Days passed by quickly and it was the final day of the Chūnin examinations. The high and noble people of the continent from all over the continent came to Konohagakure for entertainment and evaluation.

Traveling all the way from their hometowns to watch those so-called shinobi in a fight where they put their lives on the line for the pride of their village. Using secret techniques and forces of nature that defies common sense to battle and win.

Today’s battle will determine who will win favors and who will lose. The resource distribution will change hands if the performance between the different villages varies too much.

Of course, the winner will gain whereas the loser will lose.

Bang! Bang!

Early morning at the Konohagakure, the festive atmosphere spread throughout the village. The shops were open with food, toys, and other items in full view ready to be sold at any second.

“Oe, Naruto, you dimwit. Get the heck out.” Raito looked at the time and banged continuously at Naruto’s room door.

The gang had decided to meet before going to the stadium but Naruto was still taking his sweet time changing clothes or something that could not be said.

Massaging his forehead, he gave the door a big one before snorting in annoyance. “Hmph! ‘[Fuinjutsu – Override]’.”

[Skill level – Check]

[Override successful]

With a sneer, Raito kicked open the door, frightening Naruto who was making various kinds of poses in front of the mirror.

Raito’s face twitched furiously as he closed his eyes and turned around too embarrassed to see what Naruto was doing. “What the heck are you doing?”

Grabbing his forehead protector, Naruto quickly wore it and started explaining, “I was preparing for when I would beat Neji. I should know how to wave hand and how to give flying kiss…”

“Ugh, everything is ready. So, come down, I am leaving first.” Letting out a groan, Raito quickly left Naruto’s room and went downstairs. Please think about how you are actually going to defeat him.

Hinata in her casual dress, non-ninja dress, was sitting on the sofa, drinking tea, and eating crackers, waiting for Raito and Naruto. Her hair had grown longer, crossing her shoulders. Tying her hair into a ponytail, she gave a pure vibe to those looking at her.

Raito gave her a side-glance then quickly walked towards the dining table.

“Ah, Raito-kun, I didn’t hear you.” The sudden appearance of Raito startled Hinata. For her defense, the tea and crackers in the house tasted much better than any other place in the village. As for the sweets, she still favored the old bakery’s cinnamon roll.

“I was practicing my ghost-like steps,” Raito replied with an evil smile. As he turned around an illusory demon with sharply pointed ears and a long, pointed nose appeared, carrying the corpse of a woman, dripping blood.

Hinata blinked her large eyes a few times before continuing to munch on the crackers.

Raito waited patiently for a good long minute before sighing and canceling the Genjutsu. “It’s no good. You used to get scared so easily before but now… it’s so boring.”

“It’s not that scary anymore, Raito-kun,” Hinata replied with a sweet smile. “It’s even interesting because you have so many weird ideas.”

“What’s the use of these if I can scare people?” Raito rolled his eyes and looked at the top end of the stairs. A few minutes had passed by but there was no trace of Naruto. Expanding his range of chakra sense, Raito found that Naruto was still in his room and now was trying to select clothes, which looked just the same.

“…”

“I’ll bring Naruto-kun.” Feeling Raito’s anger, Hinata quickly jumped out of her comfortable seat and hurried upstairs.

[Sofa (+10)]

Rarity – Uncommon

Special – Comfort [Users will feel like they are sitting on a cloud. Decreases fatigue.]

Swiping away the distress caused by the appearance of the common special effects, Raito stirred the pot to calm his anger.

The enhancement skill did not actually give an overpowered skill to an item; it just amplified the core functions of those items but sometimes it gave common-sense defying effects too.

Knock, Knock.

“Open up, Raito.” Ino’s voice came through the door making Raito turn his head.

“They are early.” Raito quickly stood up, swept the area, and at the same time opened the door. “Why are you guys here? Didn’t we agree to meet near the stadium?”

Ino rolled her eyes then focused on the pot and replied, “Chōji said that you were gonna make something really good. So, here we are…” Ino stuck out her tongue and smiled.

Looking at the two behind Ino, Raito’s face twitched as he tried to form a smile. Shikamaru and Chōji had completely different expressions than Ino.

Sniffing with all his might, Chōji walked in and locked his eyes onto the big pot on the stove. There was a lid covering the pot steam coming from the gaps, leaving a fragrant aroma on the surrounding.

“You have Kiba’s nose but it only works for food,” Raito said in annoyance.

Ignoring Raito, Chōji grabbed a bowl and ladle then served himself a big serving.

Ino also walked around and made herself some tea then sat on the comfortable sofa, drinking tea and munching on crackers.

Standing beside Raito and looking at his two teammates, Shikamaru sighed and said, “I can't wait for the exams to start.”

Raito felt his face twitching for the second time this morning as he looked sideways and said, “You are going to give up after playing for a while, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean by playing? I will just do what I am supposed to do.”

“You are not even denying.” Raito rolled his eyes and signaled Shikamaru to follow.

Bringing a plate from his inventory, Raito opened the rice cooker and scooped the rice.

