Chapter 252: Explode Already, You Smug Normie!!
Ryū's intervention had kept someone alive. Neither genin was from Konoha, but a death on this platform would have caused a non-trivial amount of trouble regardless — at worst, the kind of incident that could serve as kindling for a Fourth Great Shinobi War.
War itself would be none of Ryū's direct concern. The problem was the atmosphere that came with it. Starting every morning by breathing in the fresh smell of blood was not Ryū's preferred domestic arrangement.
He kept his expression level. "From the look of it, that wasn't intentional. Your opponent had already lost the ability to resist, and nobody's dead. I'm not counting it as a foul."
The genin — heart still hammering, face cycling through relief — immediately performed the formal shinobi greeting and bowed his head. "Th— thank you, senpai!"
Ryū yawned, waved a hand in the general direction of off the platform, and waited while the earth-style nin rushed out to repair the damage from the match. Then he lifted his juice, took a sip, and addressed the air in front of him.
"Next pair — why aren't you up here yet? Counting down from ten before I mark you withdrawn. Starting now. Ten… nine…"
They made it in time. Ryū found this faintly disappointing.
If they'd timed out he could have shaved ten minutes off the day. Unfortunately, none of these genin were inclined to let the opportunity slip — this was the one occasion in their careers as lower-ranked shinobi where they had a chance to make a name for themselves across the shinobi world. Almost everyone would fight for that, barring genuine incapacity.
Or a badly upset stomach. Which was its own kind of incapacity — someone in that state mounting a platform was mostly signing up to be embarrassed in the most visceral way possible.
Meanwhile, up in the official viewing area, the senior representatives from every village were wearing expressions ranging from deeply puzzled to something approaching existential vertigo.
Hiruzen sat with eyes slightly narrowed, and eventually murmured to himself, "He's far beyond anything I can manage… I couldn't see the movement at all. No chakra signature. Nothing."
He turned it over. "And he specializes in physical techniques — so how did he produce a ranged attack? And that juice glass. When did that appear? I didn't detect it arriving. Has his ability progressed again?"
Questions with no available answers circled his thoughts.
Watching what amounted to a human-shaped Tailed Beast wander freely around his village, Hiruzen felt the particular weight of a complicated emotion. The logic was simple: Ryū's strength was entirely beyond the reach of any balancing force. If something ever shifted that disposition — if the man's outlook turned extreme, if he decided for any reason to start with Konoha—
Hiruzen ran the list. Himself. Minato. Danzō. The entire Uchiha clan. All of them combined. Unknown.
But Hiruzen was also a man who understood when his options were limited. Whatever Ryū's relationship to Konoha's authority, the practical answer was the same: maintain goodwill. Keep the relationship functional. As long as the relationship held, the rest followed from that.
When did I become someone who defaults to accommodation? he thought, with a thin internal smile. But then — with that kind of power in front of you, what other rational position exists? Even the Nine-Tails wouldn't come out ahead.
"Sarutobi-senpai."
Minato's voice. Hiruzen hadn't noticed him sit down.
"I don't believe Ryū-kun poses a threat to Konoha. In the time I've spent around him, the pattern is clear — he's the type who won't look twice at you as long as you don't provoke him."
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "You haven't known him long. Why are you so confident?"
Minato scratched the back of his head and smiled. "Because I trust him."
"…That's an extremely thin basis."
"It's enough, though. And honestly — we're not really in a position to require anything more solid."
Hiruzen paused. Then, slowly, he nodded with a rueful smile. "You're right. I hadn't thought of it that way. I didn't expect to be the one getting a lesson here. In front of that kind of power, demanding further justification is a luxury we don't have."
"…"
Noon arrived. With it, the midday break.
Konoha's shinobi moved through the stands distributing boxed lunches and cold drinks to every spectator — a complimentary gesture funded, Ryū suspected, by the considerable sum the ticket sales had generated. The math was clearly comfortable.
Ryū's portion arrived too: a neat lacquered box of food and a drink that tasted somewhere in the vicinity of cola without quite arriving there. Pleasant.
