Old Man Picks a Fight

Deep in the night, everyone had fallen asleep, leaving only Gaara and Zeyu, who was keeping watch.

"Zeyu-kun, I want to eat more..." Hinata muttered in her sleep, turning over to lie on her side facing Zeyu.

"Pfft, looks like I didn't bring enough, haha." Zeyu, who had been meditating, couldn't help but laugh, whispering to himself.

Watching Hinata's adorable sleeping face, he couldn't resist leaning down to plant a kiss on her, then tucked her in properly before returning to his meditation.

"Hey, brat, it's so late, don't you want to get some sleep? Hmm?" Shukaku, the One-Tail inside Gaara, chuckled wickedly.

"Go to sleep. It's the perfect time for me to help you take revenge. Let's kill that red-haired brat, hehehe."

"Shut up." Gaara closed his eyes, meditating while speaking to Shukaku.

"Hehehe, are you not angry at all? That doesn't sound like you. How about we kill them all while they're asleep? Wouldn't that be fun? Hehehehehehe." Shukaku shook his massive, bloated body, laughing wildly as the chains binding him rattled loudly.

"Shut up, I told you to shut up!" Gaara, unable to stand Shukaku's noise, furrowed his brows and gritted his teeth, covering his ears as if that would make the voice less intrusive.

His agitated emotions caused the sand to stir restlessly, floating in the air around him.

Zeyu noticed Gaara's state and opened one eye to observe him quietly, his hand already slowly reaching for the short blade at his waist.

Gaara gasped for air, struggling to calm himself down, before asking, "Hey, Shukaku, I have a question for you."

"Hmph, I have no obligation to answer your questions. Don't get too full of yourself, brat."

"I'm only temporarily residing in your body, not your babysitter, you stinking brat!" Shukaku roared angrily.

Gaara opened his eyes, thinking to himself, Communication is impossible. What a headache.

He looked at Zeyu, who was meditating diagonally across from him, and thought, Shukaku's attitude... what Zeyu said might actually be true.

He then raised his hand, condensing a handful of sand in his palm. "Mother..."

"Looks like it's fine now." Zeyu glanced at Gaara, who was playing with the sand, then closed his eyes to continue his meditation and training.

The next morning, at the Ninja Academy office building.

Hiashi, who had been waiting in the conference room for a long time, sipped the tea in his cup and said to Shimizu Nana, who had just arrived, "You must be Shimizu Nana. Zeyu is your subordinate, right?"

"Uh, yes, he is." Nana sat in a chair, smiling awkwardly.

Hiashi slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Hmph! Your subordinate Zeyu tricked my Hinata away before the exam; she didn't even attend training!"

"Because she missed her training, if anything happens to Hinata during the exam, it will all be on Zeyu's head!"

"As his superior, you can't escape responsibility either! Do you think I won't report this to the Hokage and have you charged with dereliction of duty?"

Nana was startled and hurriedly tried to appease him. "No, no, Lord Hiashi, please calm down. There must be some misunderstanding here."

"Ha, a misunderstanding? What kind of misunderstanding? I went to ask Kurenai Yuhi yesterday; Hinata wasn't training with her, nor was she training at home. Where else could she have gone?"

"She must have been with that brat Zeyu! I saw something was off a long time ago—they're always together, and she's even neglected her training!"

"Is this how you manage your subordinates?"

Nana was left speechless, able only to offer constant apologies and excuses.

The conference room was incredibly noisy.

Outside the door, the Third Hokage walked down the hallway, followed by an Anbu member carrying a stack of documents.

"Hmm, what's going on in there? Why is it so loud?" Hiruzen heard the commotion in the conference room and stopped to ask.

He then knocked on the door and walked inside.

Nana, who had been bowing and scraping, turned pale the moment she saw the Third Hokage enter. Why is the Hokage here? It's over, I'm dead, she thought.

Hiashi also saw the Third Hokage. He glared at Nana once more, let out a forceful huff, and stepped forward to greet him.

