Konoha Drunkard

If he gave up so easily, he wouldn't be Naruto. You really can't tell that Naruto's true love is the second male lead. After failing with the small-time stunt, he ran to Haku and asked him to help him find a way out of the village. Haku knew the seriousness of the situation and of course disagreed. So Naruto found the broad-foreheaded girl who had the same idea as him. The two of them took advantage of the fact that the village was under construction and the guards were not so tight, and secretly slipped out of the village. By the time the Anbu discovered them, the two had already run far away.

The Anbu were in a panic. Anyone could run away, but it had to be the Hokage's son! This was a huge problem. If something happened to the Hokage's son outside, it might not be a big deal, but being kidnapped by someone with malicious intent was no laughing matter. Especially considering the demonic aura Kushina displayed during the Chunin Exams—it was terrifying. They were all young; Kushina had lived a secluded life raising her children since getting married, and her legend was rarely mentioned in the village anymore. However, her actions during the Chunin Exams had once again cemented her reputation as the "Red Hot Chili Pepper" in Konoha. She was a tyrant who ran rampant in Konoha back then, even more ruthless than the Konoha Little Tyrant. She had smashed down the Hokage's headquarters countless times.

So, one of the Anbu was sent back to report to the Hokage, while the rest had no choice but to leave the village to find someone. However, it was obvious that finding two kids in a vast sea of ​​people was practically impossible. But years of Anbu experience had taught them that while they might not succeed, they had to maintain a good attitude, or they risked being targeted by their superiors.

..........

"No way! Nothing you say will do. Last time when the village was completely rebuilt, you said you didn't have the money, and that was one thing. But this time, it's only been damaged a little bit, and you're saying you don't have the money again. Do you really think I'm stupid?"

“Hey, you don’t know the value of money until you’re in charge of the household. There are so many orphans and widows in the village, and there are also people who can’t work and need to be supported. These all cost money. We can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

"No, nothing I say will do. I'm the one who captured this scoundrel, and I absolutely cannot let you use him first. At most, we can talk about it after I've used him."

"Without the greater good, there is no individual family. Don't you feel any pain looking at this dilapidated village? Is this how the First Lord and Lord Mito taught you...?"

"Hey, hey, hey! That's going too far. Don't bring up my aunt. My aunt didn't teach me to be a lamb waiting to be slaughtered."

"........"

The ANBU officer who usually reports from outside the Hokage's office hesitated. Judging from the noise, it was clearly the big shots arguing inside. If he rushed in, one of the big shots might be in a bad mood and beat him up, and getting beaten up would be pointless...

"...Come in, what happened?"

Minato had already noticed someone outside the door, but at that time, the Third Hokage and Shanks were arguing fiercely. Letting his underlings in at that time would not be appropriate. On one side was his teacher's teacher, and on the other side was his wife's uncle, his former homeroom teacher, who had taught him most of his skills. He couldn't easily persuade either side, so he could only wait until they calmed down before letting his underlings in.

"Lord Hokage, Naruto and Sakura Haruno have left the village sometime ago. Captain Kenji is leading a search party to find them."

The moment the underling entered, he felt immense pressure. It was the first time he had reported his work under the watchful eyes of so many big shots, and he felt his back was already soaked with sweat.

"Understood, you go down first."

After hearing this, Minato rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. It was truly a time of many troubles. He hadn't even sorted out the matter on this side, and now another problem had arisen. However, his son's situation was alright. He had his own Flying Thunder God seal on him, so it would be easy to retrieve it. He would just need to find a master to set up a grand formation.

However, Minato doesn't plan to go looking for his son this time. It's good for him to go out and experience some hardship. Otherwise, it's not a solution for him to be naughty all the time. As the Hokage, he doesn't have time to personally teach him. Kushina only knows how to use her fists to solve problems. It's better to let him train on his own outside.

"Third generation old man, Danzo's Root is nowhere to be seen this time. Shouldn't you ask his Root to do some work too? Stop thinking about getting benefits from me all the time. My money doesn't grow on trees."

After his ANBU underlings left, Shanks finished a large cup of tea, soothed his throat, and continued his verbal sparring with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I'll talk to Danzo later and give you a satisfactory explanation. There are only a few people in your family. There's a lot of gold dust in Hiruko, and the village is about to be built."

Hiruzen Sarutobi showed no intention of stopping the fight. It wasn't that he coveted the gold dust, but he knew Shanks' personality. If he gave him the gold dust, the guy would probably run off and squander it again. This was Rasa's bloodline limit. If they used Rasa's money to rebuild the village, Sunagakure might not say anything, since they were the ones who caused the destruction of the village. But if Shanks used the gold dust to squander it, wouldn't that just give Sunagakure an excuse to lower the price?

