The night gradually deepened.
The Hokage Office was brightly lit.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in a chair with a pipe in his mouth and glanced at Hatake Kakashi, who was kneeling on one knee before him, and said, "Kakashi, how much intelligence did you gather on that ninja from the Hidden Rain?"
"A lot, but ultimately, this person is still too young."
Hatake Kakashi nodded and said in a deep voice, "Based on the intelligence I've analyzed myself, the civil war in the Hidden Rain Village must have greatly weakened them, forcing them to send Uehara Naraku to participate in the Chunin Examination, a competition of this level."
After saying this, Kakashi added, "There's no doubt that Uehara Naraku is very strong. Four years ago, I saw with my own eyes as he single-handedly slaughtered a border outpost of The Hidden Mist Village."
"What's his personal inclination?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe.
The borders of the Land of Rain connect to the Land of Wind, the Land of Fire, and the Land of Earth.
The attitude of the Hidden Rain Village determined whether Konoha could maintain its defensive advantage on the northwest border. If given the chance, Sarutobi Hiruzen certainly wouldn't mind supporting a leader of the Hidden Rain Village inclined towards an alliance with Konoha.
Today, Sarutobi Hiruzen had secretly overheard Uehara Naraku, and indeed, Hanzo of the Salamander's age was already very old. The matter of the Hidden Rain Village's next leader was imminent.
"It's hard to say."
Hatake Kakashi shook his head and explained, "Although, as it stands, Uehara Naraku seems to have a good impression of Konoha, both Orochimaru and... Obito should have inflicted indelible damage on the Hidden Rain Village."
Those two were traitorous ninjas from Konoha.
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at Hatake Kakashi and spoke slowly, "It's okay, we can work with the Hidden Rain Village to fight against the traitors... He was right about one thing today: our generation is ultimately getting old, and we must pass the future into the hands of you younger folks."
"..."
Hatake Kakashi lowered his head without responding.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had helmed Konoha for around forty years and was now sixty-nine years old, yet the candidate for the Fifth Hokage had not yet been established.
If the remaining two of the Konoha Sannin were to return, they would be the most suitable candidates. If they refused to return, there weren't many in Konoha's myriad of ninjas who could command respect, and even the major ninja clans couldn't settle it.
Unless they picked the tallest of the short ones and directly selected Sarutobi Asuma.
After all, Sarutobi Asuma's disciples were from the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, so it was quite normal, considering the Sarutobi Clan were allies with the Ino-Shika-Cho trio during the Warring States Period.
"You may leave for now."
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned slowly, standing by the window of the Hokage Office, and said softly, "Oh, Kakashi, please bring the Genin Maruboshi Kosuke from the village here for me!"
"Yes."
Hatake Kakashi exited the Hokage Office.
The following day.
Uehara Naraku left all the messy affairs to Hattori Heikawa, Haku, and Kaguya Kimimaro, while he wandered around Konoha Village, aiming to encounter some notable figures.
To his surprise, when Uehara Naraku activated the display of his Destiny Skills, he found that Konoha's Instructor Jonins seemed to be having a small meeting today.
"Truly leaving no opportunities!"
Given the situation, Uehara Naraku could only wait for the formal start of the Chunin Examination to begin collecting his rewards.
In merely two days, Uehara Naraku's gains were rather substantial.
Initially, after painstakingly accumulating 2700 gold coins in the Hidden Rain Village, just by sightseeing, eating some ramen, and having a few tri-color dumplings in Konoha Village, he managed to earn about 1500 gold coins performing a series of ordinary tasks.
Moreover, there were outrageous tasks at Ichiraku Ramen, such as the glutton task, where Uehara Naraku earned 600 points of life energy by drinking twelve bowls of ramen, which made him profoundly regretful.
If he had known that each bowl in the glutton challenge was worth 50 points of life energy, Uehara Naraku would have strived to eat a few more bowls!
