Chapter 267
Li Yue shrugged.
"But he didn't care."
"I see."
Kisuke Urahara nodded.
"So, what do you want me to help you with? And what information are you planning to reveal to me?"
"I'd like to borrow the space under your shop for a while, and I'd also appreciate it if you could provide a Divine Transformation Technique so this kid can practice Bankai. As for the information I can give you, it's naturally all the information I have about Aizen right now."
"All information about Aizen?"
"Yes, everything!"
"Make a deal!"
Although he didn't know why Li Yue would betray Aizen's information, Kisuke Urahara chose to agree. As for whether what Li Yue said was true or false, Kisuke Urahara would make his own conclusions based on the information Li Yue provided.
"Hey? You're really going to believe him? What if he's a spy sent by Aizen?"
Yoruichi Shihoin's expression changed immediately upon hearing Kisuke Urahara's immediate agreement.
"Don't worry, Yoruichi- san. The Thirteenth Division has surrendered to Aizen. This means that Aizen's power has become so strong that the Thirteenth Division cannot resist him. Do you think we can fight against Aizen at this level?"
Yoruichi Shihoin's already dark-skinned face instantly turned even darker.
Although Kisuke Urahara's words sounded unpleasant, it had to be admitted that they were true.
"At this point, if Aizen wanted to kill us, he wouldn't need to send spies at all. After all, this so-called spy you mentioned already knows the location of our base, so Aizen could definitely find out our location through him and then come and take care of us directly."
"So there's no need for us to lie in wait. The moment Aizen discovers us, he can come over directly or send his Arrancar to kill us."
Kisuke Urahara pressed his hat down on his head.
"Or perhaps the new Thirteenth Division could come and kill us, couldn't it?"
"Cut!"
Yoruichi Shihoin clicked her tongue in displeasure, then turned and leaped away, disappearing from her spot.
"Oh dear, Yoruichi- san's temper is still so impatient."
Kisuke Urahara watched Yoruichi leave, shook his head helplessly, and then looked at Li Yue.
"Well then, Mr. Li Yue, please follow me. I'll take you both to my basement."
481. The Third Chunin Exam Begins
In Konoha, the day of the third Chunin Exam has finally arrived. After the first Chunin Exam, the second Chunin Exam, and the third preliminary round, the third official exam will be held in the circular arena.
Because it was the final and public competition, it attracted a large audience. In particular, this exam was attended by ninjas from major villages, making it extremely attractive to wealthy people from various countries.
You ask why it only appeals to the wealthy? That's because, apart from the locals of Konoha, it's one thing for people from other countries who don't have money to know about the Chunin Exam, but it's quite another to know about them and actually make it to Konoha alive.
Therefore, apart from the local villagers of Konoha, the people from other countries who came to watch the match were all wealthy businessmen or nobles.
The village chiefs from several villages also came over.
The village chiefs of the three major villages, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure, have all arrived. As for Kirigakure, the Blood Dance arc is not yet over, and diplomatic relations with other villages have not yet resumed. Therefore, no Kirigakure ninjas have come to participate in the Chunin Exam, and naturally, their village chief has not come either.
The simultaneous appearance of the four village chiefs in the circular arena was a rare and spectacular sight since the establishment of the Five Great Villages. After all, the first time the five village chiefs gathered together was at a meeting of the five village chiefs convened at the call of the first village chief of Konoha. However, the content of that meeting was that the Leaf Village kowtowed to the others and asked everyone to work together to maintain peace, while also distributing some mobile nuclear weapons.
Although they didn't manage to gather all five village chiefs to summon the Fourth Shinobi World War this time, it's still quite remarkable to have gathered four village chiefs.
"It's been a long time, Hokage."
The Kazekage of Sunagakure was the first to arrive at the circular arena, and greeted the Third Hokage, who had already arrived and was sitting in the main seat.
"It's been a long time, Kazekage."
The Hokage sat in his seat, cheerfully responding to the Kazekage.
"Third Hokage, you're so old, haven't you stepped down yet?"
Behind the Kazekage was the towering Raikage. Compared to the Kazekage and Hokage, who were of normal height, the Raikage looked like an African-American NBA player standing among a group of normal people—dark-skinned, tall, and imposing.
Moreover, compared to the Third Hokage, the Raikage, although he looks like a middle-aged man, doesn't look that old.
