Three days later, Konohagakure, the Land of Fire
As the ninja squads from other smaller villages such as Kusagakure, Takigakure, and Yugakure arrived in Konohagakure, the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam jointly organized by the five great shinobi villages was about to be kicked off.
Before the official comncent of the exam, in order to make sure that the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam proceeds smoothly, an assembly was held, and in this assembly, all the participating Genin Squads were called in order to explain to them the rules and regulations of the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam.
Standing on the temporary platform, the main proctor of the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam, Uchiha Itachi read the rules.
One of the purposes of organizing the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam was to increase the ‘cooperative relationship’ between the great shinobi villages, so while fighting and competition weren’t prohibited, aningless killing was to be avoided.
The keyword here is ‘avoid,’ which ans that while it is advised to not cause pointless bloodshed, killing enemy ninjas isn’t completely against the rules either, which isn’t surprising since ninjas are often tasked with missions that involve killing enemy ninjas from other villages. Even if the five great nations are trying to increase the ‘cooperative relationship’ between their villages, that doesn’t an their ninjas wouldn’t go on missions that involve killing ninjas of other shinobi villages.
This is how the shinobi system functions, so there is no way around killing each other.
…
On the Field
While Uchiha Itachi explained the rules, the ninjas from various shinobi villages participating in the Exam also took this opportunity to observe each other.
The squad of Raijin, Samsara, and Tengu was also on the ground. Glancing around, Raijin confird that the number of ninjas participating in the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam was roughly the sa as he had known beforehand.
A total of thirty ninja squads are participating from Konohagakure which ans a total of ninety Genins, while Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure, each sent fifteen ninja squads which ans forty-five Genins from each of these villages. Additionally, there are five squads from Agakure, ten squads from Kusagakure, five squads from Takigakure, five squads from Yugakure, and five squads from Otogakure making a grand total of one hundred twenty squads which ans three-hundred sixty Genins.
These many Genins have probably never appeared in a single Chunin Promotion Exam other than the tis of War.
Of course, all this had nothing to do with Raijin as he was busy doing more important stuff. One by one, he pointed at various participants standing in the crowd and instructed Samsara, “morize their Chakra Signature…”
“I understand, Raijin-sama…” nodded Samsara and began morizing the Chakra Signature of various people.
The Darui squad from Kumogakure, the Temari squad from Sunagakure, the Deidara squad from Iwagakure, the Karatachi Tamako squad from Kirigakure, the Uchiha Sasuke squad from Konohagakure, and the Kaguya Kimimaro squad from Otogakure.
Because Raijin’s eye sockets currently don’t have the pair of Byakugan, therefore, to keep an eye on ninjas over long distances, he has to rely on Samsara. She is capable of using the Mind’s Eye of Kagura, a sensing Jutsu exclusive to the mbers of the Uzumaki Clansn that allows them to sense Chakra at exceptional distances in great detail. In fact, Samsara’s sensory capabilities are even superior to the Hyuga Clans’ Byakugan in so aspects.
As long as Samsara morizes the Chakra signature of all the targets, locking their positions would be an easy task for their squad. Although Raijin isn’t particularly interested in all the participants in the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam, there are still people he needs to pay special attention to like Deidara, Darui, Itsuki, Temari, Karatachi Tamako, Kimimaro, Haku, and Guren.
In particular, Raijin is interested in Darui of Kumogakure for his Storm Release Kekkei Genkai, Black Lightning, as well as Lightning Chakra Mode. He feels that fighting and observing Darui use these techniques will help him increase his understanding of the Lightning Chakra Nature and complete the developnt of the Raijin Clone.
For this reason, Raijin even plans to create trouble for Darui in the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam.
Of course, as Raijin was observing other participants, they were also observing their squad. Their squad had actually garnered a lot of attention for a few reasons. The first reason is the Konohagakure Casino incident, and the second reason is the mask that all three mbers of their squad are wearing. It’s not uncommon for ninjas to wear masks to hide their identities, but it’s only Raijin, Samsara, and Tengu wearing masks in the entire list of participants, which is very eye-catching!
Everyone is curious about the faces beneath the mask. Feeling the scrutinizing gazes cast by other ninjas, Samsara beca a little nervous and consciously tried to hide herself behind Raijin.
