Morning arrived.
Warm sunlight slipped through the leaves of the potted plants, scattering broken patches of light across the room.
With trembling fingers, Hiruzen Sarutobi lifted his brown smoking pipe and leaned by the window, puffing away while occasionally exhaling a dragon of smoke outside.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
The sound of a pen gliding over paper continued without pause. The only desk and chair in the office had been completely occupied by Konome. She was bent over the table, writing at full speed.
The value of the Black Lightning secret art was on par with the Spirit Transformation Technique, but because of its terrifying ability to directly attack the soul and consciousness, its combat usefulness was arguably even greater.
To test the true power of Black Lightning, Hiruzen had decided to experience it personally. Konome, meanwhile, wanted to show off the technique a little more so its trade value would rise, so she had hit slightly harder than necessary.
The result was...
The power of Black Lightning more than lived up to how difficult it was to learn.
After being struck, Hiruzen's body went rigid. He could barely speak, and his hands and feet trembled as though he had suddenly suffered a stroke. Yet his eyes were shining, and he kept nodding hard at Konome, clearly more than satisfied with the forbidden art.
The trade had been perfectly completed.
In front of Konome, Hiruzen personally released the seals and took out the training methods for Flying Thunder God, Spirit Transformation, and the Eight Trigrams Seal.
The moment she saw that, Konome narrowed her eyes and firmly memorized the method for undoing the seals. Then she sorted the mountain of scrolls by category and sealed them away, planning to study them at her leisure later.
Hiruzen, trembling slightly, took his pipe and went to the window to blow smoke and ease the numbness Black Lightning had left in his spirit. Konome, meanwhile, could only write the record for the secret art into the Book of Seals herself, following the proper format.
"Excessive training in Black Lightning may damage the user's own soul, causing forgetfulness, drowsiness, fatigue, and mental exhaustion. Recommended maximum daily training time: one hour."
As the contributor of the forbidden technique, Konome carefully recorded Black Lightning's effects, warnings, and other relevant details into the Book of Seals. She withheld nothing. She even added some of her own training notes and a piece of Dark Thunder Crystal.
Black Lightning did not touch the core of her combat system, so even if someone else learned it, it would not affect her in the slightest.
And the Dark Thunder Crystal was useless to her now, so she had simply left a piece behind to significantly lower the difficulty of learning the technique.
Maybe someday, in some distant Boruto era, Konoha shinobi would end up training in Black Lightning or even Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
The true orthodoxy of Kumogakure living on in Konoha was, when she thought about it, rather amusing.
For a while, the office grew extremely quiet, with only the sound of pen against paper remaining.
Footsteps suddenly rang out from outside.
A moment later, a cluster of voices, male and female, broke the oppressive stillness.
"Please wait here a moment while I report your arrival."
"Thank you for the trouble."
The first voice, cold and crisp, was unmistakably Suzaku's. The second was unfamiliar, though from the tone alone it sounded like a rather stern man.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Lord Hokage, Jonin Morino, Jonin Mitarashi, and Jonin Shiranui request an audience."
At Suzaku's voice from outside, Konome's pen paused in midair.
Even without names, those three surnames and ranks were enough for her to identify them.
Morino Ibiki, Mitarashi Anko, and the last one should be Shiranui Genma. Old acquaintances, every one of them.
They were here because of the Chunin Exams?
She turned to look at Hiruzen, only to find him already looking back at her.
Setting his pipe down on the windowsill, the old man pointed anxiously at his mouth.
"I... I ca..."
"Black Lightning can numb the mind and consciousness. It may have temporarily impaired your speech. Once the effect passes, you should recover."
Konome could not be sure, but this was the best explanation she could manage.
She had originally developed Black Lightning more to broaden her range of attacks and to study fused chakra natures. The number of times she had truly used it on other people was actually very small.
When she first trained in it, she herself had been numbed by it more than once. At the time, not only could she not speak, she had even lost the ability to move, and had spent five days sprawled in the Forest of Death before recovering. Later, she realized the drowsiness, fatigue, and worsening memory were likely due to minor soul damage.
Afterward, with the presence of her Sage Body and a spirit as resilient as Naruto's, plus a deeper mastery of Black Lightning, the technique still had some kick against her, but no more than that.
