— — — — — —
"Wait, you can choose Authorities?"
Renzo looked completely confused.
"Aren't they supposed to be random?"
"Well, it depends!" Pandora giggled as she explained, "It's mostly up to the God you defeated. If they really liked you, they might be willing to hand over all their Authorities to you."
"Of course, that's super rare! And let's be honest—you didn't get that lucky this time."
"Then why even ask?" Renzo couldn't help rolling his eyes.
What kind of logic was that?
"Hehe~ I just wanted to chat with you more, silly! Don't be so cold and impatient! Do you have any idea how lonely it is for me, stuck here all the time? You really don't know how to be considerate to your mommy!"
Pandora started mumbling complaints nonstop.
Renzo: "..."
He had no comeback. All he could do was go along with it.
After a while, Pandora finally got to the point and began the ritual, transferring the Authority and Divine Power to him.
In a flash of disorientation, Renzo returned to his body.
At the same time, a flood of information poured into his mind—and with it, a huge surge of Divine Power rushed through his body.
[Authority of Victory: Ten Incarnations]
[Authority of the Sun God]
These were the two Authorities Renzo had received.
Sensing the Divine Power rising from his body, Luo Hao raised her eyebrows slightly. When Renzo opened his eyes, she asked: "Looks like it worked. What did you get?"
"One gives me ten different avatars, each with unique powers. The other is the Power of the Sun God."
Renzo replied with a small, satisfied grin.
Yeah, he was pretty happy with these. Both were definitely practical.
"Oh? Not bad at all," Luo Hao nodded, then asked, "So, what's next? You gonna go after the last rogue god, or deal with that embarrassment of a monkey in Japan first?"
"Let's deal with the monkey. I need a bit more time to plan out how to take down the last one," Renzo replied.
"Sounds good."
— — —
In the shared mental space—
"Oh? So this is Divine Power and Authority? Interesting. Authority feels more like a kind of law-based power structure," commented Uchiha Renzo as he analyzed the energies he'd just synced with Campione Renzo.
"You're not wrong," Campione Renzo nodded. "I came here so urgently because I need help. I need to fully decode this Divine Power and Authority, and integrate it into my Source Energy as quickly as possible."
"No problem on my end!" Uchiha Renzo grinned. "Things are pretty calm in the ninja world lately anyway. It's mostly Naruto and Sasuke doing their thing."
"Actually, the Chunin Exams are about to start. Without Orochimaru's invasion plan, it just feels like something's missing."
Still... not everyone might be content with letting Konoha stay peaceful.
Uchiha Renzo rubbed his chin. "Maybe I should pay a visit to the Akatsuki... stir the pot a little."
It just wouldn't feel right if nothing happened.
"I'm in," said Eevee.
"Same here," added Demon Slayer Renzo.
"Can't. I'm prepping to deal with the Wandenreich," Aizen replied.
Hermione sighed, "Sorry, I've got my hands full as the Ministry of Magic. So many reforms to push through... I can't deal with anything else until it's done. So annoying!"
"The Chef, reporting in! I can help too!" said Chef Renzo cheerfully. "I've already collected all the Legendary Cooking Utensils. Mao and the others are about to head out to look for them—so I'll be free!"
Campione Renzo blinked."...Wait. Didn't you already collect all the utensils? Why are they still going out to find them?"
Wasn't that a contradiction?
The others all looked at Chef Renzo in confusion.
"Hehe~ Well yeah, I have the originals locked away," Chef Renzo chuckled. "What they're going after are just fantasy replicas created for training purposes!"
"Still, they work just as well! No difference in performance at all!"
"I just didn't want to deprive the MC and his gang of the chance to grow. Young chefs need to get out there, face challenges, and create amazing dishes! That's the only way they'll reach their full potential!"
"Besides—this was all my master's idea too! She totally supports it!"
Not his fault, alright?
Even Master Pai and the other top chefs were fully on board with his plan.
He had the official seal of approval.
"Pfft. Aren't you still a kid like them?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
Acting all grown-up and wise… dude, you're barely in your twenties.
Still—she had to admit—Chef Renzo's cooking skills were getting scarily good lately.
He'd fused cooking styles from multiple worlds, combined them with rare ingredients from across dimensions, and basically invented a whole new culinary path: Food Hunter.
Sure, it was still a new field. Needed polishing. But he'd taken that all-important first step. It might be a bit messy at first, but the hard part was over—the rest was just refining the craft.
"Would you call that scamming your little bro? Haha!" Pirate Renzo laughed.
