Chapter 128: Duke it Out!

[Mission Accepted!]

[Client: Rasa]

[Goal: Give the Sand Hidden Village's shinobi plenty of opportunities to show off during the Chūnin Exams!]

[Reward: 300 million ryō]

[Rank: S]

[Mission Bonus: 300,000 Employment points!]

When this system notification popped into his mind, Senshi couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear!

Jackpot!

In a single mission, he'd be earning a whopping 600 million ryō, i.e., 600,000 Employment points!

Granted, there was going to be a half-month break between the preliminary rounds and the finals, which dragged things out a bit.

But 600 million ryō in rewards, plus 600,000 Employment points, would come in one go without any deduction.

All Senshi could say was that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Rasa, both being Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, truly lived up to their reputations. Once they made a move, they did it in a grand fashion.

Not only that, but once the timing was right, he could also go perform "painless extraction surgery" on both the One-Tail and the Nine-Tails.

You could say that coming to Konoha to take part in the Chūnin Exams this time was a total win!

After accepting Rasa's mission, Senshi spoke solemnly to Rasa: "Rest assured, Lord Kazekage. The shinobi of Amegakure came to the Chūnin Exams prioritizing friendship first and competition second."

"Without a doubt, Sunagakure and Amegakure share a deep friendship. We look forward to more collaboration in various fields between our two villages."

Upon hearing this, Rasa made it clear he didn't believe a single word of Senshi's "friendship first" statement—not even the punctuation marks!

If Amegakure's shinobi truly carried that motto, would they have bothered hunting down Suna's Tailed Beast and Jinchūriki, giving them such brutal beatdowns?

Still, now that Senshi had accepted the job, Rasa felt at ease.

Senshi's name was already renowned throughout the ninja world, and Sunagakure not only knew of him but had collected plenty of intel regarding his abilities and character.

So with him officially taking on the mission, Rasa could set his worries aside. With Uzumaki Karin out of the picture, his son Gaara could now rampage freely, right?

Once the deal between Rasa and Senshi was made, Rasa also left.

After he was gone, Senshi used the space-travel power of the Kāma seal to return to his room.

The moment he appeared, Karin hopped over with a bounce, her big, bright eyes full of anticipation as she looked up at him.

"Senshi, Senshi, do I get a cut of this mission's reward? I'm the leading star, after all!"

Earlier, she'd used her Mind's Eye of the Kagura to monitor the rooftop and so knew the mission details perfectly well.

Seeing her expectant look, Senshi gently patted her head and said, "Of course you do. But to hide your true strength, it'd be better for you to withdraw from the exam tomorrow. Otherwise it'll be too suspicious."

After all, Karin was someone who could beat Gaara and Shukaku until they howled. If she went all-out during the Chūnin Exams and actually traded blows with other shinobi from Konoha and Suna on equal footing, it would be like rubbing all the Five Great Nations' daimyō and the other major factions' intelligence in the dirt.

"Yay!" Karin gave an immediate nod. She'd already found it annoying to "put on a show" against those other shinobi, anyway.

This way, she could just quit and not play pretend with them. She could spend her precious time on cooking instead!

Practically dancing with joy, she quickly returned to her room. She was thrilled—after withdrawing the next day, she'd have a nice long break, roughly fifteen days.

A night passed without event.

Next morning, at dawn.

Senshi gathered all six of the little ones together and announced two things.

"Listen up, everyone. I have two important announcements."

"First, Karin won't be participating in the rest of the exams for certain reasons."

"Second, in the upcoming preliminaries and finals, whenever you encounter Konoha or Suna shinobi, you must remember: friendship first, competition second. Make sure to give them plenty of time to show off. Don't just crush them in one blow. You get what I mean?"

Hearing this, the five—Musen, Lanyu, Lanwu, Yukika, and Hayate—nodded earnestly. "Yes, Lord Senshi (Headmaster)! Understood!"

After that, Musen asked curiously, "Why is Karin withdrawing? Is it because her strength is too overwhelming and she might kill someone if she's not careful?"

