The Young Shinobi Prepare for the Exams / Shingen Visits the Kazekage

This area, near the desert, is a place rife with chaos and turmoil.

Rasa, accompanied by his guards, entered the stone forest and saw the people waiting there.

"Orochimaru, you came alone?" Rasa stopped about a meter away from Orochimaru.

From this position, he can launch an attack at any time.

"I'm doing this for your sake." Orochimaru looked at his former enemy without any emotion. "What? Not welcome?"

"You broke your promise, you know that, right?" Rasa's tone was not polite.

Without Orochimaru from Hidden Leaf Village, he's all alone and not worth doing those superficial things for.

"You need to be prepared. The current Leaf Village is far stronger than your Sand Village."

Orochimaru remained smiling.

A thought unconsciously welled up in my mind.

[Why does this guy talk so much nonsense? Maybe we should just kill him.]

Orochimaru remembered that he had sworn an oath that if he ever encountered someone who liked to ramble on during discussions, he would just stab them to death.

However, he didn't bring anyone with him today, and Rasa was no weakling. There were too many uncontrollable factors involved in making a move here, so he decided to hold back.

If Rasa continued to grumble, he wouldn't be able to tolerate it.

If I can't beat Uchiha Shingen, can't I at least outmaneuver Rasa?

Without making a sound, Orochimaru had already decided in his mind which poison to use.

Chapter Three: The Little Strong Ones Preparing for the Exam

"Did you bring the things?" Rasa asked.

The Land of Rice Fields is a relatively wealthy country, at least wealthier than the Land of Wind.

However, the Land of Rice Fields lacks minerals. Although the neighboring Land of Iron is also a major mining country, its production capacity is far less than that of the Land of Wind Land of Iron. To ensure self-sufficiency, its export volume is limited, and the Land of Iron's main customer is the Land of Earth.

Naturally, Orochimaru set his sights on the Land of Wind.

Rasa also happened to need a country under the association's system, and the two sides hit it off immediately.

Therefore, among the five Kage, he was the only one who knew that the leader of the Sound Village was actually Orochimaru.

"Here you go." Orochimaru took out a scroll and tossed it over.

A sand hand rose up in front of Rasa and caught the scroll.

The hand formed from sand unfurled the scroll in mid-air, much like Rasa himself. He first examined the runes on the scroll, then took out an item to inspect it.

That was another scroll.

"This is your Summoning Scroll? How can you ensure it will obey commands once it's created?"

"Complete obedience is impossible, but it won't attack those of you using this scroll."

Rasa thought about it and decided that it was acceptable.

As long as you don't hit the Sand Ninja on the head, it's fine.

Defeating the Rock Ninja would be great, practically a free win; defeating the Cloud Ninja would also be good.

"What I want?" Orochimaru said, indicating that he wasn't there to deliver a gift.

"Give it to him."

One of the guards also took out a scroll and handed it to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru glanced at him, and the guard tensed up.

Rasa can speak to Orochimaru without holding back, since they can always fight if necessary, but his job is simply to call for reinforcements if a real fight breaks out.

The Shadow's guards are only there to deal with insects that aren't worth the Shadow's personal attention. After all, the Shadow needs to maintain his dignity and can't just fight every Tom, Dick, and Harry. However, when the Shadow needs to intervene, the guards are left with nothing more than the duty of calling for reinforcements.

Orochimaru took the scroll, glanced at it, and put it into his sleeve.

Alright, Big Snake Rentals has closed another deal.

"Then, I wish Lord Kazekage all the best in his plans," he said.

"Hmm," Rasa responded indifferently.

If he didn't need to summon a beast, he really wouldn't want to deal with Orochimaru.

Unfortunately, large summoning beasts are a weakness for almost all ninja villages except Leaf Village.

This is especially evident for the Sand Ninja who rely on Puppet Technique.

The Sand Ninja's defeat at Kikyo Pass during the Third Shinobi World War was due to their lack of offensive capabilities.

Puppet Technique effective in open field battles and melee combat, but not in siege warfare.

Especially since the other party possesses a massive Summoning Technique.