"Oh man I also liked to bully Zoro in the past..."
"Hey! I did it for his own good, okay? Not scamming! No way!" Chef Renzo shot back, completely unwilling to admit Pirate Renzo was even slightly right.
— — —
Ninja World
"Time to get up, sweetheart~! Today's the final round of the Chunin Exams, remember?"
A gentle voice called from outside the room.
Uchiha Renzo opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his face.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm up. Where's Tsunade?"
He stretched his spiritual sense throughout the house but didn't detect her anywhere. That got him frowning.
"She's not home?"
As she prepared breakfast, Kurenai sighed and shook her head helplessly.
"Where do you think she went?"
Tsunade was great at everything—except resisting the urge to gamble.
Totally out of Kurenai's control.
Good thing they weren't short on money these days. Otherwise...
"That woman! She actually ran off to gamble again? Seriously..."
Renzo muttered as he brushed his teeth and focused on the spatial marker he'd left on Tsunade.
The location? Very familiar.
He mentally tapped into the mark—and sure enough, she was having way too much fun.
Judging by everyone else's expressions, she'd lost a lot of money again today.
People were looking at her like she was a walking cash cow.
"I'll go grab her real quick. Be right back."
After washing up and getting dressed, Uchiha Renzo walked into the kitchen, gave Kurenai a kiss, and smiled.
"I'll try not to take too long."
"Alright~ but don't crush those poor guys too hard, okay?" Kurenai grinned. "Let them win a little—just enough to keep coming back. Otherwise no one will let Tsunade play anymore, and then she'll throw a fit."
It wasn't the first time this had happened.
"I got it," Renzo nodded, then in a flash, vanished from the house.
A moment later, he reappeared outside the gambling hall where Tsunade was.
With a quick transformation to keep things low-key, he casually strolled inside.
...
Thirty minutes later—
"Please take care, both of you! Haha... come again soon, yes?"
The casino boss was sweating bullets as he personally escorted Renzo and Tsunade out.
Tsunade was clinging to Renzo's arm, grumbling, "I could've won, you know! This is your fault!"
"Sure, sure. You're the Goddess of Gambling, right?" Renzo rolled his eyes.
Seriously, how can she still be this delusional? Win? With her luck?
If she kept this up, she was gonna make him poor one day.
"Alright, let's head home. Kurenai should've finished breakfast by now. Didn't you say you wanted to check out the final match of the Chunin Exams today? You're gonna be late."
With that, Renzo wrapped an arm around Tsunade and blinked them both back home.
"Back already?"
Kurenai called out with a smile as she set breakfast on the table.
"Tsunade, go wash up before you eat. You reek of cigarettes and alcohol."
She said it gently, with that calm, wife-like vibe—like she was the pillar of the household.
Tsunade paused, then scratched her cheek awkwardly.
...Was she really that far off the mark when it came to being a proper wife?
Sometimes she honestly wondered what Renzo even saw in her.
"Good thing you're around, Kurenai." Tsunade sat down, blushing just a little. As she started eating, she gave Kurenai a playful wink.
"Hehe~ this is pretty much all I can do," Kurenai smiled back warmly.
"Nonsense!" Tsunade waved her off. "Don't play modest—I know for a fact your power's on par with mine now! We're all family here, no need to be shy."
"You already know I'm not exactly the 'sweet and gentle housewife' type. So thanks for putting up with me. But seriously—if you ever need anything, just say the word. I got your back, no matter what."
Kurenai nodded, still smiling.
It was true. Her strength now wasn't inferior to Tsunade's at all.
But even so, because she'd looked up to Tsunade ever since she was young, there was still a bit of that admiration lingering in her heart.
...
After breakfast
Renzo, Tsunade, and Kurenai strolled together toward the venue for the final round of the Chunin Exams, taking their time.
"Yo! Sis! Bro-in-law! Lady Kurenai! Morning!"
Before they got far, Nawaki suddenly popped out of nowhere, grinning like a goof and waving at them. A Pikachu was perched on his shoulder, enthusiastically waving a tiny paw in greeting too.
"Pika pika~!"
"Oh, hey Nawaki! How's your new squad treating you?" Renzo waved back casually. "Wait, didn't you sign up for the Chunin Exams this time?"
Right now, Nawaki had already been re-integrated into Konoha. In fact, Renzo had even asked Minato to set him up with a proper team—with a teacher and two teammates.
And that teacher… was Orochimaru.
.
.
.