He was planning to raise his demands when Sunagakure sent someone of considerable influence to Konoha for negotiations. You are far too wealthy than Sunagakure; if he didn't take advantage of you now, when would he ever get another chance?

In fact, many villages in the ninja world wanted to fight Sunagakure and take advantage of the situation to annihilate them. Onoki did just that back then. Iwagakure, one of the five great villages, was known for being poor, so how could Onoki not try to take advantage of it? However, after Iwagakure and Sunagakure went to war, many villages abandoned their plans to take advantage of Sunagakure. Don't be fooled by the fact that Sunagakure was always the village that suffered the most damage in every major battle, which gives people the illusion that Sunagakure was weak. When Sunagakure and Iwagakure clashed, the two villages were basically evenly matched. But if they went into the great desert of the Land of Wind, it was almost one-sided. In the great desert, the advantage of Sunagakure ninjas who grew up in the sandy land was really too obvious.

677. The difference in treatment between the father and son is too great.

Why is it that Sunagakure and Konoha, who have been neighbors for so many years, are always the first to attack Konoha? Besides Konoha's love of peace, it's also because Sunagakure's environment is indeed unsuitable for Konoha ninja to fight in. If Konoha were to launch an offensive against Sunagakure, even if they won, it would be a gruesome victory, and Konoha would have to regress by decades. That wouldn't be a worthwhile deal. But Konoha's environment is different; with its green mountains and clear waters, any village can adapt. So it's usually very difficult to trick Sunagakure. How could Hiruzen Sarutobi possibly let this opportunity slip by?

"Alright, you two stop arguing. Hiruko is in Konoha prison, and you've knocked him senseless. The key is what's going on in Sunagakure. If we don't handle this properly, the Fourth World will come."

Xiaochun, who was turning over a new room, heard the two arguing for a long time without reaching a conclusion. Just listening to this gave her a headache, so she directly interrupted their argument and made a decision.

“What’s there to talk about with Sunagakure? We’ll just offer them a high price and sell them to us when they arrive. Didn’t the Third Hokage say that the village is already under such pressure with its population, and we still have to build things up? Where would we find the extra food to feed them? But Rasa’s eldest daughter should stay in Konoha. I made a promise with Rasa back then that she would be Shikamaru’s wife. I think we should leave her with the Nara clan now and let her and Shikamaru develop their relationship.”

On the issue of Sunagakure, Shanks and Hiruzen Sarutobi were in complete agreement: they needed to make exorbitant demands and trick Sunagakure out of their way.

“Father-in-law, when did you ever do business with Luo Sha? I’ve never heard of it.”

Hearing that his son's wife had been found by his father-in-law, the man with the large cannon, felt a pang of envy. He himself hadn't received such treatment in all those years, even risking his life to woo the Fourth Emperor. The difference in treatment between father and son was stark. He had no objection to the marriage itself; the Nara clan never cared about social standing when choosing a wife. They let things happen naturally. If the relationship was good, even a girl from a rival village wouldn't matter. However, his son's treatment made him a little jealous.

"I made the decision on the spur of the moment and didn't have time to tell you. I forgot about it afterwards, but I remembered it when I saw that girl this time."

"...I just don't know who will come to negotiate with us this time. There are very few people left in the high-ranking positions of Sunagakure who can speak for us. Even old lady Chiyo has been living in seclusion for a long time."

Shanks shrugged, looking like a smug old man. "If I told you everything, it'd be too late."

"Let's see who from Sunagakure comes this time."

"Turn to the next room," Xiaochun said calmly.

"I reckon it'll be Chiyo who comes. First, she has enough status. Second, we've detained Rasa's three children here, so only she has the authority to negotiate with us."

The giant cannon propped its head up and did some analysis.

"Minato, what should we do about the results of this Chunin Exams? And what about Sasuke Uchiha? Itachi entrusted him to us before he left. We can't let Itachi down."

Koharu Utatane looked at Minato. Actually, these were the questions her godson Shisui had asked her to ask. After Sasuke went missing, her godson was extremely anxious and even wanted to abandon her and his new wife to run away and search for Uchiha Sasuke. Of course, Koharu Utatane couldn't let him go out; she was still waiting to hold her great-grandson.

