Chapter 14: The Calm Before the Storm
After that night, the mysterious presence Takahashi had felt never returned.
He had a good idea of what Itachi was planning. He was probably checking on Sasuke's progress, looking for a chance to force his little brother's Sharingan to awaken. Facing his "greatest enemy" would surely bring out the Uchiha's hatred and power.
As long as it didn't get in his way, Takahashi didn't care.
The next few days passed quickly. The Chunin Exams were getting closer. His little frog was also hopping around happily in the pond again, fully healed.
He checked its status. The injury was more than 90% recovered. It was ready for another trip.
This time, he prepared a better meal for his frog—some sweet osmanthus rice cakes—and bought it a warm, snowflake-patterned scarf.
Seeing the new gifts, the little frog jumped for joy. This treatment was much better than last time! It hopped away eagerly, and Takahashi looked forward to what it would bring back.
Looking out his window, he saw the streets were more crowded than usual. In the days leading up to the Chunin Exams, the village was always more lively.
People from other villages had been arriving. He'd seen Gaara and his team the day before. At this point, Gaara was completely unstable, carrying a dark, evil aura around him. The feeling was so strong that people gave him a wide berth.
Even Temari spoke to him with careful respect, more like a servant than a sister.
At the academy, Tenten saw him and came over. "Hey, Takahashi!" She looked him up and down. "Is it just me, or have you gotten taller lately?"
Takahashi just smiled. "It's normal for boys to grow during puberty."
Tenten clearly didn't fully buy it, but she couldn't argue with the logic.
Just then, Might Guy arrived with Rock Lee. With the exams so close, their training had become even more brutal. They left before sunrise and returned after dark, their routine twice as hard as before.
This kind of training didn't suit Tenten, so Guy had given her a different regimen. As for Neji and Takahashi? One was a natural genius, the other was a monster. Facing those two, giving Lee a little extra help was only fair.
Neji arrived too. Maybe he'd been pushed by Takahashi recently, but his aura felt more restrained now, less sharp and more calm.
Tenten turned back to Takahashi. Since their last mission, the team had gotten much closer.
"Hey, have you seen all the people coming to Konoha?" she asked. "Can you tell who's really dangerous? I want to know who to watch out for."
He hadn't expected that question. Did he look like an expert on foreign ninja? But since she asked, he could share a little. As long as he wasn't too specific, it shouldn't seem suspicious.
He pretended to think. "The team from Sunagakure, with Gaara... they're very dangerous. The one with the fan, Temari, would be a bad match for you. She likely uses Wind Style. Your kunai would be useless against her hurricanes. You should think about how to handle that."
He paused, his tone turning serious. "But the most dangerous one is Gaara. If you meet him, I suggest you surrender. Don't even try to fight."
At first, she listened carefully about Temari. But when he mentioned Gaara, Tenten looked a little stubborn. She had trained hard for so long. Was she really supposed to just give up?
"He can't be that strong, can he?" she argued. "Does he also use Wind Style?"
Takahashi shook his head, his face stern. "The gourd on his back is full of sand. It's probably a secret technique of their village, one we know nothing about. And his eyes... they aren't normal. They're the eyes of a killer. If you provoke him, you could really die."
He wasn't joking. If Lee hadn't been tough enough back in the original story, he would have died on the spot. Someone of Tenten's skill level angering Gaara would be a disaster.
Seeing how serious Takahashi was, Tenten stored his words away in her heart.
He told her all this because he was worried. His presence might have already changed things. If the matchups in the exams were different, the results could spiral out of control.
He knew the exam's process, but he couldn't reveal it outright. The best he could do was warn them to be prepared.
Might Guy watched his students, full of energy. But even he couldn't guarantee they would all pass. The Chunin Exams were famously difficult.
Suddenly, Lee, who had been listening, spoke up. "Oh! When Guy-sensei and I were training this morning, I saw some very strange ninja on the street. I don't know which village they were from. They all wore bamboo hats and had a weird feeling. The two with him were strange, too."
Takahashi's interest was piqued. He could guess who that was—Orochimaru. After their last meeting, he had disguised himself and come back in a different form. If he remembered right, there would be a team from the Sound Village this time, and that guy would be leading one.
He was a little curious about what would happen now. If Orochimaru still planned to attack Konoha as he had before, he was in for a rude awakening.
Takahashi looked at his teammates earnestly. "We should stay away from that guy for now. Before the exams, try not to go out at night. Even though this is our home, it's better to be safe. We can't afford any trouble before the Chunin Exams."
Tenten felt he was being a little too worried. This was Konoha, after all. But Neji was thoughtful. From what he knew of Takahashi, the boy didn't say things without a good reason. There was probably more to his warning than it seemed.
(End Of Chapter)
Which is your first anime? Mine was AOT.