Chapter 365: A Wayward Request
Fuu was the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki of the Waterfall Village.
When she saw her figure, this thought rose in Haruno Sakura's mind.
Flying was indeed a big problem for ninja. The ninja in the five great villages who could fly freely could be counted on one hand. Gaara standing on the sand could only be considered floating, and his moving speed was not fast. Deidara, a ninja who used clay creations, could barely be considered flying, but the only ones who could truly fly at high speeds without relying on external objects were those who had cultivated Earth Style nature transformation to an extremely deep level, such as the Tsuchikage.
Seeing a ninja who could fly flexibly and at high speeds in such a backwater place really surprised Sakura. This ninja village had both powerful ninja who could fly and the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki. Where did such a backwater place get so many talents?
So she boldly guessed that this girl who could fly was the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki. If the Seven-Tails itself could fly, then what she did just now was nothing more than partial Tailed Beast Transformation!
She then probed slightly with words, and the other party revealed a flaw.
The girl let it slip. Although Shibuki intercepted her words, it was to no avail.
Haruno Sakura had been friends with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki for so many years and knew very well what characteristics Jinchuriki had. Relying on Fuu's reaction and the feeling of her chakra, she could be absolutely sure that Fuu was the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
The Waterfall ninja protected her excessively, so much so that Fuu was a bit too naive and ignorant of worldly affairs.
Both the Mist and the Waterfall were closed and isolated villages, so there were many strange things and weirdos. The former had many perverts and homicidal maniacs, while the latter had ninja who didn't look like ninja, but rather like ordinary people in her previous life. Of course, by the standards of her previous life, these people in the Waterfall Village were closer to normal, right?
Anyway, she didn't point it out, exchanged a smile with Sasuke, and watched Shibuki clumsily trying to cover it up.
Then another Waterfall ninja named Suien also ran over, grabbed her hand, and pulled Fuu back to the Waterfall Village.
"Uh... Fuu is a bit mischievous," Shibuki racked his brains for an excuse. "Actually, she is just an ordinary girl."
Hn... an ordinary girl.
If a Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was called ordinary, no ninja in this world would dare to say they were special.
Sakura suppressed her laughter and pretended to ask with interest, "She can fly so fast, that's really amazing. Can all the ninja in your Waterfall Village fly?"
"That... of course not!" Shibuki hurriedly waved his hand and said, "She is the only one who knows this ninjutsu. It is not an inherited secret technique!"
Shibuki didn't want Konoha to misunderstand that the Waterfall Village possessed such a powerful inherited secret technique. You know, exterminating clans, villages, and even countries for a ninjutsu was common in the history of ninja!
Obviously, a secret technique that could make people fly had strategic value and belonged to the kind of ninjutsu that would be coveted to the point of exterminating a village.
"Oh~"
Sakura playfully dragged out the ending, making it impossible to tell whether she genuinely believed it or was feigning perfunctoriness: "So Fuu created this ninjutsu herself? The genius of your village is really remarkable..."
Shibuki scratched his head and laughed awkwardly, unable to speak.
Asking him to admit that Fuu was a genius, Shibuki couldn't tell such a blatant lie.
Fuu... if not for her identity as a Jinchuriki, she would probably be at the level of an ordinary female ninja, right? Whether it was the degree of effort, talent, or personality, there was no shadow of a strong person. It was only because her constitution could accommodate the power of the Seven-Tails that she became a Jinchuriki.
Therefore, Shibuki really couldn't lie against his conscience with his eyes open.
"Fuu looks about the same age as us, but I haven't seen her participate in the Chunin Exams. Is she still a Genin?" Sakura asked knowingly and teasingly.
"Uh, that... she is no longer a Genin, ahaha," Shibuki wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and stammered, "In short, Fuu hasn't participated in Chunin Exams in other villages."
"What a pity. Such a strong ninja hasn't participated in the Chunin Exams to prove herself in front of everyone."
"Yeah, yeah," Shibuki nodded repeatedly. "It's getting late. Why don't we go back?"
He couldn't handle it anymore.
Fuu didn't stay in the village obediently as requested by the Takikage, but wandered outside the village instead. As a result, she was bumped into by the Konoha envoys, which made him panic all at once. Especially since Haruno Sakura asked a lot about Fuu. To avoid Konoha's suspicion, Shibuki had to answer, but it was also difficult to make up a watertight lie. As the Takikage's younger brother, this was the first time he had encountered such a difficult task.
He didn't know that while he painstakingly wove many lies to cover up Fuu's abnormality, Haruno Sakura and Sasuke had already guessed that Fuu was the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
Sakura just had a bit of bad taste, teasingly wanting to see him sweating profusely and racking his brains to lie.
The girl looked up at the sky. The position of the sun was still far from setting in the west. It was obviously still very early.
This excuse is clumsy enough.
"Hn, let's go back then!" Haruno Sakura didn't continue to make things difficult for him and nodded in agreement.
Haruno Sakura's first impression of Fuu was that kind of lively, cheerful, cute girl who would go ying ying ying. (1)
—Don't misunderstand, not the feet-picking big guy who sent "ying ying ying" in the bullet screen during the live broadcast in her previous life, but a real soft girl.
Of course, not counting when she used the power of the Tailed Beast to fight.
