Doing a Favor

"Bang, bang, bang."

"Forehead pain..."

Sōsuke, left on the riverbank, barely managed to lift his head and open his eyes to look at the person who had easily defeated them. In the bright moonlight, he first saw the Forehead Protector of Konoha, and then the faces of Shuichi and the other two.

"Cough, cough... You're also Konoha ninjas, so how were you able to spot us beforehand?" Sōsuke hadn't expected his team's setup to be so utterly ineffective; they were defeated without even seeing anyone.

"Uh..." Completely unprepared for this kind of conversation, Shuichi was momentarily speechless.

Then they realized that the effects of the Byakugan, Kekkei Genkai, are generally unknown even to Konoha Ninja. In the original story, Tenten and Rock Lee only roughly knew about the Byakugan's abilities when they were on Neji's team.

Thinking this, Shuichi didn't bother explaining anything to Sōsuke and simply said, "Your strength is too weak. You should just give up on this Chunin Ninja Exams."

"Like our team, many squads in this Second Stage exam have reconnaissance ninjas, so your traps are completely useless against us."

Upon hearing this, Sōsuke gritted his teeth and said, "How could that be? Is the difference really that big?"

"You should thank me!" Shuichi smile. "We just took care of a group of Sunagakure Ninja with reconnaissance ninja nearby. They were much stronger than you. Actually, you were quite lucky. If it weren't for us, you probably would have ended up as three corpses!"

"What!" Upon hearing Shuichi's words, Sōsuke and the other two felt their dream of Chunin had become unattainable. At the same time, a chill ran down their spines. With their strength, ambushing others in the Central Region now seemed like easy prey delivered right to their doorstep.

Shuichi walked straight to the three of them, his hands moving rapidly.

"Ah... be gentle..."

After plucking all his Senbon), he went to the river to wash them. "I think you can move around in a little while, so if you don't want to die, run to the side. Goodbye."

After saying that, he put away his ninja tools, turned around and disappeared from Sōsuke. Sarutobi Kohei Hyuga Akiha followed him away at the same time.

After Shuichi and his two companions left, Konoha Genin lying nearby asked, "Captain, what do we do now?"

"There's nothing to say. If you can move, get up quickly. Now we can only be careful on our way back." Sōsuke expressionless, devastated by this blow. His dream of dominating the Shinobi World had vanished, and he seemed to have returned to being a heartless tool.

Fortunately, they survived. According to Shuichi, they had essentially walked through the gates of hell, so they were quite lucky.

"Since becoming Chunin is so difficult, I guess I'll have to change my dream." Although his mission was unsuccessful, he survived, and anything is still possible.

"Then I'll set a small goal for myself," Sōsuke thought to himself. "I'll start by becoming the strongest Genin in the Shinobi World!"

Shuichi was unaware that Sōsuke had set himself another ambitious goal. If he had known, he probably would have exclaimed, "Brother, anything is possible in dreams! Even I wouldn't dare say I could achieve this goal!"

Their team now had a total of five Scroll, and the Central Tower was almost in sight.

Although the quality of the participants this year was very high, overall it was not beyond Shuichi's expectations.

After crossing the river, they traveled a distance further and saw a rather tall building emerging from the top of the woods ahead.

While it might be called a tower, Shuichi felt it didn't quite resemble one, because each floor appeared irregular from the outside, with protrusions here and depressions there, and coupled with the dilapidated eaves and windows, it lacked any architectural beauty.

After passing through this dense forest, the sizable Tower came into view.

"Huh, someone's guarding the door?" By the moonlight, Shuichi and his two companions saw a ninja dressed as an examiner waiting at the door, unlike in the original story where they had to push the door open themselves.

"Huh? A team cleared the level so quickly?" The Chunin guarding the gate Chunin very surprised. He was just doing his job, but he didn't expect a team to reach the Central Tower so quickly, and they seemed to be doing it very easily.

He glanced at his watch. "Wow, 3 hours and 40 minutes. That breaks the record for the Second Chunin Exam."

As he got closer, he was so surprised he almost cried out, "What's going on? There are still such lowly Genin? Are you kidding me? Aren't the Joint Chunin Exam supposed to be for the elite from each village?"

Shuichi looked at him and said, "Hello, uncle, does pushing open the door mean we've passed the test?"

"... Yes, if you collect both the Heaven and Earth Scroll and open them simultaneously inside the Tower, you'll naturally find out what happens next. Also, I'm only 20 years old this year, isn't this old man going too far?"

The mature-looking Konoha Ninja was a little annoyed by being addressed like that, but his mood was still pretty good since the first team to arrive was from Konoha.

Shuichi, adopting an innocent, childlike demeanor, said, "Well, don't worry about such trivial matters. I think staying here for now and not going in shouldn't be considered in your way, right?"

"Hmm? Why is that?" The proctoring ninja was a little curious, but out of duty, he didn't say anything more.

"It's alright, do as you please. But I can remind you, going in now means breaking the Second Stage record; any later and it'll be gone."

"I know." Shuichi's expression didn't change. "But recording it doesn't matter. I think it's better to observe it further. Kohei, Akiha, let's wait here for a while." After saying that, he jumped up and sat on a nearby tree trunk.

"Okay..." Although they didn't know why Shuichi was doing this, the two of them followed his instructions and rested where they were.

A gentle breeze stirred in the silent forest, and more than an hour slowly passed. At this moment, Shuichi had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them and looked into the woods ahead.

"Hey!" He spoke very loudly, making sure everyone around him heard him, "Looks like you guys are pretty confident, patrolling so late at night, huh?"

In the woods a few dozen meters away, Mokui and his two companions were somewhat puzzled. They wondered why Shuichi, who should have successfully entered the tower to complete the exam, was sitting in a tree. Did this kid have some kind of peculiar hobby?

"What? Is there a problem?" Mokui asked back. He knew that there was no possibility of conflict between the two sides, and he just wanted to know Shuichi's purpose in doing this.

"That's right." Shuichi soft breath and said, "In our previous encounter, although we were at peace with Sunagakure, I felt that, given Sunagakure's style, they wouldn't just sit idly by and wait to be killed."

"Most of our Konoha Ninja will probably still be fighting alone, just like in previous years' exams. In that case, the situation might not be so good; some of them will definitely be surrounded and attacked in the last two days."

"But that's none of my business, because the village leaders haven't said anything. I don't care who the opponent is in the third match." Shuichi first boasted to everyone.

"But it's not necessarily the same for you." He looked at Mokui and the other two with a meaningful smile and said, "Since I'm not under any pressure, I'll lend a hand!"

She rummaged through her clothes and pockets a few times, then raised her hands to show them. In her left hand she held two Scroll, Shuichi for heaven and one for earth, and in her right hand she held three more Scroll.

The proctors who turned around upon hearing the sound were instantly stunned. Not only had they completed it in such a short time, but they had also obtained three extra Scroll! Had they defeated four teams to obtain them?

"Here." Shuichi flicked his right hand, and two Earth Scroll and one Heaven Scroll flew towards Mokui's squad.

"As for what you guys do next, whether you pass through directly or something else, I don't care. I'm going into the tower to sleep!"

After taking the three Scroll, Mokui gave Shuichi a deep look. This youngest of all the Genin seemed to have seen through everything. Sure enough, his previous arrogance was all an act.

"This must also be the work of the Lord Hokage," said Aburame Shihei, who was standing to the side. "Such a powerful genius has emerged in the village; his intelligence is not to be underestimated."

"We didn't see him make a move to gauge his exact strength. But judging from my insect's reaction, his chakra alone is stronger than Chunin's. That's unbelievable!"