Breaking the Record

Early July of Konoha 52.

Konoha, the dominant force in the Shinobi World that won Third Great Ninja War, has suffered repeated blows to its reputation in recent years.

This time, Konoha actively invited neighboring countries to participate in the Chunin Selection Exam and even invited dignitaries from various countries to attend, clearly demonstrating their confidence in the Konoha Genin for this Chunin Selection Exam.

Out of respect for Konoha as an ally, Amegakure, Kusagakure, Takigakure, Sunagakure each sent a team of Genin to Konoha to participate in the Chunin Selection Exam.

Although Iwagakure and Kumogakure did not send Genin teams to participate in the exam, they still sent officials and ninjas to observe the event.

Other neutral countries, such as the Land of Frost, the Land of Iron, the Demon Country, and the Land of the Sea, also sent envoys. Among them, the Star Hidden Village of the Bear Country sent a Genin to participate in the Chunin Selection Exam alone.

As for the Uzumaki Clan, Konoha's staunch ally, they were no exception. Shiraha not only brought his son and daughter but also took the initiative to request that the Uzumaki Clan's Genin participate in Konoha's Chunin Selection Exam.

The Konoha High-Level readily agreed, believing that after the Uzumaki Clan had repeatedly provoked Kirigakure and Iwagakure, they needed to strengthen their alliance with Konoha to cope with external pressure.

After all, Konoha is still the strongest ninja village in the Shinobi World in terms of overall strength.

When Bai Yu and his group arrived at the east gate of Konoha Village, they saw Nawaki standing at the gate.

When Nawaki saw Shiraha and the others from afar, he quickly ran over and stopped in front of Shiraha, punching him in the chest with his fist. "You bastard, if it weren't for the Chunin Ninja Exams, how long has it been since you last came to see me!"

Shiraha smiled, opened his arms to Nawaki, and the two hugged. Then, pointing to the four people behind him, he introduced them to Nawaki: "These are Taichi and Hikari, and these two are my disciples, Kimimaro and Haku."

"Quickly call for someone." Shiraha patted Taichi's head. "This is your Uncle Nawaki."

"Uncle Nawaki," Hikari said politely.

Taichi rubbed his head, seemingly dissatisfied that Shiraha only hit his head, and then said in a muffled voice, "Uncle Nawaki."

"Nawaki." Kimimaro and Haku bowed respectfully.

Nawaki smiled slightly at Shiro and Kimimaro, then turned his attention to Taichi and Hikari, pointing to himself and saying, "Taichi, Hikari, don't be so formal. I held you when you were born, don't you remember?"

"I have absolutely no recollection of it, Uncle." Taichi shook his head.

"What uncle? I'm only in my twenties and not married yet! You should call me brother!" Nawaki said with a frivolous expression, showing none of the demeanor of Elite Jonin Konoha.

Taichi glanced at Nawaki and said, "Uncle, with that scraggly beard, you look at least ten years older than my dad. Stop pretending to be young!"

Nawaki: (°ー°)

Shiraha couldn't help but laugh out loud. At this moment, Nawaki had a full beard, and his hairstyle seemed to be inspired by the First. He had long hair, but the First had long, straight black hair, while his hair was slightly curly and yellowish-brown. With his full beard, he looked like a middle-aged man, even though he was only one year older than Shiraha.

Of course, the Nawaki's design isn't exactly ugly, but it certainly exudes a mature vibe.

"This is the trendy mature, older man style that's all the rage lately, what do you know?!"

Seeing Shiraha smirking, Nawaki instantly lost his guard and squatted down to argue with Taichi.

"Old man," Taichi retorted.

"Ugh, damn it!" Nawaki scooped up Taichi and rubbed his face with his beard, yelling, "Let me show you what an old man can do!"

At this moment, Hikari hid behind Shiraha, looking at the two childish kids with a look of disgust.

"Alright! Nawaki! How old are you? Stop acting like a child!"

A female voice came from behind the group, and the person who came was Tsunade.

Behind her followed a girl in a black kimono, holding a piglet. Her name was Kato Shizune, Dan Katō's niece. After Dan Katō's death, Tsunade discovered that Shizune had a good talent for Medical Ninjutsu and had no relatives, so she took her in as a disciple and they traveled the Shinobi World together to do charity.

