Konoha Drunkard

"Red-haired Lord! Temari is our Sunagakure princess, she will not marry into Konoha!"

Maki looked at Shanks with a serious expression and said solemnly.

"That's hard to say. Some people are destined to meet even if they are thousands of miles apart, while others will not meet even if they are face to face. Who can say for sure about matters of the heart?"

Shanks scoffed, "Has Maki never been proven wrong before? This girl is Shanks' chosen granddaughter-in-law. Even if Kishimoto doesn't agree, Shanks will kidnap her and bring her back to Konoha."

"...Red-haired sir, it's getting late. We need to rest and prepare for the Chunin Exams. Please return."

Maki was furious at Shanks's shameless behavior. If he weren't waiting for his boss's orders, he would have taken the old man down first to see how much skill he still had. He was in his prime, what was there to be afraid of?

"Tch! You kick people out when you can't win an argument. You have no manners at all. Shikamaru, let's go."

Shanks pouted and pulled the little rocket launcher out of their residence, raising an eyebrow at the girl with the big fan he had identified and the little rocket launcher along the way.

"......"

The small-sized rocket launcher looked up at the sky helplessly. It seemed that he had been kept here for a blind date, and by the very princess of Sunagakure. Wasn't this too much trouble? His ideal was simply to marry an ordinary girl who was neither ugly nor beautiful and live a peaceful life. He had no interest in girls with such powerful backgrounds.

"Teacher, has Konoha's red hair always been like this?"

After Shanks left, Temari couldn't help but ask Maki. Aside from Chiyo, this was the first time she'd met such a legendary ninja, and he seemed so different from her imagined image. This guy was so unreliable; who asks about someone's dowry the moment they meet?

"...Don't be fooled by his unserious appearance. There are countless people who have been tricked by him over the decades. Even the Third Generation Lord has been tricked by him countless times. Although he is old now, we don't know how much strength he can still maintain. Don't forget our mission."

Judging from Temari's expression, Maki knew she was yet another naive girl deceived by the unserious appearance of the Konoha's red-haired girl...

"Sis, I think it would be great if you married that Konoha girl. Why don't you consider it?"

Kankuro was still fantasizing that his older sister would have a powerful backer to rely on after marrying that red-haired grandson of Konoha.

"boom!"

"What are you thinking, you bastard! Shut up!"

Temari slapped Kankuro on the head with a large fan. He's got his eye on her now; has this brother lost his mind?

"Teacher, was it him who resolved Gaara's matter back then?"

When it comes to her younger brother, Temari is the most worried, especially about Gaara, her youngest brother, who has been vomiting a lot since he was little, and it breaks her heart to see him like that.

"Sigh! This Konoha Shanks is unreliable, but his strength in his youth was undeniable. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was the God of Shinobi after Hashirama Senju. Back then, only the Third Raikage could go toe-to-toe with him. Since the Third Raikage died, no one in the ninja world has been able to stand up to him. Lady Chiyo once said that if Konoha Shanks hadn't been closer to Hashirama Senju than Madara Uchiha, he would have wiped out all the villages long ago. The tailed beasts of each village are feared by everyone, but he is the only one who doesn't take them seriously. It is said that he even beat up Konoha's Nine-Tails more than ten years ago. He also resolved the Seven-Tails incident in Takigakure. At that time, he happened to visit Lady Chiyo in our Sunagakure, so Lady Ebizo asked him to help get rid of the One-Tail in Gaara's body. You saw the effect at the time. The One-Tail didn't run away for several years, but it made things difficult for Gaara."

Since the students have asked, Maki can take this opportunity to explain some knowledge that is not in the books. Those who have not experienced the era of Konoha's Red Hair will think that he is just an unreliable old man, and they will be foolish enough to be tricked.

Maki was also feeling exhausted. This time, he strongly disagreed with his boss, the Kazekage's, approach of launching an attack on Konoha while the village was holding the Chunin Exams and the Red Guards were getting old. After all, no one knew if Konoha's Shanks could still fight. If he couldn't, that would be one thing, but what if he could? Their Sunagakure would be in big trouble. Unfortunately, Lady Chiyo was no longer involved in the village's affairs.

652. The boy's surname is Nara, and the girl's surname is Uzumaki.

"Teacher, you're not bragging, are you?"

Kankuro was deeply skeptical of Maki's words. Everyone had heard of the name "Red-Haired Shanks of Konoha," and he was indeed very powerful. However, to say that he was the God of Shinobi was a bit of an exaggeration. If he was really as powerful as his teacher said, why did his father still attack Konoha this time? That would be crazy.

