Chapter 85

"Are we really in the Land of Snow? It's... Colorful, surprisingly colorful." Tsunade said as we were sitting on the edge of a cliff, giving us a full view of the scenery as a multitude of flowers covered the fields far down around us

This cliff was not accessible by foot, thus, only the two of us were here as we simply came from above by flying and using the Ancor Vantian.

"The Daimyō dreamed to change the Land of Snow into the Land of Spring, and, historically speaking, this was the original appearance of the country, ages ago." I explained as Tsunade's head was resting on my shoulder while she was holding a glass of non-alcoholic punch made by my hands

Since it was noon, we decided to do a picnic around here to relax while enjoying the view, after all, there's no better vacation than taking the time to laze around when your usual days consist of working almost non-stop.

And I would never get tired of cuddling with my wife.

"That was such a great dream... Living in a country where nearly nothing can survive because of endless snowstorms seems like a pain. Even the Land of Iron wasn't as snowy as this country, from what I recall about it." Tsunade replied as I knew that she wasn't fond of snowy countries which is why she was surprised when I suggested the Land of Snow as one of our destinations

"I agree. I visited this place when it was still snowy and the temperature was far lower than both the Land of Iron and the Land of Frost." I said as I recalled changing my destination to the Land of Hot Water because I was tired of the cold back when I left the village for two years

'Mmh, maybe we should go to the Land of Hot Water as our last destination... They truly have the best hot springs on the continent' I thought as it was soon time for us to go back to the village

The first thing we did when we left the village was to board the Ancor Vantian which worked as a Cruise Fortress for quite some months now.

Though the underground was more like a secondary movable base for me, the main objective I had for it was achieved.

Traveling above many lands, stopping primarily at their most inhabited cities to welcome new customers, with the agreement of each Daimyō, willingly... Or not, but they changed sides quite rapidly since I was quite 'convincing'.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our time abroad, living in an apartment within the greatest hotel that not only entirely took the two last floors but was only meant to be used by me and my family.

The rooftop also had a giant swimming pool which was so technologically advanced it could change deepness, length, and even form for a multitude of use, props to the Land of Sky for that, they are far more advanced technologically than the rest of the world.

Aside from the different hotels, the Ancor Vantian had many kinds of restaurants, all with their own specialties, be it from this world's several countries, although most of it was Japanese, to my past life's known specialties as I tried to reproduce food coming from all continents, at least what I remembered but the perk of having a perfect memory was that it allowed me to remember the food I saw even just once in my life.

This made the Ancor Vantian an even more unique place to stay during vacations for many people since they couldn't taste such food anywhere else.

Well, there have been cases of people snooping around to find the recipes but they came back to where they lived with their arms between their legs... Literally.

Also, any chef I hired would completely forget the recipes the moment they step out of the fortress, making it impossible for someone to squeeze out any information since they would need to bypass a seal made by yours, truly.

And in case they tried to kill them? That would be their last mistake since I was guaranteeing their safety outside of the fortress, part of the contract we established.

As for the resupplies, my clones took care of it, and it was mostly for ingredients I couldn't make myself by abusing Wood Release since I was able to modify a plant's DNA to the point of making one single tree grow a dozen of different fruits in a couple of hours.

I was aiming for the most optimal efficiency and productivity anyone could dream about, without forgetting to make the taste as wonderful as possible, and unlike the recipes, I did sell a portion of the fruits and vegetables by sending them to food shops across the world.

I mean, I already earned a lot, and truly a LOT of money since I opened many shops under different names, all selling everything I could generate by using Crystal Release or Wood Release which encompassed an insane amount of raw materials.

Even better, my clones were the ones producing them and they didn't even need to rest nor to be paid.

Capitalism baby.

Well, I'm using most of my finances to raise the overall salary of Konoha's shinobi and even of the civilians while making the village flourish by building or renovating different kinds of facilities that would make their life easier, after all, I didn't need so much money myself.

