Chapter 96: The Third Hokage Wants to Hold a Joint Chunin Exam

After chatting with Sasuke for only a few minutes, Naruto walked over to Hinata and took her small hand.

"Hinata, let’s go."

There wasn’t much time left for Naruto to stay in Konoha.

During this period, he wanted to spend more time with Hinata.

As for the future, he would leave it to the future.

"Mm."

Unaware of Naruto’s thoughts, Hinata happily nodded.

She only felt that after being assigned to the same team, Naruto had become especially considerate.

He had taken the initiative to walk her home for two days in a row.

So it really had been because someone from her family used to pick her up that Naruto hadn’t walked her home before.

By now, Hinata was already accustomed to holding Naruto’s hand.

Even when they walked through the streets together, she no longer reacted strongly.

What she felt most was sweetness.

Of course, if they ran into someone they knew, especially someone from her family, Hinata would still become embarrassed.

It was like young couples.

They could do anything together in private, yet holding hands in front of their families was enough to make them shy.

Meanwhile.

The Hyuga clan was one of Konoha’s major clans.

And Hinata was the heir to the main family.

She was already firmly tied to Konoha.

Watching their backs, Sasuke secretly sighed.

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Once Naruto’s plan began, the relationship between the two of them would probably face obstacles.

No wonder Naruto...

Perhaps Hinata might abandon everything and follow Naruto when the time came.

After all, weren’t girls sometimes completely unreasonable?

At least, that was how Sasuke saw it.

Women were simply unreasonable.

Just like the fangirls in his class.

Why waste all that time obsessing over boys instead of training properly?

It was simply an incomprehensible waste of life!

Remembering what Naruto had just said, Sasuke, who was still extremely excited, quickly ran toward home.

He felt that he absolutely needed to vent today.

He would spend the entire day doing physical training until he collapsed!

Meanwhile.

Hokage’s Office.

"Third-sama."

Kakashi, now wearing a clean vest, arrived at the Hokage’s Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was puffing away at his pipe, nodded slightly.

Then he vaguely caught the fresh scent of shower gel coming from Kakashi.

He gave Kakashi a meaningful look.

He had actually taken a shower after the test before coming here.

This kid Kakashi really was becoming particular about cleanliness.

Could he have gotten himself a girlfriend?

It was about time.

Kakashi was already twenty-six or twenty-seven.

If he didn’t find someone soon, it would be getting late.

After indulging in some idle gossip in his mind, Hiruzen asked,

"Kakashi, how did today’s test go?"

What Hiruzen really wanted to know was the strength of Naruto’s team.

But to Kakashi, combined with the Hokage’s faintly amused expression, the question sounded completely different.

Kakashi’s face darkened.

Who told the Hokage about my embarrassing situation?

Yamato?

He’s dead.

Kakashi mentally added another grudge against Yamato.

After thinking for a moment, Kakashi said,

"Their strength is pretty good.

"Using only taijutsu and the basic Three Body Technique against the three members of Team Seven, I lost."

Clack!

Hearing this, Hiruzen froze.

His pipe slipped from his mouth and landed on the desk.

Lost?

No way!

With taijutsu alone, Kakashi had no trouble killing an ordinary Jonin.

And now he had been defeated by three newly graduated Genin?

Seeing Hiruzen’s reaction, Kakashi became confused.

He didn’t know?

Then he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It was only a loss in taijutsu.

There was nothing to be ashamed of.

Kakashi wasn’t someone who couldn’t accept losing.

As long as the Hokage didn’t know that three Genin had burned him black—

That was enough.

After a brief moment of shock, Hiruzen recovered.

"You really lost? Tell me what happened."

"Mm."

Kakashi nodded.

He then briefly recounted the battle.

When he reached the part where Naruto used the Adamantine Sealing Chains to bind him, he stopped.

He conveniently omitted the part where Sasuke’s Great Fireball had hit him point-blank and burned him black.

Hiruzen nodded.

After hearing the entire process, he understood.

This was a sparring match, and Kakashi had deliberately chosen to test their strength by fighting the three of them head-on.

So losing wasn’t particularly strange.

In a real battle between shinobi, even without using ninjutsu, Kakashi had plenty of ways to deal with them.

The simplest would be to create distance and defeat them one by one.

Or hide himself quickly and launch an assassination attack.

Shinobi battles weren’t about standing face-to-face and exchanging blows.

They were about infiltration, concealment, and assassination.

That didn’t mean Naruto’s team wasn’t strong.

Kakashi could stand his ground against some Jonin using only taijutsu.

Yet he had lost to three newly graduated Genin.

If word of this got out, Kakashi’s reputation would probably take a serious hit.

Putting those thoughts aside, Hiruzen asked,

"Tell me your assessment of their strength."

Kakashi thought for a moment before answering.

"They shouldn’t have any trouble defeating some Chunin head-on.

"Their main weakness is that they don’t know many ninjutsu, which makes them vulnerable to opponents with a wider range of techniques.

"Once they expand their arsenal of ninjutsu, their strength will undergo a qualitative change."

Of course, that assessment excluded Hinata.

Members of the Hyuga clan generally focused on their clan’s Gentle Fist and rarely trained in ninjutsu.

Hinata had already mastered the Hyuga clan’s Gentle Fist to a very high level.

She could even perform the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms.

Yet she was still slightly weaker than Naruto and Sasuke.

Kakashi didn’t say much about Hinata.

He knew the Third Hokage wouldn’t pay too much attention to her.

Hiruzen nodded.

Kakashi’s assessment was roughly the same as his own previous judgment.

The only difference was that before, they had merely been suspected of being capable of defeating Chunin.

Now it was certain.

After thinking for a moment, an idea suddenly occurred to Hiruzen.

"Kakashi, I’ll leave them to you.

"For next year’s Chunin Exams, I’m planning to invite the other hidden villages and hold a joint Chunin Exam.

"I want your Team Seven to participate.

"Konoha hasn’t produced any particularly outstanding young shinobi in many years.

"This is the perfect opportunity to show the other villages the talent of Konoha’s next generation."

"A joint Chunin Exam?"

Kakashi’s pupils contracted slightly.

Then he said,

"There are only a few months until next year’s Chunin Exams. Won’t that be too soon?

"And during a joint Chunin Exam, shinobi from different villages will be mixed together. Deaths are extremely common.

"The Genin of Team Seven haven’t even seen blood before.

"Are you sure they’ll be okay?"

Hiruzen stared at Kakashi.

"Kakashi, if I remember correctly, you became a Genin at the age of five and started killing people shortly afterward.

"You became a Jonin at thirteen, didn’t you?

"They’re already twelve.

"When you were twelve, you had already gone to war and earned considerable achievements on the battlefield.

"They haven’t seen blood yet, but we can arrange a few dangerous missions for them.

"I believe they’ll adapt very quickly.

"Don’t worry. I have confidence in Team Seven."

Meanwhile.

After Naruto had just escorted Hinata back to the Hyuga compound, he was preparing to follow his Flying Thunder God mark and go find Ino.

He had already figured out his schedule.

If Team Seven had a meeting, he would accompany Hinata.

If there was no meeting, he would spend time with Ino.

And at home, he could stay with Uchiha Izumi.

Starting today, he was officially a master of time management!

Suddenly, Minato Namikaze’s voice sounded from within his mind.

"Naruto, the Third Hokage wants to hold a joint Chunin Exam. He wants your Team Seven to participate."

Hearing this, Naruto’s eyes flashed.

A strange smile appeared on his face.

"Heh. A joint Chunin Exam?

"Hiruzen is digging his own grave."

to read advance Chapters join my patreon PH4nt0mTL