Under the sunlight,
Kyo's figure had already disappeared into the bustling crowd on the street.
Amidst the hustle and bustle, he was nowhere to be seen.
However,
Kakashi in the plaza still maintained his previous posture, eyes wide, staring into the distance, completely frozen in place!
His contracted pupils were filled with disbelief.
That was...
Unprecedented shock!
He had never seen such a strange Body Flicker Technique...!
It looked like just an ordinary step,
But it felt as if he had directly crossed the tens of meters of distance in between, arriving far away!
This miraculous technique made him think of one term...
Reducing ground to an inch!
That leisurely step Kyo had just taken,
Was precisely what gave him this incredibly bizarre feeling!
It even made Kakashi involuntarily feel... this speed was almost no less than that of his teacher - the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato!
But,
Even so,
That guy still completed it so easily and leisurely.
Still without any hand seals or signs of performing a technique!
In fact...
He didn't even snap his fingers this time!
'Could it be... that these terrifying powers still weren't his true strength...?'
Kakashi's expression was extremely grim.
Cold sweat dripped down.
And just at this moment,
Shikaku finally reached the plaza below.
He arrived beside Kakashi and, seeing his strange expression, immediately frowned and spoke intently:
"What's wrong, Kakashi."
"...?!"
As his words faded, Kakashi suddenly snapped back to reality, his heart skipping a beat.
Then, he slowly withdrew his hand and revealed a bitter expression,
Covering his forehead with his hand, he shook his head and reluctantly said:
"N-Nothing."
"Shikaku-san, d-do we still need to continue probing him?"
As his words faded,
Shikaku looked into the distance, slowly shook his head, and said in a deep voice:
"It's no longer necessary."
"Although he is very strange in all aspects,"
"At least regarding last night's attack, we can temporarily rule this guy out for now."
"Later, I will have Hokage-sama arrange some Anbu to monitor him throughout. You don't need to worry about it for now."
"..."
As his words faded, Kakashi nodded silently.
And at this moment,
Shikaku sighed again, looked to the other side, his expression solemn as he said:
"Ah..."
"Although that guy seemed to deliberately hold back the power of those techniques when he struck,"
"However,"
"Your two students, Naruto and Sasuke... will probably still be unable to participate in this Chunin Exam this time."
"I will immediately arrange Medical-nin to treat them."
"It's up to you, as their teacher, to advise them."
"And also, regarding Naruto's origins..."
"I'll leave that to you as well."
Having said this, Shikaku gave Kakashi a long, meaningful look.
Then, he turned and walked out.
A gentle breeze blew,
Ruffling Kakashi's silver hair.
Kakashi's heart paused slightly. After a long moment, he turned and cast a complex gaze towards the battered Naruto and Sasuke over there.
A bitter expression appeared on his face.
Because of this overly hasty probing action on their part,
Not only did the situation not improve, it seemed to be getting more and more troublesome.
Just as Shikaku had said,
Given Naruto and Sasuke's current injuries, it seemed they had completely missed this first Chunin Exams.
And furthermore...
The issue of Naruto's origins could no longer be avoided.
Kakashi slightly lowered his eyes, a bitter expression appearing beneath his mask.
'Minato-sensei...'
'Perhaps it's time to tell Naruto everything about you...'
'But then,'
'What about Hokage-sama's side...?'
...
And at this moment,
On this side.
After leaving the exam venue,
Kyo walked calmly down the street, completely unconcerned about Kakashi and the others over there.
At this moment, his gaze was fixed into the distance, deep in thought.
Since he had now decided to personally intervene in this Konoha Crushing Plan,
Then,
The first thing he needed to do,
Was naturally to find the original planner of this plan, Orochimaru.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances,
He should still be in the Sunagakure's base now, moving about disguised as the Fourth Kazekage.
Thinking this,
Kyo leisurely arrived at the residence of the Sunagakure shinobi.
This place was located southeast of the Chunin Exams' venue,
Just about able to see the Hokage Rock in the distance. The scenery was very good, and the location could be said to be excellent.
This also showed how much Konoha valued Sunagakure.
Although over thirty people from Sunagakure had gone to take the Chunin Exams today,
At this moment,
There were naturally still many Shinobi guarding here.
