Just as Sakura and the other four were preparing to leave with Naruto, the Hokage's office door was violently flung open with a bang—
"Let's settle this! Grandpa!" A little brat dressed like a ninja charged in, only to have his legs go weak from fright at the fierce-looking bunch in the room. With a crash, he tripped and fell flat on the floor.
What do I do? This is so embarrassing, so embarrassing...
Thinking that, Konohamaru abruptly pushed himself up and pointed angrily at the Third Hokage. "As expected of Grandpa! You actually set such a well-hidden trap!"
The room fell silent.
"I'm leaving first." Completely ignoring Konohamaru, Sasuke walked past the little brat and left the room.
Shikamaru scratched his head and left as well. Better not bother with such a troublesome kid...
Sakura and Rock Lee followed him out.
Naruto stood where he was, amusedly watching Konohamaru. This toothless "little brother" was really adorably stupid... Ignored by everyone, Konohamaru froze in place.
But the little brat soon hopped back in front of the Third Hokage, striking a passable ninja pose and saying in a deep, inscrutable tone, "Third Hokage, accept my challenge! I, Sarutobi Konohamaru, will definitely defeat you and inherit the position of Hokage!"
From the very beginning, the Third Hokage had pulled the brim of his hat low, hiding his utterly mortified expression.
"Naruto... Sasuke and the others have already left..." Hinata tugged at Naruto's sleeve. Konohamaru's forceful, ridiculous entrance had left her temporarily unsure of what to do.
Tsunade and Jiraiya, those two old hands, naturally differed from the younger ones. They easily saw through the little thoughts hidden behind Konohamaru's behavior... Sigh, they were all kids who caused nothing but worry.
"Then, Teacher Kakashi, Grandma Tsunade, Pervy Sage, Grandpa Hokage... we're leaving too!" Naruto casually waved as he prepared to leave with Hinata.
Sasuke's special team had finished their mission, and they were obviously going to grab a meal together. Naruto did not want to miss it.
"Konohamaru! Stop causing trouble for Lord Hokage!" Ebisu, his tutor in black clothes and sunglasses, pushed the door open. Seeing Naruto and Hinata approaching, a trace of disgust flashed through the eyes hidden behind his shades.
Hmph... the Demon Fox brat...
Naruto lowered his head, took Hinata's hand, and left the room.
Behind them came Ebisu's enthusiastic greetings to Jiraiya and Tsunade, along with Konohamaru's loud protests directed at Ebisu...
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Hinata had not expected Naruto to take her hand. Suppressing her shyness, she asked, "When that person came in, your mood seemed to suddenly change..."
Naruto, it seemed you had awakened the Uzumaki Clan's ability to sense malice... Nine-Tails's voice rang out in Naruto's mind.
"Yeah. What an unpleasant ability..." Naruto said helplessly.
"What?" A question mark seemed to hang over Hinata's head as she failed to understand what Naruto meant.
"It's nothing. Let's go..." Only then did Naruto suddenly realize that he had grabbed Hinata's hand in his haste. His face reddened as he let go, mumbling, "Let's find Sasuke and the others."
Hinata blushed as well. Unable to look at him, she lowered her head and softly answered, "Okay."
Naruto scratched his cheek, unable to stop himself from feeling a little happy.
After Ebisu carried Konohamaru away, the Third Hokage took out a stack of documents and placed them before Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi.
"Even without taking Naruto's Memory Intelligence into account... our people have discovered traces of Orochimaru and Sunagakure's operation this time... He truly no longer has any regard for this old man..."
The Third Hokage's face was hidden behind thick smoke as he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"Not necessarily... Danzo must have contacted Orochimaru long ago and prepared to open every convenient door for him." Jiraiya said coldly, flipping through the documents on the Third Hokage's desk with his right hand. "He'll probably remain silent when Orochimaru and Sunagakure make their move."
"Hmph..."
Hearing such filthy matters, Tsunade was furious. A perfectly good Konoha had been turned into a complete mess by these people.
Kakashi remained silent. After the previous Shinobi World Wars, Kumogakure's sneak attacks, and the Nine-Tails disaster, there were indeed few elite shinobi left in the village. For a long time, Konoha had faced the awkward shortage of new talent.
Fortunately... Naruto and the others would soon grow up...
At a small restaurant in Konoha, Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shikamaru, Rock Lee, and Sakura were having a meal together.
"Sasuke, you ran into Zabuza during this mission, right?" Naruto asked Sasuke beside him as he ate.
Sasuke looked puzzled. "How did you know?" Then he thought of something. "Right... Was this originally a mission for Team 7?"
Hinata curiously glanced at the two of them. She always felt that there were times when she did not quite understand the conversations between Naruto and Sasuke... She took small bites of her food while quietly noting which dishes Naruto ate the most of.
Across the round table, the sharp-minded Shikamaru noticed Hinata's little actions and secretly shook his head. Girls were really troublesome...
Naruto nodded. He wanted to ask what had happened to Zabuza and Haku in the end, but after the question turned over several times in his chest, it ultimately became only a faint sigh.
At that moment, a restaurant server brought over their drinks and enthusiastically said, "Young shinobi, here are the fruit-flavored drinks you ordered..." After placing them on the table one by one, the new server secretly glanced at Rock Lee in his green bodysuit, feeling puzzled. Why had the boss repeatedly warned me to be extra, extra careful when serving drinks to this watermelon-head ninja...?
After eating, the group tacitly split the bill.
Before parting ways, Naruto kindly reminded Shikamaru and Rock Lee, "The Chunin Exams are about to begin. Let's all do our best!" Then he smiled at the usually quiet Sakura. "Sakura, you need to do your best too. I believe you can become a great kunoichi like Grandma Tsunade!"
Shikamaru and the others were all stunned. Had this guy's praise gotten a little ridiculous? What kind of shinobi was Lady Tsunade?
Sakura was flattered as well. A top student like Naruto, who was even more outstanding than Sasuke, was actually speaking to her like this. Since returning from the Land of Waves, Sakura had been caught in feelings of disappointment, inferiority, panic, and confusion. Now, a wave of warmth flowed through her heart.
She glanced at Sasuke beside Naruto, but he had not even looked directly at her once. Sakura's gaze dimmed, and she forced a smile at Naruto.
The group soon went their separate ways. After discussing it, the three members of Team 7 decided to train together in the back mountain.
In the forest.
Naruto said to the other two, "Hinata, Sasuke, a very dangerous person will sneak in during the Chunin Exams... so we have to make the most of this limited time to train. Especially you, Sasuke."
Sasuke frowned. "What about me?"
Hinata was confused too. Logically speaking, she was the weakest member of the team. Shouldn't she be the one who needed to train the hardest?
"A large part of that person's goal in this operation against Konoha is you. For some reason, he seems extremely obsessed with the eyes of your Uchiha Clan... And he's more than ten times stronger than Zabuza!"
Naruto spoke seriously.
What Naruto did not know was that... Orochimaru had once suffered a crushing defeat at Itachi's hands because of his eyes, which was why he had begun researching the secrets of the Sharingan.
And through that research, he had followed the clues and uncovered many sealed, ancient, unbelievable secrets.
That was why Orochimaru was so fixated on Sasuke, the only remaining Uchiha bloodline besides Itachi.
Sasuke clenched his fists. After fighting people of Zabuza's level in a battle of life and death, Sasuke had deeply realized just how weak he was now... And now there was an even more terrifying enemy?
How did he compare to that man?
When would I finally have the strength to stand before that man and question him?
"Naruto, let's fight."
Sasuke looked at Naruto and issued his 2,744th challenge with a determined gaze.
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