Konoha Drunkard

"...I'm just worried. I'm getting old, how much longer can I take care of them?" said Koharu Tsurugi.

"Look at what you're saying, you're just over fifty. Apart from a few crow's feet around your eyes, I really can't tell. Look at my brother Danzo, he's completely infatuated with you," Shanks teased.

"Heh, Konoha's Red Hair really has a sharp tongue. You've already mentioned the dead. No wonder my silly disciple didn't complain at all even though you've been gone for half a year." Koharu Utatane gave him a Tenseigan.

"Then you're wrong. Otherwise, Haruko-sama almost made me kneel on durians when I came back to find your precious godson. By the way, I also wanted to ask, where did Shisui go during the time he was missing? I searched the entire ninja world but couldn't find him. Yet he came back and managed to bring that girl back. That's much more impressive than his grandfather." Shanks asked.

"...He ran off to the Land of Waves, but luckily this girl and her father saved him, otherwise he would have been eaten by wild beasts," Koharu Utatane said.

"Heh heh, this kid really seems to have a knack for attracting romance all the time, even while fleeing for his life," Shanks chuckled. His grandfather's skill was an active one, but for Shisui, it's become a passive one.

"By the way, did you encounter the Five-Tails when you went out? Shisui said they met the Five-Tails going berserk at the border. Is everything alright at the border?" Koharu Utatane suddenly remembered the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.

"The Five-Tails was captured by Kakuzu and sold to Onoki. I only found out when I met Kakuzu at the border and asked him." Shanks pouted. If he dared to say that he was in cahoots with Kakuzu, Koharu Utatane would probably join forces with the other three giants to give him a denunciation meeting, especially the soy sauce guest, Homura Mitokado. That guy doesn't talk much usually, but when he does speak, he can be incredibly annoying.

How can you sell tailed beasts for money like that? Wouldn't it be better to keep them secretly in your own village?

"No wonder the Anbu searched the entire Land of Fire but couldn't find the Five-Tails Jinchuriki," Koharu Utatane said, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Come on, the Tailed Beasts are useless anyway. We still have the biggest one in our village, and now we've divided it into three parts. What's the point?" Shanks said dismissively. He really didn't understand these people's thinking. You could say that in the original story, Konoha didn't have any strong ninjas left, so it was understandable that they treasured the Tailed Beasts. But now Konoha has so many strong ninjas, so what's the point of having so many Tailed Beasts? They can't be eaten, and we have to treat them like royalty, just like Rasa's son. We're afraid of them but we have to raise them. It's painful to watch.

443. The Nine-Tailed Fox has come out for some fresh air.

"Huh? Teacher, what brings you here today?" Shanks arrived at Minato's house after leaving the Uchiha clan. Minato, the good family man, opened the door with a kitchen knife in one hand.

"...Where are Kushina and Naruto? Shouldn't you be in the Hokage's office? What's with this look?" Shanks asked, looking at Minato, who was wearing an apron and holding a kitchen knife, looking like a stay-at-home dad.

"Kushina and Naruto played quite late last night and haven't gotten up yet. I don't have much to do today, so I'll take a day off," Minato said with a smile.

"Are you sure it was Kushina playing with Naruto and not Kushina tormenting him..." Shanks said speechlessly. He felt that Naruto was probably the most miserable baby. Babies should eat, sleep, and then eat again, but with a mother like Kushina, his tragic fate began. Minato was usually at the Hokage Building and didn't have time to play with Kushina. Kushina watched Naruto eat and sleep all day, without a single human to talk to. The Nine-Tails in her belly would occasionally chat with her, but only when the Nine-Tails wasn't sleeping. And the Nine-Tails usually slept the most. After all, they've lived for hundreds of years. If they didn't sleep to pass the time, how could they possibly have lived those hundreds of years...? So, the Nine-Tails' sleep time is rather long, and with Minato not around, she has no one to talk to. It's also inconvenient to go out with a baby, so she starts tormenting Naruto. Fortunately, because all three are Jinchūriki, when the village was rebuilt, Minato deliberately chose a relatively remote location with few nearby residents. However, Naruto's lung capacity is truly enormous, and the villagers often complain that the Hokage's wife is tormenting her son again...

"Haha, I'm usually too busy to spend time with her," Minato laughed awkwardly. The whole village knew about Kushina's antics with their son, so he dared to say it—because he was henpecked.

