, he was a timid-looking boy wearing earmuffs and glasses. He seemed to want to come over but didn't dare, as though he suffered from severe social anxiety.
After approaching them, Haku glanced at Sasuke and Naruto before finally looking toward Sakura.
"Hello, my friends from Konoha. We meet again."
"Huh? Do we know each other?" Sakura asked blankly.
Haku smiled gently as a senbon needle appeared in his hand.
"Of course we do. I was wearing a mask back then."
"Ah! It's you! I never expected you to be such a beautiful girl. I'm honestly jealous."
"I'm a boy," Haku corrected with a smile. "Don't get it wrong next time."
Tenten, Sakura, Ino: "…"
So not a single boy among us is prettier than him?
Excuse me, dear friend from Kirigakure—when you grow up, will you even need a wife? You could probably just make a clone and date yourself.
The boys all lowered their heads slightly, not daring to stare too much.
It felt like looking too long would invoke some mysterious force that would wipe out their bloodlines.
Hōzuki Suigetsu bared a mouthful of sharp teeth.
"So you guys are the Konoha ninja who fought Zabuza-senpai? You don't look like much."
Sasuke instantly felt an instinctive dislike toward him.
"You don't look like much either."
"Oh yeah? Then if you run into me during the exam, you'd better be careful. Remember the name—Hōzuki Suigetsu."
"The Hōzuki Clan from Kirigakure?" Naruto asked.
"Oh? Looks like Konoha's genin actually know their stuff."
Now Sasuke was interested.
"My name's Uchiha Sasuke."
"Alright then, everyone from Konoha," Haku said with a smile. "We'll be leaving first. See you tomorrow."
After they left, Neji asked, "You fought them before? Aside from the Hōzuki Clan guy, does that girl… that boy have some special ability?"
"Ice Release," Naruto answered. "From Kirigakure's Yuki Clan."
"I see," Neji murmured. "Interesting. I'm actually starting to look forward to this Chūnin Exam now."
"It is interesting," Sasuke agreed. "There are quite a few opponents here who look worth fighting."
"Ice Release?" Lee scratched his head. "I think Makoto-sensei can use that too. Is it really that easy to learn?"
"Idiot," Tenten shot back. "He's from the Yuki Clan. They naturally awaken the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai without needing to learn it. Sensei succeeded by combining chakra natures through pure talent."
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