Konoha Drunkard

After much deliberation, Orochimaru finally relented. How the Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyou Sharingan was indeed a question that puzzled him. After all, if he could solve a problem that even the first great scientist, Tobirama Senju, didn't know, his historical standing might be significantly elevated...

"No problem, this melon is guaranteed to be ripe! If it's not ripe, you don't have to pay!"

Shanks breathed a sigh of relief; this ill-fated relationship had finally continued. As for whether Orochimaru would be interested in the second male lead, Shanks was quite confident. Fate is often unpredictable; if you click, that's enough...

"By the way, do you remember that guy, what's his name? He's the one who challenged you to a fight for Jiraiya, your classmate? Recently, he's been making some kind of shady deal with Rasa, planning to take action against the village during the third exam. He seems to have his eye on Uchiha Sasuke too. You'd better hurry, or that guy will get all the spoils."

Shanks reminded Orochimaru that this was the man who had competed with Orochimaru for Jiraiya's attention, and Shanks was in a very good mood.

"...You mean Beryl? Isn't he dead?"

Snake's eyes showed a hint of doubt. Back when the young Sannin were summoned by the Third Hokage to hunt down Hiruko, he remembered that Hiruko was first punched squarely in the head by Tsunade, that violent woman, and then bitten several times by his venomous snakes. Even though Jiraiya eventually took pity on him and let him go, he estimated that Hiruko wouldn't last long. Even if he survived, he would become an idiot. No one except Jiraiya could withstand Tsunade's explosive punches, especially since it was a blow to the head. The thought that he not only survived but also prepared to cause trouble made him incredibly lucky.

"Who knows? I vaguely remember that guy, what's his name, the one who was jealous of you over Jiraiya, but he now has at least three bloodline limits! He's incredibly awesome."

Shanks pursed his lips. If his name is this hard to remember, he's definitely just a nobody. He makes hundreds of thousands a minute, why would he care about such a nobody whose name is so hard to remember?

"Hehe, it seems his forbidden technique is quite well developed."

Orochimaru had an "I knew it" look on his face. Although he looked down on the forbidden technique developed by Hiruko, he had to admit that Hiruko's idea was quite novel—achieving a bloodline limit by absorbing others. However, in Orochimaru's opinion, it was utterly useless. No matter how good a bloodline limit is, it depends on the person. Just like the Uchiha clan, even their incredibly powerful bloodline limit couldn't withstand Shanks. Before Shanks' debut, who would have thought that the Uzumaki clan would produce such a figure?

662. A teacher is always a teacher.

"You'd better hurry up and take action. Otherwise, your Orochimaru's prospective disciple might get eaten by some weirdo. That would be a huge disgrace for you, and even if you become an immortal in the future, you won't be able to erase that stain."

Shanks acted like he was doing it for your own good.

"Heh, Captain, aren't you afraid I'll kidnap this Uchiha Sasuke?"

Seeing Shanks' enthusiasm, Snake made a rare joke.

"Everyone has their own destiny. As long as he can succeed and I can have a clear conscience, I don't care whether he betrays me or not."

The second male lead doesn't have a firm belief yet. Even if Orochimaru doesn't deceive him, he will be swayed by others in the future in order to seek revenge. It's better to let Orochimaru deceive him, since Orochimaru's current status is indeed not suitable for teaching the second male lead in Konoha.

.........

"Ahem! The weather is sunny and clear today, not a cloud in the sky. The streets are bustling with cars and pedestrians hurrying by..."

"Karin, how many words did you write for your older brother's opening?"

When Shanks returned to the village after fooling Orochimaru, the first stage of the third trial, the one-on-one mode, had already begun. Shanks sat in the VIP box watching Garp, under the gaze of tens of thousands of spectators, read a long and tedious opening speech from a small note. He asked Karin beside him in confusion. He had told Garp to have Karin write his opening speech, but he hadn't said it had to be so literary, and so ugly and long. After reading for ten minutes, it still hadn't gotten to the point.

"Not too many, probably only tens of thousands of words."

