Chapter 136: Shino... Who's That?
Konoha.
"Reading Method: Acquiring needed information by reading relevant documents, newspapers, magazines, books, and records.
Purchasing Method: Buying relevant information from involved ninjas or departments.
Inquiry Method: Acquiring information by asking relevant information sources.
Observation Method: Acquiring information from relevant personnel, local regions, and cultural sentiments.
Aggregation Method: Collecting various pieces of relevant information for a specific purpose to reflect a certain situation or problem.
Investigation Method: Including face-to-face interviews, written investigations, and questionnaire surveys.
..."
Naruto sat on a chair in Tonbo Tobitake's house, flipping through the book and staring at the table of contents. He swallowed hard.
His eyes started spinning in circles. "I'm about to manifest the Sharingan," he muttered, dazed by the sheer volume of text.
Tonbo Tianyu and Tonbo Maki were also propping their faces up with their hands, pretending to read seriously even though they couldn't recognize all the characters.
"Captain Naruto, may I ask what information you have obtained?" Tianyu asked respectfully, acting exactly like Naruto's subordinate.
Maki chimed in as well. "With Captain Naruto's brilliance, it must be a piece of cake. With Dad's book, the Captain will surely find the Great Demon King's teacher."
Under the barrage of compliments, Naruto's dizzy eyes finally cleared a bit. He was too embarrassed to admit he didn't understand a word of it.
Suddenly, he had a brainwave. "Psh! Even without Uncle Tonbo's book, I can find the Great Demon King's teacher just the same. We're not looking at this anymore; I'll take you guys out to find him!"
Closing the book, he prepared to lead the two out, only to be met by their scrutinizing, doubtful glares.
"Captain Naruto, you couldn't possibly be unable to read it, right?"
The two looked at Naruto with suspicion. How could they allow Naruto to give up on such a fun "game"?
"Agh—fine, what of it? I just can't understand it!" Naruto wanted recognition, but he wasn't going to lie about being confused. He was just a kid who had barely started school, after all.
"Brother Naruto is so silly. You're not fit to be Captain," Maki said softly.
Naruto was outraged. "Nonsense! I'm the man who will become Hokage! I'll definitely find him!"
"You can't read it, but does that mean no one else can?" Tianyu said in a childish tone. "We can find someone to help. My Dad says that being a ninja is a team profession; one person can't achieve great things alone. Don't always think about doing everything by yourself. As a Captain, you have to assign the right tasks to each teammate. Now that you're the Captain, you need to find your teammates and give them orders."
Tianyu recited this in his milky voice. These were words his father had told Kiba; Tianyu only half-understood them, but he felt that repeating his father's wisdom was the right move.
Naruto fell into deep thought. He's right. I'm the future Hokage; why should I do everything myself?
He thought of someone.
"Fine! Let's go find people who can help us."
Naruto selectively "forgot" the original purpose of finding the Ninja's Essential Compendium, glossing over his inability to read it. His goal remained the same: find the Great Demon King's teacher.
Whoosh—
Wooo—
The wild winds howled. Under the guidance of Hagoromo Genzo, Tonbo Tobitake entered the Valley of the Resting Wind during its "Wind-Rest Period." The others followed with great difficulty.
Along the way, Tonbo observed the Hagoromo clansmen. He noticed that their chakra fluctuations seemed to pulse in rhythm with the gale. Walking through the wind was clearly much easier for them than for his team, who were relying on raw physical strength to resist the pressure.
This must be a special constitution, Tonbo thought. Not only do they have large chakra reserves, but they also have a special affinity for Wind Nature Transformation. This trial must be meant to help them experience the nature of the valley's wind to enhance the power of their Wind Style ninjutsu.
"Hagoromo"—a name that sounded like a certain Sage. They likely inherited a special physical trait. Furthermore, their chakra levels were already comparable to his three teammates. One had to remember that Ren, Kairo, and Shenra were all members of Konoha's elite clans, raised on secret medicines and techniques since childhood; their natural chakra was far greater than average.
"This is the place." Genzo led them to a stone platform. The area was currently covered in dust and debris.
After manipulating some mechanisms on the platform, a barrier rose, neutralizing the howling winds.
"Alright, you will rest inside here. The children will be down below, sensing the power of the valley. When their stamina is exhausted, bring them back here to rest. Once they recover, throw them back down. Do not pity them; they have already steeled their resolve," Genzo told the Konoha squad.
Tonbo nodded. The job seemed simple, but it actually held a certain level of difficulty. First, although these children had special constitutions that mitigated the wind's pressure, they were very young. Their mental energy wasn't fully developed, making it easy for them to lose consciousness when their chakra ran out, at which point they would be blown away.
And he meant truly blown away. Tonbo had observed that even during this rest period, the wind force was only slightly weaker than his own Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. Without chakra to stick their feet to the ground, they would be sent flying.
This was exactly why the Hagoromo hired sensory ninjas. With their stamina intact, the ninjas could use their sensory abilities to quickly locate and retrieve anyone lost in the storm. However, the tracking styles of Inuzuka Kairo and Aburame Shenra likely wouldn't be very effective here. It would mostly fall on Tonbo and Hyuga Ren.
He had heard that in the past, there were many stories of Hagoromo children being blown away, never to be seen again.
"What? You want me to be your teammate, listen to you, and work for you?" Little Shikamaru was stunned. He looked at Naruto with total disbelief.
The veins on his forehead twitched. I know I'm usually easygoing, but I'm not THAT easygoing.
"Yeah! I've acknowledged you! When I become Hokage, I'll let you be my Chief Grand Strategist!" Naruto used a term he had picked up somewhere, looking very pleased with himself.
Sasuke was too stuck-up; Naruto didn't want him. Kiba wanted to compete for the Hokage seat and act like a big brother, so he was out. That left Shikamaru. Although Kiba claimed Shikamaru wanted to be Hokage too, the boy was much better than the other two. Most importantly, when Naruto thought about people who didn't look at him with "those" eyes, there were only a few—and he considered only three of them to be smart.
Choji didn't hate him either, but Naruto didn't think he was smart enough. Naruto believed Shikamaru was the one most likely to be helpful.
"Who wants to be a strategist? That sounds like a huge drag. I refuse," Shikamaru said, pouting. He didn't want to do something so boring. His dad was a strategist, so Shikamaru knew exactly how troublesome the job was. He wanted no part of it. Besides, being Naruto's subordinate was a surefire way to get laughed at by everyone.
"But... but except for you, I can't find anyone else..." Naruto poked his index fingers together, whispering.
Tianyu and Maki nodded repeatedly behind him, backing up Naruto's words.
Shikamaru was speechless. "You can go find Shino. He's very smart too." In a desperate bid to rid himself of the "Naruto nuisance," he offered up a suggestion.
"Shino? Who's that?" Naruto's eyes went blank with confusion.
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