Malphegor
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HSU: Ch. 134
🕑 Added 2025-01-12 16:47:09 +0000 UTCAs the Konoha team entering the Land of Wind made their way forward, they soon encountered a Kiri squad coming from the south.
At first, the participants on both sides exchanged icy, sharp glares, filled with a "what are you looking at?" kind of vibe.
But when they began to sense an odd tension between their respective leaders, they quietly withdrew their intimidating stares. The atmosphere between the groups quickly softened, transforming into a "have you eaten yet?" and "how about some onigiri first?" exchange.
In an instant, Konoha and Kiri's genin bridged a social gap, forming a camaraderie and enthusiastically discussing how to deal with third-party opponents together.
"So, you're leading the Kiri team," Masashi said with a grin, ignoring the young ninjas' mood swings as he chatted with an old friend. "How's Kiri doing these days?"
"Not bad." Mei sighed. "The worst of it is behind us now."
"The Bloody Mist policy—it's been abolished?"
"It has." Mei nodded, smiling faintly. "The atmosphere in the village is different now. Everyone is working hard and cherishing what we have."
Masashi glanced again at the Kiri team. The moment he had first met them, one particularly familiar figure had caught his eye.
"The Taketori clan has joined Kiri." Mei seemed to know what he was thinking. "The Fourth Mizukage discovered this child named Kimimaro among the Kaguya clan. He's awakened the Shikotsumyaku, and it's been a long time since the Taketori clan has seen this ability."
Indeed, there was a small child among the Kiri squad—a prototypical Kaguya, or rather, Taketori clan member, given his attire and demeanor.
"The Shikotsumyaku comes with genetic drawbacks," Masashi commented, turning his gaze away. "Is the Taketori clan planning to protect that child?"
"Yes. Though they haven't seen the Shikotsumyaku for a long time, the Taketori clan has their own ways to mitigate its downsides."
"That's pretty good, then." Masashi remarked casually, only to realize that Mei was staring at him.
"What are you looking at me like that for? You wouldn't go as far as copying the techniques of an ally, would you?"
"Come on, the way you say it... I only 'copied' your Boil Release, didn't I? That's called mutual understanding through conflict. You need to be more open-minded—it's all in the past."
He wasn't about to try imitating the Shikotsumyaku anyway. It wasn't even part of the elemental styles. And even if he wanted to, it wouldn't be possible.
"Heh." Mei let out a cold chuckle. "And how about the Yuki clan orphan in your village? Has he awakened her Ice Release yet?"
"Not yet, but I believe he will." Masashi's confidence was firm. "Not to brag, but my teaching isn't any worse than the Yuki clan's own."
Mei couldn't argue with that.
This had been compared before. The Yuki clan's secret techniques genuinely couldn't hold a candle to Masashi's modified versions.
The Yuki clan's Ice Release couldn't exactly box a tailed beast, after all.
"Here." Mei handed him a scroll.
"What's this?"
"The Yuki clan's secret techniques. After their downfall, some were preserved."
"Wow, generous much?"
"You already have their people. What's the difference?"
Such magnanimity from the Fourth Mizukage! Masashi thought for a moment and added, "But I can't take this for nothing. Do you have any requests?"
"During this exam, do your best to demonstrate the friendly relations between Konoha and Kiri."
"Got it. Don't worry about a thing."
With Kimimaro here, friendliness is guaranteed.
Though he was just a child, Kimimaro had been trained as a secret weapon by the Kaguya clan since birth. His combat power far exceeded the genin rank.
If it came to blows, most of the other contestants wouldn't even survive their first encounter with him.
There wasn't much else to say. The two squads merged into one and continued their journey westward.
After rendezvousing with the Suna ninjas responsible for escorting them, they began their trek deeper into the desert.
Though officially called escorts, they were also tasked with ensuring that the participants wouldn't figure out the exact route into Suna.