"Hey! It's no big deal. If Orochimaru wants Uchiha Sasuke, just give him to him. Anyway, Uchiha Sasuke has suffered enough in the village. Why not let Orochimaru teach him? My precious disciple knows Orochimaru's identity, so he won't cause any trouble. I'm confident in that."

Shanks said matter-of-factly. He hadn't expected Snake to be so efficient. Last time, he had just finished speaking when Snake managed to fool the second male lead. The second male lead wasn't so easily fooled. It could only be said that Snake and the second male lead were truly destined to be together.

"So what about the results of the Chunin Exams? Although the exams were interrupted, the final preliminary round was completed, and individual scores can still be collected."

Super Soy Sauce Guest Mitokado Homura pushed up his glasses and said, "This time I bet quite a few small rocket launchers. I thought that as Shanks' grandson, he should have some skills. I didn't expect that this brat would actually admit defeat, which caused me a big loss. However, if Shikamaru can be promoted to Chunin, I can win a little. After all, the final team battle didn't happen this time, so the champion and MVP can't be determined. But if Shikamaru is promoted to Chunin, then I guess I bet on the right thing."

"Let's go by individual performance. Anyone who performs well in the last match, regardless of the outcome, can be promoted to Chunin."

Minato's last words were actually directed at the "Little Sky Cannon." The fact that he could imitate Shanks' special taijutsu so closely already proved that this kid was quite excellent, and his strength was also quite good. Even if it was just to give his friend face, the "Little Sky Cannon" should be promoted to Chunin.

However, his own son is a different story. Anyone with eyes can see that the painted-face boy was scared by Kushina, which is why Naruto was able to steal the chicken. If Naruto is still promoted to Chunin after that, then that would be the biggest conspiracy of this generation. In the end, Minato's skin isn't as thick as Hiruzen Sarutobi's. If it were Hiruzen Sarutobi, even if his own son was weak, he could easily find a reason to let his son get a top-three finish.

Old ginger is spicier!

"Naruto, do you know where Sasuke went? Searching like this isn't going to work."

On the border of the Land of Fire, Naruto and the girl with the broad forehead sat on a big tree to rest. The girl with the broad forehead ate something and asked a question.

"I heard that Sasuke went with someone named Orochimaru. Let's go find out who this Orochimaru is first, and then we'll talk about it later."

Who says Naruto is stupid? When it comes to finding true love, Naruto's intelligence is still online; at least he knows the importance of information.

Orochimaru? Who is that?

The girl with the broad forehead asked doubtfully, "Judging from the name, he doesn't seem like a good person..."

"I don't know either, but the person who could stop Kakashi-sensei must be a very famous ninja."

Naruto gave a strong analysis: Kakashi-sensei is a renowned ninja in the ninja world, so anyone who can stop Kakashi-sensei must be famous, and it should be easy to find out by asking around.

Naruto was right about that, but he didn't know that Orochimaru had been a tech geek for over a decade, and any information he had would be from over ten years ago. Furthermore, after Orochimaru left Konoha, no one knew his whereabouts. Therefore, Naruto and the girl with the wide forehead foresaw the ending from the very beginning of their search for the second male lead.

675. Hiruzen Sarutobi's acting skills are outstanding.

"Shuga! You mean the second male lead... no, Sasuke Uchiha slipped away during the chaos when Kurama and Shukaku were fighting for the leadership? And then when you chased after him, you ran into Orochimaru and got cornered by him?"

In the Hokage's office, Shanks put on a serious expression as he looked at Kakashi, who had a few minor injuries. He hadn't expected that Orochimaru, who had been a shut-in for over a decade, would still be so capable in a fight, managing to corner Kakashi. Shanks had thought that Orochimaru was too busy to bother with anything else and would just send a few underlings to block the pursuers, but he hadn't expected Orochimaru to personally take action.

Several days had passed since the Sand Village's attack on Konoha, and the Chunin Exams had ended rather abruptly. Although the attack hadn't caused significant damage to Konoha, it was a turbulent time, and Minato had no intention of continuing the exams. After sending the troops back to their respective villages, he was still preoccupied with how to deal with the imprisoned Sand Village ninja. Through the Anbu's interrogation, it was discovered that these Sand Village ninja had indeed been tricked by Hiruko, who was impersonating Rasa. As for why even Baki, his longtime leader, couldn't see through Hiruko's impersonation of Rasa, it was because Hiruko had inherited Rasa's gold dust using a forbidden technique after killing Rasa, so they all believed it was Rasa's decision.

