Kaito and his friends were still watching as Choji and Shikamaru fought the ninjas from the Sound Village.
"What do you think? Should we wait and watch or help them?" Ryuji whispered to Kaito and Hikari.
"I think we should help," Hikari said, waiting for Kaito's response.
"Of course, we're going to help, and we'll do it right now," Kaito said as he leaped from the bushes where they were hiding, heading towards Shikamaru and the others. Ryuji and Hikari followed suit.
As Choji advanced towards one of the Sound ninjas, Kaito appeared beside Shikamaru.
"Hey, Shikamaru, looks like you guys need some help," Kaito said as soon as he arrived.
Shikamaru was surprised by the sudden arrival but relieved. "Yeah, and you guys, can you help? I was getting tired anyway," Shikamaru said as he looked at Kaito.
'It's clear to see your level of laziness rising as soon as I showed up.'
"Hey, Ino, how are you doing?" Kaito turned to Ino and greeted her.
Ino's eyes lit up at the sight of Kaito; she was ready to use her Mind Body Switch Technique on the opponent but gave up when she saw Kaito.
"Hey, Kaito-kun, I'm good, I didn't expect to see you at the exam," Ino smiled as she called Kaito affectionately.
"Hahah, maybe fate," Kaito laughed and replied, making Ino's eyes sparkle.
Kaito turned to look at Team Dosu, where Zaku was now facing Choji, but as in the anime, it was clear that Choji wouldn't win.
After unsheathing his katana, Kaito smiled and moved towards Dosu, who wore a straw raincoat that extended from the back of his scarf and a Resonating Echo Speaker on his right arm.
Whoosh!
Kaito attacked as soon as he appeared in front of his opponent, who reacted just in time and defended himself using his resonating echo speaker.
"Hohohou, another idiot ready to get beaten," the Sound ninja Dosu said, using his equipment to send a sound wave into Kaito's ear.
Kaito defended himself by using chakra to protect his ears and forced his enemy back.
This was a technique Kaito had thought of to defend against sound attacks; he used chakra to shield his ears, preventing the sound wave from penetrating.
'Jutsu: Multiple Water Bullets,' Kaito fired dozens of water bullets from his mouth. Dosu obviously saw the attack coming and quickly dodged.
The bullets pierced the ground where Dosu had been as he dodged with a serious expression, knowing that if he got hurt now, the battle would be basically lost.
'Darn, how come he wasn't affected by my Sound Drill jutsu?' Dosu wondered as he hurriedly tried to dodge.
In the next moment, all he saw was several wind blades flying towards him. Dosu was surprised because he wouldn't be able to defend, but in the next moment, Zaku, who was fighting with Choji, used his ability to deflect the wind blades.
Kaito clearly noticed this but didn't care and continued to shoot water bullets at Dosu, while Choji took the opportunity to try to hit his opponent, who had momentarily stopped pushing him back with his ability.
'Hehe, could do this all day, but too bad, I'll end this soon,' Kaito observed the two Sound ninjas while smiling, enjoying watching the enemies hastily dodge, afraid of being hit.
Whoosh!
In the next moment, Kaito vanished from his position, which alarmed his opponent.
'Darn, if he thinks he's catching me off guard, he's mistaken,' Dosu thought as he prepared his equipment to attack Kaito when he appeared.
But to his surprise, Kaito hadn't appeared behind him but behind Zaku.
Kaito smiled and attacked with his katana, making a large cut on Zaku's back, who was distracted trying to defend himself against Choji. This completely threw off Zaku's focus, and Choji finally advanced towards him, hitting him with all his might, while Kaito backed off to avoid being hit.
"Good one, Choji," Kaito gave a thumbs-up as he advanced towards Dosu again, who, upon seeing this, also jumped towards him, expecting a close combat fight.
The two clashed again, and Dosu once again tried to use his Sound Drill ability, but this time, he attempted to impact the water on Kaito's body.
But as he attacked, the clone exploded into water, leaving Dosu completely surprised.
The real Kaito was a little further away and had already prepared three large water bullets, which were fired as the clone collided with Dosu.
Dosu couldn't react in time, and the three bullets hit his body simultaneously. The sound of bones cracking could be heard as he fell to the ground, completely drenched and unconscious.
The only one left was Kin, but she had already been subdued by Ino when she tried to interrupt Kaito and Dosu's fight.
Kaito approached her and waved, signaling that Ino could release her possession jutsu, and as she did, Kaito struck her neck, causing her to faint on the spot.
"That was easy, it could have been more tedious if I didn't know their techniques. It might have been a bit more challenging," Kaito thought. Afterward, he walked towards Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
"Hey, Sakura, how are they doing?" Kaito asked as he approached them.
