Chapter 61:
"Quiet down, everyone. All candidates are present, yes? I hereby announce—the First Joint Chūnin Selection Exam of the Five Villages officially begins now."
"As you all know, this is the first time in history that the Chūnin Exams are being held jointly by the Five Great Villages—Konoha, Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure. These days, it's become increasingly rare to have direct combat exchanges with ninja from other villages. That makes this joint Chūnin Exam a rare and valuable opportunity for all of you to show off your best skills."
"So, give it your all and demonstrate the fruits of your daily training!"
"The first exam will be held in Exam Hall A, and it begins precisely at noon. Until then, you're free to rest, review your training, or spend your time however you like..."
Why is Konoha the main character? Just look at the names of the villages.
To distinguish the protagonist from the background characters, the main character's village must be special. The other villages—Kumogakure, Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure—all include the character for "hidden" in their names. They scream "side character." But Konoha? It breaks the pattern. It's still one of the Five Great Villages, yet its name refuses to conform. That's how you know it's the protagonist—it has the destiny of a main character.
Although the opening speech should've been delivered by Naruto as the Hokage, he's hopeless at public speaking, so the strategist Shikamaru had to step in. As for Naruto himself? He was off somewhere video chatting with the other four village leaders, casually shooting the breeze.
Since the whole exam was going to be broadcast live by a TV station, Shikamaru even styled his hair into octopus-like strands and neatly groomed his sexy little mustache for the occasion.
"One of the sponsors of this event—Konoha's very own Hokage—highly recommends... Ichiraku Ramen! If you want to do well on the exam, come eat the ramen even the Hokage can't stop raving about... What is this?!" Boruto stood in front of Ichiraku Ramen, pointing at a life-size standee of Naruto. The cardboard cutout held a bowl of ramen in one hand and gave a thumbs-up with the other, flanked on both sides by flashy ad banners.
"I had to beg Naruto for ages and throw away my pride just to get the rights to use his image," Shunhi said, grinning like a sly merchant. "So, how about it? Want a bowl of ramen? With the Hokage's support, you're sure to pass the Chūnin Exams."
"But I heard my idiot old man never even passed the Chūnin Exams himself... He's still a Genin even now," Boruto muttered. No way would someone like him not know about his father's embarrassing past.
In reality, being a village leader and being a ninja operate on entirely separate systems. The village head is a political position, while the ninja rankings reflect individual performance. The two don't interfere with each other.
Even though Naruto saved the entire ninja world, that wasn't an official mission issued by the village, so his ninja rank was never formally upgraded. As a result, even though he's now the Hokage of Konoha, he's still recorded as a Genin in the village's official ninja registry.
"Huh? This is the first I'm hearing of that. You mean you don't need to be a Jōnin to become the village leader?" Sarada asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Of course not. I know all my dumb dad's embarrassing stories," Boruto said smugly.
"Then go play somewhere else. If you're not buying ramen, don't interfere with my business." Shunhi shooed Boruto away. After going through so much trouble to use Naruto's image to attract customers, there was no way he was letting Boruto ruin it.
"Who said we weren't eating ramen? Seriously, Uncle Shunhi, you're a Uchiha but you've never given us a single free bowl, not even a discount! You're seriously charging little kids full price..." Boruto grumbled as he walked into Shunhi's shop.
It was the first time the shop had ever been packed to capacity since opening.
"There's a ton of people..." Sarada looked around and commented.
"Hey, these prices are outrageous! You've doubled them!" Boruto pointed at the menu board in disbelief.
"This is exactly the kind of occasion where you need to price gouge. And come on, I've got the face of a hero who saved the ninja world endorsing this place. Honestly, it's already generous that I didn't raise prices fivefold."
Lately, for some reason, even Ichiraku himself had become greedier than Shunhi. At one point, he even proposed raising prices by five times, and it had taken both Shunhi and Ayame a lot of effort to talk him down.
Ah, so Ayame's at the age where she should be getting married. Makes sense that they'd start saving up for her dowry.
To be honest, Shunhi didn't have any special feelings for Ayame. The more familiar you are with someone, the more of their flaws you know, and the lower your opinion of them as a potential partner. That's exactly why so many once-loving couples experience a crisis in middle age.
Shunhi and Ayame just saw each other as family—they felt more like siblings than anything else.
"Filthy scammer swindling little kids..." Boruto grumbled but still obediently paid for a bowl of ramen.
"Hey, mind giving up your seats, you three brats?"
A massive man stood before Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki, gripping a dull-edged blade in his hand.
"That's one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. That sword he's holding... it should be the Shibuki," Mitsuki said, narrowing his eyes.
"That's right. I'm one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist—Fuefuki Kyohō."
Real ninja wear their headbands on their foreheads, but there's always a few eccentrics who wear them on their necks, arms, or legs. Fuefuki Kyohō took it even further—he wore his on his large, protruding belly.
Seeing this new-generation Swordsman of the Mist, Shunhi could only roll his eyes. Since when could Chūnin become part of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen? The coffins of the previous generations were practically rattling in protest.
"Why the hell should we give up our seats to you?!"
Boruto, young and hot-blooded, wouldn't back down. He may have behaved himself in Kirigakure since it wasn't his turf, but this was Konoha now. And everyone knew who ran Konoha. That's right—Boruto... backed by his dad.
He knew this guy was a Chūnin posing as a Genin, but Boruto didn't care. If he backed down now, how could he show his face in Konoha? How could he be the boss, leading his gang?
"Hey now, fighting in a restaurant isn't cool."
The shop door suddenly swung open, and a dazzling figure stepped inside, followed by four smaller ones.
"Konoha's supervising jōnin... You got lucky," Fuefuki Kyohō muttered, seeing the pale eyes of the newcomer. He backed off immediately, throwing out a final threat as he turned to leave.
"Hey, you haven't paid yet! Your ramen's already in the pot!"
Fuefuki Kyohō froze mid-step. He hadn't expected the shop owner to dare ask him for money—especially when he hadn't even eaten yet.
But he held back. He suspected Konoha might be setting him up, looking for an excuse to beat him up and eliminate him from the Chūnin Exams.
Hmph. Like I'm falling for that.
Kyohō took out some cash and accurately tossed it onto the register.
"I brought my teacher and teammates for ramen," Shuyu said as he walked up to Shunhi.
He might not have been Shunhi's real son, but he was as good as one. "Nice work," Shunhi said, smiling as he patted Shuyu's head—making the boy's heart race in nervous excitement.
In truth, Uchiha Itachi just wanted to use Hanabi's Byakugan to scan the restaurant for hidden enemy ninja.
Ah, clever. As expected of a S.H.I.E.L.D. deputy director. Using the pretense of attracting customers to mask the presence of other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents—very cunning.
There's no way Uchiha Itachi believed that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't try to cause trouble during the Chūnin Exams. Especially considering how excited Shunhi had looked the night before.
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