Chapter 136: The Lively Chunin Exams

Chapter 136: The Lively Chunin Exams

After Team Narita completed their mission and disbanded, all three genin—and even Captain Narita Reizo himself—immediately spread the news among their friends: Chiko Tomoe was going to participate in the upcoming chunin exams.

By evening, practically every ninja in the village had heard the news. Whether or not they had previously known Chiko Tomoe's name, they all knew it now.

A girl who had nearly failed to graduate was now, only a year later, taking the chunin exam.

Among those who heard the news, some were scornful, some curious, some doubtful, and many were simply eager to watch.

After all, not everyone was like Naruto Uzumaki, blessed with "main character aura."

For ordinary people, every bit of progress was earned step-by-step through blood and sweat.

The difficulty of transforming from a barely qualified genin into a chunin in just one year was something only true prodigies could understand.

Thus, when Chiko Tomoe arrived at the exam venue the next day, accompanied by her younger sister Kotake, she was stunned by the scene before her.

Originally, only a few hundred genin had signed up for the exam. Even adding in their teammates and captains, the total should have been around a thousand people.

But now, outside the examination field, more than ten thousand people had gathered.

Among them were ninja of all ranks, a large number of civilians, but the majority were still genin.

They all wanted to see whether this so-called "lucky girl" could really pass the chunin exam.

Only Chiko Tomoe and her sister Kotake, who had stayed indoors all day yesterday, were unaware of the uproar they had caused.

Kajiyama Ri and Kawakita had, of course, heard the news early on.

Both felt somewhat relieved—fortunately, with Chiko Tomoe attracting all the attention, it wasn't them standing in the spotlight.

At this moment, the two boys were waiting outside the training field for Chiko's arrival.

When they saw Chiko's utterly confused face, Kajiyama Ri immediately understood: she had no idea she was the "culprit" behind today's spectacle.

Kajiyama quickly pulled Chiko and Kotake aside to a quiet spot and gave the two bewildered sisters a quick summary of what had happened.

Upon hearing it, the sisters' mouths formed perfect O-shapes.

Before they could recover from the shock, Kawakita spoke first, "Now we've become the focus of this year's chunin exam, and with Ishiro-sensei absent, what should we do?"

That had been the very reason Kajiyama and Kawakita had been waiting outside.

Influenced by Ishiro, none of them enjoyed being in the spotlight.

They weren't used to being the center of attention.

Although Kajiyama and Kawakita came from ninja families and had some composure, Chiko Tomoe, as a civilian-born ninja, was even more overwhelmed.

She usually excelled during missions by relying on intelligence and meticulousness, but this kind of public spectacle? She was completely out of her depth.

Luckily, someone came to help them out.

Two proctors walked over and addressed Kajiyama Ri, "You must be the disciples of Lord Ishiro?"

"The chief examiner has arranged a resting place for you. Please follow us."

Although the chunin examiner was speaking to Kajiyama, he kept stealing glances at Chiko Tomoe.

The other examiner openly scanned her up and down, as if searching for what made this ordinary-looking girl so special.

Naturally, Chiko Tomoe noticed.

She thought helplessly, "Even the proctors are acting like this... what about everyone else?"

Still, having someone to guide them was a blessing.

Kajiyama thanked the examiners on behalf of the group, and the four followed them into the training grounds.

Ikura, the chief examiner, had anticipated the commotion after hearing the news the previous night.

Using Earth Release techniques, he had created tiered seating around the training field so that both ninja and civilians could watch from temporary stands.

Thanks to this setup, although the crowd was enormous, everything remained surprisingly orderly.

Led by the examiners, the four reached the resting area for participating candidates.

This so-called "resting area" was actually just another section of the spectator stands.

Most of the examinees had already arrived, so the place was crowded.

Chiko Tomoe's arrival, along with her teammates, didn't initially cause much of a stir—after all, not many people recognized them yet.

However, shortly after they sat down, a group of six people approached.

Chiko didn't recognize them, but Kajiyama clearly did.

"Mirai, Tsuko, Misa, Ayo, Satsuki, Yukika—you're all participating too?"

Hanegawa Mirai looked at Kajiyama Ri with undisguised envy.

A year ago, as the top graduate of their class, he hadn't even considered Kajiyama a rival.

In academy duels, he had always beaten Kajiyama handily.

Yet now, this once "invisible" classmate was more famous than him.

Mirai felt indignant. He knew Kajiyama's talents well and didn't believe his current strength surpassed his own.

