Ti passed, and the day of the last part of the Chunin Exams quickly ca. Ren leisurely entered the arena and showed his ticket to be let in.
Honestly, nothing truly important happened during the past month. Kids trained. Ino bullied Shikamaru and Choji into becoming stronger. Hinata spent her month in her clan, learning more about gentle fists while helping Hanabi practice.
The Akatsuki were calm despite tensions starting to rise up among them. Nagato was still discreetly looking into Tobi's background, and the poor sucker started to realize he didn't have that many people in the Akatsuki he could trust.
He especially started to be suspicious of Zetsu, much to Ren's surprise.
And Ren? He spent this past month enjoying the montary peace. He played with seals. Had dates with Ino and Hinata. Enjoyed long, passionate nights with them. Occasionally, he went to Agakure for so Konan-watching.
There was nothing he could do to prevent the Konoha Invasion, so he decided to simply enjoy his life while it was calm.
Walking through the gates into the inner parts of the arena, Ren noticed all the stands and shops. He chuckled. Konoha was properly milking this event. And with so many rchants and nobles in the village, it was understandable. The prices of food and drinks have risen sharply in the last week, and the shops selling toys and various tourist rchandise seed to pop into existence overnight.
There were even small plushie dolls with the likeness of the participants.
Naturally, Ren bought two, one of Ino and one of Hinata. They would be a great addition to their bedroom, and Ren was sure the girls would have a kick out of it.
The tickets themselves were not that costly, but with the number of spectators? Konoha was still making a massive amount of money with them.
Climbing the stairs, Ren finally entered the spectator area and looked around. People were starting to fill up the seats, forming groups. Ren noticed Kurenai and Asuma among a few other Jonin Instructors with their students, who did not qualify, sitting near them. Hyugas had their own area. Ino-Shika-Cho clan mbers were all around the place, not bothering to group up. Sa with the Inuzukas. The Abura... Ren had a hard ti seeing them.
But overall, Ren noticed that there were not that many ninjas present. Maybe only ten percent of the spectators were actually ninjas. And it made a lot of sense when he started thinking about it.
With Konoha on high alert, many ninjas were ordered on patrols or guard duties and whatnot. Ren could even see Izumo and Kotetsu, the eternal gate guards, sitting in the spectator area. He assud these two were changed for ANBU or Jonin, just to bolster the defenses.
Lucky for them, that ant they had the free ti to co and spectate. Ren dryly laughed in his head. Bastards couldn't even imagine the trouble he had to go through to take a vacation from work today.
In the end, Ren decided to walk a bit further away from the Jonin Instructors and opted to sit among civilians and a few ninjas he didn't know.
Just in case sothing went wrong, this way nobody would question if he bolted away in the middle of the match. The ninjas might find it slightly suspicious, but they shouldn't care overly much since they didn't know him.
The stands slowly filled up, and fifteen minutes later, the Kages finally arrived. The whole arena quieted down as several figures filled the top seats, and Hiruzen seated his fellow Kage before he walked to the edge of their VIP area and started giving a customary speech.
Ren, however, didn't listen to it. He was far too busy gaping like a fish because right there, on the other seats for Kages, was the Kazekage.
And next to the Kazekage? Well, there was Orochimaru clad in Kage robes for Otogakure, grinning like a cat that got a canary as he amusedly watched the completely tense Hiruzen giving his speech.
'Fucking butterfly effect.' With a groan, Ren rubbed his eyes.
He had heard there was so commotion at the gates earlier today, but he wasn't interested enough to investigate it. Commotions like that were common. With so many foreign ninjas in the village, sothing was bound to happen eventually.
Clearly, this ti that was a mistake. Orochimaru really had the balls to walk into Konoha through the main gate.
Technically, Otogakure had no contestants in the last part of the Exams, so he shouldn't be here.
But also technically, any Kage of a village that participated in these Exams is invited by default. His Sound ninjas were in the second part; hence, he was invited, and Konoha had to accept his presence.
