Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 202 Joint Chunin Exam
After being left standing there by the Raikage, Takagi Seiwan's face twitched slightly. But his greatest strength was his ability to bend and stretch. Despite being humiliated by Ai, Takagi Seiwan simply smiled to himself, withdrew his hand, and followed.

While the leaders of many ninja villages who came to participate in the joint Chunin Exams gathered together, the genin of Konoha were also preparing for the exam.

Inside the Hatake residence, Naruto, who already knew that only one of the three brothers could become a Chunin, felt unusually anxious. He increased his training intensity every day and also asked his older brother, who lived at home, for tips on the Chunin Exams.

Deidara didn't have any good advice for Naruto. After all, Onoki didn't want Naruto to lose face outside the village. The Chunin Exams that made him a Chunin weren't like the Joint Chunin Exams this time. He just threw in a bunch of random attacks and made it to the end to get a Chunin spot. So, if we're talking about advice, he really couldn't give Naruto any reliable suggestions.

"How about you take some of the explosives I developed?" Deidara said, wiping his mouth after finishing his ramen and drinking all the soup.

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea.” Naruto was unusually clever this time. “The Tsuchikage is in the village. If I use the explosives you gave me, wouldn’t that expose you?”

"That's true. Well, all I can do is offer you moral support then," Deidara patted his younger brother on the shoulder. "Keep going! Believe in yourself!"

"Alright! Let's surpass Sasuke by becoming a Chunin before him!" Naruto said confidently, slapping his palm.

Uchiha clan territory, Fugaku residence.

After finishing his training, Sasuke returned home, greeted his mother Mikoto who was still busy in the kitchen, and then went alone to the room where Itachi Uchiha's portrait was displayed. After offering three incense sticks for Itachi, Sasuke gazed at his brother's photo for a while, and then slowly said, "Brother, in a few days I will become a Chunin. Although I can't compare to how quickly you became a Jonin at my age, I am now on the right path. You are in the Pure Land, watching me carefully as I write my story."

After Sasuke left the room where Itachi's portrait was placed, he saw Fu leaning against the wall in the hallway as soon as he stepped outside.

"You're about to take the Chunin Exams, haven't you done any special training?" Fu asked with a smile.

"With my strength, securing that Chunin spot will be a piece of cake," Sasuke said.

“Is that so?” Fu said. “Since you are so confident, then I will not tell you the information about your teammates that Chongming told me.”

"What did your companions say to you?" Sasuke frowned slightly.

"Call me 'sister' and I'll tell you!" Fu said with a grin.

"Fine, don't tell me then." Sasuke shrugged. The information Fu mentioned about his teammates was nothing more than information about Naruto and Kurama. He also knew that the tailed beasts could communicate with each other remotely.

"You're really not cute!" Fu said irritably.

However, although Fu did not achieve her goal of getting Sasuke to call her "older sister," she still shared the information Chongming gave him with Sasuke.

"Fine, for Aunt Mikoto's sake, I'll tell you. Your teammate and his tailed beast companion have reached a certain consensus, so he can use the Nine-Tails' power to a certain extent."

“So what? Our clan’s Sharingan is naturally able to counter the power of the Tailed Beasts,” Sasuke said. “Besides, my genjutsu was personally taught to me by Shisui, and by my teacher…”

Sasuke realized he had said something wrong as he finished speaking, and quickly shut his mouth.

"You were just trying to test the Hokage's genjutsu skills, weren't you? I've caught you red-handed." Fu chuckled.

"No, no, don't talk nonsense!" Sasuke immediately denied it three times in a row. Naruto had been beaten up a lot because of this, and he didn't want to follow in Naruto's footsteps.

"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore. Although the Sharingan can suppress Jinchuriki, your three-tomoe Sharingan can only deal with imperfect Jinchuriki at most. Unless it's a Mangekyou Sharingan, it has a negligible effect on suppressing Jinchuriki if your Tailed Beast companions are willing to help." Fu reminded her, "So, you should be prepared to face him head-on."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke took a deep breath and began to feel a headache coming on. It was alright to go head-to-head with Naruto, as their taijutsu and ninjutsu skills were basically evenly matched. He had an advantage over Naruto in shurikenjutsu and genjutsu, but now that genjutsu was no longer effective, and Naruto had an extra advantage, it seemed that he really wouldn't be able to defeat him without some strategy.

