The Sky Screen returned to calm. The "Village Beauty" contest that had just been playing so hotly ended abruptly, leaving behind a sense of melancholy.
Mito put down the teacup in her hand and sighed softly.
She had thought she might make the list. After all, as the wife of the First Hokage and the first Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, she could be considered quite important in Konoha's history.
As for her appearance, that went without saying. The title of Senju Hashirama's wife proved everything—and yet she had not even been nominated?
This screen was simply ranking things randomly.
Kushina, even more incensed, stood with hands on her hips, complaining toward the direction where the screen had vanished: "What about me? What about me! Why wasn't I included? Is the screen blind?"
Anko leaned against the doorframe of a dango shop, still holding a skewer of rice dumplings in her hand. She took a bite and muttered, "I thought I'd at least make the cut. I'm not exactly ugly, am I..." Her tone was full of disappointment.
Tenten squatted at the edge of the training ground, both hands propping up her cheeks, looking in the direction where the screen had disappeared, and sighed: "I thought I'd get to show my face a few more times, but I just get the 'Rich Woman' title and then nothing?"
Konan also looked in the direction where the screen had disappeared, a trace of disappointment flashing through her eyes.
Did the screen really only rank female Shinobi from the five great villages?
Why not rank those from other villages too? She was no worse than these people.
Although she currently didn't care about anything other than Nagato, women were naturally sensitive to such rankings.
But the Sky Screen paid no attention to any of this. Amidst the anticipation of the masses, the screen lit up once again.
White light flickered, and a new topic appeared in the sky.
[Since the birth of Shinobis, countless incredibly passionate battles have occurred in the Shinobi World. The surging of Chakra, the collision of Ninjutsu, the intertwining of belief and fate—every battle has left its mark on the era.]
[Today, we will review the Top Ten Classic Battles of the Shinobi World (battles already detailed previously are not included in the ranking) to see which battle makes one's blood boil the most!]
---
[Konoha, Year One. Outside the village on a Cliffside]
Hashirama's eyes lit up, and he immediately became interested.
"Oh? Madara, do you think the two of us will make the list?"
Madara raised an eyebrow, his tone full of confidence. "Of course we will! If the two of us aren't on it, one could definitely question the authenticity of this screen."
Hashirama laughed: "Speaking of which, this ranking is pretty interesting. I really want to see the battles of the strong from the past or the future."
Madara stroked his chin, clearly equally interested.
Strong ones of the past, the Sage of Six Paths?
Strong ones of the future, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke?
Their battle scenes should be spectacular.
Tobirama stood not far away, watching the excitement of Hashirama and Madara, and shook his head expressionlessly.
What he cared about more was whether, through this review, he could discern the future development trends of Ninjutsu in the Shinobi World.
---
[Akatsuki's new base]
Deidara leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, and yawned: "A battle review? What's the point of reviewing this? Hasn't the screen already shown our battles? What's the point of watching it again?"
Hidan also looked bored: "Exactly, can't we have something new? For example, a history of the development of Jashinism?"
The other members couldn't muster much interest either.
After all, the battles involving them had already been introduced on the screen.
However, within the five great villages, the upper echelons of each village were on high alert.
Clearly, whether it was the secrets behind certain matters or the personal intelligence on the strong, this was a rare good opportunity for them to obtain!
[Tenth place in Classic Shinobi World battles: Gaara VS Kimimaro.]
---
[Land of Wind, Sunagakure]
Gaara slowly raised his head, which had been lowered for quite a while.
Kimimaro? Who was this?
An enemy of his future self?
Soon, he lowered his head again. Clearly, he was still alive in the future; so this Kimimaro was merely a defeated opponent, not worth worrying about.
[Kazekage's Office]
Rasa's eyes flashed with surprise. His son seemed to be quite favored by the screen, having appeared quite a few times already.
---
[Somewhere in an underground base in the Shinobi World]
Orochimaru was also somewhat surprised. "Kimimaro? What a pity. The bloodline disease in his body limits him too much. Otherwise, given time, his strength would have had much room for improvement."
[In battles between shinobis at the Kage-level and below, there are still Ninjutsu counters, Chakra limitations, tactical maneuvering, and so on. But after reaching Super-Kage level, it is purely stacking stats. That's why, many Shinobis who performed well earlier disappeared in the later stages, which is a bit of a pity.]
[The battle between Gaara and Kimimaro is a classic example. Although both were only Jonin-level in strength, the battle process was extremely spectacular.]
The scene shifted, and a man with white hair, green pupils, red eyeshadow on his eyelids, two red dots between his brows, bare-chested, and with bone spurs growing all over his body appeared on the screen.
"Die!" On the screen, Kimimaro formed a sword from bone spurs in his hand and charged straight at the opponent before him.
When everyone in the Shinobi World saw clearly, they discovered that opposite him was unexpectedly a boy in a green jumpsuit with a bowl cut.
Most people in Konoha recognized the boy as Rock Lee.
Just as the bone blade was about to stab Lee, a stream of sand appeared out of nowhere, blocking the bone blade, and under the gathering of even more sand, directly blasted both Kimimaro and Lee apart.
When Lee looked up, he discovered that Gaara, carrying the gourd on his back, had arrived on the battlefield.
"Sand shinobi… am I still not awake?" Lee could hardly believe it.
[Kimimaro, born in Kirigakure in the Land of Water, was a shinobi of the Kaguya clan, a battle-hardened tribe. When the Kaguya clan rebelled, he was taken in by Orochimaru and brought out of Kirigakure.]
[He was also a wielder of the Bloodline Limit: Shikotsumyaku. He could freely manipulate osteoblasts and osteoclasts, allowing him to control calcium concentration to form bones.]
[The hardness of his bones exceeded steel, and they could be taken directly out of his body by piercing through skin and muscle. So, whether used for offense or defense, they were quite impressive.]
[As for Gaara, no introduction is needed.]
---
[Kirigakure, Mizukage's Office]
Mei stared at the white-haired boy on the screen, her eyes full of shock. She then held her forehead with one hand and sighed.
No way, why was it another rogue shinobi from Kirigakure?
Although his strength was much inferior to Kisame and Zabuza, a Jonin was still a rare combat asset for a village. Moreover, this Kimimaro on the screen was still just a young boy, with great potential for the future!
Not to mention he possessed the Shikotsumyaku. The Kaguya clan was a bloodline clan of the Hidden Mist Village; Mei knew very well about their bloodline abilities.
And the Shikotsumyaku was very difficult to awaken!
Such a good seedling, how did he get snatched away by Orochimaru?
'Ugh!'
Mei sighed again.
*****
Upto 20 chapters ahead on patreon :-
patreon.com/ReduxMagister