"Oh right, I almost forgot. After you finish making breakfast, come with me to the forest to let the Nine-Tails out of your belly for a spin. I made a big deal with Onoki, and I'll give you a share of the profits. You don't get a salary as Hokage, so you can't just sit around doing nothing," Shanks said.

"???? Business? What does this have to do with Kurama?" Minato was completely baffled. The feud between Onoki and this guy could be made into a TV series, and now this guy was actually doing business. It would be strange if he wasn't curious.

"Actually, it's nothing much. Kakuzu and I sold him the Five-Tails Jinchuriki and swindled him a little money along the way. But I changed my appearance so he didn't recognize me. Then I suddenly had a whim to swindle him some more money, so he offered me 20 billion to stage a Nine-Tails rampage in Konoha. But I only took half of the 20 billion; the other half had to go to Kakuzu, since he's the one in charge. Didn't I have Tsunade bring the baby formula money over last night?" Shanks raised an eyebrow.

"…Teacher, isn't it a bit much to lie to Onoki like this? Won't something bad happen? The ninja world has finally achieved some peace…" Minato said somewhat awkwardly. It turned out that the money Tsunade had given him last night was money this old man had swindled from Onoki. No wonder Tsunade had been so generous when she brought the money last night; he'd thought she'd lost her mind instead of using the money for a good time, and had come to give it to Kushina. Now he finally understood—Tsunade had also swindled money from this old man, and she didn't seem to care… However, the kind-hearted Minato was still somewhat reluctant to team up with Shanks to swindle someone, even the Tsuchikage of an enemy village. Onoki had a very fiery temper; if he found out they were conspiring to deceive him, the Fourth World War might even break out.

"Don't worry! This time, only you, me, Haruko-sama, and Tsunade know. Kakuzu doesn't know what method I used to trick Onoki. Garp is just a kid, nobody would believe what he says. If you don't tell and I don't tell, who will know?" Shanks patted his chest. That bastard Onoki had raised the price of animals higher than his own. Shanks wouldn't be satisfied until he had thoroughly ripped him off.

"But......."

"Alright, I'm doing this for your own good. You don't get a salary as Hokage, and the bounties you earned from missions will eventually run out. Do you really want Kushina and Naruto to suffer with you? Even if you wanted to, I wouldn't. I've found a way. After we screw over Onoki this time, we'll go to Sunagakure and pull off a big heist. Anyway, Sunagakure has plenty of gold dust; those two heists will be enough." Minato was about to say something when Shanks interrupted him.

"..." Minato looked up at the sky. What could he say? This whole family was obsessed with money. Not only did they swindle Onoki, but they also wanted to swindle Sunagakure. No wonder they were restricted from entering the country back then.

In the end, Minato couldn't pull Shanks away and was dragged to the edge of the village.

"Kurama's out for some fresh air!" Shanks shouted at the quarter-sized Nine-Tails inside Minato's stomach.

"..." A quarter of the Nine-Tails rolled its eyes inside Minato's stomach. If it weren't for the fact that it was no match for this bastard, it would have rebelled long ago. This bastard really is a scoundrel who kicks away the ladder after crossing the river. When he was begging for help, he called the Nine-Tails "Grandpa Nine-Tails," but now that the matter is over, his address has changed.

However, the Nine-Tails couldn't just eat and stay for free; it's hard to repay a debt of gratitude. After Minato relinquished control of his body, deep red chakra began to surge from Minato's body. The chakra slowly grew larger, eventually becoming half the size of the original Nine-Tails' stamina. Reaching this size with so much less chakra was already its limit.

"Red-haired brat, tell me what to do, I need to sleep." A quarter of Kurama emerged and gave Shanks a look of utter disdain.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I'm just worried you've been locked up for too long, so I'm letting you out to breathe some fresh air. Spit two Tailed Beast Balls at that mountain over there, and remember to make a big commotion." Shanks didn't care about Kurama's attitude. After all, he was now asking Kurama for help, so Kurama was the boss now.

"...That's all? What kind of idiot is Onoki that you could fool him?" The Nine-Tailed Fox looked at him with disdain. The Nine-Tailed Fox was also cultured. All those years of reading to it by Kushina hadn't been in vain. It remembered those human tricks and deceptions better than Kushina herself. Shanks' plan was far inferior to the tricks in the stories Kushina had read to it.

"Hurry up, stop babbling on and on. Minato's human body can't hold out for long." Shanks, barely suppressing the urge to beat up this beast, urged it on, even though he was being looked down upon. If he hadn't needed its help, he would have given it another beating.

444. Traitors never end up badly.

"boom!"