The Sand Village relies on the Sand Magnet Release from the Kazekage lineage to supplement their defenses in this area. As a result, once the Kazekage is entangled, the Sand Ninja army struggles to launch an attack.

Hidden Leaf Village is the largest fortified city on the continent in terms of area and population. Even if you break through the high walls, fighting in the village still requires very sophisticated tactical methods, otherwise the Leaf Village ninja army will use the terrain to launch a fierce counterattack.

Therefore, he had no choice but to do this leasing deal with Orochimaru.

He also purchased some combat supplies, but compared to those, he had to personally hand over the "lease contracts" for these giant snakes.

The rent was naturally also a form of goods, and when Orochimaru traded with him personally, it was always a barter system.

The yellow sand spread out again, and when it dispersed, Rasa and his guards were nowhere to be seen.

Orochimaru didn't take it seriously; he felt he could tolerate Rasa's bad temper.

After all, while his words may be unpleasant, he's very efficient at making deals.

The Land of Wind, with its advanced manufacturing industry, provided him with a large amount of experimental equipment.

The Chakra minerals needed by Sound Village can also be obtained from the Land of Wind.

The Land of Wind and the Land of Rice Fields have exactly the opposite of what they possess and lack, so let's just keep them.

Orochimaru has always been a long-term player.

Having worked with Uchiha Shingen for many years, he agreed with some of Uchiha Shingen's views—some people are just talkative, but they get things done thoroughly, keep their promises, and have a strong work ethic; such people should be treated with more tolerance.

At this moment, Orochimaru even felt like humming a little tune.

He sank into the earth.

The Leaf Village ANBU have been active lately. Although these people aren't very skilled, it's still not good if they get caught.

At this time, Hidden Leaf Village was unaware of these disturbances occurring abroad.

The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, had officially announced to the entire village the opening date of the Joint Chunin Exams —July 1st of the 63rd year of Leaf Village.

Among the most recent graduating Genin, four classes qualified for the competition.

Team 6, under Hatake Kakashi, consists of Konohamaru Sarutobi, Ise Udon, and Kazamatsuri Moegi.

Team 7, under Uchiha Shingen, consisted of Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuga.

Team 8 under the Red Banner consists of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Sakura Haruno.

Team 10, under Asuma Sarutobi, consists of Nara Shikamaru, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka.

In addition, among the Genin who graduated last year, Uchiha Shisui recommended Uchiha Clan Haku, who belonged to the Konoha Military Police Force, Neji Hyuga, and Uzumaki Clan Karin, who belonged to the Sealing Squad.

Might Guy also recommended his Team 3, whose members were Rock Lee, Tenten, Sai.

The relevant documents were distributed to all the Genin on the same day the announcement was made. The administration department has been very busy these days. Even though they are short-staffed, they have set up special posts to take care of the Genin who are going to participate in the competition.

After all, the Genin who can participate in the Chunin Selection Exam are not simple; they all have at least one Jonin behind them. The registration of the candidates' identities is very important and cannot be compromised.

Three days after the announcement, six Genin were seen walking out of the Hokage Building together.

"Finally done! What a hassle! Speaking of which, the teacher said we could take the exam, so why did we have to register separately?" Naruto Uzumaki grumbled as he looked at the exam qualification certificate in his hand.

He has a straightforward personality and is impatient; he dislikes all sorts of formalities.

"Are you an idiot?" Uchiha Sasuke glanced at him. "Without this, how can the examiners tell if you're a real candidate? What if you're a spy?"

"Huh? You clearly had the same grades as me in humanities, so why are you calling me an idiot?"

"That's because I'm not interested in those things, unlike those who study hard but still fail."

"Um..." Hinata Hyuga looked nervous as the two started arguing again.

"It's okay, Hinata, they've always been like this." A red-haired girl giggled and hugged Hinata, teasing her. "Why are you so nervous? Do you like our Naruto? Or Sasuke?"

"Karin, don't tease Hinata- san," Neji Hyuga said from the side. "She's very introverted, and she can't quite tell if you're joking or not."

"Huh? Is that so?" Uzumaki Clan Karin was taken aback.

