The whole place suddenly fell silent.
These several Sunagakure's Shinobi, looking at the serious expression on Temari's face, each wondered if they had heard correctly.
'W-Wait?'
'What did this Temari just say...?'
'She actually... wants to actively provoke him???!'
'This,'
'She's crazy!!'
'What if that person really is that ruthless Amegakure guy from back then? With one probe from us, we'd be done for!!'
'She didn't witness his terrifying strength back then, but we did!'
Thinking this, instantly, these several Sunagakure's Shinobi showed expressions uglier than crying, each with bitter faces as they spoke:
"This... Temari, you need to think this over carefully..."
"That golden-eyed guy back then could easily take out an entire Anbu Team. With that kind of strength, we're definitely no match."
"What if we provoke him and he decides to silence us..."
The several spoke with great concern.
Their strength among Sunagakure's Shinobi wasn't particularly high, even less than Temari's, so of course they were scared.
But hearing this, Temari's expression remained unchanged, still serious as she said:
"Don't worry, although it's probing, I'll be careful."
"Furthermore... this is Konoha."
"If he really went to the trouble of disguising his identity, he surely wouldn't want Konoha to discover who he is, right?"
"That means you don't need to worry too much."
"..."
At this point, the several Sunagakure's Shinobi were momentarily stunned.
They finally understood what Temari meant. After exchanging glances, their expressions slowly relaxed, no longer so tense.
After all, Temari's words did remind them somewhat.
If that guy really came to Konoha in disguise, it actually shows he's not someone who operates outside the law.
Perhaps they could use this to their advantage...
At this moment, Temari stepped forward directly and said:
"Let's go,"
"Before heading over there, I'll discuss it with Kankuro."
"...Okay."
The several immediately followed behind Temari and left.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Kyo and the others' accommodations had also been arranged by Konoha's Shinobi.
In the blink of an eye,
Dusk approached, the moon rose over the willows.
The entire Konoha Village slowly entered the night.
After dinner, Kyo,
After giving some instructions to his three students, slipped out alone.
In fact,
When he came here earlier,
He had already asked Hayate about their freedom of movement in Konoha.
Hayate replied that as long as it didn't involve Konoha's government affairs or the secret grounds of various clans, they could basically move freely throughout Konoha without restrictions.
This seemed to be a way for the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, to demonstrate Konoha's strong confidence to the various countries.
Since the exam officially started tomorrow, Kyo naturally wouldn't miss this great opportunity to earn mission rewards.
That's right.
As the main stage of the Naruto World,
The number of side missions in Konoha Village was naturally very numerous.
And the types of missions could almost be described as bizarrely diverse, even to the point of being hard to sort out.
If these missions were all marked on a map of Konoha, the complexity could almost rival an Assassin Creed game.
So much so that Kyo took one look at the system panel and directly chose to close it.
This kind of thing only adds pressure after seeing it.
Anyway, this Chunin Exam lasts a long time, so there's no rush with these missions. He'll complete them one by one slowly.
Kyo, hands in his pockets, walked openly on the street, leisurely heading towards the prominent giant structure in the distance.
But calling it a structure might not be quite right.
Because that thing looked more like it was carved directly from the stone wall of an entire small mountain, engraved with four enormous faces.
It was Konoha's landmark-
The Hokage Rock.
The statues above, from left to right,
Were the four Hokage since Konoha's founding-
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi who brought his hands together and whatever he shouted came, a human self-propelled cheater whose very cells could become someone else's power-up.
The Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, a forbidden technique expert who used Water Release like Ocean Release and created almost nothing but forbidden techniques besides Water Release, single-handedly supporting many of Konoha's later generations.
The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, the eternal god of the speed world, who played the Flying Thunder God Technique better than its creator, with no bloodline advantages, yet still incredibly strong.
Ah, right,
And of course, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
The 'Strongest Hokage' who, during his tenure, single-handedly dragged Konoha down from the peak of the Shinobi World, known as the Know-It-All of the Shinobi World, the Blame-Shifter of Konoha, and so on.
Looking at the four statues above, Kyo's eyes flickered slightly.
Seeing it up close,
This Hokage Rock was indeed much larger than imagined, but the architectural details were indeed relatively rough.