After receiving Shiraha's message, Tsunade was initially reluctant to return to Konoha. However, considering that Shiraha said he had something important to discuss, and that over the years Shiraha had lent her money to pay off her gambling debts, she owed Shiraha, and now that Shiraha said he needed her help, Tsunade felt embarrassed to refuse directly. Thinking that she hadn't been back to the village for a long time and hadn't seen Nawaki for a long time, Tsunade took Shizune with her and returned to the village. Unexpectedly, they arrived just in time.

"Sister, you're back!" Nawaki looked at Tsunade with surprise and delight.

"Put Taichi down right now!" Seeing Taichi struggling, Tsunade immediately adopted her elder sisterly authority and reprimanded him, "If you like children so much, you should get married soon! Otherwise, how will you face Grandpa when you go to the Pure Land!"

"If anyone's getting married, it should be you, older sister, first. If I remember correctly, you're more than ten years older than me!" Nawaki retorted.

"Sister, Uncle is bullying me!" Taichi quickly complained to Tsunade.

"What sister! You should call me auntie! My sister is over forty years old." Nawaki looked fearless.

Tsunade grabbed his mouth and said, "You brat, don't you know a woman's age is a secret?!"

Nawaki's mouth was pulled hard by Tsunade, making him wince in pain, and he finally dared not be naughty anymore.

Shiraha looked at the scene before him and was amused again. Nawaki, after all these years, is still so used to being silly.

Especially since Tsunade looks like she's in her early twenties, while Nawaki looks like an uncle, this sibling duo is really hilarious.

Guests came and went in an endless stream at the entrance, including some high-ranking officials and nobles who arrived in sedan chairs. They watched the group of people playing loudly and recklessly, but no one went forward to disturb them.

After all, whether it's the name of the Three Ninja Sannin, the grandson of the First Hokage and an Awakened Wood Release user, or Yagami Shiraha, they are all renowned figures in the Shinobi World. In the eyes of ordinary people, these are the elite. If they want to befriend them, they have to consider the mood of Shiraha and the others.

"Alright, stop fooling around. Every time I discipline you, you always drag me into it." After Tsunade finished disciplining Nawaki, she looked at Shiraha and said with wide eyes, "You brat, every time I see you, I can't help but ask you, how did you learn your Medical Ninjutsu? Why does your skin always look better every time we meet? Even if you just came of age, I doubt anyone would doubt it."

When Shiraha saw that Tsunade had brought up the topic of himself again, he couldn't help but chuckle and said, "The secret to staying young is to get married early and marry a capable wife."

Tsunade: "."

Nawaki: "."

"Well, you little brat, you've gone astray as Nawaki, subtly implying I'm old!" Tsunade suddenly shouted angrily.

As she spoke, Tsunade walked up to Shiraha and stretched out her arm, ready to deliver a classic chokehold.

But when she stood opposite Shiraha, Tsunade realized that Shiraha had grown quite a bit taller. At just over 1.6 meters tall, if she were to lock her neck around Shiraha's neck, she would probably be hanging on him. So she stopped joking around and said seriously, "So, what did you call me back for this time?"

"Let's talk about this once we get to the village. We can't discuss this here," Shiraha said with a smile.

"Let's get this straight, it's impossible for me to pay you back right now. I have no money, but you can decide whether to take me or not." Tsunade adopted a shameless attitude.

"It's just a small amount of money, of course I wouldn't make a special trip to Konoha."

Shiraha shook his head.

"Then let's go in quickly," Tsunade said.

The group headed towards Konoha.

Nawaki came to Shiraha's side and whispered with a gossipy look, "Shiraha, how much money does your sister owe you? I'll pay off part of it for you first."

Clearly, Nawaki also knew what kind of person Tsunade was, doing charity work all over the Shinobi World, and now some of the Senju Clan's assets were in her hands.

Although Nawaki often sends money to Tsunade, he will not hand over the family business to her. After all, if Tsunade loses money gambling, she might mortgage all the family property. This is something that Grandma Mito repeatedly told her before she passed away.

"We're all family, no need to rush to pay it back," Shiraha said.

"I know the Uzumaki Clan needs money to rebuild, so please don't be polite with me," Nawaki insisted.

"Oh, not much, maybe five or six hundred million," Shiraha said calmly.