Compared to when she was first brought back to Leaf Village by Uchiha Shingen, her personality is now almost the same as in the original timeline.

After all, her adoptive mother was Uzumaki Kushina, who was also a member of the Uzumaki Clan. Having experienced the pain of losing her family, Uzumaki Kushina regarded her as her own daughter. After the Uzumaki Clan was re-established, she had more and more clansmen around her, which dispelled the pain brought to her by her childhood and allowed her closed-off heart to recover.

She would still act very well-behaved in front of Uchiha Shingen and Minato, but she would be very lively when she was with her peers.

At that moment, upon hearing Neji Hyuga's words, Uzumaki Clan Karin, who was Hinata Hyuga, curiously leaned her face towards Hinata. Sure enough, Hinata's face was already so hot it seemed to be steaming.

"Wow! You're so cute!" Uzumaki Clan Karin exclaimed, unable to resist someone so adorable.

Seeing his companions having a lively time, Uchiha Clan, who had already been given the title, walked over to Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki.

"Sasuke, the teacher said he was going to give us special training, but he's been very busy these past few days and hasn't come back. Do you guys know when that is?"

"They said we just need to complete the formalities." Uchiha Sasuke remembered this very clearly. "Speaking of which, Haku-nii, are the missions of the Konoha Military Police Force more interesting than those of ordinary Genin?"

Just thinking about all the D-rank missions he'd been grinding lately Uchiha Sasuke feel like he was going to throw up.

"That's not true. As for the Konoha Military Police Force, we Genin mainly do patrol duties, which are actually quite boring."

"That's right," Neji Hyuga also said. "In terms of the scope of their missions, Genin. After all, the Konoha Military Police Force are public servants, and under normal circumstances, their missions are only related to the work of the Police Force."

"That's pretty cool too," Uchiha Sasuke enviously. "It's better than us weeding and catching small animals every Tenten."

"Even the Genin in the Konoha Military Police Force envy you guys," Neji Hyuga shrugged. "We're stuck in the same place from morning till night. Even when we leave the village, we can only wander around in the forest."

"So what do we do next?" Naruto Uzumaki asked. "We have exams coming up, and we don't have any missions to do. What about you guys?"

"We're in the same boat. The department gave us a break, saying we can make our own arrangements until the exams are over." Bai looked at the Uzumaki Clan Karin, "Karin, what about you?"

"I'm the same as you guys. The seniors in the Sealing Squad told me to focus on preparing for the exam."

"Let's go eat ramen!" Naruto Uzumaki rubbed his stomach. "I'm starving. I was stuffed from drinking milk all morning."

"You got scolded by your mother because you're a picky eater," Uzumaki Clan Karin couldn't help but complain. "If you lived alone, the milk would definitely have expired."

"What's wrong with putting milk in the refrigerator? Shouldn't we only drink it when we want to?"

"I think barbecue would be better," Uchiha Sasuke disagreed. "Although ramen is delicious, I want to eat meat."

"Since we can't agree, let's go to the shopping street first," Neji Hyuga said. "That way, everyone's tastes will be satisfied."

"Wow! As expected of Neji Hyuga, so smart!" Naruto Uzumaki immediately gave a thumbs up. "I've already decided, I want ramen!"

Neji Hyuga's suggestion was quickly approved by everyone. Filled with anticipation for the delicious food, the group set off in high spirits towards the North Ward shopping street.

In the direction they were heading, at the north gate of Hidden Leaf Village, a group from Sunagakure was passing through.

Chapter Four: Shingen Visits the Kazekage

The ANBU service office.

Uchiha Shingen, who had been reduced to a ruthless stamper and editor, was engrossed in processing documents.

Being the head of a department is no easy task.

Whether it's a game of strategy or personal gain at the expense of the public, every single document that needs approval must be submitted.

In this era, how to divide power is a problem that all five major ninja villages must face.

The five major shadows cannot avoid it, nor can the heads of various departments.

When the village was founded, there were only a few ninjas in the entire village. Since there was no division of power, one person could handle it with a little overtime.

Even now, the Sand Village, which has the fewest ninjas, has more than all five villages combined back then.