I, Naruto Uzumaki, don't need your approval.

Many things are completely different from the perspective of the Sannin and the Hokage. A surge of passion might move the genin who have just graduated from the ninja academy, but it will never move the old foxes in the village.

Tsunade felt Jiraiya's changes most clearly.

She didn't know if this change was a good thing or not. Of the three who fought together against Hanzo the Salamander and were given the title of the Three Legendary Sannin, it seemed that only she had stagnated.

Even as a medical ninja, she couldn't overcome her hemophobia and hasn't regained her fighting ability to this day.

Noticing Tsunade's worry, Jiraiya comforted her, "Don't worry, Tsunade, everything is under control. There won't be any problems with this Chunin Exams, and Konoha will become even stronger."

Tsunade stopped thinking about it and continued to busy herself with the daily chores of the village.

At that moment, Jiraiya came to the window, gazing at the distant Konoha city, his eyes becoming incredibly deep. He was ready to face a turmoil.

……

The night grew deeper.

After Naruto created a shadow clone and put it to sleep on the bed, he left the inn right under the noses of the Anbu and headed towards the location of the Uzumaki Shrine.

As former allies of Konoha, the Uzumaki clan also maintains a presence in Konoha.

The shrine was guarded by two Konoha Chunin. Naruto easily bypassed their line of sight and headed straight for the Death Mask stored in the Uzumaki Shrine.

Naruto frowned as he used the Inorganic Reincarnation Technique to enter the underground of the Uzumaki Shrine.

There wasn't a single mask inside the shrine. Could it be that the Third Hokage took them and used them as a magical artifact to unleash the Reaper Death Seal?

What a pity. If he could have obtained the mask that sealed the souls of the Fourth Hokage and his wife, he could have tried to revive Minato and Kushina and obtain the other half of the Nine-Tails.

A fully evolved Nine-Tails is stronger than a half-Tails, and can even activate Heavy Particle Mode when in dire situations.

Just as Naruto was about to leave, he sensed traces of space-time ninjutsu. Clearly, someone had used space-time abilities to come here within the last few days.

Besides him and Kakashi, only Obito remains in the ninja world who possess space-time abilities.

It seems that Obito has also joined this grand Chunin Exams.

After leaving the Uzumaki Shrine, Naruto went to the Hyuga clan's territory and met Hinata, who was training in the Shikotsumyaku (Corpse Bone Pulse) in the dojo. Judging from her chakra levels, Hinata had undoubtedly reached the Jonin level.

Naruto did not disturb Hinata's training. After leaving a note in Hiashi Hyuga's room, he left in a hurry.

Hiashi Hyuga, who was resting with his eyes closed, noticed the kunai firmly planted in the ground. After seeing the contents of the note, his expression changed. After pondering for a while, he looked out at the full moon.

……

The next morning.

As soon as Haku and Karin stepped out of the room, they saw Naruto and Shisui sitting on the sofa. After greeting them, the group went downstairs to have breakfast.

What they didn't know was that Naruto and Shisui hadn't slept at all last night; they had stayed outside all night.

Shisui went to the Uchiha clan's territory and met Sasuke, who was training diligently there. However, because Sasuke was being monitored by the Anbu, he did not approach him rashly and was unable to give Sasuke Mikoto's gift.

Naruto, on the other hand, traveled throughout most of Konoha and completed the initial planning.

After breakfast, Naruto, along with Karin and Haku, arrived at the Chunin Exams assembly point. Becoming a Chunin was a dream he had held for many years as a dropout from the ninja academy.

However, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he is destined not to obtain the rank of Chunin.

The Chunin Exams were a series of events, and no matter what happened, the sacrifice of the Kazekage and the plan to destroy Konoha were always involved. In essence, this was a desperate counterattack by Sunagakure against Konoha.

Upon arriving at the assembly point, Naruto looked around and spotted many familiar faces.

Leaving aside the nine cockroaches we met yesterday, Naruto's gaze fell on one of the bespectacled young men.

Naruto vaguely remembered the bespectacled young man.

