Chapter 260. Playing the Victim Card

Chapter 260. Playing the Victim Card

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Before long, the event reached its final stages.

As more participants joined, the competition grew fiercer. Rumors spread that fights had even broken out in the village over whose daughter was the cutest.

Then, after Konoha introduced its unconventional entries—

It wasn't long before Sunagakure joined the fray, uploading a video featuring a red-haired girl with a dark aesthetic.

Unlike Konoha's submissions, which leaned toward a cool or sweet style, this unique approach immediately caught people's attention. Many found it "interesting" and were intrigued.

Even Hyuga Hanabi was surprised when she saw it. She quietly downloaded the video.

After all—

In her time, the Fifth Kazekage was quite famous.

However—

Just as the competition among these little stars reached its peak, a shocking scandal broke out online: Sunagakure was accused of child abuse.

The incident immediately propelled the dark-themed girl to the number one spot. At the same time, Sunagakure itself shot to the top of the trending topics.

Many were stunned.

There is such an operation?!

What followed was a heated debate—some accused Sunagakure of using dirty tricks and conspiracies, while others argued that the revelation was genuine and had merely surfaced unexpectedly.

After all—

Sunagakure suffered real consequences. Their puppet business took a major hit, and their newly released films faced widespread boycotts and negative reviews.

If cutting off internet access wouldn't have impacted them so severely, they might have just quit the internet to escape the backlash.

But that wasn't an option.

The internet brought huge opportunities.

Over the past few years, Sunagakure had made substantial profits from selling puppets and producing puppet-based films. This had significantly eased the financial strain caused by the Daimyo's lack of funding. If they pulled out now… the Fourth Kazekage would probably have to go back to mining gold.

So, in the end—

Sunagakure's higher-ups stepped forward, issued a public apology, and promised that such incidents would never happen again.

The truth was, due to financial difficulties, the village had agreed to Advisor Chiyo's Jinchuriki experiment to turn Gaara into the ultimate weapon for Sunagakure's defense. But now… they had money, so they could afford to invest in ninja training instead. For the time being, there was no need to continue the Jinchuriki experiments.

As long as he didn't go berserk, things would be fine.

…

A few days later.

The event finally came to an end.

After a month-long selection process, the top three winners were officially announced. But by this point, no one really cared about the rankings anymore. For most people, the cutest child was always their own.

So—

Once the event concluded, its popularity gradually faded.

However, [Ninstagram] had gained massive exposure, and its content had rapidly expanded throughout the month. Many villagers had already gotten into the habit of scrolling through [Ninstagram] in their free time to relax.

So, soon…

Life in the village quickly returned to normal.

People went back to delivering food, playing games, and… repaying debts.

Of course—

The event did leave an impact. For example, a few children had now become famous.

This is really a cause for celebration~

Meanwhile, the Konoha Military Police Force successfully underwent reform.

The new modernized headquarters was built in the center of the village. Now, any ninja who passed the assessment could join, no longer limiting it to just the Uchiha clan.

Currently—

With Yuto Group handling communications and transport, communication between villages had become much smoother. However…

For some reason, Iwagakure still refused to connect to the internet.

There was still a bit of time before all Five Great Ninja Villages were online.

Time flies.

Another peaceful year came to an end.

During this time, the Otsutsuki clan from the moon visited the Ninja World. After seeing the prosperity of the Ninja World, they seemed to be moved. Before leaving, they even bought a few bottles of milk tea to take back to the moon—probably so their clan could give it a taste.

This marked the first time Yuto Group had successfully sold a product to another planet!

And—

Perhaps because the Ninja World had changed so drastically, Hyuga Hanabi, who had been hiding away for a while, managed to avoid being discovered.

Maybe for Hyuga Hiashi… this wasn't even a big deal~

At most—

It was just a distant relative coming to stay for a few days.

So, he didn't bother asking.

Of course.

According to intelligence, during this period, Hyuga Hiashi secretly spoke with the Otsutsuki clan who had arrived in Konoha. The content of their conversation was unknown, but afterward… the main family's attitude toward the branch family seemed to become noticeably less strict.

They probably discussed the Moon's main and branch family situation, right?

But—

If Hiashi later found out that, on the Moon, the branch family ultimately wiped out the entire main family, leaving only one surviving branch member, would he immediately make the decisive choice to eliminate Konoha's branch family as well?

If he didn't… he probably wouldn't sleep peacefully at night!

Of course—

The conflict between the main and branch families on the Moon stemmed from the Fourth Ninja World War, which led to a fundamental disagreement about hope. Their decision to destroy the current Ninja World and create a new one was what ultimately sparked their downfall.

Right now—

Even Yuto had no idea what the Fourth Ninja World War would look like.

The little white guys (Zetsu) had been logging in less frequently these days, and no one knew what they were up to. It was impossible to gather intel from them—were they secretly plotting something again?

Or maybe—

These reckless spenders had been scammed one too many times, squandering their wealth on explosive tags and other nonsense. Perhaps Black Zetsu had finally lost patience, realizing they were a bunch of deadweights, and was now looking for a new group of underlings to replace them.

Meanwhile—

Konoha's most dishonest person, Shimura Danzo, was still missing.

Initially, Konoha's ninjas believed he was hiding somewhere within the Land of Fire to evade debt collectors. But after all this time with no trace of him, doubts began to grow.

So, people in Konoha began to wonder whether Shimura Danzo had fled abroad to avoid debt.

Think about it… nearly 4 billion is indeed not a small amount of money~

Just look at the Third Hokage now, and you'll understand. His son had moved to the city to find a job and make money. The old man himself got up before dawn every day to deliver food until late at night. And whenever a film crew needed extra actors… he took on bit roles just to earn a free meal on set.

Rumor has it there's a cheerful old man extra in the acting industry who looks too much like the Third Hokage!

Not only does he perfectly capture the Third Hokage-sama's aura, but his kind and wise gaze makes him the top choice whenever someone needs a stand-in for the Third Hokage.

Many extras had heard his tragic backstory—

An old man started a business with his best friend, investing every last penny—even his funeral savings—into a bold new venture. But the business collapsed, his friend ran off, and debt collectors came knocking at his door.

Left with no choice, he shouldered all the debt alone. Now, in his twilight years, he's been reduced to delivering food and playing extras just to survive.

His son moved to the city to make big money and repay the debts, but at home, his wife grew colder and colder toward him. Sometimes, she even refused to cook for him, forcing him to work hungry all day.

At an age where he should be enjoying family life, he instead found himself living through this nightmare…

A bad friend, a broken family… and now he has to make money with his lonely and disabled old friend.

And yet—

He never gave up.

He swore that even if it meant delivering food and playing extras every day, he would pay off his debt, no matter what.

A story so tragic—it really makes those who hear it cry and those who see it feel sad!

Too miserable!

At that moment—

Standing nearby, Maruboshi Kosuke watched as the Third Hokage once again played the victim card in front of a crowd of emotional and admiring extras.

After hesitating for a moment, he leaned in and whispered: "Third Hokage-sama, aren't you afraid of being beaten to death by Biwako-sama?"

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