Chapter 180: The Common Path

"Er, Daigo, where exactly did you send that person just now?" Habara asked after a moment's stunned silence.

The barrier protecting the Nameless Mountain Hidden Domain operated automatically. Under normal circumstances, Daigo was only responsible for identifying whether someone entering the outer perimeter had clearance. Those with authorization could proceed for the next round of "authentication," while those without were simply ejected... which meant Sara had been unceremoniously tossed out.

"She should have... been transferred to Location Four... I think?" Daigo sounded uncertain.

Right. Habara sighed inwardly; he'd have to search Location Four first.

The so-called Location Four was situated in another mountain range south of the Land of Fire, near the coast. Because this involved teleporting only a single individual, it didn't consume the massive amounts of chakra like Habara's previous experiment. In this sense, it resembled the Flying Thunder God Technique more closely – silently whisking someone away to parts unknown. The "landing" spots for those ejected from Nameless Mountain were designed to resemble the environment around Nameless Mountain itself. Coupled with the disorientation caused by spatial teleportation, most people probably wouldn't immediately realize they'd been moved.

Sure enough, when Habara reached Location Four, he found Sara, the village chief who had unwittingly served as the prop in a "vanishing act" magic trick.

Having been abruptly deposited here, she was understandably confused. There had been a living person right in front of her, so how did he vanish after a dizzy spell? Unable to find Habara and unsure of her whereabouts, she had wandered further astray in her disorientation and, unfortunately, twisted her ankle.

Thank goodness she had lost mobility; otherwise, Habara wouldn't have found her so quickly.

"Habara! What happened? Why did you suddenly disappear?" Sara visibly relaxed upon seeing him again.

"Two possibilities," Habara replied, sidestepping her inaccurate perception rather than correcting it. "One, what you saw was a mirage. Two, I run extremely fast." He changed the subject, "Why were you at the foot of that mountain?"

"We were scouting the surrounding area," Sara explained. "After relocating here, we can't remain ignorant about our environment, can we?"

That made sense. Habara nodded. "So you got lost?" he followed up.

Sara: "..."

Getting lost was merely a minor mishap during the exploration process.

Habara immediately noticed Sara's injured ankle and understood this wasn't the time for banter. He reached out to help her up. "Can you stand? Walk?"

Standing wasn't an issue for Sara, but walking was clearly difficult. Habara didn't know medical ninjutsu; the priority was getting her back to the New Rouran Village.

For a ninja of his caliber, transporting an ordinary person over long distances was no problem at all. Might Guy had carried Kakashi all the way back to Konoha from the Land of Rivers, after all. However, given that Habara and Sara weren't particularly close, carrying her princess-style was out of the question. But if he wanted to become more familiar... carrying the injured Sara piggyback style back to Rouran would certainly be an option.

The theory was sound, the logic impeccable, therefore... Habara performed the Summoning Technique, calling forth the Eagle from his 'Rock, Scales, Stripes' summon collection, and flew Sara back to her new home.

His reasoning was simple: if she couldn't walk, just fly back... Yes, aside from being slightly unconventional, perhaps a bit lacking in emotional intelligence, and completely oblivious to romantic subtleties, there wasn't really anything wrong with this approach.

Back in Konoha, ninjas often followed a depressingly common career path: brilliant Genin to mediocre Chunin to incompetent Jonin. Now, it was finally Genin Tenzo's turn to move up.

After all, he was fifteen and had occupied the rank of Genin for many years. He couldn't stay there any longer; continuing would be... embarrassing.

Tenzo was a Wood Release user, possessing a portion of the legendary God of Shinobi's power. He couldn't remain a perpetual Genin. So, with the new year approaching and the next Chunin Exams scheduled, Tenzo had to sign up.

When Habara returned to Konoha, he was immediately roped into helping organize the Chunin Exams.

The current Chunin Exams had undergone some slight changes compared to Habara's memories. Adhering strictly to the principle of joint participation from surrounding nations and alternating hosting duties between Konoha and Sunagakure, the exams now carried a stronger emphasis on "diplomacy and confrontation." This made the event grander and more serious, requiring Konoha or Suna to invest significantly more manpower, resources, and effort into organizing it.

The long and short of it was that the post-war joint Chunin Exams were now held only once a year, still alternating between Konoha and Suna. If they tried to hold it twice a year, Konoha wouldn't get anything else done – they'd spend the first half of the year organizing their own exams and the second half helping Suna organize theirs.

Holding the Chunin Exams twice a year had always seemed unnecessary anyway. There was no real need for such frequency. Habara found this change quite reasonable.

Although Habara was drafted into the organizational work, he was merely there to fill a spot, not serving as a chief proctor. It wasn't that he lacked the qualifications; in fact, he had received an invitation but flatly refused. He had no desire to take on such mentally taxing work.

This was Konoha's second time hosting the joint Chunin Exams since the end of the Third Shinobi World War. The first attempt had been chaotic due to lack of experience; after all, the participating villages had been trying to tear each other's throats out not long before. Suddenly expecting them to play nice for an exam was unrealistic. This time, Konoha was prepared. Jonin like Habara served as the final layer of insurance. If any unresolvable trouble broke out, people like him were authorized to solve the problem – or solve the person causing the problem.

So, two members from their organization were participating in the exams this time, albeit in different capacities: one as an examiner (of sorts), the other as an examinee.

After accepting the Third Hokage's conscription order, Habara crossed the street back to the small earthen building. Upon entering, he discovered a rather unique new member within their organization... reporting to Kushina Uzumaki in her office.

The reason this person was unique was twofold: firstly, she was incredibly young, and secondly...

"Lady Kushina, is this... a ninja from the Uchiha clan?"

Habara hadn't forgotten telling Shisui that Uchiha ninjas would be allowed to join the organization. It was an important matter.

What Habara hadn't expected was for Shisui to send a little girl. On reflection, however, the arrangement made perfect sense. Any ninja chosen by Shisui would naturally be from the pro-Konoha faction within the Uchiha. Furthermore, her young age would significantly lower the guard of others in the organization. What ulterior motives could a little girl possibly have?

Even though history was rife with genius child spies under the age of ten pulling off major schemes, Habara was certain Shisui didn't have such intentions.

"Yes. This is Uchiha Izumi, a Genin who just joined the organization today," Kushina Uzumaki stated.

Hearing the name, Habara sucked in a sharp breath. "Uchiha Izuna?"

Holy crap! Did the Uchiha bratty younger brother cut down by the Second Hokage get reincarnated? And gender-bent first?

"Uchiha Izumi. No 'Na'," Kushina corrected sharply, clearly annoyed. How could Izumi and Izuna be the same? Izumi was practically still in elementary school; Izuna had been pushing up daisies for decades.

"Ah, right. Okay."

Perhaps in Habara's eyes, any Uchiha ninja had a non-zero chance of uttering infamous lines like, "If you must hate someone, hate your own fate for not possessing the Sharingan."