Among the "Kagenami" shinobi, as well as the Uzumaki shinobi who had come to Konoha from the Land of Whirlpools, most held no official ranks. Of those few who did, they were mostly Genin or Chunin—middle to low-level ninja.
The original ranks of migrating Uzumaki shinobi weren't recognized in Konoha. This was Haseo's decision. Partly because the village couldn't suddenly absorb so many Jonin; partly to offer the Uzumaki a fresh choice—to retire and live peacefully if they no longer wished to be ninja.
Another reason remained the protection of the Uzumaki identity, and back then, Haseo hadn't wanted Kagenami to draw too much attention.
A lack of Jonin didn't really impact Kagenami much; after all, an experienced Jonin wouldn't instantly become useless just by losing that title.
So, in due time, they could quietly work their way up by taking the advanced exams within Konoha.
Yet some Uzumaki shinobi took a carefree, go-with-the-flow approach. After arriving in Konoha, they merely took on Genin status, signaling they were still ninja, but showed little interest in advancing further... In short, various factors combined meant that currently, the number of Jonin within Kagenami was extremely low.
Even Uzumaki Shikou—who acted as both clan leader and executive secretary—was only a Chunin, which says enough about the rest.
It wasn't entirely unreasonable for the Uzumaki clan to adopt such a passive attitude toward this matter. After all, they'd newly arrived in Konoha, which was ultimately different from the Land of Whirlpools. Many preferred to keep a low profile and stay out of trouble, a mindset even Haseo couldn't easily change.
But starting with this Jonin exam, Haseo decided to abandon his long-standing policy of suppression and low profile, instead encouraging everyone to participate in the Jonin exams... Since Kagenami had already existed for several years, it was time to assert a stronger presence.
Thus, Haseo chose a four-man squad to take the Jonin exam. Besides Sakumo Hatake—who strongly desired personally to participate—the other three members remained blissfully indifferent—Shikou, Mokkō, and Ka-jin.
Although earlier, Haseo had teased Sakumo Hatake by threatening to make him their eternal tool—a human guide ensuring their success through the exam—in reality, once these individuals gathered together, there was absolutely no need for his assistance... Each of them already possessed the ability to become Jonin.
Considering how challenging the exam was, and given that Hatake was someone who simply drew his blade and attacked, it was hard to predict who would end up helping whom during the test.
To the village, organizing the biannual Jonin exams was a big deal—it carried real weight and ceremony. Therefore, everything—from setting the date, assigning proctors, to designing the examination tasks—was handled with utmost care.
Moreover, since maintaining freshness within the exam process was important, the head examiner changed every time... Considering merit and qualifications, such a task could naturally fall into Haseo's hands.
Fighting eighty opponents at once in a battle and actually winning, with two Jinchuriki among them... No matter how he did it, the fact remains that he won. Such an accomplishment—besides Haseo, who else could pull it off?
Yet every time the Third Hokage considered Haseo, he'd frown first, then strike out his name. That guy's character left something to be desired—he enjoyed playing games way too much. What if he leaked the exam content in advance to his own people as chief examiner?
Well, the Third knew Haseo fairly well. To put it mildly, leaking the exam wasn't something Haseo might do—it was something he definitely would do.
So when the exam was about to begin, all Haseo could do was stay home and bid farewell to his friends... Sometimes, certain people really ought to reflect on why they're never trusted with certain matters.
"Everyone, have you brought enough shuriken, explosive tags, spike mines, medicines, food, and other supplies? The exam is going to last a full month," Haseo asked everyone, just like a homeroom teacher the night before final exams.
This exam leaned heavily toward realistic combat scenarios—infiltration, sabotage, intelligence gathering, assassination, interrogation, and more complex tasks were all possible. After all, becoming a jonin required a ninja to possess high overall qualities, so the squad needed sufficient supplies before heading out.
"Haseo (sir), don't worry, we've brought more than enough supplies."
Everyone assured him accordingly, after all, Sakumo Hatake had carried an unusually large stock of Military Rations Pills—so many, in fact, that they crowded out other essential supplies.
Did you hear that? A full month! That's like forever!
"That's good. But... try to use them sparingly," Haseo added.
"..."
Wait, what?! Everyone was stunned—are we hearing this right?
"Sparingly"? Since when had those ever been words Haseo used? Back when he went on missions for Konoha, had he ever saved even a single coin?
Haseo waved his hand, ignoring everyone's expressions. "Alright, everyone, get going now."
Only he knew his own bitterness, keeping all his grievances buried deep inside.
Back then he was just a foot soldier; now he was the head of a unit. How could those situations be compared?
