"Ando, don't be hasty." Moriyue smiled kindly, showing not the slightest hint of anger.
"But..." Ando wanted to say more. If ninjutsu had not been forbidden, he would have charged over and started fighting the people across from them long ago.
You learned ninjutsu so you could speak calmly to idiots. If you could not even do that, then ninjutsu was useless.
Moriyue patted Ando's shoulder again, making him swallow back what he wanted to say. However, judging from the displeased look on his face, he clearly had a great deal of resentment toward those people.
"Everyone, there's no point in saying these things now. We'll meet on the battlefield." Moriyue narrowed his eyes slightly. Even after being mocked and insulted by those people, he did not show the slightest anger.
Casualties during the Chunin Exams were perfectly normal. There was no need to be angry at dead people, was there?
Kazeki, who had remained silent beside them, seemed to sense something. As a sensory ninja, she was extremely sensitive to changes around her. At that moment, she felt a faint pressure emanating from Moriyue.
It felt like Mount Fuji on the verge of erupting. There was no sign on the surface, yet the pressure of a natural disaster had already begun to spread quietly.
The three soon left the crowd and headed for the inn Gaara had arranged for them. Along the way, they saw quite a few familiar faces.
Since Shikamaru had already been promoted to Chunin and was serving as an examiner in this test, the Ino-Shika-Cho team was down one member. However, Ino had pulled Sakura in, forming another three-person team.
Besides them, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, and the others had also entered this Chunin Exam. Other than Naruto, who was still training, and Sasuke, who had defected long ago, nearly all of the Konoha Twelve had arrived. This Chunin Exam was both a threshold for promotion to Chunin and a trial to test the results of their past two years of training.
However, Moriyue's gaze passed over those familiar faces. The person he was most interested in had not arrived yet.
Upon reaching the second floor of the inn, they found that Gaara had arranged a fine room for them. The view was excellent; from there, they could take in the scenery of nearly half of Sunagakure. Sounded cool, right?
In reality, though, the entire inn had been built into stone pillars—or rather, it was simply a collection of rooms carved into stone pillars. Moriyue was now standing on a naturally formed stone platform outside the room. Endless wind and sand surrounded Sunagakure, while ninja teams as tiny as ants continuously entered the village in the distance. They were all Genin here to compete.
"Zero, did you sense anything worth noting from the people we encountered earlier?"
Moriyue let out a soft breath. The air seemed filled with dust and sand. Living in this environment for too long would probably give someone lung disease.
"A few of them are worth noting. For example, the little princess of Konoha's Hyuga Clan. We had some conflict with her before, so if we run into her during the exam, she'll probably target us."
"It's not just Konoha. Sunagakure's attitude toward us isn't particularly friendly either. They've been poor for so long, and they had to offer our village quite a lot of resources during that period."
"There are also the smaller villages. Most of them will follow Konoha and Sunagakure's lead."
"So, everyone around us is an enemy in this battle." A trace of worry appeared on Kazeki's face. This was not good. Although their group had only come to probe the strength of the various villages, being eliminated too early would definitely give people something to talk about.
Moriyue patted Kazeki's shoulder reassuringly, signaling for her not to worry too much.
"Where there's a will, there's a way; things will work themselves out when the time comes. Don't worry. Ando, you still haven't finished learning the knowledge related to ninja. Today's lesson should begin."
Moriyue advised the two of them to take things in stride. After all, based on his own strength alone, he should definitely be at Chunin level.
Even before mastering Forbidden Jutsu: Reverse, he had possessed the strength to defeat Karui. Now, he would only be stronger. So what if people from the other villages were hostile toward them? This was not some online shouting match. Moriyue had remembered every person who had insulted them earlier.
Their only chance now was to be eliminated during the Written Exam. Otherwise, Moriyue would have to let them experience the wonderful sensation of Lightning Torment coursing through their bodies.
After hearing Moriyue's words, Ando felt as though everything ahead of him had gone dark. The Written Exam would begin in a few days, yet their captain was still cramming from textbooks at the last minute. Could they really pass it?
"What kind of look is that? You don't believe in me?" Moriyue noticed the helplessness on Ando's face and knew the guy was getting cold feet again.
"Nothing like that. Let's begin..."
To be safe, Moriyue felt it was still necessary to understand the exam material. Although the questions in this Chunin Exam were said to be answerable by anyone who was not as stupid as Naruto, Moriyue, having gone through rote-learning education, still habitually previewed the material in advance.
He could treat it as learning the basics of ninjutsu, laying the groundwork for his future development of forbidden jutsu.
Sunagakure came alive as the examinees arrived, but their purpose was not merely to pass the Chunin Exam. Everyone understood that this exam held greater political significance than practical significance. It was simply a way of showing the major villages a stance.
Sunagakure and Konoha had joined forces. Anyone else wanting to cause trouble had better take notice. Sunagakure might be dirt poor, but Konoha was still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Those who wanted to stir up trouble during this exam could save themselves the effort.
As the sky gradually darkened, the nighttime wind and sand carried a little more chill than during the day. On a dark, windy night, the raging sand became crystalline beneath the moonlight, like grains of snow with sharply defined edges.
Under the cover of night, a Sunagakure ninja with white cloth wrapped around his head knelt on one knee, reporting something to a man hidden in the shadows.
"Gaara is unqualified to bear the responsibilities of the Kazekage. He's selling Sunagakure to Konoha."
"He's too young. In every respect, he falls short of you. In our opinion, why not..."
At the same time, elsewhere in the inn, a bald monk sat half-reclined on the ground with a pipa in hand. Moonlight spilled over his fingertips as the instrument let out sharp, low notes. A sinister curve formed at the monk's lips as he played toward the moon.
At the entrance to Sunagakure, a girl with short blue-green hair and an orange hairpin fastened to the bun on the right side of her head skipped along at the front.
She had amber eyes and healthy wheat-colored skin. She bounced with every step, appearing exceptionally lively. Even from afar, her cheerfulness was infectious.
"Ah, we finally made it to Sunagakure! I hope I can make even more friends this time!"
"And, and, I can't forget the village chief's commission! I'm going to make Takigakure's name known in this battle! I'll let everyone see how strong our village is!"
"But having fun is what matters most!"
And so, as more and more people arrived, Sunagakure gradually grew livelier. The first exam would probably be held soon.
Before you continue