Chapter 310: New Apprentice Slot

At this moment, the forest was incredibly quiet; everyone was stunned by Kakashi's slash. In that silence, Kakashi's final words reached everyone's ears.

"How is this possible—Yukimi Hideyuki just got killed like that?" Zabuza stared in disbelief at Yukimi Hideyuki, who had been cut in two by Kakashi's single strike.

This wasn't some genin or chunin; it was a jonin with a small reputation even in Kirigakure, and he was killed in one slash.

"Is this the power of protecting someone?" Zabuza's worldview was profoundly shaken.

He was certain that Kakashi had never possessed this level of strength before; otherwise, Kakashi wouldn't have struggled so much when fighting them earlier. If he could one-shot Yukimi Hideyuki, he should have been able to one-shot Hoshigaki Kisame too, but Kakashi didn't kill him instantly—he fought for a little while.

Zabuza truly couldn't understand why wanting to protect someone could unleash such terrifying power.

"Is this guy really a genin? No way." Kurosawa wore an expression of utter disbelief.

He now suspected that Kakashi might be some powerful Konoha ninja disguised with a transformation technique, and that his earlier disadvantage had all been an act.

"As expected of my eternal rival! I can't wait for our next fight." Might Guy raised his thumb in praise after his initial surprise.

Guy genuinely couldn't make sense of what he had just seen from Kakashi—clearly on the verge of collapse from heavy injuries, with no powerful aura emanating from his body, yet he delivered a slash capable of instantly killing a jonin.

Watching Kakashi and Obito, Rin Nohara showed a gentle smile and said, "I knew you two would succeed."

She understood that with her own strength she could never achieve the dream of ending the war, so she only did what she could: provide every possible form of support from behind Kakashi and Obito.

"So that's how it was resolved." Nara Shiomizu's expression was complex—surprise mixed with relief and emotion.

He fully agreed with Kakashi's final words; Kakashi truly was the most dazzling genius right now.

Obito quickly caught Kakashi, who was about to collapse, and shook him. "Kakashi, are you okay? I admit that last slash of yours was genius."

Kakashi closed his eyes, too weak to speak. That last slash had used up the very last of his strength; now he was completely powerless in the truest sense. But hearing Obito's words, a faint smile appeared on his face.

"What do we do now? Rin, can you still perform treatment?" Obito asked Rin anxiously.

Even though they had won the fight, everyone's condition was terrible—all heavily injured and exhausted, most too weak to even walk.

Rin shook her head, taking out bandages. "I've already used the last of my chakra to treat you, Obito. For now, I can only bandage the wounds."

If she had any chakra left, Rin would have started treatment immediately; she was injured herself.

"Let me treat you all." Moyue appeared beside them and spoke.

"Moyue-sensei!" Obito's face lit up with excitement at the sight of Moyue; Moyue's medical ninjutsu was superior to Rin's.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Moyue performed hand seals and split into nine shadow clones, using the Mystical Palm Technique to treat the nine Konoha examinees.

As for Kisame and the others, Moyue ignored them for now. After all, given what had happened, it was already generous of him not to bind and imprison them.

"Moyue-sensei, you couldn't have come at a better time!" Seeing Moyue appear, Obito completely relaxed and grinned.

From now on, even if a Kirigakure jonin showed up—or even the Mizukage himself—he wouldn't be afraid, because he trusted Moyue to protect them.

"Let's just say I wasn't too late. 'In time' would have been stopping the incident the moment it started." Moyue shook his head.

Moyue was a very rational person, but that didn't mean he was emotionless. Standing in the shadows watching his students get hurt over and over pained him.

"Anyway, the end result is the same. And without your treatment, Moyue-sensei, we'd be in real danger." Obito laughed carelessly.

After all, both outcomes ended with the enemies dealt with and them safe; one route was just a little more difficult.

"Exactly." Might Guy gave a thumbs-up in agreement.

Under Moyue's treatment, Kakashi's condition gradually improved and he recovered somewhat. When he heard Obito call out "Moyue-sensei," he also completely relaxed, because that meant there was nothing left to worry about.

When he opened his eyes again, his vision was normal, without the strange sensation from before. But Kakashi didn't dwell on that; instead, he asked Moyue:

"Moyue-sensei, did something happen between Kirigakure and the village?"

There was no doubt—a Kirigakure jonin infiltrating the Chunin Exam venue to target examinees like them was, in Kakashi's eyes, essentially an act of war.