Originally from Sunagakure, following the Kazekage was naturally not wrong. What troubled Minato the most was that it had been officially confirmed that Hiruko was indeed a rogue ninja who had escaped from Konoha. The Kazekage was killed by a rogue ninja from Konoha, and then Hiruko used the Kazekage's identity to trick the Sunagakure ninja into attacking Konoha. Hiruko's identity became a topic of discussion. You yourself say that Hiruko is a rogue ninja, but who knows if it was a self-directed and self-acted drama by Konoha? Konoha has always had a lineage of cunning old foxes.

But before Minato could figure out how to handle the situation, Kakashi, who had gone to chase after the second male lead, returned with a somewhat forceful air. As the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan in the village, Kakashi was entrusted to Minato by the super spy Itachi. Since Minato didn't have time to deal with it at the time, the village naturally had to take it very seriously.

"...I guess Sasuke's departure is related to Orochimaru. I don't know when Orochimaru returned to the village and met with Sasuke, and said something to him."

Kakashi was deeply affected by this. He couldn't protect his two former teammates, and now he couldn't even protect his own disciple. This was indeed a heavy blow to him. At that time, he had already used his ultimate move to hit Orochimaru's vitals. Orochimaru, like a snake shedding its skin, opened his mouth and spat himself out unharmed, letting the snake bite him. If Orochimaru hadn't somehow cured him while he was unconscious from the poison, he probably would have died there.

"Hey... Kakashi, you should go back and rest first. We'll deal with Sasuke Uchiha's matter later. Right now, the key issue is the situation in the Sand Village."

When Hiruzen Sarutobi heard that it was his disciple Orochimaru who had kidnapped Sasuke, he wasn't worried at all. After all, Orochimaru was one of his own. If he wanted to find out what happened, he could just have Shanks ask him. The situation in the Sand Village was much more serious now. If they didn't handle it well, Konoha would be pushed into the eye of the storm again.

"Let's not rush the Sand Village matter. We should talk about the Gold Sand issue first. I took care of that bastard, so he's my spoils of war, and I have the right to own him, right?"

Otherwise, because of the gold dust, Shanks wouldn't bother arguing with them here. Wouldn't it be better to finish the conversation early and go home for a drink? He's been thinking about how to appease Haruko-sama lately. She's genuinely angry; she's been kicking him out for so long and hasn't even welcomed him back. Usually, it would be over in a week or two, but this time it's been months. He plans to have a 98K pure gold dragon throne befitting Haruko-sama's status made to appease her. The key is to be humble and subservient.

"...It's true that you captured Hiruko, but he is, after all, a rogue ninja of Konoha. Ultimately, he was raised by the village. Although he didn't cause too much damage to the village this time, many facilities were destroyed in the operation. Even the battlefield that you suggested the village build at great expense is mostly destroyed and cannot be repaired, so it has to be rebuilt. This requires a lot of resources. Although Konoha has been recuperating for a long time in recent years, as you know, the village has also been expanding continuously. We simply don't have enough resources to rebuild those damaged facilities. Therefore, the importance of Hiruko, who knows the Golden Sand, to the village is self-evident. How about this...we'll return him to you after the village is rebuilt."

Shanks was completely dumbfounded. Hiruzen Sarutobi's acting was still as outstanding as ever. How utterly shameless! What's with all this humility? He's just an ordinary person. Even if he has a lot of bloodline limits, he only has so much blue energy left. What's the point of you all destroying him and then giving it back to him? Could you be any more shameless?

"No! Absolutely not! Village construction is everyone's business. Why should I always have to foot the bill? This time, it absolutely won't do!"

Shanks' attitude this time is more resolute. If it were a crowdfunding campaign, he wouldn't recommend donating more. Last time during the Nine-Tails incident, he contributed the most because Konoha was destroyed, which was ultimately partly his fault. But this time it's different. The destruction of Konoha's facilities was caused by that guy, but that guy was his spoils of war. Why should he contribute the most? After all, he deserves credit for the fact that the losses were so small this time.

"Sigh!... Don't be fooled by the fact that Konoha seems prosperous. Our annual income is just enough to cover our daily expenses, so we simply can't afford that much."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's sorrowful and helpless expression was so convincing that he was practically urinating, yet he acted it out even more realistically.

"Absolutely not, there's no room for negotiation no matter what."

No matter how Hiruzen Sarutobi acted, Shanks resolutely shook his head. He'd already done something foolish once; there were so many families in the village, he didn't believe they couldn't even afford this much and had to try and rip off a poor family like him.

"This time, we didn't even see Danzo and his Root members. It's his turn by now. I put in a lot of effort. How can you bear to rob someone who contributed both manpower and effort? Aren't you afraid of making people feel disheartened?"

