Two days later, at the Chūnin Exam venue—
"Lord Fourth Kazekage, long time no see."
Wearing a hastily-sewn Hokage robe and the Hokage's hat, Link lounged against his chair without moving, lifting a hand to greet the newcomer.
There was no helping it: the rushed job on the Hokage robe came with one big problem—the old lady responsible for embroidering the successive Hokage symbols couldn't finish it properly in just a few hours. The final product was, well, let's just say it was beyond words.
A flash of surprise showed in the Fourth Kazekage's eyes. Once seated, he remarked, "I truly never imagined you could become Hokage at such a young age."
He was genuinely taken aback—who would have thought Konoha would allow a twelve-year-old kid to become Hokage? That sounded entirely far-fetched.
Still, Konoha's actions in the past half year had been strange indeed: refusing many high-paying missions, buying up massive amounts of supplies, warding off infiltration, and quietly covering up the Third Hokage's death.
For reasons unknown, Konoha had become a black hole in the ninja world's intelligence. Sunagakure had even gotten hints from Iwagakure, asking if they wanted to start a war—maybe they could both attack Konoha together.
After all, the hidden Amegakure had mysteriously been destroyed. The Land of Rain was so chaotic it was even less stable than the Land of Rivers, making it easy to pass through if you wanted to invade the Land of Fire. If war broke out again, they'd just do what they did during the Third Great Ninja War.
"Yo, Sasori, even you can be a Kazekage's bodyguard these days?" Link raised his gaze to see two short figures behind the Kazekage.
They were Gaara and Sasori.
"Ahem." The Fourth Kazekage cleared his throat, subtly hinting that as Hokage, Link shouldn't be so casual. Then he took his seat beside him.
Link pretended not to notice, winking at Gaara. A shadow rose up behind Link's chair and pressed a hidden lever. The chair, custom-made at his request, rose up high—so that Link's legs dangled in midair and his head was now half a head taller than the Kazekage.
[…]
The Fourth Kazekage felt all the diplomatic words he'd planned getting stuck in his throat. It was his first time meeting a Hokage this childish.
He was a Kage, not some minor village's leader, but one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages' top figures!
Yet here was a little brat… beyond words.
Gaara, who'd been standing behind his father, initially wore a blank look, astonished to see his friend. Catching Link's mischievous expression, Gaara found the corners of his own mouth twitching upward.
Meanwhile, Sasori stared intently at Link in his robe and hat.
He remembered how, a month ago, they'd had a bet—Link said he'd request sealing knowledge or original body cells from the Hokage. But then Fifth Hokage Tsunade abruptly vanished for over a month, so Sasori had to negotiate with the Fourth Kazekage. He figured he'd catch up with Link again at this event. And now—before he even had time to react—Link had become the Hokage.
He couldn't help feeling tricked, toyed with. Even though he was technically a puppet (Human Puppet), strong emotions could still disturb his mind.
Link found Sasori's intense gaze somewhat awkward. "Um, if you still want to study—"
"Sixth Hokage," the Fourth Kazekage interrupted pointedly, "the exams are about to begin."
Purely trying to divert Link's attention (and bring the conversation back). A Hokage socializing so casually with the Kazekage's bodyguards, ignoring the Kazekage's presence, was improper.
Too absurd.
Link responded with an "I'll catch you later at Training Ground Seven" kind of look. Then he calmly leaned back, gathered his chakra, and began watching videos on the Net.
(What's that look supposed to mean?)
Sasori could make no sense of Link's vague signal.
Gaara didn't think too much about it; he just stood quietly, focusing on the arena below. Some of his fellow rookie ninja from the Sand were competing, and he wanted to keep an eye on them.
(He's gathering chakra… maintaining some jutsu?)
As for the Fourth Kazekage, he was now extra on guard. He himself had once tried to sabotage Konoha in the "Konoha Crush" plan, so he feared a "surround-and-assassinate" plan might be used on him. That scrawny brat was too unpredictable. If a direct fight started at close range, who knew how it would end?
From old intel that Baki once delivered: a single touch from this kid could rob your ability to form hand seals. And from the latest info, Gaara plus three others hadn't even beaten Link's Shadow Jutsu. If it came to a close-range battle, he might end up worse than how the Third Hokage battered him last time.
…
Down in the arena, the first matches ended quickly. Low-level ninja fights tended to be very short: neither side could take more than a single good hit, so the focus was on evading, hiding, and ambushing. The stage was cramped, nobody could run far, and there was limited chakra. So typically, a fight took anywhere from a few minutes to maybe ten or so at most.
To finish a set bracket in time, they also held preliminary eliminations. The entire tournament would last three days total: day one had eight participants making four matches; day two had four making two matches; day three was the final. Short and simple.
Link spaced out, continuing to browse Net videos.
Net Video had recently overtaken Net's forum in popularity. The reason? Experience. The forum only allowed text and audio, while videos were more fun. People posted everything from scenery tours to new foods, or even black-market forays that ended up blocked—exotic glimpses at life.
Sure, the ninja world had TV, some broadcasts, and even "movies," but the reality was that ninjas rarely had time or resources to produce entertainment. The entire entertainment sector was underdeveloped, and TV shows were perfunctory.
From Link's Earth perspective, it was all bland, with an overload of meaningless data and minimal highlights, plus no creative naming sense. Half the time it devolved into adult or unsavory content.
Just too uncultivated.
Similarly, Net Video was a bit chaotic. Creating a video was simple: pour in chakra, rummage through your memory, process it, and upload. Many videos were boring, but they were genuinely real, which was novel enough to intrigue watchers.
(Should I find time to make some interesting videos? Or do we do video games? Heh, memory-based VR MMO…?)
Thinking about it gave Link a small buzz. As an isekai two-dimensional "nerd," launching a "cultural invasion" or making new games might be fun.
(What's going on in that kid's head…)
Sitting beside him, the Fourth Kazekage felt like he was on a roller coaster. He could sense the Hokage's mood spikes from his chakra fluctuations. Hard not to be nervous.
And if the intelligence was correct, letting that brat even brush him once would cost him the ability to form seals. At this range, could he evade? According to the latest data, even Gaara's four-man team lost to Link's Shadow Jutsu. If a scuffle broke out at close quarters, he might be in the same boat.
~~~
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