"Hehehe, the Fourth Raikage, the Tsuchikage is even older than me, but he didn't abdicate."
The Third Hokage responded to the Fourth Raikage with a smile, then smoothly shifted the topic to the Third Tsuchikage, who was floating behind the Fourth Raikage.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, don't compare yourself to me."
The Third Tsuchikage was very unhappy that the Third Hokage was shifting the focus of the attack onto him, but as the Third Hokage said, he was indeed very old and had not stepped down.
Most importantly, the Third Tsuchikage and the Fourth Raikage are enemies!
Upon hearing the Third Hokage's words, the Fourth Raikage instantly turned and glared at the Third Tsuchikage, clenching his fists as if he were about to attack him. While the conflicts between other village chiefs were between villages, the conflict between the Fourth Raikage and the Third Tsuchikage was a personal one. The Third Raikage had died at the hands of the Third Tsuchikage —Third Tsuchikage or rather, not at his hands, but through a scheme orchestrated by the Third Tsuchikage. The cost to Iwagakure was the loss of numerous ninja. Unfortunately, the Fourth Raikage was the Third Raikage's son, making this a combination of village hatred and personal grudges!
The two were on the verge of exchanging blows, but in the end, the Fourth Raikage held back, because this was not Kumogakure or Iwagakure, but Konoha, so he could not make a move.
Moreover, his purpose in coming to Konoha this time was to investigate the matter of that Otsutsuki Butler, especially whether that Wood Style was real. Judging from the current situation, he did see traces of Wood Style in Konoha, but whether he could control it stably or whether it was just an experimental rampage, he had to find out. After all, Konoha with powerful Wood Style and Konoha without powerful Wood Style are two different things.
There's another matter, which is Sasuke's marriage proposal. The Uchiha bloodline limit, or rather, the Otsutsuki bloodline limit, is something that the Cloud Village desperately desires.
As we all know, in the ninja world, the Cloud Village values technology the most and bloodline limits the most, but unfortunately, the Hidden Cloud Village does not have many bloodline limit families.
Kirigakure has many bloodline clans, but they've almost exhausted their own resources. Iwagakure has bloodline ninjas, but no bloodline clans. Sunagakure also has bloodline ninjas, but few bloodline clans. Konoha, on the other hand, has many bloodline clans. Therefore, Kumogakure has always wanted to have a powerful bloodline clan. To this end, they once plotted against Konoha's Hyuga clan, but unfortunately, their plan failed, and Kirigakure ended up with a Byakugan.
Therefore, if there is an opportunity to obtain the Sharingan's bloodline limit, the Hidden Cloud Village will absolutely not give it up. This is a legitimate opportunity to obtain the Sharingan, with no risk of conflict or the need for casualties in battle. Of course, the premise is that the butler is real and everything he said is true.
Some in Kumogakure speculated that this might be a conspiracy by Konoha to send young geniuses from other villages to Leaf Village so that their talents could be eliminated. However, the Raikage was confident in his abilities and believed he could protect his village's geniuses and help them escape Konoha.
Although there are indeed risks, if it were true, the returns would be extremely high, so Raikage felt that he could take the risk for the sake of those returns.
"Alright, village chiefs, please sit down."
Seeing that the Third Hokage Fourth Raikage and the Third Tsuchikage invited them to sit down. As for the Kazekage, he had already sat down after greeting the Third Hokage, showing no politeness whatsoever.
The Kazekage who was originally here has become Orochimaru. However, this time, Orochimaru did not carry out any Konoha Crush Plan. The original Konoha Crush Plan was just to send away the Third Hokage and obtain Uchiha Sasuke's body. It was not really to make Konoha collapse. Otherwise, with Orochimaru's abilities, it would have been no problem for him to destroy Konoha.
Therefore, thanks to Li Yue, the Kazekage did not carry out any Konoha Crush Plan this time, and naturally did not die at Orochimaru's hands while dreaming of Konoha's collapse.
However, when faced with the Third Hokage's greeting, all the Kage were stunned.
"Third Hokage, what did you just call us?"
"Village chief, isn't this wrong?"
Looking at the bewildered expressions on the three faces, the Third Hokage smiled broadly. He understood how Li Yue felt when she called him "village chief" back then; it was a truly delightful feeling.
