Chapter 141 Joint Chunin Exams
"Yes." Gato, sweating profusely, accepted the order and left. Indeed, as one of the Kage of the Five Great Nations, Uchiha Touhuan had the ability to determine the fate of this continent.
In the following days, after meeting their current clan leader, Karin and her mother, who had just arrived, gradually settled into their lives. Tsunade personally cared for Anri's health, while Karin was assigned to Naruto's class by Uchiha Touhuan.
Thus, Naruto's nightly sealing technique lessons gained another classmate.
However, as she learned, Karin became somewhat resentful of her current clan leader.
"Are you really the clan leader of the Uzumaki clan?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto scratching his head while practicing a Ryōgi Seal.
"Don't talk! I'll finish it soon!" Naruto clearly didn't have time to pay attention to Karin at the moment; he was completely focused on maintaining the seal on the scroll.
"The position is wrong!" Karin looked at the scroll he was gesturing with and sighed.
Sure enough, the next instant, Naruto's chakra tore the scroll apart, and a stack of ruined scrolls lay piled up beside him.
Naruto dejectedly tossed the ruined scrolls aside and then took out a new one.
"Why did Touhuan-sensei assign me the task of teaching you the Ryōgi Seal?" Karin said, looking utterly exasperated. "And it's so simple! Why can't you learn it?"
"I really want to learn it too, but I'm always just a little short. What can I do?" Naruto said sullenly.
"Sigh, if it weren't for your freakish regenerative abilities, I would really doubt whether you're even one of our clansmen," Karin said.
"Not only is your hair color different from mine and my mother's, but your sealing technique is also terrible."
"Fine, let's try again," Karin said. "After all, you're my clan leader."
"Please!" Naruto perked up and pulled out another blank scroll. "I'll treat you to ramen after class."
During this time at school, Karin got along quite well with Naruto and Sasuke.
When she first came to school, Karin was ridiculed for her hair color, just like Kushina back then. But soon, those who mocked her experienced the iron fist of the Seven Stars Clan's bully.
Naruto seemed genuinely eager to be a good clan leader and protect his clansmen. He was always smiling and friendly, but when faced with those who mocked Karin, he would directly take action.
Sasuke and the others wouldn't just stand by and watch, so in just two days, no one in the entire ninja academy dared to mock Karin's hair color anymore.
Karin, who hadn't experienced much friendship growing up, naturally cherished the friends she made through Naruto. So, even though teaching Naruto sealing techniques was incredibly torturous, Karin only complained a couple of times.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Touhuan, who had someone else suffering for him, leisurely brewed tea in the Hokage's office.
Not long after, Uchiha Inahime knocked on the Hokage's office door.
"Come in," Uchiha Touhuan casually called out.
Inahime entered the office, bowed, and reported, "Hokage-sama, Iwagakure has sent a letter."
"An Iwagakure letter?" Uchiha Touhuan raised an eyebrow. "Take it."
"Yes!" Inahime handed a letter to Uchiha Touhuan. Uchiha Touhuan took it, looking at the letter sealed with Iwagakure's wax seal, and couldn't help but chuckle, "That old bastard Onoki did a pretty good job." Uchiha Touhuan opened the envelope and began reading the letter Onoki had sent him.
In the letter, Onoki first congratulated Uchiha Touhuan on becoming the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. After writing a large portion of rambling, Uchiha Touhuan finally saw some substance.
Hidden Stone Village invited Konoha to participate in their Joint Chunin Exams.
"Joint Chunin Exams?" Uchiha Touhuan looked at the letter Onoki sent with interest, thinking to himself, "Is that old man finally going to make his move?"
"Inari," Uchiha Touhuan called out, looking up.
"Yes."
"Who is the current head instructor of the Security Forces?" Uchiha Touhuan asked.
Since becoming Hokage, he hadn't really been involved in the Security Forces' affairs, except for inspecting them roughly every two or three weeks.
"The head instructor of the Security Forces? It's Shisui-nii," Uchiha Inari replied.
"So it's Shisui?" Uchiha Touhuan nodded.
After the coup, Uchiha Touhuan had originally intended to appoint Shisui as a captain in the ANBU, but Itachi's death plunged him into deep internal strife.
The Fugaku family has gradually recovered from Itachi's passing, but Shisui remains convinced that if he had offered Itachi more advice, Itachi wouldn't have met such an end.
Therefore, after that day, Shisui declined Uchiha Touhuan offer of promotion, accepting only a minor, unimportant position in the Anbu.
