Setting out for the Land of Lightning

The Chunin Exams drew ever closer, but even on the eve of departure, Liumu had yet to see his teacher, Jiraiya.

Only when Toad Wu finally appeared were the questions weighing on Liumu's mind answered.

"What? You mean Teacher Jiraiya went to Mount Myōboku?"

Liumu's eyes widened as he snapped, "I fucking thought he'd died in some woman's arms, not showing up for so long."

Toad Wu croaked and hopped onto Liumu's dining table. "Little Jiraiya is undergoing some very grueling training. He probably won't be back anytime soon, so he asked me to bring you a letter."

"A letter?"

Liumu took the scroll Toad Wu spat out, looking bewildered, then glanced at it in disgust and shook off the saliva clinging to it.

He opened the scroll and read...

"Good luck on the Chunin Ninja Exams!"

"Hmph!"

Liumu snorted at the six simple characters, but then a faint smile spread across his face...

Unlike the Genin exams, the Chunin Exams required candidates to take the tests in teams of three.

In the square before departure, the Jonin leading them told the Genin taking part in the exams to choose their teammates.

Hearing this, Liumu scanned the crowd, and Kakashi immediately came to mind. After all, among the dozens of people present, he only knew Kakashi.

"Liumu! Liumu!"

Just then, as Liumu searched the crowd for Kakashi, he suddenly heard someone calling his name.

Liumu looked toward the voices and saw his former classmates, led by Guy and Rin, standing in a neat row at the edge of the square, waving at him nonstop.

"Liumu! Kakashi! Good luck!"

Rin cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs.

At the same time, all their classmates raised their arms and shouted Liumu's and Kakashi's names.

Kakashi took off his mask and slowly squeezed through the crowd to Liumu's side. Looking at the scene beyond the crowd, he and Liumu exchanged a smile.

"Hello, I'm Suiguang. I specialize in coating myself with earth release chakra to strengthen my skin."

On the road to the Land of Lightning, Suiguang, who had been assigned to the same team as Liumu and Kakashi, introduced her abilities.

As teammates, now placed in the same group, knowing one another's abilities would be a great help in the upcoming Chunin Exams.

"Skin hardening?" Hearing her ability, Kakashi immediately thought of a member of the ANBU.

What was more, both the height and hair color he remembered matched Suiguang almost exactly.

"Earth release, skin hardening!"

Liumu muttered as he looked at the pretty girl beside him, wondering why such a beautiful girl would practice this kind of ninjutsu.

"Kakashi. I specialize in..."

Just as Kakashi began introducing his abilities, Suiguang covered her mouth and laughed. "Kakashi, right? I recognized you from your mask and hair color."

"So it really is you!" Kakashi said softly.

What the hell? Liumu could not understand their cryptic exchange. For a moment, he felt like a third wheel watching the two flirt.

"You're Liumu, right?" Suiguang turned to him. "I think it's not just me. Everyone here probably knows your name by now."

Hearing this, Liumu immediately thought she must be referring to his classmates shouting his name in the square before they left the village.

At that thought, Liumu smiled sheepishly and replied, "Yes, I'm Liumu. I specialize in... taijutsu!"

When it came to his specialty, Liumu hesitated for a brief moment.

There was no question that Liumu was not good at ninjutsu or genjutsu.

But did Liumu's ability... count as taijutsu?

Was there taijutsu that defeated an opponent in one move?

"We're a team now. Let's give these Chunin Exams our best shot together!" Suiguang held out her hand between the three of them.

Seeing this, Kakashi and Liumu exchanged a glance, then placed their right hands on hers.

"Let's do our best!"

The Land of Lightning was a long way from the Land of Fire. They had to cross mountain after mountain, and it would take half a month to arrive.

Although Kakashi was not good at socializing, fortunately, Suiguang warmed to people easily and never ran out of things to talk about. She always managed to quietly dispel the awkwardness that arose between the three of them from time to time.

"Are you hungry? I made rice balls myself. Want some?"

On Emerald Mist Mountain, the Konoha group stopped to rest. Liumu and his two teammates sat together on a huge rock, planning to have something to eat and conserve their strength.

"Sure!"

Liumu casually scooted over beside Suiguang and watched her take an exquisite lunch box from her backpack.

"Whoa, you made these?" Looking at the rice balls, three or four times larger than normal, Liumu laughed. "Rice balls like these, I could eat... one!"

Of course, Suiguang understood what Liumu meant.

So she explained, "I like eating big ones, so naturally, I make my rice balls a little bigger than usual."

"You like eating big ones?" Liumu glanced sideways at her. "Then do you like sushi?"

"I do!" Suiguang took a bite of her green plum rice ball and said indistinctly, "I usually add three or four times as much filling when I make sushi, so..."

"So your sushi rolls are really thick."

"That's right."

"Pfft..."

Liumu burst out laughing, thinking that Suiguang was simply too adorable.

Kakashi and Suiguang did not understand why Liumu was laughing, but neither asked.

Kakashi accepted a rice ball from Suiguang. After eating it, he unfolded a map and checked their current location.

"At our current pace, we'll enter the Land of Lightning in another three days."

The Land of Lightning was a vast country, but its natural resources were distributed very unevenly.

The dense forests and waterfalls of the south enjoyed perpetual spring, while the barren wilderness of the north resembled the Gobi Desert.

The Konoha group was traveling from south to north and was currently right between the Land of Sound and the Land of Lightning. Though they still had several days of travel ahead, everyone could already clearly feel the change in the air.

A total of seven Konoha teams were taking part in the exams, and Liumu's group had the youngest average age of them all.

Normally, candidates had to be thirteen or fourteen to take the Chunin Exams, yet Liumu's group actually had two six-year-olds.

"Do you know who he is?"

Just then, Suiguang squeezed between the two of them and quietly looked toward the Jonin leading them.

"No idea!"

Liumu spread his hands and answered indifferently.

As far as he could see, the man had black-and-red hair, a stern face, and a standard combat uniform. Even now, during their break, he stood atop a boulder, constantly scanning their surroundings for anything unexpected that might happen.

Kakashi had served in the ANBU and had fairly frequent contact with the village's Jonin experts, but looking at the man now, he could not immediately recall who he was.