It was nearly noon, and the sun blazed overhead.
It was already the second day of the second Chunin Ninja Exam.
Inside an office building near the Forest of Death,
"Hurry, take the recording to Lord Hokage!" A slightly older ninja wearing an armband instructed a masked ninja.
After the ninja left, the older one turned to the wall of small monitors and stared at one of them, his eyes full of worry.
Inside the Hokage building, Mitaraishi Anko was reporting the situation to the Third.
"Lord Hokage, I think we should immediately stop Sasuke Uchiha from taking the Chunin Ninja Exams and bring him back for a thorough examination," Anko said.
The Third took a puff from his pipe and spoke slowly.
"Anko, I think we can set this matter aside for now. We shouldn't alert Orochimaru. After all, we haven't found him yet, and there's nothing we can do about him for the time being."
"But..." Anko began, only for the Third to cut her off.
"What's done is done. If Sasuke can't hold out, there's nothing we can do. You should understand that," the Third said.
Anko lowered her head, gritting her teeth, her face full of frustration.
The Third took another puff from his pipe and said,
"For now, all we can do is intensify our search for Orochimaru. As for Sasuke, that's up to him."
Anko touched the mark on the back of her neck and sighed helplessly.
A knock sounded at the door. The Third called, "Come in."
An Anbu Ninja entered and reported,
"Lord Hokage, there's been an incident at the Central Tower!"
The Third looked puzzled and set down his pipe.
"What happened?"
The Anbu Ninja took out a recording and handed it to the Third.
The Third turned and put the recording into the projector beside him. Anko came over to watch, too.
After a burst of static, the Central Tower's lobby appeared on the screen.
A few seconds later, smoke suddenly burst from one side of the otherwise empty lobby. A yellow object flew out of it.
It then spread out across the lobby. One object inside slid along the floor for a while before finally coming to a stop.
The Third narrowed his eyes and moved closer to the screen, staring at the object. His brows furrowed as he asked,
"What is that?"
Anko leaned over for a closer look and replied,
"It looks... like a person, but... not quite. Is it... a tanuki?"
The Third's eyes widened. He turned to Anko and asked again, "What did you just say? What is that?"
Anko was startled. She had never seen the Third like this before. Stammering, she replied, "Uh, it's a person with a tanuki face."
After hearing her answer, the Third confirmed his suspicion and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"A tanuki? If I remember correctly, the Sand Ninja's Tailed Beast looks like one. Could it be..." The Third turned back to the recording.
Just then, the tanuki's appearance on the screen disappeared, revealing Gaara.
Looking at Gaara on the screen, the Third thought, It seems this boy is the Jinchūriki. Jinchūriki are usually valuable assets to their villages. The Sand Ninja let him out just like that. Could they be plotting something?
The Third grew more uneasy at the thought and immediately instructed the two people present,
"Keep what happened today secret. Don't let it get out."
Then he asked Anko, "Anko, how many people were in the tower today?"
Anko was watching the recording. When she heard the Third ask her, she immediately reported, "Same as last night. Only Class Eleven, Class Eight, and the three Sand Ninja Genin."
Hearing this, the Third couldn't help smiling. Then he sent the two of them away.
Zeyu, I bet this was you again. How many more surprises do you have in store for me? The Third took a puff from his pipe and slowly stood up.
He went to the window alone and gazed out at Konoha, thinking to himself, This Chunin Ninja Exam probably won't be peaceful.
Afterward, he called for Elephant and gave him a few more instructions.
Inside the tower,
Zeyu sat with his arms folded on a long bench, eyes closed in thought. Megumi and Hinata had returned. Hinata sat beside him, while Megumi, Shino, and Kiba stood behind him.
Shota lay on the ground nearby, unconscious, with a huge lump on his head and his eyes spinning.
Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro sat on the floor facing the five of them, their heads lowered as they remained silent.
Zeyu's build is so nice. I could feel it when I hugged him before, but this is the first time I've seen him this close. Hinata thought this, then bashfully tucked her head further into her clothes.
