Hokage Leaves the Village

Zhang Miao's face was swollen again, and Nightingale was the one who had pinched it.

As a transmigrator and Naruto Uzumaki's biological older brother, Zhang Miao had always regarded himself as the older brother of Konoha's future Seventh Hokage.

But now, the face of this "Hokage's older brother" had been pinched swollen twice in a row—and both times after he had already begged for mercy. This was simply too much!

He absolutely could not let this slide!

"That woman is way too vile! I'm obviously still just a child!"

Zhang Miao felt that his patience with Nightingale had reached its limit, so he decided to get revenge!

Unfortunately, before Zhang Miao could figure out what kind of revenge to use, Nightingale had already left. According to Owl, she had been sent on a classified mission.

Since Owl said that Nightingale was carrying out a classified mission, Zhang Miao did not ask any further questions. He knew that even if he asked, Owl would not tell him.

Of course, even without Owl saying anything, Zhang Miao could guess that something might have happened.

Previously, at least two Anbu had protected him and Naruto, but now only Owl remained. That revealed one thing—the Anbu were short on manpower!

Anything capable of leaving even the Anbu short-handed was probably no minor matter. But based on Zhang Miao's understanding of the Naruto plot, Konoha did not seem to have encountered anything major at this point!

Just as Zhang Miao was deep in thought, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the door.

"Ryunosuke, let us stake our youth on a blazing showdown!"

Zhang Miao: "..."

Upon hearing that voice, Zhang Miao did not even need to go outside to know who it was—

In all of Konoha, was there anyone besides Might Guy who went around shouting about youth all day?

Thinking of this, Zhang Miao helplessly shook his head, then walked to the door and opened it.

"Hey, Acorn Guy, let's make this clear first. We'll only compete in eating. I won't compete in anything else!"

Acorn Guy?

Hearing this new name, Might Guy immediately shed sorrowful tears in his heart.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I've disgraced you. But don't worry, I will definitely win this time!"

With that thought, Might Guy immediately thrust out his fist toward Zhang Miao.

"Fine! With our youth on the line, I will definitely defeat you this time! But you have to promise me that if I win, you're never allowed to mention the word 'acorn' again. And you must call me Konoha's proud Azure Beast—Might Guy!"

Seeing that Might Guy had agreed, Zhang Miao's face immediately broke into a brilliant smile.

"Fine, I promise. It's a deal!"

Zhang Miao knew very well that with his astonishing digestive ability, Might Guy could never defeat him.

That meant another ten Ninja Fragments in the bag!

Thinking of this, Zhang Miao, in high spirits, deliberately waved grandly at Might Guy.

"What we eat, you decide!"

Might Guy had no idea that Zhang Miao had already secured victory in advance. Hearing Zhang Miao let him choose the food, he was instantly overjoyed.

"Then today, we'll compete in eating rice balls!"

Might Guy felt that compared to chestnuts, rice balls were easier to swallow and more filling. With Zhang Miao's tiny body, there was no way he could eat more than him!

Thinking of this, he could not help bursting into smug laughter.

"Hahahaha! Come on, there's a place not far ahead that sells delicious rice balls. We'll go there!"

As he spoke, Might Guy grabbed Zhang Miao's hand and prepared to leave. But after only taking two steps, Owl, wearing a pointed-beak mask, stopped him.

"Without Lord Hokage's written authorization, you cannot take him away!"

"Lord Hokage's written authorization?"

Hearing Owl's words, Might Guy scratched the back of his head in distress.

"I already went to the Hokage's Office to see Lord Hokage this morning, but Lord Hokage isn't in the village!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not in the village?

As soon as Might Guy finished speaking, Zhang Miao frowned, silently thinking to himself, Might Guy isn't someone who spouts nonsense, but as Hokage, why would the Third Elder not be in the village?

Zhang Miao remembered that, as the leader of a ninja village, a Kage could not casually leave the village. Even when faced with the most serious emergencies, they would send others to deal with them while the Kage had to remain behind to oversee the village.

Of course, that did not mean a Kage would absolutely never leave the village. It only meant that they would temporarily leave under extremely special circumstances.

For example, based on what Zhang Miao knew, there were two situations in which a Kage would leave their village.

The first was when major conflicts arose between nations and The Five Kage Summit was needed. The Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages would then leave their villages to attend the meeting.

The second was when the daimyo of their country appointed a new generation of Kage. Since they had to receive their official investiture, the Kage would need to leave the village.

But after thinking about it, Zhang Miao realized that neither situation was possible.

First of all, according to the Naruto plot, The Five Kage Summit should have taken place on the eve of the Fourth Great Ninja War, convened to deal with Akatsuki together. That was still more than a decade away!

As for the daimyo appointing a new generation of Kage, that was even more impossible. Hiruzen Sarutobi was already the Third Hokage...

Hm? No, that wasn't right!

At that moment, Zhang Miao suddenly realized that Hiruzen Sarutobi had already stepped down as the Third Hokage. The person who truly held the authority to govern Konoha now was Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage!

But Minato Namikaze had already died during the Nine-Tails' Rampage. If the Third Hokage wanted to regain the authority to govern Konoha, he would have to be formally reinstated by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire!

With that, everything made sense.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, needed to regain his governing authority, so he had to leave Konoha and go to the Daimyo's Mansion in the Land of Fire. The Anbu had accompanied him there to protect him.

"Ugh... what a boring system!"

With that thought, Zhang Miao sighed helplessly, then stepped forward and patted Might Guy on the shoulder.

"Acorn Guy, I'm afraid you won't be getting that writ anytime soon. And Owl has to protect my little brother, so he can't spare the time either. That means you'll have to bring the rice balls here, and we'll have our match here instead. How about it?"

"Hmm... all right!"

Might Guy thought it over for a moment and felt that Zhang Miao's suggestion would work, so he immediately nodded and sprinted off to buy rice balls.

Ten minutes later, Might Guy came running back with two large baskets of rice balls. Then, with Owl acting as referee, he began his second "Duel of Youth" with Zhang Miao!

"I won't lose!"

Before the match began, Might Guy declared his victory.

Seeing how confident he was, Zhang Miao merely smiled faintly and calmly picked up a rice ball.

"Let's eat!"

The outcome of the match was without suspense. In less than ten minutes, Might Guy collapsed with his belly bulging.

"Ding—Congratulations, Host, you have obtained x10 Ninja Fragments of Five-Star Jonin Might Guy!"

Upon hearing the notification, Zhang Miao was not as happy as he had expected. Instead, he felt deeply worried.

He raised his head and looked toward the distant sky, silently praying in his heart.

I hope nothing goes wrong!