Maki VS Gang Tu!

Built like a mountain, with a square face.

Judging by appearances alone, no one would believe that the figure before them, wearing an Iwagakure forehead protector and looking undeniably like an adult, was the fourteen-year-old Iwagakure prodigy.

Gang Tu!

A man with an absurdly impressive record.

Was this the ninja world's version of "speak of the devil, and he appears"?

"Here."

Honda Taka swiftly completed the transaction.

After getting the intelligence handbook, Gang Tu flipped to the rankings at the very end.

He had heard about the handbook on the road and come specifically to buy it.

Has my information been leaked?

That thought flashed through Gang Tu's mind after he finished reading the information inside.

His information had been under lockdown.

He had not expected someone to leak it.

It had to be either Sunagakure or Konoha!

It was hardly strange for those two major ninja villages to know these things. They were merely releasing the information through channels outside their villages.

As for why he was so certain?

Of course, it was because they had done the same thing, releasing information on Konoha and Sunagakure examinees.

The various ninja villages had released quite a bit of intelligence, but this handbook was still the fastest-spreading and most influential source.

Its evaluations gave people an intuitive understanding of a ninja's abilities in every aspect.

With intelligence from the past, one might have had to read through an entire dossier before gaining a clear impression of an unfamiliar ninja.

A talent!

Anyone who could devise such an evaluation system was truly talented.

"Captain, this time, we have to let the ninja world know that Iwagakure's geniuses are no weaker than anyone else's!"

An Iwagakure ninja who had seen the rankings was extremely excited.

That was right. In the past, it had always been geniuses from other ninja villages who drew all the attention. Now it was Iwagakure's turn.

Iwagakure had always given people the impression of unity and rock-like stubbornness. It had never been associated with geniuses, but now they finally had a prodigy capable of crushing those from every major ninja village.

Pride and excitement made every Iwagakure ninja feel honored.

The ninja world placed enormous importance on reputation.

The major ninja villages had always spared no effort in promoting their own geniuses.

Iwagakure had emphasized unity in the past only because it had lacked geniuses. Now that it had one, of course they would promote him with everything they had.

Reputation equaled profit!

A genius could absolutely bring enormous benefits to a village.

That might not sound intuitive enough.

For example.

The Five Great Ninja Villages were the five largest mercenary groups, while geniuses were their companies' "star mercenaries." Many clients placed orders with a mercenary group specifically because of a certain person's reputation.

Only after truly arriving in the ninja world could one understand.

Why the major ninja villages, despite knowing their geniuses would easily become targets for other villages, still insisted on pushing them into the spotlight.

The benefits to the village were simply too great.

"Tch, it's just some casually compiled list, and you already think you're the strongest? How ignorant!"

A Sunagakure ninja wearing a forehead protector approached, followed by a male and female companion.

Oh, and he held a copy of the intelligence handbook as well.

If Tang Ping remembered correctly, this was the Sunagakure genius ranked second.

Well... major ninja villages could naturally cultivate geniuses continuously.

Whether in resources or population, major ninja villages were far beyond anything small ninja villages could compare to.

Not to mention that geniuses from major ninja villages could spread their reputations much more easily. If they came from a small ninja village, even with the same talent and strength, they would never gain much fame.

And events like the Joint Chunin Exams were the best opportunity for those small ninja villages.

As long as they could make a name for themselves on such an occasion, not only would the ninja themselves benefit, but the small ninja villages behind them could also receive plenty of commissions. It was pure profit.

So even though small ninja villages knew the Joint Chunin Exams were a meat grinder for them, they still sent many teams every time.

"Maki!"

Gang Tu spat out the other man's name, radiating killing intent that seemed capable of crushing people apart.

Take note: in the ninja world, killing intent was not merely an adjective. It truly existed.

In the future, Orochimaru would use killing intent to intimidate Kakashi, who was already a jonin at the time, and later render Uchiha Sasuke, still a genin, unable to move.

At present, Gang Tu's killing intent was naturally nowhere near that level.

But it was definitely not weak.

It was the kind of killing intent that could only be cultivated by killing many people.

All that could be said was that Iwagakure had truly made up its mind to elevate a "genius" this time.

There was nothing more suitable for making a name for oneself than the Joint Chunin Exams.

Perhaps Iwagakure had kept Gang Tu secret all this time precisely so he could burst onto the scene in these exams.

Faced with the confrontation, everyone nearby except the ninjas quietly moved away.

Residents of ninja villages were no strangers to ninjas.

In a village without ninjas, people would have fled the instant they saw something like this.

Naturally, the three behind the stall did not leave. They remained where they were, Eating melon.

However, Tang Ping's gaze locked onto the Sunagakure ninja who had arrived later.

Maki!

He had some impression of this future teacher who led Sunagakure's "protagonist team."

He had simply not expected Maki to be so famous in his youth, nor for his personality to be so flamboyant and arrogant, utterly unlike his composed self in the future.

But it made sense when he thought about it.

Anyone who would grow into an Elite Jonin could not have been a nobody in their youth.

Ninja was not a profession with a "late game."

Geniuses and strong people showed signs from the beginning. Only oddballs like Obito and Naruto experienced explosive growth after graduation.

"Gang Tu!"

Maki stepped forward, directly bearing the killing intent Gang Tu was releasing.

Their teammates also moved to cover their respective captains, and the atmosphere was completely on the verge of erupting.

Suddenly.

A frigid killing intent cut in from the side, interrupting the standoff between the two squads.

A white-haired little kid wearing a mask slowly walked toward the stall.

Kakashi!

He had come too.

As for why it was such a coincidence?

Naturally, it was not a coincidence.

The Chunin Exams began tomorrow, so plenty of examinees had come early to check the intelligence. This street was practically unavoidable, so it was perfectly normal for them to appear here.

"Now they're all here!"

Honda Taka muttered.

Tang Ping and Yamaa Koji, who had just finished reading the intelligence handbook, naturally understood that he meant the top three geniuses on the rankings had gathered.

"Kakashi?" *2

Gang Tu and Maki spoke at the same time, killing intent faintly flashing in both their eyes.

They had heard of this Son of White Fang, Konoha's "super genius."

One of their missions in joining the Joint Chunin Exams was to eliminate the geniuses of other ninja villages, and Kakashi was naturally high on that list.

Maki in particular!

Sunagakure was absolutely wary of and hateful toward Kakashi.

In the last Ninja World War, White Fang had inflicted devastating losses on Sunagakure with a single short blade.

Now that Kakashi, this "Son of White Fang," was so gifted, how could Sunagakure not fear and hate him?

Given the chance, Maki would eliminate this hidden danger for his village.

Unfortunately, they both knew that releasing a little pressure was one thing, but actually making a move was completely impossible.

Did they think the Anbu and patrol teams observing in secret were just decorations?

If they truly dared to attack.

The Uchiha Patrol Team would not care who they were. They would arrest them without discussion.

All that could be said was that the Uchiha Clan truly knew how to keep order.

"In these Chunin Exams, first place will belong to Iwagakure!"

Gang Tu's voice was steady and confident.

"Hmph!" Maki retorted unhappily. "The champion will definitely be Sunagakure!"

"Boring!" Kakashi casually remarked, then said to Tang Ping and Yamaa Koji, who were watching from behind the stall, "Teacher Minato sent me to get you."

After saying that, he turned and left, as though he could not care less about such matters.

His cool factor was maxed out!

It seemed there was a reason Uchiha Sasuke would max out his brooding act in the future.

When the teacher knew how to act cool, the student would naturally follow suit.