'Even with billions and billions of Ryō, I would be poor if I didn't take control over most casinos around the world' I thought as I couldn't help but remember how my wife, and even my daughter, never won a single Ryō by themselves when gambling except if they were against each other without any other participant

'No, actually, they are capable of both losing somehow' I thought as they sometimes ended up with a draw when it shouldn't even be possible

"...You're thinking about something rude, aren't you?" Tsunade suddenly said as we finished eating and were lazily laying on the grass while enjoying each other's body warmth

"Yeah, I'm just wondering how it was even possible for you to lose the equivalent of the Land of Wind, Earth, Water, and Lightning's GDP in five days... Even worse, you didn't place any 'huge' bet and just lost everything bit by bit." I explained to my gambling addict wife who, at first, tightened her hug but once I finished talking, couldn't deny my words and got embarrassed instead

"D-Did I lose that much money? Y-You're kidding, right?" Tsunade mumbled as she tried to recall how much cash I gave her in a bunch of storage scrolls

I deliberately separated the money into multiple storage scrolls to prevent her from overusing it, after all, I thought that she would notice how much she used when she drained one scroll... How foolish of me to think that a gambling addict would realize such a thing.

"Don't worry, your sugar boyfriend still has tons of Ryō, and I expected to 'spend' a lot during our vacations since I didn't restrict you this week." I said as I was forced to give pocket money to my own wife to regulate how much she used, not because she bought many things but because she would always lose everything by gambling sometimes just once

"Eh, seems like I made the right choice to marry you." Tsunade replied with a teasing tone as she nuzzled closer to me while I simply rolled my eyes since she was the one who inherited the whole Senju Clan's riches, which meant that she was richer than me at some point

It only lasted for a few years since she quickly used up everything by the time we were married.

'Anyway, time to take a nap' I thought before closing my eyes as I wanted to enjoy every second I had left on vacation

====================

"Everyone is gathered in the waiting room, Yuichi-sama." a voice that I recognized to be Konan's exclaimed as I sensed her at the other side of the sealed room I was currently gathering the Seven-Tails' chakra

"Is it time already?" I said as I got up and teleported near Konan who had a plate with a glass of fresh water and a wet towel

"Thanks." I let out as I took the towel and wiped my face with it to 'wake' myself up since I was usually quite groggy after meditating for too long, something Konan perceived a while ago, before drinking the glass of freshwater as well

"Alright, let's go then." I said as the plate and everything Konan gave me transformed into papers which allowed me to take her hands and teleport both of us near the Jōnin waiting room

Konan's ability with Paper Release was to the point where she could create almost anything with paper and it will have the same properties as the original item, at least touch-wise.

Arriving at our destination, I was able to see Konan's face redden for a short while since holding hands was something that still made her embarrassed, such thinking was overly common in this world, but she quickly reverted to her usual cold expression since we were going to enter the room where all Team Leaders of those participating in the upcoming Chūnin exam were gathered.

Since the day I fulfilled my promise to go on a date with her, the situation between us improved quite nicely, in my opinion, at least.

I truly underestimated how bold she was though, even more since she got Tsunade's agreement back when she nearly died to protect Tsugumi.

The date we had was mostly organized by her as well, and I'm somehow suspicious that she bought some kind of book labeled 'Dating for Dummies' made by a certain pervert sage who knew far more than he experienced himself.

It was still an enjoyable day, even though it felt pretty basic since we stayed within Konoha and we also had to change our appearance to avoid unnecessary trouble.

What made this day unusual, however, was caused by the very same book she used to plan everything, after all, every book written by Jiraiya is made for adults, which is why the end of the date suggested in it was... Let's say it was what I would expect a pervert to write.

As such, even though I stopped refusing her advances as much as before, the moment she declared her love to me and surprised me with a kiss, I told her that I would not go further than kissing, hugging, or holding hands until she's 20 years old, and for clarification sake, she's currently 18 which still make her an adult in this world, a milestone she reached two years ago.

She didn't back down even after telling her that I wouldn't be able to love her as much as I loved Tsunade, telling me that simply getting close from time to time overjoyed her and was enough.

The village's old coots would surely be happy with the news since it would mean that the Senju Clan would potentially get more offspring, something they hoped to happen as we were reduced to three members and were Konoha's most prominent Clan... Heck, I remember some of them asking me to gather many women just for the sake of 'bringing back' the Senju Clan, a plan I quickly refused anyway.

After all, while getting married to multiple people wasn't legal, it was not taboo to have a relationship with multiple women or men, the Daimyō usually had some mistresses, for example, while Clan Leaders could also do the same, although members of a Clan could only do so if they have their Clan Leader's agreement, and in some cases, it was something that could also be forced upon them.

Anyway, back to Konan, she was willing to die if it was to protect Tsugumi, and she did end up killing herself because of exhaustion after tirelessly trying to find a way of bringing me back; in the possible future that my son explained to me, not in our time, of course.

She's an extremely faithful girl, albeit too submissive since she was willing to do whatever I could ask her to but I did not intend to abuse that.

