Konoha Drunkard

Even as his two friends dragged him away, the crazed second male lead continued to yell and scream.

"Hmph! You brat, if you dare call my Itachi a bastard again, I'll kill you right now!"

When the female assistant heard that someone had called her idol a bastard, she couldn't stand it anymore. She pulled out a kunai and said to the second male lead with a murderous look on her face.

"..."

Zabuza, his face darkening, grabbed his female assistant. He shouldn't have hired her in the first place; she was such a hopeless infatuation. Even if this Uchiha brat dared to speak ill of Itachi Uchiha, this treacherous infatuation would still turn on him without hesitation.

"Uchiha brat, I know you want to take revenge on Uchiha Itachi, but I advise you to give up that idea. You've seen Kakashi's Sharingan, but let me tell you, Uchiha Itachi's eyes are more than ten times stronger than Kakashi's! Besides, I only saw him once a few years ago, when he had just defected."

Zabuza, seeing that this Uchiha brat still wanted to continue his advances towards his female assistant, said to him with disdain, "Trying to flirt with my female assistant this way? Don't you even know how old you are?"

As for this brat seeking revenge against Itachi Uchiha? In his opinion, that's wishful thinking. Itachi Uchiha defeated this brat when he was this age, and so many years have passed. Itachi Uchiha would only be stronger now, while this brat... can't even beat his female assistant.

"hateful!"

After being scorned by Zabuza, the second male lead, dressed in trousers, calmed down, clenching his fists tightly. He hated himself for being too weak. He had seen Kakashi's Sharingan earlier, and although he hadn't had time to ask about its origin, he had witnessed Kakashi's strength along the way. Moreover, he hadn't noticed the man carrying the large cleaver charging towards them, while Kakashi and the cleaver had been killing each other for so long. Their strength was unimaginable. Now, this man carrying the large cleaver was saying that the other man was more than 10 times stronger than Kakashi. How could he accept his own weakness?

641. You are still young

"Don't overthink it. You're still young, you still have a chance."

After Zabuza left with his female assistant, Kakashi comforted the second male lead, who was clenching his fists and looking sullen.

"Kakashi-sensei, am I really that far behind that man?"

The second male lead gritted his teeth, forcing back tears, and asked Kakashi without looking up. He had been working hard for this goal all these years. Originally, he thought that he had worked so hard for so many years because he was only weaker than that man. But the man carrying the big cleaver just now told him that that man was already stronger than Kakashi a few years ago. This was too despairing for him.

"...Although Shanks is unreliable most of the time, everyone he trains is incredibly strong. He was also Shanks' only disciple. Back then, the only Uchiha who could rival his talent was Shisui..."

To prevent the second male lead from constantly thinking about revenge and from becoming despondent, Kakashi could only say it in such a tactful way. If he told the second male lead that the man he was always looking to kill was already a Jonin at his age, and a very powerful one at that, who knows if the second male lead would become completely discouraged. That was not what he wanted to see. As for only Shisui being a comparison with him, that was because both of them had the Mangekyou Sharingan, so of course, only the two of them could be compared.

"Naruto, who is that man Sasuke was talking about with Kakashi-sensei?!"

As a commoner with a broad forehead, the girl was unaware of many of the village's secrets. This was the first time she'd seen Sasuke so distraught, so she curiously asked the savior, this young prince, who could make her usually composed idol so lose his composure. The prince, of course, seized the opportunity to show off his knowledge...

"That guy is my great-uncle's disciple, who is also Sasuke's older brother. I've met him once or twice before. To be honest, he's much more handsome than Sasuke. No wonder even that lady from earlier was his fan. It's really unbelievable!"

The savior's focus is always different from others; he is concerned about the two brothers' looks. He already thought Haku's popularity in the village was exaggerated enough, but he didn't expect Sasuke's older brother to be even more exaggerated, as even their enemies are his female fans.

"...Idiot, I'm only asking you why Sasuke wanted to kill his own brother!"