Since the founding of Suna, there had only been one major breach: during the Third Great Ninja War, when the invading forces of Kumo launched a full-scale attack. Who knew how much groundwork they had done beforehand?
To Masashi's trained eye, the Suna escort team had discreetly deactivated numerous traps along the way.
If a war ever broke out again, any invading force taking this route was in for a bad time.
Two days later, they finally saw the city standing tall amidst the endless golden sands.
The city was lively now.
Teams from different ninja villages brought new and diverse sights to Suna.
The local villagers were equally curious about these foreign ninjas. After all, in the past, seeing a foreign ninja meant a fight was about to break out—not a friendly visit.
Konoha and Kiri weren't the first to arrive, but their presence drew immediate attention.
Among the group was Suna's hero, Pakura, standing prominently in the lineup.
Additionally, there was someone whose appearance strongly resembled a certain Konoha ninja who had once caused significant upheaval in the village—Konoha's White Fang.
As for Masashi, despite being Konoha's most prominent Kage-level figure, he was largely ignored by the Suna ninjas.
He had anticipated this reaction.
The Hokage's office had likely arranged things this way, not to antagonize Suna, but to achieve certain objectives.
Including Pakura in the team made sense.
She was familiar with Suna and the Land of Wind, and her presence ensured a higher level of safety given the strained relations between Konoha and Suna.
As for assigning Kakashi, the Fourth Hokage likely wanted him to visit the country his father had once been in, as a way of opening his heart.
Hearing about the White Fang's heroism from fellow Konoha ninja might not have much impact on Kakashi, but experiencing the fear and respect for his father in enemy territory could make all the difference.
With Masashi around, Minato had no reason to worry.
If Suna wanted to avoid having their techniques copied, they'd better refrain from causing trouble.
In that sense, perhaps the arrangement wasn't entirely well-intentioned.
The Suna ninja escorting them, clearly eager to finish their task and leave the White Ghost behind, led the combined team to their lodging as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, Masashi stopped in his tracks. He had spotted a Suna child.
The boy had short red hair and no mark on his forehead, but it wasn't hard to guess his identity.
The child stared at the Konoha and Kiri ninjas curiously. When he noticed Masashi looking back, he nervously took a few steps back before running away.
The Konoha and Kiri ninja also noticed how the boy's path cleared as everyone nearby hurriedly moved aside, unwilling to interact with him.
"That child…" Mei murmured thoughtfully.
"Hm. He's probably Suna's top genius right now."
"What? You can tell that with your Sharingan?"
"Don't underestimate me. I'm serious." Masashi resumed walking. "Among all the genin we've brought, ten years from now, the only one who could take him on is Kimimaro."
This Gaara was about a year younger than Naruto, but at this point, he had likely already mastered Magnet Release.
With his mother's chakra fused with his own, his Magnet Release even had an automatic defense mechanism. That was outright cheating.
Apart from the reincarnations of Indra and Asura's chakra, the shinobi world still produced pure prodigies, and Gaara was one of them.
Kimimaro was another.
But this time, there were no such extraordinary talents among Konoha's genin team.
To say that this generation of Konoha genin was completely devoid of talent was, of course, an exaggeration.
Itachi had already graduated from the Ninja Academy and was now officially a genin.
However, Fugaku wanted to slow things down. He felt that his son graduating from the Academy too quickly and immediately taking the Chunin Exams might not be the best idea.
This confused father was beginning to realize, albeit belatedly, that taking his four-year-old son to the battlefield and having him slit a throat might not have been the most appropriate thing to do.
At that time, the circumstances surrounding the Uchiha clan were entirely different. Back then, he genuinely wanted his son to mature as quickly as possible.
But now, it was no longer the same. He simply wanted his son to grow up healthily.
Moreover, Itachi had yet to awaken the Sharingan.
Fugaku, like many Uchihas, also suffered from "Sharingan Syndrome"—feeling as if the Uchiha weren't complete without their Sharingan awakened.