"You are the village chiefs of Cloud Village, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure, aren't you? Just like I am the village chief of Leaf Village."
"What village chief? I'm the Kage of the Cloud Ninja!"
"But the place where the Cloud Ninja live is called a village. You are the leader of your village, the highest leader in a village, so is there a problem with me saying you are the village chief?"
"This..."
Even with the Raikage's fiery temper, he was momentarily at a loss for words when faced with the Third Hokage's explanation, because what the Third Hokage said was indeed correct. Everyone had always considered themselves as part of the village, and the leader of the village was the village chief, wasn't he?
"So, there's nothing wrong with me calling everyone 'village chief,' right? Besides, I am the village chief, aren't I?"
The Third Hokage didn't care at all. Anyway, he was going to retire after the Chunin Exam, and he figured he'd gained something by making things difficult for these guys before he retired.
"Alright, Cloud Village Chief, Iwa Village Chief, please sit down. The match is about to begin."
The Third Hokage beckoned to the two village chiefs who were still standing, signaling them to sit down. The two snorted and then sat down.
The Third Hokage knew that the Iwagakure and Kumogakure were sworn enemies, especially the Fourth Raikage, who was the Third Tsuchikage and had a blood feud with him. So he arranged for the two to sit on opposite sides of the left and right, with the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage sitting in the middle to separate them.
After the four village chiefs took their seats, all their eyes were focused on the arena below.
"Leaf Village, I've heard that your village has produced a genius named Uchiha Sasuke. Who is he?"
After the Raikage took his seat, he didn't try to hide anything and immediately asked which one was Uchiha Sasuke. Anyway, information about Uchiha Sasuke was now public knowledge, so what if he asked? Your Leaf Village is openly recruiting husbands. He should also call the Third Hokage "Village Chief".
"Village Chief of Kumogakure, Uchiha Sasuke is the name of the past. The current Sasuke has returned to his ancestral surname and is now called Otsutsuki Sasuke."
"I don't care if it 'Otsutsuki or Uchiha, I just want to know which one is Sasuke."
The Raikage didn't care about surnames; he just wanted to know which one was Sasuke.
"That's right, Leaf Village, I'd also like to know which one is Sasuke. By the way, I'd like to ask if Sasuke's marriage proposal is real or fake."
Li Yue
"To be honest, none of the people present here so far are Sasuke."
The three-generation village chief shook his head helplessly.
"Um?"
Raikage immediately frowned.
"Leaf Village, what do you mean? You announced you were going to find a wife for Sasuke, but then you told us Sasuke isn't here. Are you kidding us?"
The Third Tsuchikage was overjoyed to see the Raikage questioning the Hokage. He had come to the right place this time. The Raikage's fiery temper was perfect for paving the way for him. He didn't need to do anything to get a lot of information from the Hokage, and the Raikage would be the one to offend people. The Raikage could just stay out of it and not care.
"I didn't mean to deceive you all, but Sasuke is indeed not in Konoha right now. By the way, I should add to the information for the three village chiefs: it wasn't me, nor Konoha, who was arranging a marriage for Sasuke, but Mr. Li Yue, the butler of the Otsutsuki clan."
The Third Hokage was also in no hurry.
"As for why Sasuke isn't in Konoha right now, it's because Sasuke was taken away by Mr. Li Yue. In order to prepare for this Chunin Exam, Butler Li Yue took Sasuke to a special place for training. But don't worry, I think they'll be back before the exams start."
After the Third Hokage finished speaking, he looked at the three men with a smile, waiting for their feedback.
You're here to see Sasuke? Good thing you're here to see Sasuke. If you were here to cause trouble for Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi would be a little worried, but if you're here to see Sasuke, then he won't be worried at all, because no one understands Li Yue better than him.
This butler's strength is ridiculously high; no one in Konoha can defeat him. Under these circumstances, anyone who causes trouble for Sasuke or this butler is basically courting death!
As a member of Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi could confidently declare: No one can defeat Wood Style!
That's right, the First Hokage's Wood Style was that arrogant. Back then, none of the four village chiefs dared to speak loudly in front of him. They didn't back then, and they certainly don't now!
As for whether these people would cause trouble for Sasuke and get killed by the butler Li Yue, and then turn on Konoha because they wouldn't dare to cause trouble for Li Yue, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't care at all. Because Sasuke in Konoha, if they caused trouble for Konoha, they were causing trouble for Sasuke, and if they caused trouble for Sasuke, they were causing trouble for Li Yue.
