Chapter 103: Promotion Commotion (Part-4) [Fugaku Uchiha: Jealous Dad Energy Activated]

Chapter 103 - Promotion Commotion (Part-4) [Fugaku Uchiha: Jealous Dad Energy Activated] Team 1 turned around and saw that it was the Akimichi proctor and a few of the Chunin who had been at the training ground earlier. The Akimichi was the first to snap out of his stupor. "What the hell are you brats doing here already? If you wanted to gate keep the entrance, at least hide properly while doing it!" he barked, half annoyed and half confused. Without missing a beat, Ren calmly reached into his belt and pulled out both scrolls. "We already have both scrolls. Figured it'd be a waste of time pretending to be scary at the gates." His expression was neutral, composed, but in his mind? 'Holy shit. We really got here before the proctors.' As if to add dramatic timing, the massive gates behind them creaked open. On the other side stood another team of Chunin exam proctors, clearly ready to "receive" the Genin. They blinked when they saw Team 1 already standing there. "...Huh?" one of them said dumbly. Team 1 didn't mind the reaction. In fact, the stunned faces confirmed it, they had shattered the previous record. Not just broken it, but stomped it into dust. The Akimichi looked at Ren again, this time clearly seeing the scrolls in hand. He sighed, muttered something about "damn kids," and barked at the rest of the Chunin. "What are you all dawdling for? Go inside and get to work!" The Chunin scrambled through the gates, still casting bewildered glances at the three Genin before vanishing inside. Without saying another word, the Akimichi gave Team 1 one last look and flickered away, not even bothering to debrief them. Yugao muttered, "Well, that was helpful. Glad to know wasting our time is standard procedure." Ren and Hitoshi nodded, then moved toward the tower entrance. Inside, they were met with the large central hall of the Forest of Death Tower, with the carved message on the wall: "Heaven and Earth ___Without both, one cannot reach truth." Ren read it once, then glanced at the others. "Alright, let's open the scrolls now." He handed the Earth Scroll to Hitoshi while keeping the Heaven Scroll in his own hand. "Throw it away after opening it," Ren reminded him. The two nodded at each other and opened the scrolls at the same time. In perfect synchronization, they threw them ahead of them. A moment later, Puff! A burst of smoke filled the room, and when it cleared, their Sensei, Utakata, stood before them. Utakata looked at the three of them in silence, then pulled out a silver pocket watch from his robes and checked the time. He raised an eyebrow. "...69 minutes," he said plainly. Before he could continue, Yugao fist-pumped into the air. "YES! We beat the record you guys set! That means we-" She never finished the sentence as Ren clamped his hand over her mouth and whispered, "You idiot. Don't talk about rewards yet. Let him finish first. Otherwise, he'll brush it off." Yugao nodded rapidly, and Ren let go. She turned to face Utakata again, now with an extremely neutral, formal expression. The kind of expression a shinobi uses when a Kage is speaking directly to them. It was so forced and awkward that even Utakata paused for a second. He squinted. "...Okay. Ignoring the weird behavior, let's talk about the performance." He crossed his arms and took a step forward. "You completed the second stage of the Chunin Exams in 69 minutes, shaving nearly five hours off the previous record held by Minato Namikaze's team." Ren allowed a subtle smile to form. Utakata continued. "You successfully located, intercepted, and incapacitated another team without injuries to yourselves or your opponents. Then navigated a hostile terrain in record time while avoiding further conflict." He looked at all three of them in turn. "This level of efficiency isn't just impressive, it's rare." He paused. "...Honestly, it's so rare that I thought you might be exaggerating when I heard about your performance at the gates. But here I am." There was a faint smile on his face now. Utakata looked at the three of them and asked, "So, what made you decide you had to be this quick while completing the second stage?" Ren stepped forward, hands behind his back with a casual smile. "Well, dad told me your team held the record for the fastest completion of the second stage, so I figured... records are meant to be broken, right?" Utakata gave a faint nod, not particularly surprised. Without commenting further, he turned toward the wall and began explaining the Heaven and Earth scrolls and the meaning of the inscription carved there. His voice was flat, clearly uninterested, as if he were just going through the motions. The Genin nodded along, also clearly not invested in the