"You little bastard, you were deliberately screwing with me in the exam hall just now, weren't you?!"
Konoha Ninja Academy.
Training ground.
Uchiha Shingen held a bottle of soda in one hand and draped the other over Shiranui Genma's shoulder, glaring at him as he threatened him.
"How could I?!"
Shiranui Genma still had that infuriating, half-dead look on his face, the senbon in his mouth trembling along with his words. "Wasn't I just ensuring the exam was fair?! You know me—I've always been like this."
Uchiha Shingen gave him a once-over. "I was the one who passed you the answers when you cheated on exams back then, and you're talking to me about fairness?!"
"Well~"
"You're not seriously mad over something this small, are you? I thought you'd already passed the Chunin Exams long ago."
Shiranui Genma leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head, genuine concern in his tone.
As one of Uchiha Shingen's closest friends at the academy, he had been unilaterally cut off by Uchiha Shingen after graduation.
Shiranui Genma naturally harbored some resentment.
But after learning what Uchiha Shingen had gone through, that bit of resentment faded away.
After experiencing something like that—and as a member of the Uchiha clan—it was only normal for his personality to change drastically. The fact that he had not gone to extremes was already a blessing. By chance, the two had met again in the exam hall this time. Once they left the classroom, they casually found a place to catch up.
"Keep it secret."
Shiranui Genma immediately understood. "A village mission?! Then I'm relieved."
"Still, I have to warn you. There are a few monsters among this year's candidates—ones even the Jonin overseeing this joint Chunin Exam can't figure out."
"If you run into them,