Zeyu was already bigger than the other kids his age, and next to Hinata, he was twice her size. She could easily hide inside his clothes.
Now, only her beautiful eyes peeked out as she stared at Zeyu's handsome profile, her face completely flushed.
Um... It wouldn't hurt to touch him, right? Zeyu wouldn't hate me, would he? But... Shota touched him, and Zeyu got so angry... Uh, but Zeyu said he wouldn't hate me... What should I do? Hinata thought, her little hand reaching out and pulling back again and again. For a while, she couldn't decide what to do.
Megumi had seen it all. She helplessly rubbed her forehead and sighed.
"Hey, Zeyu, if you've got something to say, hurry up," Megumi said impatiently.
The others glanced at Megumi, then all looked toward Zeyu.
Gaara and the others also curiously raised their heads and looked at Zeyu.
But Zeyu didn't speak. He only slowly opened his eyes, his face dark with displeasure.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he met the gazes of the three on the floor.
The three of them shuddered, swallowed hard, and fearfully looked away.
Hinata saw that just now. This is so embarrassing. How am I supposed to face her after this? It's all Shota's fault, touching me like some old pervert. I'm going to train him to death when we get back! Zeyu thought, gritting his teeth and glaring, veins bulging on his forehead. He looked furious.
The three on the floor were already scared. Seeing Zeyu like that, they immediately lost their nerve.
Temari stood up and said,
"Um, Zeyu, we really didn't mean for this to happen. I don't know why Gaara suddenly turned into that. He's usually fine. Please let us off this time, okay?" After speaking, Temari gave Kankuro, who was sitting to one side, a look.
Kankuro immediately understood and joined in. "That's right, that's right. We really didn't know. Gaara's usually calm. Maybe this time he was... he was..."
Seeing that Kankuro couldn't think of anything, Temari quickly finished for him. "Hypnotized! Right?"
As she spoke, she shot Kankuro another look.
"Yeah, right, that's what I meant. Heh, Zeyu, please let us off this time. We really didn't mean it, okay?"
The two of them smiled ingratiatingly at Zeyu.
When they went to help Gaara, the two of them had already agreed not to reveal the secret of his body. If they did, their plan might fail and cause their village enormous losses.
Seeing Temari and Kankuro acting so obsequiously, Gaara felt a pang of sadness for some reason. Then he spoke up,
"Zeyu! This was my fault. Please don't hurt them."
As he spoke, he slowly stood up, but he had just been injured and could barely keep his balance.
His leg buckled, and he was about to fall to his knees when Temari and Kankuro caught him and helped him up. The three of them exchanged smiles, then looked at Zeyu again.
By now, Zeyu understood what the three of them were trying to do, so he spoke up.
"I can forgive you this time, but you have to agree to three things."
The three of them looked puzzled and exchanged glances. Then Gaara asked,
"What do you want? Go ahead."
Zeyu raised a finger as he spoke.
"First, apologize to each of us! Second, you'll take responsibility for the hole at the entrance! Third, keep everything that happened between us these past two days completely secret. Don't tell anyone!"
"Is that all?" Gaara asked in disbelief.
"Yeah," Zeyu replied.
Gaara readily agreed. Temari and Kankuro both breathed a sigh of relief.
Kiba leaned close to Zeyu's ear and whispered,
"Zeyu, aren't you letting them off too easily?"
Zeyu turned to answer, but the others leaned in as well to listen.
"I just think this is the only way we can handle things for now. Besides, after all that commotion, the instructors must have noticed. It'd be better to leave this kind of thing to them," Zeyu whispered.
"But that's still way too lenient. It won't even sting," Megumi said.
"I think Zeyu is right," Shino said.
"What do you think, Hinata?" Kiba asked.
"Huh? Um... I'll go with what Zeyu thinks," Hinata replied.
Kiba, are you stupid? Why even ask her that? Megumi thought, rolling her eyes at him.
Seeing the five of them whispering, Gaara and the others couldn't help feeling uneasy.
The five of them discussed it some more, but in the end, they decided to go with Zeyu's suggestion.
There was no other reason; they simply didn't have a better solution.