The opponent is the director of the Konoha Orphanage, who can fight against the perfect Sage Yakushi Kabuto with two pairs of Mangekyou Sharingan, but that's all in the future.

Currently, Kabuto Yakushi is merely a spy left behind by Orochimaru within Konoha, and his strength is at most comparable to that of an elite Jonin.

However, Jiraiya has already become Hokage, so why is Kabuto Yakushi still staying in Konoha?

Clearing his mind of distractions, Naruto led Haku and Karin toward Kabuto Yakushi, one of the future masterminds of the ninja world, who was currently selling information about the genin from various villages, attracting a crowd of onlookers.

Intelligence is a crucial element in ninja battles; knowing intelligence in advance allows for the development of corresponding tactics.

At that moment, a genin asked, "Kabuto-senpai, are there any ninjas worth noting in this Chunin Exams?"

Kabuto adjusted his glasses: "This year's Chunin Exams are much more intense than usual. We need to be extra careful with these ninjas. If we encounter them, it's best to just give up the competition. After all, we can participate in the Chunin Exams again next year, but we only have one life."

"Lord Menma, he called out my name and Shiro's name..."

After her name was called, Karin said happily. Then she looked at Naruto, thinking to herself: What level will Menma-sama be rated?

Seemingly sensing Karin's thoughts, Naruto smiled, then walked past the crowd, brushing past Kabuto Yakushi.

He didn't care how Kabuto Yakushi evaluated him; he just regretted not having recruited Kabuto earlier. Although Kabuto's research skills couldn't compare to Orochimaru's, he was still a genius in the field.

However, he had no intention of leaving Konoha to establish a ninja village back then.

At that moment, Kabuto Yakushi noticed the presence of Naruto and looked intently at his location.

Unlike these new genin, he possessed the strength of a jonin and could sense the existence of natural energy. Among the candidates participating in the chunin exams, how could anyone's natural energy surpass that of Jugo, who was born with the Sage Body?

Chapter 224 Chunin Exams

Half an hour later, as the candidates arrived one after another, the Chunin Exams began.

The first part of the Chunin Exams was a written test. The test paper had nine densely packed questions covering subjects such as history, mathematics, and geography, which were not too difficult for Naruto.

This exam does not oppose cheating, provided that the cheating methods are not too clumsy.

Intelligence gathering is also a crucial part of a ninja's mission. However, the most critical part of this exam is the tenth question, which tests the candidate's determination to become a Chunin.

Chunin may seem insignificant, but they are actually the captains who lead ninja squads. A captain's judgment may be wrong, but he must never give up on decisions and must always maintain the team's cohesion.

Having seen the answer key beforehand, Naruto wasn't in a hurry to answer the questions. Instead, he looked at his deskmate.

Whether it was fate or not, I was assigned to Hinata's side, and the little girl was writing down answers with great effort.

Hinata felt very uncomfortable being stared at by Naruto and cheating with her Byakugan.

Although she already knew the content of the test from her clansmen, she still felt a little guilty about cheating, and Naruto's gaze made her face flush.

After making up her mind, Hinata cautiously said, "Are you trying to copy my answers? If you really don't know, I can show you a little bit."

Naruto shook his head slightly: "I finished writing it a long time ago, I just wanted to chat with some pretty girls."

Hinata's heart pounded. She had guessed yesterday that Naruto was the leader of the Uzushio Village genin team, since chakra is difficult to disguise, as is scent.

Naruto's scent is exactly the same as the fox's wallet.

Thinking of this, Hinata said softly, "Then don't disturb me while I'm doing my homework. I still have to continue my exam. We'll talk later..."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

Naruto said, resting his chin on his hand, completely disregarding the feelings of others.

The Chunin teachers in charge of proctoring the exam looked extremely grim, but there was nothing they could do.

Their mission is to identify those candidates who cheat too poorly, in order to select qualified Chunin.

Over the years, they have seen candidates cheat in the written test using all sorts of outlandish methods, but they have never seen candidates who flirt. They wish they could kick them out of the exam room right now.

