Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

The ninja leading this group of Chunin Examiners was the captain of the Konoha Interrogation Squad, his face covered in hideous scars, and his ninja rank was Special Jonin.

"I am Ibiki Morino, the examiner for the first Chunin Exam."

He gave a brief self-introduction to the candidates in the examination room.

Ibiki's gaze fell on the three members of the Sound Village trio: "Do you want to be disqualified from the exam?"

"It's just a normal ninja exchange. Isn't that the purpose of the Chunin Exams? To unite ninjas from different countries to assess their strength."

Tos replied, though his words were barbed, his tone already softened towards Ibixi.

"Ha, you see things very clearly."

Ibiki said no more and gestured for the Chunin beside him to come forward.

The Chunin Examiner with a bandage wrapped around his nose was holding a cardboard box.

"You have five minutes to draw your seat numbers."

Following Ibixi's command, all the candidates lined up and began taking out their seat number slips from the cardboard box.

"The examiner with the bandage on his nose, and the examiner next to him... don't they look a bit like those two people who blocked the door on the second floor earlier?"

In the group, Sakura, who was standing behind Naruto, whispered her observations.

"The chakra feels about right, so it should be correct."

Naruto glanced at Kotetsu and Izumo, who had returned to normal, but didn't pay them much attention.

He quickly looked away and focused his attention on Yakushi Kabuto at the front of the line.

He wondered if his earlier act of helping Kabuto Yakushi had made Kabuto feel awkward in that situation.

The conclusion after careful consideration is that it is reasonable.

Kabuto Yakushi approached Naruto and his friends with good intentions, and it was precisely because Naruto "talked too much" and asked about information regarding Otogakure (the Hidden Sound Village) that he succeeded.

Kabuto Yakushi's description of Otogakure displeased Tosu and his group, which led to the attack.

Naruto and Kabuto were actually putting on an act.

Kabuto Yakushi's performance was intended to reinforce his perceived "weak" strength—his inability to pass the Chunin exam—and to cultivate an image of himself as a harmless senior Konoha ninja.

This was Kabuto Yakushi's way of paving the way for him to have a deeper connection with Sasuke Uchiha in the Forest of Death.

Through deep contact, they search for answers that may exist within Sasuke regarding Kabuto Yakushi's own confusion.

Naruto simply added his own performance to Kabuto's act.

While helping Kabuto Yakushi, Naruto had already prepared his backup plan.

That is, the Flying Thunder God Mark.

The Forest of Death in Konoha, the second Chunin Exam where killing is legal... Naruto will "legally" eliminate Kabuto Yakushi, a huge future threat.

"next."

Gang Zitie, who was in charge of drawing the candidates' seat numbers, called out.

Naruto stepped forward to the podium, reached into the cardboard box, and randomly took out a slip of paper.

"next."

Gangzi Tie repeated his shouts.

Naruto tactfully left the podium, glanced at the number on the slip of paper, and walked towards the seat corresponding to that number.

Naruto passed by Hinata, who was already seated.

Naruto then showed a hint of surprise.

Surprisingly, his seat in this exam wasn't next to Hinata's.

Naruto walked towards the back of the classroom and finally stopped in front of Ino.

"W-what are you doing?"

Ino was also taken aback when she saw Naruto appear in front of her.

"Humph……"

Naruto found Ino's expression—like a mouse seeing a cat—amusing.

"Laugh! What are you laughing at!"

Ino finally realized that she always subconsciously lowered her posture when facing Naruto.

She's not usually like this; she's usually more in control!

Thinking this, Ino glared fiercely at Naruto.

But the aura that Ino displayed was not what she thought it was; it was all just bluffing.

"You're quite funny."

Naruto left his evaluation of Ino, then continued walking past her.

Ino finally realized that Naruto's seat was not hers at all!

She had seen Naruto approaching and spoke up first, showing her fear, which gave Naruto the opportunity to tease her.

hateful!

Has this guy become even more annoying than before?!

Ino thought to herself...

But thinking back to Naruto's cold and aloof demeanor in the past...

Although Naruto is somewhat "annoying" now, Ino is more willing to spend time with him now.

Naruto doesn't have the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques, so he can't hear or see what Ino is thinking.

