Chapter 57: A Test
At his words, Yugito's mouth twitched, her toes curling in embarrassment. Darui and Karui's faces were flushed.
The casino manager, who had nearly choked, forced a smile. "Ninja-sama, you must be joking."
"I'm serious," Neji said. He slapped the ninja pouch at his waist and took out a storage scroll. With a poof of white smoke...
The crowd in the casino gasped. "Ninja-sama," the manager stammered, "let's talk about this. There's no need for violence."
"Neji," Yugito hissed, "this is Konoha. If you try to rob a casino, we'll be in big trouble."
Darui and Karui's hands instinctively went to the hilts of their swords.
Just as everyone was expecting a robbery, Neji held out a strange-looking pot, like a pickle jar. "This," he said, his voice ringing with authority, "is one of the legendary Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths, the Kohaku no Jōhei. It contains its own dimension and can seal anything in the world. Its value is far greater than one hundred million Ryō. I'm putting it up as collateral."
"..."
The casino fell silent.
Yugito slapped her forehead. Karui's jaw dropped. Darui stared in disbelief.
Seeing that he was serious, the manager hesitantly took the pot. "Ninja-sama, please wait a moment while we have it appraised."
The Sage of Six Paths was a figure of myth, but the Kohaku no Jōhei had been wielded by both the Gold and Silver Brothers and the Third Raikage. Its fame was no less than that of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Its appearance and function were no secret.
A professional appraiser quickly confirmed its authenticity.
The manager carefully took the pot and solemnly completed the paperwork for Neji.
Outside the casino, Darui and Karui were still in a daze. "Captain," Darui asked, "did you really just pawn the Kohaku no Jōhei?"
"I did."
"But what if you lose? We'll never get it back."
Neji just shrugged.
"If Lord Raikage finds out you lost it," Karui grumbled, "he'll tear down his own office building."
"Have a little faith in me," Neji said with a smile.
He hadn't come to the casino on a whim. To build a new Hyūga clan, he needed both people and money. Even with the support of the Hidden Cloud, it wouldn't be enough. The solution? Robbery. Robbing for money, robbing for women... But it didn't have to be by force. A casino was just a legal form of robbery. As the saying goes, the house always wins. For any major event, there were always odds. He had decided long before the exams to use this opportunity to make a huge score.
The money I'm about to make... it's no different from robbing them. I wonder how many hundreds of millions I'll get.
In the Uchiha compound, Fugaku stared at the note in his hand, his brow furrowed. "Tomorrow night, at the hour of the rat, in the Forest of Death."
"The Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails gave you this?" he asked Inabi.
"Yes, sir."
Fugaku burned the note. "Not a word of this to anyone."
"Understood. Are you going to go, Captain?"
"No." The relationship between the Uchiha and the village was extremely sensitive. He couldn't afford to give them any reason to suspect him. If the Hokage's faction found out he was meeting secretly with the Cloud, they would be accused of treason.
"Inabi," he said, his voice stern, "with all the different factions gathered in Konoha for these exams, this is a time of great potential turmoil. The Military Police Force is responsible for the village's security. You must be more diligent than ever."
"Yes, sir."
After Inabi had left, Fugaku turned to Mikoto. "Mikoto, make dinner early. There's a clan meeting tonight..."
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō, the two other elders, and Hyūga Hiashi were in a meeting.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Danzō struck the floor with his cane. "The Hidden Cloud dares to send the Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails and the lost Byakugan to Konoha? They have no respect for us!"
Hiruzen, in contrast, was a picture of calm. He took a puff from his pipe and looked at the registration photo of Hyūga Neji. "Hizashi," he said, tossing the photo to him, "if I remember correctly, isn't Neji only six this year?"
"He is."
"Heh heh..." A smile appeared on Hiruzen's old face. "He's gotten so tall for a six-year-old. It seems the air and water in the Hidden Cloud are more nourishing than in Konoha... and in the Hyūga clan."
A cold sweat broke out on Hiashi's forehead. The incident two years ago was a source of shame for both the village and his clan. And now, Neji was back for the Chunin Exams. That disgraceful history was about to be dredged up all over again.
"Give the order, Hiruzen!" Danzō said, standing up. "I'll go and capture the Jinchūriki and the Byakugan traitor myself."
A while ago, he had sent Torune and a team of elite Root ninja to the Hidden Cloud to eliminate Neji. He had heard nothing from them since and assumed they were all dead. The loss of so many elite operatives was a heavy blow to Root.
Hiruzen just continued to smoke his pipe.
