“Calm down… deep breath, and exhale.” Raito closed his eyes and did a simple breathing exercise. After a while, Raito found himself relaxed and on the peak of concentration. Letting out a big breath, Raito flicked his finger, letting out a thread of chakra, which connected to the seal, then activated the mechanism.

Level five was nothing like the previous four levels. This level had brought changes to the wooden arrows.

While the speed of arrow had increased by quite a lot, it would not be much of the problem for Raito, who just had to endure for a certain amount of time to catch up.

The main problem was the ‘visibility’ of the arrows. They were now invisible to Raito’s eyes, in the literal sense. The wooden arrows were there but he just could not see them with his naked eyes. ‘[Chakra Sense]’ and enhancing his eyes with chakra worked really well, letting him see the arrows just like before but, without using chakra, he was just blind to these arrows.

“Do you want me to take a freaking guess, Mari-nee?” Raito let out a frustrated howl, followed by a miserable howl.

“Ow, ow, ow… it hurts.” Crouching down and protecting his vital parts, Raito rolled and hurriedly crossed the line, deactivating the mechanism.

“Damn it.” Raito cursed in anger and pain. There were many cuts all around the sides of his pants, which showed his skin. Over the slightly tanned skin, there were red line marks, made by the arrows that were poisoned, causing great pain.

After the mechanism stopped shooting arrows, Raito hurriedly pulled one of the wooden arrows and used ‘[Observe]’.

[Blunt Wooden Arrow (Uncommon)] (Special)

“It’s just a regular arrow.” Throwing away the arrow, which disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Raito stood up and started thinking about it.

Except for a few sealwork on the arrow that he was itching to get his hands on and some kind of poison in the arrow that gave him a painful sensation every time the arrow landed a hit, there was not anything else.

“What else can I do?” The frown on Raito’s face deepened as he thought of ways to deal with the situation. The fifth level had already taken him two days in which there was not much progress. Although his DEX stat has risen by lots, he still could not get dodge all the arrows, which was the achievement required to unlock the sealwork at the door.

“Pain is the fastest way to learn, huh? Tch.” Raito remembered Mari’s brutal method of training and nearly gave up on his life.

“I should be able to take the hits and…”

Raito sighed and calmed his unsteady heart. Letting out a long breath, he let go of the tension, preparing for the shootout.

“1… 2-”

Just when the chakra storage seal was about to be filled, Raito heard a small ding sound, breaking his concentration. The timing was so awful that Raito wanted to curse.

[Perk ‘Enhanced Basic Senses’ unlocked.]

[Perk ‘Enhanced Basic Senses’ consists of ‘Enhanced Vision’, ‘Enhanced Hearing’, ‘Enhanced Taste’, ‘Enhanced perception of Smell’ and ‘Enhanced Proprioception’.]

[Each one can be activated using one stat point each.]

[Total Stat Points - 164]

Deactivating the mechanism, Raito hurried to a corner and looked at the new tabs hovering in front of him

The perk this time was about the five basic senses. That means he had unknowingly fulfilled some criteria regarding his basic senses.

“Five points… I don’t wanna use it… ” Raito found it hard to use the stat points that he had been saving for a long time.

Usually, the perks are not that useful. They are more of a shortcut when you do not want to level up the skills or increase the stats. If Raito had invested a little more time in explosion seals and throwing skills, he would not need the ‘Explosion Specialist’ and ‘Sharpshooter’ perk.

Thinking about his past mistakes, Raito was instantly depressed.

After looking left and right with his shifty eyes, Raito said with a slightly loud voice. “I would have activated them if all five… needed only one stat point.”

Raito waited for a few seconds, hoping for things to happen but nothing happened. Even after a few minutes, no extra tab popped up or someone tried to talk to him through magical ways or anything.

“One side wants me to spend stat points for perks and the other wants me to spend points to learn techniques from the library. What a drag.” Raito closed all the tabs and used a chakra thread to link to the seal and activate the mechanism.

“And they are all passive-” Raito immediately shut his mouth and opened his skill list.

“I knew it,” Looking at the skill tab in front of him, Raito let out a small smile. “So, there are criteria for these passives to work.”