Karin put down her book, pushed up her glasses, and said arrogantly. Clearly, these tens of thousands of words were a piece of cake for a top student like her; if time hadn't been so tight, she could have easily written hundreds of thousands of words.

"...Next time, don't write too many filler words. You see, the audience isn't buying it anymore."

Shanks didn't want to discourage a little girl, after all, she was the most educated person in the Senju family in two generations. No one in their family had been highly educated since Tobirama Senju. Tsunade was only considered to be decent, barely passing. As for Nawaki and Garp, it was fortunate that they didn't mispronounce any words.

"This is a common way to start a writing session, but it may not be well-received by the general public. I'll try something different next time."

Karin shook her head as she watched as some people in the audience started throwing rotten eggs at her brother.

"..............Hmm, that makes sense."

A group of underachieving students in the private room nodded in agreement.

"........."

Minato looked up at the sky speechlessly at this group of illiterate people. He shouldn't have shared a private room with them; it would have been so much better to be with the intellectuals like the Third Generation Lord. Being with these illiterate people was practically lowering his IQ. Shikaku was much smarter; he ran away early on.

........

"Without further ado, let's begin the preliminary round of the third test. The names of two contestants will be randomly displayed on the large screen above your heads, and these two contestants will then engage in a one-on-one duel. Although this duel will not affect the final team battle score, it will be an important statistic for individual performance. Of course, we always uphold the spirit of fair, just, and open competition. If you have any personal grudges, you can apply to me to settle them here. However, I will decide based on the circumstances. If the difference in strength between the two sides is too great, then I will not grant your application, and you can settle it in the final team battle."

He finally finished reciting his long and tedious opening remarks, which took an hour to complete. Amidst the angry stares of the audience, Garp announced the rules for the preliminary round.

"........."

The audience members were speechless. This is what you call not wasting time? If you weren't the young master of the Senju clan, I'd have already stabbed you! Bastard!

Some of the more outspoken types didn't care about the number of hands or not, and just made the international hand gesture at Garp. They paid such high prices, some even bought scalped tickets, to see a fight, not to listen to his reading. In the end, this bastard wasted an entire hour of the opening act. Did he really think their money grew on trees?

.......

However, their emotions calmed down quickly, as the names of the examinees kept flashing on the large screen above them. Although this was just an appetizer, the one-on-one duels were more revealing of a person's strength and talent. In terms of excitement, the one-on-one duels were the most thrilling and demanded the most skill. A one-on-one duel revealed a person's knowledge and combat awareness, while the team battles were more about the thrill of the fight. Just thinking about several groups of people wielding weapons and fighting below was exhilarating, even inspiring the courage to defeat the Hokage. Add to that the feeling of watching and cheering along with so many others, and it was a completely different experience.

The names on the big screen stopped flashing. Shanks almost spat out his soda as he looked at the names. It was truly fate. The last names to appear were his grandson, Little Rocket, and Rasa's eldest daughter, Temari. Rasa's dowry was destined to be surnamed Nara.

"Wow! Lingling, Shikamaru went first! Hmm? Who's this Temari? She sounded like a girl last time."

Kushina excitedly told Big Mom, one of the Four Emperors, after seeing the name on the big screen, but became puzzled after seeing Shikamaru's opponent's name.

"She was originally a girl, and she was even the wife I had arranged for my grandson. It's quite a coincidence that the two of them are destined for each other..."

Shanks picked up on Kushina's words with a smug look and said, "This is a real heiress, no! She should be called a millionaire."

"Hey! Uncle, what's this girl's background?"

Kushina asked with a gossipy look, "Although my uncle isn't very reliable, he has a great eye for people. A granddaughter-in-law whom my uncle approves of must have some special skills."

"Of course, this girl is Luo Sha's daughter. You know Luo Sha, right? He's the Feng Ying who can make a lot of gold. This is his only daughter. Just think how much her dowry will cost me."

As Shanks spoke, he wiped the drool from his mouth; the thought of that pile of 98K pure gold still stirred up his emotions within him.

