Seeing Lord Seiki suddenly fall silent, the two didn't dare urge or interrupt him, quietly waiting nearby.
After a while, Seiki smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I just spaced out for a moment. Regarding the method of creating medical scrolls—feel free to spread it around. Knowing your work helps others is the greatest praise a medical ninja can receive!"
Temari bowed repeatedly in excitement, "Thank you, thank you Lord Seiki!"
She couldn't help but think. No wonder Lord Seiki had become the leader of the parallel world—with such tolerance and vision, they would gladly follow him!
For a moment, she even envied the people in that world.
Seiki chuckled softly, "No need to be so polite. Though I'm not from this timeline, in terms of emotion, I'm no different from all of you!"
After saying that, Seiki turned his gaze sideways, "Sakura, I'll leave the teaching responsibilities to you!"
Sakura responded loudly, "Yes sir, mission accomplished!"
Once the two had left, Seiki finally began to think seriously about the matters of this timeline.
"From the day I arrived until now, about a month has passed. The time ratio of 1:60 isn't perfectly precise and has fluctuated a bit, but overall, the error is negligible. In other words, five years have already passed in my main world!"
Five years... If things had continued developing along their original trajectory, that world should currently be in the midst of the Chunin Exams!
But in reality—
At the center of the Alliance, formerly the Death Forest and now before the Central Tower, a red banner hung high.
Written on the banner was—"Alliance's First Jonin Certification Exam Venue!"
Below, crowds gathered, bustling and noisy, the chatter never ceased!
As the very first high-level Jonin promotion exam since the Alliance's formation, from preparation to registration and finally starting the test, it had received countless attention!
"Never thought Jonin would end up needing to take exams for promotion just like Chunin!"
"That's because in the past, there were too few Chunin qualified to ascend to Jonin, and they couldn't even gather enough candidates! But now it's different—our Ninja Alliance encompasses the entire shinobi world, with dozens of times more Jonin than in any single hidden village. Not to mention, under the wise leadership of our great leader, excellent ninja keep emerging. Nowadays, even a Chunin could easily match a Genin from back then!"
"Haha, I'm just glad I managed to pass before things got this tough! Otherwise, competing with those little monsters for Jonin status, I really wouldn't have much confidence!"
"For us, this might be a harsh trial, but for others, it's a chance to shine! I heard quite a few people held off on becoming Jonin on purpose, just to make a stunning debut in this exam!"
"Ah well, who says those kids didn't live in a fortunate era! Not only do they have abundant educational resources and access to all kinds of jutsu, but they also use the Dream World as a training tool. Even their instructors are incredibly strong. Jonin and Kage from each hidden village show up from time to time to train them, and I even heard our great leader sometimes personally mentors them!"
"Yeah, yeah... I've even heard rumors that some people want to create a new rank above Jonin!"
"Chunin? Tokubetsu Jonin? Kage-level ninja? Who cares? Not like it matters to me anyway!"
"Now that I think about it, even Chuunin battles are risky. If half the exam takers are already Jonin-level, won't this be super dangerous? People could die!"
"One-on-one, you can stop things if it gets too wild. But with a crowd like this, there's no way the refs can keep up with everything!"
"Relax, man! I heard the practical part's in the Dream World so stuff like that won't happen!"
"Practical part? So there's more to it?"
"Duh! There's also a culture and ethics part! Otherwise, how would it be a proper qualification exam?"
"Like our great leader said—we've gotta keep a tight leash on every ninja's physical health, mental state, and morals."
"No abuse of power or betraying the Alliance—none of that crap will fly!"
"Yikes! Glad I'm already a Jonin!"
"Don't get comfortable! Those certificates get checked every five years. You don't have to retake the whole thing, but if you skip the extra classes, you'll end up back at square one!"
"No frickin' way!!!"
In the middle of the bustling crowd, three people stood solemnly in a corner.
Neji frowned, "Didn't hear anything about a culture exam before this."
Naruto wore a face full of panic. "How are your culture scores?"
Sasuke stood proudly. "Hmph! With my skills, at the very least I'll pass."
Naruto asked again, "What about you, Neji?"
Neji folded his arms behind his back. "Hmph! My standards are definitely above passing!"
Naruto tugged at his hair in despair. "Man, how come you guys are so good at this stuff?"
At that moment, whispers came from nearby.
"I heard the culture exam has two parts: first, the team's total score must rank in the top 100; second, every team member needs at least a passing grade."
"Yikes! So the first round is going to eliminate a ton of people, right?"
Two sharp gazes immediately locked onto Naruto.
Unaware of the attention, Naruto muttered in frustration, "Darn it! Are the three of us—the so-called legendary trio of The Ninja Academy—going to get wiped out in the first round?"
Thinking this, Naruto's consciousness entered the Sealing Space. With a loud voice, he shouted at Kurama, "Kurama, help me cheat!"
Kurama lazily folded his front paws. "Fool! I'm just a fox! You expect a fox to help you with your exam?"
"Tch! So it's really impossible?" Naruto dejectedly withdrew from the Sealing Space, only to hear his teammates talking openly.
"Do you think it's still possible to switch teammates? Let's bring in Sakura. Her grades are good!"
"Yeah, our squad already has enough offense. Adding a healer would be super practical!"
Naruto seriously considered, "Switching teammates sounds like..." He paused. "Wait a second, why are both of you looking at me?"
Sasuke crossed his arms. "Isn't it obvious who needs to go?"
Neji added coldly, "Maybe you should just wait for next year's exam. The competition will be smaller then."
"Saying such cruel things..." Naruto muttered in complaint when a broadcast announcement suddenly rang out.
"Candidates, please enter the exam hall in an orderly fashion..."
Hearing this, Naruto cheerfully made his way toward the exam hall, "Gotcha! You're too late to switch candidates now, huh?"
Sasuke followed silently behind him, muttering inwardly, "Dummy, if we were gonna switch, we'd have done it already!"
Neji sighed as well, "Looks like things are about to blow up earlier than expected!"
Watching the three enter the exam hall, Second of the distant observer duo couldn't help but comment, "That guy who looks clueless is Father in his youth? Something just doesn't seem right!"
Beside him, middle-aged Sasuke kept watching quietly before finally speaking, "This is not *our* past—it's the past of a parallel world!"
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