Damn, just eating ramen can make you stronger...
Konoha is truly ridiculous in this regard.
If computed by difficulty, the Hidden Rain Village would be considered an apocalypse machine start, while Konoha is simple machine routine.
As expected of the ninja main stage.
And as the host of the Chunin Examination, Konoha sent as many as seventy-five participants, a number greater than all other Ninja Villages combined.
Uehara Naraku wasn't aware that this number exceeded the original number of participants Konoha Village was supposed to have by one team.
Once Konoha confirmed the Chunin Examination list and all participating Ninja Villages were present, the Chunin Examination officially commenced.
When Uehara Naraku, accompanied by Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku, arrived at the exam site, the participating Genins were already gathering there.
As expected, Konoha Village's nine newly graduated Genins were also taking part in the exam.
Seventh Class: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura.
Eighth Class: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata.
Tenth Class: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino.
Perhaps since it was their first time participating in the Chunin Examination, these newcomers were gathered around a senior, seemingly trying to extract some information from him.
From their exclamations, it was evident that they were obtaining quite a bit of information.
Coincidentally, Uehara Naraku also knew that so-called senior, who was one of the targets Uehara was planning to harvest as a weed.
Orochimaru's spy—Yakushi Kabuto.
After Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto escaped from Uehara Naraku's hands, Kabuto was arranged to infiltrate Konoha, participating in each year's Chunin Examination to gather promising ninjas.
"Kabuto-senpai."
The girl with pink hair, Haruno Sakura, suddenly spoke, "I'd like to ask about another individual, a Genin from the Hidden Rain Village named Uehara Naraku."
"..."
Upon hearing Uehara Naraku's name, Yakushi Kabuto's hand involuntarily paused, subconsciously adjusting his glasses.
This name, Yakushi Kabuto hadn't heard in quite a while.
Neither he nor Orochimaru had ever mentioned Uehara Naraku's name, as they both knew how disastrous their defeat had been.
Yakushi Kabuto lowered his head, avoiding showing his facial expressions to others: "How did you come to know this name?"
"Teacher Kakashi mentioned it..."
Haruno Sakura felt a bit awkward. This name of the Hidden Rain Genin was specifically told to them by Hatake Kakashi, who particularly warned them to be cautious of him.
Even if Hatake Kakashi thought Uehara Naraku wouldn't ruthlessly attack, there was always the chance these young ones didn't know their limitations.
Uchiha Sasuke, standing by Haruno Sakura, coldly added, "Coincidentally, I'm also a bit curious about this person's intelligence, especially since Teacher Kakashi considers him the strongest opponent we'll face in this Chunin Exam."
"Your Instructor Jonin isn't wrong."
Yakushi Kabuto's voice was somewhat murky and low; his fingers began to stiffen: "If he is the person I know, he should easily dispatch everyone present..."
"What a joke!"
Uchiha Sasuke immediately expressed his displeasure.
No matter how formidable the person Kakashi described might be, could he really single-handedly slay over a hundred Genins?
However, after Yakushi Kabuto's comments, the expressions on the faces of Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, and Nara Shikamaru became increasingly grave.
"You shouldn't worry, it might just be the same name..."
After speaking, Yakushi Kabuto slowly lifted his gaze, surveying the Chunin Examination's gathering ground, searching for any trace of Uehara Naraku's presence.
Once Yakushi Kabuto noticed there was no sign of Uehara Naraku inside the exam hall, he felt a momentary relief; perhaps it truly was just a shared name?
Tap, tap, tap...
A series of footsteps reached Yakushi Kabuto's ears.
The gathering of Konoha newcomers instinctively raised their heads, dumbfounded as they saw a young ninja with a Hidden Rain forehead protector standing behind Yakushi Kabuto.
Uehara Naraku looked down at the ground-facing Yakushi Kabuto and chuckled lightly, "Kabuto, turn around and see if the Uehara Naraku you know is me."