On Aoba's body, not only was there none of that kind of emotion, on the contrary, he would even make him feel heartfelt concern.
At the same time, when staying by Aoba's side, he found that the voice that constantly echoed in his mind, tempting him, actually directly disappeared.
'This kind of whole-body relaxation feeling...'
'Really nice!'
Only, as he walked, Gaara's expression became even gloomier.
The voice in his mind began to echo again.
'As expected, these voices, only when staying by that Aoba's side, would they quiet down.' [T/N: OH! HELL NOOO!]
———
[By the River]
After Gaara's group left, Tenten also poked her head out from Aoba's tent.
Looked left and right. Upon seeing Aoba, her face immediately blushed as she shrank back inside.
Aoba couldn't help but want to laugh.
Clearly it was she who crawled over while the others were asleep last night, yet now, the one too shy to face others was also her.
But the two of them didn't actually do anything, nor could they, just hugging and kissing, whispering sweet words all night long, and that's it.
Aoba walked to the front of the tent, imitated Tenten's posture, and poked his head inside.
He happened to see Tenten wrapped up like a cocoon, and immediately burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at?"
Thud!
Hakumo raised his hand and blocked the pillow Tenten threw at him, smiling as he spoke.
"Since you're awake, come out and wash up first. I'll go get some food."
"Mm! Got it!"
Tenten replied in a muffled voice, "You go first, I'll come out later."
Aoba felt even more like laughing, but this time didn't let it out.
"Alright then, I'll go find food."
"Mm-hmm!"
After Aoba's voice faded, Tenten still stayed inside the sleeping bag for a while before slowly poking her head out.
She peeked outside and confirmed that Aoba really had left.
Only then did she completely relax.
Then, picking up the kettle beside her, she gulped down several big mouthfuls of water with a "ton ton ton."
Last night, the two of them had been holding each other in the sleeping bag for a long time, her mouth was now terribly dry.
She was feeling quite dehydrated.
Only, when she crawled out of the tent, she found herself shrouded by a shadow.
She raised her head slightly, shen she saw several kindly smiling faces.
"Tenten, that was too much of you!"
———
While Aoba was looking for food, he encountered a tiger that was also hunting.
When the tiger pounced at him, he slid forward and used a kunai to slice open its belly.
Thus, they had breakfast.
Aoba dragged the tiger, which was bigger than himself, back to the campsite.
He found that everyone was already awake, and the several girls were getting along just fine.
He let out a slight breath of relief.
Then immediately started heating the oil and cooking.
After everyone finished breakfast, Aoba pulled out the scrolls and said, "Since everyone's scrolls are complete, we should head to the tower now."
The central tower was still quite a distance away from where Aoba's group had camped.
The group didn't choose to take a detour, but directly charged straight ahead.
Given their strength, taking a roundabout path would actually be a waste of time.
They continuously leapt along the giant tree trunks, reaching the vicinity of the central tower without incident.
However, when they arrived, someone had already gotten there first.
Standing at the central tower's entrance, not yet entering.
"Aoba! You guys are so slow!", Inuzuka Kiba said energetically.
"Looks like we're the first team to arrive here!"
Class 8 was a reconnaissance team, and basically hadn't fought at all. After grabbing a scroll, they stealthily made their way to the central tower.
Two insect controllers, plus Akamaru's nose, despite Inuzuka Kiba being a burden, sneaking through the Forest of Death was still fairly easy.
Hearing the other's words, Aoba smiled and said, "You're only the first to arrive here today, not first overall."
"What, aside from us, there's a team that arrived earlier than you guys?", Inuzuka Kiba was confused. In his eyes, Aoba was the strongest among this exam's candidates.
"It was Naruto's team."
Naruto's trio had arrived at the central tower as early as yesterday afternoon.
Though, it was thanks to his clone carrying them over.
"Eh?", Inuzuka Kiba's face was filled with disbelief, then with regret, "Damn it, I was even planning to wait here and ruthlessly mock that guy Naruto!"
Aoba didn't explain further, "Let's go in together."
"Alright…", Inuzuka Kiba's excitement dwindled.
Upon entering the tower, Aoba's group simultaneously opened their Heaven and Earth scrolls.
With several "Bang Bang" sounds, amidst the smoke, four Irukas appeared.
"Iruka-sensei?", Inuzuka Kiba asked in shock, "It's actually you?"
Iruka was also stunned for a moment. He hadn't expected four teams to arrive at the same time.
But he quickly adjusted, "I'm your teacher,"
Iruka said with gratification, "Of course I had to come see you all."
"Iruka-sensei, don't worry," Inuzuka Kiba patted his chest and said, "We'll definitely all become chunin."
"Sensei believes in you. You all are the best students I've ever taught."
He wasn't being polite, this was the truth.
He even felt that these students before him wouldn't take long to far surpass him.
"There are still four days left before the second exam ends," Iruka said with a smile.
"Because there are many genin participating in this chunin exam, if too many pass this stage, there will be a preliminary round."
"So for now, you can't leave the exam area. But the village has arranged resting rooms for you. I'll take you there," After speaking, Iruka began leading the way.
"Iruka-sensei, what's the preliminary round?", Inuzuka Kiba couldn't help but ask eagerly.
Iruka explained, "It's a drawing-lots style match-up, individual battles. Winners move on to the third exam held a month later. Losers are eliminated."
"We'll win!"
Inuzuka Kiba's expression remained full of confidence.
The group reached the resting rooms.
Located next to where the team-leader jonin rested.
Their rooms were also roughly together.
The space was small, and compact.
Uzuki Yugao, Yuhi Kurenai, and Yamato had already been waiting there.
But there was also an unrelated person… Terumi Mei.
"Kurenai-sensei, we passed the exam!"
Yakumo shared her joy with Yuhi Kurenai, face full of happiness.
Yuhi Kurenai tapped Yakumo's forehead and smiled, "There's still the preliminary round. If you don't pass, prepare for my punishment."
As she spoke, her gaze also turned toward Aoba and Hinata.
But she had great confidence in all three of them. After all, they were the most outstanding trio of this year.
If even they couldn't pass, the others were probably hopeless.
Uzuki Yugao looked at the three girls before her, narrowing her eyes.
"If you lose, do you know what happens next?"
Tenten, Sakura, and Karin all shivered.
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