After all, since the pillar of Sunagakure, the Fourth Kazekage, had come here, they naturally had to avoid any danger approaching.
At this moment, two Sunagakure's Chunin were standing at the entrance, chatting about something.
It seemed to be about the Chunin Exams.
But just at this moment,
They suddenly saw,
A man in an Amegakure uniform walking openly towards them.
His pace was leisurely, his expression relaxed, his posture as if he were strolling through a garden.
Seeing this scene,
The two immediately changed expression and subconsciously wanted to issue a warning.
However,
When they saw clearly the pair of flickering golden eyes on the approaching person, in an instant, both were dumbfounded!
'W-Wait!'
'Th-This... this is that man?!'
The two froze instantly!
They had just yesterday, along with Temari and Kankuro, seen Kyo once on the road!
Naturally, they recognized him at a glance!
Sweat poured down!
Kyo stopped at the door, smiled at the two, and said:
"Yo, it's you two again."
"Can you open the door?"
"I need to go in and see your Kazekage."
"...?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the two's hearts clenched sharply, and they were directly stunned!
'What...?'
'Open the door, see the Kazekage...?'
'What the hell... that's too direct, right?!'
'You could at least find an excuse, and we could conveniently open the door...'
'Just saying it so directly, this...'
The two immediately showed expressions uglier than crying.
However,
Before they could react,
Suddenly, a deep voice came from one side.
"What's going on...?!"
Then,
A sturdy Sunagakure's Shinobi, with half his face covered by white cloth, suddenly walked over from one side!
Seeing his appearance, the two guard Shinobi immediately seemed to grasp a lifeline and quickly said:
"B-Baki-sama!!"
That's right,
The person appearing now was none other than the highly influential and powerful elite Shinobi of Sunagakure - Baki.
He was also the teacher of Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara.
In Sunagakure, he could be called the Kazekage's right-hand man and was deeply trusted by Sunagakure's Shinobi.
If the Kazekage was absent,
He was almost the man with the most say in the entire village.
Seeing his appearance,
The two guards naturally felt relieved.
They didn't want to face this golden-eyed man alone...
If they didn't let him in, they would definitely get beaten.
But if they actually let him in and were held accountable later, the two of them certainly wouldn't escape...
So, now that Baki was here, they could legitimately pass the problem to him.
One guard immediately, with a grim expression, carefully said:
"B-Baki-san..."
"This Amegakure's Shinobi wants... wants to go in and see the Kazekage-sama..."
"...What!?"
Hearing this,
Baki's expression changed slightly,
Then, he immediately snorted coldly and directly stepped forward aggressively, walking over!
"Hmph!"
To be fair,
Sunagakure had indeed been intimidated by that golden-eyed youth from Amegakure back then.
But... that doesn't mean any Amegakure's Shinobi can come and trample on Sunagakure!
'Our Sunagakure!'
'Is long different from before!'
Baki thought to himself as he subconsciously angrily stepped forward.
However,
The next moment, as he reached the door,
What met him was a pair of indifferent golden eyes, burning like fire.
"...?!!!"
The moment he saw this dazzling golden light, Baki, who had just been furious, suddenly changed expression drastically!
In an instant, his heart clenched, his hands and feet turned cold!
All his anger directly extinguished!
'Th-This...'
'Why is it him again?!'
Baki was directly dumbfounded on the spot...
Although he had heard from Temari and Kankuro before that the golden-eyed man seemed to have also come to Konoha,
He never expected to actually run into him! Right in front of the Sunagakure's residence entrance!
And just at this moment,
Kyo also looked over, slightly raised an eyebrow, and said with a light smile:
"Baki-san, is it?"
"Perfect timing. Then you can choose..."
"Do I go in directly to find your Kazekage, or do you call him out now and get a beating?"
"...?!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Baki's face turned pale!
'This...'
'The familiar words are here again...?!'
'What's going on...'
'Why... in front of these golden eyes, do I feel an invisible pressure?!'
Sweat instantly poured down Baki's face, a chill running up his spine.
It was only upon truly seeing these golden eyes again,
That he suddenly realized,
In front of this guy,
Sunagakure is still… the same as before!