Chapter 147 Yellow-haired VS Yellow-
haired!
Uchiha Touhuan As soon as these words fell, the daimyo of the Land of Grass turned a deep shade of liver, while Onoki, standing beside him, was also somewhat embarrassed.
[Dude, if you didn't want to bow, you should have said so earlier. Now, it's made me look really awkward bowing to this guy.]
"Hehe, I've heard that the new Grand Minister of Fire is a young hero. Seeing him today, I can confirm his reputation is well-deserved." At this moment, a robust middle-aged man in a magnificent formal suit walked over with a smile.
Onoki bowed to the newcomer: "Your Highness, Daimyo."
Uchiha Touhuan smiled slightly, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Your Highness, Daimyo."
"No need for formalities." The daimyo of the Land of Earth nodded and stepped forward to shake hands warmly with Uchiha Touhuan.
This daimyo of the Land of Earth and Onoki were considered a model of harmonious relations between ruler and subject in the ninja world.
The Land of Earth's development to its current scale was not only due to Onoki's efforts in Earth Shadow, but also inseparable from this daimyo's strong support. It could be said that among the five daimyo of the Five Great Nations, this Uesugi Hideyoshi was the most virtuous.
Therefore, Uchiha Touhuan didn't mind giving him some face, after all, this daimyo of a great nation was of the same rank as their Land of Fire daimyo.
Upon seeing Uchiha Touhuan bow, the daimyo of the Land of Grass turned from red to purple.
"The competition is about to begin," Uesugi Hideyoshi said, looking at the daimyo of the Land of Earth. "By the way, why haven't I seen any ninjas from your Land of Grass participating this time?"
Uchiha Touhuan smiled upon seeing this, realizing that the daimyo of the Land of Grass wasn't very popular among the daimyo group.
"Oh, look at my memory, I almost forgot," Uesugi Hideyoshi laughed. "Your ninja village in the Land of Grass probably can't muster a suitable team right now, right? If you ask me, that's your fault.
The Hokage has already issued a statement throughout the ninja world, but the Hidden Grass Village still insists on going its own way. You can't blame anyone else for that." "His Highness the Daimyo is right," Uchiha Touhuan laughed.
"Besides, Konoha has already given the Hidden Grass Village many opportunities, but unfortunately, some people just don't understand the significance of a great nation."
"Faced with that situation, the Hidden Iwagakure would have made the same choice," Onoki added from the side. Then, the three of them burst into laughter, leaving only the Daimyo of the Land of Grass Village, under the gaze of the guests, the biggest clown of the day.
"The competition is about to begin, isn't it? I wonder if Konoha has any geniuses to send out this time?" Uesugi Hideichi chuckled.
"Geniuses are too much to ask, just two good-for-nothing clansmen," Uchiha Touhuan replied.
"The Hokage is very strict with his clansmen, isn't he? An Uchiha with two tomoe Sharingan, if his ninja skills were up to par, he'd already be qualified to be a Jonin in our village," Onoki said. "It seems he'll take the championship this time."
"Just lucky to have awakened his Sharingan," Uchiha Touhuan waved his hand and said, "He's still far from being a true powerhouse."
"Hehe, hearing you say that, I'm getting a little excited too," Uesugi Hideyoshi said. "Please, Minister of State."
"You are the Daimyo, you should go first," Uchiha Touhuan laughed.
The three chatted and laughed as they arrived at the VIP area. The venue was already set up, and the competition was about to begin.
After the three sat down, Uchiha Touhuan suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Earth Shadow, how about a little warm-up performance before the match begins?"
Onoki looked at Uchiha Touhuan with some confusion. "Does Mr. Hokage have some good suggestions?"
"Suggestions are too simplistic," Uchiha Touhuan chuckled. "Our disciples are of similar age, so how about a small sparring match in front of the audience before the main tournament?"
Onoki narrowed his eyes, looked at Uchiha Touhuan for a moment, and then said, "Since the Hokage has this idea, then we, the Hidden Stone Village, cannot spoil our guest's fun."
Onoki waved to a member of the Anbu and ordered, "Bring Deidara here."
"Understood." The Anbu acknowledged the order and left.
...
At that moment, Deidara and Kurotsuchi encountered Naruto and his companions again at the same venue.
"Big Brother!" Naruto waved and greeted Deidara eagerly upon seeing him! That day, Deidara's forceful act of taking the blame for him earned Naruto's genuine respect for this older brother whose hair color was similar to his own.
"Little brother!" Deidara was also pleasantly surprised to meet Naruto. After all, Naruto was the only one who had ever been willing to study art with him and had even given him such excellent advice. He was extremely satisfied with the fireworks explosion that day.