Karin: (O_O)???

She froze, then indignantly put her hands on her hips. "Am I really that violent, hmm?"

Before Musen could answer, she grinned widely and said, "Anyway, don't worry about why I'm withdrawing. Just do as Senshi says."

At this moment, Karin was in too good a mood to be upset. After all, her teammates still had to continue preparing for the Chūnin Exams, whereas as Uzumaki Karin, she was officially on vacation… for about fifteen days, no less!

She couldn't imagine how many new recipes she might learn in that time!

Meanwhile, within the Kamui Dimension, the Two-Tails, Matatabi, suddenly jolted awake from a nightmare.

It woke the dozing Saiken across from it and said, "Old Six, something's wrong. I had a terrible nightmare again. I dreamt that, for the next while, that red-haired rascal would show up every day to feed us!"

Hearing that, Saiken just rolled its eyes. "Matatabi, you fool! There's no way that red-haired little brat would have that much free time!"

Matatabi paused, then said, "Yeah, you're right. Good point, Old Six. She can only manage to drop by every few days or so."

Yet just as it finished speaking, the space in the Kamui Dimension rippled in a transparent swirl.

In the next second, Karin stepped out.

She appeared in high spirits and ran over to Matatabi and Saiken.

A moment ago, these two Tailed Beasts, who were calling her a "red-haired brat," now became especially docile.

They sat obediently in their own corners, and Karin, following their example, gave each of them a pat on the head.

Then she said, "Old Two, Old Six, I've got good news for you. For the next fifteen days, you'll be feasting. I can learn new recipes every day and cook them for you!"

Matatabi: o(╥﹏╥)o

Saiken: o(╥﹏╥)o

When Karin finished, it was as if all hope died for Matatabi, while Saiken's eyes rolled back, fainting on the spot.

Back on the other side, Senshi had taken the five remaining youngsters to the preliminaries hall for the Chūnin Exams.

He'd already informed the organizers that Karin would be withdrawing.

Once this news reached Hiruzen Sarutobi and Rasa, both were overjoyed!

Senshi was too dependable—worthy of the name "Number One Mercenary of the Black Market," absolutely trustworthy.

With Karin dropping out, both Konoha's and Suna's Jinchūriki could now fully show their stuff!

In that instant, both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Rasa felt that the money they'd shelled out was definitely worth it.

If they wanted to place any more big-budget missions from now on, they'd know exactly who to hire to give them peace of mind.

Karin's withdrawal was soon passed on to the other shinobi village higher-ups and various major powers.

They were surprised, but not too dramatically so.

Everyone had already witnessed her chasing down Tailed Beasts and Jinchūriki. Even a typical jōnin wouldn't match her combat prowess.

From her performance in the Forest of Death, many felt she deserved a special fast-track to become a jōnin straight away.

After Karin's withdrawal, the Chūnin Exams' preliminary round continued.

The preliminaries took place in a huge arena.

In the stands surrounding it, there wasn't an empty seat to be found.

The higher-ups from the Five Great Shinobi Villages and numerous other smaller villages were all in attendance.

Aside from them, leading figures from various powers across the ninja world also arrived with their entourages, filling the spectators' seats.

At the finals in half a month, even the daimyō of the Five Great Countries themselves would attend, making for an unprecedented event.

Once everyone was seated, the ninja who were still in the exam also entered in succession.

Their proctor for the preliminaries, Gekkō Hayate, appeared to one side of the arena and began his introduction.

"I am Gekkō Hayate, the proctor for the Chūnin Exams' preliminary round."

"The preliminaries will use a one-on-one format: two enter, one advances."

"The organizers will randomly select pairs of contestants to battle. The winner of each match will proceed to the finals in half a month!"

When Hayate finished explaining, the many participating genin couldn't help feeling anxious.

Although Karin had withdrawn, there were still quite a few fearsome shinobi left in the preliminaries. Any ordinary genin who faced them would surely get crushed.

Soon, Gekkō Hayate announced the names of the first match.

