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~~~~āā~~~~~~~~āā~~~~
The Next Day.
Tsukimi Heshu woke to a splitting headache.
Throb.
He pressed his fingers against his temple.
What the hell?
It felt like his skull was trying to split open. Did someone ambush him?
"Awake?"
Hanzo leaned against the doorway, calmly appreciating Heshu's disheveled state. Obvious amusement gleamed in her eyes.
"What happened?"
His mind was pure chaos. His nerves felt scrambled. He couldn't remember anything.
"Hmph. Nothing much."
Hanzo let out a cryptic snort. She jerked her chin toward the nightstand.
"Hangover cure?"
Heshu glanced at the bowl of dark, murky liquid. He downed it in one gulp.
The throbbing did ease a little. But the memory of whatever happened after he started drinking with Tsunade remained a complete blank.
Watching him, Hanzo was inexplicably reminded of his state last night when Shisui had hauled him back. Heshu had clung to her, groping around shamelessly until her scalp crawled.
Thinking about it now, Hanzo was convinced something was wrong with this guy.
Under Hanzo's unnerving stare, Heshu finished his breakfast. Grudgingly, he changed into his Hokage robes and headed for the tower.
"Hokage-sama!"
"Hokage-sama!"
"Good morning, Hokage-sama!"
All along the way, villagers greeted him with their usual enthusiasm. Heshu returned the greetings, quickening his pace.
Their stares were justā¦ too weird.
"Ahā¦ The Hokage is so beautiful. Why does she have to prefer women?" A male ninja watched Heshu's retreating back, his expression mournful.
"Worry about yourself, idiot! Even if the Hokage liked men, you wouldn't stand a chance!" His companion delivered a brutal blow.
"Shut up!" The male ninja's face twisted.
"This is great! The Hokage likes women!"
"Sisters, our chance has come!"
On the other side, a group of kunoichi huddled together. A strange, intense light shimmered in their eyes.
The male ninja watched them, swallowing hard in fear. "Damnā¦ Why do they look even more desperate than us?"
His companion shook his head, dumbfounded. "No idea. It's justā¦ kinda scary."
The light in their eyes was practically blinding.
"So, you like women, huh?"
A figure was already waiting for him outside the Hokage's office.
Yugito leaned lazily against the doorframe. She wore a light blue miniskirt today, hugging her perfect curves. Not overly exaggerated, not too flat. Just right. Compact and delicate.
Heshu's heart sank. "Why are you here?"
Yugito extended a hand, revealing an exquisite lunchbox. "Brought you breakfast."
Her smile was loaded with meaning.
"ā¦"
Heshu sidestepped her, entering the office. With Yugito's stiffening smile as the backdrop, he closed the door. "Sorry. Official business to attend to."
Yugito, left facing a cold, metallic door: "ā¦"
Wasn't he supposed to like women? Then why was he so calm around her?
Unlessā¦
Yugito narrowed her eyes.
Did Tsukimi Heshu have his eye on someone else?
Inside, Heshu finally let out a sigh of relief. "That was terrifying."
He wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
"Hokage-sama. This is the price you pay for shirking your duties."
Nara SÅsai stood there, his eyes bloodshot from a sleepless night spent handling official documents. He looked utterly deranged.
"ā¦"
Heshu jumped, startled by his ghastly appearance. "Maybe you shouldā¦ go rest?"
Whoosh.
The office was suddenly empty.
Nara SÅsai's departure was lightning-fast.
"ā¦"
He really had been pushing the poor guy too hard.
Soon after Heshu sat down, the members of the administrative department trickled in.
Unlike their usual calm and quiet demeanor, some female members gazed at Heshu with shy, meaningful glances, full of unspoken affection. In contrast, some male members wore complex expressions, their eyes filled with pity.
"ā¦"
After ten minutes of this oppressive silence, Heshu couldn't take it anymore. He looked at the female members staring at him like wolves at a lamb. "Is there something on my face?"
The addressed kunoichi immediately lowered her head shyly, her eyes still darting toward him. "No! It's justā¦ the Hokage-sama is more beautiful than any flower!"
Heshu's face contorted.
Pfft!
The System laughed without mercy.
"Host, this is the price of your drunkenness!"
Good heavens, yesterday when the host got drunk, the System's electronic heart nearly jumped out of its casing! It was terrifying!
Heshu had absolutely no desire to recall yesterday's embarrassing events.
"If you're in the office, focus on your work."
His voice carried a clear warning.
The kunoichi, though fawning, still possessed basic professional competence. Otherwise, Heshu wouldn't have selected them. Soon, one of them approached with a document.
Heshu took it and opened it.
