Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 184 Where is the Hiruzen Sarutobi you promised?

What does it mean to be richer than a country? It means living a life of luxury every day.

When the girl handed the materials she had bought to Xia Zuo, she didn't even blink, as if they were just a pile of ordinary metal, wood and gems.

This led to a serious misjudgment by the Fifth Hokage, who actually attempted to promote the secret techniques of the Sword Immortal.

Therefore, Konoha Village only has one swordsman, Tenten, and only one complete set of swords.

The Fifth Hokage could only resort to the self-deception of Ah Q to comfort his wounded heart: it wasn't that he or Konoha were poor, but that the secret techniques of this sword immortal were not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao of the ninja world.

It was fate that prevented the creation of the sword, not because I was unwilling to spend the money!

What? Why can I have it every day?

Nonsense, while the Heavenly Dao is ruthless towards the Hokage, it dotes on the lucky Tenten.

Only girls favored by Heaven are qualified to possess the weapon of a sword immortal.

The Fifth Hokage, Lord Natsu, wasn't making this up.

Since mastering the secret techniques of the Sword Immortal, Tian Tian's lucky talent has been fully unleashed, evolving into the [Aura of Misfortune], completely solidifying her title as the Great Demon King.

She can not only be invincible during cultivation, but also exert an even more exaggerated effect in battle.

Before mastering the flying sword, my opponents, whom I sparred with every day, were quite unlucky. Their problems were mostly minor issues like getting distracted or lacking concentration.

But after mastering the flying sword, Tenten's opponents in actual combat are in big trouble. They will inexplicably slip, malfunction in chakra circulation, get a side stitch, hiccup, or cough for no reason.

These may seem like minor accidents, but they are enough to interrupt a ninja's movements. In the heat of battle, such accidents can be fatal.

In her final year before graduation, all of Tian Tian's real-world opponents encountered unexpected events, without exception.

Some slipped when they went on stage and strained their hips by doing a split before the match even started.

Some sneezed at the last moment of performing ninjutsu, and were then hit by a backlash of chakra, causing them to vomit blood.

Some attempted to perform a spectacular high kick, but ended up tearing their trousers and dying on the spot.

After experiencing a series of unexpected mishaps, Tian Tian's classmates were no longer willing to compete against her.

Only Hyuga Neji had a strong enough will and, relying on his own great strength, withstood most of the unexpected events and fought Tenten several times.

In the end, the teacher, being a Chunin, had no choice but to personally step in and engage in a sparring match with Tenten.

But he didn't hold on for long.

After experiencing several accidents that were not very harmful but extremely humiliating, and even dying once, the teacher abandoned his dignity as a Chunin and sternly refused to spar with Tenten.

The proud and arrogant Hyuga Neji stubbornly persisted until graduation, but he was eventually disheartened by the setbacks and lost all ambition to compete for the title of best graduate.

After graduating, and after a year of rigorous training, mastering more of the Gentle Fist style, Hyuga Neji finally mustered the courage to challenge Tenten again.

However, in that actual combat, Neji discovered that Tenten's "Aura of Misfortune" had become even stronger.

Anything that gets within 50 meters of the girl will cause various accidents.

After knocking Tenten's sword away five times in a row, Hyuga Neji finally rushed to Tenten's side, bringing her into the attack range of Bagua Palm, and also entering Tenten's 5-meter restricted area.

When Neji assumed a horse stance, preparing to unleash the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, he suffered three unexpected incidents in succession: twisting his ankle, hiccuping, and pulling a muscle. Even his solid basic skills and powerful strength could not withstand the attack.

As Neji endured the pain in his feet and chest and unleashed his second palm strike, a surge of immense power rushed to his anus, causing him to turn pale instantly from the intense pain in his intestines.

For a moment, Neji was lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Tenten took the opportunity to retreat, widening the distance between herself and Hyuga Neji once again.

After that, Neji was never able to turn the tide. He was attacked by flying swords rushing towards him, and he was suffering from severe intestinal cramps that he had to grit his teeth to endure.

Even more critically, Neji also had to expend a great deal of his energy to control his shaky sphincter.

In the end, Neji suffered the most devastating defeat of his life. He not only lost the challenge, but also lost consciousness on the spot from the pain.

Losing consciousness at this critical moment, one can only imagine the frenzied spray that followed.

Fortunately, the challenge took place in Tenten's home dojo, allowing Tenten to have her servants quickly clean up the scene and deal with Hyuga Neji, and also to spend a large sum of money to keep quiet.