"That's hard to say for now. Apart from this Kirigakure jonin who infiltrated the exam, no other Kirigakure ninja have made any moves." Moyue thought for a moment and replied.

After hearing Moyue's words, Kakashi fell into thought, unable to guess Kirigakure's motives.

The reason of assassinating Konoha's gifted genin didn't hold much weight—Kirigakure wouldn't know which ninja would participate in the Konoha Chunin Exam, and sending out their own village's talented ninja for such a mission was too foolish.

"Just rest well, don't overthink it. As examinees, you've already done everything you could to the best of your ability." Moyue said with a smile.

Mu Yue couldn't make an accurate guess as to how this matter would develop. Although he thought it was Uchiha Madara's doing, this guess obviously couldn't be spoken aloud, because in the impression of Konoha's ninja, Uchiha Madara had long been killed by Senju Hashirama.

After having his Shadow Clone treat the disciples, Mu Yue walked over to Hoshigaki Kisame and the others.

"Tell everything you know." Mu Yue put away his gentle smile and asked calmly.

He didn't think he would get any useful information from these three, but this was a necessary procedure.

"Unfortunately, I'm just an abandoned pawn. I know nothing." Zabuza, having snapped out of his shock, grinned and replied.

He had no goodwill toward the Kirigakure higher-ups, but he truly knew nothing. The orders he received were to perform well in the Chunin Exam and suppress the Konoha ninja.

"My mission was just to get good results in the exam. Do whatever you want with me. Anyway, I really don't know why a Jonin infiltrated." Heize said very bluntly.

Hoshigaki Kisame's answer was similar to Zabuza and Heize's; all three appeared uninformed.

As Mu Yue expected, he got no useful information, but he didn't mind. The focus wasn't on his side, but on Sarutobi Hiruzen's side.

After treating Kakashi and the others completely, Mu Yue simply took them all back to the Central Tower.

However, because Nara Yanshui's team hadn't yet gathered both the Heaven and Earth Scrolls, they didn't move with Mu Yue's group and instead continued the exam.

Mu Yue did not terminate the Chunin Exam, but he dispatched ninja to monitor all Kirigakure examinees, arresting them directly if any abnormal actions were found.

After arriving inside the Central Tower, the disciples began chatting about what had just happened, while Mu Yue opened his panel to check this time's gains.

【Disciple Hatake Kakashi's Trust Level increased. Current Trust Level: 4】

【Detected four disciples at Trust Level 4. Reward obtained: Disciple Slot +1】

Seeing this reward, a smile appeared on Mu Yue's face. In his view, this reward was far more precious than a perfect-level skill.

If he started training a disciple from under ten years old, the rewards that disciple could provide upon maturing were immense—not only various skills, but also a large amount of chakra from the disciple's cultivation returning to the master.

Mu Yue planned to carefully study whom to use this slot on after returning.

This slot was truly hard to come by, and he didn't know if more slots would be added later, so Mu Yue had to make his choice carefully.

Mu Yue continued to look at the system messages. Besides the trust level increase, Kakashi had also triggered a growth reward.

【Disciple Hatake Kakashi, under your guidance, trained earnestly and gained significant growth in strength. Reward obtained: Earth Release: Light Weight Rock Technique】

Mu Yue nodded inwardly. This was a very good reward, more meaningful to him than the previously obtained Heavy Weight Rock Technique.

Because Light Weight Rock Technique allowed him to fly, and flight was a rare ability in Naruto, basically only achievable through summoning beasts.

Although Heavy Weight Rock Technique was also a high-level Earth Release of the same tier, it was more output-oriented, and Mu Yue had other better output methods.

Through observation using the Telescope Technique, Sarutobi Hiruzen learned that Moto was drinking tea with several Kirigakure ninja in a tea room in Konoha.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had most of the Anbu guard outside, then entered the tea room with several elite Anbu, entering the private room where Moto was.

"Hokage, what is this?" Moto, looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen who barged in and the Konoha Anbu behind him, felt something was wrong.

"Do you know a ninja named Jiejian Xiuxing?" Sarutobi Hiruzen did not rush to interrogate, but sat down and asked calmly.

"Yes, he is a Jonin of our Kirigakure village, and also a member of this delegation visiting your village." Moto nodded and replied.

