Chapter 3: The Chūnin Examiner Defeated in an Instant

After some questioning, Iruka-sensei actually doubted Naruto's strength.

Hah.

This could not be made up for by just a single bowl of ramen to heal his fragile heart.

At least ten bowls.

After much discussion and extorting five bowls of ramen out of him, Iruka-sensei finally prepared to leave.

He was in a rush to deliver warmth and care to everyone else's doorsteps.

Watching Iruka-sensei's retreating figure, Naruto could only offer his blessings to the new graduates of the same year.

Furthermore, he hoped Iruka-sensei wouldn't run into Sasuke, whose strength was a bit formidable, and who lacked his own sensory abilities.

He just hoped Sasuke wouldn't lay his hands too heavily on him.

Still... it didn't matter, Xiaoyaowan would step in.

"Boss! Games! Games!"

His three lacklings shouted in unison, begging Naruto to join them in gaming.

Looking at their expectant gazes, Naruto felt a bit soft-hearted, yet he didn't feel like playing games.

"Forget it, I'll treat you guys to Lao Gan Die instead."

"Yay!" ×3

No child could ever resist Lao Gan Die fast food and happiness-water.

Naruto and Konohamaru's squad went to enjoy Lao Gan Die fast food. While waiting in line, they unexpectedly bumped into Choji. If he remembered correctly, Choji was a regular here, as well as the highest-tier VIP.

As expected of you, Choji!

Not a single gram of fat on his body was obtained for free; every bit of it was eaten up bite by bite.

Looking further ahead at the endless queue, Naruto slowly grew a sense of despair.

There seemed to be an exceptionally large crowd today.

It wasn't even Thursday, so why were there so many people?

Taking a closer look, he realized that quite a few people in line were wearing forehead protectors from other ninja villages.

I see.

Earlier, Naruto had even spotted ninjas checking in over by the Hokage Rock.

Had Lao Gan Die become a check-in spot now too?

"Have you heard?"

"What?"

"This is the flagship store of Lao Gan Die fast food, where the fried chicken is personally made by the founder Wan Liang himself. It tastes the best."

"Really? Then I've got to try it."

Right before his eyes, two more people from a foreign village joined the back of the queue.

Naruto: -_-||

After finishing the fast food, Naruto took a stroll through the village and discovered that Lao Gan Die wasn't the only place with a long line.

The grilled fish shop was packed to capacity.

The Xiaoyaowan store was packed to capacity.

Countless ninjas from other villages were lining up overnight just to purchase Xiaoyaowan.

Because Konoha's Xiaoyaowan was the cheapest.

In other regions, Tier 1 Xiaoyaowan started at least at 50,000 ryo, and directly at 100,000 ryo in some areas, whereas Konoha only charged 20,000 ryo.

What could he do? He, Naruto, simply loved his village far too much.

It definitely wasn't because he had set the price too low back then.

Definitely! Not!

Over the next few days, more and more foreign ninjas arrived in the village. Some were strong, some were weak, and Naruto even marked a few interesting chakras.

Until Naruto discovered that Uchiha Rokutong had actually arrived in the village.

There were simply too many clones. Unless it was critical news, Naruto wouldn't synchronize data with these clones in real-time; he wasn't a quantum supercomputer.

Otherwise, simply synchronizing the data of over a hundred clones would be enough to give him a splitting headache in bed every day.

Therefore, communication with his clones was generally conducted through channel chatting.

A quick inquiry in the Naruto channel revealed that Uchiha Rokutong had actually come on behalf of the *Ninja World Daily* to do a special report.

From then on, the daily intelligence of the Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha would be serialized in the *Ninja World Daily*.

To pull this off, Konoha was even willing to pay money to buy ad space.

Heh, interesting.

The village pays to advertise for me, talk about a total victory!

Five days flew by in the blink of an eye.

Team 7 had agreed to meet at the ninja academy gates, and the registration venue was right here.

Early in the morning, Naruto and Sasuke had already arrived.

"Sorry, I'm late." Sakura looked somewhat under the weather, greeting the two of them listlessly as if she hadn't slept well.

Naruto muttered to himself, wondering if Sakura was still plagued by self-doubt.

Should he provoke her a little bit later?

"Sasuke-kun, good morning." Even in poor condition, Sakura never forgot her original intention and made sure to greet Sasuke separately.

"Mn." Sasuke nodded, and the three of them walked inward.

Just as they reached the second floor, they saw a crowd of people hustling and bustling, packed closely together.