The requirements for women in the ninja world were actually quite traditional. Many girls, generally not very strong, were delicate types before marriage, and gave up their ninja careers after marriage to concentrate on helping their husbands and raising children at home. Even female ninja like Kurenai Yuhi, who looked very strong, had similar ideas. In the Jonin circle of Konoha, everyone knew that she was dating Jonin Asuma and planned to become a housewife after giving birth.
This was influenced by traditional thinking.
Haruno Sakura found these ideas strange, but not incomprehensible. The difference between this tradition passed down from the Warring States Period and her previous life was that it had very realistic considerations, that is, the death rate of men in the Warring States Period was too high. If the wife also went to the battlefield, it would often create orphans whose parents both died. In that chaotic era, orphans could hardly survive, and the family inheritance would be broken.
However, there were also those who didn't follow tradition.
For example, Yūgao Uzuki—or Yūgao Gekkō—who had just given birth not long ago and was conducting recovery training while taking care of the child. Because her strength far exceeded Hayate's, Tsunade hoped she could continue her ninja career, so now Yūgao couldn't be a full-time housewife, and Hayate also had to take on the responsibility of a stay-at-home dad.
And confident, self-improving, and independent women like Tsunade and Hinata.
The most special one was of course Haruno Sakura herself. As a transmigrator, she did a good job of integrating into the new world, but many thoughts from when she was a boy in her previous life were deeply ingrained and would not change easily; what's more, even if a girl transmigrated over, she probably wouldn't understand the so-called traditional thinking here. Women also had their own careers and social lives. There was no reason for the woman to make sacrifices and return to the position of a housewife after marriage and childbirth.
Generally speaking, the stronger the girl, the less she wanted to give up the opportunity of ninja work after marriage, and the weaker the influence of traditional thinking on them.
However, as a girl who could stably display Kage-level combat power, Fuu's personality was completely different from what Sakura imagined. Probably because the power came too easily, and she possessed such strength without hard training, her mental state didn't match her strength.
Those who could truly step into the Kage level through cultivation, which one was not a person of firm and strong character?
She was dragged back to the village by Suien, and then in the Takikage's office, she was lectured by the Takikage Shibuki (Takikage) for half a day while having her ear pulled, but she drooped her head and didn't dare to breathe loudly.
"Look at what you've done, huh?" Shibuki poked her head with his index finger, poking her forehead red, and said through gritted teeth, "I told you not to go out these few days and stay in the village obediently. Why didn't you listen? Do you have to wait until the people of the Akatsuki catch you to be happy?"
The Takikage paced back and forth in the office with his hands behind his back, agitated.
Fuu pouted, looked at the Takikage carefully, and said aggrievedly: "Didn't you say before that the Akatsuki matter was made up by Konoha to trick us? Besides, I'm a Jinchuriki. How can I be so easily caught by an underground organization that popped out from some backwater place!"
"Before was before, now the situation is different!"
The Takikage certainly wouldn't admit his misjudgment. The Konoha envoy told him that Konoha, the Sand, and the Mist had united against the Akatsuki. After he sent Sakura and Sasuke away, thinking back, he realized that the problem of the Akatsuki organization might be really serious.
Otherwise, why would three major ninja villages need to form an alliance to deal with it?
After today's meeting, the Waterfall ninja reached a consensus: the content behind this Chunin Exam was extraordinary, and the Takikage really had to go and see it! At least verify whether the Akatsuki organization was really as powerful as Konoha promoted, and whether they really wanted to collect Tailed Beasts!
When the most important wealth of the Waterfall ninja, namely the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, was threatened, these somewhat bureaucratic ninja erupted with extremely high efficiency. A meeting that used to take a week only took an hour this time to reach a clear result.
"Hmph," Fuu puffed up her cheeks and said indignantly, "Changing orders constantly!"
"You still think you're right, huh! This time you bumped into the Konoha envoys. If Shibuki hadn't helped you cover up, you would have let it slip long ago!" The veins on Takikage Shibuki's face jumped violently, and he scolded, "In short, this time you are grounded for two months and not allowed to leave the village!"
"What?" The girl's eyebrows stood up, and she screamed, "No way, I want to participate in Konoha's Chunin Exams, I want to leave the village!"
"Are you kidding me!" Shibuki shouted, blowing his beard and staring. "Do you think you are not conspicuous enough?"
"Can't I just not use the power of the Seven-Tails?" Fuu retorted tit for tat. "As long as I don't use the Seven-Tails' chakra, I'm no different from ordinary ninja. No one can tell!"
After arguing for a long time, Shibuki still couldn't dissuade the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki's request.
Sighing for Fuu's waywardness, Shibuki said helplessly: "What exactly is wrong with you? Who provoked you? Why do you insist on participating in the Chunin Exams?"
"Because staying in the village all the time is too boring! There's nothing to do, and I can't make new friends." Fuu twisted her body and said, "Didn't that Konoha envoy say they came to discuss the Chunin Exams? I wanted to go to Konoha to see it!"
Her eyes rolled around, and a new idea popped up: "Also, also, isn't it just right to go to Konoha to avoid the limelight of that Akatsuki organization?"
Shibuki originally subconsciously wanted to refute her childish idea, but hearing the last sentence, he suddenly felt it made some sense.
If he couldn't protect the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, then send Fuu to Konoha. Anyway, Konoha didn't know Fuu's identity yet, and the Akatsuki definitely wouldn't dare to attack Konoha.
"I'll consider it..." The Takikage rubbed his chin and said slowly.
(1) "Ying ying ying" is a Chinese internet slang representing the sound of crying or whimpering cutely, often used to act cute or coquettish.
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