"Give your best at the Chunin Exams. Don't hide away."
As they reached the edge, Kakashi Windseer continued nagging.
Based on his understanding of Akaba, this guy would surely slack off until the last moment once inside the exam hall, then mess around casually to get through it.
"All right already, Uncle Windseer. I got it. It's just the Chunin Exams after all. I'll take it seriously if needed, okay?"
Akaba felt a massive headache coming and kept trying to shoo him off.
As Windseer's son and Akaba's teammate, Sakumo genuinely admired Akaba.
Only someone like Akaba could make his old man so talkative—it was a phenomenon unique across Konoha!
"Not in a hurry."
Kakashi Windseer gave him a calm glance before heading toward the venue for the first test.
For some reason, Akaba suddenly felt an ominous premonition creeping in.
Outside the examination hall, many ninja from various villages had already gathered, waiting for the official start of the first theoretical exam.
Kakashi Windseer swept his gaze around before smirking slightly.
At that moment, Akaba's inner anxiety surged stronger than ever.
The next second, Kakashi said indifferently, "Akaba, these opponents are too easy for you. Just mess around—you'll pass anyway."
Instantly, the entire area fell silent.
After saying that, Kakashi left everyone with only his back.
"Just as I feared!"
Akaba covered his face with his hand.
This sentence was practically the same as saying, "You're all garbage!"
Was it really necessary?
All the ninja present turned their heads, including the two Chunin guarding the entrance from Sunagakure.
Poor Genin—getting dragged down again by their own Jonin.
Though understandable, everyone still felt annoyed deep inside.
They exchanged glances, seemingly memorizing Akaba's features, yet no one dared confront him directly.
Still...
An observant person noticed in surprise: "Hey, isn't Akaba the guy who wrote *One Piece*?"
"*One Piece*? That exaggerated, stupid manga?"
A ninja from Yunagakure sneered mockingly, "Devil Fruits, pirates... The author must be an idiot too."
Hot Spring Country lay by the sea, making its people quite familiar with ocean life.
*One Piece*?
Pirates were basically wandering warriors and ronin. Who in their right mind would quit being a proper ninja just to lead a bunch of vagabond fighters?
Tsunade clenched her fists, ready to confront them head-on.
But Akaba held her back and glanced coolly at the Genin from Yunagakure, saying calmly, "The meaning behind the word 'story' is simply beyond your narrow-minded comprehension."
"Why, you—"
"Enough, Yauma!"
Beside him, another ninja from the same village grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Enough?! Leaf ninja are provoking us openly!"
"You know what, let it go. *One Piece* is just fiction anyway. Why provoke like this?"
His companion muttered discontentedly.
"You! Because of people like you thinking like this, we remain so weak! Hmph!"
Yauma stormed off furiously, sleeve flaring.
After he left, the two teammates from Yunagakure approached to apologize: "Sorry, he's usually not like this. We apologize on his behalf."
"Is that so? No big deal."
Smiling cheerfully, Akaba seemed completely unconcerned.
In fact, this entire scene only revealed the underlying tension within their squad.
At first, Akaba was a little confused, but after thinking it over, he quickly understood.
Yunagakure was different from other small ninja villages—it had always preferred peace and avoided conflict, so people often called it "The Village That Forgot War."
But there were exceptions—like Hidan, who also came from Yunagakure.
This guy named Yauma was similar to Hidan in nature.
If not for past grievances, Akaba wouldn't have cared about the internal affairs of Yunagakure at all.
But since Yauma dared provoke him, Akaba would be sure to give him a proper lesson when they met again during the exam.
Originally, quite a few people held grudges against Akaba and had even thought about showing him who's boss. But now, because of Yauma's outburst, everyone's attention had shifted entirely to One Piece.
In the entertainment-starved Fire Shadow World, even an incomplete version of One Piece felt like gold dust to them.
After Akaba's argument with Yauma, quite a few ninjas from villages friendly to Konoha approached him instead.
Like those from Kusagakure.
Their first question was something along the lines of, "When can you bring these manga over to our village for sale?" Others, from prominent clans, actually wanted to talk business with Akaba about the comics.
In short, it turned into a huge success.
Watching silently from the sidelines, Shinku Yuhi and others looked stunned, then exchanged glances and murmured softly, "Even Windseer probably didn't expect things to go this way, did he?"
"Who could've guessed?"
Even Orochimaru couldn't help but smile at the outcome.
Indeed,
Kakashi Windseer had originally planned to stir up hostility against Akaba, hoping to stop him from slipping through the Chunin Exams unnoticed.
What he hadn't expected was that most people weren't interested in fighting—they were fans of Akaba's manga, and ended up offering business opportunities instead.
"I wasn't expecting this, honestly. I was ready for a fight."
Shishio put away his kunai and sighed regretfully.
Why are people so different?
Eventually, Akaba managed to shake off all those eager to negotiate cooperation.
"What exactly do they want?" Tsunade asked curiously, though clearly bugged out.
Earlier, she had considered stepping in to help, but just imagining the chaos gave her a headache.
"They want exclusive distribution rights," Akaba replied, rubbing his ears. He still had ringing from the crowd swarming him earlier.
"Manga?"
Tsunade blinked once, then snapped angrily, "They must be dreaming!"
Silence followed.
Sakumo and the others turned toward her, looking puzzled.
Akaba wasn't even worked up, yet Tsunade was furious? What was going on?
"The business side can trouble my people. I'll leave it to them," Akaba said, shaking his head.
No matter if it profits or not, as long as the manga spreads, points will keep coming in—so why not play along?
Of course,
business always involved bargaining, but that was none of his concern.
He'd already told them all the same thing—their clans were welcome to come to Konoha to talk things over further.
Just then, a clang rang out from afar.
"The first exam is about to begin. Everyone, enter the examination hall according to your assigned numbers."
Two chunin standing by the entrance stepped aside, allowing everyone to proceed inside.
The examination hall in Sunagakure was nothing like the one in Konoha from his past life shown in anime. Its interior looked cheap and temporary, barely decorated at all.
Akaba glanced around, then walked toward the door to check his assigned seat.
Seat 3, Row 1?
He paused for a moment and looked around again.
Soon, he noticed everyone was seated far apart from each other, with Orochimaru and Sakumo placed in highly visible spots—any cheating attempt would be caught immediately.
Sunagakure is pulling a sneaky move!
Akaba muttered under his breath, a cold smirk curling across his lips.
Maybe it works on slackers like me, but there's no way it fools someone like Orochimaru.
Once the [Illusion] begins, isn't everyone just going to copy each other's answers anyway?
This whole seating arrangement was pointless!
Confidently, he took his seat in the first row.
Not long after, a figure walked in through the door—a middle-aged man who looked quite old, yet his eyes were sharp and intense, giving off an aura of someone not to mess with.
A Jonin from Sunagakure!
Despite his aged appearance, Akaba strongly suspected this was Ebizō.
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