At this time, Shikaku completely attracted Hiruzen's attention. He was very confident in this current Ino-Shika-Cho generation. In his opinion, these three people would surely become the head of the three big clans.
Because of this.
Hiruzen still had a very high opinion of Inoichi.
Therefore.
After Shikaku said this, his mind was filled with doubts. At the same time, he was very curious. He wanted to know who the person Shikaku was talking about was.
"Who?"
Hiruzen vaguely felt that Shikaku was here to keep him in suspense, but he did not care about it.
Hiruzen was not the only one curious about this person's identity.
Even the surrounding people who heard what Shikaku said were curious about this.
All of a sudden.
The gazes of everyone present focused on Shikaku one after another.
They were waiting for Shikaku to finish his sentence!
"Yamanaka Aoba!"
Shikaku directly said a name that many people here felt unfamiliar with. After all, Aoba's existence was too low. Most people here had never even heard of his name.
Of course.
A few proctors still felt that this name was a bit familiar.
They seemed to have heard it somewhere before.
But the impression was not deep.
So they were not able to react in the first place.
"Yamanaka Aoba?"
Hiruzen was stunned for a moment. He knew this person. To be precise, he knew almost everyone in Konohagakure. After all, he wanted to create Konoha's sun character.
"Yes, it's him!"
Shikaku immediately nodded. The smile on his face suddenly disappeared. He looked much more serious, but these were just deliberately presented by him.
"Yamanaka Aoba has already forfeited in this year's Chunin Exams, so even if there is some consumption, it won't affect him much!"
"Inoichi hasn't used the Yamanaka Clan's mind-reading secret technique for so long. These three corpses have been left here for more than three days. The difficulty of reading memories can be said to be very high!"
"For such a situation, we need more professional Sensor Ninjas!"
"Aoba belongs to the Konohagakure Intelligence Division's Anbu. It is not rare to come in contact with memory reading cases, so his experience using the mind-reading secret technique is more abundant."
"Based on the reasons above..."
"I think it would be more appropriate for Aoba to read the memories!"
Shikaku directly dragged Aoba out. He did not think Aoba was suitable, but he wanted to use this method to give Aoba a little difficulty. After all, he suspected Aoba had cheated, but he had no evidence. Moreover, he had not found any evidence. This made him very unhappy.
"Whoa..."
When the proctors heard Shikaku's words, they immediately realized who was Yamanaka Aoba he was referring to.
It was the one who passed the first round with full marks and quickly passed the second round. The chief examiner recognized that he was cheating, and it was also after being suspected that he was cheating that Aoba chose to withdraw from this Chunin Exams.
Now they heard Shikaku talk about the Chunin Exams.
And then he said Aoba's name.
Only then did they realize that the person Shikaku was talking about was the young man who had gone to the tower and given up on Chunin Exams.
Otherwise.
Who would think about such a Genin when speaking about mind reading?
But...
They also heard it from Shikaku's words. It turned out that Aoba was an Anbu. They were not too surprised that he could achieve such a result. After all, looking at Konohagakure, how many people could enter Anbu? This was a very difficult thing to do.
"Okay."
After hearing Shikaku's analysis, Hiruzen slowly nodded. He felt that Shikaku's analysis was very reasonable.
Reading memories was such a thing.
Sometimes, what was needed was not the level of a ninja but the level of proficiency in the mind-reading ninjutsu.
Now a ninja working for Konohagakure Intelligence Division was here.
Then he would obviously be more suitable.
"Shikaku, I'll leave this matter to you. Please call Aoba over and let him read the memories of the three corpses!"
Hiruzen immediately made a decision. In the current situation, Aoba was indeed a better choice than Inoichi. At worst, he could wait until the Sensor Ninjas arrived and read it again. However, the most important thing now was to figure out what had happened quickly.
That person...
Was it really a Kirigakure's ninja?
Or was it a ninja from the Uzumaki Clan?
This was a big matter for Hiruzen!
"Yes!"
