Chapter Twenty-Eight: Training Concluded, the Chunin Exams Begin

Chapter 28: The End of Training, The Chunin Exams Begin

Thank you all for your support. If you could take a moment to recommend this novel to your friends, it would give me even more motivation to keep updating. If you have a recommendation ticket, please vote for me; if not, just adding this to your collection helps as well. Both are sources of inspiration for me—without motivation, there can be no bursts of creativity.

Three weeks later...

"Boss, give me a big bowl of your special Shinobi Ramen!" Shuster called out as he arrived at the Ichiraku Ramen shop.

"Alright! Please wait a moment," replied Ayame, the ramen chef's daughter, stepping up to take his order.

"Hello, Ayame!" Shuster greeted her.

"Hehe, you too, Shuster! Every time you eat so much, yet you never gain weight!" Ayame looked at Shuster with envy, marveling at how he stayed slim no matter how much he ate—a feat owed to a certain system, much to her ongoing envy.

"Hehe, that’s because of my special constitution, haha," Shuster replied awkwardly, as Ayame never failed to bring this up.

"Here you go, your special Shinobi Ramen!" The ramen chef handed Shuster his meal.

"Well then, time to dig in!" Shuster said, snapping apart his chopsticks.

"Slurp—ah, this is delicious!" Shuster thoroughly enjoyed the taste of the ramen...

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

"Naruto! Now you have to face death," Jiraiya said, leading Naruto to the edge of a cliff.

"Death?" Naruto questioned, confused.

"What you need now is to awaken the vast chakra within you by confronting the immense fear of death, and then let your body seize it. If you fail... you’ll die!" Jiraiya spoke gravely, and without waiting for Naruto's response, he tapped Naruto’s forehead protector.

In an instant, Naruto was sent flying, landing precisely halfway down the cliff.

"Ugh—" By the time Naruto realized what was happening, he had already reached the edge. As he plummeted rapidly, Jiraiya’s last words kept echoing in his mind: "You’ll die... you’ll die... die... die..."

"Damn, if I don’t grab hold of something, I’m definitely going to die!" Naruto screamed as he fell off the cliff...

Back to Shuster...

"Come again next time!" Ayame bowed to Shuster as he left.

"Mm!" Shuster nodded in reply.

Suddenly, he paused. "Hmm? This chakra... the Nine-Tails! Could it be—?" Shuster immediately used the Body Flicker Technique, rushing toward the source of the Nine-Tails’ chakra.

A thunderous roar erupted from below the cliff. "I, the great lord, have arrived!" The fierce voice startled Shuster, who had just arrived.

"Finally, that massive chakra has been triggered, but it’s still unstable and consumed a great deal. But... why summon this guy?" Jiraiya said cheerfully.

"Hey, Jiraiya! Jiraiya, where are you? Why is this brat here?" the giant toad’s voice boomed from below.

"Wow, so that’s Gamabunta! He’s so impressive!" Shuster gazed at the fifty-meter-long giant toad, pipe in mouth, dressed in shabby Japanese garb, with a short blade at his waist.

"Listen up. Since you said it, as long as I don’t fall off your head, I’ll stay right here all day," Naruto declared, plopping down on Gamabunta’s head.

"Yikes, if I don’t leave now, I’ll get caught up in this mess!" Shuster recalled how, in the story, Naruto got roughed up all day, so he quickly vanished with the Body Flicker Technique. After all, a twenty-meter-tall, fifty-meter-long toad throwing a fit was not something he wanted to witness.

A week later...

"Hey, Naruto, have you mastered that jutsu?" Shuster asked as he and Naruto sat at Ichiraku Ramen.

"Mm! I’ve mastered it completely, and I can do it with one hand!" Naruto replied proudly.

"Hehe, that’s impressive, Naruto. But Sasuke’s grown a lot, too," Shuster smiled at him, recalling the shadow clone’s report—Sasuke’s progress had also accelerated greatly.

"Really? Well, I’m not going to lose to Sasuke," Naruto said, slurping his noodles.

"Hehe, the finals are tomorrow. Do your best, and get revenge for Hinata!" Shuster gave him a thumbs-up.

"Huh? You mean I’ll be fighting that guy Neji, the one with the white eyes?" Naruto jumped up.

"Yep, so give it your all!" Shuster smiled.

The night passed...

The next day, atop the Hokage Tower.

"That’s Orochimaru?" The Third Hokage watched the disguised Fourth Kazekage below.

Footsteps echoed in Training Ground 9.

"Hmm? That’s... Hinata!" The owner of the footsteps spotted a figure inside the training ground.

"Ah! Naruto!" Hinata, who liked Naruto, immediately hid behind a wooden post she usually used for shuriken practice.

"Naruto, why are you here? Today’s the day of the official matches," Hinata peeked out, her cheeks flushed.

"I just wanted to look around. After all, this is where I became a Genin," Naruto replied, sighing with emotion.

"Ah? So... what exactly happened?" Hinata became even shyer.

"Um... never mind, forget it," Naruto said, deciding not to answer.

"I see... Sorry," Hinata apologized, as shy as ever, especially in front of Naruto—always apologizing even when she had done nothing wrong.

"Hey, Hinata and Naruto are here! Are you two on a date? Hehehe..." Shuster appeared beside Hinata, pulling her out from behind the post teasingly. He liked this feeling; little Hinata, blushing, was even cuter!

"N-no, it’s not like that!" Naruto stammered, waving his hands, his own cheeks red.

"That’s right!" Hinata pressed her index fingers together, blushing fiercely.

"It’s fine, I understand!" Shuster enjoyed seeing Naruto and Hinata together, so he decided to deepen their misunderstanding a bit more.

"Ugh..." Naruto was speechless.

By now, steam was practically coming from Hinata’s head—adorable!

"Alright, I’m just joking. Let’s go—the matches are about to begin, and Naruto, you can’t be late this time!" Shuster knew he should stop here; pushing further might backfire. As long as they started paying attention to each other, that was enough.

"Ah, I almost forgot! I’m going to be late! What do I do?!" Naruto panicked upon seeing the time.

"Sigh, what an idiot!" Shuster covered his face.

"You dummy, I’ll take you there!" Shuster grabbed Naruto and sped off toward the arena with the Body Flicker Technique.

"Phew, you big dummy, at least you’re not late. Hehe," Shuster said, looking over at Naruto, who was now foaming at the mouth... Had he gone a bit too fast?

"Alright, Shikamaru, take care of Naruto for a bit. I’m heading up," Shuster said, vanishing once more.

"Tch, what a pain," Shikamaru muttered, propping up the still groggy Naruto.

"Alright, everyone, get ready! Hold your heads high and welcome the cheers of the crowd!" announced Genma Shiranui, who had replaced Hayate Gekko as the proctor.

"Hmm?" Naruto had just woken up and immediately looked around.

In the stands surrounding the arena, spectators waved flags and cheered with excitement.

PS: I have no motivation at all. I’m not blaming anyone—just really lacking the drive to write. It’s so boring to sit at the computer for over ten hours a day. It’s honestly exhausting!