Hmm

"I'll listen to you, Ino."

Josuke said.

This time it was Ino's turn to be happy, so she directly took Josuke's hand and led him to a restaurant.

"Josuke-kun, let's eat here. Look... what do you want to eat?"

As luck would have it, the two ran into old acquaintances, Shikamaru and Choji, at that very moment. Even more coincidentally, their tables were separated by just one aisle.

Josuke inwardly grumbled about how much fate could bring them together to bump into each other here.

Ino was also annoyed. Why did they have to run into these two everywhere? They were like persistent shadows. Last time, they were farther away, but now, she couldn't whisper sweet nothings to Josuke-kun.

Ino said indignantly, "What are you two doing here?"

Shikamaru...

You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?

Shikamaru was speechless. Why did he always end up being the third wheel? It seemed he and Choji were destined to be mere background characters today.

Shikamaru shot Ino a glare and said helplessly, "Choji asked me to come. He said this place was pretty good, so we decided to try it."

Ino and Josuke sat down. Ino now hated the two of them. Truly, they had ruined her good time. She had already made a note of it in her little black book.

Josuke said, "Alright, Miss, cheer up."

Seeing Josuke comfort her, Ino's mood instantly improved. However, the thought of having two third wheels beside them still made her very unhappy.

There wasn't much to say about the restaurant.

It was just some sushi, yakitori, sashimi, and the like.

It was delicious, and Josuke really enjoyed eating it...

After eating, the two went out for a stroll before returning to their respective homes.

The Chunin Exams arrived as scheduled, and there was no so-called butterfly effect caused by Josuke's appearance.

The examinees gradually entered the venue. Team 7 also arrived under Kakashi's leadership. Some interesting things happened during this period.

First, Rock Lee confessed to Sakura. Josuke wanted to complain here: why did everyone like that Sakura-whore? Pfft, Sakura?

Sakura directly rejected Rock Lee's confession. Little did they know, he was wholeheartedly devoted to his foolish younger brother.

He was unwavering even when Sasuke controlled him with genjutsu, attacked him with Raikiri, and stabbed him with a kunai. As for Rock Lee, heh.

Then Rock Lee was dejected for a while.

After that, he beat up Sasuke. Fortunately, Guy-sensei arrived in time, otherwise, Two-Eyes would have probably been completely crippled.

Next was the written portion of the Chunin Exams.

Honestly, there wasn't much for Josuke to say about this. It was just some theoretical and common knowledge questions. The difficult part was addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but for Josuke, these were as easy as breathing?

Moreover, this stage assessed the ability to gather information and allowed reasonable cheating.

Therefore, Josuke passed without any concealment, openly displaying his methods. The examinees next to him craned their necks and copied frantically.

After the Chunin Exam's written test ended, they cast grateful glances at Josuke.

Then came the death-defying survival drill.

After finishing the written test, everyone followed the crowd to the main hall, where Mitarashi Anko announced the rules and distributed the scrolls. Josuke had initially thought their team, being four people, would receive special treatment. To his surprise, they didn't. Heh, this made Josuke a little surprised.

The rules were also very simple.

Each of the 26 teams that passed the first round had to carry either a Heaven or Earth scroll and collect the other type of scroll. They would pass if they could reach the central tower, 10 km from the entrance, with both scrolls within 5 days.

Failure would result if they couldn't achieve this, if a team member died or couldn't continue midway, or if they peeked at the scrolls beforehand.

And so, in an instant, the assessment began!!!!!

Josuke and the other three immediately rushed into the Forest of Death.

Several hours later, Team 7 arrived in a forest. Naruto, that guy, had gone to the toilet. But Josuke knew he was probably trapped inside a snake's belly.

Afterward, a ninja disguised as Naruto approached Team 7. However, he was seen through in an instant. After being injured by Sasuke with a kunai, he fled.

And at this moment, a mysterious ninja also appeared.

He immediately unleashed a powerful pressure on the three of them. He didn't hide his aura at all and walked directly towards the three of them.

Sasuke and Sakura were frozen in place, terrified by the oppressive aura emanating from the mysterious person.

Josuke, however, activated his two- tomoe Sharingan and managed to resist the pressure. Josuke naturally knew who this person was – one of Konoha's "three Sannin," the ninja scientist, Snake Uncle~ That's right. (I forgot if I mentioned the process of activating the two-tomoe Sharingan, and I'm too lazy to add it QAQ, so let's just assume it happened.)

In Naruto, Josuke's favorite character was definitely Orochimaru. He wasn't purely good, but he wasn't purely evil either. Compared to Konoha, Orochimaru was definitely far superior.

Putting aside everything else, there was one thing Josuke loved most about Snake Uncle: his dedication to science. Out of ten Naruto fanfics, seven or eight would involve seeking out Orochimaru for Hashirama cells.

Besides, Orochimaru was eventually redeemed in the later parts, and in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, he even became a single dad raising his child, Auntie Snake. How could you not love that?

Getting back to the main topic.

Josuke sighed inwardly, So strong. Is this Orochimaru? That oppressive feeling.

That killing intent.

Sasuke and Sakura dared not move.

Josuke stepped forward and shouted at Sasuke, "Take Sakura and go first. Protect the scroll, I'll cover your retreat."

Josuke's words jolted Sasuke awake. He quickly plunged a kunai into his own leg. The intense pain temporarily cleared Sasuke's head.

Once conscious, Sasuke said to Josuke, "Alright, you hurry and regroup too."

With that, he pulled Sakura away.

Josuke was left alone. It would be a lie to say Josuke wasn't nervous at this moment.

But a hero can't flee from battle.

Josuke formed hand seals. Water Style: Mist Body Technique!!!

He also activated Shadow Clones, and two clones immediately appeared behind him.

Simultaneously, they used Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!! towards Orochimaru's direction.

The fireballs flew towards Orochimaru like small missiles.

Josuke smiled. This was the moment. The two clones simultaneously fled in different directions.

He himself headed towards the agreed-upon escape point with Sasuke.

Josuke knew very well that these simple tricks wouldn't hurt Orochimaru at all, but it was enough to slow down Orochimaru's attack speed. After all, Orochimaru wasn't going to kill him.

Speaking of Naruto...

Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!!

The giant snake's belly swelled up. Countless Naruto shadow clones burst its belly, and Naruto broke free.

As for Sasuke, although he had temporarily escaped Orochimaru's pursuit, before he could even catch his breath, a giant snake suddenly appeared beside him