One-Tail

In the Konoha forest, on a training ground marked by three wooden stakes.

Falling leaves swirled in the wind before being torn apart by sharp objects.

Thwack, thwack, thwack. Three kunai hit the bullseye with perfect accuracy. The girl with two buns couldn't help but let out an exclamation.

"All hits, Neji is amazing."

"If it's only this level, it's not amazing," Neji Hyuga said, his face expressionless.

"Three thousand one hundred and twenty-one! Three thousand one hundred and twenty-two!" Rock Lee gritted his teeth, doing push-ups on one hand nearby.

"You're already doing great. After all, Neji is a genius," Tenten comforted him.

"A genius?" Neji tightened his knee pads, his gaze drifting to Rock Lee beside him. "Sasuke Uchiha is the genius. You only know the difference when you fight him."

"Neji, what's going on with that God of Shinobi?" Tenten asked, suddenly remembering something with a hint of fear.

"Why would he suddenly say that the Hokage would die during the Chunin Exams? And now Kakashi-sensei has also been recalled by the Hokage."

"I don't know," Neji said, his face impassive. "The higher-ups will have a solution. It's not something we should be concerned about."

"Even so, the Chunin Exams will definitely be affected, right?" Tenten worried. "After all, it concerns the Hokage. If things go wrong, they might cancel the Chunin Exams."

"Cancel?" Rock Lee, still doing his one-handed push-ups with sweat pouring down his face, looked at them. "Didn't Kakashi-sensei tell us that it's highly unlikely to be canceled and that we should train hard?"

"In this situation, it's really hard to say. After all, that God of Shinobi's words might be..." Tenten trailed off.

The God of Shinobi had, in the previous two instances, revealed secrets about the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan. And Neji, standing beside her, was a victim of the Hyuga Clan's Caged Bird.

"It's fake," Neji said calmly. "The village has already issued a denial, telling us not to pay attention to the God of Shinobi's words."

"Yeah, after all, he's an enemy," Tenten sighed. "I wonder who that God of Shinobi is?"

"He should be someone from the village, right? Didn't Kakashi-sensei say that people outside the village can't receive those messages that suddenly appear in their minds?" Rock Lee continued, still sweating.

Neji remained silent, continuing his own training, but his gaze became increasingly calm.

A genius of the Hyuga?

Being born is the original sin. As a bird in a cage, one doesn't need to be a genius.

All the Hyuga need are slaves to protect the Main Family. As long as they can survive, it doesn't matter if they continue to exist like ugly beasts.

"What's the deal with that news?" Shikamaru lay on the grass of a slope, bored, his dead fish eyes open.

Asuma had an urgent matter to attend to, likely returning to the Hokage's office. After all, being the Hokage's son, he was probably very worried about the Third Hokage's condition.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio was suddenly free. Shikamaru could rest, so he rested. Ino was still training, and Choji sat to the side eating chips.

Hearing this, Choji crunched on his chips and said, narrowing his eyes, "Didn't the village already say it? That it was false news."

"Who would believe that?" Shikamaru mumbled. "The incident with the Hyuga Clan last time was true, wasn't it? The top rookie last year was from the Branch Family, right?"

"Who told you that?" Ino, stopping her training, heard their conversation and walked closer.

"I heard it from my father," Shikamaru said, putting a blade of grass into his mouth, his dead fish eyes gazing at the cotton candy clouds drifting in the sky.

"That genius from the Hyuga family probably has the Caged Bird cursed seal on him too."

Hearing this, Ino sighed.

"It's the affairs of the great clans; there's nothing we can do."

"Yeah," Shikamaru agreed, staring at the blue sky for a while before suddenly adding, "Ino, do you have any issues with Naruto?"

Ino froze for a moment, then replied flusteredly, "N-no, why do you ask?"

"Didn't you deliberately avoid Naruto last time?" Shikamaru continued. "I was just a bit curious why Team Seven only seemed to have Sakura and Sasuke when we went to submit the Chunin Exam registration forms today."

"I don't know what's up with Naruto. He was so eager for recognition before, but now he seems to have lost all his fighting spirit."

"I don't know about that either," Ino said with a smile. "Besides, I have plenty of issues with him, so it's not strange."

"That's true. Who knows what that Naruto guy is up to," Shikamaru complained.

"Naruto?" Choji, still eating chips, turned to look at them and suddenly spoke up. "I saw him last time. He seemed to be with a little girl."

"A little girl?" Ino was slightly surprised.

"She's probably an orphan from the village," Choji said, shoveling chips into his mouth. "I saw them at the barbecue restaurant."

"That Naruto guy, I feel like he's hardly a ninja anymore."

"That guy, who knows? I haven't seen him training at all lately," Shikamaru sighed. "The last time I saw him on the street, he wasn't even wearing his ninja headband."

"How is that possible?" Ino's face showed shock. "Naruto wanted a ninja headband so badly before, how could he..."

"It's hard to say," Shikamaru got up and stood on the hillside, looking into the distance.

His gaze lifted from the grassy plains, passed through the wind-swept grass, over a fleeting white bird, and finally settled on a few small black dots appearing in the distance.

"Are those Sand Ninja?"

Hearing this, Ino and Choji also looked in that direction, and a cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.

On the grass some distance away from them, a ninja carrying a gourd had a grim expression. Two other ninjas, a man and a woman, also looked unfriendly as they faced the trio.

When the two groups made eye contact, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio felt a chill down their spines, and a primal fear of being stared at by a fierce beast rose from the depths of their hearts.

Fortunately, the three Sand Ninja did not continue towards the trio, but instead changed direction and headed towards the Hokage Building.

"So scary, that guy with the gourd," Ino said, patting her chest like a budding lotus, her voice filled with lingering fear.

"I hope we don't run into them during the Chunin Exams," Shikamaru added, swallowing hard, his face pale.

"Crunch, crunch! Snap, snap!" Choji, terrified, poured an entire bag of potato chips into his mouth.

"Temari, I heard this village also has a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki," Kankuro, carrying his puppet mechanisms instead of a gourd, said to his sister Temari as they walked.

"Yes, it's the most powerful, the Nine-Tails," Temari replied. A giant folding fan was strapped to her back, and she wore a fishnet top, a hint of displeasure on her face.