"...I also hope I'm just bragging."

Maki sighed. These kids who have never seen a giant snake poop will never understand how strong those powerful people are. They think they are the strongest in the universe just because they have done a few high-level missions and killed a few people.

He didn't believe it when the Third Shinobi World War started, but then Shanks from Konoha single-handedly wiped out several thousand Kirigakure ninja and drove away a 100,000-strong Kirigakure army. That really changed his understanding of strength. Those were ninjas, not just a few thousand pigs! As the leader's right-hand man, he had personally seen the battle reports. The scene was so brutal that they really treated the Kirigakure elites like cabbages.

..........

Shanks, who had just left Maki's place, remained silent. He had been preoccupied with the dowry of the girl with the giant fan. Before leaving, he had used his Observation System to try and find out how much dowry Rasa had left for her. However, instead of hearing the amount of the dowry, he overheard something that puzzled him: Rasa, just like in the original story, wanted to use the Chunin Exams to invade Konoha. There was more to this than met the eye. Rasa wasn't a fool; otherwise, Chiyo wouldn't have pushed him to become Kazekage. The current Konoha was many times stronger than the Konoha in the original story, which only had an old man like Hiruzen Sarutobi. Sakumo was still alive, Minato was still carefree, Tsunade hadn't left the village, and there was also Shanks, one of the Four Emperors. Putting himself in Rasa's shoes, Shanks simply couldn't understand what gave him the right to invade Konoha.

The few shrimp soldiers and crab generals that Sunagakure have been fighting these past few days aren't even worth Shanks bragging about; he could easily wipe them all out by himself.

"Is Grandpa still thinking about that Sunagakure princess?"

Seeing that Shanks hadn't said a word since he came out, Little Cannon thought he was still arguing about the dowry of the Sand Village's eldest princess.

"So you're saying a kid is a kid. Do you think your grandpa is that kind of vulgar person?"

Shanks glanced disdainfully at the small rocket launcher.

"...Isn't that right?"

Looking up at the sky like a small rocket, you no longer need to prove what kind of person you are; the entire ninja world knows.

"Hmph! Grandpa is thinking about important matters in the village. He can't explain it to a little brat like you. Go home quickly. There are a lot of people from other villages lately, so try to avoid causing trouble. You saw that emotionless kid just now. He's always shouting for violence. He's not like the highly educated people in our village."

Shanks had no intention of revealing Rasa's situation. He wanted to see if Rasa had really lost his mind or if he was cooperating with someone this time. However, without Orochimaru, Shanks couldn't think of anyone else in the ninja world who was so hardcore as to dare to come to Konoha and court death. The Akatsuki was still in the process of developing in a lowly manner, and Obito didn't even look down on Sunagakure.

"Could it be that Kishimoto thought the dungeon was too easy for me, so he deliberately created a behind-the-scenes big boss for me?"

Shanks stroked his chin, pondering.

"...I understand. I never intended to run away. It's just that Naruto was too enthusiastic."

The small rocket shrugs.

"Yeah, he'd just disappear if he wasn't motivated."

Shanks thought about it and realized he was right. Someone like Naruto, who acts without thinking and on a whim, would be unnatural with so many people in and around the village. Besides, while Naruto might be a bit slow-witted, he's also very loyal; he'd immediately call for backup when his underlings were getting beaten up. Shanks admired that attitude.

"Oh right. I almost forgot, what did you think of that girl with the big fan? Let me tell you, I've been planning this for you for years. Although Luo Sha isn't from a prestigious family, he's still a Wind Shadow, and most importantly, his family is wealthy. I've been having him prepare a dowry for that girl with the big fan for years, and I estimate it'll be quite substantial. Your grandfather is really good to you, finding you a rich heiress."

Shanks raised an eyebrow triumphantly at Gaara, the little rocket launcher. His proudest achievement in the decades he'd lived in this world wasn't defeating Shamon with his best friend at age nine, nor splitting Kirigakure in two with a single sword strike, nor even easily defeating the elderly Madara. Rather, it was first arranging for Kakashi and the girl with the colored contact lenses to get together, and then helping his grandson swindle some of Rasa's dowry. In the original story, Rasa died young and hadn't prepared a dowry for the girl with the big fan. Then came the World War, which depleted the villages' resources, forcing them to rebuild. Therefore, when the girl with the big fan married Gaara, Gaara, the brother-in-law, couldn't offer any valuable dowry.

