Naruto - Light Ninja - Capítulo 98 - Konoha 01.

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Third Person PV
Land of Water.
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"Arrived without problems... let's go!" One of the jonin who escorted them here from the coast border said cheerfully, while Kimimaro nodded.

They approached the gate as the ninja talked with the gate guards about their situation while the men nodded before looking at the four from the village of Kiri.

"You know the Hokage will want to see this, you'd better let him know." The ninja commented to the other as they nodded.

The ninja who had brought them there disappeared, jumping into the village, while the gate guards smiled at them. "Welcome to Konoha! May I know who you are?" one of the guards asked.

Kimimaro stepped forward. "My name is Kimimaro Kaguya. This is my team for the Chuunin exam, Iryn Dokugiri, Ikua Terumi, and Haku Yuki." He spoke formally, introducing them.

"Famous names! I see that the village of Kiri has sent important people... come on, I'll show you where you will be staying during the exam, and besides that, I need the team leader to follow me to register the entire team." He said.

Kimimaro nodded and gestured for the three children to follow the Konoha ninja through the gate.

"Seems like many others are arriving as well..." Ikua murmured quietly as there were ninjas wearing hats near the gate on the inside, talking to many teams with another Konoha jonin, probably giving information about the exam.

"They're from the Rain Village..." Haku murmured, recognizing the uniform after doing some jobs with Zabuza.

"You're pretty knowledgeable, huh...?" Iryn said, raising an eyebrow beside her, teasing Haku.

"They're easy to identify anyway..." Haku murmured.

"It doesn't matter... this is a competition, so let's defeat them!" Iryn exclaimed excitedly.

"Your students seem very excited... how long have they been a team?" the jonin from Konoha asked.

"Well... our team is newly formed... we haven't done any missions yet..." Kimimaro said, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Well... that's a bit surprising, let's see how you do in the exam... anyway, my name is Kotetsu Hagane, it's a pleasure to meet you." He said as he turned back to the three students. "If you want to explore the village, feel free, as long as you don't cause trouble, the building where you'll be staying is right here." He pointed to a place full of apartments.

"Understood... I'll handle the registration, you guys can feel free, but don't cause trouble in this village as he said, and come meet us later, understood?" Kimimaro requested, trying to get used to commanding someone.

"Alright." Iryn exclaimed while Haku nodded, and Ikua said, "Yes," murmuring quietly.

Thus, the groups split up, while a ninja arrived at the Hokage's building at that moment.

"So they sent just one team..." Minato, sitting in his chair, murmured as he looked at the scroll in front of him, containing the basic information of Kimimaro Kaguya, Chuunin, Iryn Dokugiri, Ikua Terumi, and Haku Yuki, along with their photos... "It says here they have no mission activity... they're a new team?" he couldn't help but murmur.

"It's true... I'm surprised Kiri decided to send anyone at all..." Jiraiya's voice came from beside Orochimaru.

"What do you think?" Minato turned to the second man he had adopted as his advisor after the fall of the four. Shikaku Nara, one of the village's most intelligent men.

"This is strange... It seems this team was created just for this exam... I wouldn't be surprised if these young ones graduated from the academy just before this... besides..." Shikaku said, looking at some names. "These people are connected to your son in some way." He spoke.

"Yes..." Minato said calmly before looking at the names in more detail and recalling the name of the Kaguya clan. "This is the member of the Kaguya clan that Tsunade said she healed when Naruto requested her services!" He realized at the moment he saw the Kaguya clan name, after all, Naruto had worked as a mercenary with someone who generated bones, even though Tsunade referred to him as 'Kimimaro.' It wasn't hard to deduce that he was a member of the Kaguya clan with his abilities, especially considering why the ninjas of Kiri, under the Fourth Mizukage's leadership, had attacked them.

"Not only that... Haku Yuki, mentioned in Kakashi's report..." Minato continued while Nara nodded, already knowing about it, after all, he had read all the reports on Naruto Namikaze. Except for what happened within Kiri's closed borders, all of Naruto's activities were analyzed by Konoha. Naruto had taken the girl from the Yuki clan after defeating her and brought her to the village.