[Dinner Plate (+10)]

Rarity – Uncommon

Special effects – Harmonize [Foods that are compatible with one another, if placed together will create double the effect.]

Opening the pot the smell of the gravy attacked once more as Chōji stood up once again.

The pot contained carrots, potato, meat, and finally the heavenly gravy. One scoop of it covered half of the dinner plate and another scoop covered the rice, enveloping it.

As he was about to pass the plate to Shikamaru, a spoon appeared on the side, like a boat on the lake of gravy.

[Spoon (+10)]

Rarity – Uncommon

Special – Enhance [Enhance the flavor of the dish for user satisfaction.]

“Heh, nice control.” Shikamaru smiled at Raito’s display of ability then sat beside Chōji.

“Yup, one of my many skills.” Replying to Shikamaru, Raito turned around and got himself a serving too.

Shikamaru and Raito had finally finished their first whereas Chōji was going for his third fill.

“Chōji, aren’t you eating too much?” Ino had already finished and was now looking around. Seeing Chōji going for another serving, Ino shouted, “You will explode if you eat more.”

“But it’s really good, a little special too.”

“Special?” Ino looked at Chōji weirdly then looked at her own cup of tea then shook her head. “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean that you should stuff yourself. You should be image-conscious. Image!”

Chōji thought for a while then answered with a nod. “Um, it’s not as good as my dad’s cooking.”

“…” Ino left her jaw open and her brows twitching.

“I’m ready!” Naruto ran down the stairs with Hinata in his same old orange clothes, which made Ino sigh.

“I don’t believe it. You are going to wear the same thing in your final exam.” Ino pointed and complained. “At least wear something-”

“What’s wrong with that? This is my signature.” Naruto looked at his clothes and retorted back.

Letting out a snort, Naruto pointed back at Ino and said, “And what’s with you? You are always wearing purple. You need to-”

Ino banged the table and her eyes turned red and fire covered the back, “Purple is stylish and in fashion sense, the best…”

Raito cleaned his and Shikamaru’s dishes and Shikamaru stopped the two from arguing. Doing dishes or stopping an argument about clothes, girl and Naruto was a pain but Raito did not give him a choice.

Later the gang walked along the streets of Konoha and talking and enjoying. Among the six of them, half of them were going to appear in the exams.

“It would be so much better if they sold more snacks at the stadium.” Chōji looked at his bag of snacks and said regretfully.

Ino raised her finger, pointing at a fruit stall, and said, “Maybe we can-”

“I have tons of snacks with me,” Raito said as he pulled a couple of snacks from thin air.

“… Eat healthy.” Ino clenched her fist in anger as the two ignored her.

Hinata grabbed her hand and went towards the stall to buy some fruits and to help Ino calm down.

“That old pervert taught me a few techniques that I can use in…”

“Pervert?”

“That’s Jiraiya-sama.” Raito clarified then added, “Has white hair and likes to peep into the hot springs or any other places where there are women, so-called ‘The Old Pervert’.”

“Ohh.” Ino looked at Naruto silently for a long time, making his hair stand. “You are learning a lot from Jiraiya-sama eh, Naruto?”

“He is one of the legendary three so he must have a lot to teach.” Hinata rescued Naruto from Ino.

“Do remember that one of the three is Orochimaru, who betrayed Konoha,” Raito added bringing in a stiff atmosphere.

“Another is a gambler who seems to have… forsaken the village.” Pocketing his hands, Raito mumbled then closed his eyes and walked by the rest.

“What just happened all of a sudden?” Ino glanced at Shikamaru but he also shook his head.

“Raito,” Naruto called out weakly seeing Raito in a bad mood.

“Hinata,” Shikamaru called out and asked, “Can you find where Jiraiya-sama is right now?”

Ino looked at Shikamaru in question, “What’s that got to do-”

“Shhh.” Shikamaru made a ‘hush’ sign and waited for Hinata.

“He is not at the stadium but at the northwest station tower,” Hinata reported then gave Shikamaru a confused look.

“Hinata, try to remember all the routes to the shelter,” Shikamaru whispered to Hinata then gave her a nod.

As a Hyūga, Hinata had seen many things happening in the past month which somewhat terrified her.

“What’s really going on?” Hinata felt a shiver go down the spine as she nodded furiously.

Raito walked forward with his ‘[Chakra Sense]’ locked onto the few peoples. ‘There is still no sign of Orochimaru.’

‘Was this all to force the village to cause agitation, distress, and…’

“It’s good if it doesn’t happen.” Raito let out a chuckle then called out the black book with the seal.

“I’ll be depending on you all.” Feeding the sealwork on the book chakra, he straightened his back and returned to his normal self.

“Ou,” Asuma’s rough voice alerted the Genins, making them turn back.

“I knew it.” With a small smile, crooked cigarette dangling from his mouth, and hands in his pockets, Asuma walked slowly towards the gang. “If you are this slow, you won't be getting any good seats.”

“Seats have number, sensei.” Ino quickly pulled out her ticket and waved.