Raito scratched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment then brought out two wooden swords, one in each hand, and let out a bigger smile seeing the previously dimmed skill lit up.

“I love passive.” Letting out a big laugh, Raito quickly activated the mechanism and started.

In a hot-spring inn, Shikaku and Shikamaru sat on the seats along with Baki and Temari on the opposite. Baki had a neutral expression whereas Temari had a disgruntled expression on her face. Maybe it was the idea of eating together on the same table that made her angry.

Shikamaru let out a big sigh on the inside but still gave a small smile on the outside.

Shikaku was also doing the same, letting out a small smile and talking about various things. But Baki only replied with small nods and grunts like a certain someone.

Before the atmosphere could get any more awkward, a beautiful hostess lightly knocked on the door and called out.

“Food’s here,” Shikamaru announced with a bit of awkwardness and called them in.

The hostess had a small smile on her face as she met eyes with everyone in the room then she bowed with her eyes closed. After that, she walked in along with a few men and placed the variety of foods on the table then quickly left the room.

“Baki-san, we still have about two weeks until the Chūnin finals. I hope your stay here has been enjoyable.” Shikaku said with a small smile and some hand gestures.

“Our stay here has been nothing less than luxurious, here,” Baki replied with the same neutral tone as he grabbed the chopsticks.

Temari looked at Shikamaru, who looked like he was about to sleep at any time and said, “You should have prepared for the finals, right?”

“Huh? Me?” Shikamaru pointed at himself and gave her a questioning glance at her. Then as if remembering something important, he let out a chuckle and replied, “Yeah, sure I have. Somewhat.”

Temari felt her face twitching hearing Shikamaru’s reply. Anger rising within her, she wanted to bang her fan at Shikamaru.

Picking up the chopsticks, Temari narrowed her eyes and said, “It’s a battle between villages, I am going all out whether you are prepared or not.”

Looking at her smug face, Shikamaru felt like rolling his eyes a hundred times.. ‘What a drag.’

Shikaku laughed looking at his kid then turned to Baki, “Baki-san, where are Gaara and Kankurō? Aren’t they going to join us?”

After Shikaku asked this question, Baki paused for a second before continuing to add food to his plate. “Kankurō is with his puppets. That boy with green eyes, Yoshizawa… really did a bad one on him.”

“Those puppets take a lot of time, don’t they?” Shikamaru raised his question after he noticed the two stopping.

Temari twitched then replied with an angry snort, “What would you guys know? Even after a week, he is still doing-”

“Temari,” Baki cut her off and said, “Kankurō is having difficulties regarding his puppets so he is having his meals in his room.”

After that, they quietly ate the meal. Baki did not talk about Gaara and Shikaku did not ask about him either.

After the small meal, Shikamaru and Shikaku walked out. They did not talk about the Suna shinobi anytime on the way.

Just when they were clan grout to enter the clan grounds, Shikamaru spoke up, “Why were we there, dad?”

“Do you have a guess?” Shikaku asked with a smile. Questions like these are only beneficial when asked to right ones.

“To see if they were going to be trouble or not,” Shikamaru answered which was already on his mind.

“But what kind of trouble?” After answering, Shikamaru added a question for Shikaku.

Shikaku nodded his head and asked again, “Do you remember about the Hyūga incident?”

“Yeah, kinda’.” Shikamaru looked at his father for a second before closing his eyes. “I don’t think Sunagakure will do such a thing, will they?”

Shikaku sighed as he rubbed his son’s head, “You have no idea what people would do.”

“It’s Inoichi’s job to do this but he is somewhat busy so I am here instead.” Shikaku shrugged.

“…”

At the Hokage tower, Hiruzen neutralized the incoming fist and jumped in for a kick to the head. Enma, his training partner and summon, smirked as he blocked the kick with his shoulders.

“Not bad, Hiruzen but here’s one…” Enma grabbed the leg and sent out punch straight.

Enma and Hiruzen pushed one another and brought out their staff. With a grin on their faces, they again started another round of battle.

The ANBUs on the corner of the room watched the battle between the two sides as spectators.

Although, it was purely Taijutsu without any killing blows, the ANBU watching it felt honored to be in this room to see Hiruzen sparring. Not many people get to watch a war veteran, who is also the leader of the entire village, spar.

