Playing As Gojo Satoru in Naruto

"That's true, Mangetsu, you never took the Chunin Exams either."

Shisui rubbed his chin thoughtfully. They had been helping Hozuki Mangetsu for a few years now—it wouldn't be wrong to say they watched him grow up.

But everyone had kind of ignored the fact that he was technically a fresh genin.

Of course, that doesn't mean much. A genin from the Blood Mist days like Hozuki Mangetsu would easily be Chunin level now.

"That's why it's fine if I go too!"

Hozuki Mangetsu grabbed his own info sheet back and tried to stuff it into the folder again.

"A Mizukage taking part in the Chunin Exams? I ought to knock the water out of your brain."

Biwa Juzo was seriously regretting things now.

If only he hadn't been talked into it by Hozuki Mangetsu. If he hadn't handed over the Executioner's Blade and cleared his missing-nin status just to stay alive...

He wouldn't be stuck working with this group now.

"Hahaha, yeah, that's definitely not gonna happen. But you can visit Satoru-kun as the Mizukage."

"You really just want to go see him, don't you?"

Shisui smiled and casually tossed Mangetsu's info sheet into the trash.

Mangetsu's intentions weren't hard to figure out. Whether it was forming alliances or finding excuses to get into Konohagakure, it all came back to Hatake Satoru.

"Oh, so Mizukage can go? Then I've got no complaints."

Mangetsu dropped the whiny tone right away, sat up straighter, and flipped through the papers in front of him again.

"Speaking of which, Haku's back now, right? If the timing's right, he should be able to join the Chunin Exams too."

"It's mostly just for show. For him, this kind of thing shouldn't be hard at all."

"With that powerful secret technique of his, it'd be better to get him promoted to Jonin quickly and into the Anbu."

…

Kirigakure had been in touch with Hatake Satoru quite a bit, but there hadn't been any word from Sunagakure.

Still, all those small countries around the Land of Fire usually try to get involved during the Chunin Exams.

This wasn't just about alliances anymore—they were clearly trying to gauge each other's strength.

The Chunin Exams actually covered a pretty wide range. Even though it's supposed to be for genin, there were big differences in age and experience between the participants.

Just like any other test where people can fail, a lot of them flunk and try again. It's held twice a year, so people just keep showing up.

At first, Hatake Satoru patiently tried teaching Naruto and Sasuke the basics.

But during the day, they were always sent on random, pointless missions. They were boring, scattered, and took up a lot of time—so they'd come back too tired to focus.

Naruto would just collapse on the desk like a dead body. Sasuke would be trying to secretly yawn while forcing himself to stare at the book.

By the time they left the Hatake house each night, they looked like they'd been through a war.

"Even though Satoru-sensei explains it clearly and makes it kind of fun, once I read it on my own, I just get sleepy."

"...I don't like learning this stuff."

It was clear that Naruto and Sasuke weren't cut out for studying the usual way. Hatake Satoru gave up on teaching them the normal material pretty quickly.

A smart teacher plays to his students' strengths.

So Hatake Satoru started coaching them on sneaky ways to cheat without getting caught.

"Is it really that hard? I was already a Chunin when I was six, you know."

Kakashi frowned as he watched the zombie-like Sasuke and Naruto drag themselves out the door.

"That was during the war. Everyone was just rushing kids onto the battlefield. Nobody cared about schoolwork. Your grades didn't mean much."

Hatake Satoru didn't hesitate to point out how different the times were.

During the Third War, no one cared if you could do math or measure time. If you had a rough idea and could fight, you were already a great ninja.

"You call me a genius when you're hyping me up, but now you're saying my grades were fake? Are you really my brother?"

Kakashi gave Hatake Satoru a tired, annoyed look.

"Come on, act a little more like a supporting character. When something happens, you're a genius. When nothing happens, you're useless."

In the end, good or bad, it was all Kakashi's own doing. It didn't really have much to do with Hatake Satoru.

Satoru made a goofy face at Kakashi.

"Well, I'm helping you now, aren't I? Hurry up and thank me~"

"But lately, you've been acting kinda weird. Before, you'd just read your dirty books when they were out on missions or something."

"But these days, you've been disappearing completely."

Kakashi let out a small, awkward cough when he heard the words "dirty books."

It didn't really matter if a bunch of kids saw him reading them, but hearing his own brother say it made it feel… strange.

 "Well, things have been a bit busy lately… The Chunin Exams are coming up, and I've got meetings too."

"And when exactly did you see me? You creeping around like that is kinda scary."

Kakashi tapped the metal plate on his glove and took a deep breath.

He really hadn't noticed that Satoru had been nearby at all, so hearing that caught him off guard.

"If you noticed me, I must've messed up pretty badly~"

"Just passing by. Even jobless people go out sometimes."

Satoru shrugged like it was no big deal, clearly not bothered by Kakashi's surprise.

At least try to come up with a better excuse!

Kakashi grumbled to himself inside.

All the squad leaders, including teachers like Iruka, were called to a meeting at the Hokage building.

 The squad leaders who'd been out doing missions with students were the first to notice that something felt off.

A bunch of foreigners had already started entering the village.

Some of them were even people they'd never come into contact with before—ninjas from the Hidden Mist.

One of the Five Great Nations, and the one with the strongest economy. But also the one that hides its village the most.

Kirigakure has always used its location to stay cut off from the other big countries.

Whether it was war or gathering info, that ocean in between kept them separate from everyone else.

"Isn't letting people from the Hidden Mist in kind of risky? Those guys are pros at assassination, and now they're joining the Chunin Exams…"

It just didn't feel fair to the others.

Kirigakure knew all about them, but no one here really knew anything about Kirigakure. That kind of information gap felt like trouble waiting to happen.

The jonin and teachers whispered to each other while Kakashi zoned out, thinking.

They had just fought with Mist ninja on their last mission, and now Mist was coming to join the Chunin Exams in the Leaf?

Even though there wasn't any solid proof of a connection, it still felt a bit off.

Sarutobi Hiruzen put down his pipe and signaled for everyone to quiet down.

"No need to worry about the Mist ninja. This time, the Fifth Mizukage is coming with them."

"If anything goes wrong, the Fifth Mizukage will help deal with it."

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