"What are you two running for?"
Hagoromo raised his head and looked up at Kakashi and Guy, who were hanging from the ceiling.
The Lightning Release Mirai had just used looked frightening, but in reality, it only looked frightening. Its intensity had already been controlled and did not possess the true power that Chidori Current should have. After all, Mirai still had a sense of measure. She did not have any "deep hatred" with these people, and her "little brother" was among them too.
Using Chidori Current at full power was something one should only do when prepared to kill.
So Hagoromo's question was reasonable. Even if they had been hit by Mirai's Chidori Current just now, at most they would have been electrocuted until they were crispy but not burnt, rich but not greasy. There was nothing to worry about.
However, these two, who were perfectly performing the role of chandeliers, could not possibly share Hagoromo's view. After all, from their perspective, arcs of electricity were still occasionally flashing across Hagoromo's body at this very moment. And he was saying this thing had no killing power? Who would believe that? Was he trying to fool ghosts?
Only after the Lightning Release below had completely dispersed—by which time Mirai and the other two had already vanished without a trace—did the two of them set down all the genin from Team 7 and Team 3.
The exam was probably about to begin, so the brawl could no longer continue unless they really intended to miss it. The six genin quickly left and headed for the exam venue.
"Hagoromo, Mirai went too far. It would be best to have her pay attention to things like what happened today," Kakashi advised.
In his view, the level of joke Mirai had just played was not much different from "going berserk."
However, exchanges between ninjutsu were undoubtedly quite persuasive. After that one technique alone, everyone present had surely gained a much clearer understanding of Mirai's strength.
Kakashi's advice was impossible to have any effect. After all, Mirai's chaotic behavior pattern had unquestionably been taught by Hagoromo himself.
So Hagoromo shook his head and did not respond to that comment. Instead, he asked, "Are you two still going up to take a look?"
The exam venue was upstairs, so by "going up," Hagoromo naturally meant going to the venue.
Kakashi and Guy looked at each other. The exam was about to start, so what was there still to look at? No matter how one put it, wasn't that spoiling her a bit too much?
The two of them saw no point in going to the exam venue, so Hagoromo had no choice but to go up himself…
In truth, Kakashi and Guy had misunderstood. Hagoromo was not going to the exam venue because he was worried about Mirai. With the way she caused trouble, what did Hagoromo have to worry about?
He was going up for serious business…
At the very least, he needed to mark which one was Shukaku's jinchūriki.
By the time Hagoromo leisurely reached the fourth-floor Chūnin Exam venue, the exam was already about to begin. As though sensing his arrival, Mirai, who was sitting in the last row, turned her head and silently mouthed a few words. Then she pointed at a certain red-haired Sunagakure shinobi in front of her.
So that was Shukaku's jinchūriki, the son of the Fourth Kazekage, Gaara?
What did the "love" character on his forehead mean?
Was love the sum of all heartbeats, and if he lost love, would he slowly die?
The proctors naturally also noticed that someone outside the window seemed to be observing human beings. But after seeing clearly what he looked like, no one paid him any attention.
The chief proctor of the first exam was Morino Ibiki from the Torture and Interrogation Force. At this moment, he seemed to be terrifying this group of pitiful genin. But just then, Gaara suddenly also began to grow restless.
As a jinchūriki, Gaara's living environment since childhood could easily be imagined. To be honest, Gaara was definitely not the kind of person Hagoromo had just imagined him to be. His "love" was only for himself. Even his elder sister and brother were no different from background extras in his eyes…
Although one of them really was basically a background extra.
With such an extremely cold personality, how could he possibly be shaken by a few words from Ibiki?
Realizing that something about him seemed strange, Temari and Kankurō became somewhat concerned.
But in truth, the one "stirring" was not Gaara himself, but the One-Tail, Shukaku, sealed inside him.
And the reason the One-Tail had started becoming agitated was hatred…
In this situation, the monster had sensed a certain chakra that it extremely loathed and hated. Many years ago, that person had once beaten it savagely. At the time, the person had used certain special, unheard-of moves to beat it so badly that it no longer looked like a beast.
