Hokage's Office.
Bang!
That familiar force again.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had gone completely numb to it. He showed no reaction and did not even look up.
Sure enough, a pair of hands wrapped around Hiruzen Sarutobi's waist from the right.
"Brother, we meet again. Don't you have anything you want to say to me?
"I feel like you've been a lot colder toward me lately."
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a heavy breath. He did not want to talk, especially not to these three.
But these three very much wanted to talk to him.
On his left, Might Duy took the initiative to take Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand again and held it.
"Lord Hokage, we've discovered a very serious matter over the past few days. You need to take it seriously."
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long breath.
"What is it? Go ahead."
"Well, brother, didn't we become Chunin?
"But we've noticed that our status doesn't seem to have improved. That's a problem."
Hiruzen Sarutobi smoked and chuckled. You three want an improvement in status?
That was what he thought, but what Hiruzen Sarutobi said was:
"It has improved. Your status has actually already risen in ways you can't see.
"As time passes, you'll notice."
Hearing this, Might Duy and Guy were both skeptical.
Guy sat in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk and leaned his head forward to look at him.
"Lord Hokage, look me in the eyes.
"Now tell me, has our status really improved?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi answered with absolute certainty:
"Of course. You're Chunin, after all."
Might Duy nodded.
"I'll believe you for now.
"Then, Lord Hokage, where are our team members?
"I heard Chunin can lead teams, right?
"We need nine Genin."
"Exactly, brother. We've spent a long time thinking about it lately, and we realized we don't have teammates.