"They're better, but they're still not waking up," Sakura replied, looking at Sasuke and Naruto. She had treated them, but they hadn't regained consciousness yet.
Kaito nodded in understanding and moved closer to Sasuke, swiftly forming hand signs, while Sakura wondered what Kaito was doing.
After a few more movements, Kaito placed his hand where Orochimaru's mark was, and a new seal appeared, overlaying the curse mark.
"Alright, it's partially sealed now. It won't risk activating at this moment. I'll have to study more about this," Kaito thought as he withdrew his hand. At that moment, Sasuke started to show signs of waking up.
Kaito turned to Naruto and created a water ball with his jutsu, throwing it at his face.
"Who did that? Come here so I can beat you!" Naruto woke up, yelling, wanting to fight whoever had woken him up, but upon seeing Kaito in front of him, he immediately understood who had done it.
"Oh, it was you, Kaito, you coward, taking advantage to sneak attack just because I wasn't awake," Naruto grumbled, and just then, another water bubble hit his face, almost making him choke on the water.
"See, Naruto, I don't need you to be asleep to hit you if I want to. I just need the will," Kaito said provocatively, smiling.
"Oh, you'll see, Kaito. We'll settle our differences," Naruto complained to Kaito after stopping himself from choking and began gesturing for a fight, but it was clear they were both just playing around.
After a few seconds, Sasuke woke up.
"I placed a temporary seal that will prevent Orochimaru's mark from acting. If you don't know what this mark can do, I'll tell you now. It can take over your mind and cause extreme pain to your body," Kaito briefly explained what the mark could do while Sasuke remained silent, listening. He had his doubts about what Kaito was saying, but he could feel the instability of that mark within his body, so he partly accepted it.
"I can study a bit and try to solve the problem, but I think it'll be very difficult for me to achieve at this moment," Kaito didn't wait for Sasuke to respond, turned around, and left Sasuke and Naruto to talk as he walked towards Shikamaru's team.
His team was chatting with them as they waited for Kaito.
"The conversation's good," Kaito arrived, smiling, and everyone looked at him.
"Sure, here I found someone else who loves to eat as much as I do. Damn it, Kaito, let's get that boar meat we defeated. Let's eat," Ryuji said, drooling.
The boar meat had some chakra involved, making it much more durable. Kaito had also frozen the pieces in blocks of ice, preserving the meat, so he could still savor that delicious meat.
"Hehehe, sure, let's roast some soon," Kaito replied, reminiscing about the taste.
"You guys only think about food, it's incredible," Hikari replied, stopping her conversation with Ino.
"Food is life," all three said the same phrase at once, surprising everyone as they smiled.
Ino couldn't take her eyes off Kaito, and Hikari had obviously noticed, and not just her, everyone had noticed.
Hikari patted her back, making Ino walk closer to Kaito.
"You did well with that Sound ninja, Ino, just be careful because sometimes other ninjas can be merciless with their teammates," kaito said, and Ino smiled, hearing the praise and agreeing with what Kaito had said.
At that moment, Tenten had arrived and was waking up Rock Lee, who had been partially treated by Sakura but was still unconscious. Neji was, of course, sitting atop a tree, observing Kaito.
'He's quite strong, easily defeated those Sound ninjas,' these were Neji's thoughts as he looked at Kaito.
Ryuji and Choji approached Kaito with several pieces of firewood in their hands.
"We've got the wood for the fire," Ryuji said, releasing it near Kaito, who was surprised by their efficiency.
"Alright, alright," saying that, Kaito took the meat out of his storage and thawed two pieces. This surprised Choji and the others, who didn't know he could control ice, but they thought it was some different technique and didn't pay much attention.
The fire was soon lit by Ryuji and Choji, and the boar meat was roasting on some twigs.
"Come, everyone, let's eat a bit to regain energy," Kaito called everyone as he looked at Ryuji, signaling.
Ryuji quickly understood and started forming some hand signs. After a few seconds, he placed his hand on the ground, causing several pieces of earth to rise around the fire, making a natural seating area.
Ino quickly sat next to Kaito, and not long after, Naruto appeared on his right, and seeing this, everyone started to sit down to eat. Even the most antisocial ones came; Sasuke sat after Naruto, followed by Sakura. Ryuji sat with Choji and Shikamaru, Hikari sat next to Ino and started talking, and Rock Lee's team also joined after hesitating for a moment.
In the end, almost all the ninjas of this generation of Konoha were gathered. Kaito observed this and smiled; after all, it wasn't everyone who had this opportunity, a dangerous yet satisfying experience of being in another world.