Otherwise, Neji Hyuga would be completely dead.

Given his proud personality, he might just follow in the footsteps of Kakashi Hatake's father and commit suicide.

Perhaps this was also due to Tian Tian's good fortune, which prevented her from losing strong teammates.

This incident had three subsequent consequences.

First, from then on, Hyuga Neji was completely convinced of Tenten's abilities and kept his distance from her, avoiding contact whenever possible.

Secondly, Hyuga Neji believed that he had already died once, and his extreme personality was suddenly reversed, so there was no need for his uncle to apologize with tears streaming down his face.

Third, Tenten was terrified by Hyuga Neji's miserable state and finally realized the horror of the [Aura of Misfortune]. She began to work hard to train the [Aura of Misfortune] in the hope of being able to control the target and intensity of the misfortune.

Therefore, Tian Tian frequently sought Xia Zuo's help, which made Xia Zuo very familiar with her specific strength.

In some respects, Tenten is comparable to a Kage-level ninja.

Ordinary Kage-level ninjas like the Fourth Kazekage, due to insufficient self-control, are affected by the "Aura of Misfortune".

In addition, the flying swords pierced her with lightning speed, threatening her life at any moment until her stored chakra was exhausted.

However, when the [Aura of Misfortune] affects a Kage-level ninja, the chakra consumed will increase exponentially.

To ensure their own safety, they must expend more chakra to place the flying sword 100 meters away.

In such an intense battle, Tenten's pitiful chakra can only last for a few minutes before she completely loses her fighting ability.

If Tenten were to challenge a Kage-level ninja like Tsunade or the Fourth Raikage, she would appear quite powerless.

These powerful ninjas had near-perfect control over their bodies; they would never slip, experience intestinal cramps, hiccup unexpectedly, get a stitch in their side, or cough.

When the effects of the [Aura of Misfortune] are insufficient to shake a powerful Kage-level ninja, Tenten's flying sword will reveal its true strength.

However, for ninjas below the Kage level, Tenten can sweep them away without any pressure.

Therefore, she is an invincible ninja below the Kage level, and the ultimate boss of this joint Chunin Exams.

If Tenten can fully master the [Misfortune Aura] before the exam, she can even easily defeat Darui and Deidara.

Xia Zuo cannot guarantee the outcome against Naruto Uzumaki.

In a battle between a boy and a girl, the difference in their inherent strength is almost meaningless.

If Tenten is a girl favored by the heavens, then Naruto is a boy watched over by the Sage of Six Paths.

The conflict between the Heavenly Path and the Six Paths, and the high level and complexity of the struggle between the boy and girl, are beyond the comprehension of the Fifth Hokage.

After all, he only shared the life level of Xia Zuo, the Heavenly Tribulation, and did not digest his knowledge.

However, there's nothing to worry about. Ultimately, the strongest battle will take place among the Konoha genin, and regardless of the outcome, Konoha will emerge victorious.

The Fifth Hokage was very satisfied with the result, praised Shirayuki's work again that morning, and then ended the work report.

Afterwards, Xia Zuo did not go home to continue training in Dark Release, but instead went alone to the most secretive laboratory in Konoha Village.

Here, the Fifth Hokage encountered the reanimated form of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

When Tobirama Senju saw Natsume, his face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot, completely obscuring his already large dark circles under his eyes. He roared with resentment, "Fifth Hokage, how dare you come to see me!"

"Where's the Hiruzen Sarutobi you promised? How come it's gone after just one time?"

Xia Zuo chuckled dryly, then shamelessly handed a stack of pre-prepared papers to Senju Tobirama.

The Second Hokage was so angry he was practically fuming, because his impure body was nearing its limit and, under the influence of his intense emotions, showed signs of disintegrating.

"You, actually, dare, to, make, demands!!!"

A violent aura erupted, like a tsunami breaking out in the ocean, shaking the entire laboratory, and various bottles and jars made a trembling clanging sound.

The Fifth Hokage, Natsume, licked his lips and said, "Ah, I have no choice. There are no geniuses like you among the descendants of Konoha. I really can't think of anyone else to entrust with these research and development tasks except you."

"Second Hokage, you have seen it all. The fruitful results of your efforts this year have brought about great development to Konoha Village. You should be proud."

Flattery will get you everywhere.