"Is that you, Hiashi? What's going on?" Hiruzen asked, taking a puff of his pipe.

Seeing that the Third Hokage had asked, Hiashi spoke plainly, turning to point at Nana. "Lord Hokage, you must seek justice for me. Shimizu Nana's subordinate, Zeyu, deceived my Hinata and caused her to miss her training. If anything happens to her during the exam, Zeyu must take full responsibility!"

Upon hearing this, the Third Hokage recalled the time he had met Zeyu, where he had been with Hinata and appeared to be training. He had a rough idea of the situation.

"Oh, is that really the case? Nana?" Hiruzen asked, looking toward her.

"Yes... Lord Hokage," Nana replied cautiously.

The Third Hokage exhaled a puff of smoke and patted Hiashi's shoulder.

"Now, Hiashi, don't get too worked up. Calm down first. I know this Zeyu kid; he's quite capable. There might be some misunderstanding here."

"Lord Hokage, but..." Hiashi started to say something, but Hiruzen interrupted him.

"I know, Hiashi. You're worried about your precious daughter. How about this? The video from yesterday's second exam just arrived. Shall we watch it together? Perhaps your daughter is fine and passed on the first day."

He then said to Nana, who was nearby, "Nana, go make two cups of good tea. I need to have a good chat with Hiashi."

After Nana left, he instructed the Anbu ninja behind him to play the video.

Seeing that Hiruzen had said as much, Hiashi could only swallow his words and plop down into a chair, waiting to watch the video.

After the ninja set up the video, he handed the remote to the Third Hokage.

At this moment, Nana also brought over the tea she had brewed and placed it on the coffee table, standing behind the two of them to watch.

The Third Hokage adjusted the video, and soon, figures appeared.

Gaara and his group walked into the frame, Kankuro carrying Temari behind Gaara, looking somewhat disheveled.

"Oh, it's Sand Ninja. They're fast," the Third Hokage exclaimed.

Hiashi paid no mind to this, staring at the video, trying to spot Hinata.

The Third Hokage held the remote and rewound a bit further.

Before long, another group appeared on the screen.

Shota and Megumi walked in front, followed by Kiba and Shino, and then Zeyu, holding Hinata's hand, also appeared.

The group looked energetic, and their clothes were even clean.

The Third Hokage paused the video and observed the group closely, then couldn't help but laugh.

"Hahaha, Hiashi, look, isn't this great? Everyone is fine. You were worrying too much."

The Anbu beside him also took a closer look and exclaimed, "Indeed. Not only that, but they're surprisingly clean. That's quite impressive for newcomers."

Hiashi leaned in to look and saw that Hinata in the video was indeed fine. He just found it annoying that Zeyu was holding her hand.

He snorted inwardly, sat back in his seat, and cleared his throat.

"Indeed, I was rude. My apologies, Lord Hokage."

Nana behind him also breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest.

"Phew, thank goodness. Zeyu, you really scared me this time," Nana thought.

With the heavy stone in his heart lifted, Hiashi relaxed considerably. After chatting with the Third Hokage for a while longer, he left.

After Hiashi left, Nana quickly thanked the Third Hokage.

"You're welcome. It was nothing," the Third Hokage said, waving his hand.

Then he asked, "Nana, do you know who those Sand Ninja are?"

Nana was a bit taken aback by the question.

"I don't know."

Hiruzen said with a serious expression, "I don't know either. But for them to pass the second exam in just two hours, breaking the historical record of four hours, this is beyond the scope of Chunin."

Then he laughed again.

"However, Zeyu and the others followed closely and completed it, and it seems they did even better, with no injuries. This is truly great news."

"With talents like these, if we focus on cultivating them, Konoha has hope of returning to its peak."

The Third Hokage was in high spirits, smoking his pipe and humming a tune as he left, with the Anbu following closely behind.

Nana stood in place and also smiled.

"That Zeyu kid isn't bad at all."