At this moment, the creak of a wooden door was heard.
Gaara pushed open a door and walked inside as if no one else was there.
Kankuro casually waved his hand at Mamoru and the others. "We'll be going ahead then."
Temari gave Mamoru a meaningful look, let out a light laugh, and followed Gaara into the tower.
Mamoru watched them enter, stretched, and walked slowly toward the door next to theirs.
"If people didn't know better, they'd think we were very close." He muttered, lifting his foot and kicking open the red door with a "clatter."
The three of them walked into the tower and came to a room of modest size.
Mamoru stood in the center of the room looking around, and three words couldn't help but pop into his mind: high-risk building.
Directly opposite the door was a wall covered in cracks, looking dilapidated. In the center of the wall hung a striking calligraphy scroll.
At this moment, a soft voice sounded. "If one lacks [Heaven], then one should recognize wisdom to prepare for opportunity. If one lacks [Earth], then one must pursue the plains to seek profit."
Mamoru looked toward the source of the voice to see Hinata looking up, softly reading the words on the calligraphy scroll. "Open the dual numbers of Heaven and Earth, then the dangerous path returns to the righteous path. This is... hmm?"
Noticing the confused expression on Hinata's face, Mamoru couldn't help but turn to look closely at the scroll on the wall. It seemed to be missing a character.
What kind of stuff was written on this? Does one need to understand classic literature to take the Chunin exams?
Although he had no impression of this plot point, that missing character was too obvious.
He nodded with feigned depth, putting on a look of confidence, and said with certainty, "Man."
"Oh..."
Hearing this, a look of admiration immediately appeared in Hinata's eyes. She stole a glance at Mamoru, then lowered her head and continued reading "This is the pinnacle of [Man]... it is the talent for leadership."
"So, what exactly does this mean?" After Hinata finished reading, Shino pushed up his sunglasses and asked.
The two of them simultaneously focused their gaze on Mamoru's face.
Why are you looking at me? How should I know? I don't know them, and they don't know me.
Mamoru complained helplessly in his heart, but on the surface, he feigned composure and cast his gaze toward that calligraphy scroll.
Seeing Mamoru's appearance of being lost in thought, Hinata and Shino tacitly remained quiet, holding their breath as they waited for his explanation.
Time passed second by second.
Mamoru stared at those winding strokes but still couldn't make heads or tails of them, only able to sigh secretly in his heart.
Sorry, I was wrong, I shouldn't have pretended to understand. But I'll dare to do it again next time.
"It's marked with 'Heaven' and 'Earth,' which should refer to the Heaven scroll and Earth scroll."
Mamoru's face didn't change, but his tone was slightly vague as he explained, "The 'Open the dual numbers of Heaven and Earth' written there, well... it probably means for us to open the scrolls."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shino didn't doubt him at all and took two scrolls out of his pocket. Just as he was about to unfurl the scrolls, Mamoru suddenly reached out and stopped him.
"Wait..."
Mamoru's eyes narrowed slightly as he quietly activated his Six Eyes to observe the scrolls in Shino's hands.
The next second, a surprised look appeared on his face.
This was actually hypnotism.
A single scroll is hypnotism, and two scrolls together are a Summoning Technique?
"Mamoru, what's wrong?" Shino looked at him in confusion.
"No... it's nothing. Open them." Mamoru quickly regained his composure, took one scroll from Shino's hand, and said in a calm tone.
As his voice fell, the two of them unfurled the scrolls at the same time. Complex and regular incantations surrounding a striking character for "Man" came into view, forming a profound pattern.
Suddenly, a burst of thick smoke rose from the scrolls. Without a second thought, Mamoru tossed the scroll away. Shino immediately followed suit, and the two scrolls landed on the same spot on the ground almost simultaneously.
With a soft "poof," a slender figure faintly emerged from the rising white smoke. Once the white smoke dissipated, Kurenai stood there with her arms crossed, her expression steady, her blood-red eyes scanning the three students present.
"Long time no see—is what I wanted to say." Kurenai took a pocket watch from her waist, her steady expression instantly collapsing, her face full of shock.
"How long has it been, and you've already reached the tower?"
"Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata shouted joyfully.
"Hinata, are you okay?" Kurenai quickly walked to Hinata and carefully examined the girl's condition, her tone full of concern.
"I-I'm fine." Hinata replied in a small voice.
After confirming Hinata was unharmed, Kurenai turned her gaze toward the arrogant Mamoru. "You didn't cause any major disturbances, did you?"
"Hehehe... no."
Mamoru raised an eyebrow and asked back in a teasing tone, "You aren't on a date, are you? Did we disturb you?"
"You... you brat, what... what nonsense are you saying?" Kurenai's cheeks immediately flushed, and she scolded in panic.
"Don't be embarrassed, we're all adults here." Mamoru gave a punchable smile and winked, continuing to tease his superior.
"Who's an adult with you? You brat, so disrespectful!"
Kurenai was driven to anger by shame. She reached out, wanting to give the flippant boy a flick on the forehead, but he nimbly dodged it.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and decided to ignore the grinning Mamoru. "Alright, the joking ends here. Now for business..."
Kurenai said slowly, "First, congratulations on passing the second exam. However, the fact that you could collect the scrolls and reach the tower so quickly really gave me a fright. This should have broken the records of previous years."
"No, a team from the Sunagakure arrived at the same time as us." Mamoru replied in a flat tone.
"Is that so... this year's rookies are truly extraordinary." Kurenai lamented thoughtfully.
"You didn't come here specifically just to congratulate us, did you?"
"How could that be? I'm specifically here to serve as your messenger this time, notifying you of passing the exam is just incidental." Kurenai explained her purpose.
Actually, the messenger's task was usually handled by a Chunin, but she really couldn't stop worrying about Mamoru's trio, especially Mamoru who always loved to cause trouble, so she took on this task herself.