"Flying Thunder God formula? When did you—?"
Hearing that, Lee immediately patted himself down.
Sure enough, on the weights strapped to his legs, he spotted the Shinju's distinctive tree-shaped Flying Thunder God mark. His eyes widened in realization.
"It was when you caught my leg attack last time, wasn't it?!"
Shinju nodded.
Neji frowned and pressed on.
"Which team did you run into?"
He honestly couldn't figure it out—what team in this exam could force Shinju's squad to run for their lives in the middle of the night?
Especially when, judging by Shinju's displayed strength, he might even surpass Neji himself.
"Orochimaru," Sasuke answered flatly.
Neji, Tenten: (꒪⌓꒪) ,ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!
Lee and Naruto both scratched their heads at the same time.
"Who's Orochimaru? Why are you all freaking out like that?"
"An S-rank missing-nin from Konoha. A mad scientist who uses people as test subjects," Neji said in a low, grim tone.
"In the Chunin Exams… why would someone that dangerous be here?"
Tenten's drowsiness was instantly blasted away.
"Who knows," Sasuke said.
Shinju spoke up.
"We have to report this to the higher-ups right away. If we don't, more people will definitely die before this exam is over."
After a moment's thought, Shinju added,
"I need you guys to watch over Sasuke and Naruto for me. I'm going to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport straight to the Hokage's office and report this in person."
"If you do that, won't your exam result be void?" Naruto narrowed his eyes.
Shinju just shrugged, utterly unconcerned.
"The Chunin Exams are held twice a year—there's no shortage of chances. Right now, the priority is to get the message out and minimize Konoha's losses. And more importantly, keep us all safe."
His words drew nods of agreement from those around him.
Just as Shinju was about to body flicker away, a squad of Konoha ANBU wearing masks suddenly appeared.
The ANBU captain in front grabbed Shinju's arm, stopping him from activating the Flying Thunder God.
"No need, kid. The Hokage already knows. We were sent to handle it."
"If you teleport out of the exam area without authorization, you'll be immediately disqualified."
Hearing the ANBU's voice, Shinju felt a wave of familiarity.
Half a second later, it clicked—
Wasn't this his old teacher, Yamato?!
"Yamato-sensei! Long time no see!"
Shinju greeted him with excitement.
"So the Hokage already knew about Orochimaru's infiltration?"
Truth be told, Yamato really didn't want to interact with Shinju right now, but with so many eyes on them, he could only answer,
"Yes. This isn't something you kids need to worry about. Just focus on your exam—the rest is our job."
Without giving Shinju another chance to speak, Yamato led the ANBU squad away.
On the way, another ANBU asked,
"Captain Yamato, was that the new Konoha prodigy?"
Behind his mask, Yamato's mouth twitched.
"He's past being called a prodigy. The Third Hokage called him 'Konoha's Hope for the Future.'"
Another ANBU asked in disbelief,
"That high of an evaluation? He doesn't even look that strong."
Yamato: (||๐_๐)
That was one of the most insulting things he'd ever heard.
With a sigh, Yamato explained,
"With his current strength, he could easily be an ANBU captain."
The surrounding ANBU: ◝₍ᴑ̑ДO͝₎◞ ,ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!
"Cap… Captain, you're not joking? That kid's not even thirteen yet!"
One shocked ANBU asked again to confirm.
After all, as ANBU themselves, they knew how hard it was to join, and being promoted to captain was even harder.
The ANBU's minimum requirement was jōnin-level strength!
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Yamato said, inwardly smug.
୧⍢⃝୨
Let these ANBU see just how terrifying Shinju was—might knock them down a peg.
"In that case, that red-haired kid is even stronger than that missing-nin back in the day," another ANBU said with a deep breath.
He was referring to the one who became an ANBU captain at thirteen… and nearly slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan single-handedly.
"Alright, enough talk. We need to find Orochimaru and stop him from causing more trouble in this exam."
...
Elsewhere.
After seeing Shinju and the ANBU captain exchange what looked like a friendly greeting, Neji's group turned to him with puzzled, curious looks.
"Why do you know the ANBU? And call him 'sensei'?" Lee asked first.
"The ANBU are the Hokage's direct special forces—extremely secretive. They rarely appear in front of ordinary people. How do you know them?" Neji pressed.
"I… once helped him walk an old lady across the street…" Shinju started making things up.
Seeing Shinju dodge the question, the others tactfully dropped it.
Neji, however, took Shinju a little more seriously.
No wonder his taijutsu and ninjutsu were both so strong at such a young age—he had a teacher from the ANBU.
...
Time skipped quickly—two more days of the exam passed.
Shinju's squad had kept a low profile, moving cautiously, since the Orochimaru threat hadn't been fully resolved.
When nothing happened for two days, Shinju finally began to relax.
Maybe Orochimaru had already been captured by the ANBU.
Which meant… it was time to get back to his collection rounds.
By the fourth day of the exam—
Only one day remained until the deadline.
Shinju's team now held seven Heaven Scrolls and eight Earth Scrolls, plus a hefty stash of ryo. Their actions had stirred up resentment across the entire participant pool, leaving many teams utterly miserable.
The exam had eighty-four participants total, with a combined total of twenty-eight scroll sets.
Shinju's squad alone had taken fifteen of them—more than half!
Naruto, pockets stuffed full of scrolls, frowned.
"Hey, what are we even gonna do with this many scrolls?"
"You still don't get it, do you, idiot?" Shinju bonked him on the head.
"Where there's demand, there's profit. Right now, the entire Forest of Death is full of people desperate for scrolls to pass. We can sell them right under the central tower where missions are turned in. Ten thousand ryo per scroll—pretty fair, right? (•̀⌄•́)"
Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Ohhh, I get it! If we sell all ten-plus scrolls we've got, that's… over a million ryo?! ヽ( ຶ▮ ຶ)ﾉ!!!"
麻了!!
We're raking it in!!
Shinju smirked like an old master.
"Looks like it's about time to set up shop. Let's go."
...
Somewhere in the Forest of Death, a team from Kusagakure ran into a team from Sunagakure.
Both sides looked battered, filthy, and completely worn out.
The moment they spotted each other, tension spiked. They both dropped into battle stances, the air thick with hostility.
Until one ninja asked,
"You guys got any scrolls?"
"No! We just got robbed! (´;︵;`)"
"You got any scrolls?"
"We don't either!! (✘Д✘๑)"
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