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 it from Danzo.

Although he was dissatisfied with Danzo's previous underhanded antics, this sort of thing could also be considered a bit of amusement.

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

His battle of wits with Danzo was one such interesting thing.

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In any case, Danzo had not achieved his goal.

"Hokage-sama, that Chiba Shun did nothing all day. Under Minato Namikaze's accompaniment, he merely ate a great deal of food."

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

"After eating, he conducted extremely intense physical training."

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

"It is obvious that his constitution is poor. He likely never received sufficient nutritional supplementation in the past, and his chakra reserves are very low."

"Any Chunin the village casually sends out is probably stronger than him."

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

He waved a hand to dismiss the ANBU, 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 merely 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 the Kumogakure shinobi's true intentions."

Naturally, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not agree to such an unreasonable demand from Danzo. He could not even be bothered to answer.

After considering it, he said, "Observe him for a few more days first."

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 lavish meals, then trained.

He still chatted with Minato Namikaze every day about all sorts of wild and irrelevant topics.

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 ninja village system?"

Minato Namikaze said, "The ninja village system created by the First Hokage is very good. It ended the chaotic era of the Warring States."

Chiba Shun asked, "But how many years has the ninja village system existed? Yet two ninja world wars have already occurred."

"How many ninja died in those two wars? How many innocent civilians were dragged into them?"

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

"Likewise, the intensity of war is increasing. I believe the death toll of the next great war will rise dramatically as well."

"Is the ninja village system really good?"

Without hesitation, Minato Namikaze said, "That is because ninja lack trust in one another. Everyone has been 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. He had just been about to explain things to Chiba Shun.

But Chiba Shun had already copied Might Duy, doing a handstand and following after him.

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

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

Like Might Duy, he did not care in the slightest about the strange looks from Konoha's residents.

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

Chiba Shun did not speak to Might Duy either. He simply followed him in training.

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

He even copied Might Duy's extremely embarrassing shouted slogans.

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

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already learned from the Ninja Academy that the twenty-four children from the Kumogakure shinobi could be said to know nothing at all, and their talent was abysmal. They were probably the sort who would struggle even to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

If they had been in Konoha, they might not even have had the chance to enter the Ninja Academy. Konoha's number of talented individuals far surpassed that of the Kumogakure shinobi.

To prevent those people from stealing intelligence, Konoha had assigned a child from the Nara Clan. With just a few words, he had thoroughly led the group around by the nose.

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

Whenever it was mealtime, the children would gorge themselves as though they intended to eat Konoha into bankruptcy.

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 also let out a sigh of relief.

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

In particular, training with 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.

After improving across the board, Chiba Shun's chakra reserves had also risen rapidly.

This improvement was far faster than Chiba Shun training alone.

He estimated that he could now use a C-rank Earth-Style Wall around a hundred times.

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

Thank you, Might Duy!

However, training with Might Duy came at a price. 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 similar high-intensity training in the short term. He had 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 much, Chiba Shun believed that Hiruzen Sarutobi would definitely learn of it at once.

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

Only Hiruzen Sarutobi was in the Hokage's office. Danzo was absent this time, and Chiba Shun did not know whether Hiruzen Sarutobi had sent him away.

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

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

He knew perfectly well that Chiba Shun had not visited the Konoha Ninja Academy even once, and had not even seen the twenty-four children who had been staying there. Yet he still asked such a question. How hypocritical.

But outwardly, Chiba Shun wore an envious expression as he said, "Hokage-sama, Konoha's Ninja Academy is excellent. It is complete in every aspect. We Kumogakure shinobi still have much to learn."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled, then shifted to asking after the lives of Chiba Shun and the others in Konoha.

The two chatted blandly for quite a while, until Chiba Shun finally took the initiative to mention their true mission in coming to Konoha.

"Hokage-sama, in truth, our Raikage-sama wishes to use the exchange between the two villages' ninja academies to deepen our cooperation."

"Our two villages were allies during the era of the Second Hokage, but an accident later occurred. Both of our Second Hokages perished, which caused the alliance to collapse."

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

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not surprised. He had guessed this long ago, but he did not know whether there was a trap involved or what the Raikage wanted to gain.

So he said courteously, "I understand the Raikage's intentions. Konoha also hopes to restore our alliance."

Konoha naturally hoped to find an ally among the other four great ninja villages. The Land of Whirlpools was already gone, and he no longer wanted Konoha to stand isolated and helpless.

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

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

In his letter, he had very subtly indicated that he wished to form an alliance but was facing resistance.

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

An ANBU abruptly appeared, took the letter, and only handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi after carefully examining it.

Only after Hiruzen Sarutobi had finished reading did Chiba Shun say, "Hokage-sama, the Kumogakure shinobi are not as united as Konoha. Our Will of Lightning propaganda has only just begun, and within the village there are many forces left behind from the era of the Second Raikage, even the First Raikage."

"Although these people fear Raikage-sama's strength and do not dare openly oppose him, they have always sabotaged him in secret."

"Using the death of the Second Raikage as an excuse, they have constantly opposed an alliance with Konoha."

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

"Raikage-sama wishes to obtain Konoha's assistance and save the village from the hands of these hardliners."

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

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

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

Konoha appeared powerful, but internally, forces left behind by the Second Hokage were struggling against his Third Hokage faction.

Of course, that struggle was nearing its end. With the help of companions like Danzo, and after winning the Second Ninja World War, the old forces had quickly fallen before him.

But the Third Raikage did not have a capable assistant like Danzo, and he had been on the losing side of the Second Ninja World War. It was only natural that he was still constrained by the old men of his village.

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

There was also the conflict between the major ninja clans and smaller ninja clans, 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; between him and the ninja clans, there was both cooperation and confrontation.

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