Five winners were already determined. What remained: the lottery-draw round, one bye, a revival match to bring the total to four, two semifinals, and a final. More stages than it sounded, but with only five people left the execution would move quickly.
RawrSoFierce: Busy all morning and now halfway done — need to eat something and then finish the back half. Can't freeload without delivering.
Admiral Kizaru: Oh my~ Admin-sama has a job in the real world?
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — why shouldn't Admin have a job? Kizaru, you're out there going toe to toe with Kaido, Big Mom, and Shanks all at once — isn't that just clocking in for work?
Admiral Kizaru: Mm~ when you put it that way, I suppose it is~
Crazy Diamond: Speaking of which — Kizaru-ojisan is a Marine Admiral and Whitebeard-ojii-sama is a Yonkō. If anyone in your world found out you were on friendly terms, wouldn't that cause an absolute sensation?
Edward Newgate: Gurararara — whether it causes a sensation, old Whitebeard couldn't say. But Sengoku's face would be absolutely priceless.
Edward Newgate: If he were in the Chat Group, there'd be a brawl within minutes!
Eternally Seventeen: Unacceptable!! I sent Admin-sama a chocolate cake via private message hours ago and he still hasn't accepted it!
RawrSoFierce: I don't dare eat it. What if you poisoned it?
Eternally Seventeen: Pfft — hmph! Do I seem like the kind of underhanded creature who would do that? I, Yakumo Yukari — official spokesperson for Gensokyo's positive energy!
RawrSoFierce: I really do love how you can say things like that with a straight face.
Eternally Seventeen: !!!
Eternally Seventeen: Admin-sama, don't think that just because you confessed your feelings to me, I'm going to be like one of those silly girls with her heart going like an engine revving out of control.
RawrSoFierce: ???
Kaguya-sama: ???
My True Form Is Cola: Hss…
"…"
Ryū sat with a mildly blank expression and his drink halfway to his mouth.
He was genuinely uncertain what had just happened in Yukari's head. That sentence had been a confession? That cleared the bar? If so, the bar was buried somewhere underground.
When had the gap youkai sage developed such an overactive imagination? Was something wrong with her cognitive function? If so, perhaps he should consider—
He pulled back from wherever that thought had been heading.
He cleared his throat quietly.
RawrSoFierce: Dial back the imagination. And Umaru, what was that sound for.
My True Form Is Cola: Nothing! Cute little Umaru knows nothing, saw nothing, understands nothing, is completely and totally blank.
RawrSoFierce: …The performance of total innocence is the least convincing thing you've ever done.
RawrSoFierce: Everyone stop letting your minds go to weird places!
RawrSoFierce: ee(angry°Д°)?pia
Terrible Tornado: Good thing I've got positions in the Kaguya portfolio, the Umaru portfolio, the Yukari-senpai portfolio, the Sakura portfolio, the Tohru portfolio, and the Eriri portfolio. All bets covered. Pure profit.
Street-Corner Illustrator: Hm? Did someone call my name?
Street-Corner Illustrator: Overworked manga artist passing through.
My True Form Is Cola: Pfft… please leave me out of this battlefield. When the divine beings fight, the mortals catch the collateral. I would like to continue living for a while.
Kaguya-sama: Why does the group's atmosphere keep getting weirder?! Stop assigning people to storylines they didn't sign up for! This isn't some fandom shipping forum!
Kaguya-sama:groundhog screaming
Terrible Tornado: Little Kaguya, dare you declare publicly that you'll never develop feelings for Admin-sama? Ever?
Edward Newgate: This circle is chaos. A solitary old bachelor has nothing to add.
Crazy Diamond: This circle is chaos. Single dog declines to comment.
WolfKingOfQingQingGrasslands: This circle is chaos. Sin— wait. This King is not actually single. House, vehicle, mutton, wife, son. Living the dream.
Crazy Diamond: EXPLODE ALREADY, YOU SMUG NORMIE!!
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: EXPLODE!! NORMIE!!
"…"
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