Chapter 225: A 99% Elimination Rate
“…Then that concludes the confirmation of the participant list.”
After verifying the final team…
The Third Hokage looked around the room.
“Does anyone have anything else to add?”
“Then—”
“Wait! Wait!”
A hurried shout suddenly came from outside the meeting hall.
But before the voice had even finished echoing…
A blond teenager burst through the doorway.
Ignoring the surprised looks from everyone present…
He hurriedly said,
“S-Sorry! I’m late!”
“Um… um…”
“How was I supposed to say this again…”
“Ah! Right!”
“On behalf of Jōnin Hatake Kakashi…”
“I’d like to recommend Uchiha Sasuke and Hyūga Hinata for this Chūnin Exam!”
The newcomer was naturally Naruto Uzumaki, who had only just returned.
He was breathing heavily.
It was obvious he had sprinted here without stopping.
“…I didn’t make it too late, did I?”
Naruto scratched his head awkwardly and smiled sheepishly.
He hadn’t expected to sleep for so long.
When he finally woke up…
The only people around him were the maids of the Land of Snow standing nearby with trays of food…
And Sasuke…
Whose face already showed obvious impatience.
Without even having time to properly say goodbye to Koyuki…
Naruto immediately brought Sasuke back to Konoha using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
His destination was the Flying Thunder God kunai he had previously left in the guest room of the Hyūga residence.
As luck would have it…
Hinata was just eating lunch at home.
Hanabi…
Neji…
And Karin were all there as well.
The moment Karin saw Sasuke…
She froze.
She nearly dropped her bowl.
The others, however…
Acted as though this sort of thing was perfectly normal.
Hiashi even calmly instructed the servants to prepare two additional sets of chopsticks.
Unfortunately…
Before Naruto could properly chat with the overjoyed Hinata…
Hiashi reminded him that Konoha was already holding the Chūnin Exam planning meeting.
As a result…
Before he even had a chance to sit down…
Naruto had left Sasuke behind and raced all the way here.
“…No.”
The Third Hokage answered calmly.
“You aren’t late.”
“However…”
“Kakashi already registered them yesterday.”
“He even added Karin to your team.”
“So there really wasn’t any need for you to rush.”
“…Seriously?”
Naruto let out a long sigh.
“Kakashi-sensei could’ve told me he’d already taken care of it.”
Scratching his head…
He finally relaxed.
“Haha…”
“Never mind then.”
“You all carry on.”
“Naruto.”
The Third Hokage called after him.
“You’re one of the exam proctors.”
“You should return to the proctors’ side.”
Only then did Naruto realize he was practically leaning across the Hokage’s desk.
He laughed awkwardly before retreating to join the Konoha shinobi standing nearby.
Fortunately…
No one laughed at him or criticized him.
Instead…
Most people simply looked at him curiously.
Those who knew him wondered where he had disappeared to recently.
Those who didn’t know him well had become extremely interested after the recent ANBU incident.
Quite a few wanted to greet him…
Though this wasn’t exactly the appropriate setting.
As Naruto passed by…
Guy quietly explained,
“Kakashi only returned from his mission yesterday.”
“When he heard you still hadn’t come back…”
“He registered everyone in advance.”
“And this morning…”
“He already left the village again.”
“Another mission?”
Naruto blinked.
“What could possibly be so urgent at a time like this?”
Guy nodded.
“The Hokage has been severely short-handed lately.”
“The ANBU still can’t handle many assignments.”
“So a great number of missions have fallen to trusted jōnin instead.”
“Kakashi’s been extremely busy.”
He smiled.
“But that also shows how much confidence he has in his students.”
“He believes Sasuke and Hinata can manage just fine…”
“Even without their teacher by their side.”
“Hehe.”
“That’s true.”
Naruto grinned proudly.
“Still…”
“Kakashi-sensei really is destined to work himself to death.”
Having learned the general situation…
Naruto quickly returned to the proctors’ group.
Meanwhile…
The remaining non-proctor shinobi gradually left the room.
Among so many adults…
Naruto’s height—which was actually above average among his peers—
Was completely swallowed by the crowd.
“…I can’t see anything.”
He muttered helplessly.
“Naruto.”
Moonlight Hayate coughed lightly.
“Come stand over here.”
“Thanks!”
Naruto immediately jogged over and stood beside Hayate near the corner.
Ironically…
From there…
He could actually see the front of the room through the gaps between people.
“So…”
Naruto whispered.
“How’s your girlfriend doing?”
Hayate coughed twice.
“…Her condition is currently confidential.”
“So even I don’t know.”
“But…”
“She was among the first patients treated by Lady Tsunade.”
“Oh.”
“If it’s confidential…”
“I won’t ask anymore.”
With that small interruption over…
The meeting quickly returned to order.
The Third Hokage cleared his throat.
“…Then…”
“I’ll leave the remainder of today’s briefing…”
“To the Chief Proctor of this Chūnin Exam.”
The moment he finished speaking…
A cloud of smoke suddenly exploded across the empty floor before him.
Everyone present was an elite Konoha shinobi.
They immediately recognized it.
A Summoning Technique.
“Hohoho!”
“Hohoho!”
“The legendary Toad Sage…”
“Known throughout the shinobi world…”
“Now makes his glorious entran—”
Thunk!
“Ow!”
“Old man!”
“What was that for?!”
“I spent forever preparing that entrance!”
The Third Hokage calmly lowered the smoking pipe he’d just used to smack his disciple on the back of the head, interrupting the summoning.
“Enough fooling around.”
He said sternly.
“Look around.”
“Is there even enough room here for giant toads?”
“Cancel the summoning.”
“And get to the point.”
Jiraiya stepped out of the dissipating smoke with a dissatisfied pout.
The old man’s really upset that I refused to become Hokage…
Now he won’t even let me make a proper entrance.
How petty.
“Jiraiya-sensei!”
Inside Naruto’s mind…
His parents’ delighted voices suddenly rang out.
“So…”
Naruto peered through the crowd.
“That’s… Jiraiya?”
Jiraiya’s name wasn’t unfamiliar.
Both his parents…
And even Kurama…
Had mentioned him several times before.
For some reason…
The moment Naruto saw the white-haired man…
An indescribable sense of familiarity welled up inside him.
…Wait.
Dad.
Mom.
How can I hear you two now?
“Of course you can.”
Kurama answered calmly.
“Your chakras are connected now.”
“The Dragon Vein chakra has linked your entire family together.”
“So from now on…”
“I won’t have to play messenger between all of you every day.”
“…It can do that?”
Meanwhile…
Jiraiya had already begun explaining the structure of the Chūnin Exams.
“The old man…”
He coughed.
“…Ahem.”
“The Third Hokage has probably already explained this.”
“This year’s Chūnin Selection Exam is different from every previous one.”
“It is jointly organized by three Great Shinobi Villages.”
“And jointly funded by three great nations.”
“As a result…”
“The number of participants has exceeded all expectations.”
“Our responsibility…”
“Is to sift through this enormous wave of candidates…”
“And identify those who truly possess both talent and strength.”
“I’ve prepared three preliminary rounds.”
“One of their purposes…”
“Is to narrow everyone down…”
“To only ten finalists.”
“They’ll compete in the final tournament one month from now.”
“By then…”
“Leaders from many nations will attend.”
“The Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure.”
“The Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure.”
“They’ll both be present as spectators.”
“So…”
“To demonstrate Konoha’s professionalism…”
Jiraiya slowly swept his gaze across everyone.
A smile spread across his face.
“Before those final matches…”
“We’ll establish one target.”
He paused.
Then announced calmly,
“A ninety-nine percent elimination rate.”