Chapter 75: Kimimaro's condition

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Izumi was feeling nervous.

She had accidently caught her sensei and Hachiro-sama, doing their 'exercise' again, causing there to be an awkward silence stuck in the air.

Hachiro didn't mind much, but Pakura was a different story.

Although, he and Samui had tried to hide the 'corrupt' moments in where they spend their time together. It was quite hard considering your roommate had a byakugan.

That thing could see through walls, and he would rather not use powerful barriers during his wind down time.

As such, they had gotten into the habit of only letting loose after 11 o'clock.

Pakura on the other hand wanted to die.

When she thought back to when she had been the serious and stern teacher in front of Izumi, she felt like her image had been ripped to shreds.

It would take at least two days to reach the Land of Lightning, so she would have to suck it up in the meantime.

...

...

Three days later.

This year, Hinata and her cohorts graduated but despite that unlike Konoha they didn't have any recommendations for the newly graduated genin.

Well, aside from Kimimaro, who had been assigned to Killer B and Haku, who was being taught by Mei Terumi.

Hinata and the other two bloodline possessors were called into the Fourth Raikage's office for something very serious.

Upon noticing their entry, the Raikage lifted up a few pages and chucked it at them with little to no care.

The three of them looked down.

The pages contained some of their basic information and a photo printed on it.

"The Chunin exam will be held in Konoha next month, we have decided that you three will participate as one team."

The Fourth Raikage bluntly said,

Hachiro raised his hand while sitting on a sofa, drawing everyone's attention,

"I will be leading the team, so I want your very best. Alright?"

He sneakily grabbed Mabui by the waist, as she tried to keep a straight face.

Tutai took a step forward and said,

"The chunin exam is the least of your worries. Your real purpose will be to help Hachiro-sama, in this plan to occupy Konoha."

He then began to explain the steps and goal of this plan in more detail.

After a few more meetings with Orochimaru, they had settled down on one plan. It wasn't complicated one or much different from the original.

Orochimaru would continue his act as the Kazekage and lead both the sound village and the Sand to raid Konoha.

Kumo would then send Yugito with an elite force of two hundred men and wait for the signal just outside of the Land of Fire's border.

They had to place the two hundred men limit, otherwise, it would become harder to sustain such an army while hiding from Konoha.

The Shinobi were all at least Jonin in power level, and besides them there was a jinchuriki and low-kage Mei.

A lot of those ninja had also gotten sharingan transplants giving them an edge against their adversaries.

Killer B whined,

"Why don't I get to do anything fun?"

Hachiro responded mercilessly,

"The goal is to take over Konoha, not destroy it. Make sure to keep Kumo safe, idiot."

The jinchuriki snorted,

"Cough cough cough!"

Kimimaro suddenly, started coughing up blood.

"Hey! Kimimaro, are you okay?"

Killer B brought him over to a seat.

"How about we replace Kimimaro with Karui or Omoi?"

Seeing Kimimaro's mouth full of blood, Killer B suggested.

"No, it's not necessary."

Kimimaro wiped away the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and said.

"This mission is important to everyone in the village. I must participate in order to find out the true worth of my life."

Hachiro looked at him and frowned in thought,

Kimimaro's condition hasn't improved at all compared to the original. Is there anything we can do to at least delay it?

...

...

Currently in konoha, the guide Jonin with genin squads had gathered in the Hokage's office to recommend and give their report on their teams progress.

Thud!

With a forceful push, the handsome green beast of Konoha came through the door way.

Might Guy exclaimed exuding the power of youth, "Hokage-sama, I recommend my youthful genin team, Neji, Lee and Tenten!"

Kurenai spoke in a much more subdued tone, "Hokage-sama, my team has showed considerable growth and I think they are ready they are ready to take the exams."

Following up, Kakashi and Asuma recommended their newly graduated genin team.

Hinata's replacement was a young girl called Yakumo Kurama, a clan that gradually fell alongside the founders of the village.

Some Jonin present were dubious upon hearing that they had only just came out of the academy a few months ago.

Ignoring the discussion of his colleagues, Hayate Gekko walked in and placed a pile of documents on the village leader's desk.

He was meant to be the Chief examiner for the next Chunin exam and was tasked with organising anything that the Hokage might have wanted to know.

"Lord Hokage, we have confimed which teams are going to be participating in the Chunin exam."

The Hokage picked up the page at the very top of the pile and muttered to himself,

"Sunagakure team 18, consisting of Temari, Gaara and Kankuro. Their guide jonin is that bastard Baki."

Hiruzen puffed out a cloud of smoke, compared to six years ago, he now had a much larger spread of white hair and a few more wrinkles.

Baki?

Hearing the familiar name, the expressions of the many shinobi changed slightly.

They remembered a few years ago when they first heard about the sudden death of the Anbu's head captain, it had almost caused a war between Sunagakure and Konoha.

This Jonin was the same man from back then?

Hiruzen covered his emotions with a mask and continued to look down the page.

Under the Kumogakure candidates he noticed two peculiar names.

"Cloud candidates, Kaguya Kimimaro, Haku Yuki and Hinata Raiden..."

The older Jonin knew the name 'Hinata' rang a few bells, but they didn't know who it was exactly until one of them whispered dubiously

"As in the Hyuga from 12 years ago?"

Hiruzen ignored him and continued,

"Leading Jōnin..."

They all felt an ominous premonition...

"Hachiro Raiden."

Kurenai could feel a headache emerge as she staggered backwards.

Anko caught her using her nimble hands before asking if she was okay.

Kakashi frowned and speculated,

"What's he trying to achieve? I could see the Cloud trying to show off Hinata to satisfy their vanity, but why would they also send a Kage-level shinobi?"

Kurenai took a few deep breathes and said,

"Remember to call her Hinata Raiden. The branch family doesn't know much about what happened, we should try to prevent them from overreacting. At least, this way we only have to worry about the Main family's reaction."

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Note: Sorry for the late chapter.