Homura, reading his mind, said, "Danzō, this is not the time to be reckless. If anything happens to the Jinchūriki and the Byakugan, it will be difficult to explain to the Fourth Raikage."
"Homura is right," Koharu added. "You cannot act rashly."
"You two..." Danzō looked at his two soft-hearted colleagues, speechless. "Are you just going to do nothing, Hiruzen?"
"Neji is here for the Chunin Exams," Hiruzen said, taking his pipe from his mouth. "If he gets injured, or if there's an... accident... during the exams, the Raikage can't say anything. After all, candidates die in the Forest of Death every year."
Danzō's grim expression softened. Koharu and Homura thought to themselves that Hiruzen's methods were far more sophisticated than Danzō's brute force.
Swoosh.
A white-haired ANBU appeared in the room and reported that Neji had pawned the Kohaku no Jōhei at a casino.
A strange look appeared in Hiruzen's eyes. He looked out at the Hokage Rock. "To bet even the Kohaku no Jōhei... he must be very confident in himself. Hiashi, arrange for someone to test him. I'll have Kakashi assist you."
"Understood."
The next day, with the arrival of the genin from the Hidden Rain and the Hidden Grass, the joint Chunin Exams officially began.
Hiruzen gathered all the participants in a large plaza and read out the rules. There was only one rule of any real importance: the exams were a competition, and meaningless killing was strictly forbidden. However, accidents were allowed.
The various teams took the opportunity to size each other up.
Neji's eyes swept over the crowd, counting the participants. Twenty Konoha teams, fifty-eight genin in total, with Itachi participating alone. Six from the Mist. Fifteen from the Sand. And only Deidara from the Stone.
He hadn't paid much attention to the teams from the smaller villages, but when he saw the team from the Sound, his eyebrows rose. He knew that the Sound Village was Orochimaru's creation. He studied the three of them, his eyes lingering on the pale-blue-haired kunoichi in the lead. The Crystal Release user, Guren, one of Orochimaru's potential vessels, a formidable opponent on par with a peak-condition Kimimaro.
Orochimaru wouldn't have sent them here for no reason. Their purpose, like his own, was not the exams.
He then noticed her gaze, which was fixed on Itachi, a mixture of coldness and murderous intent in her eyes.
He understood. Their real target was Itachi.
Orochimaru had first taken an interest in him two years ago, when he had seen the newly awakened Sharingan of the young Uchiha in training. But his forbidden experiments had been discovered, and he had been forced to flee the village. But he had clearly not forgotten about him.
Sorry, Orochimaru, but he's my prey.
Neji's eyes narrowed as he looked at Itachi, who stood alone in the crowd. He already had a plan to turn the Uchiha clan. And the most crucial step was to kill Itachi. It had nothing to do with hatred; it was a purely strategic decision.
"Huh, so that's him..." Guren noticed his gaze and looked over, a brow raised. The casino had heavily advertised the fact that Neji had pawned the Kohaku no Jōhei. His odds were now the highest of all the participants. "To bet the Kohaku no Jōhei on himself... what a naive six-year-old who's never seen true power," she scoffed.
After the opening ceremony, Neji's group returned to their inn.
He was still thinking about how to steal the Scroll of Seals and how to kidnap Naruto. To steal the scroll, he would have to get past the Third Hokage, who was currently at the peak of his power. Even with Yugito's help, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"I'll have to use my wits," he murmured to himself.
As they were walking, he heard a commotion up ahead.
"Look at her eyes! They're white!"
"How gross!"
"A white-eyed monster!"
Three older boys were surrounding a small girl, who had her head bowed, tears streaming down her face.
"Neji," Yugito said, a strange look on her face, "isn't that girl from your clan?"
Neji was surprised to see Hinata here, and even more surprised to see that she was being bullied by the same three boys. He activated his Tenseigan and detected several hidden chakra signatures nearby.
"Let's go back to the inn," he said, quickening his pace.
But as he passed by, his legs seemed to stop of their own accord. He caught a glimpse of her tear-streaked face, and his heart clenched.
He couldn't be so heartless.
"Sigh."
He appeared behind the three boys in a Body Flicker. "Hey," he said, "can you only pick on girls?"
Hinata looked up. She didn't recognize him at first. He had changed so much in the past two years. And the Cloud forehead protector... it was so strange.
One of the boys, seeing him, made the Seal of Confrontation. "Don't underestimate Konoha!" he shouted.
Neji's eyebrow rose. "A ninja game? Alright then. Come on."
He beckoned to them, inviting them to attack.