Just when things were about to heat up, rapid knocks came from the door. After a few rounds of knocks, Mariko opened the door and said, “Hokage-sama, the ANBU operatives to Suna are here.”

“They have returned?” Hiruzen quickly used a few jutsu to freshen up then walked out. “Let’s hear what they have to say.”

The office was filled with people wearing masks and uniforms, in short, the ANBU. When Hiruzen walked in, the ANBUs knelt and said together, “Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen raised his hand and said with a small smile, “It’s good that you have returned.”

Then his face turned serious another second, “What did you all get?”

The ANBU operatives quickly stood up and took a step back leaving the one wearing a FOX mask to stand out.

“Hokage-sama, we have confirmed that Sunagakure and Otogakure are preparing for something.” FOX started then took out a bunch of documents from his storage seal.

“These are the reports of the price hike on the food items and the metal ores in Sunagakure, Wind Capital, and two mine cities. The same thing happened in the Sound Country too.” FOX gave the document to Mariko, which showed the price difference on items a year before and now.

“The security has gotten tighter both in and out, and they have also added a curfew system for the nighttime.”

“On our visit to bars, market, and centers, we found that Suna shinobi were hiring mechanics. But to what reason, it is unknown.”

FOX pointed at the documents and said. “All new rules and changes, starting from six months ago are compiled in those documents.”

After clearing his throat, FOX continued, “On our second day, a check was conducted and all of the healing salves that were brought through internal channels were confiscated. The reason given was that there was a ban on sale on healing salves. They blamed the merchants and businessperson of unlawful practices for selling low-quality products and sales, and said that they dampen the image of Sunagakure.”

Mariko frowned as she quickly finished reading the report. Picking another report, Mariko found something as she started, “It’s surely unnatural that the price has been increased by this rate. According to this report, the manufacturing plants are having difficulty in procuring raw materials for the products. And since the last chief operator died, the situation had been worsening.”

“But even so… if the raw material supplier wanted to switch to different companies, they should have already done so and products should have been made available on the market…”

“Military should have directly taken over the manufacturing plant in these past three months.” Mariko walked towards the Hokage desk.

Hiruzen frowned as he saw Mariko pulling the drawer but just as he was about to stretch his hand, she took out the latest biannual report from the top drawer and started turning pages.

Placing her fingers towards the picture of an old man and a youth, Mariko showed it to Hiruzen. “He was the previous chief operator and this is the person who replaced him. According to reports, he left the program-”

“It’s already very clear, Mariko.” Hiruzen stopped Mariko from speaking then turned towards the door.

‘That was close.’ Hiruzen sighed in relief.

Knock! Knock!

The same woman who delivered the important message last time popped her head in and started without any hesitation, “Hokage-sama, they have placed their bets for the exams.”

Hiruzen lightly massaged his eyelids and took a deep breath in then exhaled, “Looks like we can't back out now.”

“Hokage-sama,” Mariko collected the documents and closed the reports.

“Come in,” Hiruzen waved his hand, calling the woman in.

The ANBU looked at each other and quietly retreated. Since the Daimyōs and other people have voted, the Chūnin exams could not be canceled anymore.

Hiruzen looked at the young woman then turned his seat towards the window. Eyes closed, a sigh escaped from his lips as Hiruzen asked, “What are their bets? Who has the highest bets?”

“Ten million Ryo for the first round, twenty million Ryo for the second round and fifty million Ryo for the last match. In total, it is a hundred million Ryo and the winner gets three percent of cumulative mineral resources from the allied nations.”

The young woman could not see Hiruzen’s frowning face but she did know that this kind of news is just too distasteful so she decided to quickly end her report. “The highest bets were on Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara of the Sand. But the Wind Daimyō voted for Uchiha Sasuke instead of Gaara.”

Hiruzen had a faint sneer on his face as he said, “As expected, they still fear Uchiha clan.”

The room went quiet, as Hiruzen was lost in thoughts. The young woman looked around and just when she was about to open her mouth, Hiruzen asked all of a sudden. “What about Fire Daimyō? Who did he bet on?”

Since there were only ANBU and Mariko in the room, there was not much noise. If Hiruzen had asked the same question in the meeting room then the civilian council would cry out Sasuke’s name.

