After everyone had dispersed, Senju Chen walked up to Zabuza Momochi alone.
He patted Zabuza Momochi on the shoulder and said in a low voice, "You performed well this time, but don't be too proud."
"With these rubbish, what should I be proud of?" Zabuza Momochi's voice was hoarse and cold.
"With your talent and hard work, you will be more than enough to become an excellent Jonin in the future." Senju Chen's voice was very soft, "But... that's all."
"What do you mean?" Zabuza Momochi frowned and looked at Senju Chen with wolf-like eyes, puzzled.
"It means that your upper limit has been reached. You know your own situation better than I do. Without Kekkei Genkai, there is no family inheritance, and you just have to struggle by yourself. The ceiling is there, you can see it, but you can't touch it." Senju Chen's words were like a sharp knife, piercing Zabuza Momochi's pride.
"Hmph!" Zabuza Momochi snorted coldly, his eyes full of fierceness that refused to admit defeat, "Now Kirigakure, isn't it an opportunity for us civilian ninjas! Without those high-ranking blood successor families, as long as I am strong enough and kill enough people, I will definitely be able to stand at the top of the village!"
"Haha." Senju Chen smiled, it was the look of an adult looking at a hot-blooded kid, "Standing at the top? Where are you standing? Are you using this broken knife of yours?"
He pointed at the ordinary sword in Zabuza's hand, his tone full of disdain.
"Do you think you can compare to Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist back then?"
Hearing this, Zabuza Momochi's face turned gloomy. In fact, he also knew that even if he said he could compare, so what, the village didn't even have knives now, how could he compare with those???
"You can't even compare to those seven missing people, how can you stand on top?" Senju Chen looked at Zabuza Momochi who didn't answer and continued.
"However, I do have a path that will allow you to break through your shackles and even surpass Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist back then... However, the price this path requires is far beyond what ordinary people can afford."
"It's a pity for your talent. You can think about it and come to me when you think about it."
After saying that, Senju Chen patted Zabuza Momochi on the shoulder, turned around and left.
Zabuza Momochi was left alone in a daze on the beach.
High Tower Minister's Office,
Senju Chen (Kirisame Ryo) leaned on the soft seat, resting his feet comfortably on the expensive desk, holding a cup of freshly brewed hot tea in his hand.
There was a gentle knock on the office door.
"Come in."
The door was pushed open a crack, and an instructor poked half of his head in, with a flattering smile on his face that was uglier than crying, "Minister... Mr. Minister, this is the application form for training supplies for this month. You... you can take a look."
The instructor held the scroll in both hands, bowed his body, and walked cautiously, as if what he stepped on was not the floor, but a mountain of swords and a sea of fire.
Senju Chen didn't even raise his eyelids, he just said a faint "hmm".
As if he had received an amnesty, the instructor placed the scroll on the corner of the table, walked backwards, and moved out of the office step by step. He did not dare to take a deep breath until the door was closed.
"Heh." Senju Chen chuckled.
It's only been a few days, and these "colleagues" who wanted to laugh at me yesterday, now see me like a mouse seeing a cat.
Especially Mitsue Ringo.
This "promising" instructor was assigned to guard the northernmost lighthouse in the village because of poor teaching quality after the "Purification" assessment.
It is said that when I went there, I was carried there, and I kept shouting "I am not wrong" and "I just followed the teaching policy"...
Senju Chen took a sip of tea, feeling calm in his heart.
After he was promoted to High Tower minister, he did nothing but extended the "rat philosophy" training method he taught before to the whole High Tower.
Then, he began to deliberately ignore a person.
Zabuza Momochi.
The Demon who shined in the assessment and buried Mitsue Ringo's "glory" with his own hands.
Senju Chen knew that the little wolf's patience was about to run out.
The night is as deep as ink.
There were no lights on in the office, only the moonlight filtered through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a cool silvery glow.
Senju Chen sat quietly in the darkness, like a lifeless statue.
Suddenly, a figure appeared silently in the shadow of the office like a ghost.
No knocking, no announcement.
The person who came was none other than Zabuza Momochi. He was still wearing a student uniform, and his wolf-like eyes were shining horribly in the darkness, staring at the man behind the desk.
Seven whole days.
Ever since the assessment ended and this man was personally appointed as Minister High Tower by Lord Mizukage, he has never been seen again.
He watched other students being assigned new tasks and organized into new teams, and most of them had even started to perform tasks.
But he, the nominal number one, was left aside as if he had been forgotten.
Humiliation, anger, confusion, and a trace of... panic that even he himself didn't want to admit.
The words "Don't mention one, even seven, I can get them all for you" echoed in his mind day and night like a magic voice.
At first he thought he was bragging and trying to make a fool of himself.
But when this man took control of his destiny, Zabuza Momochi was shaken.
Even though he has been promoted to Chunin, now he doesn't even have a team, and he has nowhere to do the tasks he wants to do, let alone improve his strength.
So he could only find Senju Chen again and wanted to know what this man wanted to do.
And after thinking about it for the past few days, he was inexplicably shaken in his heart about the upper limit this man said and the way to break the shackles.
So he couldn't bear it any longer today and took advantage of the darkness to find Senju Chen.
"Coming?"
In the darkness, Senju Chen's plain voice sounded, as if he had been expected to come.
Zabuza tightened his grip on the handle of the knife, walked out of the shadows, and spoke hoarsely, "Does what you said before still count?"
"Which sentence?" Senju Chen asked calmly.
"Breaking the shackles can make me stronger!" Zabuza almost squeezed out these two words through his teeth.
"Oh, that's it." Senju Chen's tone was light and airy, as if he was talking about a trivial matter, "That counts. But why should I help you?"
Zabuza's pupils shrank suddenly.
"Are you kidding me?" A violent murderous aura rose from his body.
"Are you kidding? Zabuza Momochi, you think too highly of yourself." Senju Chen slowly stood up from the chair, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, turned his back to him, and overlooked the sleeping village below.
"Let me ask you, who do you want to be in the future?"