Chunin Certification

If you asked what was the most comfortable thing to do in this world, everyone might have a different answer.

Some people liked using the Transformation Technique to become carefree little gray chickens with middle-parted feathers, exercising every day and crowing to their hearts' content. If there was a basketball, that would be even better.

Others liked striving away at their jobs, working overtime until they were physically and mentally exhausted, all so their boss could afford a little hybrid-Chakra new-energy car.

Then there were those who, no matter what job they did, focused on only one thing—slacking off. They were not mindlessly giving up, though. They would still do their best to complete the work assigned to them, but their standard for completion was always the bare minimum set by their superiors.

In other words, every task was completed to the lowest possible standard, and the results depended entirely on how high that standard had been set.

Clearly, Darui belonged to the last category. Though he was naturally lazy and afraid of trouble, his exceptional efficiency and overwhelmingly positive reviews meant that no one had ever had much to say about him. He might have been lazy, but he truly got things done.

Today, as usual, he was lying around in his office. He had finished processing all the documents requiring approval long ago. That mountain of paperwork had been cleared in just one hour.

"Yoshi, it's all done. Time to slack off and rest a little." Stretching lazily, Darui leaned back as usual. Documents that should have taken four hours to handle had been finished in one, which meant the remaining three hours were his time to rest.

He pulled his Sad Frog eye mask from his pocket. Even though his hair had grown long enough to completely cover his eyes, the proper sense of ritual still had to be observed.

Putting on the eye mask, Darui closed his eyes in satisfaction. A beautiful day began with sleep.

Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock~

The piercing knocking shattered Darui's sweet dream. He jolted upright from his chair, adjusted his breathing, and walked to the door with some annoyance.

"No one's home."

Even so, he reluctantly opened the door. Standing outside was Moriyue.

"Holy..."

Darui was startled by Moriyue's appearance. His skin had been scorched dark by lightning, and his hair had completely turned into an afro, making him look like he had just crawled out of some mine.

"Did you go train on a mountaintop? Get struck by lightning?" Darui could not tell who this person was, but for him to come looking for Darui in that state, there had to be something important to discuss.

Moriyue scratched his somewhat fluffy hair. After a great deal of effort, he finally smoothed down the frizzy strands, wiped the soot from his face, and revealed his true appearance.

"Captain Darui, it's me, Moriyue. Do you remember me? I just finished training with Teacher Yugito, and I came to show you the results. Teacher Yugito said my current strength is probably enough to take on missions."

Moriyue smiled with utter honesty, without the slightest hint of deception. At his reminder, Darui remembered him as well. Nodding, he prepared to arrange a test for Moriyue.

"I remember now. Hmm, if Yugito Nii was right, you should have Genin-level strength now. Don't get cocky. Every ninja who graduates from the Ninja Academy becomes a Genin. Chunin is the dividing line that determines whether a ninja is truly qualified..."

In truth, Darui had not placed much hope in Moriyue. What had caught his eye back then was Moriyue's willingness to risk his life. He did not expect Moriyue to make any great progress in such a short time. He only hoped that Moriyue could carry out missions properly within his squad and not hold them back.

"Genin?" Moriyue rested his chin on one hand, showing a thoughtful expression.

"Fine, Genin is good too. I'm pretty satisfied with that." He did not mention his actual strength. It was the same everywhere—whether one was a Chunin or a Genin, as long as one was strong enough, no one would dare look down on them.

Darui was very satisfied with Moriyue's calm and unhurried attitude. That was more like it. Young people needed to keep their composure.

"By the way, I haven't asked yet. What happened to those injuries?" Darui suddenly remembered that Moriyue had not explained how he had ended up like this. Training required a proper balance between exertion and rest. Getting struck by lightning just to train was not a good thing.

Moriyue had no intention of hiding it. The matter of him defeating Karui would spread soon enough, so there was no need to keep it secret.

"Nothing much. I fought Karui just now and barely won. She's already been sent to the hospital. I'll go see her later."

"So you got into a fight with Karui. I thought... What? You fought Karui? And you won?"

At first, Darui showed no particular reaction. Karui's name only sounded familiar. After thinking for a while, he remembered—wasn't Karui one of Killer B's two disciples? She had become a Chunin long ago, and her strength was solid.

It was nothing much to him, but hearing Moriyue say that he had defeated Karui still surprised him.

How long had it even been since they last met? This kid could already go toe-to-toe with a Chunin? Not bad. It seemed he had underestimated him.

"Kid, you've got something. I didn't misjudge you back then. But if I remember correctly, you can't use ninjutsu, right? Or did you use an explosion from a failed ninjutsu attempt to blow your opponent unconscious?"

Hearing Darui's words, Moriyue looked as if a new world had opened before him. He excitedly struck his fist into his palm, his eyes shining brightly.

"That's right! As expected of Captain Darui. Veteran ninja really are amazing—there's even a way to use it like that. I'd been stuck in a dead end before. Thank you, Captain Darui!"

Moriyue was delighted. He had been overly fixated on forbidden techniques and Nintaijutsu before, and had barely considered ninjutsu at all. Now that Darui had reminded him, this was definitely possible.

"Deidara? Explosion brat? I'll show you what a real explosion brat is." With another idea forming in his mind, Moriyue finally explained in detail how he had defeated Karui.

After hearing everything, Darui's expression became solemn. He truly could not figure out whether Moriyue was fearless or simply trying to get himself killed. How could he turn every technique he practiced into a forbidden technique?

"That's dangerous. Kid, aren't you afraid of dying?... But even if you defeated Karui, I still can't certify you as a Chunin..."

Ninja rank certification was not that simple. Unlike Genin, Chunin were already the backbone of a village. They would more or less come into contact with village secrets, and their benefits were much better than a Genin's. Darui did not have the authority to promote someone to Chunin on his own.

"Ah, that's fine too. I..." Moriyue remained calm. Whether he had Chunin certification or not did not matter to him. As long as he was strong enough, that was enough.

Knock, knock, knock~ Knock, knock, knock~ Urgent footsteps sounded behind Moriyue. A white-haired female secretary came to Darui with a document. Walking around Moriyue, she handed the file to Darui, then whispered something in his ear.

Darui looked at the document in his hand, then at the somewhat bedraggled Moriyue. An inexplicable smile appeared on his face.

"Should I say you're lucky or unlucky, kid? You now have a chance to become a Chunin."