After hearing Hiruzen's words, Shikaku immediately responded. After that, his figure flashed and disappeared.
...
At this moment.
At the first floor of the tower.
The people here all maintained a kind of silence. They all knew that anyone here could be an opponent in the third round, even the teammates sitting next to them.
Actually.
All the participants here still have one person they can talk to.
That person was Aoba.
However.
None of them spoke to Aoba.
The reason was simple.
Although they knew him.
Aoba might not know them.
Besides.
They had all heard that Aoba had already forfeited. In other words, no matter what happened later, it had nothing to do with Aoba anymore, so there was no need to say anything more.
Just like this.
The scene was extremely quiet for a time.
It was until a series of footsteps sounded, attracting everyone's attention and causing everyone to look in the direction of the sound.
Step, step, step, step...
As the footsteps approached, a figure appeared in everyone's line of sight. This person was the chief examiner of the Chunin Exams' first round, Nara Shikaku.
"Chief examiner!"
When the participant at the scene saw Shikaku, they immediately greeted him. Almost everyone's gaze was focused on Shikaku, and their eyes were filled with anticipation.
They had already waited here for quite a while.
Such a quiet atmosphere.
It made people feel that time was passing very slowly.
Everyone would think more and more in this quiet environment. Coupled with the pressure from the third round, everyone here felt an invisible pressure pressing down on their shoulders.
"En."
Shikaku woodenly nodded at the participants. It could be considered as a greeting to everyone. However, his footsteps did not stop. Instead, he continued to walk inside.
Such a move.
This made everyone even more nervous.
In their hearts.
They increasingly felt that Shikaku had come here to talk about some matters regarding the third round.
All of a sudden.
Numerous gazes converged on Shikaku, causing him to become the focal point of this place.
Shikaku's gaze swept over everyone in turn.
When his gaze landed on someone, they would have a strange feeling in their hearts. They could not help but slowly lower their heads, not daring to meet Shikaku's eyes.
After Shikaku's gaze swept over everyone, it finally stopped on Aoba.
At this time.
Aoba was still resting with his eyes closed.
He was the only one among the examinees who did not care about what was happening in his surroundings.
"Aoba!"
The corners of Shikaku's mouth curled up slightly. He directly called out Aoba's name. He looked at Aoba with a playful look, and there was a hidden feeling that he was looking here for trouble.
Almost at the same time.
Everyone looked at Aoba.
However...
Aoba acted as if he hadn't heard anything.
His eyes closed, and he didn't move an inch. This phenomenon caused everyone present to be stunned.
This...
He actually dared to ignore the chief examiner!
This was too arrogant!
When Shikaku saw Aoba's appearance, he was sure that Aoba had already heard him. However, Aoba did not move at all. His meaning was almost the same as ignoring his words.
Instantly.
The corners of Shikaku's mouth curled up even higher. He stared fixedly at Aoba, his eyes filled with a very familiar dissatisfaction.
Aoba's sudden appearance broke his plan.
This made him very dissatisfied.
'Since you refuse to tell me who gave you the answer...'
'Then I'll play with you!'
"Aoba!"
Shikaku shouted at Aoba again. This time, he raised his voice slightly, and his tone became much more serious.
When Shikaku shouted again.
Aoba, who was sitting on the ground not far away, still did not have any reaction. He looked like he had fallen asleep, as if he had not heard Shikaku's shout.
The participants present could not help but gasp. They had never seen someone ignore other people's words like this.
From the looks of it now.
This kind of silent disregard and indifference was far more hurtful than hurtful words.
All of a sudden.
The way these participants looked at Aoba had already changed.
Moreover.
Their attention had already shifted from Aoba to Shikaku. They all wanted to see how Shikaku would deal with such a thing.
"Aoba!"
At this time.
Shikaku called out to Aoba for the third time.
This time, his tone became even angrier.
This was no longer the state where Shikaku was dissatisfied with Aoba, but he was truly angry.
Although there were not many people in this place.
However, there were also so many eyes staring at this place. He had already called out to Aoba three times in a row. If there was no response, then his face could be said to have been completely lost here.
