Chapter 17: Third Hokage Comes to Visit

The third qualifying match of the Chūnin exam ended after a fierce battle between Lee and Gaara. Out of the 26 people who took the exam, only 12 were left. After the match, they drew lots to decide their opponents for the next round. Then the Third Hokage briefly talked about the situation and gave everyone a month's rest period, allowing them to disperse freely.

After the dissolution, many participants did not go home but rushed to Varen's bookstore.

...

"Back then, Varen was always hanging out with that girl with white eyes. Now she has learned Varen's ninjutsu first! It's really jealous!"

"That's right!"

"I wonder if Varen likes her?"

"Absolutely not! How could Varen like a cute girl like her? If he likes anyone, it would be a beautiful girl like me!"

"Pff! You have a big forehead!"

"You ugly monster!"

"Big forehead!"

"Ugly!"

Sakura and Ino stood at the same time, glaring at each other with wide eyes. Sparks seemed to burst out where their eyes met.

"Women are such trouble," Shikamaru sighed, glancing at the two girls. "Ino, Mr. Asuma is treating us to a barbecue. Are you coming or not?"

"Go!" Ino gave Sakura a vicious look. "Big forehead, I will settle accounts with you another day!"

"Nyah, nyah, nyah~" Sakura pulled her eyes, stuck out her tongue, and made a face. With the departure of the "Ino–Shika–Chō" trio, the only ones looking for Varen were Naruto's trio and Hinata, who came to thank Varen.

"Varen! Varen! Where are you? Where are you?" As soon as Naruto entered the bookstore, he started making a fuss. "I'm telling you~ A lot of interesting things happened during our Chūnin exam! We even met a man in black..."

"Duang!" Naruto hadn't finished speaking about "the black organization" yet when Sakura punched him from behind.

"Naruto! Have you forgotten what Anbu told you?"

"Um..." Seeing Sakura getting angry, Naruto was immediately frightened.

"Go! Go clean!"

"Okay... okay..." Seeing Naruto go to clean the house dejectedly, Sakura then turned to look at Varen. She put her hands on her chest, and her eyes turned into hearts.

"Varen is really amazing! Hinata can defeat Neji just by receiving some pointers from him!"

"Huh?" Hinata was stunned when she heard this. "I... I didn't say it was Varen who taught me!"

"With the way you lie, who would be deceived?" Sasuke put his hands in his pockets and glanced at Hinata speechlessly.

"Ah!?" Hinata's eyes instantly turned into white eyes. She froze in place, somewhat confused and at a loss. She originally wanted to keep it a secret. As a result, this happened...

"That..." Sakura ignored the confused Hinata. She walked directly to Varen and asked a little shyly and embarrassedly, "That Varen. I... I also want to become stronger... Can... can you give me some advice alone?"

Varen glanced at Sakura, then nodded slightly. "Come over tomorrow. I'll teach you a more practical physical technique."

"Great!" Sakura suddenly became excited. "Varen~ Let me help you clean up first~" With that, she went to clean the house while humming a song.

[Ding! Change the plot and get 20,000 plot points!]

Sasuke hesitated to speak. He also wanted to become stronger. But he couldn't open his mouth. He felt it was very shameful for him to ask Varen about how to become stronger. Varen naturally saw what Sasuke was thinking. He thought for a moment, then took the initiative to speak.

"Sasuke, if you want to become stronger, you can talk to Kakashi and enter the Anbu for training. There are more battles over there, and you can grow very quickly. Of course, the speed of growth mainly depends on individual efforts. If you can work as hard as Lee, you will grow quickly. Come on."

Sasuke heard Varen mention Lee and immediately clenched his fist. He thought of Lee's terrifying strength after opening the Eight Gates not long ago. "If he can do it, so can I!"

Sasuke made up his mind to practice hard. Then he nodded with gratitude. "Thank you."

[Ding! Change the plot and get 20,000 plot points!]

"Not bad~" Varen looked at Sasuke's back as he went to clean up and couldn't help but smile. "No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat~"

"That... that..." Hinata blushed and kept poking in front of her with her two index fingers with a guilty look on her face. "Varen... I..."

"I know, you didn't mean it~" Varen stood up with a smile and patted Hinata's little head. He said gently, "It's not a secret. It doesn't matter. Also, the way you can't lie is really cute."

"Ah?" Hinata was stunned. Then the temperature on her face rose sharply. At the end, there was a "bang" and she fainted.

Varen: "..."

"When can you change this problem of yours?" Varen was speechless for a moment.

...

Hinata was quickly picked up by the Hyuga family. Seeing Naruto, the three of them had finished cleaning. So, Varen generously invited the three of them to have a meal at Ichiraku Ramen. While eating, Varen took the initiative to ask Naruto to come find him tomorrow. He would teach Naruto something. When Naruto heard this, he was immediately overjoyed. He nodded in agreement.

Varen was also happy when he saw this. Inadvertently, he added a little plot point. With his appearance and guidance, the bond between the three Narutos and Sannin might be severed. Then he will harvest a wave of plot points again. This is very refreshing.

After the meal, everyone left one after another. Varen walked toward the bookstore alone. However, he hadn't arrived at the bookstore yet when he sensed someone standing silently at the door, waiting for him. It was the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Seeing this, Varen immediately smiled.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen~ This is a qualified ATM machine~"

Orochimaru didn't leave Konoha. Instead, he has been secretly preparing to cause trouble. The Third Hokage will probably continue to "die" under the influence of fate. If he could take the opportunity to save a few waves of Hiruzen, he could continuously harvest plot points like withdrawing money from a broken ATM machine.

"I really gotta say that saving people earns more plot points than killing people!"