Hey everyone, sorry for the delay, but something happened these past three days without a chapter.
First, there was the day I wrote chapters for my other fic; the next day, which was Sunday, I had to be a nanny, a maid, or whatever you call it in your country; I had to clean the house by myself, and that's why I didn't sleep at all that day. I don't know why.
On Monday, I had class, and due to personal matters, I had to go to the university entrance exam early and arrived late, so when I got there, I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep. They had to wake me up so I could lie down and not be lying on the bedspread with my backpack, and I didn't wake up until 11 a.m. today.
This isn't an excuse; I just wanted to share, since my life is quite solitary and I didn't have anyone else to talk to. But without further ado, let's get to the chapter.
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As we walked back to the Fire Capital, I began to reflect on everything that had happened on this trip.
"Hey, I finished Fullmetal Alchemist," I heard in my head.
"That's great," I replied curtly.
"Oh," Saiken said, sounding surprised.
"What's up?" I asked mentally.
"Just wanted to talk about the story," I said somewhat shyly.
"Are you sure that's all?" I hesitated for a moment.
"Well, I also want another manga, or maybe that novel you were talking about," he added, sounding excited.
"By the way, do you also want a buffet and a cold drink?" I asked rather modestly, since, to be honest, talking to leaders from other villages had sent my cortisol levels through the roof. That's why no one traveling with me spoke to me.
"No, thanks, I don't eat," he replied, completely oblivious to the irony and sarcasm.
Ignoring the Biju, one of the reasons I'm feeling this way is the fact that we have to move at a snail's pace the entire way.
Itachi must be under a lot of stress and sleep deprivation. For the past four weeks, he's had to take care of four kids, obviously with someone else supervising, like my mother, Shizune, Junko, Hitori, or Riku. I'm not stupid enough to leave someone, especially an Uchiha, no matter how powerful Itachi is, completely alone with my children.
I can't wait to count how many green hairs will sprout on that brat's burgeoning bald head. He thinks like a four-year-old Hokage. It's completely nonsensical, and I feel like whoever said it was just being stupid; it only proves that the old monkey doesn't think. If he did, he might not have fallen for Danzo's provocations and agreed to something like killing babies in a genocide.
"Are you even listening to me?" complained the Six-Tails.
"No, why? What were you saying?" I replied honestly.
"You're a bad jinchuriki," I finally said after hearing a groan from her.
"If I'm bad as a host for a tailed beast, then others compared to Madara are nothing," I blurted out without thinking.
"Well, whatever. As I was saying, I don't think Greed should have died; he already did it once, what was the need to do it twice?" she began. In response, I tuned out; I only heard murmurs as I walked mechanically, thinking of almost nothing, ignoring what Saiken was saying.
...
"How's life treating you, Grandpa?" I yelled, bursting into my office only to find the old monkey sprawled on my chair, feet up, reading that pornographic novel Jiraiya was writing, a trickle of blood trickling from his nose.
The moment he saw someone burst in, he became agitated and, with a speed that belied his age and retirement, transformed from a decent old pervert into a decent Hokage—obviously in a super-cyclical fashion.
"Oh, Miyu, you're here. You took your sweet time this time," he said, as if a grandfather were seeing his granddaughter.
"Don't even mention it," I replied, sitting down in the office armchair and letting out a sigh.
"I imagine the trip tired you out?" she couldn't help but ask. I don't know if it was out of sincerity or to get information out of me, but I'm tired of having to distrust and doubt everyone, and I'll take it as the former.
"Having those wretches around and having to listen to their complaints from time to time isn't very pleasant, especially traveling through so many countries," I explained.
"Oh, wasn't the trip just to the Iron Kingdom?" the old monkey questioned.
"Initially, it was, but I had other plans, and since the escort mission was one-way, those guys followed me to the end for fear of being robbed or worse."
"Hmm, that's strange, especially the fact that you agreed to be followed," Hirzune said doubtfully, showing that he does know something about me.
"Well, I had my reasons," I said, avoiding revealing too much about my secret plans.
"Yes, I imagine you had a good reason for traveling through several smaller countries; I wonder what they are," he asked, resting a hand on his chin as he smiled at me.
"How about you get off my chair and off my desk, since I'm here now, and therefore no longer the acting Hokage, and sit in the armchair?" I complained as I stood up and found two cups and a teapot to make tea.
"At least the trip didn't diminish your authoritarian nature," the old monkey sneered.
"My word is law, period. But changing the subject, the reason I made the trip was to strengthen relations with other ninja nations," I began, explaining the superficial side of things.
"Yeah, I thought you wouldn't do something like that; I'm thinking of your character, like, if there's a problem with another country, 'I'll solve it with Wood Release and Sage Mode,'" Hiruzen mimicked me.
Yes, that's something I said when Kumo came here a while back and tried to pull his tricks. I had made it clear to the representative of the lightning country that, in any situation, I was not afraid to get my hands dirty with blood and that the one who would end up losing the most would be that, and I said that by the way.
The good thing is that with those subtle words and the fact that the Kumo ninja knew what I was capable of, they decided to be very diplomatic, so the kidnapping of Hiashi's daughter never happened.
"Well, there's a reason why, and it has to do with the Chunin Exams," I tried to steer the conversation in the right direction.
"Chunin Exams?" he asked, staring at me intently as he took the teacup.
