Chapter 133: Getting Slapped on the Ass
With dawn breaking, the streets of Konoha once again became lively.
But when the villagers opened their doors that morning, they immediately noticed something different.
There were far more shinobi from other villages than usual.
The villagers watched the groups passing through the streets from a distance, whispering among themselves.
"Which village are those shinobi from?"
"Look at the five-pointed stars on their forehead protectors. They seem to be from the Land of Bears."
"The Land of Bears has shinobi?"
"Idiot. Isn't Hoshigakure located there?"
Listening to the discussions around her, one of the Hoshigakure shinobi raised her head and looked around.
Her gaze lingered on the surrounding villagers for a moment before she turned away.
"Konoha has changed so much."
She looked at the unusually broad street ahead of her. Strange, distinctive buildings of varying heights lined both sides, each possessing its own unique beauty. Somehow, when they were combined with the wide streets, the entire scene became exceptionally pleasing to the eye.
In the distance, the stone faces of the Hokage Monument gazed down upon the village from the mountainside, as though watching over everything below.
The food stalls in the air filled the streets with enticing aromas.
Yet the scent did nothing to stir her appetite.
After admiring Konoha's scenery, the Hoshigakure kunoichi stuck out her slender tongue and licked her lips with a smile.
"I think the last time I came to Konoha was about fifty years ago."
Her companion, walking slightly ahead of her, casually twisted his head ninety degrees backward.
"You've been to Konoha before?"
She inhaled lightly several times, drawing the various forms of chakra-laced energy through her nose and into her lungs before giggling.
"I joined out of curiosity. Back then, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had just founded the shinobi village system."
"Weren't you killed by Uchiha Madara?"
"I should say I wasn't discovered. I only observed them from a distance once."
"Tch."
Her companion's expression immediately became disdainful.
He was already convinced that this woman was going to cause trouble in Konoha.
When the three Hoshigakure shinobi arrived at the examination site, they stood quietly in the corridor, continuously scrutinizing every Konoha shinobi who passed by with the eyes of predators.
They commented on one person's weight, another's build, and even found time to evaluate the old woman sweeping the floor.
After a while—
"Oh?"
A black-haired man appeared around the corner and walked toward them.
One of the Hoshigakure kunoichi's eyes lit up.
She couldn't help licking her lips as she began flexing her pale hands.
As the handsome black-haired man approached, she slowly opened her palm, her mood becoming increasingly cheerful.
Just as he was about to pass her—
She slapped the air with an extremely strange motion.
A shockwave made entirely of compressed air instantly struck the man's backside.
Smack!
A crisp sound echoed through the corridor.
The black-haired man froze.
???
Asuka rubbed his backside and cautiously scanned the crowd.
A moment later, he found nothing unusual.
It was as if nobody had touched him.
???
Did I just run into some kind of pervert?
Asuka looked at the shinobi from Konoha and the other villages gathered throughout the corridor and frowned slightly.
Hmm.
Apart from his three students, none of these people looked like good people.
Every single one looked suspicious.
He searched for a while but still couldn't determine who had attacked him.
"This exam is going to be troublesome. Some methods of attack can't even be detected by a jōnin."
The Third Shinobi World War had only recently ended. Although Konoha appeared peaceful on the surface, the postwar situation remained unstable.
The village had deliberately held this Chūnin Exam on a large scale for several reasons: to observe the attitudes of shinobi from other villages, to display Konoha's strength, and to showcase the strength of the new generation.
Judging by what had just happened, it seemed to be having the opposite effect.
Asuka's muttering gradually faded into the distance.
Behind him, the Hoshigakure kunoichi who had slapped him rubbed her hands together and proudly boasted to her companions.
"It felt really good. I liked it."
One of her companions shook his head.
"You're pretty bold. Aren't you afraid he'll catch you and eat you?"
The kunoichi's pupils widened slightly.
She covered her mouth and giggled.
"When you say 'eat,' which kind of eating are you talking about?"
Another Hoshigakure shinobi suddenly spoke.
"I think he'd taste good dipped in chili sauce. After this meal, I recommend feeding that brat plenty of chili so he'll be properly stuffed."
Meanwhile.
Asuka finally found Iruka and his two teammates.
Still rubbing his backside, he gave them his instructions.
"This Chūnin Exam is a little different from what I expected. There may be shinobi among the candidates who are much stronger than their rank suggests, so everyone needs to be careful. Don't make any mistakes."
Seeing Asuka's strange behavior, Iruka looked up curiously.
"Sensei, what do you mean by shinobi who are 'cheating'?"
"A shinobi whose combat ability far exceeds that of a genin, yet for some reason hasn't been promoted to Chūnin or a higher rank."
After explaining, Asuka couldn't help thinking of certain people in Konoha.
They were officially genin.
Their actual combat strength, however, was absurdly exaggerated.
There were ordinary genin who could casually defeat the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
There was the supposedly ordinary genin Kabuto, who would eventually become one of the instigators of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
And then there were monstrously powerful genin like Naruto and Sasuke, whose strength was so ridiculous that they practically had no equal.
"Sensei, what happened to your backside?"
"Nothing!"
Asuka rubbed his slightly numb backside and swept a gloomy gaze across the crowd.
Let's not even talk about this kind of power. The consequences are too serious, aren't they?
Ring! Ring! Ring!
The examination bell rang.
The candidates gathered outside the examination hall began entering one after another.
Asuka wasn't worried about his three students' written examination.
He had already taught them everything he should teach them—and quite a few things he probably shouldn't have taught them.
Now, it was simply a matter of seeing whether they could put everything into practice on their own.
As for the second examination…
Thinking about the person who had suddenly attacked him, Asuka was almost certain the culprit was one of the genin participating in the exam.
What a pain.
Hmm?
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kakashi walking with his head lowered.
Kakashi glanced toward the examination hall.
Then his figure vanished.
"Yo, Kakashi!"
Kakashi stopped and turned toward Asuka, who was following him.
"What is it?"
Asuka caught up and walked beside him.
"Nothing. My students are taking the exam, so I'm bored to death."
Kakashi looked past Asuka toward the examination hall.
Understanding dawned on his face.
It's Chūnin Exam season again?
"Where are you going?"
Kakashi was silent for a moment before quietly answering.
"The memorial stone."
"Oh, there?"
Asuka looked up at the Yamanaka family's flower shop by the roadside.
"Wait for me. I'll buy some flowers, and we'll go together."
Kakashi looked at Asuka's retreating back.
After a moment of hesitation, he nodded.
After the Third Shinobi World War, Kakashi had been left alone.
Asuka had also been left alone after the war.
What a cruel coincidence.
The two of them each carried a bouquet of flowers as they walked toward the memorial, their expressions noticeably subdued.
Perhaps sensing the heavy atmosphere, Kakashi slipped one hand into his pocket and looked up at the sky.
"You haven't been going to the medical department lately?"
"No."
Asuka stuffed the flowers into his bag and casually put both hands behind his head.
"There isn't much for me to do there lately. This postwar period is apparently a peak season for pregnancy. If I went there now, aside from checking up on the village's older women, there wouldn't be much else for me to do."
"Forget it. I'll leave that troublesome work to the deputy director."
Pregnancy, huh?
Thinking of his teacher's wife, Kushina, a faint light appeared in Kakashi's otherwise gloomy eyes.
According to Minato-sensei, she should be giving birth in about a month.