The Ointment Jar Still Carried the Warmth of Your Hand

Anko Mitarashi flashed to Naruto's side and said in a threatening voice, "A frivolous ninja like you might be the first to die."

Anko Mitarashi was pressed close behind Naruto. When another person stood tightly against a ninja's back, it often created immense psychological pressure, which was why powerful ninja liked to hold conversations from behind others.

Naruto was indeed under great psychological pressure. Anko Mitarashi was standing far too close; he could feel two soft sensations against his back, seemingly still carrying her body heat.

Cold sweat covered Naruto's forehead. Good grief, can these ninja quit this bad habit? Why do they all love appearing behind people? And she even came up behind me acting like she had me completely under control.

The mantis stalked the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it. Naruto was the cicada, Anko Mitarashi was the mantis, and now someone else flashed in behind Anko Mitarashi, pressing tightly against her back as well.

Anko Mitarashi was startled. She immediately drew a kunai and glanced behind her, only to see a female ninja from Hidden Grass Village standing there.

"I came to return your kunai," the female ninja from Hidden Grass Village said. "The kunai you threw nearly hit me just now."

"If you don't want to die, don't stand behind me with killing intent," Anko Mitarashi said, reaching out to take the kunai that the Hidden Grass Village female ninja offered with her tongue.

That female ninja's tongue was exceptionally long, visibly over a meter in length, and as nimble as a snake. She had caught Anko's thrown kunai with that tongue alone.

Naruto watched her in secret, then suddenly spoke up. "Examiner! Didn't you notice? That guy caught your kunai with nothing but his tongue. His strength is anything but ordinary. What normal Genin could do something like that...?"

Hearing Naruto's words, Anko Mitarashi suddenly realized it and began scrutinizing the Hidden Grass Village female ninja.

The female ninja's face was deathly pale, her chin pointed, and she wore a conical hat. Her eyes were filled with cunning.

The female ninja hurriedly explained, "I'm sensitive to blood. The smell of blood gets me incredibly excited, so I performed beyond my usual limits. There's no need to be surprised."

"Haha." Anko Mitarashi returned to her cheerful smile and laughed. "There are quite a few hot-blooded contestants this year. How exciting."

"..." Naruto shook his head. It seemed that if Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha Village was to be dealt with, he would have to do it himself.

"The second round of the exam will be an extreme wilderness survival challenge." Chief examiner Anko Mitarashi pulled a map scroll from her robes, opened it, and displayed the examination grounds to everyone.

"As you can see, there is a tower at the very center of the examination grounds. The tower is your destination. Once you reach it, the exam will be over."

"But don't think it will be that simple. Finding the tower is not enough. You'll also have to fight over scrolls. Each team will be randomly assigned one scroll." At this point, Anko Mitarashi displayed two kinds of scrolls: the Heaven Scroll and the Earth Scroll.

"You will fight over these two scrolls. Seven teams will hold Heaven Scrolls, while another seven will hold Earth Scrolls. Only teams that arrive at the tower holding both a Heaven Scroll and an Earth Scroll will be considered qualified. Everyone else will be eliminated."

"Do you understand? Over the next five days, you must seize scrolls from others, gather both the Heaven Scroll and Earth Scroll, and have all three members of your team reach the tower together."

"Five days?!" someone cried in alarm. "Then how are we supposed to eat?!" The speaker was naturally Konoha's biggest eater, Choji Akimichi.

"Figure it out yourselves." Anko Mitarashi chuckled. "The examination grounds are full of snakes, insects, rats, and ants. Grass, flowers, and trees grow everywhere, while wild beasts and birds of prey are all around. Food is everywhere."

"You have half a day to prepare. The exam begins after that. One last piece of advice: don't die!"

Naruto hurried away, using all his strength to suppress the disturbance within him. Nine-Tails, stop sending out your chakra. The wound beneath my ribs is almost healed... The injuries on my body still have a major use...

Naruto ran to a secluded corner. Seeing no one around, he casually found a spot and sat down.

"Um... Naruto..." A very faint voice suddenly came from behind him.

Naruto was overjoyed. He had finally been waiting for this! He quickly turned around and, sure enough, saw Hinata's adorable, shy face.

"Hinata?" Naruto pretended to be clueless. "Why are you here?"

"Um... I saw that Naruto... you were injured by the examiner's kunai, so I came..." Hinata hurriedly took out a jar of ointment and held it out before Naruto.

"Hehe." Naruto showed a blissful smile. At a time like this, only Hinata would care about him so much.

In truth, Naruto had deliberately arranged all of this. First, he provoked examiner Anko Mitarashi, then deliberately jumped up and exposed the vulnerable area beneath his ribs to her kunai, letting it graze the skin there so that he would be injured.

Naruto had two purposes in doing this. The first was to lure Anko Mitarashi's kunai toward Orochimaru, who was disguised as a female ninja from Hidden Grass Village, so he could experience the legendary ninja's presence up close and prepare for what came next.

As for the second purpose, naturally, it was to attract Hinata's attention. Once she saw him hurt, she would surely worry about him.

Thus, Hinata followed Naruto all the way. When she saw him head toward a secluded place with no one around, and confirmed that there was nobody nearby, she finally gathered her courage and came out, specifically bringing him ointment for his wounds.

"What is this?" Naruto leaned closer to inspect the ointment Hinata offered with both hands, knowingly asking, "Could this be medicine to treat my injuries?"

"Yes." Hinata blushed as she said, "I saw that you were hurt, Naruto, so please use this."

"Thank you, Hinata." Naruto smiled. "There were so many people there, but you were the only one worried about my wounds."

"It's... it's nothing..." Hinata's face turned even redder.

Naruto accepted the ointment, smiling as he said, "The jar still carries the warmth of your hands. The ointment inside can heal the wounds on my body, while the lingering warmth on the jar is what gives me the strength to change this world."

"Hm?" Hinata did not understand at all. "What?"

"When I'm with you, it feels like this is the most wonderful world." Naruto put on an expression of concern for the world and said, "I seem to forget that this is a dark world. Because Konoha has you, I am willing to remain in Konoha."

"Naruto, do you want to leave Konoha?"

"With you here, I won't leave Konoha." It's time to purge Konoha of its cancerous growths...