Li Yue did say he didn't care about the lives of Konoha people, but as long as Sasuke was still in Konoha, he would definitely be affected to some extent. This is Konoha people's favorite trick - bonds!
"Hmph, I hope he can really get back before the competition."
Faced with the Third Hokage's explanation, the Raikage dropped a single sentence and said nothing more, knowing that continuing would only result in useless nonsense. He turned his gaze to the people in the arena. This time, the Cloud Ninja also sent people to participate in the Chunin Exams, but unfortunately, none of them survived to the end. Compared to the Konoha Twelve, the Cloud Ninja really didn't have anyone worth mentioning; the ones they could boast about were all grown up.
The main reason is that most of the Cloud Ninja are skilled in Taijutsu, taijutsu, and lightning release. The training time for these is much longer than for other Ninjutsu. How old are the Twelve Konoha Genin? When the Cloud Ninja were that old, most of them were still training their bodies. There are very few who can reach the level of the Twelve Konoha Genin. So all of them who were sent to participate in the competition have been eliminated.
But it's not a big problem. The Raikage never expected them to win the match. It would be great if they could win, but it wouldn't matter if they couldn't. His ultimate goal was Sasuke's marriage proposal!
Now, what the Raikage cares about more is when that so-called butler will bring Sasuke into the arena.
Two figures in the audience were also paying attention to the arena.
"Mr. Itachi, which one of the following is your younger brother?"
"None of them."
"Hmm? But the intelligence report said that your younger brother would appear in the third Chunin Exam. He has already passed the preliminary rounds of the third exam."
"That's right, that's what the intelligence said, but unfortunately, none of them are my stupid little brother."
"Huh? Doesn't that mean..."
"He probably hasn't arrived yet."
Two seemingly ordinary people with somewhat wooden expressions, but through their conversation, those familiar with the Hokage world could already guess their true identities: one was the famous Uchiha Itachi, and the other was Kisame Hoshigaki, Uchiha Itachi's loyal follower.
Ever since Uchiha Itachi learned about Li Yue and Otsutsuki Sasuke, he had wanted to return to Konoha to see how Sasuke was doing, whether Li Yue was really taking care of Sasuke, or whether she was deceiving Sasuke under the guise of taking care of him. As an older brother who cared about his younger brother, he was very anxious.
Unfortunately, he never had the chance to come to Konoha. This time, after completing the mission, he and Kisame happened to pass through Konoha, so he brought Kisame along to visit Konoha. When reporting to the Akatsuki Organization, he ostensibly said that he was helping the Akatsuki Organization gather information, since Li Yue possessed the legendary Wood Style.
The last person to master Wood Style was called the God of Shinobi. Although Pain of the Akatsuki Organization had the Rinnegan and even called himself a god, being called a god by others and calling oneself a god are two different things. In particular, the person who mastered Wood Style had seen the legendary Rinnegan and even knew about the legendary Sage of Six Paths who had previously possessed the Rinnegan.
Pain, who didn't know much about the secrets of the Rinnegan, agreed to Uchiha Itachi's mission to Konoha, and Uchiha Itachi was essentially acting on orders.
However, unlike when they usually carry out missions, this time the two of them chose to transform into ordinary people. Normally, when the Akatsuki Organization missions, they would be dressed in black with red clouds, extremely arrogant, but this time it wouldn't work, because there are several village chiefs in Konoha, Akatsuki Organization didn't want to expose themselves to too many village chiefs' gazes for the time being.
So they chose to transform and hide their identities, but unfortunately, after entering Konoha, they stayed for several days without finding Sasuke or Li Yue.
In order to conceal their identities, they couldn't investigate too recklessly, so they didn't know where Sasuke and Li Yue had gone. They only knew that Li Yue had taken Sasuke to train in preparation for the third exam.
This was a very reasonable explanation, so Uchiha Itachi believed it. Therefore, he was now very curious about how Sasuke was progressing with the help of this so-called butler.
"Oh, it seems they're about to begin."
In the center of the arena, the examiner in charge of the third Chunin Exam had landed. The man, who looked pale as if he had kidney deficiency, coughed twice as soon as he landed and then glanced at everyone present.