Naruto: The Information Broker from the Uchiha Clan.

The area where the hair rollers were distributed was only covered by an opaque curtain. The three members of the team went in and were given one of the rollers. Whether they were discovered or not is unknown.

After all, whether it's Hinata and Neji's Byakugan or Gaara's Sand Eye, they can still find out what a scroll is.

Sasuke glanced at the direction the curtain was drawn, then looked at the weasel on the tree trunk and pondered for a moment.

Perhaps, just like the first exam, the teacher's second assessment has already begun.

Being able to obtain intelligence using one's own investigative capabilities is itself within the permitted scope.

"Hinata, use your Byakugan."

Without hesitation, Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan and looked over.

Over the course of nearly a year, the three members of Class 7 have developed a certain level of teamwork.

Naruto sighed, "It won't be very effective. No matter what, some of them will definitely team up, and the corresponding scrolls will likely be hidden."

Sasuke nodded at this: "That's true... If it were me, knowing our scrolls, the best course of action would be to hide all the corresponding scrolls."

Soon, it was the seventh shift's turn to retrieve the scroll, and everyone's attention was immediately drawn to it.

Just as he reached the edge of the curtain, Naruto casually stepped onto the ground to his left.

"Whoosh!"

A kunai (a type of kunai) pierced straight into the ground.

A muffled groan followed, and Naruto turned to look at everyone.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Three more kunai fell to the ground.

"I'm telling you, don't even think about peeking! If you get past these kunai, I'll kill you all."

As soon as he finished speaking, Naruto turned around and went inside with his two teammates.

"Did you just get lucky and win by chance?"

"That bastard's luck is really good!"

"How could someone who can find a Hokage as their father be unlucky?"

"Whatever, we'll just slaughter them once we get in..."

"Heh... Itachi Uchiha is keeping an eye on things."

"If he intervenes, Konoha will lose even more face. I'm really looking forward to him saving his brother."

……

As soon as he stepped through the curtain, Sasuke's three-tomoe eyes instantly activated, and a surge of ocular power pointed directly at a sand eye hidden in the undulations of the curtain.

"Buzz..."

Outside the curtain, Gaara was momentarily lost in thought, but quickly regained his senses.

"What's wrong, Gaara?"

Gaara, who was covering his eyes with one hand, replied in a low voice, "Because the Sand Eyes need my chakra to connect, the Sharingan's genjutsu still works. However, thanks to Shukaku's chakra, the genjutsu can be dispelled quickly."

Temari said in a deep voice, "It seems that, in comparison, that Uchiha brat is the one we need to pay attention to. His Sharingan with three tomoe is enough power to qualify him as a Special Jonin."

Gaara said, "No, don't let other people's words influence you. There are no weaklings who can become perfect Jinchuriki, even with Lord Yun's help."

Gaara then looked at Masaki beside him and said, "You're skilled in sealing techniques. I remember that when we left the village this time, Jonin Maki entrusted you with a lot of supplies, right?"

???

Masaki nodded: "What does Lord Gaara need?"

Shaking his head, Gaara's mind sank into the sealed land.

"Hehehe... That stinky fox is in there, I can smell its stench!"

Gaara looked up at Shukaku: "Can you beat it?"

Upon hearing this, Shuhe was taken aback.

Although it was reluctant to admit it, after being beaten down every day for the past few years, it knew that it couldn't beat the little nine-tailed fox.

That's what I think, but I can't say it like that.

"Ahem!"

"Gaara... you need to understand that even a perfect Jinchuriki is fundamentally different from a true Tailed Beast. While you can borrow my power, that stinky fox can unleash its full potential directly..."

Gaara frowned and replied very bluntly, "I understand, you can't win, right?"

"Bang!"

Shukaku slammed its paw on the ground: "You brat, are you even listening to me?!"

Gaara nodded: "Well, in that case, could you offer some advice?"

Shukaku rested its chin on its claws, pondered for a long time, and then sighed.

"If you run into that sly fox, you'd better prepare more money."

……

The time for Naruto's hair to be parted and curled quickly passed, but Naruto's shadow clones still hadn't returned.

At this moment, after putting away the signed agreement, Itachi looked at all the genin again.

"Rolls have been distributed."

As soon as he finished speaking, thirty-six masked members of the Dark Guard appeared instantly and stood clearly in front of each squad.

"Each team will be led by the spies in front of you. When the time comes, separate entrances will be opened."

……

Meanwhile, inside the Death Forest.

"Gulp, gulp..."

"Bang!"

Tossing aside the empty wine bottle he had just finished drinking, the little nine-tailed fox began to count the costs with its paws.

"If there are ten squads, that's thirty people. If each person pays ten thousand taels, that's three hundred thousand taels..."

