Yakushi Kabuto didn't need to look.
Because his body instinctively felt a sense of crisis. The chakra inside him didn't lie; the person behind him was Uehara Naraku.
Cold sweat continuously appeared on Yakushi Kabuto's face as he whispered, "I didn't expect Lord Naraku would also participate in this Chunin Examination..."
This guy!
Yakushi Kabuto still vividly remembered their defeat by Uehara Naraku's summoning beast; it took only half a minute to obliterate them.
Later, even Lord Orochimaru mentioned that Uehara Naraku was the hidden monster among the Akatsuki!
Absolutely... absolutely... must not lightly provoke!
"The Hidden Rain Village is too boring, so I just wanted to come out and take a look."
Uehara Naraku squatted down, casually flipping open a ninpo scroll on the ground, and couldn't help but chuckle: "What, you don't have my intel here? Am I not worth you wasting a ninpo scroll on?"
"No."
Yakushi Kabuto's tense mood gradually calmed down. His years of being a spy had honed his psychological resilience, giving him a way to handle any crisis.
Uehara Naraku coming to Konoha for the Chunin Examination surely wouldn't start a massacre on the spot, which meant the crisis hadn't arrived yet.
Yakushi Kabuto breathed a small sigh of relief and said softly, "Lord Naraku's power is too overwhelming; the ninpo scrolls are not worthy of recording your intel..."
"You're still as entertaining as ever."
Uehara Naraku couldn't hold back his laughter.
Uchiha Sasuke, listening to their conversation, felt somewhat displeased and couldn't help showing it on his face: "So you're Uehara Naraku? Just a Genin from the Hidden Rain Village..."
"..."
Uehara Naraku looked at Uchiha Sasuke ranting and secretly made a mental note that the debts accrued by the younger brother would one day be paid by Uchiha Itachi's life.
The next moment, suddenly, someone appeared behind Sasuke!
Kaguya Kimimaro grabbed Sasuke's throat with one hand, his movements so swift that the people next to him couldn't see clearly.
"So fast!"
Uzumaki Naruto exclaimed in surprise after witnessing the scene. Realizing that his teammate was being restrained, he immediately lunged forward: "Let Sasuke go! Hiss... it's so cold!"
Uzumaki Naruto slowly looked down, noticing a patch of ice under his feet, freezing his feet, and preventing him from helping Sasuke.
"Let them go!"
Uehara Naraku waved his hand, looked at the newcomers from Konoha Village, and smiled: "The Chunin Examination is long; let's have fun with them by then. But by our next meeting, if you're not careful... you might lose your life!"
"...Bast...bastard!"
Uchiha Sasuke's face flushed with anger.
Just as Sasuke was about to charge forward, an agile old man stopped him, gently advising: "Alright, don't make a fuss. The first round of the Chunin Examination is about to start... if you continue, you'll be expelled."
"Yes, yes, we know."
Haruno Sakura hurriedly pulled Sasuke back, worried he might suffer.
The others quickly dispersed as well, avoiding any more trouble. If they got expelled before even taking the first exam, it would be a waste.
Just as they were dispersing, Inuzuka Kiba curiously asked, "That old guy isn't here to take the Chunin Exam too, right?"
Uzumaki Naruto also glanced at the old man confronting Uehara Naraku, feeling a bit speechless: "Can old men take the Chunin Exam too? If he's been taking it this long and hasn't passed, how hard must the Chunin Exam be?"
"..."
The innocent remarks of the young boy added a touch of awkwardness in the air.
The Genin at the exam gathering point heard Uzumaki Naruto's words, looked at the old, short man, and the entire exam room burst into laughter.
Only Uehara Naraku didn't laugh.
Not even a hint of joy appeared on his face.
Because that old man's name was Maruboshi Kosuke, known as Konoha's eternal Genin, an individual absolutely not to be underestimated.
Logically speaking, Kosuke shouldn't have participated in the Chunin Exam.
Maruboshi Kosuke intended to remain Genin for life. If he wanted promotion, he could directly become Jonin; what's the need to attend any Chunin Exam!
At least Sarutobi Hiruzen had promoted him before, but he refused.
And now, Maruboshi Kosuke was participating in the Chunin Exam as an elderly Genin, which definitely was a sign of something off! Must be Sarutobi Hiruzen assigning him to protect Konoha's Genin, right?
This is a bit too cheeky...
Outside the gathering point.
Hatake Kakashi, hearing the calm inside, felt a little relieved: "So the Third has arranged Senior Kosuke for this exam? It's difficult to say whether these kids are lucky or unlucky..."
After a while.
As time passed and the Genin in the gathering point started to get restless, a man with a scarred face walked in.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone."
