Chapter 108: The Sound Ninja Team

The day before the Chunin Exams.

At the gates of Konoha.

Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki were on guard duty.

Izumo flipped through the list in his hands before turning to Kotetsu.

"Tomorrow is the Chunin Exams. Looks like every participating village has arrived except the Sound Village."

Kotetsu, who was resting his chin on his hand, nodded.

"Yeah. The Sound Village still hasn’t arrived. But when did the Land of Sound even get a ninja village?"

Izumo laughed.

"Talk about being ignorant. Though honestly, this is my first time hearing about it too."

As he spoke, Izumo flipped through the list again.

"Look. Every village sent several Genin. The Sound Village only has three Genin participating."

Kotetsu glanced at the list and chuckled.

"Probably because they’re a small village. Since Konoha invited them, they probably don’t have many shinobi, so they just sent a few Genin to make an appearance."

Suddenly—

"The Sound Village is indeed only a small ninja village."

A somewhat cold voice came from behind them.

Izumo and Kotetsu stiffened.

Talking about someone behind their back was one thing.

Being overheard by the person himself was another.

The two awkwardly turned toward the voice.

A white-haired shinobi with green eyes and two red dots between his eyebrows was walking toward them.

Behind him followed three Genin—two boys and a girl.

One of the boys had white hair and purple eyes. His build was somewhat slender.

The other boy had orange hair and orange eyes. He was tall and muscular.

The female Genin had red hair and red eyes. She wore glasses and a white shirt, giving her the appearance of a studious intellectual.

The leader of the Sound team didn’t seem bothered by what they had said.

He walked up to Izumo and Kotetsu and handed over a scroll.

"We are shinobi from the Sound Village invited to participate in the Chunin Exams. I am the jōnin leading this team."

He handed them the scroll.

"This is the invitation issued by your village."

"Alright."

Izumo accepted the invitation.

After checking it and confirming that everything was in order, he quickly processed their Konoha entry permits.

Meanwhile, Kotetsu took photographs of the four of them.

The photographs were attached to their identification cards.

After stamping them, Izumo handed the four permits to the white-haired jōnin.

"Jōnin Kimimaro, these are your Konoha permits. Please keep them safe. If you lose them, come back and have them reissued as soon as possible."

Kimimaro accepted the permits.

"Understood."

He distributed the other three permits to his teammates.

Then he looked back at Izumo.

"Can we enter now?"

Izumo nodded.

"Yes, you can."

Kimimaro nodded and led the three Genin into Konoha.

After they had walked some distance away, Izumo finally let out a sigh of relief.

That had been awkward.

Kotetsu frowned as he stared at Kimimaro’s back.

Izumo noticed his expression and patted him on the shoulder.

"What’s wrong? Do you think there’s something suspicious about him?"

Kotetsu shook his head.

"No. I just feel like he’s not simple."

Izumo laughed.

"Didn’t you hear him? He’s the team’s jōnin."

He didn’t think much of it.

After all, what jōnin was actually simple?

Kotetsu nodded.

"True."

Meanwhile.

Walking behind Kimimaro, the white-haired, purple-eyed Genin suddenly grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth.

"Are all Konoha shinobi this arrogant? Even the gate guards look down on our Sound Village."

The red-haired girl beside him replied,

"Konoha is one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Isn’t it normal for them to be a little arrogant?"

As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something.

She turned toward the white-haired boy, surprise appearing in her eyes.

"Ah! I almost forgot. Suigetsu, you used to belong to one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages too."

Suigetsu’s expression immediately darkened.

"Don’t get cocky, Karin. You’re the one who shamelessly forced your way into our team."

"Because you pushed out Guren, she was depressed for several days!"

The moment Karin heard the words "shamelessly forced your way in," a huge vein popped out on her forehead.

She immediately punched Suigetsu in the head.

Suigetsu’s heart tightened.

He instantly activated his Hydrification Technique.

Splash!

His head exploded into water from the force of Karin’s punch.

The neck beneath it transformed into liquid, continuously churning and swelling.

Karin clicked her tongue.

"Guren is already that old. Why is she still pretending to be a Genin?"

The muscular boy beside them finally turned his head toward Karin.

Before long, Suigetsu’s head regenerated.

He stared at Karin helplessly.

"I’m about the same age as Guren."

Karin’s expression froze.

She hurriedly waved both hands.

"Jūgo, I wasn’t talking about you!"

Kimimaro, who had been walking in front, finally spoke.

"Alright, that’s enough. We’re almost entering the central area of the village."

"Stop fooling around. Watch what you say as well. Don’t accidentally leak any information."

Karin nodded.

"Don’t worry. I’ve been sensing our surroundings the entire time. There aren’t any shinobi nearby."

Kimimaro knew how powerful Karin’s sensory abilities were, so he nodded and said nothing more.

The group continued forward in silence.

After walking for more than ten minutes, they suddenly spotted a familiar figure.

Kimimaro and the others’ expressions shifted slightly.

However, none of them said anything or greeted him.

Karin’s eyes initially lit up when she recognized the familiar figure.

But after seeing him holding hands with a slender blonde girl, her expression immediately darkened.

She bit her lower lip, resentment filling her eyes.

Not far away.

Naruto was walking hand in hand with Ino.

Suddenly, he paused.

Ino looked at him curiously.

"What’s wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto’s expression remained calm as he glanced toward Kimimaro’s group.

"Nothing. I was just wondering what village they’re from. I’ve never seen the symbol on their forehead protectors before."

Ino looked at the musical-note symbol on their forehead protectors.

She was equally confused.

When she didn’t know something, Ino had always been the type to simply ask.

Suddenly, she raised the hand she had intertwined with Naruto’s and waved at them.

"Hey! Are you also here for the Chunin Exams?"

Her voice was loud enough to reach the Sound team.

"Which village are you from?"

Naruto was dumbfounded as Ino continued waving their intertwined hands at the Sound team.

Meanwhile, Karin had been secretly watching Naruto the entire time.

Seeing him holding hands with Ino and waving directly at her, faint flames seemed to ignite in her eyes.

Was this a provocation?

It definitely was!

Karin crossed her arms and deliberately turned toward Ino.

"Listen carefully, White-Bone Demon. We’re shinobi from the Sound Village."

She deliberately emphasized the words "White-Bone Demon."

Kimimaro, Suigetsu, and Jūgo all stopped.

They looked like they were waiting to watch a good show.

In reality, they had no objections to this interaction.

Ino had been the one to stop them, so there was no need to worry about accidentally attracting suspicion by talking to Naruto.

This was actually a perfect opportunity.

After this first interaction, the next time they met, casually exchanging a few words wouldn’t seem strange at all.

Ino’s forehead immediately developed a huge vein.

She took exactly 0.01 seconds to scan Karin from head to toe.

Then she sneered.

"Who are you calling a White-Bone Demon?"

"You ironing board!"

"Ironing board?"

Suigetsu glanced at Karin.

Then—

"Pfft!"

He couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

Karin’s expression instantly darkened.

"Suigetsu!"

"Ahahaha!"

Suigetsu laughed even harder.

The atmosphere between the two girls instantly became tense.

And the Chunin Exams had yet to even begin.

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