Iwagakure: There Was a Cool Party Yesterday, Who Wasn’t Invited?

The New Year is approaching, the sky falls heavy snow, the whole Konoha a silver, looking at the hearts of people happy.

Makoto, who quickly disposed of a lot of things, originally did not want to go out, just stay at home and spend the New Year quietly, but with more and more visitors at the end of the year, Makoto also realized that Konoha's influence is really getting bigger and bigger.

By next year, after the energy program unfolded, he was afraid that he would be even busier...

After thinking about it for a while, Makoto finally decided to pay a visit to Mount Myoboku on this rare free day, the last day before the New Year.

Although with Jiraiya's status and position, it wouldn't be impossible to ask him to help convey the message on his behalf... Makoto decided to pay a visit himself after all.

So Jiraiya brought Makoto to the clear skies of Mount Myoboku.

As his power continued to grow, Makoto gradually began to see things differently than ordinary ninja.

No matter what kind of ninjutsu, it was essentially a combination of chakra.

In fact, celestial phenomena were the same.

Whether it was a typhoon, snowstorm, heavy rain... These are all changes in natural chakra.

Just like the zeros and ones in a computer.

They look ordinary, but they are the root of everything.

As soon as he came to Mount Myoboku woods, Makoto could clearly feel the incomparably peaceful natural energy in this holy place.

This was clearly not a phenomenon that natural energies themselves should have, but rather, someone had tamed them...

Looking at these bright mountains and rivers in front of him, Makoto vaguely realized something.

But after all, he didn't come here to realize the true meaning of heaven and earth this time, and after a little bit of amazement, he followed Jiraiya and met the legendary Toad Sage.

As the name suggests, Toad Sage is a super huge toad. But unlike Gamabunta, the toad boss who was young and strong as a small mountain, he looked extremely aged.

The Toad Sage crouched on his throne, his face full of wrinkles, and his pair of huge eyes squinted into a slit, making it almost difficult to open them.

-Makoto tried his best to ignore the large and small toads that were hiding behind the Toad Sage... Because someone's reputation is so ugly, when someone arrives, the only way for everyone to feel some comfort is to hide behind the Toad Sage... Hey, Mount Myoboku, what are you hiding for! I know you've got a wife. I won't use genjutsu on you!

"Great Toad Sage."

Jiraiya brought Makoto forward with him to greet him.

"Hmm..." The Toad Sage dragged out a long tone of voice and looked at Makoto in a sluggish tone characteristic of the elderly.

"Who is the visitor?"

"...Why do we have to come to this every time..."

Jiraiya spat softly, but still gestured for Makoto to step forward and reply.

"I'm Konoha's Godaime Hokage, Suo Makoto."

Even if it was a dog, if it could live for a thousand years, it was bound to be an old dog that had attained the Way, and there would always be some dry goods in its hands, not to mention a true great man like Toad Sage.

He was a character from the era of Kaguya and the Sage of Six Paths.

Spitting on his lips, when really facing Toad Sage, Makoto was still very polite.

"Hmm... what a young and strong person... fearful in the future... just young and strong, why don't you have a heart anymore?"

Makoto wanted to discuss business quickly, but big brothers seemed to have a habit of saying strange things like this...

"Because I grew up."

Toad Sage didn't speak in human terms, so Makoto didn't speak in human terms either.

"I see. So young and strong, what is good and what is evil."

"The only things in the world that are unavoidable are paying taxes and death, those who pay taxes are good people, and those who don't even pay taxes are all bad people."

"So... young strong man, what are you going to do to the world with your power?"

"I want to create a world where everyone doesn't have to pay taxes."

Toad Sage pondered for a long time.

Finally, he shook his head.

"Can't see through it... Can't see through... The trajectory of the future has completely deviated from the course it should have taken..."

"Perhaps, this itself is part of fate."

Toad Sage had already lived for too long and too long, he knew too many things and had accumulated too much experience. Makoto didn't know exactly what was going on in his mind, but since the Toad Sage was willing to see him, then...

As expected, Toad Sage's tone eventually became more and more conciliatory. He looked at Makoto's Order of Nothing, which was always hanging on his chest, and said some very strange words.

"I have fully understood your feelings."

"Your companions have left this world forever, but their power will still be at your disposal... speak, young strong man, what do you need from me."

After chattering for so long, it was finally time to get to the point.

Makoto didn't hide anything, and told him what he and Sage of Six Paths were planning.

Toad Sage once again fell into silence, and Makoto didn't dare to rush him, so he could only wait patiently on the sidelines.

