Because we took the wrong path… you're saying that you're the proctor…?
Even though Naruto had already given a clear hint, Ino still frowned deeply. She muttered to herself, completely confused—like a monk trying to untangle a koan—unable to figure out what Naruto was trying to say. No matter how she tried to reason it out, she couldn't come to any conclusion, and that only made her curiosity worse.
"The proctor… uh, Naruto-kun, what do you mean by that?"
With no other choice, Ino lifted her head to look at Naruto. Under his casual yet probing gaze, she hesitated for a moment, then changed the title that had reached her lips and opted to just call him by name. Her face full of confusion, she asked again.
"And also, if we really took the wrong path, shouldn't we go back and take the right one instead?"
Meanwhile, Naruto wasn't feeling relaxed at all. On the contrary, he had a vague sense that besides figuring out how Shikamaru had learned his identity, he'd forgotten something even more important. He couldn't quite recall what it was, but a gnawing unease urged him forward, as if something was silently pushing him to hurry.
Thanks to his many past experiences, Naruto had learned to trust his instincts… At least so far, whenever his intuition warned him of something, it had never proven useless.
"I already told you the reason. As for the rest, you'd better ask Shikamaru yourself."
With that, Naruto gave up on calmly explaining things. Hugging Hinata tightly in his arms, he turned around and started walking again, calling out over his shoulder to the three behind him.
"And let's talk while we walk, it'll save time… If my estimate is right, if we delay any longer, those who followed the sign and went right will probably pass us."
"B-but…"
Watching Naruto walk off deliberately keeping her in suspense, Ino wanted to press him for an answer, but—just like the cautious Shikamaru earlier—she hesitated, afraid of making him angry.
"F-fine…"
Muttering her reluctant agreement, the unanswered question clawed at Ino's heart like a hundred curious cats. Meanwhile, Choji—rested and full—had clearly regained his strength. He didn't even bother to pick up the potato chips piled on the ground. Instead, he simply walked toward Shikamaru, who had already returned to his usual lazy self and was mumbling complaints under his breath.
"My poor chips… I… I… my chips!"
Curled up in a corner and sobbing in despair, Choji couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Ino actually walk away. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, double-checked that he wasn't hallucinating from crying too long, and then—just like that—burst into joy.
"This… this… this isn't a dream… Woohoo! Amazing!"
Overjoyed, Choji didn't even wipe away his tears. He rushed over to his beloved snacks, rolling and scrambling across the ground. He didn't care in the slightest about the dust clinging to the packaging—his face lit up with a huge grin as he picked up the chips one by one, kissing each bag lovingly. Only after gently dusting them off did he carefully and reverently tuck them into his arms.
"Hehehe, thank goodness, it's just one bag. Could've been worse… This is great. This is really great."
Overcome with joy at getting his snacks back, Choji became even more protective of them. Even the unlucky bag that had been reduced to crumbs under Ino's wrath wasn't forgotten. After safely stashing away the intact bags, he deliberately left that crushed bag for last—treating it as the hero who had endured suffering on behalf of its comrades. He carefully opened it and slowly, reverently, savored each powdery fragment.
'Don't worry… I'll never let anyone mistreat you like that again. Never…'
Unknowingly, Ino's violent venting had triggered Choji's deeply buried food-guarding instincts. And so, after the third exam, the most unexpectedly changed member of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio wasn't the clever Shikamaru—but Choji.
Driven by the simple goal of becoming strong enough to protect his precious snacks and ensure no one could ever take his food again, Choji would soon become—purely by individual strength—the strongest among the trio. He trained with such focus and diligence that he overturned the original story's pacing and became the first among his team to master their clan's secret techniques…
All because of a single bag of chips.
Even Naruto hadn't anticipated the incredible change sparked by Ino's unintentional action.
Meanwhile, completely unaware of the shift in Choji's heart, Ino lifted her head slightly to glance around. Seeing Naruto steadily walking away with Hinata in his arms, she realized there was no way she'd be getting an answer out of him. After thinking it over, Ino had no choice but to follow the lead he gave and seek her answers elsewhere…
That "elsewhere" was, of course, the unlucky guy Naruto had directly pointed to—without even giving him a chance to feign ignorance—Shikamaru.
"Tch, what do you mean 'ask me'? That's just kicking the ball back to me again…"
The moment he heard Naruto's words, Shikamaru knew trouble was coming. His eye twitched, and he immediately tried to follow Naruto and slip away. But just a few steps in, he stopped. Still standing in place, he sighed and raised a hand to his forehead.
"Man… troublesome. Great. Now I can't even run if I wanted to…"
And no, Shikamaru didn't stop because of some newfound resolve to face his problems head-on…
It was because someone had grabbed the corner of his shirt. He didn't even need to look to know who it was—it could only be one person: the curiosity-driven Ino.
Compared to the consequences of upsetting a girl… Shikamaru figured it was better to be patient and just give her the answers she wanted.
"Hey, Shikamaru, let me ask you something… What did the proctor—oops, I mean Naruto—mean earlier?"
Just as Shikamaru feared, Ino—scratching at the itch of curiosity—abandoned all pretense of ladylike behavior. She jogged right up to him in three quick steps, catching him before he could escape. Grinning, she leaned close to his ear, making Shikamaru stiffen in dread.
"Since Na—Naruto said you had your reasons for reaching that conclusion…"
"Then what little secrets are you still hiding from us?"