"In this match: Uzumaki Musen from Amegakure versus Ryūka from Hoshigakure!"

Hoshigakure, located in the Land of Bears, had a star emblem on its forehead protectors.

They practiced the unique "Mysterious Peacock Method" ninjutsu, which was fairly formidable.

Seeing that his opponent wasn't from one of the Five Great Villages, Ryūka let out a sigh of relief.

At least he stood some chance if he wasn't facing a genin from any of the major villages.

Across from him, Musen noticed Ryūka's forehead protector and, seeing it wasn't Konoha or Suna, decided to show no mercy.

He clapped his hands together and rapidly formed seals.

"Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!"

With that, Musen's right arm transformed into countless wooden tendrils that shot toward Ryūka.

Before Ryūka even realized what was happening, he was completely immobilized. Overwhelmed by shock and fear, he cried, "I forfeit!"

The moment Musen used Wood Release, the spectators erupted in surprise.

In Konoha's seating area, practically everyone leapt to their feet.

Wood Release!

The one kekkei genkai Konoha most longed to see flourish again.

They had paid a great price trying to replicate Wood Release and expand their ranks of Mokuton users, yet after Tenzo (Yamato), they hadn't managed to produce a second user.

But now there was a genuine Wood Release user in Amegakure—a 14-year-old boy who could skillfully control Wood Release at will.

Very quickly, Gekkō Hayate announced the result: "Uzumaki Musen versus Ryūka—the winner is Uzumaki Musen!"

The preliminaries continued, and after several more matches, it was finally Lanyu's turn.

Gekkō Hayate checked his record and announced the two contenders.

"This match: Uzumaki Lanyu from Amegakure versus Shiratsuyu from the Hanagakure!"

Hanagakure was a small village in the Land of Vegetables. They specialized in secret Flower Ninjutsu, which could be quite powerful.

Unfortunately for Shiratsuyu, she ended up facing Lanyu.

As soon as the match began, Lanyu used his Storm Release to make quick work of her.

After Lanyu's victory, Hayate moved on to announce the next pairing.

"This match: Fū from Takigakure versus Seisen from Yugakure. The match begins now!"

Takigakure's ninja had come this time under Kakuzu's leadership.

Kakuzu was patiently waiting for Fū's match to end so he could take the Takigakure group to the black markets in the Land of Fire on a spree of mission completions.

Since there would be a 15-day gap after the prelims, he planned to use the time to rake in more money.

At the center of the arena stood Fū, a short-haired girl with aqua-blue locks and a serious expression. She eyed the shinobi opposite her, named Seisen, from Yugakure in the Land of Hot Springs.

As another "assistant" type character, she felt compelled to excel now that Karin's feats in the Forest of Death were so impressive. She couldn't afford to disappoint Lord Kakuzu!

Facing her was a slightly boyish-looking Seisen. Coming from a village that had all but forgotten warfare, he'd already done well to get this far.

Yet going up against Fū in the prelims, he was unfortunately doomed to defeat.

Once the match began, Fū deftly formed seals and blew a mouthful of fine glittering powder.

"Hiding in Scale Powder Technique

A wave of silvery dust enveloped Seisen, blinding his vision. It was as if Fū had gained permanent invisibility.

Then her voice came again:

"Wing Slash!"

Behind her, a pair of nearly transparent wings formed. Locking onto Seisen, Fū's wings slashed twice in rapid succession, sending out two slicing gusts that flew toward him. She could actually slash up to seven times, but two were more than enough for Seisen.

Completely blinded, he couldn't dodge and was easily taken down.

After that, the prelims continued.

One by one, the other members from Amegakure—Lanwu, Yukika, and Hayate—went onstage in turn, each swiftly defeating their opponents.

None of them encountered shinobi from Konoha or Suna in the prelims, so even with Karin withdrawing, the five remaining Ame genin still drew a ton of attention.

Likewise, Gaara, Temari, and Kankurō from Suna all made quick work of their adversaries, as did Konoha's Naruto, Sasuke, and Kabuto.