"But he didn't come..." Minato said in the end.

"Maybe he had no reason to come here... We'll have to wait until the final phase, after all, this village will have three Kages..." Jiraiya spoke.

"But they're very confident... besides Konoha, which is obvious in this competition here in the village, we have members from Oto, Suna, Taki, Ame, Yuga, Cha, and Kiri, but all of them sent multiple teams... except the latter. Even Suna sent three teams, with one of them being the One-Tail jinchuuriki, which is already very dangerous, and we have to be careful with that one..." Shikaku commented before continuing. "But Kiri sent a newly-formed team, either they're very confident... or they're being naive..." He said.

"It seems Naruto chose them..." Jiraiya commented, arms crossed.

"I have no doubt about that... and from what I know, Naruto seems very responsible since he left the village... each of his moves has been carefully thought out..." Shikaku deduced.

"In any case, maybe my son has confidence that they'll pass all the tests; don't forget they all belong to clans with strong Kekkei Genkai lineages." Minato said.

"Anyway... I can't leave here with so many foreign teams entering the village today and in the coming days... but inform Kushina about this, she'll certainly want to question Kimimaro." Minato spoke to Shikaku, who nodded before disappearing, going to pass on the information before returning to the Hokage's building to assist Minato with other tasks.

Meanwhile, in the village, the three newcomers from Kiri continued exploring the place.

"Wow, this place is so much busier than Kiri. And the sky is so clear, no thick mist all the time... I have to admit the day here is really beautiful." Iryn said, looking around curiously, as she saw people buying and selling things on the streets.

Some villagers noticed them with strange looks, particularly eyeing their forehead protectors, but it wasn't much of a surprise on this day, as there were many young ninjas from other villages walking around Konoha in the past few days.

Iryn wasted no time as she looked from the people of Konoha to the shops, searching for a specific one. "Let's pick somewhere to eat... You know, I heard about a place that Mrs. Akame mentioned once, that she and Naruto used to go to... what's it called... I think something like... Rameny Ichiraka... or something like that..." Iryn seemed to think for a moment.

"Ramen Ichiraku?" Haku mentioned.

"That's it!! Wait a minute, how do you know?!" Iryn was stunned, after all, Haku wasn't supposed to know about it.

Haku just raised her finger and pointed to a sign with the name she had mentioned, very similar to what Iryn said.

"That's right, let's go, everyone! This is the legendary place where Naruto used to come to eat!!!" He said excitedly, as when living with Naruto and hearing about it, he had memorized the name since then, and now it was time to finally see the place.

"You really are a fan of Naruto, aren't you?" Haku murmured, looking at the boy, almost as if Naruto were a religion to him.

"You have no idea. There are even worse people at the academy." Ikua murmured quietly.

"Let's stop chatting and get moving." Iryn said before heading forward. They entered the establishment that matched the mentioned name.

Inside, there were hardly any customers. Teuchi was organizing things at the counter when he noticed the curtain open. Wiping his hands, he went to greet his customers.

"Welcome to Ramen Ichiraku!" Teuchi said, looking at his new customers, seeing three children who weren't from this village.

"Ninjas from Kiri... Well, some foreigners from another country came by here yesterday too. Welcome." He said in a friendly tone, as he usually did when serving any customer.

"Uncle, tell me, did Naruto used to eat here?" Iryn, the boy who had taken the initiative to approach the counter, asked in an excited and loud tone. Even Teuchi's daughter, Ayame, who was cleaning some things in the kitchen, looked curiously into the shop with her neck stretched out.

"Naruto? Did you say Naruto?" Teuchi was surprised. It had been so many years since he last saw Naruto, but he never forgot him.

"That's right! Naruto. Blonde hair, blue eyes, with a justice cape on his back!" The boy from Kiri insisted while the others just watched.

"Well, I certainly never saw him with a cape like you describe, but he does have that appearance. It's been so many years since I last saw him... He had some issues and had to leave the village, but I don't know the details..." Teuchi said.