"A teacher is always a teacher."

Minato remained silent after hearing Shanks' reason. There was a powerful force here. Although he, as the Hokage, did not object to anything involving external communication, let alone being brought back by someone else, he was speechless after hearing Shanks' reason.

"Huh? Right, why didn't I see Rasa? Wasn't he supposed to be here for the third match?"

When Rasa was mentioned, Shanks realized that the third battle had already begun, Minato was here, but Rasa hadn't even appeared yet. What was Rasa up to? Couldn't he be a little more professional? The leader of a conspiracy was about to take action, but he hadn't even been seen yet.

663. God knows how he got it.

"Lord Kazekage has arrived!!!"

As luck would have it, just as Shanks was wondering why Rasa hadn't arrived yet and was preparing to use his Observation Haki to scan the village, a gruff, loud voice echoed throughout the examination hall, as if afraid no one would miss it.

"Kushina, the Kazekage has arrived. I'll go and greet him."

Before leaving, Minato couldn't resist throwing in a dose of PDA, which made Shanks roll his eyes. Damn it, if Haruko-sama hadn't come because she was angry, he would have definitely given you a good dose of PDA.

"Huh? This isn't Luo Sha!"

Shanks glanced at Rasa, who was walking into the podium like a VIP with his henchmen, and immediately realized who it was. He didn't even need to use his Observation Haki. He had known Rasa for many years and knew him very well. Rasa wouldn't act so pretentious. Look at the way he entered! Shanks almost mistook him for the God of Gamblers. It took him ten minutes to walk a distance of ten meters... The audience was booing loudly. Shanks also scanned this "Rasa" with his Observation Haki. Sure enough, it was him. However, his aura and feeling matched perfectly.

"Grand Uncle, you're saying this isn't Feng Ying?"

Karin, who was standing next to Shanks, heard Shanks' mutterings and looked over with a face full of questions. This was clearly the Kazekage, wasn't he? He even had the Kazekage's hat on his head.

"Uh... I mean, Luo Sha has changed a lot over the years, I almost didn't recognize him."

Shanks ruffled Karin's red hair dismissively, "Why are you little brats worrying about adult matters? If anyone should be worrying, it's Minato."

However, Rasa eventually died, and it's unknown who killed him. His gold dust! Shanks felt a pang of heartache just thinking about it. In the history of Sunagakure, only Rasa could make gold dust. Gaara could only make a bunch of worthless sand.

Shanks regretted it more and more. Why hadn't he tricked him more back then? Now there was no hope of tricking him anymore, unless he found Rasa's corpse and had Scorpion make him a gold dust toy...

It hurts!

Shanks clutched his chest, filled with regret. He blamed himself for being too kind and not having the heart to trick Rasa, that unlucky fellow. Now, he couldn't even do it if he wanted to.

"Father, are you alright?"

Seeing that her father's face could change more than ten expressions in a minute, the Fourth Empress worried that he might have gone insane from arguing with her.

"It's alright, Lingling. For the sake of our family and the Nara family, you must make sure Shikamaru handles Rasa's eldest daughter. Whether your father and mother are happy in the future depends on this."

Shanks gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, saying to Big Mom, "Rasa is gone, but his eldest daughter's dowry should still be there. If big deals don't work, we'll go for smaller ones. He can't let this opportunity slip by again."

"Well... alright, have a cup of tea to calm yourself down first."

Although she's married, the Fourth Emperor's eldest daughter is still a good daughter. While she doesn't quite understand the connection between her son winning over the Kazekage's eldest daughter and her parents' happy life, seeing her father's excited state, she agrees first to calm him down.

Just as Minato sat down with the imposter, who was playing Rasa, the battle below had already begun. Little Sky Cannon, as the legal heir to the Konoha Grand Marshal, wasn't very famous yet, but the Nara clan was renowned. The Konoha Grand Marshal clan, like the Azabu clan of Kumogakure, were two of the most brilliant clans in the ninja world. Their offspring might not be the strongest, but their minds were definitely sharper. However, Little Sky Cannon's dazzling array of shadow ninjutsu left everyone speechless. Who knew shadows could be used like that?

