Naruto: The Information Broker from the Uchiha Clan

The muttering sound rang out, and Nine-Tails' perception clearly allowed it to be heard perfectly.

For a moment, the little nine-tailed fox, who was standing with her hands on her hips, blushed.

Glancing at the forty-five little devils in front of him, Little Nine-Tailed Fox thought to himself, "Why don't I just kill them all? Then I can just say that I calculated it to be nine hundred thousand taels."

but……

That bastard Yun made it very clear: eliminating a group of people is fine, but if he ruins them all, he'll have to stay sealed away for the next hundred years.

When the yellow-haired brat's half-body comes out, won't I be able to watch it look cool?

No no no!

Kurotsuchi, who was opposite him, stared intently at the little Nine-Tails. Seeing its changing expression, he sighed inwardly, clearly aware of the Nine-Tails' embarrassment.

Although it's unclear why the tailed beast known as the Nine-Tailed Fox has taken this form, now is obviously not the time to dwell on such matters.

"Is Lord Nine-Tailed Fox testing us?"

·O·?

Kurotsuchi continued, "With the power of the Nine-Tails, even taking on a mission in the black market, a mission worth thirty million ryo would be a piece of cake, right?"

"With such power, nine hundred thousand taels is really insignificant. The only thing I can think of is that Lord Nine-Tailed Fox is testing us!"

"Perhaps this is also part of the Chunin Exams, to test whether we have the courage to face Lord Kurama!"

Is that right?

Yes! That's exactly what I thought from the beginning!

The little nine-tailed fox clapped its two paws together: "That's right! Little girl, you're right. I was just testing your courage!"

"As a ninja, one must have the courage to face powerful enemies! Back then, it was because I recognized Hashirama Senju that I gave him the opportunity to be sealed!"

Heitu's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he was filled with endless complaints.

Have you no shame?

The next moment, Kurotsuchi bowed slightly and said, "In that case, we should have passed your test, Lord Kurama, right?"

The little nine-tailed fox waved its paws: "Go on, go on, you've passed through. As long as you don't get caught by me again, you'll be fine."

These words alarmed Wu Ye, who was standing behind Zhi Tu, and he quickly said, "You're not following us again...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Zhi Tu turned around and slashed him into liquid water.

In an instant, the members of the Hidden Mist moved, but were stopped by a single look from Kurotsuchi.

Feeling somewhat ashamed after recovering from the liquid water, Wuye stepped back and stood silently behind Zhitu.

"That guy just now had some mental issues, please don't take offense, Nine-Tails-sama. To thank you, Nine-Tails-sama, if we lose any money later, we'll give it all to you."

"Ok?"

Little Nine-Tailed Fox's eyes widened instantly, then her vertical pupils narrowed in the next second: "Not bad, not bad, little girl, you're really good. Alright! I understand now, as long as you really run out of money, everything will definitely go smoothly from here on out!"

With a slight bow, Heitu turned and led the fifteen squads away.

Not far away, Heitu could still sense the watchful eyes of those behind him.

"Everyone, throw all your money on the ground and don't look at it."

At this moment, all forty-five carefully selected people understood what Heitu meant.

Although it was a bit frustrating, the money itself was useless in the Forest of Death except for the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Compared to missions and lives, money is not important to ninjas.

As a result, the forty-five people left their wallets scattered all over the ground before hurrying away from the place.

Hei Tu only breathed a sigh of relief once the feeling of being watched from behind disappeared.

Zhi Tu, who was standing nearby, took out a water bottle and handed it to her: "You shouldn't have stepped forward. If you guessed wrong, then Iwagakure will suffer a great loss."

Heitu smiled dismissively, took the water bottle, and drank it all in one gulp.

"So what if I guessed wrong? To be killed by the Nine-Tails? No way, Uchiha Yun wouldn't do that. After all, my identity is what it is."

"If it were a normal Chunin Exam, I would just die and that would be fine. But if I were to die at the hands of the Nine-Tails, as the old man's granddaughter, I would inevitably cause the new generation of Iwagakure to harbor hatred once again."

"The Nine-Tails' appearance wasn't aimed at us. Heh... Uchiha Yun really has a lot of confidence in his disciple!"

Chito was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled, "Is that so? Then can we team up with the Nine-Tails?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Kurotsuchi looked at him with an expression as if he were an idiot: "What are you thinking? The existence of the Nine-Tails is just causing them trouble. Do you really think he will take action against that so-called Team 7?"

"As far as I know, what we are facing is half of the Nine-Tails, and the other half is inside the Hokage's son, which allows him to become a perfect Jinchūriki."

"According to intelligence, this half should be the little Nine-Tails who has always been by Uchiha Izumi's side. She's someone you know. It's said that she has become a Jonin instructor, and this time the Genin she brought with her have also come in."

"The Nightless City of Kirigakure, the Hozuki clan, what are your thoughts?"

Wuye grinned, revealing slightly menacing teeth: "As expected of Onoki's granddaughter, the Two Scales. Thanks to you, we were able to leave safely just now."

Kurotsuchi waved her hand: "They're all just fish on the chopping board. Kirigakure's ideas may not be the same as ours. Your Mizukage hasn't attracted any attention."

After speaking, Wu Ye remained silent for a moment without directly answering the question.

Instead, she said, "Uchiha Izumi's group has also entered. Her students are said to be the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Shika... the Nara family..."

Kurotsuchi smiled and said, "The fact that Kurama didn't follow the Konoha genin to chase us means that Uchiha Kumo has already made a move. Don't overthink it; at least for us, it's not necessarily a bad thing."

