Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Sakura felt uneasy under Ino's intense gaze.

"Sakura, you wouldn't really..."

Ino hadn't finished speaking yet.

A rather noisy argument broke out at the barbecue restaurant at this point.

"What?! What happened?!"

The sudden argument made Choji, who was engrossed in enjoying the barbecue, temporarily take his mind away from the food.

Naruto was also taken aback. He really hadn't expected that he would come to the barbecue restaurant, which was originally intended to stop Ino from talking nonsense.

It even brought him an unexpected surprise.

Naruto looked at the girl, who seemed lost and confused amidst the arguing...

The girl wore a pair of black glasses for nearsightedness, had striking red hair, and a ninja headband on her head, indicating that she was a ninja.

However, the ninja village symbol on the headband is not the whirlpool with a pointed tip and a stalk tail like the Konoha ninjas, but rather green grass.

The girl was Karin, a member of the Uzumaki clan who had fled to Kusagakure.

I didn't expect to run into Karin so soon.

Naruto couldn't help but sigh, such a first encounter was truly dramatic.

Chapter 25 Good News from Kakashi

"Those headbands... they're not Konoha ninjas."

Shikamaru also noticed Karin, who was caught up in the argument, and he noticed her identity as a ninja: "She is a ninja from Kusagakure."

"Kusagakure? I remember it's a ninja village in the Land of Grass, a small country bordering the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth... Why would it appear in Konoha?"

Reminded by Shikamaru, Sakura was puzzled by the appearance of ninjas from the Land of Grass in Konoha.

"It's probably because of the Chunin Exams."

Naruto answered Sakura's question with a speculative tone.

"Recently, many unfamiliar faces have entered Konoha. Sakura, you must have noticed them to some extent... I think I even saw a daimyo before. The only thing that could make a daimyo suddenly come to Konoha is the Chunin Exams."

At this point, Naruto looked at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru nodded: "Yes, Asuma mentioned this before. I heard that this Chunin Exam is a joint exam that the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind—Konoha and Sunagakure—as well as other friendly neighboring countries will participate in."

"That means they came to Konoha to participate in the Chunin Exams..."

Ino also turned her attention to the direction where the Grass Ninja were, "But aren't they comrades? Why are they arguing?"

If you listen closely to the arguments in a barbecue restaurant, you can understand the whole story.

The red-haired female ninja was being verbally abused by her two male companions.

The reason why the female ninja was insulted was quite ridiculous. To put it simply, the three of them had a disagreement about the allocation of funds within the team.

"Hey, Karin! What do you mean by saying we shouldn't eat lunch here?"

The two male ninjas spoke with great anger.

As for the female grass ninja they called Karin, she was quite timid in the face of her companions' angry questioning, but she still argued her case: "This shop is too expensive. If we eat here, we won't have enough money to buy ninja tools and supplies later."

In other words, the three ninjas from the Grass Ninja Sect who appeared at the barbecue restaurant were having a serious argument over such a trivial matter.

The dispute was quickly resolved.

"Then just deduct the money from your share of ninja tools and supplies, since you're just a useless burden anyway!"

The two male ninjas immediately made a decision, shoving Karin aside and selfishly choosing to satisfy their own appetites.

These two grass ninjas are about the same age as Naruto and the others, around twelve or thirteen years old, which would still be considered children if they were ordinary people.

But since they were ninjas, their behavior was rather childish, which made the onlookers look down on them.

"Do they even have the strength of a Chunin?"

Ino was clearly unhappy with the two male ninja.

"Just participating in the Chunin Exams doesn't guarantee you'll become a Chunin. Besides, small countries are already short of talent. All they're doing is dumping all the Genin who meet the requirements into the exams. Even if only one out of dozens of people becomes a Chunin, it's a sure win for them."

Naruto was in a rare good mood, giving Ino a lesson about the small ninja kingdom.

Meeting Karin here, and knowing that she participated in this Chunin Exams, is enough for Naruto.

As for stepping in to resolve Karin's current predicament, Naruto had no such intention.

And it's not appropriate now either.

This is Konoha. The Konoha ninjas responsible for monitoring ninjas from other countries must have already arrived nearby.

Even setting aside such factors, Naruto wasn't the only one who witnessed the conflict within the Grass Ninja Team; Sakura and the three members of Team 10 also did.