Kakashi understood the feeling of being completely powerless to help a friend's passing, so he assigned Shisui the position of head instructor of the guard unit. His daily work consisted of instructing the team members during training time after their patrols.
"Have him come over," Uchiha Touhuan said.
"Yes," Uchiha Inahira acknowledged and left.
Not long after, Shisui arrived at the Hokage's office, bowed to Uchiha Touhuan, and asked, "What brings you here, Hokage-sama?"
"It's not working hours yet, no need to be so formal," Uchiha Touhuan said, pouring Shisui a cup of tea. "Speaking of which, this is the first time you've come to the Hokage's office since I became the Fifth Hokage, right?"
"Yes," Shisui looked up at the Hokage's office, its furnishings completely different from the Third Hokage's, and couldn't help but sigh. Come to think of it, it was in this very office that he began his wrong path.
"Touhuan, tell me, what brings you here?" After a while, Shisui finally looked at Uchiha Touhuan and asked.
"You're the one training the guard team members, right? Among the new recruits, are there any particularly talented ones who have reached the Chunin standard?" Uchiha Touhuan asked.
"If we're just talking about the village's Chunin standard, there are a few with outstanding talent," Shisui said. "But why are you suddenly asking this?"
Uchiha Touhuan handed Onoki's letter to Shisui, who frowned after reading it. "The Joint Chunin Exams? If we're using that standard, then none of the genin in the guard team have met it."
Generally speaking, these Joint Chunin Exams are usually a stage for villages to showcase their strength, so the requirements for genin going to other villages are stricter than for regular Chunin exams.
After all, they represent the village's image when they go out. Therefore, every time there's a Joint Chunin Exam, participating villages send their own super geniuses to compete. Some smaller villages even suppress the levels of some talented but not yet qualified ninjas, creating the situation of having older genin.
The five great nations' ninja villages, except for the Land of Wind, generally wouldn't do this, because they wouldn't want to lose face.
"If it were a few years later, when Sasuke and the others had grown up, this joint Chunin Exam would have been the best stage for them to make a name for themselves in the ninja world. But right now, although I hate to admit it, the village doesn't have any outstanding geniuses to show for themselves." "
Sigh, if Itachi had graduated normally, his age would have been just right." Shisui sighed at this moment.
"Let's not talk about that. Because of the village's current situation, I plan to use this joint Chunin Exam as an opportunity for the genin of the guard unit to broaden their horizons. As for the final results, I'm not demanding anything from them," Uchiha Touhuan said.
"Aren't you going to push for good results?" Shisui frowned slightly upon hearing this. "But if the village's genin perform poorly, it'll be a disgrace to you, the Hokage."
"What disgrace could we possibly suffer?" Uchiha Touhuan laughed. "Believe it or not, even if our ninjas really do perform poorly, Iwagakure, as the organizer, will find a way to salvage our reputation." Shisui looked at Uchiha Touhuan with a puzzled expression.
"That's the confidence our ancestors instilled in us," Uchiha Touhuan said.
"However, regardless, I'll still need you to work hard these next few days. Select a few highly talented individuals from the security force and teach them some B-rank ninjutsu. As long as their performance is passable, that's fine," Uchiha Touhuan instructed.
"Understood," Shisui nodded.
After Shisui left, Uchiha Touhuan also left the Hokage Building a while later.
Back home, Uchiha Touhuan went to the study and saw Naruto still struggling in a sea of sealing scrolls. Touhuan chuckled and walked over.
"How's it going?" Touhuan asked.
"Touhuan-sensei."
"Sensei."
The two quickly looked up and greeted Touhuan. "
Still can't do it!" Naruto's face was almost in tears. "Do I really have to learn this? You don't know it either, Sensei..."
"Shut up! You traitor!" Touhuan slapped Naruto on the back of the head. "Besides, I'm different from you! I understand the principles! I just can't control my strength! Unlike you, who hasn't even scratched the surface of sealing techniques!"
Naruto covered his head, looking at Touhuan with a pitiful expression. After a while, Touhuan sighed.
"Forget it, you're a genius. You shouldn't waste your talent on learning this stuff," Uchiha Touhuan said helplessly. "I'll teach you some other ninjutsu in a while."
"I don't have to learn this?" Naruto perked up immediately.
"I wanted you to learn sealing techniques because I didn't want the Uzumaki clan's sealing technique lineage to end with you," Uchiha Touhuan said. "But since you really don't have the talent, then we'll just have to forget about it."
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