The same council group who were crying for injustice for Sasuke a few months ago. Thinking of that time Hiruzen let out a soft chuckle.

The young woman let a small smile as she saw Hiruzen smiling. After a quick glance at the scroll, she opened her mouth.

“Yoshizawa Raito.”

“Ah.”

Appearing in front of Raito, with his hands behind his back was a black-robed man with an ANBU mask that had draconic patterns.

Raito looked in alarm as he brought out the armor made up stone beads underneath his clothes and a kunai in his hand. He looked at the ANBU, who was in front of him… a little bit too close for his comfort then quickly used ‘[Chakra Sense]’.”

‘He appeared out-a-nowhere. Isn't he faster than Gai-sensei? How did he heck did he do that?’

“You are too close.” Raito tilted his head a little back but did not step back.

DRAGON made a ‘Hmm’ sound as he took a step back. “A Senbon and poisoned one at that, a kunai and that earth armor. I wonder when you prepared for this.”

“…” Raito kept his mouth sealed and stood like a statue.

“No need to answer.” DRAGON shrugged and walked back.

“Mari-nee, Anko-nee, Inoichi-sensei… can you guys tell me what is going on?” Raito quickly recalled all the items back and called the people hidden in the room.

“Just like your dad, good.” DRAGON spoke once again and the three, hidden in the room, walked out of their hiding spot.

Raito raised his brows and looked at the black-robed man in front of him. “My dad?”

“Your dad’s full view was about 50km, just so you know. How are you compared to him?”

“50 km?” Raito took a deep breath in. ‘Even with all the bonuses by the gamer power, I can only do 25 km, at most.’

“It’s around 25 km-”

“Don’t space out when you are talking to someone.” DRAGON shouted as he moved his hands. Like lightning, it went for Raito’s head but Raito, who had been left in the underground to train his reaction skills, slightly shifted his head and dodged the hand.

“Fast reaction.” DRAGON looked at Raito with a shine in his eyes then acting as if he did not do anything, he walked back and stood in front of the table, along with Inoichi.

Mari walked forward and covered the DRAGON’s view of Raito as he checked him. “You brat, didn’t you finish level five yesterday? You made us wait.”

“Introduce yourself,” Mari whispered and gave Raito a huge back pat, pushing him forward.

Straightening his back, Raito introduced himself according to the Shinobi code of conduct, “I’m Yoshizawa Raito, thirteen going to fourteen, a Genin of Konohagakure by rank and an intern at the Konoha T&I division.”

DRAGON let out a light chuckle looking at Raito as he started, “Head of ANBU division, serving directly under the Hokage, CODE – DRAGON.”

‘ANBU head?’ Raito ‘looked’ at Mari and Anko for help but found that they were looking at him and trying to hold their laughter.

After a mental glare at the two of them, Raito waited with a solemn look on his face.

DRAGON cleared his throat then started, “Genin Raito, you were accepted by the T&I department as an intern after you passed your Genin exam then you were under Yamanaka Inoichi’s tutelage, learning Yamanaka clan’s jutsu. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that is correct. But it-”

“What you were doing in the past three months… entering someone’s mind, extracting information, and erasing memories…” When DRAGON said that his voice seemed extremely solemn, making Raito shrink his neck.

“Mhm,” Raito nodded slightly, understanding the nature of the conversation.

Looking at Raito, DRAGON nodded inwardly and revealed, “Those were all ANBU operations.”

“… ANBU operations?” Raito turned to face Inoichi but all he could get was Inoichi’s stoic face. Looking back at DRAGON, Raito replied in a small voice, “I had some guesses…”

“Regarding those operations, you were given hints, not to share the information to anyone except, your teacher at that time, Yamanaka Inoichi and the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, right?”

“Yes, Inoichi-sensei had explained to me about it,” Raito said with a nod.

“I am making this official now.” DRAGON looked at Mari and nodded.

Mari also stepped forward and said, “As the head of the intelligence department I will be a witness to this event.”

“Yoshizawa Raito, you will never reveal any ANBU operations to any other party; friend or foe, under any circumstances and pressure… except for Yamanaka Inoichi, your supervisor, leader of ANBU division, DRAGON, which is currently me and Hokage of the Konohagakure, which is currently Hiruzen Sarutobi.”

