"Unconsciously, the plot has actually changed so much."
On a bustling street, inside a small, steamy shop, Jin chuckled lightly and glanced back over his shoulder.
"Mmgh! This is delicious! Boss, another bowl!"
At the table next to Jin, Goku devoured a large bowl of noodles in a few gulps and held out the empty bowl to the owner, Teuchi.
Teuchi and his daughter looked on with sweatdropped expressions, silently eyeing the small mountain of empty bowls piled next to Jin and Goku's table.
'Where did Jin-sama find this bottomless pit this time?'
Next to Goku sat a small-version of himself with the same hairstyle, his second son, Son Goten.
The pile of bowls next to him was about a third the height of his father's stack.
Unlike the original work where he was only a year younger than Trunks, because Jin had intervened earlier, the original best friends now had an age gap of over three years.
Goten quite liked following Trunks around, but Trunks seemed to look down on the little squirt and didn't like playing with him.
In Trunks's view, at twelve years old, he was already an adult, and an eight or nine-year-old kid wasn't on the same level.
Approximately half a kilometer outside Konoha Village, in the suburbs.
A tree that looked no different from any other stood quietly. But if a Hyuga Clan's member observed with their Byakugan, they would see two figures standing within a hollow in the trunk: Zetsu and Nagato, whose body emaciated and pierced with black rods.
Just like in the original work, Nagato, the true body of Pain, had long lost the ability to move on his own.
In the original work, when the Six Paths of Pain attacked Konoha Village, Konan's Paper Ninjutsu served as the transportation to move him into the Land of Fire.
After all, the closer the real body was to the Pains, the better they could exert their power.
Now, with Konan gone, the 'transportation' duty fell to Zetsu. Fortunately, their unique Jutsu was well-suited for infiltration and movement, so it wasn't difficult.
Their disguise skills were even superior to Konan's from the original work.
"An unexpected delight. Sunagakure's examinee is the One-Tail's Jinchuriki," A clone of White Zetsu emerged from the ground, grinning, "With good luck, we might be able to capture three Tailed Beasts at once."
"Don't get greedy. It's only the weakest of the Nine Tailed Beasts. Any member of the Akatsuki can capture it. The key targets this time are the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails," Nagato lifted his head slightly, his voice low and deep.
Although he considered himself a [God] due to his Rinnegan, he wasn't an idiot.
Konoha Village was currently filled with powerful individuals, including experts from other villages.
Even with the entire Akatsuki mobilized, successfully capturing the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails would be a stroke of luck.
So why would they try to snatch the One-Tail on the side? That was just asking for trouble.
Black Zetsu added, "The Eight-Tails is currently in the mountains behind the Uchiha Clan's compound. The Nine-Tails is still within its Jinchuriki. Don't worry, everything is going according to plan."
The Examination Hall.
The quiet examination hall was filled with examinees from various countries, all frowning at the questions on their papers.
The questions from the original work were already perverted, but these were even worse.
For the local students, there were even many questions beyond the standard curriculum.
For instance, Temari, the Sunagakure's princess, felt like cursing when she saw the question: "Please list the differences between standard Armament Haki, Ryuo, and Ki."
'What Haki? What is this stuff?'
Even the Konoha's examinees, on their home turf, weren't faring much better.
Trunks was currently scrunching up his face and scratching his silver hair, thinking, 'Why bother with this stupid test? Just beat up any enemies you meet, isn't that enough?'
Sitting seven or eight rows behind and to the left of Trunks, Ichika shook her head in exasperation at her 'big brother' fidgeting like a monkey.
Although both siblings had domineering personalities, with one being a male tyrant, the other being a female tyrant, and had never gotten along since childhood, she wouldn't just stand by and watch her brother fail.
'Fine, I'll help you this once.'
With that thought, Ichika set down her pen and subtly gripped the sword at her waist under the desk.
"Huh? What is she doing?" Temari, who is sitting nearby and also struggling, noticed Ichika's movement, her expression shifting slightly.
"Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu!"
Hearing the softly spoken phrase, Temari felt her vision blur strangely.
But before she could rub her eyes, her sight returned to normal. Temari glanced sideways again and nearly fell out of her seat.
Ichika's previously blank exam paper was now completely filled with answers!
'Wh-what kind of trick is this?!'
Trunks and Kazui's papers were now also filled.
"Ooh! Is this a gift from Santa?!" Trunks exclaimed in surprise, jumping up from his seat.
"Examinee over there! Be quiet!" The proctor, Ibiki, barked.
But internally, Ibiki was equally unsettled.
Trunks sat closer to the front, so even without having Byakugan, Ibiki had seen that until five seconds ago, Trunks's paper was blank except for his name.
'How did it suddenly...? What did he do?'
"Ichika-nee?" Unlike Trunks, the socially anxious Kazui guessed the cause and looked back.
He saw Ichika forming an 'OK' sign with her thumb and middle finger.
"After the Chunin Exams conclude, you will officially take over as the Fifth Hokage."
While the first exam was in full swing, inside the Hokage's office, Tsunade removed the hat bearing the [Fire] character from her head and placed it on the desk, addressing the masked Anbu Commander standing before her, Namikaze Minato.
"I will not fail the mission," Minato replied. He didn't engage in the customary polite refusals.
He understood perfectly that Tsunade had been considering stepping down for years, not only to prevent a situation like Hiruzen's decline in old age but also because she was simply tired of the job.
