Naruto was instantly overwhelmed by Hayate's intense reaction.
'Wait…'
'I was just joking.'
'Don't really tell me there's actually some big secret here??'
Naruto originally wanted to make up a reason to let Hayate go home early and avoid the limelight for the next two days...
'But…'
'Judging by Uncle Hayate's reaction, it really seemed like there was more to this.'
'Could it be that his girlfriend, Yugao, thought Uncle Hayate is… 'underperforming'...'
'And then she went out to find someone else?'
'Hiss…'
Thinking of this, Naruto leaned back and sucked in a sharp breath.
Hayate covered his face and cried, while also coughing from time to time.
"Sniff... cough cough!"
Seeing him in such a pitiful state, Naruto patted his shoulder sympathetically… but his mouth moved faster than his brain.
"Uncle Hayate..."
"Flowers wilt, but they bloom again. If you had just... ahem... sooner, she wouldn't have left."
"WAHHHH…"
"WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH…"
It would have been fine if Naruto didn't say anything, but once he vaguely alluded to Hayate's... shortcomings, Hayate cried even louder.
"That…"
"Maybe it's just a misunderstanding?"
Realizing that he had spoken too quickly, Naruto really didn't dare to continue provoking Hayate.
Otherwise, even if this tuberculosis-stricken guy was not killed later, he would have been angered to death here.
"Naruto... why?! Why?!"
"I... I..."
The heartbroken Hayate rambled through his sorrows, leaving Naruto at a loss for words.
After all, it always felt weird for a yellow-haired delinquent like him to talk about such things with Hayate.
Finally, Hayate wiped his tears, ran to say something to Hiruzen, and then quickly left the Chunin Exams' venue.
At this moment, Naruto's mood was... complicated.
'There is a high probability that Uncle Hayate will not die.'
'But why does it feel like he is suffering more than being killed now...'
'Uhh…'
'Let's just hope Sister Yuugao didn't actually cheat.'
…
An hour later, the third match began as scheduled.
The ones facing off are Gaara and Lee.
Since the examiner, Hayate, left temporarily, suspected to have gone back to confront his possibly-unfaithful girlfriend, the examiner has now been replaced by a scar-faced Konoha's Jonin.
Naruto had already seen this fight in the Anime, so he found it totally uninteresting.
'This is Lee's one moment to shine before getting permanently nerfed.'
Naruto was bored watching the two fighting fiercely in the arena. However, since Sakura had dragged Hinata away, he decided to just let his consciousness enter the sealed space to mess with the fox instead.
…
"Aahh…"
"I miss it so much!"
Jiraiya strolled through Konoha's streets with a nostalgic look on his face. Every time he passed a familiar intersection, the memories of his days with Orochimaru and Tsunade would flash through his mind.
"It's Jiraiya-sama!"
"Jiraiya-sama has returned!"
"Thank god!"
"Hahahahahahaha! Finally, some great news!"
Many of the older generation of villagers began shouting excitedly when they saw Jiraiya's iconic white hair.
Currently, there is a legend circulating in Konoha Village.
As long as Jiraiya-sama returns to the village, he will be able to discipline the yellow-haired delinquent.
It is no exaggeration to say that before Jiraiya returned, the sky in Konoha Village was always dark due to the actions of a certain yellow-haired delinquent in the village.
But now that Jiraiya was back…
The sky in Konoha finally brightened again!
The passing Shinobi were trembling with excitement when they saw Jiraiya. They lined up one by one, came in front of Jiraiya, and bowed in unison.
"Jiraiya-sama, you have worked hard on this journey!"
Seeing this, the surrounding villagers took things from their homes and stuffed eggs, fish, meat, etc. into Jiraiya's arms.
Of course, during this process, everyone tacitly agreed not to mention the name of the yellow-haired delinquent.
Faced with such enthusiasm from everyone, even the thick-skinned Jiraiya felt a little overwhelmed.
'Wait...'
'Has it been too long since I came back?'
'Why does it feel like the villagers' enthusiasm is… a little scary?'
"That's enough! That's enough!"
"I can't carry any more. Please, everyone, go home."
Jiraiya tried to push the gifts back into the villagers' hands, but they kept shoving more into his arms.
At this moment, Jiraiya felt that even Hiruzen was not as popular among the villagers as he was.
Meanwhile, the Shinobi had clearly done their homework.
"Jiraiya-sama, one of the Legendary Sannin! It's an honor to meet you!"
"That's right! I grew up hearing stories about your exploits."
"And your literary works are truly... cough... inspirational."
Everyone surrounded Jiraiya and praised him generously, and with just a few words, they made Jiraiya's ego swelled.
"Hahahahaha!"
"I didn't expect I was this popular in the village."
"Hahahahahaha!"
Jiraiya scratched his head and laughed heartily, looking very pleased with himself.
However, he did not yet realize the seriousness of the problem.
…
After more than ten minutes, Jiraiya couldn't stand the praise anymore and waved his hand to signal everyone to disperse and not to block the street and affect others.
Then, with a sly grin, he slipped toward a certain hot spring.
"Hmm... It's been too long since I last... gathered material."
"But then again..."
"I haven't been back to the village for many years, but the people of Konoha Village are still as welcoming as ever!"
Jiraiya sighed, chuckled to himself, and then took out the compact telescope from his robes.
As he peered toward the women's bathhouse, an unmistakably perverted grin spread across his face.
Originally, he wanted to meet Hiruzen first, but when he heard that he was in the Forest of Death now, he decided to meet him later.
Anyway, he's already back in the village, so it's fine to take a little detour.
…
"Seventh match's winner, Hyuga Hinata!"
Naruto looked at Hinata below and his eyes almost popped out.
The second phase of the exams was nearing its end, and as expected, his future wife had been pitted against her cousin, Neji.
Then, just like in the original work, Neji shot Naruto a glare before the match and started his usual spiel about fate and destiny.
But when the fight actually began...
Neji got absolutely wrecked by Hinata's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
That part didn't surprise Naruto too much.
After all, although the little girl is not as broken as him and Sasuke under his training, her strength can be said to be the strongest among her peers.
But then...
Something unexpected happened.
When Hinata was beating up her cousin, Naruto noticed that this little girl had a faint blue light coming out of her left eye…
It looked suspiciously like Boruto's Jogan.
Seeing this, Naruto has begun to worry whether he will be beaten by his wife after marriage.
Glancing back at Hinata, who was catching her breath, he saw the blue light in her eyes had already faded.
If others didn't look carefully, they would think that the blue light in Hinata's eyes was a trick of the light.
But Naruto knew better. He felt that Hinata had not yet truly awakened, but judging from the situation, it would not be long before she would awaken her eyes.
At this time, Sasuke suddenly walked up to Naruto and asked in a low voice, "Hinata's eye..."
While others might've missed it, Sasuke's Sharingan had caught the anomaly immediately.
"Similar to your Mangekyo."
"Don't tell anyone else."
"Fine."
The two of them were talking quietly with their shoulders against each other, not noticing that Sakura and Hinata had just walked up behind them.