It was a joint agreement signed by the Five Great Shinobi Villages. A notification for the Chunin Exams, suspended for years due to the war.
Heshu checked the signature section.
The seals of the other four Kage were already present.
Meaning all Kage had agreed to this document.
In that case, Heshu had no reason to oppose it. The Chunin Exams had always been a symbol of peace in the shinobi world. Only during peace could they be held.
With all five villages having signed peace treaties with Konoha, the host location was obvious.
Heshu confirmed everything was in order, then signed his name and pressed his seal.
"Summon all the village's jonin squad leaders!"
The Chunin Exams were a major event where no mistakes could be afforded. Especially an international exam with all five Great Villages gathering in Konoha.
Though called an exam, it was also a competition of village strength. Compared to war, it was more like a peaceful sparring match.
As Hokage, Heshu naturally didn't want his village's ninja to lose.
After spending the entire morning with the jonin discussing arrangements, Heshu met with Itachi and Hyūga Tenri during the lunch break.
"Teacher!"
Tenri almost charged forward to hug him. Then, she abruptly remembered the village rumors.
The teacherā¦ seemed to like women?
Hyūga Tenri glanced down at her still-flat chest, pouting in frustration.
Damn it!
Why wasn't she growing up faster? She wanted to be one of the teacher's suitors too!
Heshu felt numb.
Why was even Hyūga Tenri tainted by the rumors? Was there not a single female ninja left in this shinobi world who could look at him normally?
When Itachi first saw Heshu, he recalled the depressed JÅ«ri and the stiff-faced Shisui back in the Uchiha compound. It seemed the exposure of the teacher'sā¦ preferences had hit many people hard. Chief among them were his teammates.
"Itachi, Tenri. The Chunin Exams are approaching. Do you want to give them a try?"
By all rights, both Uchiha Itachi and Hyūga Tenri already possessed chunin-level strength. Heshu had just been too busy with official duties to arrange it. Now, coinciding with the Five-Village joint exam was perfect.
Heshu had high expectations for Itachi. With his talent, taking first place shouldn't be difficult.
"The Chunin Exams!"
Tenri's pupils dilated. She immediately jumped. "Yes! Teacher! I want to participate!"
Itachi was much calmer. He simply nodded.
"Good."
Heshu thought about it. Since the exams were coming up, it wouldn't be right if he, as their teacher, didn't teach them a few big moves.
He extended a hand. Several scrolls materialized in his palm.
"These are jutsu scrolls. Your teacher is swamped with work and has no time to teach you personally. But the scrolls contain detailed steps."
He placed them on the desk. "Study them before the exams!"
He couldn't guarantee they'd master them completely, but grasping seventy to eighty percent should be feasible.
As for HyÅ«ga Tenriā¦
Forget it.
Heshu held no expectations for her. But these scrolls didn't just contain ninjutsu; there were nin-taijutsu techniques as well.
News of the Five-Village Joint Chunin Exams sent waves of excitement through everyone. Konoha's development entered another peak period.
Tourists from across the shinobi world flooded into the village. Every inn was packed to capacity.
Prompted by Heshu's suggestions, civilians started converting their homes into guesthouses to make money, successfully attracting another wave of customers.
Of course, with such chaos, security had to keep up. These days, Heshu deployed most of the village's ninja as a temporary police force.
Additionally, he had Yamato erect a massive wooden pillar in the central square.
Little Qing, in her full serpent form, coiled atop it, acting as Heshu's eyes over the village. Any troublemakers with ill intentions lost their courage at the sight of such a colossal creature.
With Jiraiya and Tsunade back in the village, Heshu used every trickāpleading, pesteringāto rope them into the security detail.
At first, Jiraiya was reluctant. But as beautiful women from various nations poured in to watch the spectacle, the smile on his face grew increasingly genuine.
Tsunade initially went along only because of Heshu's pressure. But she soon found herself in the gambling halls, playing day and night with shinobi from all over the world.
In short, every street in Konoha was now packed shoulder-to-shoulder. The noise was enough to lift the village roof.
And this was still a full month before the exams began.
Heshu didn't dare imagine the spectacle Konoha would become when the exams actually arrived.
"Hokage-sama, is thisā¦ really appropriate?"
Nara SÅsai stood behind Heshu, nervously rubbing his nose after hearing Heshu's latest proposal.
"What's inappropriate about it? The training ground spectator stands have limited capacity. They can't hold everyone. Selling tickets is the only way to filter out part of the crowd."
Heshu's proposal was simple: sell tickets.