"If each person gets 20,000 taels, that's three million taels? Holy crap! That's ten times more?!"

"Did I miscalculate?"

"That shouldn't be the case..."

"Fine, twenty thousand taels each!"

"Of the three million taels, the majority still needs to be given to Boss Yun..."

"Eh? I could say that one person only received ten thousand taels! Hehehe..."

"I'm so clever! This way I can pocket over two million taels all to myself! Hahaha!"

……

Behind the little nine-tailed fox, hands on hips and laughing wildly, a wild boar the size of a small hill roared and bared its tusks, except that a wine bottle was hanging from one of its tusks.

"Snapped!"

"boom!!!"

The little nine-tailed fox turned around and pressed its paw down on the wild boar's forehead, slamming the boar's head into the ground with tremendous force.

The wild boar struggled so hard that it shook the ground, but it couldn't stand up.

"Stop messing around, you don't have any money, what are you making a fuss about?"

After making a comment, the little nine-tailed fox raised its paw and unleashed a powerful blow, knocking the wild boar unconscious.

……

At the same time, Naruto, who had just been led to an entrance, looked into the iron fence.

"That voice just now should be the Nine-Tails. Although the chakra is slightly different, it's still recognizable."

Naruto smiled helplessly and said, "It seems this lord is quite active today."

Sasuke glanced behind him: "Hasn't your shadow clone returned yet? If it's out of money, I'm afraid it might turn on you."

Hinata, who was standing to the side, opened her wallet and counted the money: "I wonder how much the Nine-Tails-sama wants. I have 80,000 ryo here. If I had known, I should have opened the piggy bank yesterday."

"Need not."

Naruto smiled and looked at the woods behind him: "We're here. We should have enough money, considering we prepared so much."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke asked in confusion, "What are you preparing? If you're not going to ask Aunt Kushina for money, what other plan do you have?"

"Hahaha!"

He chuckled, and just then, three shadow clones arrived, though their appearances were rather...unpleasant to look at.

All three of Naruto's shadow clones had messy, disheveled hair and their clothes were in disarray; one of them even had a piece of his pants missing.

Naruto's eye twitched; it was obvious that his pockets had been searched.

Are a hundred not enough?

How can Sasuke, that bastard, be so popular?

The hundred photos were originally intended to replenish my wallet, but now they're only good for Little Nine-Tailed Fox.

"It was absolutely terrifying; I almost didn't make it back."

"Yeah, yeah, someone actually wants a photo of your real self, offering six thousand taels!"

"And then you couldn't resist the temptation and let her touch you?"

"Six thousand taels! Getting touched won't break a piece of flesh, what's there to be afraid of?"

……

As the shadow clone was speaking incoherently, Naruto glanced at Hinata, who had her head down, and immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He promptly silenced the outspoken shadow clone.

"Hahaha! We've made a total of 460,000 taels; that should be fine now!"

Naruto then moved closer to Hinata, playfully nudging her: "It's just a shadow clone, and it's not selling my picture..."

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, then whispered in Hinata's ear, "These are all photos of Sasuke after his bath, not mine. Let them pass."

Hinata blushed instantly from the warm breath on her ear, so much so that she didn't even notice what Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun...it's okay...it's all for the exam..."

Sasuke, who was standing to the side, couldn't take it anymore, and the ANBU who brought them also shuddered.

"How do you usually stand it?"

"You get used to it after seeing it a lot."

"So... the Hokage's son just... went to... sell himself?"

"It seems so?"

……

Shaking his head abruptly, the ANBU member dismissed some unpleasant thoughts.

After checking the time, he said, "Let's get ready to enter. There's one minute left."

As soon as the words were spoken, Class 7 watched as the entrance fence in front of them was opened.

After entering, the Anbu behind him waved to Naruto: "The Hokage's only son has made such a great sacrifice to win this Chunin Exams! I will definitely tell everyone!"

(⊙o⊙)！

The entrance closed, leaving Naruto bewildered.

What did he just say?

What should we tell everyone?

What the hell!

Naruto dodged and crashed into the fence: "Come back! Come back and explain yourself! No! Shut up!"

Sasuke sighed, "You don't really think these fences can stop the beasts inside, do you? When the entrance closes, a barrier will rise, and he won't be able to hear you."

Naruto turned to Sasuke and stared at him: "What did you just say to him?"

Sasuke avoided eye contact: "Um... he didn't say anything, who knows how he interpreted it."

"call……"

Naruto let out a breath: "Alright, we've evened things out."

It's evened out?

Sasuke was somewhat puzzled.

At this moment, Hinata, who had already activated her Byakugan, looked around and said, "The distance is still quite far. Each team entered from a different location. Should we head towards the tower first, or find Shikamaru and the others?"