Especially those nights spent working on paperwork until dawn, only to return home and hear Jin and his various partners in a chorus of... enthusiastic noises.
It infuriated her. After all these years, she knew exactly what that bastard was like. If this continued, that dog would be completely drained by those other vixens… would there be anything left for her?
"Alright, you should head to the exam's grounds. Aren't you the proctor for the third exam?" Tsunade waved him off.
…
Approximately one hour later.
"Before you now is Konoha's 44th Training Ground, also known as the Forest of Death." The second exam proctor, Mitarashi Anko, addressed the examinees with a mocking grin, many of whom wore expressions of fear.
"You have 120 hours, five days, to collect both the [Heaven] and [Earth] scrolls and reach the central tower in the middle of the forest..." As Anko explained the rules, the examinees began whispering amongst their teams.
In short, it was a battle royale designed to eliminate at least half the participants from the start.
"This is way more interesting than the first exam! I can't wait!" Trunks declared, full of energy.
"Someone who wrote nothing but their name has no right to say that," Ichika retorted with contempt. When she saw Trunks's paper in the classroom, she was stunned.
'Did he really have to be that stupid? At least Kazui had filled in half of his.'
"Wrote nothing but their name... sounds just like a certain someone..." Sakura muttered under her breath, shooting a sidelong glance at a certain loud, self-satisfied blond nearby.
Naruto had proudly announced his blank paper on the way from the classroom.
Once the exam began, teams entered the Forest of Death from different gates and quickly scattered.
Some hoped to avoid enemies and rush to the center as fast as possible. Others lingered near the periphery, waiting for a chance to ambush others, steal their scrolls, and then leisurely head to the tower.
Team 7 fell into the former category.
"Finding people is too much trouble. It's better to just wait near the tower, then take the scrolls from anyone who shows up," Naruto proposed.
It had to be said, with both parents alive and well, Naruto's thinking was considerably sharper. None of the three were sensory types, so finding people was difficult.
His rival, Sasuke, surprisingly agreed with the proposal.
"Assuming no one actively seeks us out first."
In another part of the Forest of Death...
"Hey, hey, hey, is this for real? I actually have to take the Chunin Exams?" Hidan, carrying a massive blood-red scythe and wearing an Amegakure's forehead protector, complained exaggeratedly.
His current cover was that of an examinee from Amegakure, so he wasn't wearing his distinctive Akatsuki's cloak but regular clothes.
Accompanying Hidan were the masked Tobi and Kakuzu, the other half of the Immortal Duo.
Why were they chosen? Because they were the least known members of the Akatsuki.
Hidan was recruited before he made a name for himself. Kakuzu was an antique from Hashirama's era, so few living people would even recognize his face. So, they were the ones to go.
Members like Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame were far too well-known.
"Yah~ Don't complain, Senpai! Just think of it as a relaxing vacation~" Tobi said with a strange laugh.
This probably wasn't Obito putting on an act, but rather the White Zetsu, Tobi, attached to him taking control for the performance.
Meanwhile, two teams had already encountered each other.
"Well, this is awkward. Do we fight or not?" Temari, though young, already showing signs of a curvaceous figure, looked somewhat troubled.
Standing before the three Sunagakure's siblings was Konoha's Team 8 for this generation: Kiba, Shino, and Kazui.
Temari completely ignored the other two, her gaze fixed intently on the submissive Kazui standing at the back.
As the eldest daughter of the Kazekage, how could she not know who he was? That was the source of her dilemma.
Picking a fight with Jin's son… what if they accidentally hurt him? Would there be any good outcome?
"Let's just go," Kankuro shared the same thought.
With their skills, passing the second stage wasn't a problem. There was no need to take risks that might provoke Jin.
"Heh~ Must be nice having a powerful father. They don't even dare to fight you, Kazui," Kiba said with a hint of sarcasm.
Kazui scratched his cheek awkwardly.
It was true… growing up, his background had earned him countless privileges, both in the Seireitei and in Konoha.
But Kazui didn't refute. Perhaps because he was raised primarily by his mother, his personality was a bit softer.
Whoosh-
Sand imbued with Magnet Release suddenly shot out. Kiba and Shino, positioned slightly ahead, were caught off guard and were sent flying by the whip-like stream of sand.
"Gaara, what are you doing?!" Temari was startled by her brother's actions.
"I want to fight," Gaara stated coldly, flicking his wrist. The sand whip coiled in the air before lashing down hard towards Kazui.
"Are you insane? He's the son of that Uchiha Jin!" Even Kankuro, who usually feared Gaara, couldn't hold back.
Gaara was scary, but Jin was on another level! He was the ruthless monster who had casually expelled over a million of Konoha's original residents to fend for themselves!
Just as Temari and Kankuro thought this strike would at least take a layer of skin off Kazui…
Kazui, as if by muscle memory, instinctively drew his sword.
A silver-white, crescent-shaped wave of energy shot forth.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
Boom!!!
A terrifying explosion erupted.
Kiba and Shino, who had just been sent flying and hadn't gotten up, were blown away again by the resulting shockwave, tumbling like broken kites before slamming into tree trunks dozens of meters away.
Struggling back to his feet with great effort, Kiba stared at Kazui, who was slowly emerging from the dissipating smoke, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
'I thought Kazui was a useless second-generation who could only rely on his father and connections. B-but he's this strong?'
"He's only low-key, not weak…" Shino also stood up, trying his best to maintain his cool persona as he complains.