……

at the same time.

The twelve members of Konoha, who had already assembled, were now searching for Neji's team.

"They must be in trouble."

Shikamaru frowned as he spoke. The appearance of the Nine-Tails was an inevitable unexpected factor, and many things were already unpredictable.

Sasuke hesitated and said, "I don't know about Neji's power, but as for Rock Lee, if he were to unleash it, it would only be if he encountered the Nine-Tails."

Sai poked his head out and said, "Didn't they bring any money? If they didn't bring any money, they've probably already been eaten, right?"

Naruto retorted, "That's impossible. Even if it gets beaten up, it won't be eaten. It's more likely to eat those guys from other villages. Otherwise, Brother Yun would have to deal with it afterwards."

At this moment, the reconnaissance team, led by Hinata and Karin, and including Shino, Kiba, and Sai's rat, returned.

Both shook their heads.

Hinata frowned and said, "We haven't found any trace of Neji, nor any Hyuga clan markings."

Karin exhaled: "I couldn't sense their chakra, but there was a strong chakra fluctuation three kilometers in our 10 o'clock direction."

Shikamaru quickly asked, "Was it the Nine-Tails? Or did the other ninja villages start fighting first?"

Karin shook her head: "It was the Nine-Tails and some other miscellaneous chakra, but it didn't linger for long. I guess it was just a matter of paying the money."

After thinking for a moment, Shikamaru looked at everyone and said, "In that case, let's get started."

Naruto paused for a moment, then asked, "Aren't you going to look for Neji and the others?"

Shikamaru replied, "Given Neji's act of slipping Hinata the note, he was clearly preparing to reunite with her, but we've searched the entire perimeter of the protective netting and still haven't found them."

"In this situation, there are only two possibilities. One is that they were captured by the Nine-Tails and didn't have any money with them, and the other is that they were captured by our opponents."

"In either of these two scenarios, we have no choice but to go find those people and complete the task of collecting the scrolls. Because we can't deal with the Nine-Tails, Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan is sealed, and the three-tomoe Sharingan shouldn't be able to control the Nine-Tails, right?"

Sasuke shook his head slightly: "The eye power is not enough. The three-tomoe genjutsu can be broken by it using a sudden burst of chakra. With that kind of chakra, even the Mangekyou Sharingan's eye power is not guaranteed."

At this moment, Karin hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.

After glancing at Naruto, who was frowning, he sighed and walked out.

"Perhaps... I can give it a try."

In an instant, everyone's eyes turned to Karin.

"The sealing technique of the Uzumaki clan?" Shikamaru asked.

Karin nodded: "Compared to Naruto, I should have inherited more of the Uzumaki clan's physique. Since I came to Konoha, Aunt Kushina and my mother have been teaching me the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques."

(Note: In the original work, Karin couldn't even defeat a bear during the Chunin Exams. After being saved by Sasuke, she fell in love with him at first sight. She didn't use the Adamantine Sealing Chains until she was sixteen years old. Here, there's a three-year gap. During those three years, Kushina and her mother smoothed things over, and she learned to use the Adamantine Sealing Chains.)

“My sensory abilities are very special, even among the Uzumaki clan. Logically speaking, I should have already memorized Neji’s squad’s chakra during the meal, so I shouldn’t have failed to sense it.”

"The entire Death Forest Training Ground No. 44 is only 20 kilometers in diameter, and we can perceive more than half of that distance."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shikamaru frowned slightly.

"So, Karin, you mean Neji's team is currently in a special state, right? Like a barrier specifically designed to block senses?"

Karin nodded: "Besides the barrier, there is another possibility, which is that Neji's entire team is dead. After all, I can't sense dead people."

These words made Hinata tremble, but the next moment Naruto grabbed her hand.

"Don't worry, Neji is someone Brother Yun thinks highly of. Lord Kurama wouldn't dare to really kill him."

Shikamaru chimed in, "With Neji and Rock Lee's power, the Nine-Tails won't kill them. And those guys won't be able to take them down easily if they face Rock Lee's outburst."

"Therefore, there is only one possibility: Lord Yun not only arranged for the little nine-tailed fox to come in and cause trouble, but also arranged for it to have a method that could eliminate the candidates."

"Teams that fail to gather the Heaven and Earth Scrolls and proceed to the tower within five days will be considered eliminated in the second test."

"In order to prevent the prey from being rescued when they go out hunting, it is necessary to have a barrier to block their senses and prevent them from escaping."

"Or you could beat him half to death, tie him up, put him in the tank with some water for five days, that would also work."

At this point, Shikamaru stood up, looked at everyone, and said, "Then the reconnaissance team's next task is to find the Nine-Tails. The Nine-Tails has very strong sensory abilities, so we can only keep it at a distance."

Shikamaru looked at Hinata: "Using Karin's sensory abilities as a location, and then Hinata using her Byakugan to observe from a distance, we can determine the location of the barrier. Shino and Kiba will be responsible for tracking the genin from the other ninja villages. After rescuing Neji and the others, we'll need to devise a plan to target them."

"Understood!" ×4

……

Meanwhile, the little nine-tailed fox, who had almost lost face, returned to its nest.

It was called a den, but it was really just a temporary fox den.

"Gudong Gudong..."

The little nine-tailed fox, having opened another bottle of wine, squinted at the three little devils it had hung up.

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't make the rules. If you want to blame someone, blame Uchiha Yun."