Yet, he adamantly refused to let Masashi take Itachi to try the infamous "tea-drinking method" for awakening the Sharingan.
As for how Itachi awakened the Sharingan in the original timeline, Masashi honestly couldn't remember.
He just thought—what's wrong with using tea-drinking to awaken it!?
With Itachi absent, this generation of genin genuinely lacked anyone particularly exceptional.
As for those who did come, he had already assessed them. In his view, only four individuals were outstanding:
Anko, a former disciple of Orochimaru. Hayate and Yūgao. And from the Inuzuka clan, Hana.
The rest were somewhat underwhelming.
Even among the four mentioned, ten years from now, they would only reach the level of special jonin.
Anko's case was somewhat unique, but the other three had clear talent limitations. Perhaps, given enough time, they might grind their way to becoming standard jonin, but that would be their ceiling.
Still, this lineup was acceptable.
Kiri had Kimimaro, but the other villages likely didn't even match Konoha's quality.
Wait, in Iwa's case, since Kitsuchi was leading the team, there was a good chance Deidara had come as well.
Tsk! Could these people at least respect the average age of Chunin Exam participants for once?
Fine, Suna definitely wouldn't.
The "Three Suna Genius Siblings" were still developing.
Hmm? Wait a minute, didn't Pakura have a disciple? If she's right, the kid should be in their teens now.
Ah, forget it. Too lazy to speculate.
After arriving at the inn, the teams from Konoha and Kiri each went to their assigned areas.
Before parting ways, however, they arranged to have a meal together.
As Masashi put it, if you want to build friendships, start with shared meals.
After organizing the genin, he and Mei, as the respective jonin leaders, first had to pay their respects to the host of this venue: Rasa.
Regarding the Fourth Kazekage, Masashi had only heard of him but never met him in person. He was looking forward to it.
This man was even more of a "confused dad" than Fugaku.
Truly deserving of the title "The Most Confused Dad in the Shinobi World."
As the most trusted subordinate of the Third Kazekage, Rasa inherited the Magnet Release passed down through generations of Kazekage and single-handedly supported Suna's finances.
In fact, Suna's financial resources were now surprisingly impressive.
Under his efforts, Suna ranked second in monetary wealth across the shinobi world, right after Konoha.
The issue was that some things couldn't simply be bought with money—at least not at a normal price.
Suna had plenty of gold, so they weren't short on money. What they lacked were various supplies, particularly food.
The continent was not like the modern, materially advanced world, and many products weren't entirely transacted with currency. A lot of deals were conducted through material exchanges.
Suna didn't have such trading channels. They could only use gold to exchange for goods, often at high margins. Some items were outright banned, and if Suna wanted them, they had to offer something else in exchange.
For example, the most precious mineral resource: chakra-conductive metal.
Most of the chakra-conductive metal deposits in the shinobi world were located in the Land of Wind.
After forming an alliance with Suna, one important clause was that Konoha would trade supplies for chakra-conductive metal at relatively favorable prices and even accept gold as payment.
But even these "favorable" prices were still expensive.
---
The Kazekage Building, when viewed from a distance, resembled a large spherical structure.
The architecture of Suna featured mostly curved designs, with almost no sharp edges.
Inside the Kazekage Building, Masashi and Mei found the other village leaders already present—they were the last to arrive.
From afar, Masashi spotted Kitsuchi.
"Masashi, my friend!" Kitsuchi's broad face broke into a sincere smile.
This "pro-Konoha" faction leader from Iwa had maintained a good relationship with Masashi during his time there.
"Kitsuchi, my brother! Your village sent you to lead the team, huh?" Masashi greeted him with a grin, and the two bumped fists.
"Of course, Deidara came along too," Kitsuchi laughed. "Masashi, we're allies, so when our people meet, we must treat each other well, right?"
