Broaden Your Horizons

Although Mei Terumi had not been charmed by Hancock's beauty, she was still gritting her teeth, clearly in a terrible mood.

After all, having her feminine charm completely crushed by someone else would make anyone unhappy.

Seeing Mei Terumi's furious expression, Hancock immediately lifted her chin proudly, like a little peacock that had won.

Suikazan Fuguki ignored the reactions of the ninjas below and continued, "That is the first thing I wanted to tell you. Now for the second matter: after discussions among the Daimyo, both sides hope that we can peacefully merge with Sea Ninja Village and become a new Ninja Village!"

The moment this bombshell was announced, chaos erupted below. All the ninjas forgot everything else and hurriedly began asking questions.

"Is this true, Lord Mizukage?!"

"Why should those people from Sea Ninja Village stand on equal footing with Kirigakure? Just because they're a ragtag bunch of Wandering Ninjas? What a joke!"

"A merger? After the merger, which side will take the lead? Who will become the new Kage? What will happen to the other Ninja Village's higher-ups?"

"Actually, merging might be good. They have at least one or two thousand ninjas who can replenish our current forces. After enforcing the Bloody Mist Policy for so many years, our lower ranks have suffered heavy losses too. But Kirigakure definitely has to take the lead..."

"After the merger, what about the Ninja Village's operating funds? And how will mission assignments be managed?"

"Enough!"

Suikazan Fuguki suddenly shouted, instantly suppressing the noise below. He then pointed at Dr. Vegapunk. "Dr. Vegapunk, please explain things to these ninjas from here."

Dr. Vegapunk smiled. "Leave it to me. But before that, let us head to the Training Ground and give you Jonin a chance to broaden your horizons."

At the edge of the Training Ground, the Jonin who had arrived wore rather unpleasant expressions. Every Jonin had experienced enough to tell a legendary tale, so naturally, none of them enjoyed being treated like frogs at the bottom of a well.

Yet because of Dr. Vegapunk's status, these Jonin could not say much. Still, they had already made up their minds: if Dr. Vegapunk did not have something substantial enough to convince them, then they could forget about merging the Ninja Villages.

The Daimyo's status did indeed surpass that of a Ninja Village leader to a certain extent, but that balance was extremely fragile. The Ninja Villages, which controlled the greatest force of violence, were the ones who truly had the power to flip the table. Thus, the Daimyo could not genuinely ignore a Ninja Village's opinions.

After the group of ninjas arrived at the Training Ground, they saw several dozen unfamiliar ninjas. These ninjas had youthful faces and small builds, and looked like Ninja Students who had only just graduated.

They wore headbands bearing a pattern of three horizontal wavy lines. The Jonin were fairly well-informed, so they knew these were the headbands of the newly established Sea Ninja Village.

To be honest, Dr. Vegapunk had wanted to use a skull emblem for the Ninja Village's headbands. After all, they had come from the Pirate World! But the ninjas below unanimously objected, so the matter was dropped.

With the Mizukage giving the green light, it was naturally no difficult matter for these young Sea Ninja Village ninjas to enter Kirigakure.

"What is this? Could it be that Dr. Vegapunk intends to show us the strength of Sea Ninja Village's Genin in order to intimidate us?"

A Kirigakure Jonin said this with a somewhat amused expression, only to suddenly feel someone grab his arm. Turning his head, he saw Ao, veins bulging around his Byakugan as he observed the group.

"What's wrong, Ao? Is there something off about those brats?"

Ao's lips trembled. "Th-these brats' Chakra has already... already come close to our level!"

Blinking, the Kirigakure Jonin looked as though he had not heard clearly. "What did you say? You didn't see it wrong, did you?"

"Do you think I would see it wrong?!" Ao turned his head and pointed at his Byakugan. "Those brats' Chakra has absolutely already approached—or even reached—the level of Jonin!"

Hearing Ao's roar, all the Jonin's expressions changed. Quite a few of them sucked in a breath, and the way they looked at those youths completely shifted.

Although the amount of Chakra was not the sole factor determining a ninja's strength, it was absolutely the most important one. A ninja with an enormous amount of Chakra could function almost like an artillery battery even if they had only mastered a few of the Five Basic Nature Transformations.

Possessing Jonin-level Chakra did not necessarily mean one would become a Jonin, but having Jonin-level Chakra meant one had already crossed the greatest threshold toward becoming a Jonin!

Especially since these youths were only at the age of Ninja Academy graduation. Over the next ten or twenty years, their Chakra reserves would continue to grow. As long as they were not utterly terrible in other respects, becoming Jonin was practically guaranteed.

In Kirigakure, ninjas like these would be considered geniuses. Though geniuses were not exactly rare in the Ninja World, at most two or three would emerge each year. Yet Sea Ninja Village had brought out forty or fifty geniuses of this caliber at once—what, had they all been eating Jin Ke La?

Dr. Vegapunk glanced at Ao. He had not expected them to be found out right from the start. He had wanted to try the standard showing-off-and-slapping-faces routine.

These young ninjas were the products of Dr. Vegapunk's initial enhancement experiments. They had first been modified to gain Zoan Abilities, then used the Training Pod to unlock most of their physical potential.

In terms of Chakra reserves, they had already approached the level of Jonin. Their physiques also allowed them to contend with some Chunin or Special Jonin proficient in Taijutsu. After transforming with their Zoan Abilities, they possessed Taijutsu strength nearly at the Jonin level.

"Alright, Jonin of Kirigakure, please take a look at Sea Ninja Village's latest technological invention!"

After speaking, Dr. Vegapunk looked at the young ninjas. "Show these Jonin from the great Ninja Villages what you can do!"

The young ninjas' faces were filled with excitement. These were all the adolescent ninjas Sea Ninja Village had. After all, Sea Ninja Village had been established for less than a year and had no Ninja Academy system to train ninjas. These youngsters had all come from the original ninja organizations, so their numbers were naturally limited.

Not only were they few in number, their quality varied greatly as well. Ninjas trained by small organizations might possess a few special tricks in certain areas, but their fundamental strength was often lacking. After all, not every organization was as fond of abducting child prodigies as Orochimaru.

Therefore, these young ninjas had once felt somewhat inferior when facing ninjas from the other great Ninja Villages. But after undergoing Dr. Vegapunk's enhancements and sensing their explosively increased strength, their confidence immediately swelled. Now, as they looked at the Kirigakure ninjas, their faces were full of eagerness to try.