Grudge Over a Stolen Wife

After Shimura Kentei's injuries had healed, he did not head straight to the Senju compound to live with Tsunade as she had warned. Instead, he first returned to the Shimura Clan, dressed himself properly, and only then brought his fiancée to the Hokage Building as agreed.

Shimura Kentei was quite excited along the way. After all, he had cast the bait for so long; it was finally time to reap the harvest.

That dazzling suit of golden armor was outrageously eye-catching, making him the brightest kid on the entire street, with a head-turn rate of over ninety-nine percent.

The reason it had not reached one hundred percent was mainly because some people were blind, while some babies were still in their mothers' arms or wombs and had not opened their eyes yet!

"What handsome armor!"

"It's way cooler than my grandpa's battle armor!"

"I want a set too, so I can show off!"

Everyone on the street, regardless of gender or age, looked at Shimura Kentei with envy, jealousy, and resentment. That suit of armor was simply too handsome.

Even the occasional passing ninja was filled with envy.

After all, everyone loved beauty, and the desire to look cool knew no gender!

The envious, jealous, resentful gazes of the crowd made Shimura Keiko, who followed at his side, equally envious. She became even more determined to use the Sealing Crystal to train her chakra control and get herself such a gorgeous suit of armor as soon as possible.

They made their way loudly and flamboyantly to the Hokage Building. An Anbu ninja, who had long since received his orders, led them directly to a meeting room.

However, the sight inside the meeting room left Shimura Kentei stunned. He turned to look at the Anbu ninja who had brought him there.

"Are you sure you didn't bring me to the wrong place?"

This was completely different from what he had imagined!

"You have not been brought to the wrong place. This is the meeting room specially prepared for you by Lord Hokage!"

After replying, the Anbu ninja leaped away.

After a brief silence, Shimura Kentei led his fiancée into the meeting room and strode toward the seat of honor.

"Hokage Uncle really knows how to do things properly!"

Sitting down in the stone chair at the head of the table, Shimura Kentei was quite satisfied with the Third Hokage.

An ordinary wooden chair really could not bear the weight of his suit of armor.

"I won't waste time with nonsense. Since you can represent your clans here, it means you have agreed to this transaction. This is the Body Strengthening Secret Technique of our Shimura Clan."

Too lazy to waste words on these little brats, Shimura Kentei gestured for his fiancée to distribute the Sealed Item Scrolls they had prepared.

He truly had not expected the clan heads of those ninja clans not to come. Not a single adult had appeared; they were all teenagers. The Ino-Shika-Cho clans had even sent three little boys only five or six years old.

That made him somewhat displeased and uneasy, but having come this far, backing down was impossible.

Fugaku Uchiha, Hyuga Hiashi, and the other clan representatives had not expected Shimura Kentei to be so straightforward either. They looked at the Sealed Item Scrolls Shimura Keiko had tossed before them.

Without wasting time, they undid the seals and quickly read the contents of the scrolls to verify whether they were genuine.

Knock, knock!

Shimura Kentei tapped the table and said in dissatisfaction, "Are all your clans this lacking in manners?"

I've shown this much sincerity, and you people aren't going to show any?

"Once we verify their authenticity, we will naturally provide you with equivalent secret technique inheritances."

A boy barely over ten replied coldly, openly displaying hostility toward Shimura Kentei.

The teenage and child representatives from the other ninja clans said nothing, clearly sharing the same sentiment.

"Don't worry. Our Shimura Clan is not that despicable and shameless!"

Shimura Kentei curled his lips disdainfully. He glanced at the boy who had spoken, his gaze sweeping over the clan emblem on his clothes. Then he leaned close to his fiancée and asked in a low voice, "Do you know that kid from the Sarutobi Family?"

He did not remember offending anyone from the Sarutobi Family. In fact, the only member of the Sarutobi Family he knew was Sarutobi Hiruzen.

So where had that kid's hostility come from?

Could it be that his Pot Kage father had offended someone from the Sarutobi Family?

