Naruto: The Teaching System - 214

Chapter 214: I Don't Have Any Arrangements, I Just Want the Kazekage to Come Watch a Show

Hidden Cloud Village at night. Due to its mountain location, the air was even colder up here.

Outside the Konoha guesthouse, Sawada looked back at the brightly lit building, recalling what he'd seen earlier. He suspected Hidden Cloud Village had done it intentionally, arranging Sand Village's lodging right next to theirs.

You only needed to cross a short wooden walkway to reach it directly.

There were no signs of Iwagakure anywhere, but that was fine. Tomorrow would be the start of the Chunin Exams.

It's just that the Fourth Kazekage... was too weak.

This was Sawada's first thought upon seeing Gaara's father. He remembered Rasa should have the Kekkei Genkai 'Magnet Release: Gold Dust,' right?

But in that brief encounter earlier, not just his intuition but even his system data showed Rasa's actual strength. The obvious word 'weakness' made Sawada speculate.

He must've frequently used his Kekkei Genkai to create wealth for Hidden Sand Village through gold dust, overdraining his life force and causing his strength to decline significantly.

After the Third Ninja War, the Land of Wind had drastically cut Hidden Sand Village's funding and military expenses. This led to Rasa, who took office during the crisis, constantly filling gaps to ensure his village's overall combat strength didn't decline.

Hidden Sand Village's gold dust export volume had been quite considerable in recent years.

Sawada shook his head, not thinking about it further. Regardless, his sensei probably wouldn't underestimate this situation. Better to be cautious.

"What're you thinking about?" Kakashi had his hands in his pockets, looking relaxed.

"Nothing much. Is it a direct elimination tournament tomorrow?"

"Yeah, not long ago, Hidden Cloud Village's Dodai came over and said there was no need for written exams."

Sawada thought to himself that without written exams, the elimination tournament would definitely be more chaotic. He didn't know what Hidden Cloud Village was thinking.

After all, the strength gap was too large. Some small ninja villages might not even have any genin returning after the competition ended.

In the guesthouse reception room, Rasa looked at Hiruzen with a formal smile. "Hokage-sama, your bearing is still as impressive as ever."

"The Kazekage's still young. There's no comparison." Hiruzen smiled, gesturing for Rasa to drink tea.

Rasa nodded slightly, picked up his teacup, and his gaze unconsciously fell on Shisui standing behind Hiruzen.

"Hokage-sama, how come I don't see your last disciple?"

Based on intelligence Hidden Sand Village had obtained, Rasa confirmed the person standing behind Hiruzen wasn't Sawada.

"My disciple doesn't really like this kind of atmosphere, so he left early." Hiruzen waved dismissively, completely ignoring Rasa's curiosity.

Rasa was stunned, then took a sip of tea. His thoughts involuntarily turned to the figures he'd seen when entering earlier.

"I wonder what the Kazekage thinks about tomorrow's elimination tournament?" Hiruzen chuckled, interrupting Rasa's thoughts.

Rasa's eyes narrowed slightly. Honestly, he hadn't wanted to come join this mess initially. However, Hidden Sand Village recently had another procurement deal with Konoha.

Even the two elders of Sand Village had stepped forward to signal Rasa not to be hostile toward Konoha for the time being.

But every Sand ninja was a precious resource. Therefore, Rasa had only brought some Academy students. Not even genin level.

No, it should be said they were just some civilian students who'd received basic training.

"Everything follows Hokage-sama's arrangements," Rasa said, lowering his position.

Hiruzen waved his hand and said very calmly, "This old man doesn't have any arrangements this time. I mainly just invited the Kazekage to come watch a show together."

That's it?

Rasa was stunned. He completely didn't understand what Hiruzen actually wanted to do. He'd prepared himself just for this?

While Hiruzen and Rasa were discussing things, at another guesthouse, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, walked into his lodging with a heavy heart.

"Kitsuchi, what do you think of what that barbaric Fourth Raikage said just now?" The short Onoki turned to his son standing behind him.

"What's certain is that the Raikage is indeed targeting Konoha this time, but then he suddenly said he wanted to hold some Four Great Villages Jonin Battle..." Kitsuchi fell silent.

He really didn't understand why.

Seeing his son's expression, Onoki couldn't help but sigh. His son had good strength and strong leadership abilities, but his thinking wasn't flexible enough.

"If you need to go, then go." Onoki shook his head somewhat helplessly.

"Yes!" Kitsuchi immediately responded.

Onoki waved his hand, signaling Kitsuchi to withdraw first. As the door closed, Onoki slowly walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at Hidden Cloud Village's different scenery under the night sky outside.

Onoki naturally knew what the Raikage wanted to do. Nothing more than saving face, and even wanting to kill that Konoha genius.

As for whether this would trigger a Ninja War, the Raikage didn't care, and Onoki himself cared even less.

From learning Dust Release at thirteen to later being defeated along with his master, the Second Tsuchikage, by Uchiha Madara. Since taking over as Tsuchikage, he'd always been a firm hardliner.

Normally, he might not have accepted the Raikage's invitation at all.

But half a year ago, his prized disciple Deidara had directly left Iwagakure and then disappeared. Meanwhile, Konoha had suddenly produced a genius. After Minato Namikaze, another brilliant prodigy had emerged.

Defeating the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. Just this record alone was enough to draw attention.

This made Onoki, who'd always viewed Konoha as a great enemy, worry again. This was why he agreed to come. He wanted to observe.

To see what kind of genius this newly risen Konoha ninja really was.

If he was just someone pursuing fame and fortune, then Onoki would naturally be happy to see Hiruzen embarrassed.

However, Konoha... had unique fortune. Every famous genius was a brilliant existence.

He didn't believe Hiruzen would be so senile as to take on such a disciple.

If... if he really was another genius like Minato Namikaze, then he must be killed in the cradle!

Thinking of this, a trace of real killing intent couldn't help but surge in Onoki's eyes.

It wasn't that Onoki was overly demonizing Konoha. But how many remarkable figures had Konoha created in just a few decades?

Uchiha Madara, whom he and the Second Tsuchikage regarded as a demon god, and Senju Hashirama who'd subdued Uchiha Madara. And then the figures who'd successively emerged from Konoha during the Second and Third Ninja Wars.

This made Onoki even more unwilling to gamble. If the Raikage had such thoughts, Onoki wouldn't mind pushing him from behind.

At least Konoha couldn't produce a second person capable of changing the course of war!