……

Sungai tribe.

After the Uchiha clan achieved their dream of becoming Hokage, their tradition of holding clan meetings whenever they had nothing to do became a thing of the past. On the contrary, the elders of the various branches of the Hyuga clan have been holding clan meetings for many years. The content of these meetings has remained unchanged for many years: the selection of the main family successor and the branch family successor for the head of the clan. With Neji already a sure thing to be the young clan head, the old fogies' thoughts are obvious: to put Hinata and Hanabi in the caged bird trap.

Basically, every now and then, the uncle and nephew Hyuga Hiashi and Hyuga Neji would be questioned by these elders. The old guys had never given up on putting Hinata and Hanabi in the Caged Bird Seal, especially with the Chunin Exams approaching. After all, if someone from the main family of the clan could avoid being put in the Caged Bird Seal, the branch family members under their command would become restless, which would be detrimental to their management.

"Neji, now that you've become a Chunin, it's time to put your sisters in the Caged Bird Seal."

Inside the Hyuga clan's shrine, Neji knelt beside Hiashi Hyuga, the head of the clan, and the uncle and nephew remained silent.

"That's right, neither of them is particularly talented. Being caged is a form of protection for them."

"Do you think I don't know whether a caged bird is for protection or confinement?" Neji raised his head and said with a cold smile.

“Neji, this is the tradition of the Hyuga clan. This is how the clan has always done things for so many years,” an elder said impatiently. If Neji didn’t have the identity of the Hokage’s disciple, these people probably wouldn’t have listened to him properly. But there was nothing they could do. After the last purge of the main branches of the clan, these remaining people clearly understood that although the ninja clans had a certain degree of autonomy in this village, the Hokage still had the final say on some key issues.

Therefore, they didn't dare to push Neji too far.

"Hehe, to tell you the truth, Hinata is very close to my teammate, Naruto Uzumaki, the orphan of the Fourth Hokage and the head of the Uzumaki clan. My uncle and I both agree to this marriage. I think it goes without saying what that means," Neji said.

Although Neji usually disapproved of his younger sister getting so close to that blond guy, at this moment, he thought that blond guy's identity was actually quite useful as a shield. Neji said this, but he didn't reveal Naruto's most important identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. However, these old fogies seemed to understand his meaning. What, what are you trying to do by putting the Caged Bird Seal on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's future partner? Are you perhaps trying to emulate Danzo's past actions?

These old fogies promptly shut up on the Hinata issue, but then another person turned their gaze to Hyuga Hiashi. Hyuga Hiashi merely snorted coldly, a flash of killing intent crossing his eyes. What, he couldn't handle his eldest daughter, so he set his sights on his youngest? Did they really think Hyuga Hiashi had no temper? Although the great purge within the Hyuga clan was ordered by Uchiha Touko, he was the one who carried it out.

"Hehe, Neji, I wish you good luck on your exam." After the group of clan elders backed down, they could only laugh and end the farcical clan meeting.

"Neji, during the Chunin Exams, if possible, protect your sister." After the clan elders dispersed, Hiashi Hyuga sighed and then said to Neji.

“I will.” Neji nodded. “However, Uncle, you should also trust Hinata more. After all, Hinata’s Byakugan purity may even be higher than mine.”

……

Konoha, Training Ground No. 5.

Lee, Karin, and Sakura Haruno entered the training ground led by Might Guy.

The three of them formed a temporary team to participate in this Chunin Exam.

The three of them were quite familiar with each other, so Xiao Li didn't do anything embarrassing like confessing his feelings in the middle of the day, as was the case in the original timeline. The main thing was that Xiao Ying wasn't dressed up as meticulously as she was in the original timeline. She had faint dark circles under her eyes that she couldn't get rid of, and her pink hair looked messy. The only thing she was stubborn about was to comb her bangs to cover her hairline.

