Chapter 24 Encounter

"Qing Ming, this way!"

In Konoha Village, on a street, Ryousuke waved to Qingming from a distance, and Mizutani Shizuko stood beside him.

Upon hearing this, Qing Ming walked over slowly.

When Qing Ming approached, Ryousuke said dissatisfiedly: "Qing Ming, you are too slow. We agreed to go shopping together, so you can't arrive earlier."

Qingming knew that Liangsuke was not really dissatisfied, but just a habitual complaint, so he didn't explain anything and just asked: "Where should we go first?"

Originally, according to Qing Ming's character, it was impossible to waste time shopping.

There isn’t much to see in Konoha.

But considering that this period of time was too tight, after some hesitation, I agreed to the invitation of Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko to come and relax.

At this time, half a month has passed since the effectiveness of the 'Yingxin Technique' was reduced.

In the past half month, Furukawa took them on another C-level mission.

However, it is not to suppress bandits, but to protect the caravan.

During this period, although we encountered some troubles, they were all within the scope of the mission and we did not encounter any danger.

This made Qing Ming sigh again, it would be nice not to have the halo of the protagonist.

"Go over there, there's a new meatball shop opened over there, it's delicious."

Liangsuke raised his hand and said so.

Hearing this, Qing Ming looked in the direction of the other person's finger. Sure enough, there was a newly opened shop there. There were many people queuing in front of the door. The food should be good.

Just as he was thinking this, Qing Ming suddenly heard a few 'familiar' names.

"Kakashi, walk faster, we have to make up for Rin's missed birthday today."

"Ah, Obito, don't want it anymore."

"No, I have to make it up. I know a new meatball shop opened in front of me. It's delicious. I'll treat you later. Kakashi, don't compete with me."

'Kakashi Obitorin.'

Thinking silently in his heart, Qing Ming looked in the direction of the sound.

On the other side of the street, I saw three small figures walking together, one in front and two behind.

The person in front of him had his back turned to him, and like him, there was the Uchiha clan emblem on the back of his clothes. If nothing else, it should be Uchiha Obito.

The other party was talking excitedly at this time, seemingly not paying attention to the looks of the people around him.

The two people behind, a man and a woman, were facing him, allowing him to easily see their faces.

Well.

No, one person can't see clearly.

He is about eleven or twelve years old, has silver hair, carries a short sword on his back, wears a mask, and has an indifferent expression. He is none other than Hatake Kakashi, who has not yet emerged from the shadow of his father's death.

With the mask blocking him, Qing Ming couldn't see his whole face even if they were face to face.

Just when Qing Ming was observing the other party, the other party also looked over.

‘What a keen sense! ’

Qing Ming was still sighing, but the moment the two sides looked at each other, a chill surged into his heart.

This is a strange feeling, as if being stared at by some ferocious beast, which makes people's hearts tremble.

Qing Ming quickly looked away.

"Qing Ming, what's wrong?"

Seeing Qing Ming suddenly stop and look a little ugly, Mizutani Shizuko asked with concern.

call--

Qing Ming exhaled a breath and slowly said: "It's nothing."

After saying that, he moved his steps and continued walking forward, his eyes inevitably coming into contact with Kakashi again.

However, this time, he no longer had the fear he had just now.

Yes, when they looked at each other just now, he was afraid.

It is true that he has killed people before, but he only killed some bandits and robbers who were "powerless", but Kakashi was different.

The other party has actually been on the battlefield and fought in mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The two sides are not on the same level at all.

Therefore, it is not a big deal to have fear, as long as it can be overcome.

other side.

Uchiha Obito saw Kakashi looking behind him and asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"

While speaking, he also looked back.

With just one glance, he recognized Qing Ming's identity.

There's nothing I can do about it, that 'table tennis racket' is too conspicuous.

‘A descendant of the clan’

With this thought in his mind, Obito withdrew his gaze and asked Kakashi, "What's wrong with him?"

It can be inferred from Qing Ming's dress and age that he is most likely a graduate this year.

Uchiha Obito couldn't understand why such a person deserved Kakashi's attention.

Hearing Obito's question, Kakashi just shook his head and said nothing more.

Soon, both parties arrived in front of the meatball shop.

Kakashi, Obito and Lin were in the front, and Qingming and two companions were in the back.

In the team, Obito and Ryosuke kept talking, Lin and Mizutani Shizuko each echoed, while Kakashi and Qingming remained silent.

A few minutes later, Kakashi and others bought the meatballs and left together.

Qingming stood in the team, watching the three people leaving, and murmured to himself: "They should be back to take the Chunin Exam."

Yes, after a period of thinking, he had roughly guessed why Kakashi and the others appeared in the village.

Konoha holds the Chuunin Exams twice a year, one in early January and one in early July.

It is now the end of November, and the time for the new Chunin Examination is coming soon. Combined with their ages, it is not difficult to guess the purpose of their return at this time.

A month can be said to be long or short.

If it were peacetime, it wouldn't matter. One month would be enough to get back, but in wartime, this time would be a bit short.

Although most genin are cannon fodder on the battlefield, this does not include those who are recommended by the leading jounin to take the chunin exam.

This kind of genin usually has certain tasks on the battlefield.

To gather these people, naturally it cannot be like recruiting those cannon fodder genin and just give an order. At the very least, someone must be arranged to take over their work.

In addition, for the safety of these people, special escorts must be sent.

To a certain extent, these genin are the future of the village. Once something happens on the road, the village may be wiped out.

Therefore, to be on the safe side, there will definitely not be a return at the same time.

That way, it wouldn't be unusual to see them a month in advance.

If what he expected was true, the other three should be the first batch of genin to return to the village, and more might come back in the next month.

As for whether the guess is accurate, just look at the number of young genin in the village in the next month.

but

'Chūnin Examination'

Qingming had an intuition that after the Chuunin Exams, these newbies might be sent to the battlefield.

In other words, there is not much time left for him.

When he thought of this, Qing Ming couldn't wait to go home and practice immediately.

But after looking at the two teammates in front of him, he finally suppressed the restlessness in his heart.

Now that you've decided to relax, you can't give up halfway.

As the saying goes, sharpening the knife will not waste time chopping wood.

The short rest now is for more hard training in the future.

"Qing Ming, what flavor do you want?"

While Qing Ming was deep in thought, Liang Jie turned around and asked.

"Spicy."

Qing Ming replied casually.