Suddenly, a deafening roar erupted from the peaceful Leaf Village, and a massive mushroom cloud rose in the distance.

"what happened?"

"What happened?"

"Damn it! Who set off firecrackers so early in the morning? Can't a person get any sleep?!"

"what's the situation?"

"........."

"what happened?"

A loud bang threw the once peaceful Konoha into chaos. Even the drowsy Hokage, who was in the Hokage Building, was awakened by the loud noise and looked blankly at an Anbu member with his white eyes showing in the shadows.

"...I'm not quite sure. The sound was coming from the edge of the village, and there was a huge fluctuation of chakra over there. It seemed...it seemed like Lord Shanks was there too, probably researching some new ninjutsu." The distance was too far; even his Byakugan could only see a massive fluctuation of chakra in the distance. He didn't know what it was, but he could clearly see Shanks's enormous chakra. After all, in Konoha, only Shanks possessed that much chakra; no one in the Uzumaki clan had such a massive amount.

"..." Skyrocket was speechless. His father-in-law was researching new ninjutsu? The sun must be rising in the west! Everyone else might not know, but he certainly knew his father-in-law's abilities. Besides those few water-style ninjutsu techniques relying on sheer chakra reserves, what other ninjutsu could his father-in-law possibly have? Besides, his father had already told him that his father-in-law's basic ninjutsu knowledge was utterly terrible; someone who didn't even understand the principles of transformation techniques couldn't possibly be researching new ninjutsu. However, although the Anbu's guess was inaccurate, if his father-in-law was there, even if it wasn't him who created it, there shouldn't be any trouble.

........

"What's going on? The Nine-Tails has gone berserk again?" At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was reminiscing with his friend Danzo when the sudden loud noise startled them both. Hiruzen quickly pulled out his special crystal ball from somewhere to check, and saw a large, deep red fox confronting Shanks in the forest. Since there was no voice chat, he couldn't hear what they were saying, but the fox definitely had nine tails.

"Hmph! Hiruzen, I told you long ago that Jinchuriki should be controlled. You actually let the Fourth Hokage become a Jinchuriki too. Look what's happened now!" Danzo seized the rare opportunity to teach his friend another lesson.

"Everything's fine now. Judging from their surroundings, they're probably on the edge of the village, quite a distance from the main village. I think it's because the Nine-Tails inside Minato was about to go berserk, so after notifying Shanks, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport outside the village. Isn't that a good way to handle it?" Hiruzen Sarutobi said to his friend after automatically filling in the blanks with the plot. If he knew that Shanks and Minato were plotting to trick his old rival Onoki, I wonder what he would think.

"...Hmph! You treat the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki so lightly. You'll regret it sooner or later for sealing half of him inside an infant." Danzo said with a dark face.

"Alright, let the young people handle this. Minato has done a good job as Hokage." Hiruzen Sarutobi remained calm, unfazed by the Nine-Tails' rampage. Even the original Nine-Tails was easily defeated by Shanks; how could the quarter-Tails inside Minato possibly cause any more trouble? While Shanks might be unreliable normally, he's quite dependable in situations like this, unless he wants his niece to be a widow...

.........

Danzo gritted his teeth in hatred at his friend's expression. If he hadn't been a fraction of a second late, he should have been the one delivering those lines. This bastard had been Hokage for decades and was tired of it. After retiring, he would come to him all day to show off, reminiscing about the old days and always talking about his achievements as Hokage. Danzo was sick of hearing it, but he couldn't ignore it. His henchmen wouldn't dare stop this former Hokage. Their boss's friend, Hiruzen Sarutobi, always had a smooth ride when he came to Root. Before, Danzo would only hear Hiruzen Yamanaka praising him every day. Now it was different. Not only did he have to hear Hiruzen Yamanaka praising him, but he also had to hear his own leader praising this bastard in front of him. Just thinking about it made him feel awful. And recently, this bastard was even trying to trick him into giving him the leadership position. Every time Danzo saw the way this bastard looked at his leader with such eager eyes, he felt like he had eaten shit. It was as if the talent he had painstakingly cultivated over the years was about to be stolen away at any moment.

Fortunately, his loyal ally was not tempted by the bastard's sweet words, and all his years of hard work were worthwhile. Thinking of this, Danzo looked with satisfaction at Yamanaka Hiroo, who was pouring tea and serving water for them.

"?????"

As Yamanaka Hino was pouring tea and serving water, he suddenly felt a gaze directed at him. Turning around, he saw the boss's gaze, a gaze he had never seen before. Startled, his anus tensed. Did the boss have some terrible thoughts about him?