There was a pregnant pause as DRAGON narrowed his eyes and let out a small burst of chakra, “Do you agree?”

Raito looked around and when he saw everyone giving him signals to nod in agreement, he nodded his head quickly, “Yes sir.”

“Finally done with this.” DRAGON sighed losing his dignified image at once, making Raito’s face twitch violently.

“Raito, if you are caught revealing ANBU operation secrets, you shall be punished,” Mari warned with a stern face. “As for the one who you reveal the information to, it will depend on the situation.”

Raito nodded in reply then turned to face DRAGON, who took out a plain white mask, which looked like an ANBU’s mask but it did not have any patterns.

“Take it.” DRAGON gave it to Raito then added, “Patternless mask are for ANBU in training. You can't wear it in the public and act like an ANBU but with this, you can ask to join at any time.”

“Inoichi, explain it to him and you can go.” DRAGON took a seat on a comfortable chair, which Raito had enhanced and said to Inoichi.

Inoichi walked forward and unlike usual he had a serious expression on his face. When his body covered Raito, Inoichi let out a small sad smile on his face. “Raito.”

“Sensei?” Raito looked at Inoichi. Seeing his tired eyes, dark circle, and pale face, Raito could guess that he was overworked and must have not rested for two or more consecutive days. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m taking a rest after I am done with this.” Inoichi let out a small smile and rubbed Raito’s head.

“Our Yamanaka clan techniques are intrusive as you know.”

Raito nodded as he looked at other Mari, DRAGON, and Anko in the room.

“Our clan techniques allow us to extract information, which is what we tell outsiders. The shinobi force knows that we go into someone’s mind and extract information but it takes time and preparation.”

Raito nodded again and ideas appeared inside his head.

“Finally what ANBU and Hokage-sama know is that… with enough time and preparation we not only can enter minds and extract information, but we can also manipulate it; add false memories, erase memories, and more.”

“…”

“…Sensei, when will you teach it to Ino?” Raito asked after a long pause. “I mean, she will, ugh… I, did I learn too fast or too early?”

Inoichi looked at Raito then placed his hand on Raito’s shoulder and said, “Raito… when I said that the elders agreed to give you the mind voice transmission jutsu, I actually lied.”

“You lied but… well, in the end, everything worked and you did teach me a whole lot of jutsus. So…” Raito scratched the back of his head in all this confusion.

“That ‘Mind Voice Transmission Jutsu’ was the criteria to learn the forbidden techniques of Yamanaka clan.”

“…”

“Mind voice Transmission technique is the most demanding, available for all level technique in the Yamanaka clan library.”

‘It was just a hundred for wisdom and vitality, not that…’ Raito remembered the time Inoichi gave him the technique.

“Sensei, how many know these techniques?” Raito suddenly raised the question making DRAGON turn his head slightly.

“This is a new program that has been going on for less than ten years and there are less than ten people including you and me, who have full knowledge of these jutsus. Of course, you have much to learn but I can fully say that with some time you will be the youngest-”

“Let’s stop this here.” DRAGON stood up and with a voice filled with chakra forced Raito and Inoichi to stop. Then he turned to face Anko and gave her a signal.

“Seriously, even this kid,” Anko grumbled as she took out a set of documents then passed it to Raito and DRAGON.

Raito grabbed the papers then read it but after he saw the picture on the top right corner, his eyebrows rose sharply. Raito raised his head and looked at Anko, who was signaling him to read on.

“This is your assignment; capture, interrogate, and erase the memory, if needed.” DRAGON did not ask for Raito’s answer on accepting or declining the mission, he just gave Raito the mission.

The papers had information about three people who were suspected to be traitors to the village. The document mentioned about them selling the information about the security structure to the information brokers. “What’s the-”

“This can't be real.” Raito let out a laugh then looked at the people around him. But they didn’t have a smile or a banner saying that it was a prank and all. “I mean, they are-”

“I assume you know them.” Dragon said as he looked at Raito from the corner of his eyes.

Raito looked at the pictures with a frown as he answered, “Of course, I know them… They were my classmates… and the same age too.”