explanation, both sides silently agreeing that this was just procedural nonsense. Finally, Utakata wrapped up the explanation and straightened up. "Well, you've got five days. Rest, train, do whatever you want, but you're not leaving the tower until time's up." He was just about to flicker away when Ren called out, "Sensei, wait!" Utakata paused, turning slightly as he looked back at him. Ren stepped forward, rubbing his hands together with a subtle grin. "So, you see... we did really well. Broke the record, arrived before the proctors even got here. Pretty impressive stuff." Utakata narrowed his eyes. "So?" Yugao blurted out immediately, "We want rewards." Utakata blinked once and slowly turned his gaze to all three of them. The Genin stared back with unwavering, hopeful expressions. Ren nodded sincerely, picking up where Yugao left off. "Yes, sensei. Since we did so well, the village should definitely reward us. It'd be good for morale too, imagine future Genin squads looking up to us, thinking 'If we beat their record, we'll get a reward too!' Real motivation, right?" There was a subtle twitch on Utakata's forehead. "...I'll see what I can do," he said slowly. Then he flickered away without another word. As soon as he was gone, Ren turned toward Yugao with a half-annoyed look. "You shouldn't have mentioned the rewards directly. I could've persuaded him more gently if you'd waited." Yugao shrugged, unapologetic. "I was excited. We broke the Fourth Hokage's record." From the side, Hitoshi asked calmly, "Wouldn't it have been better to ask the Hokage directly? He might've taken the request more seriously." Ren shook his head. "Nah, Sensei has a better chance of persuading him. My dad once told me the Hokage likes Utakata-Sensei a lot, he was always the rational one on their squad. The only one who actually listened to instructions." As a Chunin silently led them down the tower corridor toward their assigned room, Ren continued talking. "Dad said the Fourth was way too innocent back then, he could be tricked by even the simplest things. That didn't really change until after they became chunin. Hokage had a hard time managing their team: Dad was loud and brash, the Fourth was naive and easy to swindle, and their Sensei was, well, Jiraiya." Yugao gave a slow nod. "Yeah, pervy teacher, overly pure student, loudmouth teammate. Makes sense." Hitoshi added, "So Utakata-Sensei was the only sane one?" "Exactly," Ren confirmed. "The Hokage once told dad that without Utakata-Sensei, their team would've been classified as a mobile disaster unit." The three of them chuckled slightly at that, still walking. Meanwhile, the Chunin escorting them didn't say a word. He walked ahead in silence, internally conflicted about whether he should even be hearing these kids casually discussing two of the strongest shinobi in the village's history like they were gossiping about classmates. He decided not to question it. Eventually, they arrived at the room. The Chunin opened the door, gestured them inside, and walked off wordlessly, likely in need of mental detox after the conversation. Team 1 walked in and made themselves comfortable. Five days inside the tower had begun. ~~~ Meanwhile, Utakata had already arrived at the Hokage's office. Hiruzen looked up from a scroll as he sensed his arrival and asked casually, "What happened? You should be free until your squad completes the second stage, right?" Utakata, standing with his usual neutral expression, responded plainly, "Well, they did." Hiruzen paused mid-puff of his pipe. "Huh?" "They've already cleared the second stage," Utakata clarified. Now fully attentive, Hiruzen sat up straighter. "Already? How long did they take?" "Sixty-nine minutes," Utakata answered. The Third Hokage's brows lifted slightly. He gave a low whistle before chuckling, "Hoh... I expected them to be fast, but not that fast." He took a thoughtful puff from his pipe, then added with a nostalgic grin, "Looks like your squad's record has finally been broken." Utakata nodded, a rare small smile appearing on his usually unreadable face. "I'm not really sad about it. If anyone had to break it, I'm glad it was them." Hiruzen laughed, "Haha, I know that feeling. It's a strange sort of pride, isn't it?" Letting the mood settle, Utakata then brought up the other matter. "There's something else. After they reached the tower, they requested a reward for breaking the record." He paused before adding, "And I believe we should give them one." Hiruzen looked curious, but didn't interrupt. "They phrased it like it would be good motivation for future generations," Utakata continued, "and to be honest, they're not wrong. Having real records with tangible rewards tied to them might actually increase performance during these exams. Most shinobi work