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi was still relentless, Shanks decided to drag Danzo, that cunning fellow, into the mess. Danzo had been living a damn carefree life all these years. Although Shanks was there, preventing him from swindling Fugaku Uchiha's inheritance, he had certainly set his sights on the Uchiha clan. Moreover, the Uchiha clan only had a greenhorn as the second male lead, no match for a seasoned veteran like Danzo. Danzo had secretly swindled countless amounts of wealth from the Uchiha clan.

678. Naruto's chance encounter with Jiraiya

"Naruto, are you sure Orochimaru is here?"

On the streets of the Land of Rice Fields, Naruto and the girl with the broad forehead wandered aimlessly. Two months had passed since they left the village. Along the way, they had inquired about Orochimaru and learned some things. It turned out that Orochimaru was also a rogue ninja of Konoha, and one of the famous Legendary Sannin, a disciple of the Third Hokage. This revelation startled them, especially the girl with the broad forehead. For Naruto, who was carefree, it had no impact. Besides, he had seen ninjas of that caliber before; his father was a ninja of that level. But for the commoner girl with the broad forehead… For the girl with the wide forehead, it was a different story. The legendary Sannin, even if she stayed in the village all day, she would rarely see ninjas of that caliber. Moreover, she discovered a very important problem: many famous rogue ninjas in the ninja world seemed to have come from Konoha. Konoha was practically a training ground for powerful rogue ninjas... The person who tricked the Sand Ninja into attacking their village last time was a rogue ninja from the village, Sasuke's older brother was also a rogue ninja from the village, and Orochimaru was also a rogue ninja from the village. And each one of them was more ridiculous than the last. The girl with the wide forehead was starting to doubt her life.

Furthermore, they discovered that Orochimaru had been out of contact for over a decade. They came to the Land of Rice Fields because they heard that Orochimaru's last appearance there was over a decade ago. In other words, they weren't even born when Orochimaru appeared in the Land of Flowers, which left them feeling quite bewildered.

However, Naruto still decided to take a trip to the Land of Rice Fields. Even if he couldn't find Sasuke, he could still relax and enjoy the trip.

The Land of Rice Fields is one of two small countries located between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. While nominally a country, it's actually quite small, more like a small city-state, similar in size to the one recently conquered by the little scorpion. Because of its proximity to the Land of Fire, its life has been relatively peaceful even without ninja villages. The successive daimyo of the Land of Rice Fields have been shrewd; since the time of Hashirama Senju, the Land of Rice Fields has paid Konoha a protection fee annually. Since Konoha has received the money, they naturally wouldn't shirk their responsibilities. They typically send several reasonably strong Jonin to the border of the Land of Rice Fields each year to help fight bandits and robbers, ensuring the Land of Rice Fields' peaceful existence. In short, the Land of Rice Fields is essentially a subordinate of the Land of Fire. Because of this powerful backing, life and entertainment in the Land of Rice Fields are quite abundant. The daimyo of the Land of Rice Fields even built a "Red District" in the city center, modeled after Konoha, to attract tourists. Due to its stability, merchants from other regions have also come to the Land of Rice Fields to invest and do business.

Naruto and the girl with the broad forehead walked along this famous street, looking around. After two months of wandering around, they were no longer rookies. This Land of Fields was obviously much more prosperous and lively than many other places.

Suddenly, Naruto spotted a familiar figure on the roof of a bathhouse with a pink signboard in front of it. His white hair, a rare sight in the ninja world, stood out like a firefly in the night, making it hard to miss. It was obvious what this familiar person was doing on the roof, not bathing in the bathhouse.

"Hey! You lecherous sage, what are you doing in the bathhouse?..."

quiet!

With Naruto's roar, the white hair on the roof froze in place, completely forgetting the terrifying killing intent emanating from the bathhouse below.

"Ah!! There's a pervert!!"

As the soprano's voice rang out from the bathhouse, the frozen figure of the white-haired girl slipped and fell into the bathhouse, eliciting another series of soprano voices mixed with a series of thuds.

"Naruto, do you know that pervert?"

The girl with the broad forehead watched the whole thing unfold. The strange man with white hair similar to her teacher Kakashi, who exuded an extremely strong aura of lewdness, made her feel disgusted. How could there be such a person in the world? Moreover, it seemed that Naruto and him knew each other well.

"Of course, he is my father's teacher, the perverted sage Jiraiya. I never expected to run into him here."

Naruto laughed nonchalantly, showing no shame whatsoever at knowing such a lecherous man.