The girl with the wide forehead simply couldn't stand the savior's thought process; he still cared about looks now.

"Well... I'm not too sure either. I asked my dad before, but he wouldn't tell me what happened. He just said that his older brother had defected from the village."

The savior shook his head helplessly. He had asked Sasuke's parents about it when Sasuke hadn't come to class for several months and was spending all his time loitering at his great-uncle's house, but neither of them told him.

"Is his brother very strong? Even someone as powerful as Sasuke isn't his match?"

In the heart of the girl with the broad forehead, her Sasuke was the strongest. Last time, he even fought two Chunin to a standstill. In her commoner mind, even if that was Sasuke's older brother, he was only a few years older than Sasuke, so how much stronger could he be?

"Of course he's very strong. Do you know that my great-uncle didn't even accept my father as a disciple, but only accepted him as his disciple? My father is the Hokage."

The savior couldn't explain just how powerful he was, so he could only use his father as a metaphor to please the girl.

...........

"Damn it! Am I really going to have to wait forever? I've been waiting for years!"

Sasuke kicked a stone on the ground, somewhat dejected. Although Kakashi hadn't explicitly stated the vast difference in skill between him and that man, Sasuke could still sense the subtle implications. Even though he was young then, he had heard his father mention Shisui's talent, and that man's talent was comparable only to Shisui's. Could the difference between people born of the same mother and father really be that great?

"You're still young, and youth means an unlimited future. Let's talk about revenge later."

Kadian patted his shoulder and said, but the second male lead felt increasingly uncomfortable with Kadian's words. What did he mean by "still young"? That man didn't seem that old either, only four years older than him. Did he have to wait decades until Kadian's 80th birthday, when he was still four years away from 80, to go and fight him?

..........

In a super mansion in the Land of Rain, Itachi, the talk of the town from Team 7, was inventorying the famous wines he had amassed from all over the ninja world in the wine cellar. Since infiltrating the Land of Rain, Itachi had done practically nothing but wait to die and drink. No, not just him, but the entire Akatsuki organization, except for Kakuzu and the brainless Hidan who were relatively busy negotiating, had basically been just waiting to die and drinking. Orochimaru had officially stepped down from his combat role and become a management member in the logistics department. For years, Orochimaru had spent his time tinkering in his research institute, never even stepping outside. And his research did indeed make the organization a lot of money. The organization didn't need another combatant anyway, and Orochimaru's research was more valuable than being a combatant. Plus, new members had joined the organization, so Nagato simply let Orochimaru retire and gave him the position of logistics manager.

Meanwhile, the so-called combat personnel were all busy with their own things behind closed doors in their rooms. Everyone had their own pursuits. Little Scorpion was busy with his toys, that blond Deidara was always making explosives, and Itachi and his companion Shark Face seemed to be the most idle among them. They had nothing to do except wander around all day. So Itachi simply ran all over the ninja world to find sake for his beloved teacher, and had Miss Slug deliver it to him every three months.

As for intelligence on the Akatsuki... he only passed it on once when he first joined, and never again. This organization, aside from its impressive personnel, had practically nothing to do. Aside from their monthly meetings where Pain would explain the organization's core ideology—destroying the world and then rebirth—he said nothing about how to operate, what to do, or what preparations were needed. All this intelligence was useless; the village already knew. Passing it on too much might make the higher-ups think he'd been corrupted by the Akatsuki's luxurious lifestyle and had turned against them.

"Itachi, why are you buying so much alcohol every day? I've never seen you drink it. But your teacher is an alcoholic, you wouldn't be sending it all to him, would you?"

Kisame, with a shark-like face and a large sword on his back, arrived at the wine cellar and, as expected, found him counting wines there.

“I met my teacher when I was three years old, and I started learning from him when I was four. He used to ask me to get my father’s wine for him.”

Itachi looked at the sake and fell into memories.