best with clear incentives." Hiruzen nodded slowly, exhaling a puff of smoke. "That's a fair point, and if they performed well enough to arrive even before the proctors, it's worth acknowledging." He waved his hand dismissively. "You know them best. Pick something appropriate." "I was thinking," Utakata said, "we can give them the S-rank techniques now instead of later. That was going to be their final reward anyway. Then, once the exams are over and they pass, I'll handle something additional on my own." The Hokage gave a satisfied nod. "That sounds reasonable. Just make sure the rewards stay within acceptable limits. No handing out forbidden techniques without clearance." Utakata nodded. "Of course." With that, he flickered away, leaving Hiruzen alone once again in the quiet room, smoke gently curling upward as the old Hokage muttered to himself: "Sixty-nine minutes... huh. I wonder if even Minato saw this coming." ~~~ On the same day that Team 1 reached the tower, another person arrived, Itachi Uchiha. The proctors were stunned for the second time in a single day. First, the record set by their previous Hokage had been broken, and now it had been broken twice on the same day. The forest hadn't even had a full day to become dangerous. When Team 1 met with Itachi, both parties exchanged casual greetings and shared stories about their journeys through the Forest of Death. Unsurprisingly, Itachi's path had been just as efficient, if not quieter, than theirs. They sat together for a while, talking in low tones as the proctors watched from the shadows, still muttering about the bizarre turn of events. An hour later, another team finally arrived, Kurotsuchi's squad from the Hidden Stone. This was the third team to arrive on the first day. The proctors were visibly flustered. Three arrivals on the first day alone was unheard of. Thankfully for their pride, the record still belonged to Konoha, the foreign team had only come in third. When Kurotsuchi found out that not one but two teams had already made it before hers, and that one of them was a solo participant, she couldn't help but glance over at the others. Her gaze landed on Ren, but he didn't bother looking back. He simply continued his conversation with Yugao and Hitoshi as if unaware. The next five days passed without any more surprises. A single team from Sunagakure arrived on the third day, their condition a little ragged, but intact. That brought the total number of qualified participants to ten: three full squads (Leaf, Stone, and Sand) and Itachi Uchiha, standing solo. When Ren learned about the final count, he briefly wondered if it was too few. But then he remembered: in the original timeline, there were 21 participants, and they had to introduce a preliminary round just to cut the number down, something that hadn't happened for five years prior. That meant the standard number of final-stage participants was usually much smaller, somewhere around 8 to 10. So with ten confirmed, it made sense. There would likely be five one-on-one matches in the first round of the third stage. Once the fifth day ended, the proctors closed the tower's gate, officially ending the second stage of the Chunin Exams. For many, their dreams of promotion ended there. The proctors then led the ten Genin to the main auditorium inside the tower. A raised platform had been set up at the far end, clearly reserved for the Hokage. The ten of them stood in a straight line, facing forward, waiting for the final stage announcement. Before the Hokage appeared, four men arrived, the jonin instructors of the remaining teams: Utakata from Leaf, Kitsuchi from Stone, and a sand village jonin Ren didn't recognize. The last to enter was Fugaku Uchiha. Ren noticed that Fugaku wasn't even glancing at Itachi. Instead, his sharp eyes were trained directly on him. Kitsuchi and the sand jonin were doing the same, their attention on Team 1. Ren raised an eyebrow slightly. 'Looks like word's gotten around that we broke the record.' Then, without warning, there was a soft flicker of chakra. The air shifted. On the center stage, surrounded by a few high-ranking proctors, stood the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Calm. Composed. Regal in his robes and hat, the symbol of fire resting proudly on his brow. The auditorium fell completely silent as they waited for the third to begin. ~~~~~ {The arc might be going a bit fast but I don't think it's good to waste time on unnecessary things so I'm keeping them mostly short.} {If you wanna read a standoff between Onoki and Hiruzen you can join my Pat-reon} { h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / / Z e e n o n } {You can just search for my name too, it's the one with tom's pic (from tom and Jerry)} {You know what else to do.} {STONES!!!!}