A Lively Chunin Assessment

After Narita Team completed its mission and disbanded, the three team members, along with Narita Rei himself, immediately contacted their friends and spread the news that Tomoko was going to participate in the Chunin Assessment.

By evening, almost every ninja in the village knew the news. Whether or not this ninja had heard of Tomoko before, they all knew her now.

A ninja who almost didn't graduate is going to take the Chunin Assessment in a year. When the ninjas hear the news, some are dismissive, some are curious, some are disbelieving, and quite a few are full of anticipation.

After all, not everyone is a protagonist like Naruto Uzumaki, with cheat codes all over him. Ordinary people improve step by step. To go from a barely qualified genin to Chunin Genin in a year is a feat that only a genius can comprehend.

So the next day, when Tomoko arrived at the Chunin Assessment site accompanied by her younger sister, Chikotake, she was stunned by what she saw.

Originally, only a few hundred Genin signed up for the assessment, and even if you include their teammates and captains, there were only about a thousand people. But now, there are tens of thousands of people sitting outside the Training Ground for the assessment.

Among these tens of thousands of people were ninjas of various ranks, as well as a large number of ordinary people, but the majority were Genin. They all wanted to see Tomoko, this lucky one, could successfully pass the test.

Of everyone present, only Tomoko and her younger sister Chikotake, who hadn't left the house all day, were unaware of the reason.

Kajiyamari and Kawakita had also received the news early on, and both were somewhat relieved. Fortunately, Tomoko was in the team; otherwise, they would have been the ones attracting attention.

The two were waiting for Tomoko's arrival Training Ground.

When Kajiyamari saw the bewildered Tomoko, she knew that she was unaware that she was the culprit who caused all of this.

Pulling Tomoko and Chikotake aside to a quiet spot, Kajiyamari briefly and quickly recounted the whole story to these two unaware individuals.

Then the two sisters' mouths both turned into an "O" shape.

Before the two could react, Kawakita spoke first, "We've become the focus of this Chunin Assessment, Teacher Yichen isn't here. What should we do?"

This is why Kajiyamari and Kawakita had been waiting outside. Influenced by Yichen, none of the three were the type to seek the limelight, and they were somewhat unaccustomed to being the focus of so many people's attention.

However, Kajiyamari and Kawakita were both from ninja families, and if even they couldn't do anything about it, then Tomoko came from a commoner background, was even more at a loss.

The young girl can usually come up with ideas and solutions when carrying out tasks, thanks to her wisdom and meticulousness, but she can't handle this kind of situation.

Fortunately, someone helped them out of their predicament. Two examiners then approached the four and asked Kajiyamari, "Are you disciples of Yichen?"

"The Chief Examiner has arranged a place for you to rest. Please follow me."

Although the Chunin Examiner was speaking to Kajiyamari, his eyes kept glancing at Tomoko. Another Chunin Examiner kept looking Tomoko up and down, as if trying to find something special about the young girl.

Tomoko had naturally noticed this long ago, thinking, "Even the examiners have this mentality, let alone others."

It was certainly a good thing to have someone help them, Kajiyamari conveyed their gratitude to the two Chunin Examiner on behalf of the group. Then, the four of them followed the examiners into the Training Ground.

Ikura, the Chief Examiner, knew about the news last night and was prepared for today's scene. He used Earth Release in advance to create a tiered viewing area around the Training Ground, allowing the ninjas and civilians who came to watch the assessment from these temporary stands.

Everyone was happy to have a good view while watching the show, so although there were many people around the Training Ground, the area was orderly and there was no chaos.

Led by the examiner, the four arrived at the rest area for the ninjas who were taking the exam.

The so-called rest area is actually part of the spectator area. At this time, most of the ninjas participating in the assessment have arrived, so the rest area is crowded.

The arrival of Tomoko three companions did not cause much of a stir, since not many people actually knew them.

After the four people were seated, six more people came over together. When they saw the newcomers, Tomoko didn't feel much, but Kajiyamari obviously recognized them.

"Mirai, Tsuko, Misa, Aya, Satsuki, Yuka, are you all participating in the assessment too?"

Kagami Mirai looked at Kajiyamari with some envy. As the top student of last year's graduating class, Kajiyamari was originally not taken seriously by him. In fact, he had never lost to Kajiyamari in battles at the Ninja Academy.

However, the previously overlooked, seemingly invisible person is now far more famous than him. Kagami Mirai somewhat unconvinced. As his classmate, he knows how talented Kajiyamari is and doesn't believe that Kajiyamari is currently stronger than him.

On the contrary, Kawakita, who was located in Kajiyamari, put a lot of pressure on him. He was very familiar with that kind of sharpness. As a fellow close-combat ninja, he was very sensitive to that kind of aura.

"Is this Sword Qi?" Kagami Mirai was slightly startled.

Graduating as the top student, Kagami Mirai Squad Leader Jonin attributes are actually quite suitable for him, as he is also a close-combat ninja. Coincidentally, like Kawakita, he is a Jonin who can use Sword Qi energy.

Hanaoka Kagami Mirai, taken aback by Kawakita, remained silent for a moment, but Kanno Tsuko beside him was not so preoccupied.

