"Brother Jie is getting married, and the bride is Sister Izumi."
Hinata sat alone by the river behind Konoha, throwing small stones into the water. She knew she should be happy for them.
Jie was her teacher, someone she respected and admired. Izumi had stayed by his side for many years. It was only natural that they would get married.
Still, when she heard the news, she felt a little sad.
After sitting there for a long time, Hinata lowered her head and hugged her knees.
Some feelings were better left unsaid.
Fortunately, no one was nearby to see her like this. Otherwise, they might have thought someone had bullied the Hyuga clan's young lady.
Although the wedding was still two months away, this was the wedding of Konoha's most respected Hokage. The village naturally began preparing early.
It was not only Konoha that received the news.
Konoha also sent invitations to the other four great hidden villages.
A happy occasion was better shared with everyone. Since the Hokage was getting married, how could such an important event lack outside witnesses?
Of course, celebration was only one part of it.
Konoha also wanted to use this chance to let the other hidden villages see its current strength. They could attend the wedding, look at what Konoha had become, and then carefully think about whether they still had the ability to resist.
Jie had no objection to using his wedding as a way to show off Konoha's power.
If the ninja world remained peaceful because of it, then it would only save him trouble.
Besides, Konoha and the Uchiha clan were both rich now. Taking care of a few leaders from other villages was no big deal. Even if each village brought hundreds of people, it would not cost much.
And since they were coming to attend a wedding, they could not possibly arrive empty-handed.
No matter how Jie looked at it, Konoha would not lose out.
After receiving Konoha's invitations, the other Kage all had a headache. The problem was not whether they should go. At a time like this, no one wanted to reject Konoha's invitation.
The real problem was deciding what gift to bring.
If the gift was too cheap, it would seem disrespectful. But if it was too expensive, it would be painful to give.
In the end, all of them decided to attend.
With the leaders of the other four great villages coming to Konoha, Jie's wedding no longer felt like a normal wedding. In a way, it was almost like a Five Kage Summit.
Of course, Jie was not worried that Konoha would end up like Kumogakure and be attacked by several villages at once.
Unless all four Kage suddenly became crazy, they would never do something so foolish. Visiting Konoha as guests was one thing. Causing trouble inside Konoha was something else entirely.
Time passed quickly as everyone prepared for the wedding.
Before they knew it, more than a month had gone by, and there was less than a week left before Jie and Izumi's wedding.
During this time, Jie finally noticed that something seemed wrong with Hinata.
She was not as cheerful as before, and she sometimes lost focus during missions. More importantly, she seemed to be avoiding him.
Jie did not think much about it. He simply felt that after being away for two years, his student had become a little distant. He planned to talk with her after the wedding.
Izumi noticed Hinata's change as well, but she did not say anything.
She had a rough idea of the reason, but she felt it was not her place to get involved. Since Hinata never brought it up, Izumi chose to pretend she had not noticed.
Five more days passed, and the wedding was almost here.
The Kage of the other four great villages arrived in Konoha one after another: the Fifth Raikage, Yugito Nii; the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi; the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki; and the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa.
Yugito had always wanted to step down and live a more relaxed life, but Kumogakure still had no good choice for the next Raikage.
As for Killer B, his injuries had healed, but one of his legs was permanently damaged. After everything that happened, he was no longer as energetic as before and spent most of his time in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.
If he had been active when Kirigakure attacked Kumogakure, the power of the Eight-Tails might have helped reduce the damage the village suffered.
But there was no point thinking about that now.
When the people from the four great villages entered Konoha, they were shocked by what they saw.
This was no longer the Konoha they remembered.
The streets were wider and cleaner. New buildings lined both sides of the roads. People filled the streets, and the whole village looked rich and full of life. Even ordinary civilians walked with confidence.
"Konoha has already developed this much?" Onoki looked around in surprise. "This is hard to believe."
But after the surprise came a feeling of frustration.
Onoki knew very well that Iwagakure had helped make Konoha this rich.
Without the war compensation paid by the other villages, Konoha could not have grown so quickly in just a few years. It had used their money and resources to become stronger than the rest of the ninja world.
Mei and Yugito felt the same way.
Without the payments taken from their villages, how could Konoha have developed so fast?
With Jie's habit of taking things easy, they found it hard to believe Konoha had reached this level through his work alone.
The more they looked at Konoha, the more complicated their feelings became.
They had come to attend a wedding.
But before the wedding even started, Konoha had already shown them something they could not ignore.
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