Seeing the middle-aged Kiri shinobi's calm face, the Fourth Raikage A kept his own blank and spoke in a low rumble:
"Since you're from Kiri, killing you might shake some useful intel loose."
The Kiri ninja paused, then shook his head lightly. "I'm just an ordinary chūnin. I don't know much."
With that, he stopped talking and drew a scroll from his breast.
Mabui stepped forward at once, took the scroll from his hand, and gave it a quick inspection,
then returned to A's side and respectfully handed it over.
A took the scroll, cracked it open, and skimmed the contents, his voice cold:
"If there's nothing important in here and you've interrupted my training, you can stay in Kumo."
As for what consequences might follow from holding a Kiri ninja here, A couldn't have cared less.
The farther he read, the heavier his expression became.
After a long half minute, a smile crept onto his face, tinged with something unreadable.
"Interesting. Very interesting."
"Didn't expect anyone outside Konoha to know this old secret. Mabui, give him the dossier from back then about Konoha."
He glanced at her.
Mabui blinked, not immediately recalling what A meant.
Seeing that, a glint of amusement passed through A's eyes—first time he'd ever seen his secretary draw a blank.
Then again, it had been over ten years.
A softly uttered the syllable "hi" (日), then met Mabui's eyes.
She froze a heartbeat, then understood and left at once.
A kept reading, this time more carefully, his face shifting now and then with thoughtful looks.
After quite a while, Mabui returned with a file. Her once-neat clothes were smudged with dust.
Wherever that dossier had been tossed, it had taken her a while to dig it out.
A took it, glanced through, then tossed the file to the Kiri ninja.
"Get lost," he said, impatient.
The Kiri shinobi's face didn't change. He picked up the file, bowed slightly to A, and left.
Only after the man's silhouette vanished did Mabui murmur, unable to hold back, "We signed an agreement with Konoha about this back then. Are we really doing this?"
A didn't answer—he simply tossed the scroll in his hand to Mabui and turned toward the central range.
His rough voice drifted back: "Have Darui get ready."
Mabui lowered her head to the scroll—and shuddered, pupils tightening hard.
Thinking of A's words, she knew: whether they honored that old pact with Konoha no longer mattered.
...
Meanwhile, even as Konoha sparred with Kiri, an announcement went out:
In one week, Konoha and Suna would co-host the Chūnin Shiken (Chūnin Exams).
Soon after, Suna added a statement: the Fourth Kazekage was already en route to Konoha for the Exams.
A meeting of two Kage counted as big news, but the shinobi world took it in stride.
Chūnin Exams weren't a secret—major villages ran them nearly every year.
In short, they're a stage for the great nations to size up one another's strength.
This time, though, Konoha's sudden announcement was clearly pressure on Kiri.
Two Kage meeting wouldn't just be about watching matches; the message to Kiri was obvious: beware a Konoha–Suna front.
Sure enough, not long after the notice, Kiri's once-hard line began to ease in diplomatic channels.
When Hiruzen received the report, the worry etched on his face for days finally loosened into a smile.
Good news for Konoha.
He also approved Iruka's request.
On a rooftop in Konoha—
"Iruka-sensei, what'd you call us up here for?" Naruto griped.
Ever since he'd realized his training speed had suddenly spiked for no clear reason—and marveled at his own "genius"—he'd been grinding nonstop.
Being yanked away by Iruka put him in a mood.
Sasuke wasn't thrilled either, though he didn't show it as openly as Naruto.
Iruka rapped Naruto on the head. As Naruto yelped, he said slowly:
"You know about the Chūnin Shiken (Chūnin Exams), right?"
Chūnin Exams?
Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura all blinked, looking lost—they clearly hadn't heard.
Seeing their faces, Iruka smiled and gave them a quick rundown.
"Iruka-sensei… you're not saying we're going to take the Chūnin Exams, are you?" Sakura asked, startled.
"That's right."
Iruka nodded, serious.
"B-but… we only just graduated."
Sakura stammered, disbelief on her face.
She'd always thought Iruka-sensei was the steady type. This felt… not so steady. She couldn't help the silent complaint.
"Getting familiar with the process ahead of time will help you. And hey—what if you pass?"
Iruka kept a gentle smile, even though he didn't quite believe his own line.
Unlike Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke's earlier annoyance had already faded, replaced by excitement.
"I'm totally passing the Chūnin Exams! I'm way stronger than when Jiro-sensei was training me," Naruto said, eyes shining—then the warm smile of Kinoshita Jiro flashed in his mind, and a shadow crossed his gaze.
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