"He is Uncle Hiruzen's eldest son, Sarutobi Shin'nosuke.

"If you had not survived after being born back then, I should have become that boy's fiancée!"

Shimura Keiko spoke with a smile, her tone carrying a hint of teasing.

"A grudge over a stolen wife!"

Shimura Kentei nodded in understanding. He now knew why that kid was so hostile toward him, but after giving it some thought, he felt something was off.

"Does your Sarutobi Family believe in late marriage and late childbirth?"

If that kid was Sarutobi Hiruzen's eldest son, then he would be the future father of Sarutobi Konohamaru, while Shimura Keiko would be Konohamaru's mother.

But judging by Konohamaru's age, Shimura Keiko should have been around forty when she became pregnant with that kid. She would definitely have been an elderly mother.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had also been rather old when he fathered Sarutobi Asuma. Was this some Sarutobi Family tradition?

"Not really. But according to what my cousin told me, Sarutobi Shin'nosuke was determined to fuse a Kekkei Genkai and transform the Sarutobi Family from a secret technique clan into a bloodline clan. I suppose he would not marry too early."

Shimura Keiko was slightly taken aback. She did not understand why her little man would ask such a bizarre question, but she still answered him and shared a bit of gossip she had heard.

Although she had entered the Shimura Clan at the age of six and had even changed her surname to Shimura, her ties with the Sarutobi Family had not been completely severed. It was difficult for her to learn confidential matters, but small bits of inconsequential gossip were not hard to come by.

"No wonder!"

Shimura Kentei came to another realization and immediately cast a pitying gaze at Sarutobi Shin'nosuke, who was reading the scroll.

He did not know whether that kid had succeeded in fusing a Kekkei Genkai in Naruto, but Sarutobi Konohamaru was clearly not a bloodline ninja.

Moreover, bloodline fusion was extremely dangerous. A single mistake could mean death. He figured that guy had probably died during bloodline fusion in the original story.

What a pitiful kid!

"Shikaku, what do we do now?"

After glancing around at the others, Choza Akimichi quietly asked his good friend. He was so guilty that he did not even dare look at Shimura Kentei.

Because what they were doing seemed somewhat dishonorable!

"What else can we do? Just let it cool?"

As he rapidly flipped through the huge scroll in his hands, Shikaku Nara replied helplessly. Yet inwardly, he was thoroughly horrified.

He could also see the danger and difficulty of this Body Strengthening Secret Technique. The more detailed it was written, the more it revealed the sacrifices behind it.

To him, the Body Strengthening Secret Technique in his hands seemed as though it had been written with human skin as paper and human blood as ink, giving him a chilling sensation that seemed to freeze his soul.

He had long heard that the Shimura Clan acted coldly and decisively, with ruthless brutality. This generation's clan head, Shimura Danzō, was said to be even more terrifying. But those had only been rumors until today.

To develop a Body Strengthening Secret Technique, they had not hesitated to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives. That cold-bloodedness made his scalp go numb.

Thinking of this, he felt more agreement toward the decision made by the clan elders.

He had originally thought it was dishonorable and felt guilty about it, but now it seemed he had been overthinking things.

"You can take your time verifying them. If there is anything you do not understand, you can ask my Keiko."

After sitting there for a while, Shimura Kentei lost patience. He gave a simple instruction, rose to his feet, and left the meeting room.

He could not possibly wait for these people to verify every single secret technique scroll. Rather than waste that time, he might as well go to his teacher's house and be kept by her.

"That guy!"

Shimura Keiko grumbled in dissatisfaction. Her gaze swept across the people in the meeting room, lingering briefly on Sarutobi Shin'nosuke as pity rose in her heart.

Shimura Kentei was not the only one who had noticed something wrong; she had seen it too.

Although these people were the young clan heads of their respective clans, they were still far too young. The representatives of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans were not even ten years old.

From that alone, one could see just how much sincerity the major ninja clans had brought to this exchange. How many secret technique inheritances would they offer in a fair trade?

