"What the hell? Does this even count as being a ninja?"
"Is she really a Konoha ninja? My nephew said he'd never seen her at the Academy either—"
"Tch, if she faced ninja from another village, would she expect them not to kill her too?"
"You don't understand. The Uchiha Clan must have done something to make her like this!"
At this point, the audience was largely dissatisfied with Yakushi Nonō as well.
After all, Akaseki looked like he could have killed her several times already, yet she had stubbornly held on by being utterly unreasonable.
Akaseki had already come up with an idea.
"You think this is enough to make me hesitate? You're underestimating the Uchiha Clan." Akaseki sneered as he stepped forward.
Akaseki grabbed her by the hair and forced her head up. Then—
"Let me use the Uchiha Clan's Genjutsu to make you surrender!" Akaseki's Sharingan met Yakushi Nonō's gaze, its tomoe beginning to spin.
The next moment—
Yakushi Nonō let out a shrill scream.
As though startled, Akaseki immediately retreated several steps and stopped his eye technique.
"Y-You have a suicide curse mark on you too?" Akaseki asked, feigning shock.
Akaseki's words immediately caused a huge uproar.
"A suicide curse mark? What's that?"
"No idea. Something to defend against Genjutsu?"
"Then why is it called 'suicide'?"
"That's something only covert operatives use—a curse mark that kills its bearer at critical moments to prevent information from leaking!"
"What? They'd do something like that just for the Chunin Exams?"
"Wait, is this little brat a ninja on a covert mission? Could she be one of the legendary Anbu?"
"Shh, don't talk nonsense!"
Ah—
Those terms might have been unfamiliar to ordinary people, but—
Naturally, someone explained them. Before long, even the ordinary spectators understood Akaseki's predicament—if he used