Taking rash action will only cause unnecessary trouble.

When the Chunin Exams come around, Naruto will have plenty of opportunities to get to know Karin.

"Ino, don't even think about helping them. We know nothing about those Grass Ninja..."

Shikamaru suddenly spoke up at this moment. As a fellow member of Team 10 with Ino, he naturally understood what Ino was thinking.

Shikamaru reminded Ino in a tone that suggested she was finding it troublesome: "Cheap kindness usually doesn't bring any benefits; instead, it can easily lead to a lot of troublesome problems—we're ninjas now, you should understand that, right?"

Ino glared at Shikamaru, but Shikamaru didn't back down.

"I see!"

Ino's response was terrible, but she still listened to what Shikamaru said.

Ino really didn't want to have those two annoying grass ninjas in her sight anymore, so she stood up and left the barbecue table: "I'm full!"

After speaking, she left the barbecue restaurant alone without waiting for Shikamaru and Choji.

"What a hassle..."

Shikamaru sighed helplessly, nudged Choji, and signaled that the dinner party was over.

Then Shikamaru looked at Naruto and said, "Naruto, that's just Ino's personality. I'm really sorry this time... I'll treat you next time."

Naruto smiled and said he didn't care. Shikamaru didn't say anything more and chased after Ino with Choji.

This barbecue gathering began and ended in an unpleasant atmosphere.

However, Naruto thought the dinner was perfect.

He achieved his goal; Ino would no longer utter any more sensitive remarks about him being a rogue ninja.

There was even the unexpected joy of confirming that Karin would indeed participate in the Chunin Exams.

The only slight drawback was the unexpected price Naruto paid.

As expected of the Akimichi clan!

This was only halfway through the dinner party, and Choji hadn't even had his fill of food!

Naruto really didn't want to think about letting Choji have his fill...

After paying, Naruto and Sakura came out of the barbecue restaurant.

Naruto looked up at the sky, thinking about having Sakura and himself part ways.

Kakashi, who originally had "urgent business," appeared before the two.

Kakashi was accompanied by Sasuke, who should have been training.

"You two have already had lunch. Sasuke said he just ate something quick earlier."

Kakashi glanced at the barbecue restaurant. "I was planning to treat you guys to a meal."

"Kakashi-sensei, saying things like this at this time, no matter what you're really thinking, will make you seem very hypocritical to others."

Sakura, who was already resentful that Kakashi had "broken her promise," spoke up.

"Um, um... I really was planning to treat everyone to dinner!"

Kakashi hurriedly defended himself.

But all three of them looked completely unconvinced, which greatly discouraged Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, didn't you have something urgent to attend to? Have you finished dealing with it?"

Naruto spoke up and steered the discouraged Kakashi back to the main topic, as he could roughly guess why Kakashi had reappeared.

"Of course, this matter also involves the three of you."

Kakashi suppressed his dejection at being distrusted by the students and took out three application forms, handing them to the three students.

The application form had a large "中" (Zhong) written on it, and combined with the subsequent content of the form, it indicated that the application form Kakashi gave to the three members of Team 7 was an application for the Chunin Exams.

"Although I didn't discuss it with you, it's not too late to say it now... I recommend the three of you to participate in this Chunin Exam."

Naruto simply kept his head down, looking at the Chunin Exams application form in his hand...

Kakashi brought Naruto the good news he had been waiting for.

So far, everything has gone as smoothly as expected.

Chapter 26 Begins Quietly

To ensure that Team 7 had enough energy to prepare for the Chunin Exams, Kakashi temporarily suspended Team 7's ninja missions a week before the official exams.

June, which was already almost over, flew by, and the genin welcomed the start of the Chunin Exams on July 1st.

3 PM, Konoha Ninja Academy.

The ninja school, which should be empty of students on weekends, was packed with countless people today.

The people gathered at the Ninja Academy included children as young as eleven or twelve, like Naruto; teenagers as young as seventeen or eighteen; and young adults in their twenties or even early thirties.

Despite their significant age difference, they share common characteristics.

Naruto's gaze swept over the headbands that could be seen somewhere on the bodies of the people—these were all ninjas who had come to participate in the Chunin Exams.

This place is not only home to Konoha ninjas, but also to four ninjas from small countries: Kusanagi, Amane, Taki, and Oto, as well as ninjas from Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Nations along with Konoha.