Chapter 42: Strangers in the Village
Naruto narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. He looked at Konoha, which was about to grow turbulent, and thought to himself:
This moment is finally here.
Some of the ninja from other villages who entered Konoha wore the forehead protectors of the five great ninja villages. Others came from smaller villages—like Sound ninja and Grass ninja.
Seeing so many unfamiliar ninja suddenly appearing in Konoha, little Sakura was taken aback. She asked, a bit confused:
"Why are there so many foreign ninja in the village? I thought foreign ninja couldn't enter Konoha without the Hokage's permission."
Hearing little Sakura's words, Naruto smiled lightly and said:
"They have permission. Because the Chunin Exam is about to begin."
Naruto's words made Sasuke and little Sakura start. They looked at Naruto with wide eyes.
Soon, they both remembered what Asuma had told them some time ago.
The Chunin Exam was about to be held. Thousands of ninja would gather together.
This was the stage to prove themselves and the best place to hone their skills.
Sasuke clenched his fists and took a deep breath. He couldn't hide the impatience in his heart and quickly laughed:
"Is it finally going to start? I can't wait."
Naruto smiled lightly and said nothing.
Soon, their training plan for the day was complete. Naruto led everyone to rest and grab a meal.
As soon as they walked onto Konoha's main street, Naruto and the others saw an eye-catching scene.
A child was running around playfully, making noise, when he suddenly bumped into a Sand shinobi.
The child cried out in pain.
The Sand shinobi, dressed in black with face paint, turned around and glared at the child with dissatisfaction and fierceness.
"Hey, kid. Don't you watch where you're going?"
The child rubbed his forehead in pain, looked at the Sand shinobi in front of him with some fear, and said timidly:
"I… I didn't mean it. You were blocking my way. And this is Konoha. What are you doing here?"
The Sand shinobi frowned when he heard the child's words. It seemed the child's response had made him very unhappy. He shouted angrily:
"Kid, didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders? Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson myself. I'll do it for your grandparents."
With that, the Sand shinobi grabbed the child by the collar and lifted him up.
His strength was so great that the child couldn't resist. He could only struggle and shake desperately.
Seeing this, Naruto and Sasuke looked over.
The familiar faces and scene made Naruto quickly recognize the two.
That Sand shinobi was none other than Kankuro.
And the child in Kankuro's grip was the Third Hokage's grandson—Konohamaru.
So this was it. The Kazekage's offspring from Sand was about to teach Konoha's Hokage's offspring a lesson.
Sasuke saw the Sand shinobi throwing his weight around on Konoha's turf and immediately wanted to step in. Of course, what Sasuke was really thinking about was finding an opponent to fight, to test the results of his training over the past several days.
Kankuro was about the same age as Sasuke, and he looked very fierce and arrogant. Sasuke couldn't help but want to make a move.
Just as Sasuke was about to act, a loud shout rang out from the top of a large tree beside Kankuro and the others.
"Let him go!"
The voice made Kankuro start. He looked up and soon spotted the owner of the voice in the tree.
It was a boy with thick eyebrows, wearing a green tracksuit. The boy had his hands on his hips, looking at Kankuro with righteous indignation, and told him to stop.
This thick-eyebrowed guy was none other than Rock Lee.
But Rock Lee wasn't the only one standing in the tree. His teammates were there too—the Hyuga clan genius, Neji Hyuga, and the ninja tool collector, Tenten.
All three were very dissatisfied with Kankuro's behavior. Tenten in particular glared at Kankuro.
When Kankuro saw the three of them, even though they were glaring at him, he wasn't afraid at all. Instead, he smiled provocatively.
"What's this? Konoha shinobi trying to play hero and save the day?"
Hearing Kankuro's words, Lee furrowed his thick eyebrows and shouted again:
"Let him go. If you don't, I'll attack!"
Lee's words only made Kankuro more arrogant. As if he wanted to force Lee to make a move, he grabbed Konohamaru even tighter.
Konohamaru coughed in pain and struggled.
Seeing this, Lee finally couldn't wait any longer. He stepped off the branch, launched himself into the air, and flew toward Kankuro in an instant.
He adjusted his body angle midair and kicked straight at Kankuro.
Seeing Lee make his move, Kankuro prepared to fight back.
Suddenly—
A stream of fine sand appeared in front of Kankuro.
Seeing the sand, Kankuro's pupils shrank, and he stopped moving.
After the fine sand appeared, it poured out more and more. Soon, a large amount of sand condensed into a fist in midair and shot toward Lee.
Lee's flying kick and the sand fist collided.
Bam!
The two forces crashed together and canceled each other out.
Then Lee's figure flew backward, stumbling back to where he had started.
He was shocked to find that the power of the sand was equal to his kick. In fact, it might have been even stronger than his normal kick.
Seeing this, Lee's teammates, Neji Hyuga and Tenten, were also taken aback. Their eyes grew serious.
Because they knew how powerful Lee's physical attacks were. For the opponent to block Lee's attack like that was definitely not a good sign.
But the sand didn't seem intent on continuing the fight. Perhaps because they were on Konoha's turf, or because the Chunin Exam hadn't started yet, the user didn't want to act too early.
After the sand repelled Lee, the one controlling it soon appeared before everyone.
It was a boy with red hair, dark circles under his eyes, and the red kanji for "love" carved on his forehead.
Seeing the boy, Naruto also narrowed his eyes.
This young man was none other than Sunagakure's One-Tailed jinchuriki—the son of the Kazekage, Gaara.