The thought was chilling. It seemed the boss hadn't had a single rumored girlfriend all these years, and his friend's third generation was almost old enough to be a grandfather. Could the boss be...? Yamanaka Hinano's scalp tingled with unease; he was starting to regret not switching allegiances back then.

Actually, it wasn't that he was unwilling to switch allegiances. Moreover, after following Danzo for so many years, he knew his boss's style of doing things very well. Despite his glorious position in Root for so many years and being Danzo's most trusted henchman, he was genuinely afraid of what methods Danzo would use to deal with him if he became a traitor.

While the Third Hokage's situation is certainly good—living openly and honestly in the sunlight—given his current strength, Danzo could easily make him disappear from Konoha under mysterious circumstances, especially with Root's power there. Furthermore, someone as sentimental as the Third Hokage wouldn't likely hold a grudge against his best friend for the sake of such an insignificant figure.

Furthermore, throughout Root's history, none of those who acted as traitors had a good ending. He had seen too many people sent by Danzo to other villages as spies, only to fall in love, marry, and have children, then decide they no longer wanted to be spies and refused to transmit messages to Danzo. Every single one of them was wiped out by Danzo, not even the children were spared. Otherwise, if Danzo had recently issued some kind of application specifically ordering his underlings to select children with abnormal behavior or mental instability for intensive training, those traitorous spy children would have been sent for experiments long ago.

"By the way, I heard that your Root organization has recently brought back a lot of children from outside? How was it? Did you discover any geniuses that I could see?" Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

After Shanks analyzed the standards of genius for them at the Hokage Building last time, he noticed Root's movements. As his good friend, Hiruzen Sarutobi was well aware of Danzo's plans, but he didn't stop him. Although he didn't quite agree with Root's training methods, those kids weren't from Konoha after all, and he couldn't embarrass his friend. At most, when a genius appeared, he would shamelessly ask his friend for them. Anyway, this wasn't the first or second time. He would bring some gifts afterward; they were still good friends, after all.

445. The Hatake family still has some savings.

"No! There aren't that many geniuses in the world." Danzo shook his head without hesitation after hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, as if his tail had been stepped on. He was still terrified of being tricked. Thinking back to that Wood Release boy from back then still made his heart bleed, especially after hearing that the Wood Release boy's Wood Release had greatly improved. Although it wasn't as powerful as the First Hokage's Wood Release, Wood Release was still Wood Release. As an elder of Konoha who had experienced the First Hokage's glorious era, he had a special feeling for Wood Release.

So upon hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, Danzo immediately became wary. He didn't know if any of the children were geniuses, but the number of idiots was certainly increasing. However, as the saying goes, the difference between a genius and an idiot is often just a tiny bit. He decided to continue raising them; perhaps one or two would awaken someday, and then this investment wouldn't be a loss.

........

The Nine-Tails' actions, which occurred when the village was only a quarter of the way through, caused a huge shock in Konoha. After all, it had only been less than a year since the Nine-Tails attacked the village, and everyone had only been at peace for less than a year. This sudden loud noise brought the villagers' thoughts back to the night the Nine-Tails attacked the village.

"Minister, a Nine-Tails attack has occurred on the edge of the village. Lord Shanks is confronting the Nine-Tails. The loud noise just now was caused by the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball." At the Anbu headquarters, the Anbu member who had been sent out by Sakumo Hatake to gather information returned to report.

"Nine-tailed beast rampage??? On the edge of the village???"

Hatake Sakumo's eyes widened in disbelief. What the hell was going on? The Nine-Tails? Others might not know the situation, but Hatake Sakumo knew very well that there were three Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in the village: Kushina, the Fourth Hokage, and Naruto. This Nine-Tails rampage meant that the seal on one of them had malfunctioned, but that seemed impossible!

The sealing team was composed of elite members of the Uzumaki clan, not just some random guys working at the Hokage Building. The Jinchuriki were also members of their clan. Unless they wanted to take Shanks's iron fist, there was no way things would go wrong. Furthermore, the team leader swore an oath with his lower body, so the seal shouldn't have any problems. At least Kushina and Naruto, both possessing Uzumaki blood, should be fine. Considering the situation at the edge, and Shanks being there, the problem must lie with the Fourth Hokage's mortal body...

But that doesn't seem right either. How could the Nine-Tails, in its berserk state, possibly choose a location and arrange a fight? It's not like they're arranging a brawl; it's too much of a coincidence. And Sakumo Hatake, who knows Shanks's best friend's personality, at least senses there's something fishy going on.

