Later, no one knew what the two fake monks discussed atop that cliff.
Only, when Master Two Truths left, his expression was far from pleasant. Clearly, in the end, he had failed to persuade Tripitaka to make that wager with him—or rather, he still had not won the debate against Tripitaka.
And so, another two days passed.
After September began, more and more outsiders came to Konoha. Representatives sent by the major ninja villages and neighboring countries arrived one after another. Even travelers and merchants with nothing to do with the matter, who had simply come to join the excitement and see the renowned Higashino Shinichi, flocked in.
No one knew how many of them were scouts and spies from other ninja villages.
For a time, Konoha's inns were nearly full, while preparations for the Ninja Way Origins Research Society entered their final sprint. Banners were hung, the venue was arranged, and every item on the schedule was checked and confirmed.
And when everything was finally settled, September 10th of Konoha Year 47—a day Shinichi had named on a whim, yet one destined to be recorded in the history of the Shinobi World—finally arrived.
The eastern horizon had only just begun to pale, and dawn was still dim when Konoha quietly awakened. Streams of people began converging on the square from every direction in the village.
Representatives from the smaller ninja villages entered one after another early in the morning under the guidance of reception staff from the Shinichi Gathering, chatting among themselves as they exchanged names and origins.
Konoha's major clans had also sent representatives. Fugaku Uchiha sat in the front row with several clan elders, Hyuga Hiashi walked alongside several elders of his clan, and Rō Inuzuka and his wife chatted and laughed amid the crowd. Some ordinary