88 Kidnappings

Karin, Haku, and Kimimaro were in the cafeteria, frowning at the food Konoha had prepared for the exam participants to replenish their strength, as if trying to find where the catch was.

I can't blame them; after getting used to eating the good food from the Sky Island, what they can find here is simply inferior. Fortunately, Pakura anticipated the possibility and prepared bento boxes for everyone with great enthusiasm, and they could take them out at any time if they really couldn't stand it.

"Lord Enel!"

Upon seeing my arrival, their expressions lit up, and even Kimimaro stopped frowning.

"You did very well!" I congratulated them without holding back.

"We didn't even have to get serious," Kimimaro said, shaking his head, visibly disappointed by the level of their opponents.

"We can fight later," Karin didn't care as much and preferred everything to unfold without unexpected problems. "By the way, was the ninja wearing a disguise from Takigakure part of the hidden part of the test? It gave me an unpleasant feeling..."

Karin has her talent as a ninja sensor, but I didn't expect her to notice Orochimaru. Too bad that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't teach her the Mantra to enhance that ability further.

"No, that will be a problem for the Konoha ninjas," I denied. "Did you remember to bring entertainment for these days in the tower?"

"I brought medicine books," Karin pulled out a scroll and waved it in front of me. At a glance, I recognized it as the one I gave her about the nervous system, and on which her mother later applied some seals to prevent it from "getting lost" during her stay in Konoha.

At my request. Tsunade made it clear to me over the years what Konoha's medical level is, and the content of this scroll alone is enough to drive the local medical community crazy.

"I wanted to train together, but there are too many cameras around here," Haku complained, knowing that he still shouldn't show all his cards. "I'll have to think of something else, maybe make a cold dessert."

"Let me know if you want apples."

I expected it; Pakura is infecting Haku with her enthusiasm for cooking, and given his ability, cold desserts and ice creams are his best terrain.

"I'll watch the others; sensei will give me a beating if I underestimate them and end up losing because of my pride," Kimimaro concluded, shuddering at the idea.

That's something Ameyuri would definitely do.

In the end, they decided to take out the bento boxes and eat while we all chatted, explaining what they had found in the forest, such as animals and flowers.

During the next two days, the other participants arrived at the tower, and to my surprise, the team from Otogakure was disqualified after Shikamaru's team ambushed them and took their scroll.

Ironic, weren't two of them their opponents in the semifinals?

Zaku faced Shino then, but both Kin and Dosu faced Shikamaru and Choji with one win and one loss each.

It seems that the numbers will be similar to the original story, with my team taking Otogakure's place. Now the question is whether their opponents will be the same or if they will manipulate (even more) the results.

Something interesting? Temari has been hanging around the team for quite some time.

She looks at me with a complicated look, but also at Haku with an envious gaze. Later, Haku told me while we were having dinner that the Sunagakure kunoichi had approached him secretly to ask for advice on skincare and hair care.

I almost spat out my dinner from the laughter it gave me, seriously!

Yes, even Temari didn't realize that Haku was a man despite their conversation.

I see what she's doing, but I can only resign myself and feel a second of pity for the ignorant.

Who would expect Haku to be corrupted in this way?

In another series of events, Maki, Fu, and even Mikoto have received their own attempted kidnappings. While all were easily thwarted, I admit that their audacity has bothered me a lot.

The ninjas who attacked Mikoto and Fu ended up being treated by Tsunade and Ameyuri; all of them were ninja with the seal on their tongues, so the perpetrator was undoubtedly Danzo.

But it was the ones from Sunagakure who tried to take Maki, and it turns out that Pakura... didn't take it well. The next morning, a group of mummies identified as Sunagakure ninjas appeared in their own hotel, and everyone got the message.

I had to leave the tower for a while each day to be with Anko. The return has been more bearable for her than I expected, and she was still able to contact some old friends without complications, but she has still received a lot of bad attitudes and wanted to give them a good scare by seeing me there in person.

Maybe they'll think I have something like the Flying Thunder God Technique, who knows; the point is that when the Hokage found out about my appearances outside the tower, he ordered a search for seals in the village to check if it was really something similar.

Obviously, they didn't find anything, but their actions made the remaining Sunagakure ninjas nervous. Yes, those who are not in the tower and didn't end up as mummies.

I realized that Kimimaro was still watching the other participants despite not doing anything special, so I approached to teach him to play the flute as a hobby so that he wouldn't get bored.

He can make a flute easily with his bones, something that Kabuto later demonstrated with his weird thing in the stomach after the transformation. Kimimaro doesn't have much creative talent with music from what I saw, but repeating hand movements following the tempo is not a problem for a qualified ninja, so he learned three or four songs that he liked during this time.

We were eating apple ice cream that Haku made at the moment they called us for the third test, that is, the semifinals.

Looking at the situation, it seems strange to me that besides the team from Otogakure, there haven't been more changes, but then I remember the speed at which they arrived, and I realize that there simply wasn't time for them to affect the others.

Oh, right, Orochimaru did his number in the forest, but I simply don't care as long as he stays away from my little ninjas. Although this time it took longer for them to find out about his intrusion since Anko wasn't involved in the whole thing.

Tsunade is clear about where my line is after all these years, and she knows that if I ended up moving against her old teammate, it's because he asked for it eagerly, and she can only pray that it's quick.

Kabuto withdraws under my perplexed gaze, and I must say that it's incredible that no one noticed how bad his performance was. Since he revealed his beloved ninja cards with arrogance, the examiners must have wondered how the hell a participant had sensitive information like the number of missions performed by each person.

Because from what I heard from Ameyuri and company, this was sensitive information for various reasons, and the villages were very careful to keep these records confidential. We barely did something like those missions over the years, but Anko and Mariko kept a record of how many ninjas had been hunted, the money they contributed to our coffers, their strength rank, and by whom they fell.

And it works quite well for us.

It's not that we lack money with the gold mine, but having cash on hand is always good. Now we have a room full of bills, and people just take what they need; they just have to write in the accounting book when they use it.

I see the man with the cough coming down, so they must have finished the speech and will proceed to draw lots for the fights. I looked at the screen, and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the names that appear on it.

Sasuke VS Kimimaro.