Other than that, the only real person she had used it on was Kakuzu, and she was not even sure whether Kakuzu properly counted as "human."
Seeing Hiruzen in his current lightly speechless but still mobile state, though, was a first even for her.
Only now, looking at him, did she truly understand why so few people in Kumogakure learned Black Lightning.
Its side effects were brutal.
"Nng... let them..."
Hiruzen squinted as if his teeth hurt, his tongue stumbling inside his mouth, but he still failed to force out a complete sentence. Little emotion bubbles seemed to pop over his head. Konome tried to interpret the meaning through them and could only make out two words clearly.
Regret.
Outside in the hallway, Suzaku stood quietly by the door, listening carefully to the sounds within.
Behind him stood three shinobi with very different images.
Mitarashi Anko wore her long purple hair in a sharp high ponytail. Over a flesh-toned inner layer and black mesh shinobi shirt, she wore a yellow coat that made her already curvy figure look even more eye-catching. Her arms were crossed, her expression openly impatient, and there was a wild, untamed glint in her eyes as she kept glancing at the heavy, tightly shut Hokage office door.
Beside her, Shiranui Genma had already leaned lazily against the cold stone wall. He held a senbon between his teeth as usual, the needle tip glinting faintly. His green flak jacket hung open to reveal the black mesh beneath, while a kunai spun easily between his fingers. The whole man looked as relaxed as ever.
Morino Ibiki stood between them both, dressed in a black coat. His collar was raised high enough to cover the lower half of his face. His eyes were sharp as a hawk's, and his cold, hard aura made him seem like a silent black tower.
"What's with the old man? He called us over and still won't open the door."
After waiting for so long with no movement from inside, Anko could not hold back and grumbled in a low voice.
At her words, Genma stopped spinning his kunai, while Ibiki remained standing as expressionless as a stone. Neither of them chose to answer.
Anko's status was unusual. Though she carried some stigma due to Orochimaru, she was still, by all rights, one of the Third Hokage's grand-disciples. If she called him "old man," that was intimacy. They definitely had no business joining in.
So they simply pretended not to hear.
Knock, knock.
"My lord, are you inside?"
Suzaku knocked a second time, and this time there was clear suspicion in his voice.
Even when Hiruzen was at his busiest, he would normally still respond to Suzaku's report somehow. Total silence like this was abnormal.
And Suzaku had personally seen Konome enter the room. He had heard low voices inside just moments ago, but now there had been no sound for a long while.
Something seemed wrong.
"My lord?"
For the third time, Suzaku called out. This time he did not knock. Instead, his right hand slid to the hilt of the blade at his waist, while his body lowered slightly, his whole posture turning sharp.
Seeing that, the other three immediately realized something might be wrong as well.
In a heartbeat, Genma shifted from lazy lounging to a crouched combat stance, his kunai reversing in his grip as he became like a poised predatory cat. Ibiki and Anko likewise tensed, chakra already gathering within them.
Suzaku gave a silent signal behind him, indicating assault.
His right hand gripped his blade. His left was already inching toward the door.
"Come in!"
The old man's voice came from within, slightly slurred, as though he had a dumpling stuffed in his mouth. Yet at that sound, the tension in the four at the door eased all at once.
That was unquestionably Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice.
"Hah. Honestly, old man, you nearly scared me."
Anko slid her kunai back into her pocket and pushed open the office doors first.
"What in the..."
The rest of her words jammed in her throat.
Inside the spacious office, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood to one side of the desk, pen in hand, hurriedly writing something. But sitting in what should have been the Hokage's seat was an extraordinarily beautiful silver-haired blind girl, with a massive scroll in her hands.
And emblazoned on that scroll in huge, unmistakable characters were four words.
Book of Seals.
Clack.
Genma shut the office door behind them. He and Ibiki stepped in as well, only to freeze at the same scene.
What was going on?
Why was the Third Hokage standing over there while she sat in the Hokage's seat? Why was the Book of Seals in her hands?
Was Konoha changing Hokage already?
Their minds reeled.
Among the three, Ibiki was naturally the calmest. As head of the Torture and Interrogation Force, he had access to far more information than most.
