"In other words," Takaya began, "if the bugs evolve to the third generation, my Lightning Release will be even less effective against them. And if they further evolve into the fourth or fifth generation, my lightning techniques will become increasingly ineffective, until eventually they cause no harm at all."
Takaya had barely finished his analysis when he couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath. If these insects kept evolving like this, wouldn't they become invincible?
"That's impossible," Shino calmly countered. "There's no such thing as a perfect species in this world. Even if the beetles evolved to completely resist lightning attacks, they'd definitely develop another obvious weakness somewhere else. No single life form can be flawless. To become unbeatable, different life forms must cooperate with each other—and that includes insects!"
"You sure know a lot!" Takaya exclaimed, his eyes lighting up like a kid hearing a great story—and somehow it didn't seem weird even though he clearly hated swarms of bugs.
"I just enjoy reading normally, so I happen to know a bit more about various things," Shino said with a slight upward curve of his lips hidden beneath his collar. For someone who had always kept a low profile and was barely noticed, getting attention like this actually felt pretty good.
"Do you also enjoy reading books?" Takaya asked excitedly.
"Yeah, most of what I read are biology-related books, travelogues, and geography magazines. I want to uncover the mysteries of biological evolution and hopefully cultivate an entirely new species of insect someday!"
Shino's smile became brighter, though his voice remained calm as usual. "If possible, I'd love to travel across the entire shinobi world"—a term referring to the world of ninja—"documenting every insect I encounter, and write a book about them so more people can understand these insects."
"Traveling across the entire shinobi world?" Excitement deepened in Takaya's eyes. "I used to have the same dream too—dreaming of one day visiting every corner of the shinobi world, experiencing its diverse cultures and landscapes, then writing a travel journal to share my experiences with others!"
"Used to have?" Shino asked with some confusion. "Have you given up on this dream now?"
"Not exactly giving up," Takaya replied somewhat gloomily while sheathing his long blade. "It's just… now that I'm a ninja, traveling around the shinobi world has become kind of unrealistic."
"This isn't necessarily true," Shino softly countered. "Even after becoming a ninja, as long as you want to, you can still pursue your dreams."
"It won't work. I'm a Cloud Village ninja. We're not allowed to freely enter other countries during off-mission time! Otherwise, we could easily be caught by other villages as spies!" Takaya's mood dropped as he discussed this with Shino.
"What if a merchant caravan assigned you a long-term mission?"
"Shino suddenly spoke up, "If we enter other countries under the pretense of protecting a caravan, then technically speaking, we wouldn't be considered spies anymore, right?"
"But where am I going to find a caravan that would give me a long-term commission? I'm just an ordinary genin, not particularly strong, and not even that interested in missions. Forget about long-term ones—I barely get any regular missions as it is!"
Takaya's eyes gleamed with clear excitement, but soon her expression turned gloomy when she thought about reality. Compared to being a ninja, she actually preferred being a traveler, but fate had other plans.
"If you really want this, I can arrange a long-term mission for you through the Celestial Society Group focused on Cloud Village specifically. Then you could travel across the entire shinobi world with their caravans, documenting everything you see and experience along the way. If you're willing, you could hand those records over to me, and I'll have our publishing house print them into books to sell in stores. People would definitely be interested in regional folklore and local customs from different places!"
Shino proposed, his eyes flashing briefly behind his dark glasses.
"Really? Is that actually possible?" Takaya asked excitedly, before quickly adding hesitantly, "But… this matter still needs Lord Raikage's approval."
"Don't worry about that. As long as you're willing, leave everything else to me!" Shino puffed his chest proudly; after all, this wasn't such a difficult thing, and there was no way the Raikage would insist on keeping someone like this anyway.
"In that case, thank you so much." Takaya bowed deeply to Shino in gratitude, then raised her hand toward Hayate. "Examiner-sama, I give up!"
Hayate Gekko: "…" What kind of bizarre performance was that?! They didn't even throw a single punch!
"It turns out Shino was the most cunning one all along!"
Everyone, especially Sakura, was shocked by Shino's actions. After quite some time, Sakura finally opened her mouth and said, "In a match where they never even threw a punch, he got that girl to give up without a fight! What's even more surprising is that I feel like she might actually have a crush on him now!"
"What a scheming guy! Not only did he win without fighting, but he also successfully charmed a young lady—no wonder they say looks can be deceiving!" Hinata's eyes were filled with disbelief as well. Normally, Shino kept himself hidden and unnoticeable, having minimal presence; who'd have guessed he'd turn out to be a real master hiding his abilities—hooking a pretty girl with just one move.
"This Chunin Exam has turned into nothing but a soap opera." Ino felt physically nauseated just watching the two chatting happily.
"This batch of Chunin Exams is by far the strangest one I've ever seen!"
Kakashi closed his copy of Make Out Paradise, recalling the Chunin Exams he'd gone through himself. Back then, everyone stayed silent, and once they started fighting, they went all out for survival. Compared to these kids fooling around and openly starting a romance here, how absurd was it to abduct a minor female ninja from Cloud Village? Looking at the Fourth Raikage's apprentice's glare over there, he looked ready to devour Shino alive. Cloud Village must be feeling absolutely terrible about the situation.
"A Chunin Exam is merely a standard for evaluation rather than an absolute requirement for promotion to chunin!" Sakura shrugged. "Moreover, Shino bringing back someone from Cloud Village to become Konoha's new bride—that should make us happy! He's bringing great honor to our village!"
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