In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
The Third Great Ninja War had been in a lull for quite some time now.
After all, the war came far too suddenly, and the flames of battle spread with terrifying speed.
All five major villages suffered varying degrees of loss.
Among them, Sunagakure, Kumogakure, and Kirigakure suffered the heaviest blows.
The Third Kazekage, the Third Mizukage, and the Third Raikage all went missing or died within the same year.
Ironically, the one village that had originally been ganged up on—Konoha—ended up suffering the least losses.
...
During this period, his teacher Orochimaru was never held accountable either.
As he himself had said, before the war was officially declared over, nothing would happen to him.
After all, although he had conducted some rather extreme research, much of it had been approved by both Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
As for those human experiments, Orochimaru wasn't conducting them at this point anyway, and even if someone wanted to hold him accountable, there simply wasn't enough evidence.
...
The Gekko clan courtyard.
Gekko Chizan, dressed in a long robe, sat off to the side sipping tea.
Beside him was his wife, Pakura.
The two of them had been married three months ago.
Now that Pakura had officially joined the Gekko clan—even though Danzō and some others had strongly opposed it—Chizan, with Orochimaru and Sarutobi Hiruzen backing him, wasn't afraid of anyone.
He had even mocked Danzō directly at one meeting, accusing him of meddling too much, leaving the latter fuming with rage.
After all, their conversation had gone something like this:
"Tsk tsk, didn't expect this. Is Danzō-sama planning to manage everyone's dating lives in the village now?"
"Are you planning to turn Root into some kind of matchmaking agency?"
"So now every couple that wants to get married has to report to Root first?"
"Don't say I didn't warn you—acting like this is going to scare off half the decent girls in the village!"
At the time, Danzō had been so furious he nearly exploded.
...
In the end, Gekko Chizan happily married Pakura.
And to keep people from bothering him afterward, he whisked Pakura away using Flying Thunder God to the Land of Birds and the Land of Frost for a honeymoon.
They stayed there for months, enjoying themselves to the fullest.
When they returned, he was nearly beaten to death by Fugaku and the others.
After all, the bastard had taken their wedding gifts, held no wedding ceremony, and while Minato, Fugaku, and the others waited like fools for the banquet so they could celebrate—and take revenge—the next day only Gekko Hayate showed up with a note that read:
"Brother went traveling, so don't bother looking for him!"
Fugaku had been so angry that his Sharingan spun nonstop, practically on the verge of evolving on the spot.
...
"Didn't expect Yamato and Hayate to get along so well."
"Your teacher is generous too. That sword of his really is a rare weapon."
Pakura suddenly smiled, while Gekko Chizan smacked his lips.
Speaking of Hayate and Yamato—ever since he introduced the two of them, their relationship had grown closer and closer.
These days, they trained together around the village all the time.
Of course, to prevent Danzō from taking Yamato away, Chizan and Orochimaru had informed Sarutobi Hiruzen about his identity.
Chizan had also taken on the responsibility of looking after him.
Well, Orochimaru had arranged that for him.
"Those two little rookies… But I heard Mikoto-san is about to give birth?"
"So Fugaku is going to be a dad already, huh."
At the mention of the word "dad," Pakura shot Chizan a glare.
Chizan chuckled. He knew exactly why she was glaring, but he didn't care in the slightest.
...
Suddenly, a figure appeared on the courtyard wall.
"Chizan-sensei, there's a new mission."
"Kakashi, come on in."
Pakura quickly invited Kakashi inside, while Chizan shook his head helplessly.
These peaceful days really couldn't last long, could they?
...
Kakashi stood in the courtyard, looking at his two teachers.
Recently, he, Obito, and Rin had returned to doing regular missions again, though they were all relatively simple and didn't require Chizan to lead the team.
After all, Kakashi's strength had already surpassed most Chūnin and was heading toward the Jōnin level.
Even Obito and Rin had been improving rapidly.
...
"So what's the mission this time?"
"You three can't handle it yourselves?"
Gekko Chizan was the very definition of terminal laziness—if it wasn't absolutely necessary, he couldn't be bothered to go anywhere.
"This mission isn't particularly difficult, but Hokage-sama specifically requested that you lead the team."
"The Chūnin Exams are coming up, and Hokage-sama wants to invite some of the nearby smaller villages to participate."
...
Chūnin Exams?
Chizan nodded.
It was Konoha's usual practice to invite surrounding villages to participate every year.
They had always invited villages like Kusagakure, Takigakure, and Yugakure.
...
"So, what's the destination this time?"
"Takigakure. Supposedly, Takigakure has been developing very well recently, so Hokage-sama wants us to deliver the invitations."
Takigakure?
Chizan chuckled inwardly.
Of course it was developing well.
In just over half a year, Yahiko and the others had been directly promoted to Jōnin.
The village had taken over all missions in the Land of Waterfalls and had even expanded into surrounding regions.
...
"Alright then. We'll leave tomorrow morning."
"I'll notify the village and bring Pakura along too."
"Consider it a vacation."
Chizan took Pakura's hand. He wasn't about to leave her at home alone.
Besides, the journey was long, and the Land of Waterfalls was beautiful.
"Alright, I'll go tell Obito and the others."
"Mm, go ahead."
...
After Kakashi left, Pakura looked at Chizan in confusion.
"I still have classes to teach. Why am I going?"
"Classes will probably be canceled."
"!!!"
Chizan poured himself a cup of tea, his expression turning serious.
Based on the latest information he had received, Iwagakure had already stabilized its internal situation and was showing new signs of movement.
Kirigakure was the same.
Only Sunagakure and Kumogakure were still busy focusing on their own survival.
"Is the war going to start again?"
"Yeah. Even though things have calmed down, the war isn't over."
"Sigh…"
Pakura slowly walked up behind Chizan and placed her hand on his shoulder.
He naturally patted her hand in return.
"Don't worry. Even if I end up on the front lines, nothing will happen to me."
"After all, you know my strength."
Pakura nodded. She knew exactly how strong Chizan was now.
After all, before Chizan, no one had ever taken a Scorch Release head-on and walked away unscathed.
Well, not exactly unscathed—after getting hit by Scorch Release, the red tailed beast chakra had burst out of his body, scattering all the flames.
As a result, Chizan had been bald for quite some time.
There was nothing he could do about it.
Even if his body could withstand the Scorch Release itself, the scorching flames had still burned off every single hair.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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