The scarred man slightly nodded and said in a deep voice, "I am the proctor of the first round of the Chunin Exam, Mori Ibuki."
The commotion among the Genin finally came to a stop.
One by one, they lined up and entered the exam hall.
The first part of the Chunin Examination was a written test, ostensibly to assess a ninja's knowledge but in reality to test their intelligence-gathering skills.
Coincidentally, sitting next to Uehara Naraku was Maruboshi Kosuke, and Uehara felt that this old man seemed to be there just to keep an eye on him.
Haku walked up to Uehara Naraku's desk, holding a cup of fruit juice and placed it there: "Lord Naraku, I've already chilled it for you."
Uehara Naraku picked it up casually and pointed to the elderly man beside him: "Haku, get a cup for this old gentleman too."
"Yes."
Another cup of fruit juice was placed on Maruboshi Kosuke's desk.
"Thank you."
This elderly Genin shakily reached out to grab the fruit juice, squinting his eyes to watch Haku leave, and said: "Ice Release Bloodline, huh? It's been a long time since I've seen it... Using it just to chill fruit juice is indeed a bit of a waste!"
Uehara Naraku took a sip of the juice and watched as Kosuke wobbled while holding his cup, feeling a bit displeased.
Why is there always someone competing with him for the title of best actor?
Maruboshi Kosuke was different from others; he had pretended to be a Genin all his life and was truly an old veteran of the act.
There were no major disturbances during the written exam.
A group of ninja displayed their skills in various ways, trying to get answers from the test papers, with cheats all over the exam hall.
While other ninjas were scribbling answers on their papers, Uehara Naraku and Maruboshi Kosuke were leisurely drinking juice, not even glancing at their papers.
"Slurp... Slurp..."
"Slurp... Slurp..."
As some ninjas were caught cheating and disqualified from the exam, Uehara Naraku and Maruboshi Kosuke continued to sip their juice.
In truth, there was only a little juice left, nearly an empty cup, yet the two kept competing over it.
"Slurp... Slurp..."
"Slurp... Slurp..."
Mori Ibuki witnessed this scene, and the muscles on his face twitched involuntarily. He was about to explode at their audacity for daring to mock the Chunin Examination right in front of him!
Could this be a challenge?
Seeing other Genin being influenced by them, Mori Ibuki finally couldn't hold back and threw two shurikens towards Uehara Naraku and Maruboshi Kosuke's cups.
Whoosh!
Uehara Naraku and Maruboshi Kosuke almost simultaneously extended a finger to catch Mori Ibuki's shuriken, effortlessly as if catching a paper ball.
"..."
Mori Ibuki was both angry and anxious.
If not for the Third Hokage's instructions, he would definitely have kicked them out by now!
The final part of the written exam tested fearless courage; as long as one persisted in taking the exam under the proctor's grilling interrogation, they would pass the written test directly.
The answers weren't actually that important.
Uehara Naraku and Maruboshi Kosuke sat silently in their seats as if watching a monkey act, observing Mori Ibuki's performance.
In this written test, the two of them passed with a blank paper.
They could have answered or cheated, but there was no need.
No, actually three people passed with blank papers.
Aside from the slowly juice-sipping Uehara Naraku and Maruboshi Kosuke, there was also Uzumaki Naruto, who wanted to answer but couldn't, and wanted to cheat but didn't know how.
After the exam ended, Mori Ibuki finally couldn't suppress his temper and said in a deep voice: "Some people passed by luck this time, but when you become a Chunin Captain in the future, you'll regret what you did today when you have to steal intelligence!"
Uehara Naraku calmly replied: "If you kill all the enemies protecting the intelligence, you can naturally obtain it. With an enemy like the proctor, I can beat ten of them."
"That approach isn't necessarily correct."
Maruboshi Kosuke nodded thoughtfully, adding: "The strong's methods don't apply to the weak. One must prioritize the safety of the mission and teammates, but with an enemy like the proctor, I'm too old to beat more than nine of them."
"..."
Mori Ibuki really felt like hitting someone after hearing that.
Fortunately, he's only responsible for the first exam. Anyway, in the second exam, these two won't be able to cheat their way through with little tricks.
Maruboshi Kosuke turned to Uehara Naraku and said: "If I'm not mistaken, the second part of the Chunin Examination is a five-day Heaven and Earth Scroll retrieval battle, involving survival exercises. Would you like to team up with me? I'm quite a good chef."
"No, I don't have high demands for food."
Uehara Naraku shook his head.
Maruboshi Kosuke was indeed there to monitor him.
Knowing this, how could Uehara Naraku be willing to team up with Maruboshi Kosuke?