The participants in the Chunin Exam matches were, after all, talented shinobi from across the world. Buying a ticket to watch them wasn't asking too much of the audience.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Besides, with the massive influx of people into Konoha, if they didn't use tickets to control the crowd, the stands would be crammed full, with five or six people squeezing into a single seat. How would that look?
A stampede would be a real disaster.
"ā¦Alright."
Nara SÅsai nodded and went to handle it.
"What a rare spectacle."
Shisui stood behind Heshu, gazing down with a sigh.
The streets below were lined with crowded stalls. The flow of people pressed together like countless small streams.
Amid the noise, a new business even emerged: buying and selling information on the Chunin Exam participants. Resourceful merchants compiled participant data into booklets and sold them to passersby. This business was always the hottest.
Those who bought the booklets would then place bets in the gambling halls, staking their entire fortunes on the contestants they favored.
"Is everything prepared?"
Heshu tilted his head slightly, looking at Uchiha Masako.
Masako, clutching her notebook, nodded, her cheeks faintly pink.
"ā¦"
Heshu's eyes stung as if poked. He averted his gaze.
I can't take this anymore!
Shisui's eyes held unprecedented determination.
Heshu was still young. He must have been misled by some scheming person, leading to thisā¦ deviation in his preferences. He, Shisui, would patiently help guide Heshu's preferences back onto the proper path!
ā¦
The Chunin Exams arrived amid everyone's feverish excitement.
The first day was the ceremony to welcome the Kage from the other villages.
Heshu dressed formally, followed by Nara SÅsai, Uchiha Masako, Shisui, and JÅ«ri.
Crowds gathered spontaneously along the streets. They packed together densely, yet in the center, they left a pathway wide enough for five people to walk abreast.
Colorful streamers flew, flags waved, and cheers roared.
Heshu stood at the main gate, watching the first figure appear before him.
"The Kazekage is as fast as ever, I see."
Heshu smiled warmly at the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
Rasa: "ā¦"
He might be a man of few words, but he wasn't ignorant. The word 'fast'ā¦ when applied to a man, didn't exactly sound like a compliment.
"Hokage."
Rasa gave a slight nod. Behind him were an elderly woman and a young man, followed by the Sunagakure ninja and the children participating in the exams.
The adults maintained their composure, but the children couldn't hide their curiosity. They kept peeking out to catch a glimpse of the famous Hokage.
"S-soā¦ beautiful!"
A young boy stared at Heshu's face, his cheeks flushing as if drunk.
"ā¦"
How pathetic.
Chiyo, standing at the front, heard the children's exclamations and shook her head disdainfully.
If she were a few decades younger, this Hokage wouldn't stand a chance!
"Hokage! Long time no see!"
A booming voice assaulted everyone's eardrums.
The Raikage strode forward with his usual entourage.
"Raikage. Not that long, really."
Heshu smiled. His gaze drifted past the Raikage to the spot usually occupied by Yugito. It was now filled by Akiaoi Shinya.
Shinya met Heshu's eyes and offered a subtle, knowing smile.
Heshu visibly relaxed.
"Yo yo yo!"
Killer Bee instantly materialized beside Heshu. "The Hokage digs chicks, yo!"
"ā¦"
God damn it.
Heshu's expression went utterly deadpan.
Bad news travels fast, huh? So fast the entire shinobi world knew about his supposed preference for women? Who the hell spread that rumor so quickly?!
"Bee! Don't be disrespectful to the Hokage!"
The Raikage reprimanded Killer Bee with a stern face. "Everyone has their own preferences! Even if the Hokage likes women, she deserves respect!"
He flashed a righteous, heroic smile. "Right, Hokage?"
Heshu forced a smile. "I am so grateful to you."
The Raikage scratched his head, puzzled.
The Hokage was clearly thanking him, but it soundedā¦ weird. And it made him feel kinda uncomfortable inside.
"Shinya, you're the Hokage's student. Did her words just now sound a bitā¦ strange to you?"
The Raikage leaned back slightly, asking Shinya.
Shinya wore a look of surprise. "How could they be strange? When Sensei talks like that, it usually means she's expressing special gratitude! Sensei typically only speaks that way to people she holds in high esteem!"
The Raikage's spirit was profoundly shaken.
He looked at Heshu. To think, in the Hokage's heart, he was someone worthy of such respect!
The Raikage puffed out his chest.
He stood next to the Kazekage, casting a rather disdainful glance at Rasa.
He and Rasa were different. Rasa probably didn't get that kind of respect from the Hokage.
The thought made the Raikage's expression grow even more contemptuous.
"?"
Rasa looked at the Raikage standing beside him, puffed up like a proud hen. He couldn't help but frown.
What the hell was wrong with the Fourth Raikage now?
~~~~āā~~~~~~~~āā~~~~
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