Having received Tsunade's meticulous training since childhood, she has already mastered the basics of learning superhuman strength, and she began accumulating Yin Seals several years ahead of schedule. Her current combat power can be said to far exceed her combat power at this time in the original timeline. However, this time, she no longer needs to chase after anyone.

"My name is Rock Lee. I specialize in taijutsu, and my dream is to become a great ninja using only taijutsu," Rock Lee said energetically, dressed in a green bodysuit.

Since the experience of the Three Pure Ones Training Corps, where a whole team of people in green bodysuits ran laps around the village, Konoha Village is now much more accepting of the strange costumes worn by Might Guy and his apprentice.

"Since we all know each other, let's skip the self-introductions. I'm good at taijutsu and medical ninjutsu. *yawn*" Sakura said after yawning.

“That’s right, you all know I’m good at sealing techniques,” Karin added at this moment.

"If the three of us team up for the Chunin Exams, we should have no problem making it to the final round. If we make it to the semifinals, that would be a success. That's the only task Tsunade gave me," Sakura said.

"You can still aim for the top four, but I'd probably be pretty much in the top eight. I'm not quite proficient with my Adamantine Sealing Chains yet, and Isobu isn't really keen on communicating with me. I don't think I have a chance against him in a head-on confrontation. If I were to run into Sasuke and that idiot clan leader of mine earlier, I'd probably be in trouble even with the top eight," Karin said.

"Girls, if you think you'll lose before you even start, that's not youthful at all!" At that moment, Might Guy descended from the sky, stood in front of the three, grinned, and gave them a thumbs up, saying, "You all have boundless potential, and I believe you will shine brightly in this Chunin Exams!"

"You're right, I will definitely strive for the championship! Teacher Kai!" Xiao Li suddenly became excited.

"This is youth, Lee!" Might Guy also became teary-eyed in an instant.

"Teacher Kai!"

"plum!"

Karin and Sakura stared at the master and apprentice with exasperation, beginning to doubt whether teaming up with them was the right thing to do.

……

In the Nara clan's territory, at the clan chief's house, late at night, Nara Shikaku and Nara Shikamaru set up a Go board. After a few exchanges, Shikaku looked at the Go board situation, which was gradually falling into a disadvantageous position, and shook his head. His son was even more intelligent than him. He was only 12 years old, and he was already almost outmatched by him on the Go board.

"What are your goals for this Chunin Exams?" Shikaku asked after taking a step forward.

"No, Ino, Choji, and I have discussed it. We don't plan to aim for a ranking in this Chunin Exams. After we enter the third round, we will all forfeit. Kakashi-sensei has also agreed to this," Shikamaru said calmly.

"What's the reason? Don't tell me it's because you're too lazy to compete. If that's the reason, even if I don't do anything to you, your mother won't let you off the hook, and she'll teach me a lesson too," Nara Shikaku said.

"It's not time for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio to officially return to the ninja world's view yet," Shikamaru said. "According to intelligence from other forces in the ninja world, our Ino-Shika-Cho trio has been out of favor in Konoha for quite some time now. After all, you, Dad, were working as an advisor to the Hokage in secret."

Shikaku looked at his son and gestured for him to continue: "In the past, during the Third Hokage's time, other villages were extremely cautious when dealing with Konoha because of the existence of our Nara clan. Now, our apparent loss of power is seen by other forces as Konoha cutting off its own arm. This is a rare opportunity, a chance to sabotage our opponents in the future. Therefore, it is just a Chunin Exam and is not worth our three clans fully exposing our strength."

"Hehe, as long as you know what's going on, the future belongs to you young people. We old folks won't worry about these things."

……

Soon, the day of the first exam of the Joint Chunin Exams arrived.

Since all the participants in this exam were skilled fighters, Uchiha Touko didn't bother with any tricks like having a second or third floor, which would make Konoha seem petty. The first exam started right away.

(End of this chapter)