The Exam

On the day the Chunin Exams officially began, Uchiha Kei arrived at Konoha's entrance early with Hyuga Aya and Imai Kenta, following Namikaze Minato.

Nearly all the Ninja coming to take the exams had already arrived. After all, no matter where you were, there was always a rule: latecomers would not be admitted.

Being late was a terrible thing, especially for an exam like this, where lateness meant losing the right to participate.

The students had all arrived, so naturally, only a few important figures had yet to show up—such as the Kage!

Come to think of it, almost every village's Kage had come for this joint Chunin Exam.

Even Kirigakure was represented by Hozuki Mangetsu, who was practically the equivalent of a Kage already. The only problem was that the kid had been unlucky enough to lack a few necessary things.

But that was a minor matter. If nothing unexpected happened, he would inevitably reach that position.

Within Kirigakure, those who could compete with him were either already old or had completely lost to him.

It could be said that he truly had no opponents left who could threaten him.

"Kei." As Uchiha Kei and the others waited, Namikaze Minato suddenly let out a faint sigh. "Teacher Jiraiya came back yesterday."

"Oh?" Uchiha Kei was briefly stunned before nodding as though it were only natural.

He did remember that Jiraiya had returned in the Original work, so it did not strike him as particularly strange.

Jiraiya's whereabouts were truly unpredictable. No one could tell when he would return or when he would quietly leave again.

Although his intervention had caused enormous changes to many things in this world, when it came to someone like Jiraiya, who could "guide fate," he had no way of discerning what the man was