642. This is really a mess.

Back then, the conflict between the clan and the village wasn't as severe. Even when he was wearing an Uchiha uniform, the villagers would greet him with a smile. And back then, his teacher would take him to the Hokage Rock for barbecues every day.

"I never would have guessed that Uchiha Itachi, who wiped out his own clan, had this side to him. How about it, I'm bored right now, do you want me to take this to your teacher in Konoha for you?"

Kisame figured Itachi probably wanted to help but was too afraid, since Konoha wasn't exactly a good place. As a good comrade, he naturally had to help. Konoha might be a den of dragons and tigers for others, but for him, a tough guy who had fought the Shimura clan, it wasn't so bad. Now that Konoha had only produced the Yellow Flash, he really didn't care about anyone else. The Red-Haired Shanks and the White Fang of Konoha were getting old, and he hadn't heard from them in recent years.

Even the best fighter can't withstand the test of time. He's in his prime now, and even if he's not good enough, he can't beat those old guys. Besides, he's just delivering drinks, not fighting. If he gets ganged up on, he can just run away. Apart from that golden flash, those old guys can't catch him, right? Even if the golden flash catches up, he can just jump into the river. His shark face isn't for nothing; the water is his home turf.

"...No need. Konoha is too dangerous, and besides, Pain told us to keep a low profile."

Itachi shook his head. Although Kisame looked fierce, Itachi considered him a good partner, someone he could trust to rely on. He couldn't bear to betray Kisame, especially since it would be more convenient to send the slug to him. He wouldn't have trusted Sasori, though. For some reason, Sasori seemed hostile towards him. Oh right! He was also a disciple of the master. Could he be jealous of me?

"Don't worry! Konoha only has the Fourth Hokage now. Although it's a little embarrassing, your teacher is really getting old. He doesn't have the same domineering aura he had when he cleaved Kirigakure in two with a single slash back then."

Kisame thought Itachi was worried about him and was incredibly moved. If he had such a caring companion back in Kirigakure, he would never have been willing to defect with that masked boss. It's truly a case of wishing they had met sooner.

In an instant, Kisame regarded Itachi as a lifelong confidant. He figured Itachi could handle this; it was just a matter of delivering sake.

"Then... be careful, and run away immediately if anything seems amiss."

Itachi wasn't a particularly eloquent person to begin with, and seeing that he couldn't persuade Kisame, especially since Kisame had already fallen into the trap, he could only hope that his teacher would go easy on him out of consideration for him. As for whether his teacher would kill Kisame, he wasn't worried. His teacher was never a murderer, and Kisame's personality probably wouldn't provoke him.

Everyone thought his teacher was old, but Miss Slug had told him his teacher's secret: a unique body-activating sealing technique combined with perfect immortal arts meant that as long as he didn't die, he would basically stay eighteen years old every year. He looked old, but an old man is always an old man.

"Leave it to me, no problem!"

After Kisame finished speaking confidently, he stuffed a bunch of sake into a sealing scroll and turned to head towards Konoha.

.........

"Grandpa, Mom asked me to give this to you."

Outside a small wooden hut on the Hokage Rock in Konoha, Shanks, who was lounging in a rocking chair basking in the sun, listlessly held up a dish of wine and food.

Why is Shanks here?

Because he made another mistake. Women get angrier as they get older, especially menopausal women. Even the gentle and virtuous Haruko couldn't escape this fate. Although Haruko has some dark secrets and her appearance hasn't changed much, she's still young and beautiful. But she's getting old. A while ago, Shanks went from house to house in the village drinking, and every night he would come home drunk and lie down. Haruko would cook dinner for him every day and wait for him, but he would always come home completely drunk. If it were the young Haruko, she wouldn't have said anything. She was used to it. Plus, she was working at the hospital and didn't have time to get angry. But now it's different. After retiring, Haruko has a lot of free time besides tending to her flowers and plants, so of course she has time to get angry.

