Isn't the Martial World All About Fighting and Killing?

"Stay alert!"

Kamano shouted, and the three of them ignored Naruto's escape, forming a semicircle around the pile of scrolls.

"Don't panic. We weren't the ones who took them. At worst, we'll only keep our own and return the rest to them."

Morikawa called out to his teammates.

Some time passed, but no one appeared.

Kamano suddenly thought of something and shouted, "Oh no!"

He immediately rushed toward the pile of scrolls and tried to open them with his bare hands.

"Don't!"

Morikawa broke out in a cold sweat. The examiner had clearly said that opening a scroll directly would result in disqualification.

But it was already too late.

As the smoke cleared, the scroll in Kamano's hand had turned into a bamboo tube, while the other two scrolls were nothing more than a log and a dead branch.

"We were all fooled."

"There were no pursuers at all. From beginning to end, it was all a setup by that demon fox brat."

Kamano said bitterly.

"What?!" Morikawa stared at everything in disbelief.

"Was it... then?!" The female ninja Anri also realized what had happened. After Naruto had bumped into her, the scroll in her hand had slipped loose. In that instant, the brat had switched it out.

"Damn it!!" Morikawa slammed a fist into a tree. "That damn demon fox brat! The next time I catch him, I'll make him pay!"

They should have figured out the truth by now.

Deceitful Monkey Kitsu carried the Earth Scroll on his back and raced through the treetops with a bored expression.

Mm, this was the place.

Spotting Sasuke's group below, Monkey Kitsu lightly descended.

"Wow! Monkey Uncle, you're back?"

Naruto happily stepped forward to greet him.

"Here. The Earth Scroll."

Without responding, Monkey Kitsu directly tossed the scroll in his hand to Sasuke.

It really worked!

Sasuke caught the scroll, delight rising in his heart.

He had only wanted to give it a try. He never expected it to prove so useful.

"Ah! That's amazing!!" Naruto shouted.

"So, Monkey Uncle, did you disguise yourself as me and show off your skills?"

"Why did you choose me? Was it because I look so imposing that I could pull off handsome moves? Hehehe." Naruto struck a shamelessly bashful pose, practically bursting with delight.

"Yeah, tell us! How did you do it?" Sakura was thrilled as well.

She had never expected they could get through the second stage of the Chunin Exams so safely.

"Ha, is there anything I, Deceitful Monkey Kitsu, can't get? All it took was a little trick."

Monkey Kitsu initially tried to keep up an air of importance, but in such an atmosphere, he could not help growing smug.

"The three idiots were even standing guard over it, hahahaha." Monkey Kitsu became more animated as he spoke, then suddenly noticed that something was off.

The expressions on the three children's faces were getting worse and worse. Naruto in particular looked as though he were gritting his teeth.

"What, you don't approve of how I handled things?" Monkey Kitsu's smile vanished, and his voice turned cold.

"I can't stand such underhanded methods. If you have something to say, say it openly! What right did you have to disguise yourself as me and do something like that? I'm going to become Hokage! How could you ruin my reputation like this?!"

"Ha! Your reputation?" After laughing for a while, Monkey Kitsu turned serious. "But they call you the demon fox brat."

At those words, Sasuke and Sakura's expressions changed. Both felt that Monkey Kitsu had gone too far.

"Listen, kid."

"If people are biased against you, what you should do is not try to change their perception of you. You should use that bias to take full advantage of them!"

Monkey Kitsu waved his pipe and spoke with impassioned conviction.

Naruto froze. He had never heard such absurd words before, and yet he felt that something about them was wrong.

"As a ninja, I would rather die honorably in battle. Even if I remained a Genin for the rest of my life, I would never resort to such shameful tricks!"

"What the hell do you know about being a ninja?!" Monkey Kitsu lost his patience and cursed.

A young boy's heart was like clear crystal. His sense of right and wrong was simple, yet sharply defined.

"A ninja is someone who can suppress his emotions, reveal nothing, and ultimately achieve his objective. No matter how difficult it is, the mission must always come first."

"You were born for killing. You are murder machines that bury your emotions! Dignity, glory, loved ones, morality—they are all lies meant to fool children. Cast all of that aside. The mission is the objective, and completing it is your only value."

Young boys had to grow up eventually.

As a core part of war, they would sooner or later face trials of their own.

And in the end, those crystals would be shattered to pieces.

"If what you call honor means letting others—or yourself—bleed like rivers, then I, Deceitful Monkey Kitsu, would rather remain in the shadows forever!"

With a light leap, Monkey Kitsu landed on Sasuke's shoulder, leaving the others with only his back.

"I've already completed the mission. If we don't see eye to eye, don't bother me again!"

"Oh, right." Monkey Kitsu turned back and stared at Naruto, whose fists were clenched tight. "Welcome to the real ninja world."

After a puff of smoke, Monkey Kitsu vanished.

With his abrupt departure, the trio fell into an awkward silence.

Sasuke felt somewhat guilty, but at the same time, he could not think of a better choice.

Ever since testing the Cursed Seal's power in the forest, his body had felt weak.

Whenever he tried to use ninjutsu, intense pain shot through his neck.

And deeper into the Forest of Death, things would only become more dangerous.

In Sasuke's eyes, Sakura and Naruto's combat strength was probably not enough to support the group through the next round.

But what troubled him even more was that he could not fully approve of Monkey Kitsu's methods.

Before this, Sasuke's worldview had not been complicated.

Strength and weakness, justice and evil, comrades and enemies—simple binary oppositions.

But Monkey Kitsu's appearance had painted a layer of gray over that black-and-white world:

In the same matter, two completely opposing cores had emerged: the objective was achieved, the gains were enormous, but the method lacked honor.

This complicated, three-dimensional structure left Sasuke's thoughts in complete turmoil.

"Maybe... we should return the scroll."

Thinking of Naruto's words about becoming Hokage, Sasuke spoke.

No one said anything.

If they had been asked at the beginning to set up a scheme and deceive someone, Team 7 would never have agreed.

But now that the scroll was already in their hands, asking them to return it was another matter entirely.

Though there was no difference in the outcome, the psychological cost of the decision was worlds apart.

Choosing not to do something was far easier than choosing to actively do it.

"Aaah!"

A miserable scream came from not far away, followed by two more screams, shattering the silence.

The three of them reacted at once and silently leaped into the bushes to hide.

After an unknown amount of time, a boy with sharp canine teeth and messy hair leaped down from the treetops and promptly kicked Naruto in the butt.