Gradually.
Time slowly passed by.
Aoba's eyes were still closed as if he had not heard anything. There was also almost no change in expression.
Shikaku clenched his fists tightly. His patience had been worn out. This kind of thing was already unbearable for him.
But when Shikaku was ready to act up.
"What's the matter?"
Aoba's faint voice rang out, breaking the silence here and clearly entering everyone's ears.
It was unknown if it was because Aoba had timed it or if it was just a coincidence, but this sentence directly blocked Shikaku's actions that were about to explode.
Shikaku felt extremely uncomfortable.
He had initially come here to disgust Aoba, so when he first called out Aoba's name, he had no intention of getting angry. Moreover, even if he called out Aoba's name for the second time, he was just pretending to be angry. But when it came to the third time, he felt that he could no longer keep his face. He was really angry.
But now, Aoba had spoken.
Then he could no longer continue to be angry.
But he was already angry.
This extremely unpleasant negative emotion was directly held in his heart, unable to be vented. In the end, he could only forcibly hold it back.
"Aoba, Sandaime-sama asked you to go and cooperate with the investigation!" Shikaku said coldly. He only said that he would cooperate with the investigation, but he didn't say what he wanted to investigate. This was deliberately making a vague idea for Aoba.
"Hiss..."
As soon as Shikaku said this.
The participants at the scene who heard this couldn't help but gasp.
It was just as Shikaku had thought.
He had already misled these participants. They were thinking in the earlier incident direction. However, what exactly was going on? The contents of everyone's thoughts were still different.
Some people felt that it was a matter of cheating.
Some people felt that it was something related to Iwagakure's ninja corpse.
However...
No matter what the matter was.
The Hokage called him over.
Then something must have happened.
"I got it."
Aoba nodded and opened his eyes. His pitch-black eyes were remarkably calm. There were almost no fluctuations in them. He didn't seem to be alarmed by such a thing.
After that.
Under everyone's gaze, Aoba slowly stood up and walked toward Shikaku.
"Lead the way."
Aoba lightly spat out these two words, and his entire person revealed an indescribable calm and composed feeling as if he was completely fearless.
When the participants saw Aoba's appearance.
The eyes of each and every one of them changed once again.
The way they look at Aoba changed again and again.
And their impression of Aoba in their heart was constantly changing with these things.
"..."
Shikaku was speechless when he saw Aoba calmly walking toward him. He didn't know what to say.
Originally, he wanted to come here to disgust Aoba.
But...
The problem was.
Aoba was not disgusted by him.
Instead, he was disgusted by Aoba.
How can such a thing make him feel better...
Shikaku looked at Aoba's figure. He narrowed his eyes slightly. No one knew what he was thinking in his mind. After a moment of hesitation, he immediately leads Aoba.
"Come with me!"
Shikaku walked in front of Aoba and led him toward the tower's second floor.
Aoba followed behind Shikaku and walked toward the second floor.
...
A few minutes later.
Aoba came to a room on the second floor.
Along the way.
The two of them didn't say anything.
Shikaku raised his hand and knocked on the door.
After that.
Shikaku pushed the door open and walked in first.
Aoba followed behind Shikaku and entered.
When he entered the room.
There were many people inside.
These people were the proctors he had seen before.
One of them was the most special existence.
It was Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was wearing a Hokage robe.
"Sandaime-sama, I brought Aoba here!"
After entering the room, Shikaku immediately reported to Hiruzen. He did not say anything to Aoba from the beginning to the end. His goal was to take revenge on Aoba to a certain extent.
Shikaku wanted Aoba to feel that things here were not that simple and he could not do whatever he wanted.
He had found Aoba many times.
Initially, he asked Aoba to help pull Saki and Rin down, but Aoba did not agree!
Now, Aoba had obviously cheated, but he refused to tell him where the answer came from, and he even ignored his question. Obviously, he did not give him face.
This kind of thing.
It had already made him very unhappy.
What he had to do was very simple.
