Chapter 563: Defending the Ring
The so-called Amegakure jonin named Pain was, of course, Nagato in his new, disguised identity.
The name itself was a product of Kaito's mischievous sense of humor.
Nagato must have looked unhappy when he saw that Rasa didn't give his friend face.
But Rasa was actually right.
The Kage came to the Land of Rain in the midst of their busy schedule, not to participate in any ribbon-cutting ceremony, but to quickly select the commander of the Maintenance Force as soon as possible.
Seeing this, Yahiko first winked at Nagato secretly, and then said to the five Kage present with a smile.
"Then please come to the training ground first."
Unlike the previous Chunin exam.
After all, the selection of the commander of the Maintenance Force is still an internal matter of this joint force, and there is no performance or publicity in itself.
So naturally there is no special selection venue and attention from outsiders.
Of course, considering that it is necessary to establish prestige for the future commander of this unit in advance, so that he can better command this complex unit in the future.
Therefore, the ninjas sent by the six villages were the only "spectators" present.
Instead, the battle site was randomly set in the huge training ground next to the headquarters base of the Maintenance Forces.
Similarly, since there was no need to consider the viewing experience, the selection process was also quite simple.
"Everyone in the Maintenance Forces, there is only one selection rule this time."
"One-on-one arena defense!"
"From this moment, any member of the Maintenance Force from the five great ninja villages who is confident in their abilities may step into the center of the training field to accept challenges. They will continue until they defeat all opponents and claim victory, automatically becoming the first commander of this force!"
Though the Amegakure Village was permitted to join the Maintenance Force, it lacked the right to compete for the commander position.
As the host and moderator, Yahiko stepped back after delivering these words, clearing the stage for the participants
In fact, although Yahiko said that all the Maintenance Forces members of the five great ninja villages present could participate in the competition for the position of commander-in-chief, in fact, when the villages were selecting personnel internally, they had already decided who was truly qualified to compete for this position.
At best, they would just prepare one or two more candidates, just in case.
So even if the rules allow for a round-robin battle, the five great ninja villages would not really do so for the sake of face.
As the five kages took their seats, Kaito also looked at the ninjas sent by each ninja village this time.
Except for those Chunin and Genin who were destined to be ordinary team members, each village basically only sent three to four Jonin.
Among them, Hoshigaki Kisame of Kirigakure, Toroi of Kumogakure, Kitsuchi of Iwagakure, and the puppet master of Sunagakure Village, who accompanied Rasa to the Five Kage Talks last time and whose name Kaito still does not know.
And Uchiha Fugaku of Konoha.
It is estimated that they are the real candidates for the position of commander-in-chief this time.
Yes.
Although Kaito told Uchiha Fugaku before that there was no need to abandon the rectification work within the Uchiha clan in order to help with the Maintenance Force.
But he doesn't know how Uchiha Fugaku convinced the Konoha high-level officials.
This time, he was still among the personnel selected by Konoha to join the Maintenance Force.
Kaito later learned about this and did not choose to continue to persuade.
Anyway, as long as there was no problem in the general direction, he was too lazy to care about the subjective initiative of his subordinates.
However, just when Kaito was thinking about whether to give a slight signal to Hoshigaki Kisame to let him go up first and end this boring competition as soon as possible.
In the crowd of Konoha, there was a man who took the initiative to stand up and walked slowly towards the center of the training ground.
However, this man was not Uchiha Fugaku who was standing at the front of the Konoha troops.
Instead, he was a skinny middle-aged man who looked to be about 40 or 50 years old and carried an iron pot on his back.
'Did they send this guy out? Konoha really spent a lot of money!'
When Kaito glanced casually before, he didn't notice this man.
But when he walked out of the crowd, the big iron pot behind him was so dazzling that it was hard not to be impressed by him.
"I am Maruboshi Kosuke. Although my strength is mediocre, I should be able to give you a chance to learn from me."
That's right, the Konoha ninja who came out with an iron pot on his back at this time was not the legendary 'Pot King' Shimura Danzo.
Instead, it was another legend, the Konoha's Eternal Genin, Maruboshi Kosuke.
In the original work, he was clearly a top-level jonin, but because he had killed his teammates in his youth, he was filled with remorse and was willing to be a genin for life.
Unexpectedly, he was invited by Namikaze Minato to join the Maintenance Force.
'So, the commander of the Maintenance Force is not a promotion, right?'
Kaito silently complained in his heart, and many people casted doubtful glances at Maruboshi Kosuke.
In fact, more than a decade ago, Maruboshi Kosuke was ordered by the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen to only accept missions at the genin level.
So even most of the ninjas on the Konoha side did not know his true strength.
There were a lot of whispers in the field.
And the burly man standing at the front of the Sunagakure Village crowd, whose name is still unknown, may have heard the word "genin" repeatedly mentioned by the Konoha ninjas next to him.
With a look of disdain on his back, he strode towards Maruboshi Kosuke in the center of the training ground, carrying the puppet behind him.
"Are all Konoha's Genin so unruly? Old man, the commander position isn't something just any cat or dog can step up to compete for!"
As he spoke, the burly man slowly untied the huge puppet wrapped in bandages behind him.
With a 'bang', it fell heavily on the ground.
The not-so-solid mud ground of the training ground was instantly smashed into a medium-sized pit by the strange puppet standing in front of him.
As the bandages wrapped around the puppet slowly fell off, a slightly bloated black humanoid puppet was exposed to everyone without reservation.
In theory, in order to make the puppet more controllable, most puppeteers would choose lighter wooden materials to create it.
However, this man's puppet also has wooden textures on the surface.
But no matter how Kaito looks at it, it has nothing to do with lightness.
The man and the puppet of the Sunagakure Village are both sturdy and heavy.
It forms a sharp contrast with the slightly skinny Maruboshi Kosuke in the distance.
However, facing this person's merciless ridicule and this strange puppet full of oppression, Maruboshi Kosuke still had a smiling face, without any fear or hesitation.
"Since the rule is that everyone can participate, then an old guy like me is certainly qualified."
"As for whether I'm just any cat or dog, that's for you to test yourself~"
(End of this chapter)