"...I'll handle this. You can go back now." After thinking it through, Hatake Sakumo decided to go and see what kind of tricks this guy was up to.

.......

"Igawa, what happened? Has the fox spirit reappeared? Wasn't it said that Lord Shanks had already driven it away?"

"Yes, Igawa, what exactly happened? You're the Hokage's guard, tell this old lady what happened."

"I don't know either. I just guarded the door for the Hokage. How would I know so much?"

"..."

On the main street of Konoha, the villagers gathered together with great anxiety. Whenever a ninja passed by, they would anxiously ask him a few questions. However, many ninjas did not know what was going on and could not answer the villagers' questions, which made the villagers even more worried.

"The Third Hokage has arrived. What was that loud noise from the Third Hokage?"

"Yes, Lord Third Generation, what exactly happened?"

With the village in such chaos and Minato absent, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had just returned from his best friend's place, had no choice but to come out and calm everyone down.

"Ahem! Everyone, don't panic. That loud noise was caused by Shanks developing a new ninjutsu. It's all fine now. I'm really sorry for disturbing you all. I'll remind him to keep his distance next time," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a smile. Having been Hokage for so long, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a high reputation among the villagers, and he calmed them down with just a few words.

"Report back to the village immediately! A huge explosion occurred in Konoha, suspected to be another attack by the Nine-Tails. The explosion and mushroom cloud were likely caused by a Tailed Beast Ball, but Konoha's defenses were effective, and no damage was caused. The resealing has been stopped by Shanks." Hiruzen Sarutobi's words might fool the ordinary villagers, but it was clearly impossible to fool the spies from the major villages. What was with Shanks developing ninjutsu? He needed a better reason to fool people.

The files on Konoha's Shanks are piled up like small mountains in the archives of various villages. They all say that Konoha's Shanks' ninjutsu originated from Tobirama Senju's Water Release. How could Water Release produce such a loud noise? It was clearly caused by a huge energy burst, which is completely different from the characteristics of Water Release. Do they think the excellent spies trained by these villages are all idiots?

.........

What's going on?

When Sakumo Hatake arrived at the edge of the village, Shanks was sitting on the grass, with Minato lying unconscious beside him. Kurama had already gone back to hibernation.

"It's nothing. You know most of the money in our Senju warehouse has already been used to compensate the villagers. Tsunade and Garp are gambling again. Sigh! It's a long story. Last time I went out to look for Shisui, I ran into Kakuzu, so I went with Kakuzu to scam Onoki. Now, I'm back and I put on a show for Minato. How was the reaction from the village?" Shanks poured out his grievances to his best friend.

"...The Hatake clan still has some savings. Do you need any help?" Hatake Sakumo asked after a moment of silence.

"...You're a true brother! But you should leave those savings to Kakashi. I've found a way, and I'll go to Sunagakure again in a while. That should be enough." Shanks was so incredibly touched. They really are best buddies for life.

However, even if Shanks is greedy, he wouldn't be so shameless. The Hatake clan has never engaged in production. Their current wealth is the result of accumulation during the Warring States period. After the establishment of Konoha, the rules of the ninja world changed. In addition, the Hatake clan is straightforward and doesn't know how to make money in a roundabout way. So even if the Hatake clan has a lot of wealth now, it will eventually run out and be squandered in one generation. Therefore, Shanks would never ask his good friend for money.

"Oh, right, you've come at the right time. I wanted to ask if you've noticed any changes in Shisui since he came back. When I went to his house today, he had already gone to the Anbu." Shanks suddenly remembered that he still hadn't settled things with Shisui.

"Now that you mention it, I do notice something different. He must have gone through a great ordeal and become stronger. His chakra has increased significantly, and he's even awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan. I never imagined that Brother Kagami's descendant would have such formidable talent," Sakumo Hatake said, stroking his chin.

446. The Little Scorpion Conquers the City

"Maybe it's more than that. There's something I won't hide from you. When Brother Kagami was about to die, he had already awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan. He didn't want to cause trouble for the Uchiha, so he didn't tell anyone. He secretly switched to a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan and gave the Mangekyou Sharingan to me. Although I haven't met Shisui yet, the fact that he was able to fight the rampaging Five-Tails for so long and still escape means I guess he must have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan as well." Shanks didn't intend to hide it from his best friend. They grew up together, and he knew his best friend's character very well—he was very tight-lipped.