Chapter 119 Gift

He held a long trench knife in each hand - the weapon in his right hand was equipped with a serrated guard.

The moment he landed, he quickly disappeared into the shadow, pulled up the shadow and wrapped it around his body, just like putting on a familiar piece of clothing.

Seconds later, Fang burst out of the bushes, on all fours, growling and turning his head.

He has completely entered beast mode, his eyes have turned into narrow animal pupils, and his nails have turned into thick claws.

"Sly bastard." He roared, his voice low and hoarse, not like it came from human vocal cords.

Ya blinked and exited beast mode. His pupils returned to normal human size, his violent chakra became softer, and the hair on the back of his neck returned to normal from standing up.

"Oh, hey, Choji, Ino, why are you here?"

"We're here to see our Nara Advisor." Ino told him. "We're going to pick out gifts."

"Choosing a gift?" Ya asked, tilting his head. "For whom?"

"To the 'Monster Trio'." Choji replied.

Ya was visibly excited.

"That's a good idea! Sasuke gave me a few of his improved kunai, and I've been looking for a chance to 'repay' him!"

"Want to come along? We can go to the night market together," Ino suggested, twirling the long scroll knife in her hand and carrying it over her other shoulder.

Before Kiba could answer, Shikamaru suddenly dropped from the sky and landed on his back, pressing him heavily onto the grass. He could even feel his breathing stop for a few seconds.

"Watch out behind you." Shikamaru said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Damn you, Nara, you like to play dirty tricks."

Shikamaru looked at his teammate expressionlessly, not getting off Kiba's back.

"Don't forget, we still have to buy a gift for Mr. Xuanjian."

Kiba turned his head and glared at Shikamaru fiercely.

"As long as you get off me, I'll call Hinata and Shino and we'll go together."

Shikamaru's smile widened as he stood up from his crouching position and stepped off Kiba's back, just then Akamaru came running towards them through the woods with his jackal army. It ran up to Kiba and licked his face enthusiastically, and Kiba got up from the ground with a wry smile.

"You're a little late, brother, but I appreciate your kindness."

Akamaru barked and dove into Ya's sweatshirt.

Shasha squatted at Ya's feet, wagging his tail, and his six brothers and sisters gathered around him - four who were about the same size as him and two sisters who were twice his size.

Shikamaru's deer also came to him, led by Vilan, a dark-colored stag and the largest of all Shikamaru's ninja dogs. A calm stag, his charcoal-black fur was shrouded in a ghostly mist that gave off a hint of rainbow green.

Velan is also the only one of Shikamaru's deer with full blade-like antlers that curve upward from the beast's head to the sky. It is taller than Shikamaru, and at this moment, it lowers its big head to rub against Nara's shoulder to show its affection, and Shikamaru is happy to tickle it.

"Is that all for today?" Shikamaru asked his summoning beast, and the beast nodded.

"You can go now, thank you."

"Okay, next time you need us, just call us."

In a flash, the ghost deer disappeared in a silver mist.

They first went to the Ninjutsu Library to pick up Shino, and then went to the Hyuga mansion to pick up Hinata.

Choji waited for Shikamaru and Ino outside the property line while Kiba and Shino went in to meet her.

Judging from the frustrated look on Hinata's face and the way Kiba and Shino were holding her on both sides, the process of picking her up did not seem to be going smoothly.

Shikamaru didn't ask any more questions, as it was not his business, but when they arrived at the market, he still bought a three-color glutinous rice ball for Hinata from a stall.

Hinata then smiled happily, and Shino mouthed "thank you" behind him.

Shikamaru always likes to spend time on these little things.

******************

On the morning before the Chunin Exam, Kakashi was drinking coffee in Iruka's kitchen while "helping" with various documents - or to be more precise, causing trouble for Iruka.

"Do you think they slept well?" Iruka asked as he sorted through a pile of messy documents.

"You've already asked once," Kakashi said, walking around the table, pausing to examine one of the many knickknacks in Iruka's kitchen.

"I do not have."

"You asked me thirteen minutes ago if they were resting well."

"That's different. Just because you've rested your body doesn't mean you've rested your mind—"

"Iruka."

"what."

Kakashi leaned against the table and opened the refrigerator nonchalantly.

"If you keep worrying like this, you'll tire yourself out sooner or later."

"The Chunin Exams are no joke. I'm worried about my students doing something wrong. Also, take your hand away or I'll cut it off your wrist."

Kakashi quickly withdrew his hand from the plate of mochi snacks.

"So cranky," he muttered under his breath, but didn't reach for the snack again.

Iruka sighed.

"I just hope they are fully prepared, that's all."

"They've been preparing for months," Kakashi reminded patiently, turning to the coffee machine. "I've been thinking about whether to add some extra obstacles to the exam to make it more challenging."

"This is the Chunin Exam, it's full of variables."

"Even if something does go wrong, they're prepared for it," Kakashi insisted, walking back to the table and placing a steaming cup of coffee next to Iruka's hand.

Iruka took a sip from the cup without a second thought - Kakashi knew how he liked his coffee, and he wasn't stupid enough to get that wrong - until he felt something was wrong with the weight and shape of the cup, and then he looked up.

"Whose cup is this?" he asked, turning the cup in his hand. The cup was a colorful spiral, with three colors painted vertically on the ceramic and coated with a layer of silver.

"Yours," Kakashi replied nonchalantly, flipping through Iruka's exam memo.

"I don't have such a cup."

"You have it now, take a closer look."

Iruka slowly turned the cup, carefully observing the color of each spiral. The first color was purple-red with a cherry blossom pattern painted on it using light green glaze; the second was dark blue with a crescent pattern bending downward; the third was dark orange covered with black spiral patterns.

"This is what the kids did?"

Kakashi nodded.

"This thing has been sealed and reinforced. Even if you use a cannon to hit it, it may not be able to break it. Look at the bottom of the cup."