Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 209 The Strange Companion

The day finally arrived. Following Kakashi's instructions, Team 7 arrived at the familiar building of the Ninja Academy. They quickly found their target—the classroom with the "301" sign hanging at the entrance.

However, the scene before them was somewhat unexpected. At the classroom door, a boy wearing a full green bodysuit and sporting a mushroom haircut was being pushed and shoved by two ninjas, seemingly being beaten up.

It's Rock Lee. Although Naruto knew he was probably carrying out a "low-key" operation, wasn't this way of actively going up to get beaten up a bit too honest?

The two ninjas blocking the door were extremely arrogant, constantly mocking the examinees who were trying to enter the classroom.

"With skills like yours, you think you're qualified to participate in the Chunin Exams?"

"I think everyone should go back! You bunch of greenhorns, you can't even get through this door!"

Just then, a very cute girl with double buns in her hair—Tian Tian—rushed forward to help the somewhat disheveled Xiao Li, pleading in a pitiful, tearful voice, "Please, please let us pass..."

Meanwhile, the Byakugan-wielding boy standing to the side—Hyuga Neji—silently turned his face away.

It wasn't because I felt ashamed of being powerless to help my teammates that I felt ashamed. It was because I couldn't stand watching these two guys' clumsy performance of pretending to be weak while actually being strong, and my teammates' overly enthusiastic "acting"... It was too embarrassing.

Although the two people at the door used a rather sophisticated transformation technique, Naruto could easily see their true identities—they were none other than Konoha's two "gatekeepers," Izumo Kamui and Kotetsu.

Speaking of which, when Naruto was three years old ten years ago, during his second attack on Konoha as "Menma," he apparently blew up the main gate, right?

Thinking about it this way, hadn't I accomplished something even Pain couldn't? But back then, those two were taken down by the Nine-Faced Beast in the very first round...

Naruto silently apologized in his heart for what happened ten years ago.

Seeing this infuriating scene, Sakura paused her nervous, pretending-to-write gestures in her palm. She keenly sensed something was amiss in the surrounding atmosphere. Was it an illusion barrier?

For the Uchiha clan, who are masters of genjutsu, seeing through this level of genjutsu barrier is as easy as asking Satsuki to do a simple math problem. Satsuki merely glanced at it, a barely perceptible hint of disdain playing at the corner of her lips.

Naruto was well aware that this was the first hidden hurdle of the Chunin Exams—testing whether the candidates possessed the basic insight to see through genjutsu. Even without anyone reminding him, he had already noticed the abnormally distorted flow of chakra in this space, his perception exceptionally clear.

Strange, why do I feel that this energy fluctuation is particularly sensitive... Could it be that I actually have a talent for cultivating sensory ninjutsu like "Kagura's Mind's Eye"?

"Hey! Isn't this Uncle Izumo and Uncle Kotetsu?" Naruto's face broke into a bright, sunny smile as he waved to the two who were still putting on a show. "Why aren't you guarding the gates of Konoha today? Why are you here guarding the exam hall gates instead? But the real exam hall is on another floor, you know."

Having participated in several short-distance missions outside the village after the Land of Waves mission, Naruto had already become quite familiar with these two "gatekeepers" of Konoha.

Izumo and Kotetsu, who were enthusiastically mocking the test taker, froze on the spot, their movements and expressions completely still. This kid… actually blurted out the answer in front of everyone?!

"What? Do we know each other? What... what are you talking about? I don't understand at all!" The two tried to play dumb to hide their embarrassment.

Just then, Satsuki keenly sensed an unusual gaze. She turned her head sharply and found a boy with pure white eyes staring directly at Naruto without any attempt to hide it.

Hyuga Neji was filled with surprise and confusion. Why? It was the first time he had met this blond boy, so why did he feel such an inexplicable sense of familiarity?

On the other side, under Naruto's barrage of confident accusations and cheerful smiles, Izumo and Kotetsu finally gave up the struggle and helplessly admitted defeat.

They were well aware that the young man before them was a genin highly regarded by Kakashi and even the Third Hokage, so they could only smile wryly and accept it. Amidst the astonished gazes of the surrounding examinees, the two transformed back into their original forms as adult ninjas nearing thirty, readily acknowledging their identities as examiners. They then dispelled the genjutsu barrier and hurriedly left the scene.

"Let's go, Satsuki, Sakura."

As the apartment number changed back to "201" from "301", Naruto was about to call his two teammates upstairs when he unexpectedly found Satsuki staring warily at Hyuga Neji, like a kitten guarding its food. Neji, on the other hand, was staring intently at him with a gaze that contained suppressed heat, a look that made Naruto feel a little uneasy.

That's strange... Why is he looking at me like that? According to the setting, his "maximum affection level" target should be [Menma], right?

Neji was analyzing the situation rapidly in his mind, and he finally understood where this inexplicable sense of familiarity came from—it was a deep-seated sense of security!

Only ten years ago, on that night that changed his and his father's fate, did he feel the same aura from the man who stayed by his side and gave him salvation—Lord Menma!

Could it be that... this person in front of me has some kind of connection with Lord Menma?

For Neji now, his greatest dream is to repay Menma, the benefactor who saved his father, to gain his approval, and to become an ally under his command. His second dream is to once again meet the being who instilled fear throughout the ninja world, yet uniquely brought him light. In his heart, Menma is not a calamity, but rather the beautiful memory he most longs to reunite with.

Tenten, standing to the side, finally sensed something was off. She glanced at her usually aloof teammate, Neji, who was now staring intently at a boy from another team with an indescribable look. Meanwhile, her teammate, Lee, was fixated on the pink-haired girl from the opposing team with a heart-pounding, bright gaze…