Meanwhile, with Karin no longer in the bracket, someone got a bye and automatically advanced to the finals.

By the end of the preliminary round, 36 ninja had secured their spots in the finals, including the five from Amegakure who had performed so well that most of the other contestants felt pressured.

In fact, the village leaders themselves felt that pressure—Amegakure five had finished all their matches almost instantly. Their exact limits were a mystery, so no one knew how strong they really were.

Once the prelims ended, everyone started making final preparations for the upcoming showdown in 15 days.

Not long afterward, while Senshi and his group were relaxing at the inn, he received a high-profile visitor: the Raikage of Kumogakure himself!

The Fourth Raikage came with Darui to see Senshi.

When Senshi spotted him, he greeted him warmly, "A-bto, what brings you here? Got a good commission to throw my way?"

Raikage A, following the plan hashed out by the Kumo council, explained, "Senshi, after the Chūnin Exams are over, Kumogakure hopes to invite you for a thorough visit to the village."

"If there's anything that might benefit Kumo's development, we can cooperate in any field you like."

Senshi immediately understood. Basically, Kumo wanted to collaborate, but they hadn't figured out a concrete plan yet. So they wanted him to take a thorough look at their village and see what they could do together.

But from Senshi's perspective, while Kumo's idea was fine for them, he personally wasn't too keen on heading there just to identify and solve problems. There were too many unknowns in that scenario—what if Kumo disagreed with his assessment, dragging him into a prolonged stay?

After giving it some thought, Senshi said, "A-bro, I need to think about it carefully. Of course, if Kumogakure ever has a specific mission to commission, just let me know."

Hearing this, the Fourth Raikage and Darui weren't surprised. If Senshi were so easy to sway, he wouldn't be the legendary Black Market mercenary.

They weren't in a rush, anyway—there were still fifteen days until the finals. In that time, they could keep working on him. If Kumo's higher-ups could devise a plan that appealed to Senshi and also helped Kumo develop, that'd be perfect.

Not sticking around to chat any longer, the Raikage and Darui soon took their leave.

After them, many other figures from various factions also visited Senshi in person.

The stellar performances of Amegakure's six ninja had left a deep impression on every major force in the ninja world. Everyone realized that Senshi, already the strongest mercenary, also excelled at training shinobi.

Since they'd run into him in Konoha, they wanted to seize the chance to get on friendly terms. That way, if they wanted to hire him for some high-stakes missions or send their own shinobi to Amegakure for advanced training, things would go smoother in the future.

Among all these visitors, there was another especially noteworthy arrival: the Fifth Mizukage of Kirigakure, Mei Terumī.

Unlike the other leaders, Mei was a major client who had collaborated with Senshi multiple times.

When Mei arrived, Senshi greeted her with a grin. "Sis Mei, any good commissions for me this time?"

With a slight pause, Mei answered, "Indeed, there are a few I want to discuss with you. What do you say we go tour Konoha and talk about business at the same time?"

After a moment's consideration, Senshi agreed. The partnership with Kirigakure had grown substantially, so if they wanted to expand even further, they did need to sit down and talk specifics.

Just then, Karin raised her hand.

Senshi looked at her. "Yes?"

Karin beamed. "You and Sis Mei are going to be busy discussing commissions, right? So you don't need us along, do you? Can we explore Konoha on our own?"

She'd been longing to wander around with Yukika, Hayate, and the others to check out all Konoha had to offer.

After all, with the next fifteen days free, they could really have some fun.

Senshi nodded. "Sure. But is everyone else going with you?"

Before Karin could reply, Musen piped up, "Lord Senshi, I'd like to go with Karin to explore Konoha."

Hayate chimed in, "Me too!"

Yukika didn't speak, but nodded repeatedly. She was definitely curious about one of the Five Great Villages.

Lanyu took out a stack of books. "Lord Senshi, I won't go. I want to make good use of this time to read and implement my plan to advance my jutsu—"

Lanyu was quiet and extremely self-disciplined. He'd rather dedicate his time to self-improvement than leisure. In other words, a total grind.

