"Samehada, oh, Samehada, if I rub you bald, don't blame me... It's all just Lord Mizukage's assignment."
Under Araki's gentle caress, Samehada suddenly felt a chill for some reason, and it shuddered violently.
"Huh? You agreed?"
Since Samehada was slung over Araki's shoulder, its shudder naturally did not escape his notice.
Knowing full well that Samehada was a living blade with thoughts and awareness of its own, Araki was delighted by its interaction with him.
After obtaining the genin roster, Araki left the Mizukage Building. On the Third Mizukage's advice, he changed the original open selection format into an invitation system.
In other words, eligibility to compete depended entirely on Araki's decision.
It had to be said, the authority was immense, but the work was exhausting.
He first had to sort through the roster and determine the participants, then personally visit each of them to deliver invitations.
Thus, carrying an axe and a hammer on his back and Samehada as wide as a door panel over his shoulder, Araki first paid a visit to the Hozuki Clan Compound.
He remembered that when he had returned from the Land of the Moon, he had brought back a Petrification Gauntlet. At the time, the Hozuki Clan's weaponsmith had suggested fusing it with Kabutowari to enhance its armor-breaking power.
However, Kabutowari had already been taken to the Land of Fire by Jinin Akebino, so the idea had never been put into practice.
This time, he could finally get it all done at once.
After temporarily leaving Kabutowari at the Hozuki Clan Compound, Araki carried Samehada all the way back to his residence and began screening the genin roster.
Due to Kirigakure's particular nature, its number of genin was not especially high.
Compared to villages like Iwagakure and Konoha, which could field tens of