"Just now, Jiejian Xiuxing infiltrated the Chunin Exam venue through unknown means and attacked our Konoha examinee team. Do you have any explanation for this?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, looking at Moto. As he finished, he directly released his powerful aura.

Moto's face slightly changed. Although Sarutobi Hiruzen's tone was calm, he could feel the anger from Sarutobi Hiruzen's aura. The Third Hokage, renowned throughout the ninja world, was angry.

"As expected of a Hokage, this terrifying aura, his strength is even greater than the Fourth." Moto made a simple comparison in his mind between Sarutobi Hiruzen and the Fourth Mizukage.

The Jonin beside Moto couldn't help but tremble at this terrifying aura, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.

"Lord Hokage, could there be some misunderstanding? Our Kirigakure absolutely had no intention of opposing Konoha this time." Moto said calmly.

In Kirigakure, apart from the Mizukage, he had the most authority. It could be said that there was no arrangement in Kirigakure that he didn't know about. He was certain that no ninja had been dispatched to kill Konoha examinees this time.

"Misunderstanding? Come and see if it's a misunderstanding." Sarutobi Hiruzen led Moto toward the Forest of Death, where there were not only monitoring records but also Jiejian Xiuxing's corpse.

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt this matter was a bit suspicious, so although angry, he didn't act directly, waiting to see how Moto would explain.

When he walked out of the tea room and saw the Anbu surrounding the outside, Moto basically believed Sarutobi Hiruzen's words just now; Jiejian Xiuxing really had gone to the Chunin Exam venue and attacked the examinees.

If this hadn't really happened, Konoha wouldn't suddenly launch such a large-scale action against them. Konoha was already at war with two major ninja villages; only someone out of their mind would voluntarily start a war with them, Kirigakure.

"Who could have done this? The hawk faction people?" Yuanshi speculated in his mind.

He really didn't want to have a conflict with Konoha at this time, because he himself was still in Konoha.

Then Sarutobi Hiruzen brought Yuanshi to the central tower of the Chunin Exam and pulled up the surveillance footage of Jiejian Xiuxing attacking Obito and the others.

Watching Jiejian Xiuxing continuously launching attacks at Obito and the others on the screen, Yuanshi frowned deeply.

After playing it for a few minutes, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Yuanshi. If he didn't get a satisfactory answer, then Yuanshi and his group would definitely not be able to leave Konoha.

"I deeply apologize for this incident." Yuanshi handed his cane to the Kiri beside him and gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a deep bow.

"But I can confirm that this has absolutely nothing to do with Kirigakure. Jiejian Xiuxing must be a spy from another ninja village hidden in our Kirigakure, trying to destroy the friendship between Kirigakure and Konoha!" Yuanshi then said with a determined expression.

He didn't know whether Jiejian Xiuxing had gone crazy on his own or what, but for now, the best identity for Jiejian Xiuxing was that of a spy.

"Third Hokage-sama, this contains the corpse of Jiejian Xiuxing." Muyue timely stepped forward and handed the scroll sealing Jiejian Xiuxing's corpse to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded. Whether he was a spy or not was not something Yuanshi could decide with just his words. In the end, it would come down to the corpse's memories.

For efficiency and accuracy, Sarutobi Hiruzen summoned the head of the Yamanaka clan to use a secret technique to examine Jiejian Xiuxing's memories.

Yuanshi looked calm. If Konoha could really find out who orchestrated Jiejian Xiuxing's actions, he would actually have to thank Konoha, and then he could carry out a purge upon returning.

Yuanshi's confident demeanor made Sarutobi Hiruzen find it even more strange.

"Could it be that this Chunin Exam incident really wasn't planned by Kirigakure?" Sarutobi Hiruzen thought to himself.

The Yamanaka clan head placed his hand on Jiejian Xiuxing's head, closed his eyes, and began using the secret technique.

Although Jiejian Xiuxing's body had been cut in two, as long as the brain wasn't damaged, it wouldn't affect his ability to view the memories.

But just as the Yamanaka clan head used the secret technique to delve into Jiejian Xiuxing's brain, he frowned and simultaneously opened his eyes.

"Third Hokage-sama, his brain has been destroyed by a jutsu. It's impossible to view the memories." The Yamanaka clan head reported.

(Author's note: Had diarrhea, so the update is late and there's only one chapter, but this chapter is a big one, a 4k chapter.)

If there are any issues, leave a comment in the paragraph. I have a bit of a headache, going to sleep now. I'll fix it when I see it tomorrow.