Finally, Haruko-sama, unable to bear it any longer, threw the drunken Shanks out the door, telling him he could only come home when he quit drinking.

Shanks is a man who's known for his drinking since he was five years old, and he's been drinking for decades. Getting him to quit is harder than getting him to fly to the moon and stand shoulder to shoulder with Kaguya-sama. Of course, that's impossible. But he doesn't dare actually argue with Haruko-sama, so he can only run to the Hokage Rock and have his ninja underlings build him a small cabin to make do with for now, waiting for Haruko-sama to calm down. Since his parents are arguing and his mother isn't feeding his father, Big Mom has to prepare meals for him. The task of delivering food falls to Shanks, the little rocket launcher.

"Why are you so listless? Did your girlfriend dump you?"

Shanks, who was lying down like Ge You, looked like he had the words "heartbroken" written all over his face.

"I'm not at that point yet, so there are no girls around. Asuma-sensei said that the joint Chunin Exams will be held in our village this year, and we should all sign up to bring glory to our village."

The little rocket launcher looked like it was too much trouble and said that.

"The Chunin Exams? Great! Asuma is right, you must sign up. As the future Grand Marshal, how can you not produce some results?"

Shanks clapped his hands excitedly, as if he were going to take an exam.

"The real show is about to begin! Hiruzen Sarutobi's good days are over! Wait a minute! Orochimaru hasn't betrayed us yet; he's currently a leader in the Land of Rain. He doesn't have time to come and kill Hiruzen Sarutobi..."

Shanks' excitement didn't last long before he realized what was going on. He vaguely remembered that in the original story, Hiruzen Sarutobi was killed by Orochimaru during the Chunin Exams, with tears in his eyes. But things seemed different now. Orochimaru was the king of undercover agents in their village; how could he possibly come and kill Hiruzen Sarutobi? This plot was too far-fetched, and the audience wouldn't want to watch it.

"Alright, go back now. Work hard during this time and try to get good grades so that your parents' efforts won't be in vain."

Realizing the grand spectacle might be over, Shanks listlessly gave his little rocket a few words of encouragement in an official tone before lying back down to sunbathe. He suddenly realized that although he, as a stowaway, didn't have the official system, he seemed to have still messed up the plot. Nawaki was still alive and a father of two, Tsunade had taken Kato Shizune as a disciple but hadn't left the village, and Minato and Kushina were still alive and well. This... was truly a mess.

643. Triangle Offense

"Grandpa, there's a team battle in the exam. I heard you're a team battle master. Aren't you going to teach us a thing or two?"

The little cannon looked at Shanks eagerly. He didn't really need to be taught; it was mainly the other two. Choji, as the team's main attacker, had too limited offensive methods, while Ino, whose role was support, had too weak self-defense capabilities. No matter how great the commander was, he couldn't possibly command a kitchen knife to take down a cannon... Even the best software needs matching hardware.

"You have a good eye! I'm not bragging, but when it comes to team fighting strength, I'm the best in the entire ninja world, and no one dares to disagree! Back then, Onoki's 100,000 elite troops were intimidated by my domineering aura and obediently withdrew to negotiate peace. I also managed to hold off the tens of thousands of Kumogakure troops for months with my 3,000 'soy sauce rice' (a derogatory term for a group of ninjas)... There are just too many glorious achievements to recount in a month. Call Fatty and Ino over, and while you're in a good mood, let Grandpa teach you what real team fighting is all about. Don't be like those nouveau riche noobs who have been using the same old tricks for years, which are utterly useless!"

Shanks got cocky. Although he'd been praised before, this time it was his grandson who was praising him, which gave him a different feeling.

.........

"Ahem! Ahem! Our topic today is the profound topic of raiding. Raiding has actually been around for a long time, but it didn't have a corresponding name back then. It was me! Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, who gave it that name more than ten years ago or who knows how many years ago... Little Fatty, don't eat snacks during class, or I'll throw them down. And you, Asuma, did your dad teach you to smoke during class...? Little Beauty, stop drawing, you're already pretty enough."