His hawk-like gaze locked onto the girl's unusual appearance, and very quickly he found the relevant information in his memory.
It was her.
The unrivaled prodigy known as Konoha's greatest genius in history. The monstrous blind girl who had killed a Kumogakure elite jonin at age six.
Konome Taketori.
Back during the Kumo assault incident five years ago, he had personally interrogated the three Kumo jonin captured in its aftermath, and had even learned from that case that Raikou Mountain held a precious crystal vein. There was no way he could fail to recognize the genius who had become famous because of it.
Once Ibiki recognized Konome, Anko and Genma, though slower, began piecing it together as well.
There were not many blind kunoichi in Konoha to begin with. And one who could freely enter the Hokage's office, sit there, and casually read the Book of Seals?
There was really only one possibility.
The three stood rooted to the spot, their thoughts turning upside down.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
The frantic writing resumed. The office sank back into an eerie silence.
After a long while, Hiruzen finally finished writing and tapped the paper lightly with one finger. Then he looked up at Ibiki and the others.
The three immediately understood that he was done. Ibiki stole a glance at Konome, who had picked up the note. When he noticed the back of the page had something about postnatal care for mother pigs written on it, his brow twitched, but he still forced himself to ask:
"Lord Hokage, why have you summoned us?"
Hiruzen licked his lips, but did not answer.
Behind him, Konome stood with the paper in her hand and answered in his stead.
"The Third Hokage has caught a cold and his throat isn't in good condition. The main purpose of calling you here today is to discuss the upcoming Five Great Nations Joint Chunin Exam."
A cold?
Anko looked at Konome suspiciously. The explanation felt perfunctory. Still, Hiruzen did not look like he was under duress, so she reluctantly accepted it.
"A Five Nations Joint Chunin Exam?"
Ibiki, as expected, immediately seized on the important part, his expression changing at once.
A Wind-Fire allied exam held every three years was no great surprise. Ever since he had become head of the Interrogation Force, that sort of thing had crossed his desk regularly. But a Five Nations Joint Exam was something unheard of.
Anko and Genma were equally stunned. They looked to Hiruzen, only to see him squinting and nodding. His lips moved for a long moment, yet not a single proper word came out in the end, and he could only look helplessly at Konome.
So all three turned their eyes to her instead.
"A Five Nations Joint Exam is naturally different from the usual one, so the structure of the exam will also change. A chief proctor will be established to oversee the entire process, along with proctors responsible for the first two stages..."
Reading directly from the note in her hand, Konome felt slightly uncomfortable. She had the distinct impression she had somehow become the little eunuch standing beside the emperor and proclaiming his decree.
But there was no helping it.
Who told Hiruzen to let her blast his mouth half numb with Black Lightning?
As the former chief proctors, the three listened in stunned silence while she continued reading out the arrangements Hiruzen had written, assigning them their roles in the coming exam.
So this counted as the chief proctor officially taking office ahead of schedule.
"One month from now, shinobi from the Five Great Nations will begin arriving one after another. Registration for genin candidates will begin then as well. Morino Ibiki will be responsible for the written examination. The test questions are to be devised by him personally, with the overall difficulty raised by twenty percent over previous years."
"Yes."
Ibiki answered at once, his expression grave.
"Mitarashi Anko will serve as the second-stage proctor and oversee the Forest of Death section. Since the terrain inside has become overly complicated, the exact contents of that exam will need to be decided only after discussion with the chief proctor."
"Understood."
Anko folded her arms and looked at the still-youthful Konome giving orders, finding the whole thing somewhat surreal.
"Lastly, Shiranui Genma will serve as the referee for the final stage. He will also be responsible for reading out the rules, handling injuries, and other related duties."
Konome finished reading the last, somewhat sloppily written line, then looked at Genma, who stood there with his black bandanna and careless air.
Genma nodded quickly to show he understood.
"Um... little sister, I have one question."
Anko suddenly raised a hand, then asked curiously,
"Who exactly is the chief proctor for this Chunin Exam? Who am I supposed to discuss things with?"
At that question, Konome glanced at Hiruzen and found him smiling as he nodded at her.
So she set the paper down, smiled in turn, and said:
"The chief proctor is Yato."
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