That was to cause trouble for Aoba.
He absolutely could not let Aoba live so smoothly!
He had to let Aoba know...
Even if you decide to forfeit and leave this Chunin Exams, this matter is not over yet!
"Sandaime-sama!"
When Aoba saw Hiruzen, he immediately bowed to the other person. This was not the first time he saw Hiruzen, so he had no fear. He stood in this room with many people and faced everyone's gazes without any stage fright. He did not mind these people's gazes at all.
Aoba did not ask why he was called over.
There was no need to ask such a question.
He was called over.
Then he just had to wait for Hiruzen's words!
"Aoba."
Hiruzen's gaze fell on Aoba. His pupils contracted slightly. This youth gave him an extremely obvious sense of familiarity.
This feeling was very obvious.
It was as if he had just seen him not long ago.
Could it be...
There was a slight change in Hiruzen's eyes when he looked at Aoba. However, he hid this change very well. No one could see that there was a trace of doubt in the depths of his eyes.
Because at this time.
He had already thought of who Aoba had met before.
That was the ninja from the Uzumaki Clan who had healed Danzo.
This feeling was extremely strange.
One had to know...
Aoba was a member of the Yamanaka clan, and there was no sign that he was a member of the Uzumaki clan.
Moreover.
The people from the Uzumaki Clan have a bit more vigor.
This Aoba in front of him had an indescribable sense of normality. He looked like a passer-by without any sense of presence.
"Do you know why I called you over?"
Hiruzen slowly said. He had already suppressed the doubts in his heart. That feeling only appeared for a moment. Moreover, there were too many situations where two people had similarities in a certain sense. He did not have more evidence to prove that these two people were the same person. Instead, there was a lot of evidence to prove that they were not the same person.
However.
All of this was just for Hiruzen.
He did not want to tell anyone about this.
There was no need to say anything.
"I don't know."
Aoba replied indifferently. He vaguely felt that Hiruzen suspected him.
After all.
Just now, Hiruzen hesitated for a moment.
This hesitation caused Hiruzen to say a sentence of nonsense.
This also reminded Aoba, so he began to be vigilant in his heart. He knew that when he went to treat Danzo that day, he was wearing medical ninja clothes and a mask and wrapped himself tightly.
But...
Even if it was wrapped tightly.
It was still himself.
It was not anyone else at all.
Because of Eaton's existence, Aoba did not apply any transformation type of ninjutsu on his body, which also made some of his movements and body shape similar.
Such a thing.
It was not that Aoba had not considered it.
It was just that he had not expected to appear in front of Hiruzen so quickly.
"There was a problem with Chunin Exams. You should know about this matter. The three ninjas of Iwagakure are already dead. Now, we need one person to read the memories of these three dead ninjas. Through the memory, we can know their encounters before their death and determine who the person who did this is!" Hiruzen stared at Aoba and slowly said. He could still feel a sense of familiarity from Aoba, but reason told him that this Yamanaka and that Uzumaki could not be the same person.
"..."
When Aoba heard this, he was stunned.
'No way!'
'Was this a coincidence?'
He had deliberately acted to shift the blame to Kirigakure's ninja. That was why he had acted in front of the three of them for so long. However, the person who would read their memories was actually himself.
If he had known this would happen, he would not have wasted so much effort.
A feeling of helplessness arose in Aoba's heart. He did not wish for the person who read their memories to be him. This way, he could enjoy the results of his battle. But now, he was dragged into a predicament. This was something that he did not want to see at all.
"Sandaime-sama, I can't handle this kind of work. After the cruel Chunin Exams, I am already exhausted both physically and mentally, and I don't have any extra strength to read the memories of these three dead people. Everyone knows that reading memories requires complete concentration, energy, and spirit. If there is a slight distraction, the memory reading will be disorderly and provide false information. In the worst case, the memory of this corpse will be erased, causing an extremely bad effect..."
Aoba spread out his hands and said. His tone had a clear meaning of rejection, but his way of expressing himself caused a lot of question marks to pop up in everyone's heads except for Hiruzen.