Others did not know where these Body Strengthening Secret Techniques had come from, but she knew very well. Her little man had developed all of them by himself. His talent was nothing short of monstrous.

His future achievements would be limitless. If these ninja clans failed to show enough sincerity today, he would definitely remember it.

She knew that her little man was actually quite petty and extremely vengeful—the kind who held grudges for a lifetime.

Their original plan had been to lead these ninja clans to greater heights together. If they could not satisfy her little man this time, they naturally would not be allowed to continue playing with them.

She could not be bothered about what happened to the other ninja clans, but the Sarutobi Family was different. After all, it was her birth family.

Unfortunately, this was not something she could control. Even if she told them the truth, the Sarutobi Family would not believe her.

Meanwhile, within the Shimura Clan, Shimura Danzō secretly gathered the various small clans of Konoha and some outstanding civilian ninjas, distributing a Body Strengthening Secret Technique to each of them as well.

"The purpose of calling you here today is simple: to make a transaction. We will exchange this Body Strengthening Secret Technique developed by our Shimura Clan for your clans' inheritances.

"Do not rush to give this old man an answer. First, take a look at this secret technique inheritance!"

Sitting in the seat of honor, Shimura Danzō bluntly stated his purpose for secretly gathering everyone here.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others had summoned the major ninja clans of the village to participate in the transaction last time, but only medium and large ninja clans had been qualified to participate. The small clans with fewer than ten members and the outstanding civilian ninjas had been ignored.

These small clans were his targets this time!

The moment Shimura Danzō spoke, everyone present changed expression, anger rising in their hearts.

Secret technique inheritances were the lifeblood of small ninja clans. Once leaked, enemies could potentially identify their weaknesses and formulate tactics specifically against them. At that point, death would be inevitable.

For that very reason, no one was willing to hand over the secret technique inheritances they relied upon to survive. If not for Shimura Danzō's overwhelming strength and the large group of Shimura Clan experts watching them nearby, they would have flipped the table long ago.

After glancing at the Shimura Clan ninjas around the perimeter, the crowd could only swallow their anger and pick up the scrolls to read.

It would have been better if they had not looked. Once they did, they all became engrossed.

The weakest among those invited were Special Jonin, so their judgment was naturally not poor. They could see the brilliance of this Body Strengthening Secret Technique.

Though its fundamental principle was the sound waves generated by the vocal cords, it had turned something as common as sound waves into something extraordinary.

It was their first time seeing sound used in such a way.

"Verify its authenticity first. Once the transaction is complete, you can take it home and study it however you like."

Half an hour later, Shimura Danzō spoke coldly.

He had neither the time nor the patience to wait for these people to finish reading the entire Body Strengthening Secret Technique. The transaction was what mattered.

Danzō's cold voice pulled everyone back to reality from their fascination. Though they were incredibly reluctant, they could only suppress the curiosity and desire in their hearts. Then they looked at one another, unsure what to do.

Before seeing this Body Strengthening Secret Technique, they naturally would never have agreed to use their own secret technique inheritances in a trade. Even if their inheritances were ordinary and far inferior to those of powerful ninja clans, they were still the crystallized efforts of countless generations of ancestors and the lifeblood upon which they depended.

But after seeing this Body Strengthening Secret Technique, they hesitated.

With this Body Strengthening Secret Technique in hand, as long as their descendants were not idiots, they could all become Chunin.

Not Chunin who had merely accumulated enough seniority, but genuine Chunin. They might even have a chance at becoming Jonin, and it would be of considerable benefit even to people at their level.

The temptation was truly immense!

"This old man promises you that if your inheritances are ever severed or lost for some reason in the future, your descendants may come directly to the Shimura Clan and retrieve a copy of the secret technique inheritance.

"As long as the Shimura Clan endures, this promise will remain valid forever!"

Seeing that everyone was tempted, Shimura Danzō cast out the final bait—the last straw that broke the camel's back.

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