"Absolutely! And as for Deidara, I'm sure you don't have to worry about him," That explosive brat was definitely not one to be underestimated.
Deidara and Kimimaro would likely become the "rampage duo" of this exam.
Konoha's side was a tier below individually and would need to rely on teamwork.
For instance, there was one team consisting of a "couple" plus a third wheel.
Anko and Hana were in one team, and their synergy should be decent as well.
As for Anko, after Orochimaru fled, Masashi had provided her with some ninjutsu to give her a boost.
Who knew how much progress she had made since then? Regardless, she was certainly much stronger than the average genin.
After all, genin typically had very few ninjutsu in their arsenal.
If a genin could use anything beyond the basic the Three Basic Techniques, they were already considered impressive.
And those proficient with explosive tags were the elite among them.
At this moment, a Suna ninja entered and announced to the assembled jonin, "Gentlemen, the Kazekage is ready to meet you."
"Please lead the way," Masashi responded.
The jonin naturally formed a lineup based on their standings.
This was when differences in status became apparent. No one needed to explain anything—everyone instinctively knew their place.
Masashi and Kitsuchi led the group.
One was the renowned White Ghost, unquestionably Kage-level, while the other was the son of the Tsuchikage and a seasoned powerhouse from Iwa, also Kage-level.
Who would dare walk ahead of them?
Following the Suna ninja, the group entered a small chamber.
Rasa sat behind a veil, flanked by his personal guards.
"Please, take a seat," he said in a deep voice.
Masashi couldn't help but sense weariness in the Kazekage's tone. Could he have stayed up all night mining?
Truly, a leader who worked tirelessly for his village. Admirable and respectable.
The group sat cross-legged on the ground, gazing at the veiled figure of the Kazekage.
"Welcome to Suna. On behalf of the village, I extend my greetings," Rasa began. "However, while you are here, I ask that you strictly adhere to Suna's rules to avoid any misunderstandings."
"Rest assured, Kazekage-sama," Masashi immediately replied. "Konoha pledges to act in accordance with Suna's regulations."
"Iwa will do the same," Kitsuchi added calmly.
Though he was part of Iwa's "pro-Konoha" faction, he wasn't a dove. He was a hawk—and Suna was among his targets.
The other jonin leaders also pledged their compliance one by one, all essentially saying the same thing.
Don't worry, boss! We'll behave! Promise not to cause trouble!
Rasa, however, dismissed their words as empty promises. This lot would undoubtedly stir up some trouble. But as long as they didn't go too far, he'd turn a blind eye.
The ones he was most concerned about were Masashi and Kitsuchi.
Both were bona fide Kage-level combatants. If they caused trouble, it would be a major headache.
As for Suna's own Kage-level fighters, counting himself, there were only three.
It wasn't like he could ask the two village elders to babysit these guys.
"Very well. Thank you all for your understanding," Rasa said, his gaze staying on Masashi and Kitsuchi. "Suna is a relatively isolated village, and our villagers are unfamiliar with foreign customs. Such cultural differences can sometimes lead to unnecessary conflicts. If you require anything during your stay, feel free to let us know. We will do our best to accommodate you."
"In that case, there is something," Masashi said.
"Please, go ahead," Rasa replied.
"As allies, we often visit one another and occasionally dine together. We'd also like to give our genin opportunities to interact. Would Suna be able to assist us in this regard?"
"This is a minor matter," Rasa responded calmly. "While Suna's conditions aren't the best, we do have some large restaurants. I'll have someone send you a list later, and you may choose as you wish. However, expenses will need to be covered by your respective villages."
"Of course, we wouldn't dream of burdening our friends in Suna," Masashi nodded. "But since we're all carrying our own countries' currencies…"
"That's easy to resolve. The village has currency exchange facilities. I'll arrange for you to use them at your convenience."
"Thank you, Kazekage-sama, for your consideration."
"It's nothing. Think nothing of it."