Prowling through the crowd to the front, Naruto found two Chunin blocking everyone with the Transformation Technique, and two people had already been beaten up by them.

Naruto was somewhat familiar with the two who had been beaten; that bowl-cut hairstyle clearly belonged to a junior version of Might Guy-sensei, who seemed to have challenged him back in their ninja academy days.

As for the attire of the other female student, it was distinctly Chinese-styled.

As for their remaining teammate, with a pair of Byakugan eyes, there was no doubt he belonged to the Hyuga clan—seemingly the genius of the previous year, Hyuga Neji.

They had also crossed paths back in the ninja academy days.

Looking at the scene unfold, Naruto couldn't even be bothered to make a move; did such a trivial matter really require him to act?

"Sasuke, go on, show them a trick."

Hearing this, Sasuke's expression darkened. Nothing good ever came out of Naruto's mouth when he phrased it like that.

Still, he stepped forward. "Hurry up and step aside, let us up to the third floor. You should cancel this barrier created by genjutsu right away."

The roadblocker transformed by Izumo Kamizuki, one of Konoha's gate guardians, wasn't surprised upon hearing this. Did this kid belong to the Uchiha clan?

He retorted verbally, "Oh? You've already figured it out? But just figuring it out is all, right?" The subtext was that they had to exchange blows first.

He moved to counterattack, only to suddenly notice a change in Sasuke's eyes.

The scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan made its dazzling debut in front of everyone for the very first time.

"Uh-oh." Just as that thought crossed his mind, Izumo Kamizuki found himself completely paralyzed.

*It's a genjutsu!*

"Let's go!" Seeing Sasuke succeed, Naruto took the lead and walked through the door.

Through rigorous training and the enhancement of his three-tomoe, Sasuke's average genjutsu stat had reached around 90. While he couldn't deal with Naruto, whose stats were over 400, using it to handle Chunin whose average genjutsu stats hovered around 50–60, or perhaps 60–70 at best, was practically a one-hit KO.

Seeing the other Chunin attempt to step forward and block them, Naruto shot him a glare.

The output from stats exceeding 400 was far more terrifying than Sasuke's.

The ninja transformed by Kotetsu Hagane stood frozen in place, utterly unable to move. Even though he reacted and frantically circulated his chakra to attempt a release, it was completely useless.

Pure numerical suppression.

Glancing at Kotetsu Hagane, Sasuke also walked past him. He had long known of Naruto's profound mastery in genjutsu, but he hadn't expected the effect to rival his own Sharingan.

*Good thing Naruto doesn't have a Sharingan. Once he grows further, his genjutsu will definitely surpass mine.*

"Th-this..."

Rock Lee stood blankly on the spot, momentarily at a loss for words.

Neji stepped up to finish the sentence for him, "This is genjutsu."

Neji knew a fair bit about the other prestigious clan that had always been on par with the Hyugas. However, he truly hadn't expected this young Uchiha to have already awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan at such a tender age.

He remembered their previous footrace had been evenly matched; it seemed he had grown even stronger over this period!

Wasn't he only twelve or thirteen years old?

As expected of an academy genius, a formidable opponent indeed.

"Lee,"

Tenten worriedly cautioned Lee, "Ninjas who excel at genjutsu are the ultimate counters to taijutsu specialists like you, you must be careful."

"Of course,"

Lee showed no discouragement; instead, his battle intent surged, ready to unleash his youth at any moment. "I just won't look into his eyes!"

Everyone passed through the corridor and stepped onto the third floor, leaving only the two gate guardians still trapped in genjutsu.

"Released!" Kotetsu Hagane forcefully broke through Sasuke's genjutsu with his chakra, finally regaining his freedom.

Turning his head, he spotted Izumo, who was still fixed in place and immobilized.

"Hey, Izumo, you..."

Judging by his symptoms, it was identical to his own, but that shouldn't be the case; Izumo's counter-genjutsu abilities were stronger than his.

Kotetsu poured chakra into him, finally freeing Izumo Kamizuki from the illusion.

"Hahaha, I managed to break free from the genjutsu a moment ago, how did that Uchiha's genjutsu manage to trap you for so long?"

"It wasn't the Uchiha, it was that brat Naruto," Izumo Kamizuki helplessly explained.

Now it was Kotetsu's turn to be astonished. "He knows genjutsu too?"

The two fell into silence.

"Is this the brat Kakashi has been keeping under wraps? Truly terrifying," Izumo Kamizuki sighed.

"Yeah, we're in for a good show this year."