After adjusting her mood, Tsunade returned to normal, and Sora didn't hesitate to push open the door.
Why should he be polite? The man inside was his big brother, after all!
"Sora, you're back? Kushina's been missing you like crazy!"
Seeing Sora appear, Minato's face lit up with a bright smile.
But the next second, that smile turned to astonishment as he stared at the two people behind Sora.
Tsunade—one of the Legendary Sannin—had actually returned!
As for the pervy Jiraiya, Minato didn't even register his presence at first, given how often he showed up.
"Tsunade-sama, you're back!"
Minato's tone was full of respect, clearly showing how highly he regarded Tsunade.
"You can all talk later," Sora suddenly cut in. "First, tell me where my house is—I'm heading home!"
Before Minato could reply, Sora slapped his forehead and added, "Right, I almost forgot. Here, this is some intel I got from destroying an Exchange Station."
He casually tossed the intel to Minato, then left with his house address in hand.
As for the warm conversation with Kushina, that didn't need to be spelled out. Notably, Uzumaki Naruto had already been in Kushina's belly for three months.
Once Sora returned to his room, he relaxed, washed up, and started planning his next steps.
The biggest looming event was the Night of the Nine Tails. Though he wasn't sure if it would still happen...
Even if it did, with the current strength of the Hidden Leaf, as long as it wasn't on the scale of the Fourth Great Ninja War, they could handle it. There was nothing to fear.
So, at the moment, there wasn't much else Sora needed to worry about.
The Fourth Great Ninja War was still seventeen years away. As long as he used that time to grow stronger, everything would be fine.
A week passed in the blink of an eye. With the war over, the major nations were focused on recuperation.
But the Leaf had made such rapid advancements during this time!
There was no way to keep that kind of progress hidden. So, Minato, along with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and others, decided to hold a Chūnin Exam one month later.
They would invite all Five Great Ninja Villages, showing off Konoha's newfound strength and making it clear that the village was no longer to be underestimated.
Some people opposed the idea at first, but with Tsunade and Jiraiya's support, and Hiruzen stepping down, the two elder advisors were sent off to tend farmland.
As for Danzo, who had placed a bounty on Sora, he was formally stripped of his authority and reduced to a common citizen.
If he weren't Tobirama's disciple, Minato and Kushina would've killed him already.
Who gave you the guts to target my brother?
But none of that concerned Sora. What mattered was that Minato actually signed him up for the Chūnin Exams!
Looking at his system evaluation—"Elite Jōnin"—Sora was speechless.
Wasn't this just sending him to beat up a bunch of kids?
Did they think every Chūnin Exam was like Naruto's year, with two Jinchūriki rampaging in the forest and an elite-level Orochimaru biting people left and right?
Still, with Minato's firm insistence, Sora had no choice but to go along with it.
…
Over the next twenty days, Sora spent his time reacquainting himself with Konoha's new layout.
With five days left until the exam, he made a point to head to the village gates.
He was curious to see how the other villages would react when they saw modernized Konoha.
The first to arrive was the Sand Village. A single Jōnin had brought three Genin. That Jōnin was none other than Baki, someone Sora was quite familiar with.
As for the three Genin, Sora didn't recognize any of them. They weren't from the original story—probably just some extras.
The moment they saw the current Konoha, their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. They even thought they had gone the wrong way and started turning around.
If it weren't for the two gatekeepers stopping them, Baki would've already left with his team.
Sora didn't pay much attention to those Genin, only noting that they looked about fourteen or fifteen.
Next came the Stone Village, led by Onoki's son, Kitsuchi—a burly elite Jōnin.
Strangely enough, Kitsuchi gave Sora a faint sense of danger, which made him glance at the man a few more times.
Unlike the stingy Sand Village, the Stone Village brought nine Genin for the exam.
Their reactions to Konoha mirrored those of the Sand Village—complete shock.
After that came several smaller villages. Mist Village was under Obito's control now and didn't have time for exams.
Why bother attending when they could be busy slaughtering their own bloodline clans?
As for the Cloud Village—no way. The Fourth Raikage's temper alone made it impossible. They hadn't even negotiated post-war reparations with Konoha, let alone sent people for the exams.
After seeing the stunned faces from Sand and Stone, Sora returned home to rest.
He rested for five more days. The Chūnin Exams officially began.
After dragging himself through breakfast, Sora made his way to the venue for the first exam.
It was a written test, so it was held indoors.
Bang! He pushed open the door—and saw over 500 people staring at him.
A quick scan revealed that more than 300 of them were from Konoha.
The rest were the three from Sand, the nine from Stone, and a bunch of nobodies from obscure villages.
With one glance, Sora lost interest.
He didn't bother talking to anyone, walking in casually and finding a seat to wait for the test.
"Who does that kid think he is, acting all high and mighty?"
"Last one in, huh? We'll teach him a lesson in the next round."
"What is he, five or six? Thinks he can take the exam just by showing up?"
"Yeah, what a joke! He's clearly here to insult us!"
Sora hadn't expected his appearance to provoke so much hostility.
Most people took one look at his age and assumed Konoha had sent him as some kind of mockery—an insult.
They were all itching for the second round to begin so they could show this brat what it meant to have seniority.
Sora didn't care about any of that. In fact, he had no intention of letting any of them make it to the final round.
He just had to wipe them all out in round two, and then he wouldn't need to attend the third round himself.
What a genius move!
Praising himself inwardly, Sora felt quite pleased.
Meanwhile, the Konoha Genin heard the comments and just looked at the others with pity—and quickly distanced themselves.
Sure, Sora was young, but his reputation in Konoha was almost on par with the Hokage's!
No one wanted to end up on his bad side. The guy had elite-level strength—who didn't know that? What if he decided to beat them up?
Their reaction confused the other villagers, but they didn't dwell on it.