Naruto hesitated for a moment before replying, "For the five-day scroll competition, let's find people first. I'm afraid Shikamaru and the others will be eliminated given their strength."

Sasuke nodded: "If nothing unexpected had happened to Kurama's side, Shikamaru's team would have been the safest. But now it's hard to say. If they encounter a strong opponent at the start, they really won't be able to hold on."

Naruto then glanced at Sasuke.

With their tacit understanding, Sasuke and Hinata began to keep watch on their surroundings, while Naruto took out a map.

Besides going to the school, the three shadow clones also brought this most important thing.

Although Itachi showed it to everyone before the exam, it would still be very convenient to have a copy.

"Before being taken away by the Dark Guard, we were at Gate 18. To the left of Gate 18 was Gate 17 to 32."

"Logically, after allocating the scrolls, only about fifteen minutes remain out of the thirty minutes, and the speed of a typical genin isn't particularly fast..."

"Based on our travel speed and the maximum distance I can sense, the Shikamaru squad and Sai squad that left from the left will only be between gate 17 and gate 90."

Naruto gestured with his hand on the map, indicating a region.

"After that, since Karin's squad and Neji's squad set off after us, we won't know their range. However..."

Sasuke said, "However, Neji has the Byakugan, and Karin has incredibly strong sensory abilities. With their intelligence, they should notice this, meaning the last one to leave should be able to deduce our approximate location."

"Neji-nii... gave me a note."

Hinata took out the note, and saw that it only had one name written on it: Shikamaru.

Naruto laughed.

"Couldn't this guy just tell me directly? But he is indeed quite smart, knowing to use the first team to set off as the rendezvous point."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto: "If we just tell you directly, we'll probably only find Shikamaru's corpse when we get there, surrounded by countless ambushes."

Uh! →_→

Naruto, speechless, scratched his head. That was indeed the case.

"Alright, let's go. With Shikamaru's intelligence, he'll definitely figure this out. We can keep an eye on Sai's team along the way."

……

Gate No. 32.

The newly arrived Iwagakure genin squad rushed towards the center as soon as they entered.

As they passed through the forest, past towering trees, all three men appeared somewhat solemn.

"The teacher didn't originally recommend this Chunin Exam; those people were just too strong."

Don't scare yourself.

"Although we signed the agreement, that Konoha Jonin just said that there is a special entity in this training ground, which is supposed to be protecting us."

"But...but he said that thing will eat us..."

"It's just to scare people. If all the genin die here, Konoha won't be able to explain it."

……

As the group was talking, a bright orange figure flashed past in front of them.

"stop."

The leader of the Iwagakure team glanced at the female teammate next to him, and then saw her place her hands in a hand seal on the ground.

"Buzz..."

The buzzing sound spread through the ground, and the girl stood up and shook her head: "No, but we all saw that figure just now."

"W-Could it be...something scary?"

Another Iwagakure genin trembled slightly. In fact, he had been unwilling to participate in the Chunin Exams from the beginning, if not for being forced by his teammates.

"Don't overthink it. We've only just entered the arena; what danger could there be?"

The words had barely left his mouth when a small black shadow appeared head-on, moving so fast that it was impossible to avoid.

"Bang!"

The bottle hit him squarely on the forehead, knocking him unconscious.

"flat!"

Amid exclamations of surprise, the two helped their teammate up, looking somewhat bewildered at the wine bottle on the ground.

"This is... a wine bottle?"

"Who is it?!"

"There's no way the nearby entrances could have found us so quickly. You're cheating! A Konoha genin?"

"I'm going to report you!"

"Konoha is unfair!"

……

With a roar, the little nine-tailed fox leaped down in front of the two.

A paw picked at an ear: "What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly."

The next moment, the little nine-tailed fox leaped up, its size instantly increasing.

"roar!!"

"belch!"

The ferocious roar was ruined by a final hiccup.

The little nine-tailed fox blushed slightly, but then ignored it and directly controlled its nine tails to swing behind it, snapping the giant tree in half.

"A brat from Iwagakure?"

"Gurgle..."

Swallowing hard, the two, still lucid, looked at the giant beast before them.

"Nine-nine-nine...a nine-tailed fox?"

Little Nine-Tailed Fox was taken aback. It had been a long time since she had heard this name, but it was quite fitting for this moment.

"boom!"

A claw slammed down in front of the two little devils, cracking the ground.

"Could I be this unlucky? Meeting the big boss right at the start?"

"Don't eat me!!!"

The little nine-tailed fox waved its paw irritably: "Shut up! I'll eat you if you keep making noise!"