The Sage of Six Paths and the Toad Sage were different.

Although the two were on good terms.

Although Sage of Six Paths was a descendant of Kaguya, unlike the selfish Otsutsuki family, Sage of Six Paths was a standard great man character.

He would rather seal his own mother for the sake of the world.

Makoto has done many excessive things, but Makoto has always pushed the technology forward and has been working to completely unify the five ninja villages.

Sage of Six Paths could see the benefits of this, and he knew Makoto's ambition - one day, everyone would become ninjas and go out of their home planet to explore the world, just like the Otsutsuki lineage once did.

That's why Sage of Six Paths had been quietly helping him since a long time ago.

The two had exactly the same aspirations in that regard.

But Toad Sage was different.

Toad Sage was a native being of this world, and he specialized in the same system of Senjutsu that already existed in this world.

Otsutsuki and the chakra system they brought with them were actually considered invaders.

Apparently, the invasion of the Chakra system was quite successful. Sacred places like the Ryuchi Cave, the Mount Myoboku, and Shikkotsu Forest were prestigious to say the least, but they always felt like they were cowering in a corner...

There are some things that are taken for granted by ninjas and psychic beasts nowadays, but for the Toad Sage who have survived for thousands of years and witnessed countless ups and downs, that change is incredibly obvious...

The toads who could originally live everywhere were now mostly gathered in Mount Myoboku.

Because the land where they could originally live was slowly being eroded by humans.

Even if we don't talk about the system dispute, after humans become powerful, the habitat of these beings will definitely decrease again.

Personal friendliness, after all, could not replace the interests of the race.

...Makoto seriously suspected that the reason why the Toad Sage was unwilling to see himself, aside from the fact that he did have a terrible reputation, was because he was unable to speak up about this matter.

He was neither willing to fight nor argue with the humans in this regard, and simply threw the ball of skin to the White Snake Sage that no one liked, letting him be that prick...

But Makoto didn't care about any of that and went straight for the door, and Makoto really didn't know what the hell he would choose.

Luckily, a bad situation wasn't born.

"I know what you're worried about, and you know what I'm worried about, and we're both worried about each other's choices... That's fine."

"Twenty years for a human is a generation, and a ninja with enough talent can be fully formed by the age of twenty or so. And comparatively, we are far too slow to become talented... Our clan has a much longer lifespan, but the cultivation time is also much too long..."

"There are many toads with profound Senjutsu in Mount Myoboku, yet little Jiraiya is only a few dozen years old and already surpasses the vast majority of them... Fukasaku he's already several hundred years old..."

"A race that can go into heat anytime, anywhere, ignore the seasons, and produce at any time is just too terrifying..."

"This world, will eventually be yours, humans."

After all, he was a super toad that had lived for many years, and saw many things much more thoroughly.

In fact, when it really came to the number of births, the toad clan was not worse than humans at all, even more so. But when it comes to the average rate of maturity...

"Divine flesh comes along once in a thousand years, while skill and wisdom can be passed down from generation to generation..."

"O young and powerful one, after you fulfill your ambitions, would you like to continue to be friends with Mount Myoboku?"

Under Makoto's influence, the Chakra Cannon was not completed after all. However, Toad Sage had insight into the past and future, so it was impossible to say that he had seen some weird future again.

Theoretically, the Chakra Cannon was considered a type of scientific ninjutsu. And the most perverse thing about scientific ninjutsu is not its power, but the fact that it can be mass produced...

A terrifying weapon that could be mass-produced, coupled with an ambitious leader, what would happen when the two were combined together, just thinking about it was very frightening.

Seeing that the Toad Sage's mouth had loosened, Makoto certainly knew what to do at this time.

"As long as taxes are paid, then I will treat them equally."

"Konoha ninja never harm their summoning beast partners."

Makoto said it simply, but the meaning was already there.

Toad Sage nodded.

"I have understood... You can put the scroll down, I'll contact the White Snake Sage and the Slug Sage... But let me say this up front, your subject this time is just too big, even if we work together to help you figure it out, it might take a long time..."

"Elder needn't be concerned, I am well aware of the difficulties involved and will wait patiently!"

The Six Paths Brothers, the two giants amongst giants, combined with those deceased giants in the Pure Land, had only made less than 10% progress in one year of research, how many years would it take for the existing giants to complete this difficult subject, Makoto didn't have a bottom either.

But as long as it was completed, it would immediately bequeath to all generations.

No matter how many years, Makoto was willing to wait.