On the Hokage Rock, Shanks, wearing glasses and pretending to be a refined scoundrel, is lecturing a fat man, a lazybones, a womanizer, and a shameless bearded thug with a tree branch.

"It's one thing for these three brats to come, but why don't you, Asuma, a big scoundrel, go find your own son to come here for some kind of lesson? Do you think a slacker like you can understand such advanced lessons?"

Shanks pointed at Asuma, who had just thrown away his cigarette butt, and launched into a tirade.

"..."

Asma was speechless after being berated by him. If it weren't for your age, I would have fucking killed you long ago. Do you think I've been wasting my time all these years...? I was just worried that this unreliable old man would corrupt my good student...!

"Alright, enough chit-chat. Since Asuma is so eager to learn, as a leading figure in the education field, I'll reluctantly allow you to be an auditor. Don't interrupt me during my class later."

Shanks ignored the angry Asuma and calmly said...

"All team battles, as the name suggests, are team fights. Generally, it's a brawl between two groups of people. However, there are small team battles and large team battles. Small team battles are when there are fewer people, such as small squads fighting each other. You've all seen plenty of those noblemen's team battles in that Roman arena in the village over the past few years. But! I'm not exaggerating when I say that their fighting style is just ordinary in our eyes, with no skill involved..."

Although he doesn't have as many people listening to his boasting as he did when he was a teacher, Shanks still enjoys it as he looks at his four well-behaved children.

"Actually, team battles aren't as simple as two sides arguing and facing off head-on. In a team, you first need a commander, like the Grand Marshal, the Chief Steward, or the General—call him whatever you want. This commander is responsible for the team's composition. Teamwork is crucial. First, you need to understand the responsibilities of each position. For example, Ino, you're a support, so you can't steal kills from the chubby guy, who's a damage dealer. If he doesn't get kills, he'll level up slowly, and his damage output will naturally be lower. Chubby, you're a damage dealer, the finisher. Your main role is to end the attack. Shikamaru, your position is the commander on the field, the initiator of every attack. So you need to learn to read the situation on the field. This is quite complicated; it's not something you can just learn by talking. It requires experience. Even your dad had to follow me to the Land of Lightning for several years to accumulate some experience... Do you guys understand?"

It's exhausting to teach people in such a serious manner, but seeing the four of them looking blank, Shanks couldn't help but ask. He had already explained it so simply and clearly; unless the four of them were idiots, they couldn't possibly understand.

"I...I know a little bit about it."

Of the four bewildered people, only Little Cannon gave him face, nodding to show he understood. In fact, he only understood a little bit. What the old man was saying sounded very unreliable, but it also seemed to make a lot of sense.

The three of them were completely dumbfounded, utterly unable to understand what the old man was talking about. Asuma was especially regretful, wishing he hadn't sent Shikamaru to seek guidance from this old man. It was all because of those rumors in the ninja world. Over the years, he'd heard quite a few rumors about Shanks, such as him being the head of the education bureau. And that wasn't far from the truth; most of the people who rose to power in Konoha over the years were his students at the Ninja Academy. Even Kakashi, though not his student, had received his instruction when he was young. So he'd always thought this old man might actually have some skill. That's why, when notifying Shikamaru and the others to enroll, he casually sent Shikamaru to seek guidance. However, he knew how unreliable the old man usually was, so he shamelessly came to sit in on the proceedings. And sure enough, the old man was unreliable, just spouting nonsense.

"Well, the last and most important part of this exam is team fighting. We're a bit short on time, and even if I taught you many tactics, you wouldn't have time to learn them all. So I'll just pick a simpler one for you to learn. I call this tactic the triangle offense. Don't underestimate it just because I say it's simple. My idol, the great Kobe Bryant, used this tactic to become a legendary figure. Impressive, right...?"

"Grandpa Shanks, who is Kobe...something special?"