Lanwu, on the other hand, said calmly, "I'm not really interested in walking around Konoha. I'll stay at the inn and rest."

Because of her somewhat aloof nature, Lanwu was chatty only around Senshi, her clan's savior and leader. With Musen and the others, she was often silent. With strangers, she was downright icy.

If there was no new order from Lord Senshi, she'd be perfectly content to spend the next fifteen days just taking it easy at the inn.

But that was obviously not happening, given how Musen was an irrepressible ball of energy.

Grabbing Lanyu and Lanwu by the wrists, he exclaimed, "Come on, let's go. Lord Senshi's given his okay. We won't have many chances to visit Konoha again in the future!"

As he dragged them along, Hayate called out, "Anyone want to race and see who can circle Konoha first?"

Yukika rapped him on the head. "Stop copying Musen with his crazy ideas!"

Hayate, unconvinced, rubbed his head. "Sis, you're just scared you'll lose!"

His sister responded by giving him another resounding thump. She clearly believed in nipping her little brother's nonsense in the bud; better do it now before he got too strong to handle.

Before they could carry on, Karin reminded them: "Come on, let's get going. Konoha is one of the Five Great Villages—it must have a ton of fun stuff."

At this, the siblings promptly followed Karin out.

Once they were gone, Senshi and Mei Terumī also headed off, planning to stroll around Konoha as they discussed business.

Senshi's Mantra could cover the entire village, so he wasn't worried about the kids. If they ran into trouble, he could teleport over in an instant.

Meanwhile, somewhere near Konoha's gates, Kakuzu was leading Fū and the others from Takigakure out toward the black market.

Spotting Senshi and Mei chatting happily in the distance, Kakuzu just shook his head.

Fū looked at him curiously. "Lord Kakuzu, is something wrong?"

Sounding rather regretful, Kakuzu sighed, "Senshi has gone soft. There are fifteen whole days before the finals—prime time to hit the black markets in the Land of Fire and rake in more cash—yet he's just wandering around with Mei Terumī. It's such a waste!"

He shook his head again, as though mourning Senshi's "fall from grace."

But Kakuzu was just a few levels deep, while Senshi was well above.

He had already clinched a 600 million ryō mission with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Rasa.

Plus, while he was out leisurely chatting with Mei, many of his Wooden Clones would be busy tackling black-market missions.

In that sense, the clones and his mercenary group were the true engines of productivity.

Kakuzu, with his old-school methods, had no idea that he'd soon hit a performance ceiling compared to Senshi's more advanced approach.

While Kakuzu and his group headed off to farm missions, the newly advanced finalists busied themselves with preparations.

At one of Konoha's training fields, Rock Lee was trying to get Hyūga Neji to spar with him.

"Neji, spar with me, please. If I run into a genius like Sasuke or Naruto in the finals, I'm going to beat them!"

But Neji just shook his head. "Go train with Tenten."

Lee refused: "No, I need to spar with a genius like you to improve!"

Not far away, Tenten overheard them and immediately flared up.

"Lee, what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I'm weak?"

Lee scratched his head in confusion. "Aren't you?"

Tenten's face twitched, and the next thing Lee knew, a meteor-hammer-style weapon was flying at him from her scroll.

He could only backflip out of the way, protesting, "Tenten, don't interrupt my training! I've got to beat Naruto and Sasuke in the finals!"

As they bickered, Naruto and Sasuke were also in the midst of training.

Ever since Lee gave him a taste of "true taijutsu" in the Forest of Death, Sasuke had realized he should refine his own hand-to-hand skills. Combining that with his ninjutsu would yield a powerful synergy.

Sometimes, though, you had to accept that talent really does exist. Everyone could work hard, but not everyone was equally gifted.

Right now, Sasuke's taijutsu was improving noticeably in every spar with Naruto.

Naruto himself was baffled as to why Sasuke was using only taijutsu, but if that was how Sasuke wanted it, Naruto was happy to oblige.

They'd just duke it out fist to fist.

~~~

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