"Since you already have this determination, then... That said, young powerhouse, what are all those positive characters on your face for? And you have blackness before your eyes, are you suffering from a severe kidney loss?"

Jiraiya gave an awkward, but not overly polite smile.

"It's a tradition of their Suo family, so please disregard it."

... ...

The exchange with the Toad Sage was surprisingly easy.

Maybe it was because the humans had been strong for a long time, or maybe it was because of Konoha's long-standing good relationship with Mount Myoboku, and of course it had a little something to do with Makoto's late initiative to treat the summoning beasts well... All in all, the three holy places were all willing to help.

Of course, in the future, when the new generation of Konoha selects their psychic beasts, they will also have to choose from these three families as much as possible, in order to strengthen their ties with each other.

This will inevitably have a certain impact on the Konoha's new generation's combat power - after all, when the selection of psychic beasts becomes narrower, it is bound to be easy to be guessed at once, and then launch a targeted attack.

However, considering the rewards behind it, this kind of small flaw did not matter.

The exchange with the Toad Sage was quite pleasant, and after Makoto had settled these matters, he returned to Konoha once again.

As the Hokage, he had disappeared long enough, and during this time of the New Year, he couldn't run away again in any case.

Much like what Kakashi had judged before, this year's New Year was extraordinarily lively.

In addition to various business partners sending congratulations, there were also many small countries as well as small powers that came to visit.

Because there were too many people and too many who hated each other, Hokage's office ended up simply lining them up according to the ABCD alphabetical combination.

During this time, many embarrassing things happened like putting third brother and minibus together, and putting hoopoe and camel together... It couldn't be helped, there were just too many with a grudge... In the end, Makoto could only hold his nose as an obedience test.

Damn, to come to my territory and fight because of your own personal vendetta, it looks like you guys don't take me seriously at all.

That's fine, the Godaime Hokage will visit your house next year.

It was clear that Konoha lacked sufficient experience in dealing with this aspect.

But the good news is that Makoto's absolute violence can still calm the scene.

After all, it's the first time, it's normal to be slightly messy and even a little bit painful. After a few more times, one would get used to it.

Not to mention these bad things, this year's Konoha New Year's Eve party was indeed more lively than previous years.

That's right, it's the popularization and inclusion of television sets.

The first Konoha Kohaku Uta Gassen will start.

T/N: NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen, also known as "NHK Red and White Song Battle" and commonly known as "Kohaku", is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK

New Year's Day, is not just a happy and auspicious, copy dozens of good songs, let Konoha's handsome men and women go up and bounce around for a while, everyone is happy.

Of course, this is Makoto's idea.

Shikaku, the king of paparazzi, wouldn't miss such a good opportunity.

He kept an eye on the data and guided public opinion. In his plan, the most popular handsome girls and boys from this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen would be selected by him to further participate in the entertainment industry, in order to enhance Konoha's image in the minds of ordinary people...

Learning from the previous bitter experience, the current public opinion propaganda of Konoha is based on soft propaganda, rather than the rigid output of before. But there's still time anyway, publicizing for eight years straight will always have an effect.

Ah, no, it's seven years...

On the evening of this day, Makoto's kennel was still very lively as in previous years.

Kakashi, with Hanare in tow, kept greeting and toasting the old people, picking up some red envelopes along the way.

Shisui finally stopped dressing like Ding Zhen, and joined Gai in the courtyard to make mochi - incidentally stopping Gai from associating mochi making with youth, and making a big doo-doo over the mochi.

As for the little children, they were still happily running around Makoto's living room.

There's an unusually large number of small children coming this year... Well, but a baby boom is always a good thing...

As for little things like Itachi staring viciously at Naruto as if he wanted to kill someone, never mind... Running into such a sister-con great-uncle... Naruto, you chose it yourself.

And Makoto, who has learned from the experience of previous years, is holding Naho, the little princess of the Land of Fire, and playing mahjong with a few women he can't afford to mess with in his study.

For that reason, he had stayed up last night to get ahead of the problem of a few big shots who might come to him for a deep chat.

As for Temari, who knew that she had been green, after Makoto told her that having a baby did not require the union of a man and a woman, who then form a fertilized egg that develops in the little baby's room and is eventually born, but rather relied on storks, the little girl happily went off to play with the kids.

-Because the birth of the baby relies on storks, Makoto certainly doesn't count Temari as green when she sleeps with the other big sisters.

-That said, Chiyo-baasama, is it really okay for you to teach Temari such specialized knowledge so early in the morning?

"Godaime Hokage-sama, what are you thinking about? You've been touching this card for a full five minutes now... Could it be that you're thinking about some woman we don't know?"