So, upon meeting, the two quickly huddled together and introduced each other to their respective companions.
"Sasuke, Neji, this is big brother Deidara," Naruto introduced them.
"Kurotsuchi, this is my little brother I just met..." Deidara wanted to introduce Naruto to Kurotsuchi, but suddenly realized he didn't seem to know Naruto's name. "Right, what's your name again?"
"Big brother, my name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said with a grin.
Sasuke and Neji looked at Deidara, and suddenly they understood why the two of them got along so well. They could smell the idiot aura in this new blond-haired guy.
At the same time, Kurotsuchi looked Naruto up and down, thinking to herself,
"So Konoha has idiots like my senior brother too?"
"Naruto, come with me later, I'll find you a good place to watch the match," Deidara said, patting his chest.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Deidara-gege!" Naruto said with a bright smile.
However, before Deidara could even lead the three to a suitable location, an Anbu from Iwagakure arrived before him: "Deidara, the Earth Shadow is looking for you."
"The old man wants to see me now? No way." Deidara waved his hand dismissively. "Can't you see I'm busy right now?"
Seeing Deidara's unyielding attitude, the Anbu was quite annoyed. It wasn't because of the kid's status as the Earth Shadow's direct disciple, but because the kid was petty and vengeful. In the village, who had offended him had their door blown up? If you offended him too badly, this kid might even blow up your toilet!
Fortunately, at that moment, a Konoha genin who had come to participate in the Chunin Exams but was eliminated in the survival test approached Naruto and his companions, saying, "The Hokage is looking for you three."
"Sorry, Deidara-nii, my teacher is looking for me," Naruto could only scratch his head and say to Deidara. Unlike Deidara, he wasn't fearless; he'd really beaten up Kakashi and Uchiha in the village!
Seeing his little brother about to leave, Deidara felt it was pointless and said to the ANBU member, "Well then, I'll go see the old man with you."
The ANBU member breathed a sigh of relief; Deidara's willingness to cooperate was for the best.
Then, the two blond-haired kids discovered they had the same destination.
"Old man, what do you want?" Deidara asked Onoki without any politeness as soon as they entered the VIP area.
Onoki's face twitched, but considering the presence of so many dignitaries, he resisted the urge to publicly reprimand his unruly child and patiently said, "The Hokage wishes to see your strength, so he wants his disciple to spar with you."
"Uncle Hokage, you want me to spar with your disciple?" Deidara turned to look at Uchiha Touhuan.
"Kid, I'm only eight years older than you, you don't need to call me 'uncle'." Uchiha Touhuan's face also twitched, while he secretly resolved to pay more attention to the education of the village's children in the future.
"Hey, that's not important." Deidara waved his hand, glanced at Naruto and the other two, and then said, "Let's skip the sparring. They're all younger than me, so let's not waste our time. We'd be better off discussing some new art."
In Deidara's view, if Naruto, as his disciple, could give him new inspiration, then what about Uchiha Touhuan, as his teacher? So, now that he had the opportunity to learn art from them face-to-face, Deidara naturally didn't want to waste his time bullying children.
Sasuke and Neji narrowed their eyes upon hearing Deidara's words. Were they being underestimated?
"Deidara! Don't be rude to the guests from Iwagakure!" Onoki whispered.
"Hehe, it's alright." Uchiha Touhuan said with a smile, "You want to discuss art with me? Well then, if you defeat my disciple, I'll tell you what the ultimate art is."
"Is that really true?" Upon hearing Uchiha Touhuan's words, Deidara's eyes lit up. The ultimate art? That sounded very exciting.
"Really." Uchiha Touhuan nodded with a smile.
"Sensei, let me go." Sasuke, with a cold face, volunteered.
"No, Sensei, I'm only a year younger than him, let me go." Neji added.
Looking at his two disciples who volunteered, Uchiha Touhuan smiled and beckoned to Naruto behind them: "Naruto, you're up for this one."
"Huh? Me?" Naruto pointed at himself, asking incredulously.
"Yes, you." Uchiha Touhuan smiled, "Aren't you two already friends? Then, let's treat it as a friendly spar."
"Okay! I'll go!" Naruto nodded confidently.
Hearing Uchiha Touhuan's choice, Onoki's eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed. He was truly confused about Uchiha Touhuan's purpose.
Soon, two blond-haired children, one big and one small, stood at opposite ends of the arena under the spotlight.
"Naruto, if you can't hold on any longer, you have to say so." After the two formed their opposing hand seals in the presence of the two Kage, Deidara gave Naruto this final instruction.
"Don't underestimate me, Deidara!" Naruto said, rubbing his hands together eagerly.
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