MTLNOVEL Chapter 37 – Nagi's Terrifying Dominance
Before long, Gaara and the rest of the Sunagakure team also arrived at the venue for the first round of the Chūnin Exams.
At this point, everyone had gathered—everyone except Nagi.
But even so, everyone's attention was already drawn to a particular figure.
"That guy over there is Rock Lee, one of Might Guy's students. He specializes in taijutsu."
"That one's another of Guy-sensei's students—he's a genius from the Hyūga clan."
"And that one—Gaara of the Sand. He's even scarier…"
Everyone watched as Kabuto calmly shared intel on each of the notable candidates with Naruto.
"Who is this guy, and why does he know so much about us?" Temari frowned. The way this guy talked, it was like he knew more about them than they did themselves.
Wherever you go, people like this—walking encyclopedias—always attracted attention.
"Amazing, Kabuto-senpai! Do you have intel on Nagi too?" Naruto asked, thoroughly impressed by Kabuto's information bank.
But the moment he mentioned Nagi, Kabuto's hand trembled slightly as he was pulling out the next info card.
Get intel on Nagi? Are you serious?
Ever since the last time Nagi had seen through him, Kabuto hadn't dared gather or leak any information about him.
"Nagi's strong. That's all I can say. If you run into him… surrendering might be smarter than trying to resist."
It was the most vague warning he could give.
"Nagi… He's taking the exam too?"
Kabuto's words sent a chill down the spines of the Sunagakure trio.
Gaara's brow furrowed tightly. The one thing he'd hoped wouldn't happen was happening after all.
Among all the teams gathered for the Chūnin Exams, Gaara hadn't cared about any of them—except Nagi.
Nagi was just too strong.
"How much intel do you have on Nagi? I'll buy it all," Gaara said as he slowly walked toward Kabuto, casually tossing out the offer like money was no issue.
Compared to the price, learning more about Nagi was far more valuable.
"Huh? A team from the Sand?" Naruto tensed up when he saw Gaara approaching.
"What's this guy up to?"
But to his surprise, Gaara completely ignored him, as if he didn't exist.
And honestly… yeah, when Gaara had arrived in Konoha, the only ones who'd caught his attention were people like Uchiha Sasuke and Hyūga Neji. Naruto? Gaara hadn't spared him a glance.
"Well, about that…" Kabuto didn't expect so many people to suddenly be interested in Nagi's intel.
"My knowledge about him is limited. I can only give you a rough idea."
Gaara didn't argue. Even the tiniest bit of information could be useful for analysis.
Seeing how everyone's eyes were now fixed on him, Kabuto decided he might as well go all in.
"As far as I know, during Nagi's first mission, he defeated a Jōnin all by himself."
Before Kabuto even finished his sentence, an uproar exploded around him.
"No way!"
"This guy's gotta be joking!"
"Yeah! If he could beat a Jōnin, why would he even bother coming to the Chūnin Exams?"
Kabuto had basically dropped a bomb in the middle of the room.
They were here to take an exam, not to walk into a slaughterhouse.
Many refused to believe it.
"Calm down!" Gaara barked, seeing even Temari and Kankurō getting shaken.
"But Gaara—"
"It's just a Jōnin. It's not like I can't kill one."
Gaara's tone was stern. If it were one of Sunagakure's weaker Jōnin, he believed he could take them.
"You should know," Kabuto interrupted with a smirk, "the Jōnin I'm talking about isn't like the ones from your Sand Village."
Everyone knew: each village had its own standards for Jōnin.
In fact, outside of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, some of the minor villages Jōnin barely measured up to a Chūnin from the big five.
Even within the five major villages, the standards varied.
And if you were to ask which village had the lowest standard for Jōnin… it was unanimously Sunagakure.
After Kabuto laid it out plainly, Temari and the others wanted to argue—but they couldn't. It was true. Compared to the other villages, Sunagakure was poor and under-resourced.
"So maybe the Jōnin Nagi beat was from some small village. Doesn't mean much," Kankurō muttered.
"Hmph. Ignorant. Stupid," Kabuto fired back without mercy—two harsh words that almost made Kankurō snap.
Sometimes a lie doesn't hurt, but the truth cuts like a blade.
"You think I'm exaggerating? No—if anything, I'm underestimating Nagi."
"If I were Nagi, I could kill every single one of you here. Not one of you would walk away."
His tone had turned eerily serious.
"Impossible!"
"Don't be ridiculous! There's over a hundred of us here!"
"Yeah, I don't care how strong he is—no way he could take out all of us!"
Kabuto's words infuriated many of the candidates.
But the Konoha group—Sasuke, Shikamaru, and the others—only grew more grim.
They knew Kabuto wasn't exaggerating. If anything, he might still be downplaying Nagi.
"If I were you," Kabuto said coldly, "I'd start hoping that the guy you meet just happens to have the same name. Otherwise…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
But everyone knew what he meant.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps echoed.
"Why is it so quiet in here?" came a familiar voice.
"It's so silent you could hear a needle drop!"
They hadn't even seen him yet, but the whole exam hall recognized the voice.
"It's him… It's Nagi. You guys are screwed," Kabuto muttered sympathetically, glancing at the other candidates.
As for himself?
Please. Nagi wouldn't even have time to touch him—he planned to surrender before Nagi even got close.
After all, with nearly ten successful surrenders under his belt, Kabuto was practically a professional at not dying.
[End of Chapter]