Chapter Twenty-Four: Probing

"Should we approach these people from Konoha now? The ones who came in my memory aren't particularly dangerous, so we could consider interacting with them..."

"Rock Lee's thought process is very simple, maybe I can get some information from him, but I need to be careful about Tenten and Neji, especially Neji. That guy's Byakugan might... no, it will definitely notice the abnormal chakra within me."

"But it doesn't matter even if they notice. This alone doesn't explain anything."

As Moriyue was considering how to approach Rock Lee, Ando and Kazeki on the side followed Moriyue's gaze and happened to see Tenten and Rock Lee with stars in their eyes.

"Are these people... from Konoha? Ugh, that girl with the meatball bun..." Ando looked towards the Third Squad from afar, but his old face actually turned red when he saw Tenten's smiling face, and he turned away to avoid her gaze.

Kazeki, on the other hand, was very normal. She scanned the people present with a blank expression, recalling the information she had about Konoha's new generation in her memory.

"Tenten, skilled in Space-Time Ninjutsu, her main combat style is summoning various ninja tools to fight."

"Rock Lee, a taijutsu genius, simple and direct, masters the Eight Inner Gates, and his strength greatly increases when opened."

"Neji, a true genius, possesses the Byakugan, a Kekkei Genkai, his Gentle Fist is masterful, and his thinking is agile and calm."

"These guys are strong, can we really... What are you looking at?"

Kazeki poked Ando. The strength of the people on the opposite side was not bad. Even Captain Moriyue had that kind of expression, which seemed dangerous.

"Huh? No, I wasn't looking anywhere. Mhm, you're right..." Ando reluctantly withdrew his gaze, still savoring Tenten's sweet smile in his heart.

Moriyue didn't know what these two were thinking. He decided to approach Konoha. Perhaps there would be some unexpected gains. Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Konoha was the most likely place to collect talismans, so approaching them couldn't hurt.

But just as Moriyue made this decision, a purple-haired figure interrupted his actions.

"Ouch! It hurts, it hurts! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry!" A sweet voice came from under Moriyue. A young girl wearing a light purple Chinese-style training outfit squatted on the ground, covering her slightly red forehead with both hands, sitting on the ground like a duck.

After all, Moriyue was a perfect experimental subject for the Life-Burning Forbidden Jutsu. His body had been specially strengthened, so this little guy couldn't possibly cause him any harm. Moriyue didn't even feel it when he was hit.

After being stunned for a few seconds, Moriyue realized that something seemed to have bumped into him. He then saw the purple-clad girl sitting at his feet.

"Sorry, are you okay?" Moriyue tried to pull the girl up, but she pushed his outstretched hand away.

"Just as Konan-sama said, people from outside the village are all bad guys!"

"Ugh..." Moriyue was a bit stunned by the sudden punch. This kind of rhetoric, it sounded so familiar.

Looking at the purple-haired girl lying on the ground again, with her small, slightly curled pigtails and golden eyes, her appearance... wasn't this Ajisai?

"No, she isn't dead at this time. At this time, she should be called Ajisai."

Seeing that Ajisai was unharmed, Moriyue didn't insist on helping her up. Go wherever you want. Since you believe Konan's words so much, then you might as well believe them to death.

Ajisai sat on the ground for a while. Seeing that Moriyue had no intention of helping her further, she jumped up. As expected, people outside the Hidden Rain Village were sinister. Just testing that guy revealed his true nature.

"Unrepentant, leaving someone to die, cold-hearted..." Ajisai patted the dust off herself and struggled to stand up. Of course, she wasn't just bumped like that.

Konan had assigned them, the three of them, a mission: to find the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki participating in the exam and use their sensing abilities to locate the Tailed Beast. He could at least confirm that Moriyue was not a Jinchuriki.

Staring at Moriyue's retreating back from afar, Ajisai wrinkled her delicate nose and muttered:

"I clearly smelled an extraordinary chakra aura on this guy. Did I misperceive it?"

After this minor incident, Moriyue did not proceed with his original plan to approach Rock Lee. He called Ando and Kazeki and decided to return to the inn first.

"Let's leave first. I didn't expect us to be targeted as soon as we arrived." Moriyue patted the Cloud Village forehead protector attached to his waist. As the only team from Cloud Village, he felt he had underestimated the hostility other villages had towards Cloud Ninja.

Ajisai's probing just now was not accidental. As more ninjas appeared, the surrounding air seemed to become thicker, and the smell of gunpowder was about to overflow. Many people were looking at Moriyue and the other two's forehead protectors openly and secretly. Upon seeing the Cloud Village symbol, their faces showed a uniform look of disgust.

"Look, it's Cloud Ninja, those war-mongers. If we encounter them in real combat, we must join forces to deal with them. Cloud Ninja's thought processes are not quite normal, they're all single-minded, all brutes, be careful."

"It's not that serious. This is our Sand Shinobi's home turf. How arrogant can Cloud Ninja be? We have the advantage of time, place, and people. And it seems they only sent one team?"

"Only one team? Doesn't that mean this team is very strong? Then we really should join forces."

"On the contrary, I just scouted them out. I've seen that expressionless girl and that pale-haired guy before during missions. Their strength is alright, but I can only say it's average, not particularly strong."

"As for that smiling pale face, his chakra pathways are completely broken. Are there no people left in Cloud Village? They actually sent a loser to participate in the Chunin Exams? Hahaha."

Unconcealed laughter came from the surroundings. They were openly provoking Moriyue and the other two. The reality was indeed as they said; their strength really seemed to be only that.

The villages that usually had conflicts with Cloud Village began to taunt Moriyue and the other two. The words were extremely unpleasant, essentially looking down on them, saying they could only be eliminated in the first round.

Kazeki's expression remained unchanged, but her breathing had become a little labored. She was not as calm as she appeared.

Ando, on the other hand, glared back at them one by one. He hadn't read his books in vain, nor had he learned the vocabulary from them in vain. Simply put, his ability to argue was very strong, making him a complete internet troll.

"What are you shouting about? You only knew how to count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven since you were little, you scoundrel."

"And you, I don't know why you always use that thing on your neck to think. If we were Chunin, why would we still take the Chunin Exams?"

"Although you're not a turtle hiding in its shell, you're its ancestor. Why didn't you dare to say anything when you came to our Cloud Village for the exam before?"

Ando was arguing heatedly with these people, while Moriyue just smiled, as if he knew nothing, or as if he saw everything.