On the other hand, Tengu had a complicated mood at the mont as he was observing two people in the distance, ‘Temari… Kankurō…’ Both of them are his elder siblings and even if it has been more than six years since he last saw them, he had instantly recognized both of them the mont he laid his eyes upon their vestiges.
But even if he had instantly recognized both Temari & Kankurō, he did not have any plans to approach them or reveal himself to them because the ‘Gaara’ they knew was already dead… their youngest sibling nad ‘Gaara’ died six years ago, now he is not Gaara of Sunagakure, now he is Tengu of Amatsukami.
The rules of the organization stipulate that the mbers cannot reveal their identities to others, moreover, he was once a Jinchūriki, if word spread that he is still alive, that would create a lot of trouble for Sunagakure and Amatsukami, sothing he did not want to cause.
Therefore, he was just content with the fact that both Temari and Kankurō were well and good.
While not disturbing Tengu, Raijin shifted his gaze to Konohagakure’s side, in particular, he focused on Uchiha Sasuke.
As Raijin was observing Sasuke, he noticed that several others in the crowd were focused on the boy as well, and without a doubt, most of these people were from Otogakure. It would have been fine if they were just interested in the boy, but no… they were looking at Sasuke with well-disguised killing intent.
Even the indifferent Kimimaro was looking at Uchiha Sasuke with a trace of killing intent, and mumbled to himself in confusion, “Hmm… that’s rather strange…”
He then shifted his gaze and focused on a Kusagakure Kunoichi who was also looking at Uchiha Sasuke.
Noticing that girl, Raijin’s eyes widened, “What is he doing here?”
It was Orochimaru, but there was no way for Raijin to understand what he was going to do during this Chunin Promotion Exam, and why he entered the Chūnin Promotion Exam by taking the appearance of a Kusagakure Shinobi ‘Well whatever it is… it won’t be Konoha Crush, that’s for sure…’ thought Raijin, and wondered, ‘But if it’s not Konoha Crush, then what?’ and suddenly his eyes beneath the mask widened ‘Is he targeting Sasuke?
Raijin was a little concerned since he was also targeting Uchiha Sasuke since he aid to make the boy awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan by putting him under intense emotional stimulation. For that, Raijin even borrowed Uchiha Fugaku’s Mangekyō Sharingan and went to the trouble of creating a brand new Fuinjutsu and implanting it on his body, and he wasn’t going to let Sasuke have an easy ti during the Joint Chunin Promotion Exam.
Raijin was absolutely certain that his plan would work, but that was under the condition that others don’t interfere, especially not the likes of Orochimaru.
‘It seems I will have to make changes in the plan since Orochimaru-sama is also targeting the boy,’ thought Raijin while looking at the Kusagakure Kunoichi. Perhaps the ‘Kunoichi’ felt Raijin’s gaze upon ‘her,’ ‘She’ looked in his direction and licked ‘her’ lips while displaying a charming smile.
Tick marks appeared on Raijin’s forehead as he looked away.
…
On the Rooftop of a tall Building
While Uchiha Itachi announced the rules and regulations for the Joint Chūnin Promotion Exam, the Jōnin instructor of Konoha eighteen save for Uchiha Shisui took this opportunity to observe the assembly from the rooftop of a tall building.
Noting the powerhouses sent by other shinobi villages, Kurenai sighed in concern, “They have really sent terribly strong shinobi for the Chūnin Promotion Exam, it would be very difficult for our Genins to stand out amongst them…”
Might Guy with his signature smile spoke, “Let’s not underestimate the youth of our Genins,” and added after a pause, “Besides, failure is the mother of all success, it’s not wrong to experience a few failures.”
Kurenai looked at Guy with twitch marks on her forehead, “Aren’t you indirectly saying the sa thing? Moreover, you are directly assuming that they will lose…”
Guy was helpless, “We-well…!”
On the other side, Asuma’s eyes fell upon the three most conspicuous figures in the crowd, and he spoke with a frown, “That Agakure squad is a little strange… they are giving a bad feeling…”
Shizune nodded, “Yes, and all three of them are wearing strange masks… it’s clearly weird.”
In the crowd, the ninjas were wearing all kinds of clothes, so were wearing Sunglasses, so were wearing bandages, so were wearing hats, so were wearing face paint and whatnot, but there were only three people who were wearing strange masks that covered their entire facial features, and this made them the most conspicuous bunch!