"??????"
These people at the scene were the proctors of this Chunin Exams, including Shikaku and Choza, the chief examiners. After hearing Aoba's words, they all had an extremely outrageous feeling.
Is this human language?
Exhausted both physically and mentally?
The corners of everyone's mouths twitched a few times.
Those who presided over Aoba's exam at first could not match the name of Aoba that Shikaku mentioned. However, after seeing Aoba, they all understood.
Are you tired?
In their memories.
Aoba didn't do anything. A few minutes after the first round began, he began to write the answers to the questions quickly and then waited for the time to hand in the papers.
As for the second round...
The time it took to pass the round was only one hour.
How tiring could this be?
He probably didn't even encounter teams or beasts in the forest.
It could be seen from his clothes.
The ninjas on the tower's second floor who would not be able to pass the second round were all wearing torn clothes. Many of them had varying degrees of injuries on their bodies. It was all left behind after passing through the Forest of Death.
But...
How about Aoba?!
There was not even the slightest bit of damage to his clothes or injuries on his body. There were only a few places with dust on them. It was very obvious that they were all stained after Aoba came to the tower.
Such a situation.
How could he be physically and mentally exhausted?
When these proctors heard Aoba's words, they all felt that it was extremely inconceivable. They would have jumped out to expose Aoba's lies if not for the Third Hokage.
"Aoba, the Yamanaka clan's sensor ninjas are currently on a mission. When they arrive here, it might take a few hours. The longer the corpse dies, the fewer memories remain. You are very clear about this matter. I know that you have just gone through the Chunin Exams. I understand that you are exhausted. However, I still hope that you can overcome it and help us investigate what happened to the three Iwagakure ninjas. This is an extremely important matter for the village!" Hiruzen said in his magnetic voice. In fact, he did not expect that Aoba would refuse directly without hesitation. It was not good for him to directly issue an order for such a thing. After all, his character was still considerate, so he could only use emotion to reason. He hoped to persuade Aoba to change his decision.
"Sandaime-sama..."
After listening to Hiruzen, Aoba immediately opened his mouth. In fact, it was not that he wanted to play his character here, but he could not easily use chakra.
Just a while ago.
Aoba had just had direct contact with Hiruzen.
When he was treating Danzo, he had already used chakra. He was not sure if Hiruzen had any special secret technique to identify chakra, but if he wanted to read the memories of these three people, then he must use chakra. There was a risk of exposing himself.
Therefore.
Aoba had no choice but to refuse Hiruzen.
"I don't know if Big Brother Shikaku told you I have already forfeited from the Chunin Exams." Aoba's brain worked quickly. In almost an instant, he thought of a very good solution. Not only could he resolve this situation, but he could also push the matter back to Shikaku.
After all...
It was impolite not to reciprocate!
Aoba was a very polite and good child!
Naturally, he had to return the courtesy!
"I did." Hiruzen nodded. He still did not know that Aoba had broken the record of Chunin Exams' first two rounds. After all, the focus of his attention now was not on the Chunin Exam but on whether that Kirigakure's ninja had any connection with the Uzumaki Clan ninja matter. So he asked in a not-so-concerned manner, "Is there a problem?"
"Yes!"
Aoba immediately nodded, and his expression began to change, becoming painful.
"Since it was forfeited, then Sandaime-sama can also infer that I passed the second round. In fact, if not for my body problems, I would not forfeit at this stage."
"What problem?" Hiruzen immediately asked. He felt that Aoba's words were reasonable. He had already passed the second round. There was no need to give up so quickly. After all, the third round would take a period of time before it started.
At this moment.
All the puzzled gazes were focused on Aoba, and the question marks on everyone's heads increased.
What was going on?
Didn't he forfeit because he was cheating?
Why was there a body problem now?
What the hell was going on?
Was what this person said true or false?
Among these proctors, there were already some who could not tell the specific things. They felt that these words coming out of Aoba's mouth were extremely fake. No matter how they heard it, it was fake.