He had stopped in front of Ino earlier because he was surprised by the person at the next table.

To hide his unusual surprise, he teased Ino, making it seem as if his sudden stop was because of her.

Naruto finally sat down in his seat.

His deskmate and neighbor was Temari.

Chapter 30 The Destruction Plan of Konoha

Temari has yellow hair with four short braids tied at the back of her head that look very prickly.

The ninja headband she wore on her forehead served as the dividing line between the top and bottom.

Two of the short braids were on the headband's strap, while the other two short braids below the strap were positioned horizontally to her ears.

Naruto never imagined that his deskmate in this written test would be Temari.

As the eldest daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, Kankuro and Gaara's older sister—the Kazekage's three children form a ninja team, which is the vanguard of the Sand Village's plan to destroy Konoha during the Chunin Exams.

The Joint Chunin Exams will gather daimyo from various countries and dignitaries from all walks of life. The Fourth Kazekage's plan is actually quite simple.

Naruto, sitting at the back of the exam hall, looked at Gaara, who was sitting in the middle of the exam hall.

Knowing Gaara's identity as a Jinchuriki of a Tailed Beast makes it easy to deduce the Fourth Kazekage's original plan.

During the final Chunin Exams, Gaara will unleash Shukaku, one of the Tailed Beasts, in front of everyone.

Shatter the powerful image that Konoha has maintained for many years!

This is probably the plan that truly belongs to the Fourth Kazekage.

With its current strength, Sunagakure cannot directly confront Konoha.

The invasion of Konoha was not a real attempt to launch a full-scale war; the true objective was to achieve a strategic victory for Sunagakure.

This will make the foolish Daimyo of the Land of Wind, who intends to abandon his own country's power and rely on Konoha's fighting force, understand what national politics is.

After the Third Shinobi World War, the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire formed an alliance.

The Kingdom of Wind suffered severe damage to its national strength after the war, and its desert-dominated geography also severely limited the recovery of its economy and agriculture.

As a result, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind simply bypassed his own Sunagakure village and began to delegate a large number of ninja missions to Konoha.

This led to the gradual decline of Sunagakure.

The daimyo of the Land of Wind even has plans to further shrink the influence of Sunagakure.

Despite being one of the five great nations of the ninja world, the daimyo of the Land of Wind, after enjoying a brief period of peace for just over a decade, is now preparing to sever his own country's "military power."

Instead, they focused on strengthening the already powerful Fire Country.

Without the power to protect one's own country, the benevolence of other nations will turn into the most cruel violence.

The daimyo of the Land of Wind was so stupid that he couldn't even understand such common sense.

This forced the Fourth Kazekage to join forces with the newly established Otogakure (Hidden Sound Village) in the Land of Rice Fields to plan an attack on Konoha.

Seeking cooperation with Yin Kuang is also a very smart move.

Compared to the small ninja villages surrounding the Land of Fire, which have been established for many years and whose intelligence has long been controlled by Konoha, this is a significant advantage.

The newly emerging Otogakure village in the Land of Rice Fields has not yet been controlled by Konoha.

The fourth-generation Kazekage will be able to recruit the Sound Shadow more easily.

The cooperation with Otogakure may seem dispensable to the powerful Sunagakure, but it is actually the most essential and cunning strategy in the Fourth Kazekage's plan for Konoha.

The Sound Village's Sound Ninja were used as the main fighting force to attack Konoha, while the Sand Village's own fighting force was preserved.

Once Sunagakure achieves its strategic objectives, the Fourth Kazekage will abandon Otogakure in the Land of Rice Fields afterwards.

The act of preserving combat strength can also be used to disguise the fact that Sunagakure was deceived by Otogakure.

They blamed all the problems on Otogakure and used the Land of Fields to divert attention from the conflict between the two great nations of Fire and Wind.

The only price Sunagakure had to pay was that the Fourth Kazekage was labeled by those unaware of the truth as a "fool who was deceived by a small country and betrayed a great power."

The Sand Village's gains far outweighed the costs.

The fourth Kazekage's strategic objectives were perfectly measured.

This was not enough to completely break ties between Konoha and Sunagakure, turning them from allies into enemies.