Chapter 121 Bustling

In the dim morning light at five in the morning, Ino's long silver hair shone brightly. Her bangs were combed back, revealing her smooth forehead, and the rest of her hair was tied into a simple bun with her newly bought hairpin decorated with poison needles.

She wore a high-collared armor silk top and a pair of chakra-soaked mesh capri pants tucked into dark ninja pants adorned with armor plates on both sides.

She didn't have her long sword with her, probably keeping it in one of the three scrolls on her hip, along with her kunai pouch.

Choji wore an armored silk vest, though it was not visible beneath the Akimichi clan's signature paper armor, which was coated with red lacquer thick enough to withstand a full-force blow from a katana, no matter how fast or powerful the opponent.

His ninja pants were also fully armored, though smaller and less conspicuous than Ino's. He also had a leather ammunition belt tied to the outside of his armor, which held his necessities, including his homemade military ration pills and some Akimichi clan chakra pills, just in case.

Ino whistled as Shikamaru came out of the house.

"You look great today. The battle suit suits you very well, Shikamaru."

"Same here." Shikamaru smiled in response, and Ino chuckled, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Hey, Choji, you look like a human tank right now."

Choji blushed with delight and turned around, showing off the red glow of his armor and the large Akimichi clan symbol on his back.

"Isn't it cool? My mom made this for me. It fits me perfectly."

Ino pulled Shikamaru towards the street.

"Hurry up, stop dawdling."

When they arrived at Ichiraku Ramen, only Naruto and Sasuke had arrived first, and the two seemed to be in the middle of a heated debate.

They were discussing some sort of chakra compression theory, and Shikamaru heard words like "chain" and "hard seal" being mentioned repeatedly, but he had no idea what the words meant or how they related to what they were discussing.

Naruto's arms were covered from shoulder to fingertips with chakra-reinforced armbands, the seals glowing faintly in the light. On his left wrist was a bright blue amulet that served the same purpose as Shikamaru's necklace, and four medium-sized dark grey scrolls were tied across his waist, two on each side. He carried no other weapons except a set of kunai pouches strapped to his thighs, but Shikamaru felt that the contents of those scrolls were more dangerous than any weapon.

Sasuke's arms were completely exposed, with few seals on them, some of which extended below his shoulders and disappeared into his clothes. He wore dark leather bracers on his forearms that could easily hide two kunai or a shuriken, and he had two small scrolls strapped to his right hip. However, the most eye-catching thing was the set of short swords on his back, with the handles facing in opposite directions.

Around Sakura's waist was a utility belt similar to Shikamaru's, though hers was apparently only used to hold medical supplies and kunai. On one of her hips was a medium-sized red scroll that could be opened without unfastening the fastener. On the other side were the pair of chakra rings that Ino had insisted on giving her, modified weapons with seals on the handles that matched the bracers she wore on her wrists, just above her already dangerous-looking armored gloves. She also had seals on her arms, but they were mainly concentrated on her forearms, and her upper arms were bound with thick arm guards to hide shurikens.

It was Sakura who saw them first and waved at them with a smile before standing up and giving Ino a spine-breaking hug.

Naruto and Sasuke also stopped arguing and greeted them.

Naruto smiled and pushed Choji's new armor, curiously asking what it was made of, while Sasuke asked about the effectiveness of Shikamaru's new chakra reservoir.

"We thought you would be the last to arrive." Naruto said with a smile, leaning his body against Shikamaru's shoulder. "After all, Ino usually has to work hard to pull you out of bed in the morning."

"I got up at four in the morning. Thank you for your concern, Naruto." Shikamaru complained, and then turned to look at the hand. "One bowl of scallion salt ramen, one bowl of soy sauce ramen without egg, and three bowls of pork bone ramen with barbecued pork, please." He listed everyone's preferences in one breath, and the hand nodded and grinned.

"An Ino Chouji Shikamaru meal will be ready soon!"

Shikamaru sat down to Naruto's left, with Choji next to him, while Ino moved to the other side and sat in the empty seat next to Sakura.

It looked like Naruto was almost done with his second bowl, while Sasuke had just started his first.

"You guys got up earlier than us," Shikamaru guessed.

"It's all because of this idiot's stomach that woke us up at 3:30 in the morning." Sasuke complained and patted Naruto's arm.

"Sometimes I really feel like there are two people living in you." Sakura commented. "I guess half of what you eat is absorbed by the nine-tailed fox."

"Or maybe it's just because he has a fast metabolism like a shrew," Sasuke suggested.

"Oops, are we late?" Kiba's voice interrupted their conversation as he squeezed into the stall with Shino and Hinata.

Like the other six Genin in the ramen shop, the members of Team 8 were all wearing combat uniforms, made of hard metal and dark reinforced cloth from head to toe. The only exception was Hinata, who was wearing the Hyuga clan's iconic robe with a black and white steel belt around her waist, looking like an elf who had strayed into the mortal world.

"No, we just arrived too," Choji assured him.

Ya sat down next to him and waved to ask Shou to take the order.

"It seems that everyone has made all the necessary preparations." Shino said thoughtfully.

"That's right," Shino agreed. "We should really be mentally prepared to face any challenges."

"You're right, bug boy," Fang responded gently.

"Well, you guys are really a little scary now." Hinata said with a smile. "You usually have at least ten fights before this time, right?"

For the next two hours, they ate and chatted, sharing their ideas, strategies, and guessing about the challenges that might arise in the exam.

As time went by, their guesses about the test became more and more outrageous.

In the end, Shino won the competition based on his guess that the exam was actually a two-hundred-page written test designed to test the ninja's resistance to mental torture.