Most Kages don't show up unless they have several genin in the final part. For example, the Raikage didn't bother coming despite Omoi participating.
That was not a slight against Omoi. Kages were simply busy. Putting all of his responsibilities down to cheer on one genin would be irresponsible. Unless there was so important deal to discuss, the Kages usually did not go to foreign Chunin Exams.
The funny part? Kages had sothing akin to diplomatic immunity during the duration of the Chunin Exams. Konoha could not move against Orochimaru now that he showed himself to be the Kage of Otogakure. Not unless he attacked first.
Sure, the second these exams end, Konoha would instantly beco enemies with Oto. But Ren doubted the man cared. He didn't need the ceasefire to last that long.
Behind Orochimaru, Ren spotted Guren and Kimimaro, making him dejectedly sigh. Now that complicated everything. It ant that Hiruzen would be facing not only Orochimaru, but also Guren and Kimimaro, while Rasa would either also join or he would go and make trouble for the Konoha ninjas in the arena.
Ren had no idea which course of events would be worse, but both were horrible. On one hand, if Rasa went after Hiruzen, then the old man would be facing four S-rank ninjas.
Alright, Kimimaro was not there just yet, but still! The result would probably be RIP Hiruzen.
On the other hand, if Rasa went to make himself a nuisance in the village, he could cause a hell of a lot of damage with his sand abilities. If nobody stopped him in ti? RIP, a large part of Konoha.
Ren resisted the urge to put his face into his hands. He had only killed Kabuto! One death and the butterfly effect was this!? Orochimaru practically majorly revamped the plan for his final showdown with his teacher!
Now that just wasn't fair.
Why couldn't he get the incompetent antagonists?
With his telepathy seal, Ren contacted his clones who were deep in work in the building underneath the VIP area and sighed in relief when he was reassured the preparations were going along just fine.
'At least sothing is not going tits up today.' Ren thought, still feeling nervous from Orochimaru's presence.
If the showdown happened according to the canon, and he really, really hoped that would be the case, then the final fight should be happening on the massive rooftop behind the VIP area.
Ren was counting on that. So, if they, for so asinine reason, decided to fight sowhere else, his plan would be fucked beyond belief.
Right now, a bunch of his clones were inscribing a complicated sealing array on the ceilings of the rooms directly underneath that rooftop.
Its purpose? To block Summoning Jutsu.
Sure, this would make it impossible for Hiruzen to use Enma. The old man would simply have to deal with his wayward student without having his diamond-hard rod firmly in his hands.
Reaper Death Seal would also not work, so no easy suicide for him either.
But this small nerf to Hiruzen was necessary. Ren didn't figure out a way to make exceptions for certain people in the array, so he will simply have to suck it up. The important part was this.
No summoning, no Edo Tensei.
Orochimaru would be unable to summon the coffins with pre-prepared Edo Tensei bodies. Hence, he wouldn't be able to awaken them.
Also, Orochimaru was the Snake Summoner. Every ti he uses a technique with snakes? It is at least partly based on summoning. His thousand snake hands? Summoning. Anything where a snake bursts from his sleeves or his mouth? Summoning. The way snakes burst from his body parts when he is bisected and rejoin them? That starts with summoning, too.
These are his favorite and most dangerous techniques. And now, they will all be restricted. He would be left with Kenjutsu, Elental Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu.
Sure, he was still a deadly S-rank ninja even with just that. But the nerf was going to hit him far harder than Hiruzen.
The only usable snake Orochimaru will have left is the one in his pants, and Ren very much doubted he could beat Hiruzen to death with it.
Ren hoped it would be enough.
When he entered the arena today, he felt smug. He thought this would be a piece of cake. With no Edo Tensei, Orochimaru was going to fight Hiruzen alone.
How was he to know that the paranoid snake would bring his cavalry with him?
Fucking butterfly effect.
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