Long Awaited

"...The Nine-Tails brat?"

After recognizing the blond boy's face in the surveillance footage, Anko Mitarashi exchanged glances with the two ANBU.

Much of the intelligence concealed from the lower ranks was, to them, nothing more than paper pasted over a window—easily pierced.

For shinobi who had reached a certain level of strength, the existence of Jinchuriki was already an open secret.

"I'll take responsibility for this matter for now," Anko Mitarashi said.

Honestly, her former teacher-student relationship with Orochimaru had already made her position in Konoha somewhat awkward. As for the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, she should have avoided him whenever possible.

That would have been good for her and for Konoha's upper ranks alike.

But some things could not be avoided simply because one wished to avoid them.

As the chief examiner, she had every reason to take over this matter, conceal the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki's information as much as possible, and prevent shinobi from other villages from learning of his existence.

"Not just them. Please watch patiently until the end," the proctor said, shaking his head as he adjusted the machine to speed up the footage.

The numbers in the upper-right corner of the screen rapidly ticked forward.

A few seconds later, the rapidly changing numbers suddenly slowed.

Then three figures appeared in the surveillance footage—the three-person team from Sunagakure.

The three exchanged looks.

"Now this is interesting..."

"Look, it's those three Sand shinobi from that day." Izuno raised her chin slightly.

Naruto followed her gaze. Walking toward them was the Sunagakure team that had clashed with Team Seven not long ago.

Below the stands, the three Sunagakure siblings noticed them as well.

"Did those Konoha bastards get in through the back door?" Kankuro snorted.

He could not help thinking that way. Temari and he had long surpassed the level of genin, while Gaara was such a monster that even ordinary jonin did not dare face his edge.

For a team of that strength to have completed the exam before them...

"Kankuro, shut up!" Gaara, walking at the front of the group, suddenly barked.

Like a mouse seeing a cat, Kankuro shuddered and immediately fell silent.

Following Gaara's gaze, Temari saw a boy wearing gray clothes and black pants, with short blond hair.

He's pretty good-looking... she thought to herself.

Because Sunagakure was plagued by wind and sand all year round, fair and handsome men were not exactly nonexistent—they were simply close to extinct.

But what sort of person was that guy, to make Gaara show such an expression?

Naruto quietly watched the gourd-carrying boy below. After learning his identity from the Nine-Tails, he understood why the child had developed such Asura-like malice at so young an age.

They were both Jinchuriki, the same age, and had suffered the same treatment.

No one understood each other better than they did.

Indifference, curses, being ignored...

That life had not lasted a day or two, but day after day, year after year.

Yet there were slight differences between them.

He had lived three lives, and the hardships of his second life in particular had given him his own ways of dealing with such things.

But the gourd-carrying boy was different.

He was only a blank sheet of paper, a blank sheet unstained by ink.

He was no different from any other child.

But his parents, relatives, and fellow villagers had helped stain him with Asura's red.

"Urgh!" Gaara suddenly clutched his forehead and gasped heavily, his ragged breathing faintly mixed with bursts of growling.

"What's going on? Did it wake up?" Temari and Kankuro's expressions changed as they hurriedly helped him aside.

Damn it! Why did it have to be now?!

Temari gritted her teeth. Seeing her younger brother suffering, she felt deeply guilty again.

She truly was a failure of an older sister, watching her brother sink into the mire while being powerless to help.

"What's wrong with that guy?"

With such a huge commotion, how could the three of them miss it?

Naruto sank his mind into the Mental Space and looked at the Nine-Tails, who had risen into a sitting position.

"What's going on?"

"Tch! That Racoon Dog is as irritable as ever." The Nine-Tails sneered.

"The One-Tail?" Naruto raised a brow. "What does it look like?"

Honestly, he had been rather curious about the appearances of the other tailed beasts.

The name "One-Tail" always made him involuntarily imagine the Nine-Tails with eight of its tails chopped off.

"It looks like a Racoon Dog." The Nine-Tails slowly lowered its body. Judging by the faint curl of its lips, it seemed to be in a good mood.

"Hm?" Naruto enlarged the Racoon Dog in his mind until it was the same size as the Nine-Tails. A moment later, he could not help pinching the bridge of his nose.

This bizarre feeling...

"Can you let me say a few words to it?" Naruto asked. From what had just happened, the tailed beasts should have some unknown means of communication between them.

"He's disconnected." The Nine-Tails spoke as though it were only natural, as if the One-Tail being not disconnected would have been abnormal.

"???" Naruto stared at the Nine-Tails before him in astonishment. He had not expected it—despite looking so upright and dignified, it was actually this mean inside.

Could there be bullying among the tailed beasts too...

Hiss, so the one living inside me is some kind of big boss...

In an instant, Naruto felt enlightened. Looking at the great fox before him, he no longer felt its former mystery.

From this perspective, tailed beasts did not seem all that different from humans.

"He won't drop out because of this, will he? Hehe..." Raimon speculated maliciously.

This was someone Naruto had specifically warned them about. Over the past few days, he had put far too much pressure on Raimon.

"Probably not. He'll be fine after resting for a while." Naruto shook his head slightly, shattering his unrealistic fantasy.

The gourd-carrying kid had most likely been hurt by the One-Tail's rampage.

"Is that so..." Raimon smacked his lips in disappointment.

"Instead of thinking about pointless things, get some proper rest and prepare for tomorrow's third exam." Naruto walked to an open patch of ground, slowly sat down, and closed his eyes to rest.

The second exam was meant to last two days.

Yet less than two hours had passed since it began.

Forest of Death.

Boom!

"Sai!" Sakura's face changed drastically as she watched her teammate disappear into the snake's mouth.

"Run!"

On a nearby tree trunk, Sasuke stared grimly at the skin-shedding man before him.

"But..." Sakura looked at Sasuke's back, hesitating to speak.

"You'll only be a burden if you stay here!" Sasuke roared, his voice somewhat ferocious.

Damn it, if that guy were here, would things be better...

For some reason, trapped in such a desperate situation, Sasuke could not help thinking of Naruto.

"Hehe, you're the only one left, Sasuke." The Rain shinobi slowly tore away the skin on his face, revealing an incomparably feminine face. Flicking out a snake-like tongue, he spoke with great interest.

As for Sakura in the distance, neither of them considered her a useful fighting force.

"Are you ready?"

The instant he spoke, a nearly tangible killing intent burst from the man's body.

Killing intent was shapeless, but people had form.

Wrapped in that killing intent, Sasuke felt as if an icy hand had seized his heart tightly. No matter how hard he tried to force his rigid body to move, he could only stand there in a daze.

"Ah!"

Sakura wanted to rush forward and help Sasuke, but the giant python that had just swallowed Sai suddenly turned its head. Its gaping maw bore down on her with terrifying force.

"Ahhh!!!"

Sakura only had time to let out a scream before vanishing into the snake's mouth.

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