The Sannin, Orochimaru!

"Mu Feng!"

Mu Feng pushed the door open and saw his friends.

Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, Obito, and Asuma Sarutobi, who wore a disdainful expression.

The moment Kurenai Yuhi saw Mu Feng, she waved and jogged over, her face blooming into a smile.

"Mu Feng, where did you go yesterday? We came to see you last night, but you weren't home!" Kurenai Yuhi asked.

"I had something to take care of yesterday. What's up?"

Mu Feng scratched his head, unsure how to explain it to them.

"Nothing much. We went to watch the Chunin Ninja Exams yesterday. Asuma sneaked us in! But we didn't see you there. Didn't you pass the second round?"

Kurenai Yuhi sounded a little puzzled.

Asuma could actually have found out what had happened during the Chunin Ninja Exams, but Kurenai Yuhi's obvious affection for Mu Feng when they had last treated everyone to ramen had made him jealous.

He felt that, as Konoha's privileged young master, he had already done enough by skipping class and sneaking Kurenai Yuhi and the others into the Chunin Ninja Exams.

There was no way Asuma would go out of his way to ask about his romantic rival.

Since Asuma was unwilling to ask, and none of the others had seen Mu Feng at the arena, they had wanted to come over and find out.

But by the time they arrived yesterday, Mu Feng had already left on a mission. Kurenai Yuhi and the others had come over again today.

"Oh, Kakashi needed me for something during the exams. There were thirteen contestants in the first round, and I got a bye, so I didn't compete. Are the results out?" Mu Feng looked at Kurenai Yuhi.

"A bye? That's even possible? So you got into the finals without doing anything, and now you get to fight in front of Lord Hokage?"

Before Kurenai Yuhi could respond, Obito, who stood beside her, couldn't hold back.

Becoming Hokage was Obito's dream, after all, and the Hokage was also the person he admired most. The finals of the Chunin Ninja Exams were open to the public, and the Third Hokage would attend in person. Obito had dreamed countless times of having a chance to shine like that.

"Obito, luck is part of strength too!" Mu Feng said.

This time, he truly believed those words, because he already knew that Hiruzen Sarutobi had a hand in the draw for this tournament.

Ultimately, he had received a bye because he was strong enough.

"How could that happen? It's not fair..."

Obito scratched his head, still struggling to believe it.

Mu Feng couldn't be bothered with Obito, and neither could Kurenai Yuhi.

"Yes, the preliminary results are out! But two of the ninja were badly injured while fighting each other. Neither of them will probably be able to compete!"

"Oh?" Mu Feng raised an eyebrow.

Mu Feng had originally thought that after the preliminaries, there would be seven contestants including him, leaving one without an opponent. Now, however, that no longer seemed to be an issue.

"Which two were injured?" Mu Feng asked.

"One was from a small ninja village, and the other was Hana Inuzuka! Her fighting style was so strange. She actually fought together with a dog..." Kurenai Yuhi explained earnestly.

Hearing that, Mu Feng lost interest. Whether those two competed didn't matter much to him.

What Mu Feng was more curious about now was how Kisame Hoshigaki would react after he and the Anbu ninja had taken out Kirigakure's communication outpost last night. Would Kisame keep competing or simply withdraw?

Kisame Hoshigaki and his teammates had come openly to participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams, so as long as they didn't do anything out of line in Konoha, the village wouldn't take action against the three of them.

Besides, even if Kisame Hoshigaki stood out during the Chunin Ninja Exams, his current strength was only that of a Chunin approaching Jonin level. He posed little threat to Konoha.

"Those two? Then it's fine! Even if they entered the finals, they wouldn't face me!" Mu Feng declared confidently.

"Really?" Kurenai Yuhi nodded at his words without pressing further, then brought up something else.

"Oh, right. On my way here this morning, I saw the people from Kumogakure. It seems they were all eliminated. They seem to have already left Konoha and don't plan to watch the remaining matches!"

After hearing Kurenai Yuhi's words, Mu Feng was certain that last night's operation had succeeded. Minato Namikaze had probably gone to deal with the people from Kumogakure.

Hozuki Mangetsu was probably leading Kirigakure's side, but he had no idea whom the Cloud Ninja had sent!

Yet considering Minato Namikaze's hurried visit that morning to say he was leaving on a mission, together with what Kurenai Yuhi had said, Mu Feng suspected that the affair surrounding the Chunin Ninja Exams wasn't entirely over.

Having read the original story, Mu Feng knew that the mysterious disappearance of the Third Kazekage had sparked the third shinobi world war. In reality, though, now that he had come to Konoha, he could already smell war in the air.

"There's one more thing. Lord Orochimaru is back too, and apparently he'll be watching the matches this time! Mu Feng, if you do well, you might get to become Lord Orochimaru's student!"

Kurenai Yuhi continued sharing the news with Mu Feng.

But at the mention of Orochimaru, Mu Feng's brows knitted tightly.

In Mu Feng's eyes, the hardest person to deal with in all of Konoha wasn't Danzo or the Third Hokage, but Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was the shinobi world's mad scientist, and his strength was difficult to gauge. His methods of resurrection alone were enough to make anyone's scalp prickle.

And Mu Feng had far too many secrets. His strength had inexplicably skyrocketed, and he possessed chakra far beyond that of an ordinary Genin. What concerned him most was that he now had Hashirama's constitution.

At this point in the timeline, Orochimaru's research should have been focused on Hashirama cells.

If Orochimaru learned that he possessed Hashirama's constitution, Mu Feng's life in Konoha would probably become very difficult.

"Oh, really? Then I suppose this is an opportunity!" Mu Feng replied absently to Kurenai Yuhi as he pondered.

"But compared to Lord Orochimaru, I like Lady Tsunade a little more!" Kurenai Yuhi blinked and said earnestly, "It's just that Lady Tsunade isn't in the village right now, and neither is Lord Jiraiya."

"Mm!" Mu Feng nodded. If he had to choose one of the Sannin as his teacher, Jiraiya would be his first choice.

Jiraiya was a more conventional ninja, and he had Mount Myōboku's summoning scroll.

Orochimaru's ninjutsu was sinister, and the man himself was even more so. Mu Feng didn't want to deal with him before he had fully developed his strength. As for Tsunade, she was a medical ninja, which didn't match the path Mu Feng was taking.

"Kurenai, thank you! You came all this way just to tell me the news!"

After a moment's thought, Mu Feng put those concerns aside and looked at Kurenai Yuhi.

At Mu Feng's thanks, a blush spread across Kurenai Yuhi's cheeks.

"It's nothing, really. Everyone else was interested too!"

"Tch, if Kurenai hadn't insisted that I come, I wouldn't have bothered!" The moment she finished speaking, Asuma let out a disdainful scoff.

Mu Feng gave Asuma a faint smile, but inwardly he was grumbling.

Undermining a girl right to her face? It's a miracle you managed to win Kurenai over in the original story!

After that, Mu Feng and Kurenai Yuhi's group changed the subject and chatted about some of his experiences during the Chunin Ninja Exams. When mealtime came, they all headed to the Ichiraku Ramen Shop again. It had clearly become the regular dining spot for Mu Feng's little circle.

As they chatted, the atmosphere quickly grew friendly again, and Asuma was no longer as irritated as he had been at first.

"Mu Feng, give it your all in the matches two days from now! We'll all be there to watch!"

As they parted, Kurenai Yuhi continued cheering Mu Feng on.