As a tailed beast, a "mass of hatred," how could it possibly forget something like that?
So when it sensed a certain Hagoromo's chakra, it immediately began to grow restless.
Hagoromo outside the window also noticed this right away. If the tailed beast went berserk at this moment, that would be fun. Unfortunately, he temporarily could not make any moves right now.
Judging from the current situation, the Sunagakure brat seemed to have very limited suppression over the tailed beast. If Hagoromo stayed here a little longer, Shukaku might genuinely lose control…
So in order to avoid causing any unexpected trouble, Hagoromo quickly left.
Hagoromo's mere presence could greatly stimulate a tailed beast. Compared to that, Mirai had merely used Chidori Current to stimulate Konoha's famous pair of good buddies. What did that count for?
The first round of the Chūnin Exams was less a high-difficulty written test and more a test of one's ability to acquire and transmit intelligence. Or rather, instead of calling it a test of intelligence ability, it would be more accurate to say that it tested what kind of psychological quality one possessed as a shinobi.
But for certain people, this truly was nothing more than an ordinary written test. No matter how much nonsense Ibiki spouted, certain top students did not feel even a penny's worth of psychological pressure, because they could guarantee a perfect score. Under those circumstances, no matter how many verbal cannonballs the examiner fired, they would not have the intended effect.
Hagoromo did not know how easy this exam was for Mirai, or how painfully tormenting it was for Naruto. However, when he had gone to glance at Gaara just now, there had been one other person in the classroom who gave him a vague feeling of familiarity. Yet whether he had actually met that person, and where this sense of familiarity came from, he had no clear impression.
Hagoromo paid attention to the forehead protector on that person's head. It seemed to belong to an Otogakure shinobi, but he should not have had any deep connection with that village.
The relationship between Orochimaru and Otogakure was currently still extremely secret intelligence. Otherwise, that village would long ago have been blown apart by a technique called Shinra Tensei. Therefore, Hagoromo did not immediately think in that direction.
In his view, whenever Orochimaru appeared, Mirai's perception would definitely discover him. Since Mirai had no reaction in that regard right now, the possibility of Orochimaru being present was naturally ignored.
Moreover, from the standpoint of reason, Orochimaru should not have chosen to enter Konoha at this time. With shinobi from many sides gathered in Konoha, this period could indeed cause a certain degree of chaos. But look at the current Konoha: Jiraiya, Tsunade, the Third, and, if necessary, Hagoromo too. If Uncle Snake stuck his head in here, that would clearly be an act of seeking death.
But in reality, for certain purposes, Orochimaru really had already infiltrated Konoha. What was more, just now, he had appeared right under Hagoromo's nose…
As for why Mirai's perception had discovered nothing, there were two reasons.
First, Orochimaru had long anticipated the possibility of encountering a powerful sensor-type shinobi, so he had made comprehensive disguises for it.
Second, the chakra signature of the current Orochimaru had changed to a certain extent compared to the Orochimaru Mirai had seen several years ago. Because of the completion of the Living Corpse Reincarnation, he had already changed into several new bodies over the years. Since his body was no longer the original one, the characteristics of his chakra were no longer completely the same as before.
But no matter what, as long as Orochimaru had a scheme, he would definitely show himself next.
Although the first exam was noisy and chaotic, in the end, it still concluded without any real problems. However, this kind of beginning seemed to foreshadow the unrest that would follow.
Even so, that extremely smooth-sailing team of genin still happily walked into the wild terrain for the second exam. Even if something major were going to happen, for the time being, it had nothing to do with them.
And the song the girl was humming was enough to show exactly what kind of mood she was in.
"Waking up in the morning, brushing teeth and washing my face,"
"In the blink of an eye, it's ten in the afternoon,"
"Today, too, I laughed to my heart's content,"
"And there were quite a few moments that made my heart race and my cheeks blush,"
"When friends are going wild, messing around together,"
"Our eyes often meet by chance without meaning to. It must be coincidence, right?"
"..."
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