After dropping by to support Teuchi's business, and then chatting for a while at Seiryū's house, the little group of friends said their goodbyes to each other.
Then each went back home.
Seiryū, meanwhile, brought Kurenai with him to Tsunade's house.
He wanted to ask Tsunade whether she knew anything about the Chunin Exams.
At Tsunade's house.
Today, Tsunade had not gone gambling, perhaps because she had no money...
In the living room, only Tsunade and Seiryū were there.
Kurenai and Shizune had gone out to buy groceries...
Hearing Seiryū's question, Tsunade thought for a moment before saying, "I was originally planning to tell you after some time, but since you already know, I'll explain the situation to you now."
"In December's Chunin Exams, Genin from other ninja villages will indeed participate. At present, the ones already confirmed are Suna, Kiri, Kusa, and Taki, these four ninja villages..."
"As for whether any other villages will want to get involved afterward, that still can't be determined."
Tsunade looked at Seiryū and said slowly, "Speaking of which, the reason those villages have this idea probably also has something to do with you..."
"Hm?"
Seiryū froze for a moment.
Then pointed at himself. "What does it have to do with me? I'm just a mere Genin, could I really influence the decisions of other ninja villages?"
He was just a small Genin.
How could he possibly make other ninja villages want to participate in the Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha?
Were they coming because of him?
No matter how he thought about it, it did not seem very reasonable...
As though he had thought of something, Seiryū's mouth twitched. "Could it be related to the bounty on me in the black market? Has my name as a genius already spread to the other ninja villages?"
The reason Kakuzu had targeted him before was precisely because there was a bounty on him.
Five million ryō.
For a Genin to have a bounty of five million ryō was extremely rare.
Even in the original story, Hiruzen's son and elite Jōnin, Asuma, only had a bounty of thirty-five million ryō!
Clearly, he, this genius, had long since been targeted...
Reasonably speaking.
The other ninja villages wanted to see the "real worth" of him, this genius of Konoha, and use his strength as a genius to judge the truth of Konoha's overall strength?
"You really are smart, brat..."
Tsunade could not help rubbing her brow.
How had this brat connected it to that point?
Could it be that he had really been brooding over the bounty the whole time?
Mm, Tsunade had guessed correctly.
Ever since the last encounter with Kakuzu, after learning that he had been listed with a bounty of five million ryō,
Seiryū had indeed been brooding over it.
He wanted to know who had put that bounty on him...
If he ever ran into the person who had posted the bounty on him in the future, he would definitely make them understand what cruelty meant!
Actually playing dirty behind his back, people like that deserved to die the most!
"Anyone who gets labeled a genius becomes someone the other ninja villages pay attention to."
Tsunade continued, "On top of that, you completed two A-rank missions while still a Genin, and you're also a disciple shared by both me and Jiraiya."
"Your reputation is already very loud, to the point that your bounty on the black market has increased by quite a bit. It's already reached ten million ryō..."
To be fair.
Seiryū's reputation really was very loud.
Being taken in as a disciple by both her and Jiraiya at the same time was very rare.
Naturally, many people would pay attention and want to know just what kind of talent and strength Seiryū had...
Seiryū's mouth twitched.
His bounty had already reached ten million ryō?
That was even higher than the mountain bandit king in One Piece who smashed a bottle over a Yonko's head...
Seiryū looked at Tsunade and said hesitantly, "Even so, they wouldn't target a mere Genin like me, right? Also, how did the other ninja villages even know that I was going to participate in the Chunin Exams?"
"There are people like spies in the shinobi world."
Tsunade said this first, then explained, "Of course, this matter is related to you, but you're probably only a very small part of the reason."
After a pause.
Tsunade continued explaining, "The purpose of the other ninja villages is probably to use one Chunin Exam to understand the strength of Konoha's new generation. After all, in a certain sense, geniuses can also be regarded as a kind of foundation."
"But more likely, they're trying to test Konoha's true strength. Recently, the situation in the shinobi world has already become somewhat tense..."
At that point.
Tsunade let out a sigh.
This Chunin Exam might be a sign that war was approaching.
Konoha, this fertile land, was something many ninja villages wanted to seize...
Seiryū frowned. "Is war about to break out?"
In the original story, the trigger for the Third Shinobi World War might have had something to do with the assassination of the Third Kazekage by Akasuna no Sasori...
The death of the Third Kazekage threw Suna into internal chaos, allowing other ninja villages to see an opportunity to conquer Suna...
Then large-scale war broke out between two countries and two ninja villages!
And because the situation in the shinobi world could be shaken by a single move, the unresolved issues left over from the Second Shinobi World War had never been settled...
In the end, all Five Great Ninja Villages were dragged in, setting off the Third Shinobi World War.
This was the trend of the times!
If that trigger did not work, there would be another.
Once the time came and those in power had made their preparations, the death of any random person could set off a war between countries and ninja villages, not to mention that the major ninja villages were already hostile to one another...
War would come sooner or later...
"Perhaps..."
Tsunade pursed her lips.
She hated war deeply as well.
If possible, she naturally did not want war to break out.
War was destined to kill many people...
Seeing Tsunade fall silent, Seiryū did not continue the topic of war.
In any case, he had already long prepared himself for war's arrival.
Of course.
It was impossible for war to fully erupt that quickly.
It would start with small-scale friction, then slowly develop into full-scale war.
Only when Konoha began to show a shortage of fighting strength would people like them, who had only recently graduated, be sent to the battlefield...
There was still some time left for growth and becoming stronger!
Seiryū asked another question. "Right, the Chunin Exams are usually held in team format. Kurenai and Shizune clearly aren't strong enough to participate, so how were you planning to arrange for me to take the Chunin Exams?"
Tsunade blinked.
It seemed she had forgotten about that...
Before, she had only wanted Seiryū to show off his strength in the Chunin Exams.
So as to prove that she, Konoha's princess Tsunade-hime, had not delayed Seiryū's training.
She had not thought that far ahead at all.
Seiryū: "..."
He gave Tsunade a sidelong glance and said leisurely, "You forgot, didn't you?"
How could Tsunade admit that? She laughed dryly twice. "Hahaha, how could that be? Of course I have a way to let you participate, so you don't need to worry!"
Seiryū's mouth twitched, and he said with certainty, "You definitely forgot!"
Tsunade glared at Seiryū in dissatisfaction, slapped the sofa, and said viciously, "I did forget, so what if I did! Do you have a problem with that!?"
"You're really unreliable!"
Seiryū had no way of dealing with Tsunade, she was equally unreliable.
He did not really mind, nor was he particularly surprised. This was exactly the sort of thing Tsunade would do...
Seiryū continued, "Since you don't have any arrangements, then I'll make my own. Kakashi is also planning to participate in this Chunin Exam, so I'm thinking of temporarily forming a three-man squad with him."
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)