"AI-chan, in the future there'll probably be missions for becoming a Jonin, right? If I finish those missions early, can I get the rewards ahead of time?"
[Ding!]
[You can't get rewards for things that are already done, Master!]
"..."
"Then can you give me the missions for both Chunin and Jonin at the same time?"
[Ding!]
[If Master directly becomes a Jonin, then it won't count as fully completing the Chunin-level missions~]
[Also, until the current mission is done, AI-chan won't be giving out new ones!]
[Please don't aim too high. Just focus and finish AI-chan's missions step by step! (￣(工)￣)]
"..."
Getting scolded by the system… is that even allowed?
But from the way AI-chan said it, it looks like he has no choice but to go through the Chunin Exams first.
He'll have to stop thinking about the Jonin reward for now.
Originally, he planned to go all out in the Chunin Exams, then save Hiruzen Sarutobi afterward to see if that would let him get promoted to Jonin right away.
But now it looks like he'll have to give up on that plan.
That doesn't mean he's giving up on saving Hiruzen.
Whether or not to save Hiruzen depends on who would treat him better as Hokage—Hiruzen or Tsunade later on.
Judging from how Hiruzen has treated him so far, he probably won't be too kind to him.
But even if Tsunade becomes Hokage, he likely won't get any special treatment either.
So in the end, it doesn't make a big difference to Naruto who becomes Hokage.
But to say there's no difference at all would be wrong.
Naruto thought: what if he does nothing during this event and lets Hiruzen die in the Chunin Exams?
Would Tsunade definitely be the next Hokage?
Naruto wasn't sure.
Originally, Tsunade agreed to come back and become Hokage partly because of Naruto's talk-no-jutsu. But the current Naruto isn't the type to talk people into things. So if Hiruzen dies now, Tsunade might not become the Fifth Hokage!
Then who would take over as Hokage if it's not Tsunade?
Jiraiya?
No way.
Danzo?
"..."
Thinking of that, Naruto had made up his mind.
Hiruzen staying in power might not be great for him, but it wouldn't be that bad either.
But if Danzo becomes Hokage, then Naruto would have to face the problem of possibly becoming Konoha's enemy… and whether he could even pass the Chunin Exams safely!
Would Danzo let him lead a team or take on missions?
That old guy would probably just lock him up in Root and treat him like a secret backup weapon for the village!
From that angle, keeping Hiruzen alive is clearly the best option for Naruto!
Now the only thing left to figure out is how to deal with the Sand Village and Orochimaru!
As Naruto was deep in thought, he suddenly sensed a few shuriken flying toward him.
He didn't dodge. In this world, there's no such thing as Armament Haki, so he wasn't worried about simple physical attacks hurting him.
Thud thud thud!
The shuriken passed right through Naruto's body and stuck into the ground!
"What?"
A ninja wearing a Hidden Rain forehead protector suddenly appeared in front of Naruto, looking shocked.
Naruto calmly looked at him and slowly raised one finger.
A laser formed at his fingertip, making a buzzing "jiu" sound.
The next second!
The laser shot out and flew right past the side of his head!
Boom!
With a loud explosion, the empty ground behind him blew up!
Gulp!
The sound of swallowing was loud and clear. Iruka felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
He had only taken on the Hokage's task to quietly check if the nine people taking the Chunin Exam were qualified.
And he almost lost his life doing it.
Thankfully, Naruto hadn't aimed directly at his head earlier—otherwise, he really would've been dead right now!
Realizing what was going on, Iruka quickly backed off. He didn't dare stay in front of Naruto for even one more second.
As for Naruto, he didn't bother chasing Iruka either.
He knew it was just a test. If it had been real, he might've actually taken the life of this so-called "Rain ninja" wearing a Hidden Rain forehead protector.
"It's been a long time since I've seen Iruka-sensei," Naruto muttered as he watched Iruka run away.
Ever since returning from the Land of Waves, Naruto hadn't seen Iruka once.
Of course, that might just be because they rarely got the same missions now.
But maybe… there was another reason too.
They weren't that close anymore.
These days, Naruto was growing faster than anyone expected—both mentally and in terms of power.
Iruka no longer had much of a role in Naruto's development.
That naturally led to less contact between them.
And then there was their difference in personalities.
The old Naruto was a kid who needed attention and cared a lot about what others thought of him.
Iruka saw that, and it made him care for Naruto from the heart.
But now? Naruto didn't even care about what other people thought, let alone need their attention.
So Iruka couldn't really "feel sorry" for him anymore, even if he wanted to.
...
In the blink of an eye, a few days passed.
Team 7 met up that afternoon at 2 p.m. in front of the school gates.
When Naruto saw that Sakura had shown up on time, and noticed that her eyes no longer held that self-doubt he saw before, his worries eased a little.
"Let's go."
With that, Naruto took the lead and walked into the ninja academy. Sasuke was on his left, and Sakura was on his right.
The three of them walked through a crowd of ninja standing around for who-knows-what reason, heading toward the third floor of the school building.
But as soon as they reached the second floor, they saw a group of ninja blocking the stairs to the third floor.
A bowl-cut kid in a green jumpsuit and a girl with a bun hairstyle in a pink cheongsam were being bullied by two Leaf Village chunin.
"Huh? You want to take the Chunin Exams looking like that?"
"Maybe you should just quit now, kids."
"Bunch of snot-nosed little brats!"
Faced with the bullying, the girl named Tenten put on a weak look and said, "Please, just let us through."
She even tried to step forward and beg, but one of the chunin smacked her and knocked her back.
*Slap!*
"..."
Even though Naruto knew Tenten and Rock Lee were just acting, that slap sounded way too real.
Naruto didn't get it—was this kind of thing really necessary?
Especially for someone as proud as Neji, what's the difference between acting dumb and just being dumb?
"Enough!"
Sakura, seeing all this, was starting to feel sorry for them, but before she or the others could step in, the two chunin started talking again in sync.
"Enough? Heh, that was us being nice."
"Do you think the Chunin Exams are some kind of game for baby ninjas? This exam is way tougher than you think!"
"Plenty of people give up on being a ninja after going through this!"
"And a chunin is basically a squad leader. If a mission fails and teammates die, it's all on the leader! Can you brats even handle that kind of responsibility?"
"So what's the point of letting weaklings like you even enter?"
Just as the two chunin were finishing their speech, Naruto and his team stepped through the crowd and walked over.
"What you said isn't wrong—weaklings really have no place in this exam. But to me, you two are the weak ones."
"Now move."
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