Chapter 3: The Arena Has Real-Time Bullet Comments Too?
"Go back?"
Yeyun sensed Choji's panic.
Although Choji was already a decent ninja, he was only thirteen years old — still just a child whose mind wasn't fully mature.
Yeyun walked over and pulled a piece of candy from his pocket.
He had originally saved it as a secret weapon for their match — planning to distract Choji with the candy at a critical moment, then launch a surprise attack to finish the fight.
Seeing how pitiful Choji looked now, he decided to use it early.
Yeyun gazed up at the sky, his deep eyes calm and steady.
"Don't worry. We'll be back soon."
From years of reading web novels, Yeyun knew that this kind of performance-based system wouldn't actually harm the participants. Not only would it not hurt them, winning would definitely bring rewards.
Hearing Yeyun's confident words and seeing his composed expression, Choji gradually calmed down. He took the candy and began eating it vigorously, as if venting his anxiety.
Outside the screen!
Everyone watching this scene was stunned.
Yeyun was far too calm.
Kakashi stared at the sky. The moment Yeyun looked up, it felt as if the entire crowd was making eye contact with him from below.
In his eyes, Kakashi could only read one word — fearless.
Even in the familiar environment of the Chunin Exam arena, many people were panicking. The jonin had to step in to stabilize the situation.
Comparing that to Yeyun's composure in this completely unknown place, Kakashi finally realized just how steady and cool-headed the boy truly was.
"Miss Kurenai…"
"What's going to happen to Big Brother Yeyun and Choji?"
Hinata hurried to Kurenai Yuhi's side, her eyes full of worry. Kurenai also looked concerned.
She and Yeyun were old acquaintances. Before she became a teacher, they had been on the same mission team. She especially liked this boy who was five years younger than her and often brought him food when he was alone.
Recently, Team 8 had worked with Yeyun on a mission. His gentle and warm personality had made him very popular among the younger genin.
Hinata, the future heir of the Hyuga clan, was particularly close to him. They had first met when Yeyun was on patrol duty near the Hyuga compound.
When everyone learned that Yeyun was also a genin participating in the Chunin Exams, their jaws nearly dropped.
Kurenai's red eyes were filled with worry as she silently prayed for Yeyun's safe return.
From a distance, Asuma saw the scene and assumed Kurenai was worried about the anomaly in the sky. In a flash, he appeared in front of her, pulled the group into the corridor, and said reassuringly:
"Don't be afraid. I'm here! If anything happens, I'll ask my father to send people to protect you."
Kurenai: "..."
She was speechless. Instead of worrying about his own student, Asuma was worrying about her?
Land of Lightning.
The Fourth Raikage watched Yeyun in the sky with clear admiration.
It was rare for someone to earn praise from A — a man with the temperament of a gang boss.
He glanced at Yeyun, then looked down at Killer Bee on the ground.
"If you could stay this calm, the position of Raikage would be yours."
People across the shinobi world were also shocked. Why had two young Konoha ninjas appeared inside the floating structure?
With their headbands, it was obvious they were both from Konoha.
Could this really be Konoha's plan to conquer the entire shinobi world?
The scene in the sky changed again.
A massive golden scroll, ten meters wide, suddenly appeared and floated above the Arena. Everyone's viewpoint shifted to directly in front of the scroll, giving them the best angle to read the text.
[Arena Announcement: This Arena is only visible to living beings from the shinobi world and the Pure Land. It follows confidentiality protocols across all realms. Please rest assured.]
[Ninja ranks are divided as follows: Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Elite Jonin, Kage-level, Super Kage-level.]
[Genin, Chunin, and Jonin are each split into three subgroups. The top three from each subgroup will advance to the unrestricted main tournament.]
[Matches begin with lower ranks for ranking and competition. Pain felt during battles inside the Arena is 100% real, but dying here only counts as a loss. Participants will return to the shinobi world completely unharmed!]
[Winners will continue to the next round. Within the same subgroup, the more consecutive wins you achieve — or the more winning streaks you end — the greater the rewards. In the main tournament, in addition to personal rewards, the represented country will also receive National Fortune rewards.]
The moment the words "National Fortune rewards" appeared, every Kage in the shinobi world trembled.
They didn't know exactly what National Fortune meant, but they knew they had to claim it before any other nation could.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Yeyun and Choji in the sky with a smile in his eyes.
When it came to ninjas, if Konoha claimed second place, who would dare claim first?
Throughout the entire history of the shinobi world, all the major legends and powerhouses had come from Konoha.
The text on the golden scroll continued to appear.
[Arena Chat Room Rules]
[On the left and right sides of the Arena is a chat room visible to everyone. All messages will appear as bullet comments (danmu) floating above the battlefield.]
[To prevent chaos, only special ninjas may use the chat room, and speech is restricted by rules.]
[Each side (Red and Blue) has one administrator. Administrators can mute other participants on their own team only.]
[Number of messages allowed per day depends on ninja rank:]
Ordinary ninjas: 1 message per day
Chunin: 5 messages per day
Jonin: 10 messages per day
Elite Jonin: 20 messages per day
Kage-level: 30 messages per day
Super Kage-level: Unlimited
The golden scroll remained in the sky for ten minutes. During that time, everyone stayed silent, trying their best to understand the information.
A countdown appeared above the scroll.
00:03 00:02 00:01
The golden scroll vanished.
Everyone waited expectantly for something to happen, but to their disappointment, nothing seemed to occur.
What was going on?
The entire shinobi world seemed to freeze. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Just as people began wondering if anything would change, a bullet comment floated across the sky.
[Hayate Gekko: Test test test test test test test...]
A string of "test" messages drifted above the Arena, with Hayate Gekko's name highlighted at the front in a prominent blue border.
Hayate Gekko stared at the sky in shock.
In an instant, every eye in the exam arena turned toward him.
This sickly man with permanent dark circles under his eyes, who was always coughing — the ultimate background character — was actually the first person to send a bullet comment!
How did he do that?!
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