Letting out a smoke, Asuma scratched his sides of his face and said in embarrassment, “Well, I never needed one. So…”

Looking at the slightly tanned Asuma, Raito smiled and turned around. With a wider smile and louder voice, he said, “Doesn’t that means you have a lot of money saved, Asuma-sensei?”

“Huh?”

“You can take us to a BBQ then.”

“Oe, oe,” Asuma raised his hands seeing Chōji’s shiny eyes. “I… I’ll take you guys out after… after this Chūnin exam.”

“Really?” Chōji was too close and it was making Asuma feel awkward.

“You guys are here?” Kakashi’s lazy voice caught everyone’s attention.

“Kaka-sensei, you are so early.” Naruto gave a wide smile and walked forward. It was not that Kakashi was not early; it was just that he had a bad sense of direction and time, which always made him miss the early morning meeting or the late-night gatherings and even the Jōnin meeting

“Yup, I just wanted to see what you guys were doing.” Kakashi eye-smiled and waved his hands. Surprisingly, he was not with his small orange book of love today.

Kakashi looked at Naruto for a long time then patted his head. “Try your best, Naruto. I’ll be watching.”

“Hai,”

“Raito?” Kakashi looked at Shikamaru, nodded then turned towards Raito whose entire focus was on the black book.

“Hm, sensei?” Raito glanced back at the seal formula then at Kakashi then waved the book and said, “I’m just preparing for the fight.”

“Oh,”

Then there was an awkward silence between the two. Asuma let out the smoke and asked everyone to go with him. Chōji agreed quickly but Shikamaru, Ino, and Hinata gave Asuma a questioning look.

Letting out a small smile, he signaled them to keep quiet and follow him for now.

While Kakashi’s support did cheer up Naruto, he was still concerned about Raito. So, he called out, “Raito, we need to warm up before the fight. Let’s go.”

“And you too sensei, you need to be there to look at how I beat that Neji bastad.”

Raito looked at Naruto for a while then looked down with a small smile that Naruto thought was somewhat sad, then said, “Naruto, I want to ask sensei something. I will meet everyone at the stadium.”

“O-Ok, everyone will be waiting. Don’t be late.” With that said, Naruto looked at the two for a moment then ran away.

Raito stood still, wanting to say something but couldn’t speak up whereas Kakashi looked at Raito in silence.

Taking two steps forward, Kakashi focused his gaze at Raito and asked“Do you really want it?”

Raito felt it was difficult to look at Kakashi so he looked down and answered, “It was an order.”

Looking up with a cheerful smile, Raito added, “And I am also going to get something out of this. I am going to get special training from the Senior Medic in the Konoha Hospital in healing arts.”

Raito turned towards the stadium and added, “Hokage-sama also said that it would be beneficial for my future.”

Kakashi did not interrupt or add anything. He just listened until Raito stopped then asked. “Sasuke will be joining team seven as your replacement. What do you think of that?”

“Nothing really.”

“…” There was another long silence.

“Try to make a logical reason then why is Sasuke replacing you is good.”

Raito took a deep breath and looked at Kakashi then started, “I think it’s reasonable. With Sasuke being the last Uchiha that is loyal to the village and then there is you, who have experience with the Sharingan. You can train him better than anyone else in the village can. Also, you have a history with the Uchiha clan that makes you and Sasuke a better pair right now.”

His green eyes, which should represent life, now seemed to freeze the world.

“The last Uchiha, the Hyūga heiress… and the Kyūbi Jinchūriki. It makes a priority team. So…”

Words failed to come out, as his breathing increased by several folds.

After several breaths, Raito was calm as he could be then added, “I think the elder council made a fair decision.”

Kakashi frowned, looking at Raito, who gave more and more of that loner vibe. ‘It shouldn’t be like this.’

After finishing the training yesterday with Sasuke, an ANBU appeared at the training ground, where he informed Kakashi about the change in his team members.

Raito was accepted into a specialty program in the Konoha hospital and will be under the Senior Medic, learning Medical techniques whereas Sasuke will be joining team seven and will continue doing fieldwork. And as for Kurenai’s team, they will have an additional member from the Genin corps or from the graduating batch.

Even when the plan was to make Sasuke miss the fight with Gaara, Kakashi couldn’t hold it back. With a gloomy expression, Kakashi rushed towards the Hokage tower, wanting to reverse the decision but the council members and the Third were not willing.

The third even explained to him how valuable Raito was; his ability to do a different kind of healing and his value on using the high-quality water technique in the side project.

In his own words, Sarutobi said to Kakashi with full seriousness that night, ‘He is much too valuable to only be in the frontline.’

Kakashi looked at the back of his student that was giving a lonely air and said, “You are a member of team seven and will always be.”

“I know I am.”

“Don’t worry about me, Kakashi-sensei,” Raito said giving Kakashi a side-glance then added in a low voice that only he could have heard. “I know what I should be and do… for myself.”

Under the effects of [Stealth] neither Kakashi, with his Sharingan nor anyone with equipment and technology could actually see Raito, with where he stood.