"Exactly, I went to other countries to talk about the Chunin Exams," I repeated to make it perfectly clear that that was it and nothing else.
"Why would you do that?" the old monkey questioned.
This was because the Chunin Exams had always been held within the same village with members from the same country.
A collaborative effort where Genin was sent to other countries to take the promotion exams hadn't been done yet.
I have no idea when this started, but I know it wasn't happening before the war.
"Yes, the idea is to collaborate with other countries, for now with some of the smaller ones, to hold the exams together so we can collaborate, foster friendship, and do other things," I began, explaining the basics as he sat down at my desk and stirred my tea.
"Basically, the idea is that for each Chunin Exam, held every six months, all of us will go to a specific village to administer the Chunin Exams, sending our genin."
"That's right," the old monkey began thoughtfully. "It's not a bad idea to foster camaraderie and show an image of Konoha wanting to put aside enmities and war; it shows that our village seeks peace."
I just gave Hiruzen a strange look.
"Isn't this just an excuse to send ninjas to rival villages and gather vital information about other villages' ninjas?" he asked, giving him a strange look.
"Ah, that too," he corrected, coughing, trying to imply that he'd thought of that as well.
I just gave him a strange look; I can believe he hadn't initially thought of it that way, but considering how many times the exams have been held in the canon, and it would never have crossed my mind to do that, it worries me. The good thing is that it didn't happen.
"The truth is, it's not a bad method of whitewashing, but it only works because these smaller villages are looking for something they need from it; otherwise, they wouldn't accept it."
That was the reality. The smaller villages only agreed for the same reason: the finals of these exams are a spectacle held in a stadium open to the public. And that's a way to attract people, showing they have young and promising ninja.
They agreed because they know that if Konoha holds the exams with them, and their ninja reach the finals, they can demonstrate their great value as a ninja village to merchants and investors. A large village attracts attention, and stealing a little of that attention from Konoha is more than enough for them to improve.
The reason I'm doing this, besides gathering information, is quite obvious: it demonstrates supremacy.
Sending chunin or near-jonin ninja to the exams, claiming to be genin, to the chunin exams in other villages, while claiming to be standard genin, showcases our high level, making it clear that Konoha has better ninja than others.
Now, the other villages won't be stupid enough to believe this, but they have no way of proving we've infiltrated them. I'm not doing this for the ninjas, but for the civilians who request missions and trade; it's more than enough that they believe what we say is true, period.
This is also where the "exceptional achievements" come from; I can send ninjas like Itachi to destroy other genin ninjas from rival villages without any problems, since it's something that's in the regulations for the chunin promotion that I offered him and he accepted.
"I imagine, then, which villages have joined so far?" the old monkey asked.
"Takigakura, Kusagakure, Amegakure, and Tanigakure," I listed. "Afterward, I plan to go to the other villages in the Western Area, but first I want to rest, although I did have some trouble in Kusa and Ame."
That caught Hiruzen's attention, I imagine mainly because of the mention of Ame.
"I imagine you had them because of Ame, but what about Kusa?" he asked, puzzled.
"Yes, with Ame I was hoping to meet Hanzo, but there were always problems and strange things going on, so I had to discuss this with a representative," I explained.
(Note: I don't know exactly when Pain killed Hanzo, but considering it wasn't immediate, since I don't think he could have obtained all six of Pain's paths overnight, and thinking about the meaning and why he selected each person, I believe Hanzo must still be alive, but close to being killed. And judging by what was shown at that time, Hanzo is alive but in seclusion, or at least that's how I remember it.)
"That's strange, but not unthinkable. But what happened with Kusa?" he asked again.
"Well, I discovered there was an Uzumaki in Kusa," I said, staring intently at him.
I think my gaze had an effect, because Hiruzen's expression shifted from curiosity to guilt in less than a second.
"I think I know what happened if you say there were problems," the old monkey deduced.
"So, you know we almost went to war with Kusa because I had her on the verge of death from overwork," I said, making Hiruzen nearly pale. "That wouldn't have happened if someone hadn't ignored Uzu's situation during the Second Shinobi World War."
"Yes, it wasn't one of the best decisions I made; it made sense at the time, but now that time has passed and I think about it more clearly, without the pressure of a war, in the long run it wasn't worth it," he finally admitted.
"Be grateful Kushina doesn't like women; otherwise, we wouldn't have such a good vessel as her son to house the Nine-Tails," I said mockingly.
"I'm getting a little tired of dwelling on my mistakes. What happened to Kusa in the end? Knowing that, I'm surprised you didn't bring that Uzumaki with her," the old monkey brought up the topic again.
"I had him in mind, but knowing she had a daughter and that she herself wanted to stay there for family reasons, in the end it was decided that she would be Kusa's representative in Konoha; that way I'll know if anything happens to her and her family, and Kusa's idiots will have to look after her if they don't want to see the consequences, like their village destroyed or something like that." There was also the fact that the Daimyo and Kurenai representatives practically begged me not to provoke a war, at least not in such a reckless way.
I was left wanting to destroy something after going to Kusa, but what can you do? Only time will tell if leaving it there was a good or bad idea. And if it was, it gives me an excuse to destroy a ninja village all by myself, something I've wanted to do ever since I learned I have the Wood Release.
The closest I came to that was with the rock, but technically, I didn't actually do it, even though the jutsu came from me.