Chapter-40 : Chunin Exams II

Hiro, who returned to the Konoha square after submitting his report, looked at the crowd of hundreds of people.

'Their numbers be cut in half in the next phase' Hiro thought, looking the the Genins of varying ages celebrating on passing the first psychological round.

In the middle of the square, the current head of Konoha Jonin operations and his son stood in between all of them, giving out the instructions for the next part of the exam.

It was Shikaku and Shikamaru Nara, along with them stood two more figures that that gave off Jonin level chakra signatures.

Hiro recognized them as soon as he laid his eyed on them.

'Kankuro and Temari, brother and sister of Gaara' Hiro thought as his gaze lingered onto Temari for a bit.

With his X ray like vision that could see beyond the normal spectrum, Hiro's eyes scanned Temari's Physique. 

Last time he had seen her, she was still developing and was in her growth phase, but now, she had truly 'grown', she had 'developed' quite nice in all her areas

As he looked at her talking with Shikamaru, Hiro maintained a normal expression but on the inside, a devious plan was in the making.

Hiro cracked his index finger with his thumb as she smiled a bit and continued onwards to his destination. 

At that moment, Temari, who was on the stage standing with Shikamaru couldn't help be feel a cold and tingling sensation in her spine as if something bad was waiting to happen.

But attributing the sensation to the over smart guy standing besides her, she shook her head to clear it up as she then started speaking her part out.

"I am Temari, a Jonin of the sand village, and I am in charge of the second part of the Chunin exams"

"Since it appears that too many of you passed the first round, we are going to narrow down the numbers to acceptable limits" she said as she raised her one fingers indicating 'one'

"First, only teams with 3 members will be able to proceed to the next part" She spoke as people started murmuring as a few tried to raise their voices but were 'silenced' by Shikaku who was leaning on a tree behind.

She raise one more finger, indicating a 'two' as she said "Second, the next part of the Chunin exams will be held in the land of wind, in Sunagakure"

As she said that, many of them Gasped, not expecting such a huge change in plan of action.

"Your mission is to reach the demon desert checkpoint located near Sunagakure"

"With the distance you have to cover, in both the land of fire and the land of wind in mind, you have been given 14 days as the time limit to reach their, also, only the first 33 teams to arrive their will have the qualification to participate in the next round"

Even more noise and chattering erupted from the crowd. None of them had prepared for this, many even seeming to give up at this stage and try again next year.

"Quiet!" Temari used a wind Jutsu to boost her sound as the crowd became silent once more.

"If anyone manages to arrive earlier than 7 from now, they won't be needing to participate in the second round and will directly advance to the final round"

"Last rule, fighting en route is not allowed, if anyone is discovered breaking this rule, they will be eliminated and will be banned from taking part in Chunin exams for the next 5 years"

Temari said as the people in the crowd already started brewing their plans.

The distance between Suna and Konoha was massive, if the most direct route is taken, which just so happens to be the most dangerous route, it will take one 7 days to reach their.

But that was the hidden meaning behind the 7 day challenge, only Jonin's with experience could traverse the treacherous terrains full of strong chakra beasts in that time frame.

An average Chunin will take somewhere about 13-15 days using the relatively safer but longer routes.

It was both a survival and time locked round, devised by none other than the strategic genius that was Shikamaru.

Because as ninjas, you will need to cover a lot of ground really fast and would need to have knowledge to survive the world that was still majorly populated by savage chakra beasts.

Shikaku, who smiled sadistically at his son's device, couldn't help but nod in praise. 

He then appeared in the middle stage besides Temari and Shikamaru and said "Your time starts now" as a messenger hawk was released in the air, signifying the start of the second phase of the exam.

Genins, who were quick to caught on the que, started running towards the market for supplies for the long journey, meanwhile Neji's team that had Temari, started running towards the direction of the land of Wind.

As the chaos started, Hiro, who had already reached his destination, looked at Kurenai who was now arriving at the location. 

"Did I make you wait too much?" She asked a bit awkwardly. 

"Nah, I also just arrived" Hiro said as he looked at the large bag that was on Kurenai's back.

'What even are you carry...' Hiro thought, the thing was large.

"Oh, this is all the supplies for the journey, also, it contains some stuff Tsunade-sama asked me to deliver to Suna" Kurenai said, trying to make things less awkward. 

"So, lets get a move on, shall we?" Kurenai said as she looked at him.

Hiro, looked at her with an amused expression, as he said "You're seriously going to carry so much for thousands of miles on foot?" 

"What???....." Kurenai said with a puzzled expression. 

Hiro, shook his head a as he moved forward a bit and used a drop of his blood to draw a symbol on his palm then infused his chakra into the symbol and smashed his hand into the ground.

[Summoning Jutsu]

With a burst of smoke, a large and majestic dark colored horse appeared in front of Hiro.

*Neeeighhh!!* 

"Calm down Roach, it's me" Hiro said, rubbing his hands over Roach's side as the horse calmed down seeing it was Hiro.

Roach extended his vision as Kurenai entered his radar, feeling her familiar chakra signature, Roach eyed Her a bit then looked back at Hiro, giving him 'That Smile' while neighing a bit.

Hiro saw Roach understanding his intentions as he thought 'This bastards getting smarter by the day'

He then tapped Roach's side to tell him to keep his expressions under his skin as he then laid a sealing scroll over Roach's back as after a moment, it was replaced by an intricately crafted pillion saddle.

Hiro tightened the saddle on Roach's back and then turned back towards Kurenai.

"Do you know how to ride horses? Cause you'll have to learn pretty fast"

A/N : Those who give power stones be blessed with big PP.

Extra chapters if we make it to top 15 in the power rankings, with the number of readers for this fic, it's honestly achievable with relative ease.

Updates will be a little slow, 2-3 chapters a week at most, and for those who want to read up ahead, I have opened a Patreon for those who want to support me, there are 7 early chapters there, along with NSFW pics of characters. Updates will be same up there, 2-3 chapters a week.

Patreon.com/Imperial_Writing

Peace.