"..." Nawaki fell silent, then suddenly spoke up, "I just helped her pay off forty million Ryo last month, and she still owes you five or six hundred million?!"

"It's all small change, I don't remember." Shiraha waved his hand arrogantly.

Nawaki said seriously, "Shiraha, why don't you marry your sister as well? I'll feel more at ease with you taking care of her, so she won't ruin the Senju Clan's business again."

Shiraha: Σ(°△°|||)

"Nawaki, you little brat, are you looking for death!"

Tsunade's furious voice came from ahead.

To the northeast of Konoha lies the Training Ground 44, a primeval forest known as the ' Death Forest.' It retains its most pristine ecological environment and is teeming with various poisonous insects and ferocious beasts. An ordinary person might not even survive an afternoon there.

This is the Second Exam of the Chunin Selection Exam.

The Genin who are participating in the Chunin Selection Exam need to stay here for five days.

The test consisted of one half of the Genin teams obtaining the Heaven Scroll and the other Genin obtaining the Earth Scroll. Each team, with a pair of Heaven and Earth Scrolls, had to traverse the Death Forest and reach the Central Tower within five days to pass the second test.

A total of 166 Genin participated in this Chunin Selection Exam, forming 56 teams.

Normally, a Genin squad has 3 members, but the Uzumaki Clan's Genin squad only has 2 members, Kimimaro and Haku; in addition, the Star Hidden Village Genin squad only has 1 member, whose name is ' Meteor '.

Among the Genin teams from Konoha's main village participating in the Chunin Exams, Uchiha Itachi, the eldest son of the Uchiha Clan Head, also participated in the Chunin Ninja Exams a solo team.

Other teams, whether from Konoha, Sunagakure, Amegakure, Takigakure, or Kusagakure, consist of three people per team.

Because, within the bounds of the rules, the larger the team, the higher the probability of passing the exam.

A total of 151 Genin from Konoha participated in this competition, forming 51 Genin teams.

Large ninja villages like Konoha typically hold the Chunin Selection Exam twice a year.

Inviting various countries to attend the ceremony was naturally intended to showcase Konoha's strength and heritage.

The Chunin Selection Exam are essentially a contest of national strength between major powers, and there was even a precedent of two major ninja villages holding the Chunin Selection Exam together.

Of course, Konoha was the absolute protagonist of this Chunin Selection Exam, while the other villages participated with the mindset of just participating.

The number of people from Konoha Village participating in the exam was overwhelmingly large. Although the rules did not allow ninjas from the same village to form illegal teams, ninjas from Konoha would certainly not kill each other if they encountered each other during the exam.

After all, this is a public demonstration of the entire process of the Konoha Chunin Ninja Exams to all countries, so those who dare to participate in the exam are naturally the elite among the Genin. Most of these elites come from the Ninja Clan and belong to the same village. Even if they have personal grudges, they will not directly retaliate in this situation and leave a stain on their resume.

At this moment, at the tower in the center of the Death Forest, the Jōnin of Konoha, along with the ninja leaders from other villages, had already arrived.

As for ordinary people of noble status, despite the protection of ninjas, they were unwilling to come to the depths of this harsh primeval forest. They wanted to wait until the Preliminary Selection were over to watch the real elites compete. Therefore, those who came to the Central Tower were all ninjas.

Out of curiosity, Shiraha naturally came to the Central Tower as well.

After all, in his first life, he only saw the Chunin Selection Exam process in anime. When he actually came to this world, due to the outbreak of war, his promotion was achieved through the accumulation of battle merits. He did not participate in the Chunin Selection Exam.

Originally, there would have been a Preliminary Selection after the Second Exam to eliminate half of the Genin, ensuring that only elites would participate in the Third Exam. However, due to Shiraha's curiosity, he visited the tower during the Second Exam. For such a distinguished guest, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, had no choice but to personally entertain him.

"I didn't expect Lord Shiraha to be interested in such a basic exam." Sarutobi Hiruzen somewhat puzzled, treating Shiraha as an equal in conversation. Although Shiraha used to be a promising grand-disciple of his, a subordinate he could order around at will, things were different now, and he had to take it very seriously.

"I just want to see how long it takes my subordinates to pass the exam," Shiraha said with a smile.

Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned slightly. "Under normal circumstances, excellent Genin should pass the exam within two days, and some rare geniuses may only need one day. The exam has only been going on for an hour, and it's a bit too early to come here and wait."

"There are always some special cases, like the new Uchiha Clan Uchiha Itachi. I think he should pass the test today," Shiraha said with a smile.

He wasn't just flattering him, because he clearly understood the power of the Double Tomoe Sharingan, especially since Itachi had awakened it at the age of 8. Now that he was 10, after being trained by Kage Level powerhouses like Fugaku and Shisui, ordinary Chunin were no match for him.

"Itachi is indeed very outstanding." Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled, but his heart sank. It seemed that Danzo's words were not wrong at all. Shiraha had indeed set his sights on the Uchiha Clan and had been frequently contacting Issei and Shisui recently. This was something that had to be guarded against.

When Shiraha took Kushina, the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki, away from the village, it already dealt a huge blow to Konoha. If he were to take away some more Uchiha Clan, how could Konoha maintain its standing in the Shinobi World?

Ironically, the village's reputation in this Chunin Ninja Exams will likely have to be salvaged by the Uchiha, Ninja Clan that has always been viewed with suspicion.

There were many excellent Genin to reference, but only Itachi truly stood out.

In this Chunin Selection Exam Konoha, only Kirigakure did not send either ninjas or officials.

Although the three villages of Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure were not on good terms, the accompanying Jōnin began to talk amongst themselves.

Although Sunagakure sent a small team, it was only a symbolic participation in the exam to give Konoha face; as for their own face, they didn't care at all.

Following the complete defeat in the Third Shinobi World War, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind reduced the allocated funds, causing Sunagakure to fall into a development bottleneck and forcing it to drastically lay off staff, reduce the number of ninjas, and pursue an elite-oriented approach.

Neither Kumogakure nor Iwagakure sent anyone to participate; the Jōnin from both sides were only there to protect the officials, so they were very relaxed. Their purpose was to provide protection while also probing Konoha's strengths and weaknesses.

"Someone's coming!"

As the group chatted quietly in small groups, they saw footage from the surveillance cameras outside the tower on the huge electronic screen on the wall.

Two boys dressed in white with Uzumaki patterns printed on their backs pushed open the tower's doors. They were both about eight or nine years old and were Kimimaro and Haku, the participating ninjas from the Uzumaki Clan.

The two arrived here less than two hours after the exam began.

"Look at them!"

"How could this be?!"

"It's just like..."

Some of the proctoring ninjas couldn't help but gasp in surprise. The two were spotless, showing no signs of having fought at all. If they hadn't also participated in the Chunin Selection Exam, they would have thought they were just there for a visit!

"Has it already broken the record?"

Everyone couldn't help but marvel. They originally thought that Uchiha Itachi would be the first to arrive here. After all, he had awakened the Double Tomoe at the age of 8, which was unprecedented in the entire history of the Uchiha Clan. Itachi's reputation as a genius had long been known throughout Konoha. If it weren't for this Chunin Ninja Exams, he would have been promoted to Chunin long ago based on his performance.

Kimimaro and Haku stood behind Shiraha on the second-floor corridor, bowed respectfully to him, and then nodded.

Seeing this, Shiraha smiled at Sarutobi Hiruzen, "It seems that our Uzumaki Clan's ninjas are slightly ahead."

Sarutobi Hiruzen an awkward smile.

A short while later, a boy with short green hair walked into the tower. He was none other than Meteor, the sole reference of Star Hidden Village.

"They're actually ninjas from Star Hidden Village?"

Does this village exist in the Shinobi World?

"It looks like a ninja village in the Bear Country?"

Just as everyone was wondering, a Chunin who was supervising the exam in the Death Forest Chunin to Sarutobi Hiruzen's side and whispered something in his ear.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression darkened slightly, then he gestured Chunin the Chunin to leave.

No wonder Itachi didn't arrive here first; Kimimaro, Haku, Meteor encountered Itachi on the way.

The three of them forced Itachi to give up the Earth Scroll. Considering their strength, Itachi handed over the scroll to avoid a fight. Now he needs to collect the Heaven and Earth Scrolls again to pass the exam.

'Damn Shiraha! This is deliberately slapping him in the face!'

Sarutobi Hiruzen cursed inwardly.