Although Kagenami was an organization under the village and not self-financed, every time Haseo requested funds from the Third Hokage it always turned into a painful process—a hard-fought battle. The Third was tightfisted, penny-pinching, and would skimp on anything possible.
Come on, how could the Hokage possibly look favorably on him after he blew through half the annual budget by mid-year and then asked for more funding? If not for the fact that Kagenami was a newly established organization, Haseo had little administrative experience, and Uzumaki had only recently affiliated with Konoha, the Third Hokage wouldn't even bother acknowledging his existence.
It was just a team leaving to take part in an exam. In theory, it shouldn't have had any real effect on how Kagenami operated, but reality told a different story. Even without taking into account someone like Sakumo Hatake—the legendary swordsman—Haseo suddenly found himself much busier after Shikou left her position as his secretary. Now he had to deal with everything from big decisions to minor details himself.
No wonder all previous Hokage had such short lifespans. The job pressure was just way too overwhelming.
Right now, Haseo was eagerly awaiting his secretary's return. Fortunately, one month wasn't that long. As the month drew to a close, Haseo also received a summons.
Although he couldn't oversee the actual exam process, being a figurehead would suit him perfectly. Just introducing Haseo's identity alone would make everyone feel like they were basking in glory.
"This man before you is Haseo Yu, a Konoha Jonin who cremated the Second Hokage at age 16, assassinated Menzuomen at 17, attacked the Amegakure leader at 18, completely annihilated a large force of Kumo elites and eliminated two Jinchuriki at 19, and severely defeated Two-Tails at age 24..."
Wouldn't having Haseo serve as a guest presenter be a huge honor?
Yet on this particular day, just when the Jonin Exam hadn't even produced results yet, a major piece of news reached Konoha first—and it completely disrupted the exam schedule.
The intelligence came somewhat unexpectedly, and at first glance, appeared unrelated to Konoha. Nevertheless, it still gained everyone's full attention… The Third Hokage turned his gaze toward Haseo. Considering that Haseo had only recently returned from a mission, could there be a connection?
The sole piece of good news was that Haseo seemingly didn't need to go onstage and be paraded around like a performing monkey.
PS (following content free of charge)
At the end of the first month since launch, Momiji Chigen's monthly summary:
1. Updates were pretty consistent.
2. Pre-launch recommendation ticket targets weren't met.
3. Subscription goals during release weren't achieved.
4. Monthly ticket targets by month's end remained unfulfilled.
5. My expectations weren't high to begin with—if the scale was out of 100, I would have aimed for no more than 50; hitting 50 would have been satisfying enough. Yet regarding monthly tickets, it initially dropped from sixth and seventh place among new releases to outside the top ten altogether, then fell from around 60th to 120th in the overall rankings.
6. Losing recommendation votes and 24-hour chapter subscriptions.
7. Not a single patron sponsor showed up.
8. Battling online trolls has become part of everyday life.
Everyone get it? It's not scary that there are one or two idiots in the world—it's terrifying how others blindly follow these morons.
A post made by my assistant moderator in the comment section was criticized by someone accusing me of inflating data, arguing that how could a book this bad receive so many positive reviews on QQ Reading. I don't know much about what goes on at ShuCheng, but their logic is quite amusing: I originally released the novel on Qidian, then supposedly went to inflate numbers on a low-traffic platform like ShuCheng… Why wouldn't I just inflate ratings on piracy sites instead? Then the whole internet would be filled with glowing reviews!
Some people even sneered, saying, "Chat records exist showing your disbanded group chats—how impressive can you really be?" Well… It's really hard to comment on that.
Take saving Word documents, for example. Twenty years ago, a lot of people didn't know how, but at least they'd ask someone who knew — like, "Hey dude, how do I save this thing?" That's the real difference.
Ignorance itself isn't scary. What's truly terrifying is when someone assumes everyone else is just as ignorant as themselves.
Some people simply love being different for the sake of it, mistakenly believing that standing out automatically makes them unique or stylish — like a crane among chickens (a Chinese idiom meaning someone who stands out clearly from the crowd). In reality, it's nothing more than delusional self-importance taken to an extreme.
Humans really are an incredibly strange species — some of them barely qualify as human. What a ludicrous world we live in!
8. I was doing just fine at first, but for some reason, I started getting kind of upset while writing my summary.
9. There might be a lot of PS sections, but don't worry — I won't slip in any hidden charges. My PS parts are always free. Either I'll carefully control the word count, or I'll publish the main text first and add the PS section later after editing. So I won't mention this again.
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