Chunin Exam

Yes, the four of them were still Genin.

But it was not some conspiracy by Konoha's higher-ups, as certain outside conspiracy theories claimed.

It was simply because they had consecutively missed two Chunin Exams.

Like all the exams they took now, the Chunin Exam required advance registration and had a clear deadline.

Yet during the registration periods for the previous two Chunin Exams, all four of them had been out doing missions.

And without a Team Leader Teacher, no one could register them.

Kagura was quite helpless about that as well.

Doing missions was nothing like working a desk job; there was simply no way to control the timing.

It was fine when there was a clear, fixed enemy. What they feared most were search missions like this one.

Defeating those Chunin had taken barely half an hour, but who knew they would spend more than ten days tracking that group's trail?

Because of all those coincidences, they were still Genin even now.

In fact, Hiruzen Sarutobi had considered promoting them directly to Chunin. In his view, Kagura was more than qualified to be a Jonin.

But unlike during wartime, he had only recently implemented the village's assessment system for Ninja of every rank.

If he ignored the system and forcibly promoted them to Chunin now, he would only be shooting himself in the foot.

After all, wasn't there a youth who had returned from his travels and possessed the strength to resist an enemy like Nagato, yet remained merely a Genin because he had not taken the exam?

When Kagura brought up the Chunin Exam, everyone's expressions turned serious.

Tsunade said somewhat resentfully,

"Right, we have to make it this time!

If I fail to become a Chunin again, Grandma Mito will nag me to death."

Jiraiya also shifted his attention away from the book in his hands and said,

"Hatake Sakumo, from the same class as us, became a Chunin two years ago.

If we do not hurry, the next time we see him, we might have to call him Lord Jonin."

Hearing Jiraiya's words, Tsunade Pouted unhappily and picked up the white puppy following behind Kagura.

Looking at the puppy's clearly disgruntled expression, she laughed happily and began kneading its little face.

This was a puppy that had appeared beside Kagura a year ago. According to Kagura, it was a Ninja Dog he had trained.

Aside from helping them relay information during missions, it was also a tremendous help in tracking enemies.

Of course, they did not know that this seemingly adorable little puppy was actually One-Tails Shukaku.

A year ago, after his unrelenting efforts, One-Tails' Fusion Degree had finally reached 100%.

Kagura could not help but complain about the system's settings here.

He had spent only two months on the first 50%, yet the latter 50% had taken him nearly two whole years...

But to his surprise, once One-Tails' Fusion Degree reached 100%, information on Two-Tails' Fusion Degree automatically appeared in his system attributes.

Along with that information, a pure white feline creature with two tails suddenly appeared inside his body.

It was naturally Two-Tails—Matatabi.

But before he could celebrate for long, he discovered something that gave him quite a headache.

For some reason, the originally gentle One-Tails became visibly restless after Two-Tails appeared.

The two little guys fought inside him every day at the slightest disagreement. Though it did not truly affect his body, it still made things unbearably noisy.

Fortunately, once the Fusion Degree reached 100%, he could finally freely release the Tailed Beasts within him from his body.

There were certain restrictions: the Tailed Beasts could not stray too far from him, or they would automatically be recalled.

Still, it was a pretty good solution.

So, after One-Tails underwent a bit of transformation, a white puppy joined the team.

And Kagura was certain that in the near future, a two-tailed kitten would join them as well.

Even later, there would be turtles, apes, foxes, and the like...

Over those three years, every one of Kagura's attributes had changed tremendously.

His current attributes were:

Dōjutsu: (Three Tomoe Sharingan), progress 72.3%.

Taijutsu: (Sixth Gate, Gate of View), progress 67.2%.

Chakra: (Jonin Level), progress 85.6%.

Tailed Beast: Two-Tails, Fusion Degree 78%.

His attributes had improved dramatically, but aside from his taijutsu rising by one stage, the others remained at their original realms.

Kagura understood that as his strength increased, he was gradually beginning to encounter bottlenecks. He would no longer experience the rapid growth he had at the start.

As for Ninjutsu, the system had issued only three missions over the past three years.

Of those three missions, two rewarded B-rank Ninjutsu, while only one gave him an S-rank Ninjutsu.

The B-rank Ninjutsu could be set aside for now. The focus was this S-rank Ninjutsu.

This was Kagura's first taijutsu-type Ninjutsu at last: the Eight Inner Gates.