But Naruto and Hinata didn't actually break any rules; they were just quietly enjoying their sweet moments together.

However, one of the monitoring teachers fell into deep thought. Isn't Hinata the successor of the Hyuga clan? Why is she communicating with ninjas from other villages? Is this the demeanor of a noble heir?

After a while, Hinata finished answering the questions, and the two just stared at each other without saying anything more.

Hinata's classmates also noticed this scene. Hinata's personality has changed a lot in the past two years, but she would never speak to unfamiliar ninjas, especially unfamiliar male ninjas, which made them very curious.

Sasuke's eyes flashed with a cold light as he memorized the appearance of the examinee who had spoken with Hinata.

Although he didn't have much interaction with Hinata, as far as he knew, Hinata and Naruto had a good relationship, and he wouldn't let any ninja who approached Hinata unnecessarily get away with it.

However, the most urgent task is to use the Sharingan to cheat and copy the same answer sheet.

Upon entering the examination room, he realized that the exam was actually testing his ability to cheat. If he weren't worried about causing trouble for Kakashi, he would have even wanted to control the proctor.

If you can control the proctor, you can get a perfect score without cheating at all.

Choji seemed to have noticed something and looked in Shikamaru's direction, only to see Shikamaru rolling his eyes and copying the answers.

With Shikamaru, the external brain, already expressing his opinion, Choji became too lazy to pay attention to Hinata. In any case, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio would advance and retreat together, and none of them could do without the others. Shikamaru would help him complete his test.

At this point, Karin answered the questions based on her own abilities.

While resting on the table, she noticed Hinata talking to Naruto, and her expression immediately changed: "Why is she talking to someone else? Why is she talking to someone else... Why is she talking to someone else?"

Annoyed by the nagging, Shiro couldn't help but remind her, "Karin, if you keep doing this, we might get kicked out."

When the chief examiner, Ibiki Morino, saw these candidates, he was quite overwhelmed. Although he had the authority to expel candidates from the examination hall, this year's Chunin Exams were somewhat special, and he had received orders from his superiors.

As time went on, the first exam reached its final stage, testing the determination to become a Chunin.

Naruto easily passed Ibiki Morino's stress test, and casually showed off a test paper that only had "Answer" written on it. He could have cheated to get the answers, but there was no need for that.

Of course, it's also related to the fact that Kurama wasn't helpful enough; Kurama didn't even help him answer the questions.

After successfully passing the first stage of the Chunin Exams, Naruto was about to leave with Haku and Karin when Hinata and her team approached and extended an invitation:

"Did we just agree to team up for the second exam?"

Hinata's direct approach surprised Kiba and Shino, who couldn't understand why she would care so much about a Uzushio Village ninja, which was completely out of character for Hinata.

Karin was even more puzzled. She complained to Haku that the woman with the white eyes was seducing Menma-sama, but Haku responded indifferently: "Karin, I think Menma-sama and that girl have known each other for a long time."

Upon hearing this, Karin was struck dumb. So she was the third party? She was the one who came later.

Seeing Karin like this, Haku gently shook his head. Karin is usually a very normal person, but she becomes crazy whenever she sees Menma-sama. It's probably because of Menma-sama's irresistible charm.

Hinata is beautiful in her ninja outfit. Although she hasn't fully developed yet, she always makes people want to tease her.

After glancing at Hinata from head to toe, Naruto smiled and nodded.

Hinata seems to have seen through his disguise. She didn't expect that the combination of Shikotsumyaku and Byakugan could enhance the Byakugan's perception.

Chatting and laughing all the way, the two teams soon arrived near the Death Forest.

Compared to the number of people who participated in the first exam, only about half participated in the second exam. In other words, nearly half of the genin were eliminated in the written exam alone.

Not to mention the second and third exams that followed.

Considering that only Shikamaru successfully became a Chunin in the Chunin Exams in the story, Naruto couldn't help but marvel at how terrifyingly difficult it was to become a Chunin. Chunin must be incredibly powerful.