Might Duy

As expected, Danzo was also in the Hokage's office. He wanted to hear the report from the ANBU monitoring Chiba Shun as well.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not hide anything from Danzo.

Although he was dissatisfied with Danzo's previous underhanded moves, this sort of thing could also be seen as a form of entertainment.

After all, facing mountains of documents every day was exhausting. He needed something interesting to break up the monotony.

The battle of wits and schemes with Danzo was exactly that kind of interesting thing.

In any case, Danzo had not achieved his goal.

"Hokage-sama, Chiba Shun did nothing all day. Under Minato Namikaze's escort, he simply ate a large amount of food."

"Most of that food was highly effective at replenishing a ninja's expenditure."

"After eating, he carried out extremely intense physical training."

"This subordinate suspects that he is taking advantage of his time in our village to improve his physique."

"It is obvious that his physique is poor. He likely never received sufficient nutritional replenishment before, and his chakra reserves are very low."

"Any Chunin from the village would probably be stronger than him."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was somewhat surprised. When he had listened to Minato Namikaze's report earlier, he had not considered that possibility.

He waved for the ANBU to withdraw, then said to Danzo, "Danzo, what do you think?"

Danzo frowned. He found it strange as well, and only spoke after a while. "The leader of a Ninja Academy exchange group refuses to visit the Ninja Academy, instead sending those little brats who know nothing there. He is probably plotting something else."

"Hiruzen, hand him over to Root."

"I only need one day to make him talk and uncover Kumogakure's true purpose."

Naturally, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not agree to Danzo's unreasonable request. He could not even be bothered to answer.

After some thought, he said, "Observe him for a few more days."

Over the following days, Chiba Shun continued doing the same things he had done on the first day.

Every day, he had Minato Namikaze treat him to a lavish meal, then trained.

He still chatted with Minato Namikaze every day about all sorts of fanciful, irrelevant things.

For example, after finishing a meal that day, he asked Minato Namikaze on the way to the training grounds, "Minato, what do you think of the Shinobi Village system?"

Minato Namikaze said, "The Shinobi Village system created by the First Hokage is very good. It ended the chaos of the Warring States era."

Chiba Shun asked, "But how many years has the Shinobi Village system existed? Two Shinobi World Wars have already happened."

"How many ninja died in those two wars? And how many innocent civilians were caught up in them?"

"Now, Kumogakure and the other major ninja villages are all learning from Konoha's Ninja Academy system. The number of ninja will only continue to grow."

"Likewise, the scale of war is intensifying. I believe the death toll in the next great war will rise dramatically as well."

"Is the Shinobi Village system really good?"

Minato Namikaze answered without hesitation, "That is because there is a lack of trust between ninja, and everyone is using chakra the wrong way."

"Chakra can allow ninja to communicate in special ways. I believe..."

Before Minato Namikaze could finish, Chiba Shun suddenly pointed ahead. "Minato, look at that person!"

At that moment, not far ahead of them, a green figure was running while doing a handstand.

Minato Namikaze knew Might Duy. No one in Konoha did not know Might Duy. Just as he was about to explain, Chiba Shun had already imitated Might Duy and followed after him on his hands.

Minato Namikaze opened his mouth, but ultimately did not stop him.

For the next few days, Chiba Shun trained alongside Might Duy.

Like Might Duy, he paid no attention whatsoever to the strange looks from Konoha's residents.

At first, Minato Namikaze and the ANBU monitoring Chiba Shun were somewhat nervous about him training with Might Duy, but they quickly got used to it.

Chiba Shun did not speak to Might Duy. He simply followed him and trained.

When Might Duy ran, he ran as well. When Might Duy did push-ups, he did them too.

Even when Might Duy shouted extremely embarrassing slogans, he copied him.

Half a month passed like that before Hiruzen Sarutobi finally received him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already learned from the Ninja Academy that the twenty-four children from Kumogakure knew practically nothing and had terrible talent. They were likely the sort who would struggle even to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

In Konoha, they might not even have had the chance to enter the Ninja Academy. Konoha's number of talents also far exceeded Kumogakure's.

To prevent them from stealing intelligence, Konoha sent out a child from the Nara Clan, who fooled the group silly with just a few words.

There was only one thing that no amount of persuasion from that Nara Clan child could change.

Whenever mealtime arrived, the children would gorge themselves as though they intended to eat Konoha into poverty.

After eating, they trained desperately until they had exhausted all their chakra.

Following a squad of ANBU along the road to the Hokage Building, Chiba Shun finally let out a breath of relief.

The leisurely half month had indeed improved his physique by a great deal.

In particular, training alongside Might Duy had brought an overall improvement to Chiba Shun's body.

Might Duy's bizarre, even embarrassing training methods could actually improve the body in the most balanced way possible.

With his overall abilities improved, Chiba Shun's chakra reserves had also risen rapidly.

