Chapter 971

"Huh? Fighting isn't allowed in Konoha?"

Zhao Afu completely failed to grasp Ibiki's meaning. You could say the two of them had thought patterns that simply couldn't sync up at any point—it's a wonder they were even able to hold a conversation.

"Although this is my first time as an examiner, when it comes to punishing those who break the rules, I do have a bit of experience." A gold shell that looked quite valuable was held in Ibiki's hand. This action caused the other Konoha shinobi serving as proctors nearby to sharply inhale—please don't actually summon his interrogation room in a place like this.

The first day's exam ended. Just as Young Yuanzi had expected, Ibiki's "final question" achieved its purpose of scaring off many people. As for Afu, who had asked questions out of confusion during the exam, he naturally wasn't punished by Ibiki as everyone else had assumed. On the contrary, just as Ibiki was wondering what to do, Afu actually struck first.

"You really dare to do anything, don't you? Do you have any idea how much trouble that will bring my lord Young Yuanzi?" Tsukuyomi Xiaomeng held in her hand a "teaching stick" temporarily fashioned from the list of those who passed the exam and the second exam's section assignment notices, mercilessly striking Afu's head with it.

"Owow! Stop hitting me... I'll get dumber!" Covering the spot he'd been hit with a wronged expression, Afu curled up into a fearful ball. It was hard to imagine he was the same genin who had dared to suddenly make a move against the chief examiner in the exam hall.

"If my lord Young Yuanzi hadn't arrived in time, you'd already be done for!" Seeing that Afu showed almost no sign of recognizing his mistake, Xiaomeng unceremoniously picked up the paper scroll again and continued her instruction, going over what had happened in the first exam's testing room.

At the time, no one had anticipated that Afu, who looked so cute and well-behaved, would strike first. In the brief moment when everyone's attention was drawn to the gold shell in Ibiki's hand, Afu—who had been maintaining an appearance of "I'm just a noob, I don't understand anything" from the start—seized the opportunity.

In an instant, at a hand seal speed that was absolutely impossible for a genin, he completed an entirely new ninjutsu. A pale purple ring of light appeared at his feet and rapidly shot upward toward the top of his head. Accompanied by this halo-like radiance, Afu's chakra surged sharply, his entire body enveloped in a purple glow. The next moment, he crouched low like a leopard about to pounce on prey, gathering the power to charge, his gaze locked onto Ibiki standing beside the podium.

"That's enough—behave yourself!" At that very same moment, a hand suddenly reached from behind and pressed Afu, who was about to charge out, firmly down onto the desk. Afu, who kept struggling, obediently quieted down once he clearly heard the familiar voice of the one who had subdued him. It turned out to be Young Yuanzi, who had previously still been in the Hokage's office, appearing out of thin air without warning to stop him.

"Unrelated personnel are not permitted to enter the exam room freely during the exam." Shinano Ibiki used this brief window to calm the chakra he had already gathered to summon the interrogation room. Although he was merely restating exam room discipline, the atmosphere in the classroom had also improved considerably compared to before.

As a member of the Leaf Anbu, Ibiki naturally knew exactly who had suddenly appeared. Strictly speaking, Young Yuanzi, who had once been a member of Konoha, was more trustworthy than any potential ally. Having her step in to stop this farce that should never have happened was, of course, for the best. Seeing that the girl called Afu had become as docile as a quail, Ibiki breathed a sigh of relief—otherwise, he would have had to invite that little girl into the interrogation room to cool down properly. You see, he actually quite liked that little girl's personality.

· ·······Please give flowers····· ·····

"Even if I hadn't appeared to stop it just now, I believe Instructor Shinano also had sufficient methods to handle it. However, I don't want Afu to be disqualified from the exam because of such behavior…"

In truth, Young Yuanzi was well aware of how reckless her sudden intervention must have seemed to others. But the true purpose of her personally leading the team to participate in the Chunin Exam hosted by Konoha was, from the start, to let the Shinobi World recognize and acknowledge the existence of the Moon ninja. Turning that incident into an opportunity would serve as an excellent beginning.

"Of course not—or rather, this exam has actually already ended." Ibiki's words left the genin who hadn't yet left stunned. Wasn't there still one final question that hadn't been announced? Why was he now saying the exam was over? Could it be that…

"D-does that mean... the choice he just had us make?" In another exam room receiving the footage from Ibiki's exam room through the projector mounted at the front, Tsukuyomi Xiaomeng realized what had happened—though she no longer cared about what that examiner had said.

Whether the words about being barred from taking exams for ten years for answering wrong were serious or not, she was now far more concerned with whether my lord Young Yuanzi's sudden appearance like that would affect the Moon ninja's plan to showcase themselves.

In truth, if it had been shinobi from some other small country daring to act in such a manner—setting aside whether the genin involved in the clash would be let off easily or merely face ordinary imprisonment—the very fact that they had dared to act so brazenly within the Land of Fire would have been enough to provoke Konoha's fury.