In an instant, the cowardly Iwagakure genin shut his mouth, trembling but not daring to make a sound.

"Um...do you have money?"

? ? ? (○Д○)

The little nine-tailed fox stretched out its paw and rubbed it together: "Twenty thousand taels per person. Pay up and I'll let you go, understand?"

"I understand!"

Trembling, he took out his wallet, counted out 60,000 taels, and respectfully placed it on the ground.

"Nine-nine-nine... Lord Nine-Tailed Fox... This is sixty thousand... Please, I beg you to let me go."

The little nine-tailed fox stretched out its claws and took the money, placing it directly under its rear end. However, its vertical pupils remained fixed on the little devil who had just taken out the money...

Twenty thousand taels per person... isn't that a bit too little?

But if I go back on my word, it would make me seem a bit shameless...

correct!

If that's the case, why not just release them and then arrest them again?

I'm so smart, hahaha!

"Get lost, or I'll catch you again!"

"Yes, yes, we'll leave right away."

The two genin helped the leader, Ping, up and then quickly left.

They had only taken a few steps when one of the girls swung her kunai and knocked her companion's backpack to the ground.

"Shinichi, what are you doing...?"

"Shut up!"

Just then, the little nine-tailed fox ran up behind them, grabbed their backpacks, and said, "Kids, you dropped your bags."

Without turning his head, he roared, "That's your backpack, Nine-Tails Lord, not ours."

As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly slipped away.

Little Nine-Tailed Scratches the back of its head. This little brat is quite clever.

Huh? You don't have to split what you found in half!

"Sigh... This year's test takers are really too careless. They've lost so much money just like that. I'll keep it safe for them."

As she spoke, Little Nine-Tailed Fox picked up her backpack and shook it, then threw the kunai and explosive tags aside. She took out all the money from her wallet and counted it over and over again.

"No, no, I can't be blinded by short-term gains. There are still many more students who have lost money and need my help!"

"Yes! That's it!"

……

"Shikamaru, do you and Naruto have a plan for how to reunite?"

Ino looked around nervously.

Although she had undergone arduous training because of Yun, this was the first time she had experienced such an assessment that required signing an agreement.

Shikamaru shook his head: "No. Most of the candidates in this joint Chunin Exams are very strong, so we didn't discuss that as a precaution."

"Huh?"

Ino panicked: "What do we do then?"

Shikamaru looked around: "Wait!"

"After entering the protective net, a barrier will rise, and this will be our only coordinate point. While other candidates may also search along the protective net, most will likely choose to ambush around the tower."

Choji asked in confusion, "Why?"

Shikamaru smiled and said, "Most of the really strong guys won't target us; they'll only target Naruto and Team 7."

"Based on Naruto and Sasuke's performances, after their strongest powers were sealed, their plan to pass the second test was to obtain the corresponding scroll as soon as possible, then hide in the tower, and finally complete the mission as quickly as possible to avoid being surrounded."

Ino thought for a moment and replied, "So strong teams won't search along the protective netting, and we can use this as a coordinate to wait for the rendezvous."

"But... what if Naruto doesn't think of that?"

Shikamaru shook his head slightly: "Someone will remind him later. The chances of Team 7 entering at the very end are slim. Besides, both Neji and Karin can figure it out."

The next moment, his hands instantly formed a hand seal.

A black shadow instantly lengthened, binding a giant python on the giant tree.

Choji then emptied all the potato chips into his mouth, and his outstretched hand instantly enlarged, grabbing the giant python and flinging it away.

"call……"

After letting out a breath, Shikamaru looked at the forest: "This really is a dangerous jungle... The Chunin Exams are really troublesome."

……

A day passed quickly.

The Forest of Death was bustling with activity at this moment.

Little Nine-Tailed Fox felt that she had discovered a new way to get rich, and she couldn't even count all the money she had.

"Fifteen squads, three people per squad, forty-five people in total, twenty thousand taels per person... one raid would net one million eight hundred thousand taels!"

"Huh? Why is the money wrong?"

"Those bastards definitely didn't give enough!"

"roar!!!"

With a roar, and enveloped in crimson chakra, the Nine-Tails leaped up and chased after the group of people.

The Iwagakure and Kirigakure squads, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, were stunned once again upon hearing the roar.

"Damn Konoha! They actually let something like the Nine-Tails rob them! Are they desperate for money?"

"Run!"

"How are we supposed to stop Team 7 like this? Bastards!"

"If I weren't outmatched, I would have fought it to the death!"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Run!"

"Didn't we just give them money? Why are they still chasing us?!"

"How much did you give?"

"Fifteen squads, forty-five men each, nine hundred thousand taels of silver, that's correct!"

And so, another chase over arithmetic problems began.

……