This improvement was far faster than training by himself.

He estimated that he could now cast the C-rank Jutsu Earth-Style Wall around one hundred times.

Over the past year, Chiba Shun's chakra reserves had only risen from enough for thirty C-rank Jutsu to enough for seventy. Yet during this brief half month in Konoha, they had increased by another thirty!

Thank you, Might Duy!

However, training with Might Duy came at a cost. Chiba Shun felt that his body had reached its limit, and he had even suffered some injuries from overtraining.

He could no longer carry out similarly intense training in the short term. He needed to rest properly for a while.

So during the day, Chiba Shun suddenly brought up Danzo to Minato Namikaze.

Although they did not discuss Danzo in much detail, Chiba Shun believed Hiruzen Sarutobi would certainly learn of it immediately.

Sure enough, that very night, he received an audience with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Only Hiruzen Sarutobi was in the office. Danzo was absent this time, perhaps because Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent him away.

"Chiba Shun, correct? You have been in Konoha for half a month now. What do you think of Konoha's Ninja Academy?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked kindly.

Chiba Shun sneered inwardly. He did not believe Hiruzen Sarutobi was unaware of his movements.

Knowing full well that he had not visited the Konoha Ninja Academy even once, and that he had not even met the twenty-four children staying there again, Hiruzen Sarutobi still asked such a question. How hypocritical.

Yet outwardly, Chiba Shun wore an envious expression. "Hokage-sama, Konoha's Ninja Academy is wonderful. It is comprehensive in every aspect. Our Shinobi Village still has much to learn from you."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, then turned to asking after Chiba Shun and the others' life in Konoha.

The two talked vaguely for quite some time before Chiba Shun finally took the initiative to bring up their true mission in coming to Konoha.

"Hokage-sama, the Raikage-sama sent us to Konoha because he wishes to deepen cooperation through an exchange between the Ninja Academies of our two villages."

"Our two villages were allies during the Second Hokage's era. It was only because of later unforeseen events, when both of our Second leaders died, that the alliance fell apart."

"The Raikage-sama wishes to restore the alliance with Konoha."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not surprised. He had long guessed as much. He simply did not know whether there was a trap involved, or what the Raikage wanted to gain from it.

Thus, he said politely, "I understand the Raikage's intentions. Konoha also hopes to restore the alliance between us."

Konoha naturally wanted to find an ally among the other four great Shinobi Villages. The Land of Whirlpools was already gone, and he did not want Konoha to become isolated and helpless.

However, after a brief pause, he still asked, "But does the Raikage have any concerns?"

Chiba Shun was not surprised that Hiruzen Sarutobi asked this, because the Third Raikage had exchanged letters with him not long ago.

In the letter, he had very subtly indicated that he wanted an alliance but faced internal resistance.

Chiba Shun then took out the Third Raikage's secret letter and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

An ANBU suddenly appeared, took the letter, and carefully inspected it before handing it over to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Only after Hiruzen Sarutobi finished reading did Chiba Shun say, "Hokage-sama, Kumogakure is not as united as Konoha. The promotion of our Will of Lightning has only just begun, and there are many forces within the village left over from the Second Hokage's era, or even the First Hokage's era."

"Though these people fear the Raikage-sama's strength and do not dare oppose him openly, they have constantly been causing trouble in secret."

"Using the Second Hokage's death as an excuse, they have always opposed an alliance with Konoha."

"They even oppose the village establishing a Ninja Academy, wanting to control ninja training themselves."

"The Raikage-sama wishes to receive Konoha's help in saving the village from these stubborn factions."

Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and looked at Chiba Shun for a long time, as though weighing how much of his words and the Third Raikage's letter could be trusted.

After pondering for a long time, he still chose to believe most of it.

Because in his eyes, Konoha was exactly as Chiba Shun described.

The seemingly powerful Konoha contained a conflict between forces left behind by the Second Hokage and the Third Hokage faction led by him.

Of course, that conflict was nearing its end. With the help of companions like Danzo, he had won the Second Shinobi World War, and the old forces had quickly been defeated before him.

But the Third Raikage lacked a capable aide like Danzo, and he had been on the losing side of the Second Shinobi World War. It was only natural that he was still constrained by the village elders.

And beyond that conflict, Konoha also had the struggle between Hiruzen Sarutobi and companions like Danzo.

There was also the struggle between the great ninja clans and the smaller ones, such as the Uchiha, who terrified enemy nations while also giving him, the Hokage, a headache.

There was even conflict between all ninja clans and civilian ninja. Hiruzen Sarutobi had always supported civilian ninja, and his relationship with the ninja clans involved both cooperation and confrontation.

Even Konoha under Hiruzen Sarutobi's leadership had so many problems. How could a brute like the Third Raikage possibly do better than him, the strongest Hokage?