At Square 33 in Konoha, Tsunade stood with her hands on her hips and said, "What's this? We agreed to meet here in the morning, but only the three of us showed up. The old man's unreliable, and now our new captain is too?"
Jiraiya chimed in. Exactly! They'd agreed to meet in the morning, and now it was nearly noon, but their captain still hadn't shown. Didn't he know that Jiraiya's time was precious, too?
"The captain said morning. There are still ten minutes until noon," Orochimaru pointed out.
Tsunade was speechless. Was that really how he defined morning?
Just then, Li Yi strolled over and said with a smile, "Hey, everyone!"
"I'm not doing well!" Tsunade replied, hands on her hips, not bothering to spare him any courtesy.
Li Yi didn't mind. "Orochimaru's right. I'm not late. I never said what time in the morning, so you came early on your own!"
Tsunade glared at Li Yi, her eyes practically on fire. She was sure he'd done it on purpose.
"You probably know already, but you'll be taking the Chunin Ninja Exams this time. They're being held in the Land of Iron and jointly hosted by the Five Great Shinobi Villages. We need to show everyone what Konoha is made of, so before we set off, I'm going to test your strength," Li Yi said.
At the mention of a strength test, Jiraiya stepped forward at once. "I'm Jiraiya, the strongest Genin. Do I really need to be tested?"
Li Yi glanced at him and said dryly, "But I heard you were the dead-last, Jiraiya."
Jiraiya immediately blew his top. "What? Who told you that? I'm Jiraiya, the strongest Genin!"
Li Yi chuckled. His meaning was clear enough.
Jiraiya really had been the dead-last before, but he had