"So it's him, I heard about this place, Naruto is very powerful, he helped me when..." Iryn began to speak but was interrupted when Ikua simply put a hand over his mouth.

"Hey, stop talking about things from our village so openly. We're not here to gossip about internal matters." Ikua warned as he pressed his companion's mouth, who was trying to breathe.

"HMMMMM!!!" Iryn struggled in front of everyone before turning back to Ikua and nodding. Iryn finally managed to free himself from Ikua's grip, and he sighed before turning to Teuchi again.

"Well, I guess he's right. Sorry about that, but we can't say much." Iryn said to Teuchi, who just smiled.

"It's all right, but just answer me one thing, is Naruto okay?" He asked with a serious look, and Iryn smiled.

"Of course he is. He's my hero." Iryn spoke in a firm tone, showing that those weren't just empty words.

"Is that so? Well, it's good to hear that. I always knew that boy was much more than meets the eye... So, it's really good to hear this." Teuchi said sincerely. "Anyway, sit down. Let's eat my ramen! Since you came because of Naruto, the first round of 'special ramen' is on me." He said, and the three nodded.

Haku was still silent, not used to this kind of luxury, but followed the others, sitting at the counter.

Kimimaro was quickly filling in the details of his team in a room with a Konoha staff member. He was also there with many other captains from other villages.

It wasn't too difficult, just filling in the name, age, number of missions... which he failed miserably in that regard, as it was hard to admit that his team hadn't completed any missions. He even heard some muffled laughter around him from other jonin, but he didn't care. His new students, even though they hadn't been in the field and still lacked teamwork on missions, were already at a chunin level and could defeat any other kid, according to his confidence.

Once he finished, he sighed, not used to all this bureaucracy. He handed in the papers and finally began to leave, heading towards the building that had been assigned to them.

Meanwhile, back at Ramen Ichiraku, the three were eating. "So Naruto came and... bam! Boom!" Iryn exclaimed, throwing punches in the air.

Ikua sighed beside him, ignoring Iryn's exaggerated choreography, his words ultimately proving to be mere wind, entering one ear and leaving the other. Shortly after starting to eat, Iryn began talking about Naruto again, but nothing important that could compromise them, just some choreography from his fight.

"Well, I'm happy that Naruto has grown so much since then." Teuchi commented, smiling. "He saved so many people... so he truly is a hero..."

"Yes, for many years I've dreamed of reaching him. I want to be as strong and fight for justice, just like our hero taught us." Iryn said with a proud tone.

"That's great. And I see you all enjoyed my ramen too, considering you each ate five or six bowls." Teuchi laughed, looking at all the dirty bowls on the counter as his daughter came to pick them up.

"Yes, it's very delicious!" Iryn exclaimed excitedly, while Ikua nodded silently, and Haku also had no complaints.

"Anyway, we've already experienced this place. Let's move on and find other places." Iryn suggested, and his two companions nodded, getting up as they said their goodbyes.

Teuchi just nodded and gave them a small smile.

"Thanks, Mr. Teuchi. The ramen is really delicious! I hope to come back soon." Iryn said, and Teuchi nodded.

"That boy is pure energy. So enthusiastic..." Teuchi murmured in the end, watching them leave.

"But it seems they're from the Land of Water, aren't they? Is Naruto there?" Ayame commented from the back.

"Yes... it seems his path took him to those lands... I hope he's right in his journey..." Teuchi murmured, thinking of Naruto, wondering if the boy was truly okay, just as he hoped.

"I hope to see him again." Teuchi said, turning to serve the next customers.

At that moment, two people entered the place, drawing attention with their vivid crimson hair.

"Hello, Mr. Teuchi!" The first greeted with a smile, happily approaching to eat.

"Sora! It's good to see you. Sit down, please." Teuchi said, also waving to Karin, who was beside her. Karin had been adopted by the Namikaze family and always came with Kushina, Sora, and Mizu, and even the Hokage himself when they could come.