"Y-Yuichi-sama? What is it?" Konan muttered as I was looking at her face for a few seconds without saying anything which made her slightly embarrassed again

"I was just thinking about something, don't worry." I replied as I poked her forehead before turning myself towards the door where I noticed the presence of many Jōnin waiting for me just behind it

As I quickly changed my clothing to my Hokage's attire, I opened the door and heard them all say "Hokage-sama." in unison as they were politely kneeling

"You can rise." I let out before taking my seat as I was followed by Konan who stood slightly behind me, a little bit on my right

I wasn't one to care about etiquette most of the time but it was still something that had to be done on certain occasions, and today was one of them.

"Since we already briefed on this, did you all bring your teams to where the first stage will take place?" I asked just in case there were some Genin who gave up preemptively, a rare occurrence but it was still a possibility nonetheless

"Yes." they all replied in unison, making a total of sixteen participating teams and all from Konoha since there wouldn't be participants from other villages this year

"Great. I hope that most of them decided to train over the past six months when you advised them to." I then added, noticing a few grimaces which meant that some Genin didn't bother to train much, be it from overconfidence or lack of ambition

"Hum, Hokage-sama." one of the Jōnin I honestly didn't even bother to recall the name of interjected as he seemingly wanted to ask me something

"What is it?" I asked, to which he replied "Is it really alright to change the content of the last stage this year? It feels a little bit..." but trailed off so I finished his sentence by adding "Unfair? You're surely thinking that I changed it only because my daughter was participating, am I wrong? Reply honestly."

"Y-Yes." the man replied as he was doing his best to keep eye contact between us but was obviously scared of me

'I'm not a tyrant, am I?' I thought as I didn't try to intimidate him but only realized later that he was instead scared of Konan who had a deadly glare without even releasing any sort of apparent intent

"Mmh, you are half-right about your suspicion. Yes, I changed this year's last stage partially because of my daughter... But, unlike what you may believe, I didn't do so to give her an easier chance, quite the opposite." I first explained as I stealthily signaled Konan to calm down or else the man I was talking with would not listen well

"Remember what I asked you all to do six months ago?" I then asked as most of them recalled my order

"Yes, you wanted us to write down everything our teams could do, be it Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu... I see, so it was related to the last stage, what a pain it was to do, though." Shikaku replied as he was quite close to the truth

"Indeed. I asked you to write down the entirety of your teams' abilities up to six months ago for one simple reason." I first said as I looked over everyone inside of the room before locking my gaze on Dan Katō as a root left my hand and started to take a humanoid shape until it looked just like him

"Instead of having them fight against each other while having a random chance of facing some Genin who already surpassed such rank, they will have to fight a clone of themselves made by me, but these clones will not be capable of using whatever they learned over the past six months." I revealed as the clone I just made was capable of using the unique technique of Dan Katō and proved it to everyone by separating his 'spirit' from his body

While they were all surprised, minus a few, I turned myself towards Chizu and asked "Tell me Chizu, how much did Tsugumi train in the last six months?" as I no longer trained Tsugumi during this time and left the role to Chizu, just like all Jōnin taking care of their teams had the mission to help their Genin as much as possible the moment they asked to be trained

None of them were asked to make the first step, meaning that everything depended on whether or not the Genin wished to progress.

"...Not much, she kept saying that she didn't need more training just to become a Chūnin." Chizu explained as I knew how overconfident my daughter was because she relied on her massive vitality, stamina, physical strength, and also prowess in Wood Release which was inherited from me

Inwardly chuckling since she inherited both my laziness and overconfidence as well, I turned back to the Jōnin who doubted my reasons for changing the final stage and declared "See? My daughter didn't train much in the last six months which means that she will have a harder time than someone who tirelessly trained, like Gai, for example."

"I apologize for doubting you, Hokage-sama!" the man replied as he kneeled back, while I could hear Kushina snicker since she knew that I would be harsher on my daughter than anyone else, after all, it was concerning her future as a shinobi which meant higher chances of facing danger by climbing the shinobi ranks

"I see, such an idea for a final exam will show everyone how much they can grow in such a short period... And they will need to realize their own weakness to overcome their clone, truly an interesting idea." Minato let out as he let his chin rest on one of his hands and nodded many times with a smile on his face

"Anyway, if none of you have any questions left, let's go and observe how the future generation will fare in the first stage." I declared before getting up from my seat, eager to see how most of them will pass the first stage prepared by Shikuro

With so many interesting youngsters participating this year, it will be without a doubt entertaining to watch...