Chunin Exams

A week later.

When Lin Chongshu emerged from the desert, the yellow sands before him had given way to a dense forest.

He did not cross the Land of Rain directly to reach the Land of Grass. He had thought it through clearly: neither Sunagakure nor Tsunade were fools.

If he took the shortest route, waiting at the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass might be rogue ninjas from the Bounty Exchange, Sand Village Anbu, and Tsunade herself.

His escape route was far too easy to predict.

So he changed direction. Rather than crossing the Land of Rain directly, he first detoured through the Land of Birds.

The Land of Birds lay between the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth. The Land of Rain and the Land of Grass separated it from the Land of Fire, and it had also been one of the main battlefields during the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars.

This nation had no guardian deity like Hanzo, nor did its daimyo possess the means to protect his people while caught between two great nations. The war had lasted as many years as people had died.

By now, the Land of Birds was practically a virgin forest. Most of its villages had been wiped out, leaving only a handful of scattered settlements.

But precisely because of that, Sand Village's influence could not reach this place, and even Tsunade would have a hard time finding him through Hidden Leaf Village's network.

Therefore, he chose to pass through the Land of Birds first, cut north through it to the edge of the Land of Earth, then head east along the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain before entering the Land of Grass from the Land of Earth.

This route was at least three times longer than crossing the Land of Rain directly, but it was safe.

He was in no hurry. Every day, he traveled at an unhurried pace while training as he went.

He was fairly satisfied with the results of this week's training.

The only problem was that once you had used cheats, normal training felt unbearably slow.

Before, he could casually bully a few people and watch his attribute points shoot up. Now, training alone for an entire night only earned him a fraction of a point, and he ended up exhausted as a dog.

He opened his status panel for a look.

[Name: Lin Chongshu]

[Strength: 6]

[Mental: 6.8]

[Agility: 5.6]

[Constitution: 6]

[Speed: 5.5]

[Chakra (Water): 2.3]

[Shukaku's Power: Sand Manipulation (Proficiency 25)]

[Bloodline Limit: Magnet Release—Gold Dust (Proficiency 13)]

[Water Release: Water Clone Technique (Proficiency 0.8)]

[Medical Ninjutsu: Mystical Palm Technique (Proficiency 1)]

[Medical Ninjutsu: Chakra Scalpel (Proficiency 1)]

His left arm could already move normally, but he still could not exert much force.

Shizune had hit him hard. Her Chakra Blade had sliced up both his skin and the muscles underneath, not something his half-baked medical ninjutsu could completely repair.

You really could not provoke honest people.

A few more days passed. He crossed the northern border of the Land of Birds and traveled east along the boundary between the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain.

The Land of Earth's border was all barren stone mountains, as desolate as the Land of Wind.

Hashirama kept preaching about everyone living peacefully and avoiding war, yet he lived somewhere with gorgeous mountains and clear waters while everyone else got stuck in places like this. Of course you wanted peace.

How was that any different from the old saying, "Open the door, fellow countrymen—we're here for free trade"?

When he turned into the borderlands of the Land of Grass from the Land of Earth, Lin Chongshu finally saw signs of habitation.

A village.

The village was not large, but it was far livelier than the small border village in the Land of Rain where he had stayed before.

Colorful cloth strips hung at the village entrance, and many temporary stalls lined both sides of the road. Some sold ninja tools, others sold Military Ration Pills, and one was even selling iced water.

There were also more people on the streets than usual, with quite a few wearing forehead protectors.

Following the photograph on his forged identification, he molded his face with sand into Yucun Chong's appearance.

The moment he reached the village entrance, someone wearing a Kusagakure chunin vest set his sights on him.

That person looked him over several times, then walked up and asked directly, "Which village are you from? Show me your identification."

Lin Chongshu's heart skipped a beat.

The chunin took his documents and repeatedly compared the photo against his face. Then he had a colleague beside him check the registry.

It turned out that Kusagakure's Chunin Exams were currently underway. Friction along the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Earth had been constant, and this village stood right beside the border. Kusagakure had issued orders for all visiting ninjas to undergo strict identity checks, lest spies from the Land of Earth infiltrate the examination grounds.

The chunin checked the wanted posters and found no name for Yucun Chong. Then he checked the ninja registry and confirmed that the Land of Grass did indeed have this genin registration number.

His expression relaxed, but when he opened another ledger, his brows immediately furrowed again.

"Yucun Chong, you haven't participated in the Chunin Exams for two consecutive years!" He returned the documents to Lin Chongshu.

The Third Shinobi World War had only just ended, and the Five Great Nations' Joint Chunin Exams had not yet taken shape. At present, each village organized its own exams.

"You don't know the Land of Grass's regulations?" he continued.

Lin Chongshu wore a bewildered expression and said nothing.

The chunin turned the ledger around for him to see. A line of large red words was printed across it: "Emergency Ninja Combat Training Regulations."

The Land of Grass had suffered severe losses during the Third Shinobi World War. To quickly replenish its core combat strength and make better use of genin, the daimyo and Kusagakure's upper ranks had implemented a compulsory measure three years ago: all genin had to participate in the Chunin Exams every year until they passed.

This rule had been created for the special period immediately after the war. All major ninja villages had similar measures, but because the Land of Grass had such a small population, its enforcement was especially strict.

Kusagakure's Chunin Exams were also simple and brutal. There was no written test for candidates. They were assigned missions directly.

Hunt down rogue ninjas, eliminate bandits, deal with dangerous beasts—missions of roughly equivalent difficulty were thrown straight at genin. Complete the job and return alive, and you became a chunin.

"You must participate this year, or you'll face six months in prison." The chunin closed the ledger, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. "As it happens, a B-rank mission is short on people. You'll fill the spot."

Lin Chongshu felt somewhat helpless. So the original owner of this identity had been a deserter who dodged the exams, and had later been killed. His documents had been collected by the Bounty Exchange and sold on to him. He had ended up taking the fall for the original owner.

He thought about it and did not resist.

His false identity in the Land of Grass still needed to be maintained. If the mission was easy and his status advanced another step, he would receive official recognition. At that point, this identity would become completely real.

And if the mission was difficult, he could just run. It was not like he was afraid of having another bounty placed on him in the Land of Grass.

Seeing that he had a good attitude, the chunin opened the mission scroll for him to inspect.

There was a cave where the Land of Grass met the Land of Earth and the Land of Rain. A strange man lived inside it, and nearby villages had already reported several incidents of people being attacked.

The villagers had pooled their resources to post a B-rank bounty, requesting that this strange man be killed or driven away. The reward was three hundred thousand ryo.

The scroll also included a blurry photograph: a large man with hair as messy as a bird's nest, cloudy eyes, and drool hanging from the corner of his mouth. He looked clearly abnormal.

Wasn't this Jugo? Lin Chongshu stared at the photograph for several seconds.

Jugo was the source of Orochimaru's later Cursed Seal, born with a Sage Body that could absorb Natural Energy.

Jugo's ability was not an ordinary Kekkei Genkai or ninjutsu. It was the direct product of Natural Energy fusing with his flesh, something almost impossible to find anywhere else in the world of Naruto.

Orochimaru had extracted the Cursed Seal from Jugo. If his system could draw something from Jugo, it would be ten thousand times better than bullying ordinary people.

"I'll take the exam! My dream is to become a chunin!"

The chunin gave him a sidelong glance. Weren't you the one who skipped it for the past two years?