Chapter 228: The New Year's Hyper-Competitive Event
Ino was exceptionally serious, her face stern, her words ringing with force. Her aura practically screamed the words "iron-faced and selfless."
Sakura, Choji, and their other acquaintances didn't dare make a sound. Hinata's heart pounded fiercely with fear. Wow, she thought, wearing that outfit, I don't even recognize you anymore!
Ino, mimicking Ibiki Morino, repeated the exam rules. She remained utterly impartial. Things like Ibiki letting his rogue ninja brother go, or her leaking exam questions? None of that existed; it was all slander. She and Ibiki were simply the 'Hidden Dragon and Young Phoenix' among Konoha's enforcers – equally incorruptible.
"I am the person with the strictest enforcement standards in this world! Consider yourselves unlucky to have fallen into my hands! I don't care how you passed the first phase, but here, in this second phase, if I catch you cheating, the punishments awaiting you include flogging, caning, and branding irons! While I won't kill you, the suffering will be worse than death, hehehehe..." she chuckled sinisterly.
The group of genin trembled with fear. The familiar faces, however, weren't scared anymore. Hinata and Sakura looked at her with narrowed eyes. This self-proclaimed "person with the strictest enforcement standards" sounded a bit like that Sentomaru character she used to tell stories about, didn't she? What did that Sentomaru say again? "The man with the tightest lips?"
Entering the valley through ten different entrances from various directions, the valley's radius exceeded twenty kilometers, making the area vast. Since they weren't familiar with each other, and some weren't even from the same village before, entering the valley essentially meant each team was on their own. Those who were strong and charismatic might manage to gather two more teams to form a situation of overwhelming numbers against the few, and such tactics were perfectly allowed. But Ino didn't give them any time to discuss among themselves. After finishing the exam rules, she waved a hand, signaling them to proceed to their respective entrances as teams and prepare.
The many genin could only quickly remember the appearance of their temporary teammates before following the proctoring chunin into their assigned entrances.
"Listen up, the valley is huge, and the locations of the other four resource points are uncertain. So, we're heading directly to the blacksmith shop in the central area. We'll occupy the blacksmith shop, wait for reinforcements, and gather information about the other four resource points. Someone is bound to see them, and then we'll..."
Choji's team had the Earth Scroll. The fat guy, upon entering, immediately led his team in a dash, simultaneously explaining the key points of the match like Shikamaru himself possessed him. Choji had been drilled for two months by Ino and Shikamaru, dangled with food as motivation, so while his speed wasn't incredibly fast, it wasn't slow either. Kiba Inuzuka and Rock Lee were in a league of their own regarding speed, but their brains were a bit lacking. Listening to Choji speak so logically and coherently, although they felt the time, place, and people seemed off, they didn't object.
Meanwhile, Hinata's team had also received the Earth Scroll. Upon entering the valley, she said something similar. Sakura and Tenten nodded in agreement.
Both teams, consisting of six genin, converged at the blacksmith shop in the central area by the evening of the first day, becoming the strongest force in this match. While chaotic battles raged in the southeast, northwest, and other directions, they successfully defended the blacksmith shop by relying on the Byakugan and Kiba's scouting ability, Rock Lee and Tenten's skilled cooperation, Choji's breakthrough ability, and Sakura's genjutsu. They then gathered more teammates, made a feint to the east to attack the west, gradually accumulated advantages, and ultimately secured victory in this match for the Earth Scroll teams.
All the Heaven Scroll teams were eliminated.
Temari and Haku stayed in Konoha Village, waiting for the third phase of the exam. Since they had nothing to do, and Jiraiya was worried that his image as a perverted hermit might accidentally be exposed if he couldn't restrain himself, potentially damaging relations between Konoha and the Sand and Mist Villages, he assigned Ino to host the two of them, deeming it a C-rank mission for her.
Ino was eloquent, could kill, and could deceive. In the brave and fierce ninja world, she was definitely a rare talent, a typical all-rounder. Their status and standing were also similar, making her the most suitable person to host them. Haku was very quiet. He found a garden and sat there with his legs crossed in a very feminine way, looking at the green mountains and clear waters, sitting for the whole day.
Temari couldn't do that; she couldn't sit still for ten minutes. She was a typical tomboy. Konoha Village didn't want her wandering around aimlessly, especially since the Sand Village had their previous dark history. Only half a year had passed, and many things weren't forgotten that quickly.
Ino took her shopping, which resulted in Temari's Sand Village forehead protector attracting a lot of hostility. Ino felt incredibly wronged; her own reputation was being ruined by this strong woman. What to do? she wondered. Okay, I'll take you guys to play at Shikamaru's family's plantation.
So she took Haku and Temari to the Nara clan's sika deer breeding grounds outside the village. Upon entering the breeding grounds, they saw Shikamaru alone in the woods practicing the Shadow Possession Jutsu on over ten sika deer.
Temari didn't have a deep impression of Shikamaru. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I remember that guy seemed pretty lazy? Why is he so diligent at home?"
Where do I even begin? Ino hesitated for a moment.
Temari looked at her suspiciously. "Could it be that this is also a Konoha Village secret?" She specifically emphasized the word "secret."
Ino could only talk nonsense. She pointed at her chest, or rather, the character on her T-shirt. Originally, there was a 'Boar' character there, but after a joke suggestion from Shikamaru, she had changed it to the character "Compete" (卷).
"Do you know what character this is?"
Temari gnashed her back teeth. "Of course I can read..."
"Good, then it's simple. This is the symbol of our Compete Lotus Gate! Thanks to everyone's kind regard, I am the Vice Sect Leader of the Compete Lotus Gate." Ino's tone was a bit strange, even Haku, who was admiring the scenery, looked over.
"Compete Lotus Gate? Is it a martial arts style like those samurai? You're the Vice Sect Leader, so who's the Sect Leader?" Temari was drawn in by the information revealed in Ino's words and unknowingly got sidetracked.
Ino sighed deeply with emotion. "The Sect Leader went down the mountain and got lost. There's been no news at all, and he hasn't returned to this day."
Temari was stunned. "Huh? ...You guys didn't look for him?"
"Looked? Of course we looked!" Ino launched into a long story. "Back then, the Sect Leader was a famous sword master known throughout the surrounding villages, wielding the Shodai Kitetsu in his left hand and Enma in his right..."
Thirty minutes later, Temari and Haku had also joined the special New Year's Hyper-Competitive Event hosted by the Compete Lotus Gate. Since they were idle during the New Year anyway, sparring and practicing was a good thing.
Temari and Haku then experienced Konoha Village's 'involution' culture firsthand. Wow! Under Ino's summons, people like Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata were called over to 'compete' together. Naruto even performed the Rasengan in public, creating a large hole straight through a tree that would take two people to hug. And this level of skill wasn't even allowed to participate in the Chunin Exams in Konoha Village!
Temari was speechless.
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