Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Hokage's Summons

It was the day the results were posted.

A dense crowd had gathered in front of the notice board.

Long Ye and the others struggled their way through the crowd and began searching for their names.

"Rin, look! Your name is there."

Long Ye spotted the three characters "Rin Nohara" at a glance.

Obito burst into delighted laughter. "Rin passed, just as I knew she would."

But in the next moment, his smile turned to shock and fury. "What? Impossible! That bastard Kakashi's name is on there too!"

At some point, Kakashi had already appeared behind him.

When Kakashi saw his name, a rare flicker of joy appeared in his eyes. He wore a proud expression. "Of course I passed."

"Don't get cocky! It was only a written test, and I'll find my name soon enough."

Seeing how smug Kakashi looked, Obito's irritation flared.

"Long Ye, there's your name too. You passed! That's wonderful!"

Rin excitedly grabbed Long Ye's arm.

Almost the instant he saw his name, the system's voice sounded beside Long Ye's ear:

[Ninja Exam side quest completed. Received 20 Devil Points.]

[Fruit abilities 'Barrier: Human Reassembly' and 'Heart Shock' have both been upgraded to Stage Two.]

"My Fruit abilities have been upgraded!"

Long Ye was overjoyed.

He quickly opened the Devil Mark, awakened the system, and checked his [Ability Attributes].

Sure enough, the descriptions of the two Fruit abilities had changed.

Barrier: Human Reassembly had doubled in range from its original state. Previously, even when he charged it up, its range had only been fifteen meters. Now, it had reached thirty meters.

The benefit of an enlarged barrier was that it could trap enemies over a wider area, while his own power could also be unleashed across a wider range.

What truly excited Long Ye was the second ability, Heart Shock. It now read:

Heart Shock: Stage Two: Under a high-frequency voltage of one million volts, electricity undergoes a change in form. It evolves toward a spiritual body, producing a stronger attack effect.

Long Ye felt secretly thrilled as he read it.

The fact that he had taken Tonghu down with a single strike before already proved the power of this ability. Now that it had reached Stage Two, wouldn't its force be enough to turn someone into charcoal in an instant?

Just as he was reveling in his excitement, Obito's despairing cry sounded beside him.

"How could this happen? How could my name not be there?"

Long Ye froze inwardly at his words.

"No way. We had the same answers. I passed, so how could you have failed?"

Long Ye found it hard to believe.

"Could it be..."

Obito's expression changed.

He muttered to himself, "When I was copying the last few answers, I found that there was one extra answer and nowhere to write it. I was in a hurry to turn in my paper, so I didn't think much of it. Could it be..."

Long Ye's expression turned odd.

"When I copied mine, there weren't any extra answers. Everything matched perfectly. Looks like you copied something wrong and filled in one answer twice, causing all the answers after that to shift."

Obito's face went pale.

"Idiot!!"

Kakashi shot him a sidelong glance and mocked him without mercy.

Rin was always the kindest one. She stepped forward and patted his shoulder. "Obito, it's okay. You only missed this one chance. It's not as if there won't be other opportunities."

Obito was speechless. Dejected and downcast, he did not even have the mood to retort to Kakashi's mockery.

"Huh? Obito, look..."

Rin suddenly cried out in delighted surprise.

At that moment, someone walked over and pasted another sheet onto the notice board. It contained three names, and the last one was Obito Uchiha.

"The reserve list! Obito, you made the reserve list, so you passed too."

Rin happily threw her hands into the air.

Obito's gloom vanished instantly, and he immediately brightened up.

"Hahahaha! I told you! How could I possibly fail?"

"A reserve qualifier!" Kakashi sneered mockingly.

Obito instantly bristled and glared at him. "Kakashi, the team battle is next. You'd better not drag Rin and me down."

"I'll return those exact words to you."

Rin hurriedly stepped between them. "All right, why are you two arguing again?"

At that moment, a middle-aged ninja stepped before the crowd.

"All Genin who passed the exam will have seven days to prepare. Seven days from now, there will be preliminary team battles and final individual battles. Those judged outstanding in the end will be promoted to Chunin."

Just as the man finished his announcement, the system's voice rang out beside Long Ye's ear again:

[Devil Quest: Side Quest]: Participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams, defeat your opponents, and advance to Chunin.

[Quest Difficulty]: High

[Quest Reward]: The number of Devil Points received depends on completion rate. A perfect record of victories will earn 40 Devil Points.

[Failure Penalty]: None

"Another quest! Advance to Chunin?"

Long Ye was startled by what he saw.

If this had happened before his Devil Fruit abilities reached Stage Two, he would have had little confidence. But now that his Fruit abilities had improved, he had gained some assurance.

"My methods may not be weak, but my physical abilities and combat skills are far inferior to Kakashi and the others. It looks like I'll need to train hard over these seven days."

As he silently pondered this, the middle-aged ninja who had announced the Chunin Ninja Exams earlier walked up to him.

"You must be Long Ye, right?" the ninja asked, his expression unreadable.

Long Ye glanced at him and nodded slightly. "That's me."

"Come with me. The Hokage wishes to see you."

"The Hokage?"

Long Ye was startled.

"The current Hokage should be Hiruzen Sarutobi. He wants to see me... could it be because of my abilities?" Long Ye silently guessed.

"Wow! Long Ye, the Hokage wants to see you personally. He must be granting you the status of a Konoha ninja. Hurry and go..."

Rin seemed even happier and more excited than Long Ye himself.

Long Ye nodded. "Please lead the way, sir."

As the two walked away, Kakashi looked somewhat puzzled.

Normally quiet and rarely one to ask about others, he turned to Rin and asked, "Rin, are you saying that Long Ye is going to join our Konoha?"

Rin nodded firmly.

"Kakashi, let me tell you, don't underestimate Long Ye. He's incredibly powerful, and he has a rare Kekkei Genkai. I saw it with my own eyes: he took Tonghu down in one move, cut off one of his hands and one of his feet, then put them back together with another breath. Everyone there was stunned senseless."

Kakashi looked slightly surprised as he listened.

Obito rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I heard about that. Tonghu got dealt with pretty badly. One of his hands and one of his feet were completely reversed. I saw him from afar, and it was terrifying..."

"Apparently, his father is still looking for a medical ninja to restore his limbs. But ninjas capable of medical ninjutsu that can restore severed limbs are extremely rare, so they probably won't be easy to find."

Kakashi nodded slightly. "From what you've said, he really is a frightening person. The Hokage made the right decision. Letting someone with that kind of Kekkei Genkai join another village would indeed be a bad thing."