Bully Lord In the Chunin Exam (NarutoVerse)

The Heaven Scroll at Kuro's hip, while important, felt less like a beacon of danger and more like a minor inconvenience in their otherwise successful exam so far. Rest wasn't on the menu yet, but neither was panic. They were Tsukigakure's elite genin, and they had proven their mettle already.

Then, the quiet forest sounds got broken up by something that was clearly not natural. It was like someone had decided to stage an entrance. A rustle way up in the leaves, way too dramatic for a squirrel just chilling out. Then, a branch snapped, like, right on cue, just loud enough to make you look.

Kuro's senses, already on high alert, snapped even sharper. This was no accident. This was someone making noise on purpose, trying to look all scary. "Showtime," Kuro thought to himself, letting out a tiny internal sigh, more from amusement than real irritation. It was almost comical, this cheesy attempt at intimidation.

He flicked a quick glance at Xero and Reika, so quick it was almost nothing. But they saw it. Xero's lip twitched up for a split second in a silent "seriously?" kind of way. Reika's eyes just widened a tiny fraction, like a light had clicked on in her head. They got it. This wasn't a random animal, wasn't some chance encounter. Someone was interrupting their show, and probably not to say hello.

As if on cue, or perhaps because they were dramatically inclined, the interlopers revealed themselves. They emerged from the dense shadows as if parting a curtain, three figures stepping directly into the path. Cloud ninjas. Predictable. Their dark blue uniforms were instantly recognizable, their Kumogakure headbands catching the scattered sunlight filtering through the leaves. The leader, predictably, was the largest, the loudest. He was a textbook example of arrogance walking, all sharp angles and aggressive posture, with spiky hair that looked less windswept and more like deliberately styled spikes of intimidation. He struck a pose, arms crossed over his chest, feet planted wide, and surveyed Kuro and his team with a theatrical sneer. The dark, sharp eyes, meant to be menacing, just seemed… generic.

"Well, lookie what we got here," the Cloud leader drawled, the words just dripping with this fake casualness that was clearly meant to be insulting. He sounded like the kind of guy who probably practiced lines like these in the mirror, all about sounding super tough and in charge.

He let his eyes slowly scan over Kuro and the others, pausing just a hair longer on each of them, like he was mentally checking them off a list of 'threat levels' – and clearly deciding they were somewhere down near 'annoyingly weak mosquitoes.' "A bunch of lost little Tsukigakure sheep, huh?" he continued, his voice mocking. "Stumbling around in the big scary woods all by yourselves." He paused again, letting his stupid smirk get even wider, it was almost cartoonish at this point. "And wouldn't you just know it," he added, his eyes suddenly locking onto the scroll pouch hanging at Kuro's hip. There was this glint in his eyes, like a predator seeing its prey, but it felt forced, like he was trying way too hard to look scary. "Looky there, a Heaven Scroll. Fancy that."

Behind the imposing figure, the Cloud ninja – picture a wiry weed, all elbows and nervous energy – let out a chuckle. Honestly, "chuckle" is too strong; it was more like a nervous air leak, a thin, reedy sound that held zero menace. You could almost hear the gears grinding in his head, desperately trying to conjure up a threatening persona. Instead, it just came across as the slightly pathetic laughter of a sidekick hoping desperately to get a laugh back from the boss.

He shuffled forward, bless his heart, trying so hard to mirror his leader's 'imposing' stance. Bless his heart again, because he missed the mark by a mile. He ended up looking less like a dangerous ninja and more like someone desperately searching for the nearest bathroom. "Yeah, listen to big boss man, you little brats," he squeaked, his voice pitching just a hair too high to inspire any real fear.

"Why don't you just be good little genin and hand over that scroll?" He even tried a bit of persuasion. "Save yourselves the hassle, huh?" Then came the truly excruciating part. He elbowed the leader – a supposed attempt at being sly and conspiratorial, I assume – but just achieved maximum awkwardness. "And, uh, hey," he mumbled, adding a wink that likely looked more like a facial spasm. "Maybe we'll, like, remember your village. Fondly. You know. For being… cooperative." He wrapped it up with this pathetic little smirk, practically begging for a 'good boy' from the leader. Honestly, you almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Kuro, bless his heart, felt this tiny spark of... not even anger, really. More like that flat, slightly irritated feeling you get when you're just mildly exasperated. "Oh, these type of guys. Again? Seriously?" was probably the thought bubble popping above his head. He totally pegged them, the type that puffed themselves up like blowfish, relying on all the swagger and yelling to hide what they actually could (or, let's be honest, couldn't) do. He'd run into this type so. many. times. back in the day.

And here they were, reincarnated as ninja blowhards. It almost made him chuckle in a wry, "the universe is kind of predictable" way. The whole 'Bully System' thing from his old life felt miles away, like some slightly embarrassing phase he'd outgrown. He'd leveled up, mentally speaking, moved past needing to prove anything with crude displays of power.

His hand did clench, just a bit, into a fist – pure reflex, old habits die hard and all that. But he consciously told it to chill, uncurling his fingers. A fight? With these guys? It felt almost...insulting. He took a slow, deep breath, less to actually calm down because, honestly, he wasn't even really worked up. More like a dramatic pause for effect, or just to remind himself to stay polite (as polite as one can be when faced with budget ninjas). This wasn't even a proper threat, more like a really annoying speed bump on their day.