But if it was really fake.
This was very strange.
Could a highly skilled expert like Aoba be bold enough to fool the Third Hokage in front of so many people who knew the truth?
Or could it be...
The truth that they knew was not the real truth?
All of a sudden.
Everyone began to doubt themselves. The word looked very much like fake words, but they didn't dare to think they were lies.
"When I was in the first round, I used Shintenshin no Jutsu(Mind Body Switch Technique) to control the proctor in front of me, then I came to the fake participant who knew the answer in the exam. I then use our Yamanaka clan's mind-reading secret technique to get the answer from him." Aoba said in a deep voice.
As soon as Aoba said this, all the proctors present exclaimed in surprise. Everyone widened their eyes, and their eyes flashed with disbelief.
They initially thought that Aoba had gotten the answer before entering the examination room. But when they hear Aoba's words just now. They already understood that Aoba got the answer after entering the examination room.
Mind Body Switch Technique.
Mind Reading Secret Technique.
The difficulty of using these two techniques was very great, not to mention that the mind reading was used when he was controlling other people's bodies!
This greatly increases the difficulty.
If one wanted to use this kind of combination of ninjutsu, one would need to have extremely high attainments in the Yamanaka clan's secret technique.
Even Hiruzen who heard it had a feeling of amazement.
However...
There was another amazing matter that the proctors present knew, and Hiruzen did not know.
That was...
Aoba had used these two secret techniques to obtain information, but no one in the audience knew about it. They thought that Aoba cheated.
The ability to obtain information like this...
It was really too abnormal!
Following Aoba's words, the proctors at the scene began to re-examine Aoba. They no longer regarded him as a person who cheated in the exam.
At the same time.
Shikaku's face was full of black lines. He never thought that Aoba would say such a thing here, and he began to think about it in his heart.
'Could it be...'
'Did Aoba really not cheat?'
Just as everyone was thinking about different things.
Aoba spoke again.
"This isn't over yet..."
"After I obtained the answers, I immediately wrote these answers on the papers. Then, I stared at the papers and passed the answers I saw in my eyes to my two teammates, Saki and Rin, through Shindenshin no Jutsu(Mind Body Transmission Technique)."
"The continuous use of these three techniques almost consumed all the chakra I had in the first round, and I still haven't recovered until now."
Aoba immediately seized the opportunity to be miserable. The best way he could think of now was to use the Chunin Exams to emphasize that he was not suitable to read memories.
"What?!"
After hearing Aoba's words, Hiruzen's eyes were wide open, and he could not help but ask again.
"You mean you controlled the proctor through Shintenshin no Jutsu(Mind Body Switch Technique) and then found the fake participant with the answer through the proctors. You used the Saiko Denshin(Mind-Reading Secret Technique) to get the answer from the participant memories and finally passed the answer to your two teammates with Shindenshin no Jutsu(Mind Body Transmission Technique)?"
A look of disbelief appeared on Hiruzen's face. This was no longer a simple matter of reading memories but a combination of the Yamanaka clan's mainstream secret technique!
This kind of combination.
Even the Yamanaka clan's older generation wouldn't be able to do it!
And it was no wonder he would refuse!
Hiruzen suddenly understood what Aoba meant.
"Yes, that's it. I've used up too much energy and haven't recovered yet." Aoba nodded and admitted it directly.
After hearing the conversation between Hiruzen and Aoba, especially when Hiruzen summed up the entire process, all the proctors were completely shocked.
The three techniques were silently superimposed together...
This was a clear play of the Yamanaka clan's secret technique!
It was truly too terrifying!
In an instant.
Every proctor looked at Aoba with an earth-shaking change in their eyes. They looked at Aoba in a new light again.
"Sandaime-sama, although I can't read memories right now, I can recommend someone to you. His mastery of the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques is far above mine, and his ability to read the corpses' memories that have been dead for a few days is much better than mine..."
Aoba immediately struck while the iron was hot. He met everyone's gazes and stared at Hiruzen.
"He is Yamanaka Inoichi!"