What really caught Mirai off guard, however, was Kawakita standing next to Kajiyama.

That aura…

Mirai was startled.

As a fellow close-combat specialist, he immediately recognized the sharpness radiating from Kawakita.

"That's sword aura..." he thought in surprise.

Mirai's own jōnin instructor had been a close-combat type too, and he had just barely begun to grasp sword aura himself.

That someone their age had already exuded it so naturally made Mirai uneasy.

Mirai was still digesting this when Kamino Tsuko, a boisterous girl from their year, interrupted bluntly, "Kajiyama Ri, introduce your teammates already!"

Kawakita's mouth twitched.

This was their class's "big sister" figure—an infamous school bully who had once beaten up half the boys during training sessions.

Instinctively, Kawakita stepped half a pace back and nudged Kajiyama forward.

Kajiyama smiled helplessly and said, "This is Kawakita, from the class next door. You should remember—he probably took a few beatings from you too."

Kawakita looked like he wanted to dig a hole and hide.

Seriously, why bring that up? And besides, lots of people got smacked around back then—how would she remember?

Sure enough, Kamino Tsuko frowned and tried to recall, but clearly had no memory of ever beating up Kawakita.

Not that she cared much.

With her typical brazenness, she dismissed Kawakita entirely.

"Forget it. I don't care about that wooden log. Go find somewhere quiet to stand."

Then, ignoring the stunned Kawakita, she shoved Kajiyama aside, strode right up to Chiko Tomoe, and declared:

"Name's Kamino Tsuko. From now on, you're under my protection."

Before Chiko could react, she was dragged away into Tsuko's orbit.

Kajiyama and Kawakita made no effort to stop her.

Both were clearly recalling the terror they had once felt under Tsuko's tyranny.

Still, they knew that although Tsuko was rough on boys, she genuinely looked after the girls.

Kamino Tsuko, her teammate Hoshikawa Yukika, and Hanegawa Mirai's teammate Aita Misa led Chiko away, with little Kotake following nervously behind.

Watching them go, Kajiyama Ri, Kawakita, and the others let out a collective sigh of relief.

With Tsuko taking charge, things would probably go a lot smoother.

Mirai finally snapped out of his daze and picked up the conversation, "Me, Tsuko, Ayo, and Misa are all participating. You're a bit of a surprise addition, Kajiyama."

The ones Mirai mentioned were the top graduates of their year.

As for Ikeda Satsuki, the last of the group, he hadn't registered because his strength simply wasn't enough.

Satsuki felt the most complicated emotions.

His abilities weren't that different from Kajiyama's—or so he had once believed.

Yet here he was, unqualified even to take the exam, while Kajiyama stood ready.

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

While Kajiyama was still reserved and humble, to Satsuki, he now felt as distant as a true genius.

Among their classmates, Kajiyama was well-liked and received many greetings.

Kawakita, more withdrawn by nature, was barely acknowledged by his former peers.

Aside from their own year's candidates, there were two younger participants this year as well:

Maruyama Jun, a young prodigy who had awakened the Explosion Release bloodline.

Mikami Aya, a child from one of Iwagakure's rare ninja beast families.

The rest of the participants were older—some even middle-aged—typically those who had missed their chance at promotion earlier in life.

Soon, the exam officially began.

First, all candidates gathered in the training ground's center to draw lots.

And that was when the audience finally saw Chiko Tomoe clearly.

"There she is! The girl in purple—that's Chiko Tomoe! We were classmates!" shouted one enthusiastic spectator.

Similar exclamations echoed across the stands.

Even Chiko's neighbor Meiko was pointing proudly at her, explaining to anyone who would listen.

At first, the discussions were relatively tame.

But before long, even before Chiko had drawn her lot, her name was being shouted across the entire arena.

Though separated by distance, Chiko could clearly hear the chant:

"Chiko Tomoe! Good luck!"

"Chiko Tomoe! Good luck!"

The voices multiplied, merging into a tidal wave of support.

Chiko froze, stunned.

She had mentally prepared herself for jealousy, mockery, maybe even insults.

But she had never expected cheers.

In reality, she had misunderstood something fundamental:

Iwagakure was far more united than she thought.

Though others envied her luck, many also saw hope.

If a civilian-born ninja like Chiko could rise, perhaps so could their own children someday.

Older ninjas thought, Even if I missed my chance, maybe my kids will get theirs.

Younger ones thought, Maybe strong mentors will start taking more disciples now.

And maybe—just maybe—the next lucky one could be them.

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