509 Naruto the Flame-Flame Fruit

A new round of the Chūnin Exams officially began.

This time the five great shinobi villages were holding the exams jointly — the first time in history — and its significance was enormous. Every nation took it seriously, and Konoha was doing everything it could to prepare.

The venue was chosen in Konoha, a decision reflecting Konoha's current standing, and the village had even built an arena specifically for these exams.

Of course, besides the five great villages, several smaller villages were also invited to participate, and a number of visiting shinobi from other villages had appeared in town.

Konoha's Police and Anbu also added personnel to prevent villagers from getting hurt, or from clashes breaking out between Konoha shinobi and outsiders.

Some people even came specifically to challenge the Hyūga and Uchiha clans.

The Hyūga were now overseen by Neji. Although Hanabi would someday inherit the family headship, she didn't manage day-to-day affairs — Neji, as head of the branch family, handled most matters. He easily repelled any challengers.

The Uchiha clan situation was simpler. Fugaku Uchiha had retired and Itachi was the clan head. He was busy, but a single shadow clone could handle most challengers.

Lately it had mostly been his son answering the challenges. Only fifteen years old, he was already an elite jōnin of Konoha, on par with Yuka. These young jōnin were hailed as Konoha's golden generation and would be the village's pillars in the future.

Because of Terumi Mei's involvement, Ao — who had come with the team — also paid them a visit, but he was so busy he only had a sip of tea before leaving.

Kiyosuke had been busy at the Intelligence Bureau lately, sorting through the information Sasuke had brought back: a cipher even the Rinnegan couldn't decode all at once. Each piece had to be parsed one by one — the notes contained secrets written by Kaguya herself.

Sasuke had fought the Ōtsutsuki to obtain it, and although he hadn't gotten the upper hand, word was they were extremely powerful.

As time ticked on, the first test officially began.

Shinichi and the others stood below, eager to go. Though they had just graduated, they still chose to take the Chūnin Exams. The proctor for the first test was Sai. Smiling, he held up a timer and explained the rules. Shinichi glanced once, then grabbed his two companions and ran.

Shinki, from Sunagakure — who could use magnet release to control iron sand — noticed this too and immediately left with his teammates. More and more people began sprinting away before Sai finished speaking; if they waited for the full explanation, they wouldn't have enough time to reach the test site.

Because the exam had already begun the moment Sai started speaking — the timer in his hand was already counting down.

"Hahaha! No one's stopping me!"

Shinichi ran at the front, taking the lead and testing for traps for his teammates. He had the best constitution and wasn't bothered by those superficial dangers.

With him scouting ahead, his companions could safely follow the paths he'd taken, greatly lowering the risk. They reached the exam site quickly, but along the way many genin were hit by traps and eliminated. For example, several squads sent by Iwagakure were reduced to just one remaining team. The Fourth Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, wore a dark expression.

"Good thing my brat came through, or I'd be ashamed."

Beside him, a blond man laughed heartily.

"That's my son!"

That man was Deidara, long absent from public view. After being redeemed by the Third Tsuchikage, he had been confined for years, but under Kurotsuchi's emotional persuasion he returned to Iwagakure. When Ōnoki stepped down and Kurotsuchi inherited the Tsuchikage position, Deidara married her.

Originally the Tsuchikage position was supposed to go to Deidara, but because of Deidara's past as a rogue ninja many opposed it, so Kurotsuchi took the role instead.

Deidara didn't mind. Watching his son use clay bombs to blow up the traps, he leaped with joy.

"You idiot! Let's go!" Kurotsuchi pulled her husband away from the large screen — they had other matters to attend.

"How lively that pair is," the Fifth Raikage, Darui, commented.

"Right. But hasn't the Kazekage arrived yet?" Chōjūrō asked.

"Probably tied up with something," came the reply.

Meanwhile, the genin who had arrived at the arena within the allotted time faced the first test.

It was a single question: judge whether a statement was true or false.

The examinees had never seen the question before, and answering wrong would cause them to be splattered in black ink and disqualified.

"Forget it — flip a coin!"

Unable to find the answer, Shinichi gave up and resorted to a coin toss. It was a desperate move; nobody really knew which side was correct.

Those who stood on the "right" side fell through. So did those on the "wrong" side.

He reacted quickly. The question wasn't about truthfulness at all — beneath the platforms lay pools of ink that would cover anyone who stuck to them. As long as they didn't get ink on them, they were fine.

Thinking fast, he kicked a nearby Cloud hidden-village ninja to use as leverage and pushed himself up, jumping onto the stone wall, locking his feet onto it. Kiyosuke and Neisei used Nue's chakra to avoid falling as well.

There was no meaningful right or wrong to choose — the whole thing had been nonsense from the start.

One could only say the question setter liked language traps.

All the kids from the "problem child" class passed. The next round was an attack-and-defend match: three-on-three. The first team to snatch the opponent's flag would win.

The proctor for the second test was Tenten. Kiyosuke, with time to spare, watched from the side. His own kid led the attack; the opponents were from an obscure small village and were quickly defeated, their flag taken.

"Such fast action — truly your son," Tenten remarked.

"Haha, not bad, not bad," Kiyosuke grinned as widely as ever.

The matches continued. The only one keeping Kiyosuke's attention was that Sunagakure kid Shinki, who controlled iron sand.

"Is that boy a descendant of the Third Kazekage?" he asked.

At the mention of iron sand, Kiyosuke's first thought was of the Third Kazekage.

"Not sure. I only know he's the Kazekage's adopted son," Tenten replied.

"At least one seat on the winners' list will belong to that kid."

"I wonder what kind of big fight he'll have with your son."

"Who knows?" Kiyosuke chuckled. Shinki's iron sand was tougher than Gaara's sand and more flexible; the power of iron sand was considerable.

The battles continued until the final match, when Boruto's team went out. Mitsuki and Sarada attacked while Boruto defended, but they didn't seem to be a match for the three from Kirigakure.

"Hm?"

Kiyosuke smiled. He saw Boruto use water and lightning techniques without forming handseals.

That kid was cheating!

Tsk — scientific ninja tools?

Kiyosuke didn't reveal that he'd noticed the cheating. He just watched to see how far the boy's tricks would get him.