In Konoha's forest, at a training ground marked by three wooden stakes—
Falling leaves spiraled down with the wind, only to be shredded midair by sharp weapons.
Thock! Thock! Thock!Three kunai embedded themselves dead center into the targets.
A girl with her hair tied into two buns clapped her hands together in admiration."Bullseye! Neji, you're amazing!"
"This level hardly counts as amazing," replied Hyūga Neji, his face cold and impassive.
"Three thousand one hundred twenty-one! Three thousand one hundred twenty-two!…"Off to the side, Rock Lee was gritting his teeth, doing one-handed handstand push-ups.
"It's already incredible," Tenten said, trying to reassure him. "After all, Neji is a genius."
"A genius?" Neji tightened the straps on his knee guards and glanced at Lee."Uchiha Sasuke is the true genius. You only understand the difference when you face him in battle."
"Neji," Tenten suddenly asked, a trace of unease in her voice, "what do you think about that so-called Ninja God?"
"You mean that message about Lord Hokage dying during the Chūnin Exams… Now even Guy-sensei's been summoned by the Hokage."
"I don't know," Neji said flatly. "The higher-ups will handle it. It's not something we should concern ourselves with."
"Even so… the exams will definitely be affected, right? If it involves Lord Hokage, they might even cancel them."
"Cancel?" Lee, still upside down and sweating profusely, looked over at them."Guy-sensei said they most likely won't be canceled, and told us to train hard."
"With things like this, it's hard to say," Tenten murmured. "What if that Ninja God's words are actually—" She trailed off.
After all, the previous two prophecies had exposed the Hyūga and Uchiha clans' darkest secrets. And Neji, standing right beside her, was one of the "caged birds" of the Hyūga Branch Family.
"They're false." Neji's voice remained calm. "The village has already dismissed them as lies. We don't need to listen to that Ninja God."
"Yeah… since they're the enemy." Tenten sighed. "But who is that Ninja God, really?"
"Probably someone from within the village," Lee answered through his sweat. "Guy-sensei said outsiders can't even receive the messages that appear in our minds."
Neji said nothing, resuming his training. His eyes only grew colder.
A genius of the Hyūga clan?Being born itself was a sin. As a caged bird, there was never a need for genius.The Hyūga only needed slaves to preserve the Main Family. As long as one lived, even if it meant crawling like a beast, that was enough.
"What's with that prophecy, anyway?" Shikamaru muttered lazily, lying on the grassy slope with his dead-fish eyes half-open.
Asuma had been called away to the Hokage's office—understandable, since he was the Hokage's son. That left the Ino-Shika-Chō trio with nothing to do.
Shikamaru preferred resting, Ino kept training, and Chōji was munching on potato chips.
"The village already said it was fake," Chōji mumbled between crunches.
"Yeah, but who'd believe that?" Shikamaru grumbled. "The thing about the Hyūga clan was true. Last year's top rookie was from the Branch Family, right?"
"Where'd you hear that?" Ino stopped her practice and stepped closer.
"My dad told me." Shikamaru placed a blade of grass in his mouth, staring at the clouds drifting across the sky."That Hyūga genius probably has the caged bird curse mark on his forehead too."
Ino sighed."Clan matters… we can't do anything about them."
"Exactly." Shikamaru echoed, staring blankly at the sky. Then, almost out of nowhere, he asked:"Ino, do you have a problem with Naruto?"
Ino blinked, caught off guard."N-no! Why would you ask that?"
"Last time, you kind of avoided him, didn't you?" Shikamaru pressed."I just find it strange. When I handed in our team's Chūnin Exam registration form, Team 7 only had Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto wasn't there."
"That guy… I don't know what's up with him. He used to be desperate for recognition, but lately it's like he's lost all his drive."
"I don't know either." Ino smiled faintly. "Besides, Naruto and I have had plenty of conflicts. Nothing unusual about that."
"True. Who knows what that guy's up to." Shikamaru muttered.
"Speaking of Naruto…" Chōji finally lifted his head from his chips. "I saw him recently. He was with a little girl."
"A little girl?" Ino was startled.
"Probably an orphan from the village." Chōji shoved more chips into his mouth. "I saw them at the barbecue place."
"That Naruto… he's starting to feel less and less like a ninja."
"Yeah, who knows. I haven't seen him train at all lately," Shikamaru sighed. "Last time, I saw him on the street without even wearing his forehead protector."
"No way!" Ino's eyes widened. "Naruto wanted that forehead protector so badly. How could he just—"
"Hard to say." Shikamaru stood up on the slope, shading his eyes. His gaze lifted past the grasslands, past the fluttering white birds, and finally focused on several dark figures in the distance.
"Those people… they're Suna shinobi, right?"
Hearing this, Ino and Chōji turned their heads as well. Beads of sweat trickled down their foreheads.
Not far away, three Sand ninjas walked across the plain. One carried a gourd on his back, his face gloomy. The other two, a boy and a girl, also wore unfriendly expressions as they locked eyes with the trio.
For a moment, their gazes clashed. A chill ran down the backs of Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji, the primal fear of prey being stared at by predators.
Luckily, the Sand ninjas turned away, heading toward the Hokage's building instead.
"That gourd guy is terrifying." Ino clutched her chest, still shaken.
"Let's hope we don't face them in the exams," Shikamaru muttered, swallowing hard, his face pale.
"C-crunch, crunch!" Chōji, scared out of his wits, shoved an entire bag of chips into his mouth.
"Temari, I heard this village has a jinchūriki too," Kankurō said as they walked, the puppet strapped to his back rattling with each step.
"Yeah," Temari replied, her large fan slung behind her. Dressed in mesh with her shoulders exposed, her face carried a trace of irritation."It's the strongest one—the Nine-Tails."