Kurenai ntioned another piece of information, “I heard that soon after arriving in Konoha, the three of them made their way to the Casino and betted fifty million Ryō on themselves!”
Shizune smiled in contempt, “That is so stupid… even fool knows that they should on Deid–…” Halfway through she realized that she had spoken too much, and quickly changed the topic, “By the way… did you hear about what happened to the few ninjas that wanted to create trouble for them? Tsunade-sama examined them… but even she wasn’t sure of what was wrong with them… it’s as if their soul was damaged…! It was caused by that guy with the Tengu mask… even we couldn’t see what he did to them!”
Asuma narrowed his eyes, “But didn’t that incident happen at the Casino? For that incident to have happened in front of you… Don’t tell that you and Tsunade-sama were…”
“Ahh…!” Shizune realized that she had leaked so information she wasn’t supposed to leak!
At this ti, Kakashi took out a few pages and passed them to the others, “This is the copy of their registration at the ti of entering the village… The boy with the lightning print on the mask is the captain of the squad nad Raijin, the one with the girl with the Taijitu symbol on the mask is nad Samsara, anwhile, the boy wearing the Tengu mask is Tengu…”
The others took the copy from Kakashi and looked at the information and pictures of the three Agakure Genins. All three of them looked normal. Raijin has silver hair and black eyes, Tengu has dark red hair with green eyes and no eyebrows, anwhile, Samsara has bright red hair and bright red eyes… “Wait… that red hair… could she be a mber of the Uzumaki Clan?” asked Kurenai.
“It’s possible…” nodded Kakashi. When the Uzushiogakure was destroyed, very few Uzumaki Clansn managed to survive, those that survived dispersed into different countries and hid themselves as they were highly valued for their special Chakra. Therefore, Kakashi didn’t deny the possibility of Samsara being a mber of the Uzumaki Clan, her characteristic red hair is a direct giveaway of her ancestry.
Kurenai leaned closer to Kakashi and whispered in his ear, “This girl is an Uzumaki, and she is from Agakure… could she have sothing to do with Nagato, the leader of Akatsuki?”
Kakashi pursed his lips, “It’s possible…” In fact, he had also considered this possibility when he saw the girl’s image. After all, the Akatsuki Organization started in Agakure, and Nagato remained the leader of that shinobi village for many years following Hanzō’s death… therefore, it’s not impossible for Samsara to have so connection with the leader of Akatsuki. In fact, there’s also a possibility that she is Nagato’s child, and is sent to Konoha to capture the two Jinchurikis!
‘I better discuss this with Kuroto…’ thought Kakashi.
At this ti, Guy asked, “Hey, Kakashi… this Raijin… doesn’t he look a lot like you?”
The others agreed, “Yeah, now that you ntion it…”
In terms of facial features, both Raijin and Kakashi look quite similar, and their deanor also seems to be sowhat similar.
Shizune mumbled doubtfully, “Heh, Kakashi, did you secretly…?”
Tick marks appeared on Kakashi’s forehead, “What are you talking about?”
Shizune grinned slyly, “Well…”
Asuma put his arm around Kakashi’s shoulder, and said, “Kakashi you dog… it seems I really underestimated you…! But to think with a girl from another village… does Konoha lack won?”
Shizune added fuel to the fire, “It must have been soone really amazing… otherwise, how could Kakashi fall for a woman from another village… it’s okay Kakashi, you can tell us…”
Being teased by Asuma and Shizune, Kakashi was helpless, “You guys…” he now regrets showing them the copy of the registration form.
At this ti, Kurenai said with a frown, “Hey… if you look closely, you’ll find that Raijin looks very similar to Kuroto…” and added in her heart, ‘Also very similar to Futen…’
Hearing Kurenai’s words, the others once again stared at Raijin’s picture and couldn’t help but agree, “Now that I look closely, there’s indeed Kuroto’s shadow…”
“Both Kuroto and Kakashi’s shadow? Don’t tell …” The joke from earlier suddenly went in the wrong direction.
Not wanting the joke to get weirder, Kakashi hurriedly put away the copy of the registration form, then he cast his eyes on the Agakure squad wearing masks, and said, “Asuma’s feeling isn’t wrong… I too feel that sothing is wrong with them… I will arrange for an Anbu squad to test the waters.”
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