"Kajiyamari, introduce your teammates!" Kanno Tsuko said casually.

Kajiyamari's lips twitched. This was the leader of their class. Back in the Ninja Academy, he had suffered a lot at the hands of this witch.

She subconsciously took a half step back, then nudged Kawakita beside her and said, "This is Kawakita, from the next class. You should know him; he probably got beaten up by you a lot back then too."

Kawakita was speechless. Why did you bring this up? Besides, plenty of people have been beaten by this she-devil. Do you think she'll remember them all if you introduce them like this?

Sure enough, Kanno Tsuko frowned and thought for a long time, completely unable to recall when she had ever beaten up this taciturn boy in front of her.

However, the eldest sister didn't care about such a trivial matter and didn't pay any attention to Kawakita's feelings, saying directly, "Who wants to know this blockhead? Forget it, go cool off somewhere else."

With that, Kanno Tsuko shoved Kajiyamari aside and walked directly to Tomoko. A head taller than Tomoko, she looked down at Tomoko at close range and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Kanno Tsuko. From now on, you're under my protection."

After saying that, she pulled the bewildered Tomoko away from the crowd.

Seeing that Tomoko was led away by the newly recognized leader without saying a word, Kajiyamari and Kawakita didn't even try to stop her.

The two clearly recalled the fear of being dominated by each other in those years, and they also knew that although Kanno Tsuko was not interested in boys, she was still very caring towards girls.

Kanno Tsuko and Kagami Mirai's teammate Aida Misa, Hosokawa Yuka Tomoko away, while Tomoko's younger sister, Chikotake, followed behind them.

"Phew~~" Hoshikawa Yao, Ikeda Gatsu, Kajiyamari, Kawakita all breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, the boss was putting a lot of pressure on them.

After being interrupted by Kanno Tsuko, Kagami Mirai came to her senses. Looking at Kajiyamari, she continued the initial topic, "Kanno Tsuko, Hoshikawa Yao, Aida Misa, and I are all participating. But you... you're a bit of a surprise."

The people Kagami Mirai mentioned were among the most outstanding in their class, while Ikeda Gatsu didn't sign up because she wasn't good enough.

Meanwhile, Ikeda Gatsu also had the most complicated feelings among the group. His talent was not much related to Kajiyamari, and their strengths were also quite similar.

He himself didn't even have the strength to participate in the Chunin Assessment.

But looking at the still somewhat shy Kajiyamari, Ikeda Gatsu felt a sense of facing a genius like Kagami Mirai.

Kajiyamari was popular in class, and her classmates all came over to say hello. However, because Kawakita was usually quiet and not very close to Kawakita classmates, even though they saw Kawakita from afar, they hesitated and didn't come over to say hello.

Besides the dozen or so people from Kawakita's cohort who participated in the competition, there were two other ninjas who were even younger than them.

Both of them were newly graduated ninjas. One was Maruyama Sumire, who had awakened the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai at a young age, and the other was Mikami Aya, a member of a rare Ninja Beast clan among the Iwa ninja.

The other ninjas participating in the assessment were all older than Kajiyamari; some were even middle-aged and would normally have no chance of promotion.

A short while later, the assessment officially began.

First, all the ninjas participating in the assessment entered the middle of the Training Ground to draw lots.

It was during the lottery that viewers who didn't know Tomoko before suddenly recognized her.

"That's her, that's the little girl in the purple dress, that's Tomoko, we used to be classmates." A spectator, having just recognized Tomoko, eagerly introduced her to the people around him.

There were clearly many similar situations among the audience. Meiko Tomoko's neighbor, was pointing at Tomoko's figure and introducing her to the people around her with an envious look.

The discussion started off well, since not many people knew Tomoko, but after a while, before it was even Tomoko turn to draw lots, news of her identity had spread throughout the audience.

Although she was far away, Tomoko clearly heard her name being called from all directions. Looking up at the audience, she saw that almost everyone was looking at her.

Moreover, when she looked up, everyone noticed immediately and cheered.

Then someone shouted, "Tomoko, do your best!"

Immediately afterwards, everyone joined in the shouting, until finally only this one voice remained in the entire venue.

"Tomoko, do your best!"

"Tomoko, do your best!"

Tomoko was taken aback. Although she knew that most of the people had come for her, she had originally thought that they were jealous of her or dissatisfied with her, and she was prepared to face all kinds of challenges.

To her surprise, the expected insults and slander did not come; instead, she was greeted with encouragement. This left Tomoko somewhat puzzled.

In fact, Tomoko had a misconception: the unity among the ninjas in Iwagakure was higher than she imagined.

While everyone envied her good fortune, the majority thought that even Civilian Ninja could have her day.

People can calmly accept that others are more talented than themselves, and they can also accept that others have received better and more resources from a young age.

However, there is one thing that people cannot accept: they believe they have some special talent in a certain area, but due to a lack of guidance from a renowned teacher, they fail to receive proper training.

But the story of Tomoko gave everyone hope.

Older people think that even if they miss out in this life, their children will have the opportunity to be valued by some important person in the future.

The younger people, on the other hand, wondered Tomoko's success would encourage those who were more successful to take on apprentices, and perhaps they themselves would be the next lucky one.