The Second Hokage's anger subsided by half after the Fifth Hokage showered him with praise, replaced by uncontrollable smugness.

As expected, I, Tobirama Senju, am still the most useful to Konoha. The Fifth Hokage has a good eye for talent. But this kid's character is really too bad. We can't give him a good look!

Thinking of this, Tobirama Senju cursed, "Ha! You damned brat! I'm proud to have contributed to Konoha, but how dare you treat me like this?"

He complained through gritted teeth, "They're making me work 24 hours a day, without a single day off for a whole year! Even a dead person wouldn't be worked like that!"

Xia Zuo feigned concern for Tobirama Senju, saying, "Oh dear, you've been lying here for so many years since you died, at least 30, right?"

"Now that we've finally managed to get up, we should leave something behind for Konoha Village."

"You're already dead, what are you resting for? Get back to work, okay?"

Xia Zuo tilted his head and dodged a flask full of distilled water.

Tobirama Senju cursed, "You brat, how dare you treat me like a child! Be careful, the next time I'm awakened, I'll chop off your head the moment I wake you up!"

Xia Zuo grinned shamelessly, "Hehehe, I know you, Second Hokage, are reluctant to kill me. At most, you can hit me once. I can take it, ahahaha."

At this moment, Xia Zuo's shameless behavior was exactly the same as the legendary Li Yunlong. His expression was particularly smug, making Senju Tobirama's teeth itch with hatred, wishing he could bite this bastard to death.

However, the Second Hokage knew that this damned junior was right; he truly couldn't bear to kill him.

Tobirama Senju appointed Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Third Hokage, but as a result, his ironclad allies, the Land of Whirlpools and the Uzumaki Village, were gone, as were the Uzumaki clan, his family of marriage alliance for a thousand years. Even the Senju clan members on the surface were all killed.

Despite paying such a high price, Konoha is worse off than when it died. It went from needing the three great ninja villages to join forces to dare to besiege it, to the point that Kumogakure (the Hidden Cloud Village) alone dared to attack.

The entire Hidden Leaf Village gradually declined, except for the Sarutobi clan, which prospered.

Tobirama Senju was an absolute conspirator, always thinking about things from the darkest perspective.

The more details he learned, the more conspiracies he imagined, and the more his anger towards Hiruzen Sarutobi accumulated, until it became indescribable.

Xia Zuo had no psychological burden regarding the reanimated Third Hokage, but unfortunately, the Second Hokage was too angry. Hiruzen Sarutobi had just completed the reanimation and hadn't even realized what was happening when he was smashed to pieces by his own teacher.

Orochimaru had meticulously prepared a offering that he expected to use for a month, but it was all gone in just half an hour, so he was unwilling to waste it any longer.

Yes, this guy doesn't care about his teacher at all; he just thinks the Second Hokage was a waste of resources.

In Orochimaru's view, the people resurrected by Edo Tensei are only temporarily awakened. In the end, they are still dead people. What's the point of whether the dead feel pain or not?

Orochimaru refused to cooperate, and his disciple Kabuto Yakushi couldn't force him, so Natsume had no way to resurrect Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Second Hokage, using the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

He could only helplessly offer a smile to the Second Hokage, like a shameless little rascal, begging the Second Hokage to work harder.

There's no way around it; these past two years have been a period of explosive growth in science and technology in the ninja world. Electric lights, movies, radios, washing machines, refrigerators, and air conditioners have all sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

No invention comes out of thin air; it requires the accumulation of technology and market demand.

There is demand in the ninja world, but the accumulation of technology is completely lacking.

These electrical appliances and a series of technologies such as power generation, transmission, and transformation all suddenly appeared without any prior preparation.

This strange situation alerted Xia Zuo, which is why he had Orochimaru resurrect the Second Hokage using Edo Tensei. The three of them then held a technology discussion to determine if there was any conspiracy behind it.

Xia Zuo's original guess was that a certain large ninja village, or a secret organization called "Kara," was accumulating wealth and then using that money to build up strength and stir up trouble in the ninja world.

As the dominant force in the ninja world, Konoha Village is the target of all storms and must be prepared and guarded against.

After listening to the Fifth Hokage's introduction, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, first praised his caution and sensitivity.

Then he told Xia Zuo that these appliances did not require the advanced technology he had "guessed" about; they only needed people who could not become genin but could extract chakra to be produced normally.

On the contrary, the designers of these appliances are very clever, able to come up with so many interesting functions.