Chapter 129: Arrangements
The Hokage's Office.
After hearing Tonbo Tobitake's request, Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"I understand. I will arrange your teammates. Once I've finalized the selection, I will notify you."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Tonbo grinned and disappeared with a poof.
Bang!
Just as he left, a small figure pushed open the door.
"Grandpa, who were you talking to?"
Konohamaru tiptoed in, looking left and right. Finding no one else in the room, he questioned his grandfather. He had clearly heard voices just now.
"Young master, please don't just run around like that," a man dressed in shinobi attire said helplessly from behind him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at his grandson, feeling a bit exasperated. "Why did you run over here again? Didn't I tell you to stay at home?"
"I missed Grandpa," Konohamaru chirped. He seemed genuinely happy to see his grandfather.
Hiruzen wore a smile, but in his heart, he sighed. Ever since Shinnosuke and his wife passed away during a mission a year ago, Konohamaru spent most of his time with nannies except for when Hiruzen was off work. Loneliness was inevitable for the boy.
However, there was currently no one capable of taking over the heavy responsibility of the Hokage seat, leaving Hiruzen unable to step down.
Sigh!
The Ninja Academy.
A large group of elementary students followed behind Iruka, performing physical stamina training.
"Hehe, although I haven't found out who developed that 'Eight Scents of Fire' jutsu yet, I did uncover some good news. Do you guys want to hear it?"
Over the past few days, besides the troublemaker Naruto, other students had fallen victim to Iruka's torment one by one. As a self-proclaimed future Hokage, Kiba felt a heavy responsibility. He believed he had to demonstrate his capability to the others, so he put his shinobi skills to use: intelligence gathering.
The other students perked up their ears.
Naruto, however, immediately began to mock him. "Haha! And you say you're going to be Hokage? I can't believe even you couldn't find any info. Looks like the Hokage seat is still mine! Just you wait, I'll gather the info on that person tomorrow. I'm the future Hokage; I'll make everyone acknowledge me!"
Naruto was thrilled. Even Kiba, who was tied for first place with Sasuke, hadn't found the developer's identity. If Naruto found it, he would surely gain everyone's respect. As for the "good news" Kiba mentioned, Naruto automatically filtered it out.
Shikamaru Nara, being the resident genius of the Nara clan, spoke up: "Your 'good news' wouldn't happen to be a way to crack the teacher's ninjutsu, would it?"
The entire event revolved around Iruka-sensei and his disciplinary technique. Shikamaru couldn't imagine any other news Kiba would care about. Actually, he wanted to know too. Two days ago, due to his laziness and passivity, he had personally "tested" Iruka-sensei's jutsu.
He swore it was the most disgusting thing he had ever eaten—no, the most disgusting technique he'd ever experienced. He couldn't understand who would be bored enough to develop such a loathsome jutsu. Even when he asked his father, Shikaku Nara, the man had just laughed it off. Shikaku told him it was a "shinobi intelligence analysis game" left for him to solve on his own.
But from his father's tone, Shikamaru knew the old man knew exactly who developed the "crap jutsu," but simply refused to tell him. Dammit, Dad.
The thought of being targeted by Iruka-sensei every time he wanted to slack off made Shikamaru miserable. Hearing Kiba's words, he felt a glimmer of hope.
Kiba gave him a thumbs-up. "As expected of Shikamaru, my biggest rival for the Hokage position. You analyzed the key point instantly."
According to his teacher Tonbo Tobitake's advice, Kiba had gathered intel on everyone who looked like a slacker. Aside from Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru was his biggest competitor. Because even though Shikamaru was clearly smart, his test scores were always exactly in the middle; Kiba was convinced this was a tactic to lower his guard, making him think he had no rivals while Shikamaru worked hard in secret.
Hearing Shikamaru's analysis now only confirmed his theory. As for Naruto? A pure idiot.
"Eh? Shikamaru, you're going to fight me for the Hokage title too? I won't lose to you!" Naruto shouted, eyes burning with competitive fire. So many people want to be Hokage... once I become Hokage, everyone will definitely acknowledge me.
Choji followed behind, panting heavily. Hearing Kiba, he pulled a bag of potato chips from somewhere, carefully took one out, and handed it to Kiba with a look of extreme reluctance. "Is there really a way to crack the teacher's jutsu? I'll treat you to a chip."
He had tasted it too. He never, ever wanted to taste that again.
Crunch!
Kiba took the chip and ate it.
Woof!
Akamaru protested. He had done a lot of the work too; how could Kiba eat it all? Under Kiba's gaze, Choji reluctantly pulled out another chip for Akamaru.
"Hehe, I'll tell you guys. Basically everyone from the second year and up already knows how to crack it. I heard it was cracked by a sixth-year named Tokuma Hyuga, who then spread the counter-jutsu throughout the school," Kiba laughed.
Although his sister had already graduated and become a Genin this year, she still had two friends in the sixth grade. He had only needed to ask around a little to get the news. The only downside was that they all seemed to know who created the jutsu, but they refused to tell him. They seemed to have some sort of "unspeakable difficulty" talking about it.
Fortunately, Kiba was a model student and had never been punished by Iruka, so he was quite relaxed about the whole thing. It didn't matter if he couldn't find the creator yet. If it weren't for his prestige as the future Hokage, he wouldn't have bothered gathering intel for them anyway.
"What? A ninjutsu?"
The students who had been punished turned pale. They realized they'd have to be more well-behaved from now on. The first-year curriculum focused on chakra refinement, general knowledge, taijutsu, and shuriken—there were no ninjutsu classes. Many didn't even know how hard it was to practice ninjutsu; they just knew it was difficult.
"Yeah, it's a technique called Throat Protection Jutsu. It's about the same difficulty level as basic techniques like the Rope Escape Jutsu. It's not that hard."
Kiba had practiced it; it really wasn't that difficult.
"That's great! Teach us, Kiba!"
Despite the difficulty, they felt they had to learn it.
Sasuke Uchiha was also in the line, listening to every word. He knew the "Bad Uncle" had developed it, but he felt he couldn't say anything. His brother had said the Bad Uncle had a twisted sense of humor and loved targeting people who snitched or spoke ill of him behind his back. If he got caught, he'd be pranked.
Sasuke still remembered the time the man had lifted him up by his collar just to watch him flail around. That scene was burned into his memory. So, he didn't dare speak. But he could definitely practice the Throat Protection Jutsu.
"No way! You have to call me Big Brother Kiba before I teach you!"
"Che! I already know that besides the first-years, all the older brothers in the second grade and up know it. We can just ask them later," Naruto muttered suddenly, just as Kiba was about to succeed in getting them to call him "Big Brother."
The other students suddenly realized—if it's a jutsu everyone knows, why would we need to call you Big Brother?
Kiba glared at Naruto, fuming. That idiot had ruined his plan again.
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