As Kyo marveled,
At this moment, the system's prompt sound opportunely popped up in his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations Host, side mission accomplished!]
[Closely observe Konoha's landmark structure, the Hokage Rock (1/1), completed! Reward: Spiritual Pressure +2000, Mall Points +250!]
As the prompt sound faded, Kyo showed a smile.
'Sure enough, easy and simple.'
However,
Just as he was about to turn and leave, suddenly, the system's prompt sounded again.
[Ding, congratulations Host, the system detects you have arrived near the Konoha structure Hokage Rock. Side mission triggered-]
[Destroy the Hokage Rock once (0/1), incomplete, reward unknown.]
As soon as this prompt sounded, Kyo was momentarily stunned.
'Huh???'
'Wait, destroy the Hokage Rock?'
'I haven't even officially started the main mission for the Chunin Exams, and you want me to start demolition work?'
Just as Kyo was pondering this,
Suddenly,
Within his Spiritual Pressure Perception, two special auras appeared, their direction clearly heading this way.
'Hmm...?'
Kyo's mind stirred slightly, and he withdrew his thoughts.
These two auras happened to come from the left and right sides respectively. One person on the left, and a group on the right.
Kyo didn't even need to look to know who the aura from the left direction belonged to.
Although this person had made some disguise and changes to their own aura, the soul doesn't lie.
Kyo could naturally see through it completely.
Needless to say,
It was naturally Orochimaru's lackey, "The Spy" Yakushi Kabuto.
Kyo could almost instantly guess his purpose for coming here.
But he couldn't be bothered to deal with him for now.
So he looked towards the direction of that other aura.
A moment later,
He saw a group of people wearing Sunagakure's Genin uniforms slowly approaching from over there.
The leader was none other than that big fan-carrying Temari, and her brother, the puppeteer Kankuro.
Behind them,
Were a group of background character from Sunagakure with forgettable faces and little screen time.
They were chatting as they walked this way.
The expressions on each of their faces seemed deliberately casual, as if they were just out for a stroll and chat.
However, Kyo found it amusing.
What they didn't know,
Was that in front of Kyo, who dealt with all kinds of acting masters daily, their disguise was seen through almost instantly.
Compared to Masked Obito and undercover Itachi, could this even be called acting?
Kyo marveled inwardly.
'Tsk, these Sunagakure's people, amateurs are amateurs after all,'
'Although they were trying hard to perform, compared to the veteran actors of the Uchiha Clan, they were far off.'
Kyo knew in his heart,
Since these Sunagakure's people deliberately came here, there were only two possibilities-
Either they hadn't recognized Kyo and came to probe, to determine their actions in the upcoming Chunin Exams.
Or they had recognized him and came to back down.
However...
Kyo chuckled lightly.
Just by looking at the expressions on these people's faces, he knew the Sunagakure weren't here to back down.
That meant only the first possibility was left.
They,
Were here to probe.
Thinking this, Kyo's expression returned to calm. He didn't intend to play games with these idle Sunagakure's Genin.
So he directly raised his eyes, expressionlessly, and walked straight towards the Sunagakure's group.
"...?"
The Sunagakure group opposite saw this and were all momentarily stunned.
'Huh?'
'What's going on?'
'Has he... noticed us?!'
'How is that possible? We disguised ourselves so well just now...!?'
Everyone, including Temari and Kankuro, couldn't help but be slightly startled at this moment, their expression management directly losing control.
Watching Kyo's figure getting closer and closer ahead, their hearts tightened, and they couldn't help but stop in their tracks.
However, Kyo remained expressionless, walking forward calmly.
Until he reached beside Temari,
He stopped.
Then, he slightly turned his face, looked blandly at Temari,
His golden eyes flickered slightly, and he spoke with utter indifference:
"What's the matter?"
"Haven't you Sunagakure had enough of being beaten by Amegakure?"
"Want another round?"
"...!?"
As soon as the words came out,
Instantly, the whole place fell dead silent!
All the Sunagakure's Shinobi's pupils contracted sharply, and in that instant, their breath caught!
Everyone's mind went completely blank in an instant!
'He... he really is here!?'
'He's not even trying to hide it?!'