Things are different now. A few years ago, although the ninja world was secretly fighting each other, it was still developing peacefully on the surface. Under Rasa's leadership, Sunagakure had also reached a small peak. Moreover, Rasa himself was a very wealthy man, so preparing a dowry for the girl with the big fan in advance was definitely going to be a must.

"Women are such a hassle..."

The little rocket said listlessly.

"No matter how troublesome it is, you have to find one. You are the only son of the Nara main family and the only grandson of me, Shanks, one of the Four Emperors. Your father is useless and didn't give me a granddaughter. You have to make me proud in the future. Boys will be surnamed Nara, and girls will be surnamed Uzumaki."

This attitude from Little Rocketeer won't do. Although Shanks doesn't know why the girl with the big fan in the original story would marry Little Rocketeer, who finds women troublesome, his presence now makes him worried about unforeseen circumstances. If Little Rocketeer falls for a commoner girl, it'll be a disaster. While Shanks doesn't look down on commoners, well... between a supercar and an oxcart, he'd definitely choose the supercar.

"...Grandpa, is this considered an arranged marriage?"

The little rocket launcher suddenly appeared with dead fish eyes. He knew it wouldn't be that easy; it turned out his dad wasn't up to par, and he was the one making up for it.

“Your understanding is not wrong, but you’re going to find a girl to marry anyway. Isn’t it good that your grandfather found you such a suitable match? It saves you the trouble of finding someone later, right? Your Nara clan is very good at flirting with girls, so just flirt with this girl. After all, her dowry is quite substantial.”

Shanks was drooling over the thought of piles and piles of 24K pure gold.

653. Just how many despicable things has he done?

The annual Chunin Exams have finally begun amidst everyone's anticipation. It has been many years since the last time Konoha took the exams. In that year, Konoha's Garp and Uchiha Itachi made a name for themselves, leading the Konoha army to victory despite being attacked by the three major legions.

However, because Konoha lacked a super genius and the tournament was held in another village, there were bound to be some behind-the-scenes manipulations. For the next few years, Konoha was consistently out of the running for the Chunin Exams championship. Even Haku's cohort only managed to secure second place because he didn't have a good partner or a second-in-command. But that was still the best result since Garp and Itachi. Today, the Chunin Exams are being held in Konoha again. The young man from a few years ago is now a father, bragging to his child about Konoha's past victory. Naturally, the villagers hope that their village can win the championship on their doorstep this time.

The content of the joint Chunin Exams varies from village to village. For example, Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village) values ​​martial prowess, so there are no written tests. The preliminary, intermediate, and final exams all boil down to one word: "Fight!"

The initial test consists of one-on-one duels, the intermediate test involves gauntlet battles, and finally, large-scale team battles. This is the content of the examinations in Kumogakure.

Other villages had different formats, but Konoha's exam content remained the same: a written test, a grove battle, and a large-scale team battle. However, due to the large number of spectators this year, to avoid disappointing the audience, a one-on-one challenge was interspersed between the grove battle and the large-scale team battle. The rules for this challenge were that after passing through the Forest of Death, participants would gather around a newly constructed arena. If there were any grudges between them, they could settle them openly on the arena, showcasing their strength to everyone. After all, many people were eliminated in the final team battle due to lack of experience, which was somewhat unfair. Many who clearly had the ability to become Chunin missed their chance because of a lack of team battle experience. Many of the test-takers this year were those who clearly had the ability but always missed their chance due to bad luck in the final team battle. Some of these people had taken the exam two or three times, while others had taken it for five consecutive years; they were all veteran Genin.

For example, there's this unlucky genin explaining the exam rules to Naruto and the others outside the exam hall. Actually, he's from the same class as Shisui. Now, at least all of their classmates are Chunin, but he's still stuck as a genin. It's not because he's not strong enough, but because every year during the Chunin Exams, something unexpected happens to him: his teammates get sick and can't come, he gets a stomachache during the exam, he accidentally steps on a villager's trap... Basically, every year he has all sorts of accidents that force him to withdraw from the exam. Even if he has a good mindset, if it were anyone else, they would have already started speculating about conspiracy theories. But because he's taken the exam so many times, he knows the exam rules of each village by heart, so Kakashi invited him to explain the exam rules and share his experience with Naruto and his group of rookies.

"Tianye-senpai, you're really unlucky, but I believe you'll definitely pass this time."

Naruto was amazed when he heard about the unfortunate senior's experiences, but out of politeness, he still comforted the poor senior.

