Chapter 78: ...

The three teenagers representing the cloud simply sat down, the moment they entered the room.

Naruto, acted just like in the original and caused a disturbance before Kabuto intervened.

After a quick introduction, he started to share the intelligence, he had gathered.

Sasuke asked about Gaara and Rock Lee, two people he considered obstacles on his path for revenge.

Kabuto drew two cards with basic information on the two shinobi.

He first talked about Rock Lee, mainly emphasizing that while he only had outstanding taijutsu, he was much stronger than many of his peers.

Then came Gaara, the genin with a cruel reputation and a B-level mission, under his belt.

The Konoha 11 were shocked at how strong, he seemed to be.

Suddenly, they heard someone's voice, they turned their heads to meet Neji Hyuga, who sat down beside them.

"May I ask about someone?"

Kabuto hummed in affirmation.

"Hinata... Raiden from Kumogakure."

Halfway through the conversation, Neji realised he was being too obvious.

"Huh? That's a very interesting question."

Kabuto's glasses took on a scary shine that flashed for a single instant.

Using his middle and index fingers, he swiped a card from his pile.

With a small injection of chakra, seals activated revealing words that formed paragraphs.

"Hinata Raiden, like you lot, is a first timer in these exams. She graduated last year, and her guide jonin is the well known Hachiro Raiden from Kumogakure. Like her father, she mainly uses Lightning jutsu."

Kabuto narrowed his eyes before looking up and continuing.

"This is merely what I got from rumours. I don't know much more, but considering she was taught by one of the strongest shinobi in the world, it wouldn't be a surprise if she's the strongest out of everyone here. I remember hearing something about her managing to draw blood from a powerful ninja in the Cloud, some said it was the eight tails jinchuriki, others say it was merely a jonin. Can't be too sure so don't count on it."

Neji frowned to himself in thought.

"Lightning style..."

Most Hyuga ninja did not practise any techniques other than the Gentle fist, Revolving Heaven and similar techniques that used Taijutsu as a foundation to bring out the power of their byakugan to the max.

Many of the ninja from the Hyuga family disdained and were proud that they had a completely separate set of techniques with no glaringly obvious weakness that could be called out.

Although, his father hadn't died and gave him an obsession with 'Fate' and 'destiny', he still felt that inexplicable hostility towards the main house as many of his clansmen from the outer branch.

It was only natural, having your life in someone else's hands was never a good feeling.

Even if she left Konoha, he still wanted to satisfy his vanity by beating her a little.

"What's an Eight Tails Jinchuriki?"

Sakura and Ino curiously prodded their senior for more information.

"The ninja who host the tailed beasts, they are called 'Jinchuriki'. They are the ultimate weapons of each village, there nine beasts in total. The cloud possesses the Two tails and Eight tails, Konoha on the other hand only has the–"

Behind Kabuto's back, the face of Naruto gradually become paler with each word coming out from his mouth.

Bang!!!

All of a sudden, dozens of ninja headed by Ibiki Morino appeared on the podium using the Body Flicker Technique.

"You bunch of children from Konoha! Your about to be left behind, its time for the exam to begin. Why are you still chatting? Do you want to be disqualified?!"

Ibiki noticed the congregation of leaf ninja and sternly reprimanded them.

The deterrence brought by the Jonin was great enough to scare the little rabbits into line.

They line was sorted out by candidate number.

The teams were broken up and separated from each other.

Originally, in order to strengthen the credibility of Kabuto, Orochimaru had arranged for the scene with the team from the Sound village. This time around, it wasn't all that important as they had already collected enough intelligence on the enemy.

Right now, it was more about combat power and strategy between the two sides.

Outside Konoha Village.

Hachiro flashed Asuma a smirk, before hiding it with a innocent smile and asking,

"You know, the four of you following me isn't much better than one."

He put his hand on his chin and said,

"I think I would like Miss Yuhi if there is a choice. Hmm~"

Asuma gave a hmph and sped up his walking pace.

"Hey, no need to get so angry, I just don't like walking with men. I'm not interested in this... lady, here either."

Hachiro explained while glancing about,

The eyes of Kurenai widened. Was this bastard throwing shade her way?

Hachiro's face lit up in realisation, he thought of something and said,

"Oh wait, you're not in a relationship, anyway. Sorry, need to get that out of my head."

Asuma started breathing heavily as he held himself back.

Kakashi looked at Kurenai and said,

"We'll go back and report to Lord Hokage. Take care."

After some conversing they rushed off towards the Hokage's office.

Hachiro stretched and suggested.

"Yo, can we go see the ruins of the Uchiha compound."

Her face unkind, Kurenai said,

"No, it's currently property under the Sarutobi clan."

That perpetually constant itch to kick him intensified.

"Heh~ That was sneaky."

He mumbled,

They continued wandering around until they found an appealing restaurant.

They walked in and sat down before hearing a bold cry coming from a woman.

"C'mon! 20 more Dangos!"

Kurenai looked at her subconsciously and said in astonishment.

"Anko! There are only 10 minutes left until the end of the first exam, why are you still here?!"

Anko chuckled in response before saying with her mouth full.

"Ish okay, I cawn ruone over... in five minutes. I won't be late."

More of her favourite Dangos were brought to the table and she was about to dig in.

But then she noticed the man beside her, she froze before shouting happily.

"Oh! You took my advice and hooked up with another hunk!"

"Of course not!!"

Kurenai gave her a few light punches out of anger before calming down.

"Your Hokage-sama, asked her to monitor me."

Hachiro explained.