"Ugh... what a hassle!"

Meanwhile, in the audience, the man with the large cannon-like frame sighed as he watched his son's solo performance. In his opinion, his son was just putting on a show. From the start of the fight until now, his son had at least a dozen opportunities to defeat the girl, but he flawlessly executed each one. His son's acting skills might fool others, but they couldn't change his father's perception. His Nara clan's paternal fear of his wife had, in his son's case, become fear of women.

In the center of the arena, a girl with a large fan swung her fan forcefully at the small rocket launcher! A gust of wind howled in, transforming into countless wind blades in the air.

"Jingle bells!"

The clanging sound of gold and silver metal rang out again, and a series of wind blades struck the small rocket launcher, which had turned black, but the small rocket launcher was completely unharmed.

"puff!"

"What?!"

"Holy shit!"

"Holy crap...!"

The sound of water spraying was made by Shanks, the other two sounds were made by Hiruzen Sarutobi and the giant rocket, followed by a series of exclamations!

What they saw was a small, jet-black ninja unscathed from countless wind blades, not even a tear in his clothes. But none of that mattered. What mattered was that this scene was all too familiar to them! Wasn't this Shanks's special taijutsu? Why was Shanks' defense so high, able to withstand a Tailed Beast Ball without any problems? It was because of this seemingly dark taijutsu. Only Shanks in the ninja world had ever possessed it, because it was his talent, something others couldn't learn even if they wanted to. They never expected to see it on a genin today. How could he not be excited?

Even Shanks was dumbfounded. This miniature version of Skyrocket looked too much like his Armament Haki, but... that's impossible. This is a high-grade item. Even Big Mom's own daughter doesn't have this. How could someone with only a quarter bloodline like this miniature Skyrocket have it?

"Father, you...you taught Shikamaru?"

Big Mom's hand trembled as she pointed at her son in the arena. Although she disliked training since childhood, her talent was outstanding. She could learn superhuman strength techniques in no time. However, Shanks had explained Armament Haki to her before, but she couldn't sense any ghostly aura at all. Moreover, she had never told her son about it. Now, her son was displaying the exact same talent as her father. That meant that her son had also awakened this talent and that her father had taught him.

The people around looked over, but Karin looked blank and didn't know what they were talking about. Shikamaru just used a ninjutsu to turn himself black and withstand the damage from the wind blade, what was so surprising about that?

"What do you mean, 'teach me'? Even you can't sense any aura. How could Shikamaru, who only has a quarter of the bloodline, possibly sense any aura? Even if the bloodline reverses its ancestry, it can't be just one generation apart. Who knows how he did it?"

Shanks shook his head in bewilderment. It did look very similar, but after sensing it with his Observation Haki, it wasn't. Although he didn't know how the miniature rocket made its body black and hard, it did look very similar, but it didn't have the attack amplification effect of Armament Haki at all. Its defensive capabilities were still unknown and needed further investigation.

664. Being born well is truly good.

"Kakashi-sensei, why are they so excited? Shikamaru just withstood the wind blade, didn't he?"

Several of the Konoha genin in the audience exclaimed in surprise, leaving the broad-browed girl completely bewildered. She looked at the equally shocked Kakashi with a questioning expression.

"Of course I'm excited! That's Shanks' special taijutsu. Only Shanks knows it in the entire ninja world. I never expected Shikamaru to awaken this kind of taijutsu. You know, Shanks' special defense is extremely high. My dad said that even S-rank ninjutsu can't hurt him in the slightest."

Before Shanks could speak, Ino, standing next to the girl with the broad forehead, excitedly began to explain to her that Shanks' taijutsu was not only recorded in their family, but also in many other places in the ninja world. After all, this man, who had dominated the headlines of the ninja world countless times over the years, had various skills that were not secrets in the ninja world. Only a novice like the girl with the broad forehead would not know about them.