"Haha, actually, I've gotten used to it over the years. At first, I was a little sad, but after seeing so many people sacrifice themselves on missions after being promoted to Chunin, I think maybe God thinks my strength isn't enough and doesn't want me to pass. But you all have to be careful this time. I saw a lot of familiar faces here before. They were very strong in the previous exams, but they were surrounded and defeated in the team battle. Although they are still Genin, their strength is very powerful. For example, there's Yagami from Iwagakure. He was ranked second in strength in the last Chunin Exam, but because he was too arrogant, he wasn't prepared in the final team battle and was surrounded and eliminated by a group of Kumogakure ninja. Iwagakure ninja have a very bad attitude towards our village. He is a representative of them. Last year, many of his comrades were seriously injured by him, and several people died."

After scratching the back of his head and laughing heartily, Tianye pointed to a burly man in the distance with a dark complexion and a strong body, but not very tall, and introduced him to Naruto and the others.

"Senior Tano, is the relationship between Iwagakure and Konoha really that bad?"

Kiba Inuzuka, sporting a husky-like appearance, looked at Yato, a muscular man who acted all high and mighty. No wonder he was getting ganged up on; Kiba wanted to beat him up too, but seeing those muscles that looked like they were about to burst out of his clothes, he chickened out.

"Uh...you haven't been to Iwagakure, so you don't know, but in the center of Iwagakure there's a huge statue, specifically used to humiliate their villagers...and the person depicted in that statue is from Konoha."

The unlucky Tianye explained somewhat awkwardly that when he first saw the statue, he thought their Lord Shanks was so powerful that other villages would erect a statue in his honor. Later, seeing the villagers below spitting, urinating, and throwing rotten eggs at the statue, he realized its purpose...

"I think I already know who this statue represents..."

Looking up at the sky, the little guy seemed to think that, apart from his eccentric grandfather, there was no other person in the entire ninja world who could be hated so much.

"Shikamaru, do you know who he is?"

Everyone looked at the small rocket launcher, wondering who could be so arrogant as to allow Iwagakure to erect a statue to insult them.

"......"

The small-sized rocket stared silently at the sky, realizing that talking about his maternal grandfather seemed a bit inappropriate given his own status.

"...Ahaha, actually it's not a secret. You'll see it when you go out in the future. That statue in Iwagakure is Lord Shanks. It's said that Lord Shanks caused them to suffer consecutive defeats in the two wars, so they all hate Lord Shanks. And it's not just Iwagakure; all the major villages in the ninja world, except for Kumogakure, Kirigakure and Sunagakure, also have portraits of Lord Shanks painted at their school gates so that the students can spit on them and urinate on them every day."

Unlucky Tianye knew that Little Rocket was Shanks' grandson, but he couldn't say it out loud, so he used a trick to help Little Rocket out of the predicament.

"........."

A flock of large crows flew over the heads of the crowd. What terrible things had that old man done to be so hated by these villages? Now it had even affected their generation. No wonder none of the outsiders looked at them with friendliness; it was as if they were the ones who had killed their fathers and stolen their wives.

654. He's here! Leonardo DiCaprio!

How many despicable things has Shanks done over the years? That's a profound question, but this despicable Shanks is currently entertaining a beautiful woman in his cabin...

"Haha, Brother Pocket, you're too kind. Your niece is here, why bring a gift? It's too formal! Speaking of which, it's been many years since we last met. How is he doing?"

Shanks, wiping his drool, stared at Mabui... The Cloud Ninja behind him, holding an exquisite gift box, spoke to the beautiful Mabui.

Shanks wouldn't dare entertain a complete stranger, a stunningly beautiful woman. He's still angry with Haruko-sama, how could he dare cause trouble? But this beautiful woman, Mabui, is different. Her father, Azaburo, has never disappointed Shanks; his gifts always leave him well-fed. Therefore, he must personally entertain this beautiful woman...

"My father is still in good health. When I came here, he asked me to invite Lord Shanks to visit our Hidden Cloud Village and have a couple of drinks with him!"

"Of course, that's just a polite way of putting it," Mabui said. "When she came, her father was thinking that if he didn't send Shanks something, given his big mouth, rumors of his stinginess might spread throughout the ninja world someday."

"Haha! Brother Pocket is truly amazing! I'll definitely take a trip to Cloud Village whenever I have some free time! I miss him terribly!"

Shanks looked up at the sky and drifted into memories.

"...That's wonderful, Lord Shanks. I'll head back now; our men still have to take the exam."

Mabuyi was speechless. Couldn't he tell which remarks were polite? How could he respond to everything?

"You're busy, you're busy! If you run into any trouble in Konoha, just mention my name, it'll definitely work!"

Shanks was eager for them to leave so he could take stock of the contents of the burlap sack.

.........