In truth, the Eight Inner Gates could only be classified as A-rank Ninjutsu under the original ranking system.

But Kagura had clearly inherited a Ninjutsu with the power of "Night Guy," so the system classified it as S-rank.

(Perhaps someone might ask: weren't Kagura's attributes already measured using the Eight Gates of the Eight Inner Gates? Did that not mean he already knew the Eight Inner Gates Ninjutsu?

That was indeed a misunderstanding. As everyone knew, opening the Eight Gates was closely related to the user's physical condition.

The better your physical condition, the more Gates you could open, which was why the Eight Gates were used as the standard.

Even Kagura's current physical attribute marking of six Gates did not mean he could open the Gate of View without harm.

Only when the progress reached 100% could he truly open the Gate corresponding to that stage without injury.)

Of course, while fighting different enemies over the years, Kagura had also successfully used the Sharingan to Copy many Ninjutsu.

But since those Ninjutsu were not of high rank, they would not be mentioned for now.

After hurrying all the way, they finally returned to Konoha within the registration period.

Registration was actually very simple. It was simply done at the window beside the one where they usually accepted missions.

After solemnly filling in the four of their names, they handed over the Land of Whirlpools mission and walked out.

The moment they emerged, they saw three Acquaintances coming straight toward them.

The silver-haired one was Hatake Sakumo, whom they had mentioned earlier and who had already become a Chunin.

Beside him stood Might Duy, dressed in a green bodysuit and sporting a Watermelon Head.

The last was a handsome man with light blue hair.

He was Dan Katō, Tsunade's lover in the original story.

Seeing Kagura and the others, Might Duy energetically took the lead in greeting them.

"Hey, my Rival! You're back today?"

Kagura nodded in acknowledgment and explained,

"Yes, we rushed back to register for the Chunin Exam.

By the way, Might Duy, you're still a Genin too, right? Did you register?"

At that, Might Duy flashed his signature toothy grin and Responded confidently,

"No. My Team Leader Teacher said my strength is still insufficient for the exam, so he did not submit my name."

No, what was there to be proud of? Why did he look so confident? What's Going On?

As Kagura stood there speechless, Dan Katō Looked Towards Tsunade and the others and said gently,

"Everyone knows what you are capable of. You already possess strength beyond that of Chunin.

So do not be nervous. Take the exam with Peace of Mind, and you will definitely pass."

Dan Katō was actually one year older than them. Back at the Ninja Academy, he had been a senior from the class above theirs.

But after becoming teammates with Hatake Sakumo, who was also a Chunin, he had gradually become more familiar with Kagura's group over the years.

Looking at Dan Katō, who was as gentle as a Big Brother, the few of them unconsciously nodded.

After chatting about their recent mission experiences, they bid one another farewell.

After parting with Dan Katō and the others, Kagura's expression turned strange as he occasionally stole glances at Tsunade beside him.

Although the two had maintained a tacit, ambiguous relationship over the years, neither had taken the initiative to pierce that veil because of their ages.

Yet driven by a man's powerful possessiveness, he still felt a little unsettled upon seeing Dan Katō.

That man had been Tsunade's lover in the original story. Although the entire plot had changed drastically because of his appearance...

Who knew whether this connection of fate would produce some kind of effect?

Sensing Kagura's furtive gaze, Tsunade sharply looked back at him, widened her almond-shaped Eyes, and asked,

"What are you doing?"

Having been caught, Kagura immediately faced forward and Responded with forced composure,

"Nothing. I did not say anything."

But a woman's unique sixth sense told Tsunade that Kagura was lying.

Her Eyes shifted, and she suddenly jumped to Kagura's side and wrapped her arms around his arm again.

She leaned toward his ear, her cherry lips speaking softly in an incredibly seductive voice,

"Rea~~lly~~?"

Hiss...

Where had this Little Sprite learned such tricks?

Seeing Kagura's expression as though his Whole Body had frozen solid, Tsunade deliberately laughed.

Releasing Kagura's arm, she ran In Front of him.

With both hands resting on her lower back, she bent forward, Looking at Kagura teasingly as she said,

"Hmph! Who told you to hide things from me?"

After saying that, she stopped looking at Kagura, turned around, and skipped ahead.

Kagura smiled helplessly and silently followed after her.

The afterglow of the setting sun fell across Konoha main street, stretching out their shadows until they finally merged into a single point.

Oh, no.

There were still two companions behind them, stuffed full from watching them flaunt their affection...