Terumi Mei, who was wearing a gorgeous kimono and had already put up a woman's hair bun, narrowed her eyes, her demeanor as leisurely and dangerous as that of a female panther.

And the woman sitting across from her was not idle either.

"Why emphasize that we don't know each other? Maybe we know each other."

Pakura fiddled with the dominoes with her long, slender fingers, meaning it.

"What are you guys conspiring about? You guys aren't talking about me, are you? I can't wait to kill this guy now!"

Nii Yugito, who had donned the Raikage Kage Robe, pondered over it, the more he felt that something wasn't right - not long after Makoto had left, Yugito had been officially nominated by the Daimyo to be the Godaime Raikage, specializing in dealing with the tumultuous situation in the country.

No one dared to question it.

The big cat had been a lot quieter lately, but she was definitely not soft when it came to scratching people is all.

The tiny Naho immediately revealed a terrified expression and shrank into Makoto's arms.

The eyes of the several women grew more and more vicious.

For this situation in front of him, Makoto was also having a headache.

But there was nothing he could do.

The mission of East Food West Accommodation had been completed after all.

But the object of completion was not Yugito, but Terumi Mei.

Speaking of which, he did owe Terumi Mei a great deal. It was just that both of them knew very well that each other had their own positions, and there were some things that really couldn't be helped.

Both of their options were actually rather limited, and so... Terumi Mei chose an option that could make her happy, or she could fall into an endless abyss.

She came to Konoha.

And Makoto chose to give her a response.

The two officially entered into a marriage contract.

Terumi Mei was also a proper wife.

Normally, this wouldn't work. But Makoto had a real brother who died prematurely, and he was using the name of Keneki... It's true it's a bit of a cover-up, but it's the only thing he can do for her.

It's one of the few times the legacy of the warring states has had its benefits.

Of course, this marriage contract couldn't be taken out now.

With that, his ninja points reached 41.5.

He actually wanted to give Pakura a piece of his mind, but it was just difficult with a Temari among them.

Luckily, Pakura didn't seem to intend to publicize this relationship either, so it just dragged on for now.

...That's why he hates doing relationship-type quests.

Girls always liked good boys, but he couldn't give too many girls happiness, and in most cases, he could only disappoint.

-Like the loli princess in his arms, as a political creature, it was impossible for him to give her happiness. What he could do was to bring her around and slightly elevate her status in the Land of Fire.

Her origin alone dictated that she could only be a marriage tool.

Unless Makoto kills all the royal families of the Land of Fire, leaving her alone, and then follows Moscow's path and declares that he will become the Third Rome...

"Hey, what's the point of killing me, aren't we here to talk business?"

"Business? What business? Why don't you invite Iwa?"

The five great ninja villages, four talkers came, but only Iwa wasn't there.

"Because... Yugito, what place do you think energy holds in the country?"

"Energy?"

Yugito immediately perked up, like a cat who heard a cat can being opened.

"What new way of making money have you come up with?"

After getting used to the exhilarating feeling of Makoto casually making money, the big cat really didn't want to look at Kumo's little growing accounts.

This Makoto guy is toxic.

But happiness is also real happiness when you're with him.

As soon as Makoto opened his mouth, she immediately became excited.

Terumi Mei and Pakura looked at each other and just shook their heads.

"That, Yugito, listen to me... I can't tell you the exact plan, but do you know there's a country called Land of Demons?"

"I know, why?"

"They have more natural energy sinking there, it's kind of a better target for experiments..."

... ...

Makoto and a few of his buddies were discussing about energy, and without realizing it, it was already four o'clock in the morning.

[Please give time to civilization, not civilization to time.]

With the inexplicable prompt from Unity, Makoto's ninja points were added one more point.

42 ninja points were reached.

Although the joy of adding 0.5 at the beginning of every year is considered a daily routine, but... System-chan, are your words getting fewer and fewer?

Makoto was spouting off about how the system's words were getting fewer and fewer, and system, just like every other year in the past, deleted the vast majority of the business mission , and then added a super large number of relationship missions.

Originally densely packed with business achievements, now only chatting about dozens.

Among them, the most conspicuous one is the world's people, as well as... Some achievements that were already destined to be impossible to complete.

Some of the achievements were conflicting, and after completing some of them, they were destined to not be able to complete others.

And some of them were simply too discordant... Makoto would never do it in his life.

As for the relationship-type mission... There were already too many for Makoto to count.

However, amongst all of the relationship mission that had just been refreshed, Makoto had found a very special task...