"Should we make contact with these Konoha people now? None of the ones I remember seem particularly dangerous. We could consider approaching them..."
"Rock Lee has a simple way of thinking. Maybe we can get some information out of him, but we need to watch out for Tenten and Neji—especially Neji. His Byakugan might... no, it will definitely notice the abnormal Chakra inside me."
"But even if he notices it, it doesn't matter. That alone proves nothing."
Moriyue was considering how to approach Rock Lee when Ando and Kazeki followed his gaze and spotted Tenten and Rock Lee, both with little stars practically shining in their eyes.
"These people... are from Konoha? Uh, that girl with the buns..." Ando looked toward Team Three from afar, but when he saw Tenten's smiling face, the old man actually blushed and quickly turned away.
Kazeki, on the other hand, remained perfectly composed. She swept her expressionless gaze across the group, recalling the intelligence she had on Konoha's new generation.
"Tenten excels at Space-Time Ninjutsu. Her main method of combat is summoning all kinds of ninja tools."
"Rock Lee is a taijutsu genius—simple and straightforward. He has mastered the Eight Inner Gates, and opening them greatly increases his strength."
"Neji is a true genius. He possesses the Byakugan, a Kekkei Genkai, and has brought the Gentle Fist to an extraordinary level. He is quick-witted, calm, and collected."
"Hey, those people are strong. Can we really... What are you looking at?"
Kazeki poked Ando. The people across from them were all quite capable. Even Captain Moriyue had that look on his face. Things seemed dangerous.
"Huh? Nothing. I wasn't looking anywhere. Mm-hmm, you're right..." Ando reluctantly withdrew his gaze, still savoring the image of Tenten's sweet smile.
Moriyue had no idea what the two were thinking. He made up his mind to approach the Konoha group. Perhaps they would gain something unexpected. Of the Five Great Ninja Villages, Konoha was the most likely to have gathered information on talismans. There was no harm in making contact.
But just as Moriyue made that decision, a purple-haired figure interrupted him.
"Ah! Ow, ow, ow! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" A sweet voice rose from beneath Moriyue. A girl in a pale-purple Chinese-style training outfit sat crouched on the ground, clutching her slightly reddened forehead with both hands. She was sitting there like a duck.
Moriyue was the perfect experimental subject for the Life-Burning Forbidden Jutsu. His body had undergone special enhancement, so there was no way this little girl could hurt him by bumping into him. In fact, he had not felt a thing.
After standing there blankly for several seconds, Moriyue finally realized that something had apparently run into him. Only then did he notice the purple-clad girl sitting by his feet.
"Sorry. Are you all right?" Moriyue reached out to pull her up, but the girl slapped his hand away.
"Lady Konan was right! Everyone outside the village is a terrible person!"
"Uh..." Moriyue was left a little dazed by that sudden accusation. That line of reasoning felt strangely familiar.
He looked again at the purple-haired girl sprawled on the ground. Her hair was tied into two little curved buns like tiny horns, and she had pale golden eyes. That appearance... wasn't this the Path of the Loli?
"No, she wasn't dead yet at this point. She should still be called Ajisai."
Seeing that Ajisai was unharmed, Moriyue did not stubbornly insist on helping her up. Go wherever you want. If you trust Konan's words that much, then trust them all the way to your death.
Ajisai sat on the ground for quite some time. When she saw Moriyue had no intention of helping her again, she sprang to her feet. As expected, the people outside Amegakure were treacherous. She had merely tested that guy, and he had already revealed his true nature.
"Unrepentant evildoer, refusing to save someone in danger, cold-blooded and heartless..." Ajisai dusted herself off and struggled to her feet. Of course, she had not been knocked down so easily.
Konan had assigned the three of them a mission: find the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki taking part in the exam and use their sensory abilities to locate the Tailed Beasts. At the very least, she could now confirm that Moriyue was not a Jinchuriki.
Staring at Moriyue's retreating back from afar, Ajisai wrinkled her delicate nose and muttered:
"I clearly sensed an incredible Chakra presence on him. Did I sense it wrong?"
After that small disturbance, Moriyue no longer followed his original plan to approach Rock Lee. He called over Ando and Kazeki. They should return to the inn first.
"Let's leave first. I didn't expect someone to target us the moment we arrived." Moriyue patted the Kumogakure forehead protector at his waist. As Kumogakure's only team, he felt he might have underestimated the other villages' hostility toward them.
Ajisai's test had not been accidental. As more and more ninja gathered, the air around them seemed to grow thick, as if the smell of gunpowder were about to spill over. Quite a few people were openly or covertly glancing at the forehead protectors of Moriyue's group. Upon recognizing Kumogakure's symbol, identical looks of disgust appeared on their faces.
"Look, Kumogakure. Those war-crazed lunatics. If we run into them in the actual combat round, we have to join forces and take them out. Kumogakure people don't think right. They're single-minded brutes, every last one of them. Be careful."
"Not necessarily. This is Sunagakure's home ground. How arrogant can Kumogakure be here? We have the right time, place, and people on our side. Besides, didn't they only send one team?"
"Only one team? Doesn't that mean this team is very strong? Then we really do need to join forces."
"Quite the opposite. I checked them out earlier. I saw that expressionless girl and the little white-haired one during a previous mission. Those two are decent enough, but only average—not especially strong."
"As for that pretty-boy with the smile, his Chakra pathways are completely severed. Is Kumogakure so short on people that they sent a cripple to take the Chunin Exams? Hahahaha."
Unrestrained laughter came from all around. They were openly provoking Moriyue's group, and in truth, things did appear more or less as they said. Their strength really did not seem like much.
Several villages that had never gotten along with Kumogakure began taking turns mocking Moriyue's group. Their words were extremely unpleasant. They simply looked down on them, believing they would be eliminated in the first round.
Kazeki's expression remained unchanged, but her breathing had become slightly unsteady. She was not as composed as she appeared.
Ando, meanwhile, glared back at them one after another. He had not read all those books for nothing, nor had he learned all that vocabulary for nothing. Simply put, he was excellent at trading insults—a true online troll.
"What are you yelling for? You only learned to count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven as a kid, you bastard."
"And you—why do you never use the thing sitting on top of your neck to think? If we were already Chunin, why would we be taking the Chunin Exams?"
"You may not be a turtle that hides in its shell, but you're its ancestor. Why didn't you dare say that when you came to Kumogakure for the exams before?"
Ando traded insults with them enthusiastically, while Moriyue merely kept smiling as though he knew nothing—yet also as though he had taken in everything.
Before you continue