Konoha Drunkard

"...You should rest first. I'll take you to another place tomorrow. Lü Majun is dead, so no one can stop you this time..."

734. I am Toad Wentai's father.

The day after the second male lead challenged Itachi to a duel, Shanks received a letter from his beloved disciple. Besides a series of polite greetings, the letter asked why he had handed his younger brother over to Orochimaru.

Although Orochimaru was his senior, Orochimaru was also a notorious poison master. He was really afraid that Orochimaru would turn his younger brother into a little poison master, and then he would have no face to face his parents. He had promised them that he would take good care of his younger brother.

"........."

In Konoha, Shanks looked up at the sky speechlessly after reading the letter. This second male lead was far too confident! He had only been training with Orochimaru for a little over a year, yet he dared to challenge his precious disciple to a duel.

At the same time, he didn't know how to explain it to his precious disciple. He couldn't very well tell him that Snake Uncle and his younger brother were destined to be together, and that without Snake Uncle, his younger brother's cheat system wouldn't be able to activate...

After thinking for a long time but not coming up with a good excuse, he simply made up some nonsense and replied to his precious disciple.

"Your younger brother possesses a face as bright as the sun and as majestic as the heavens, a bearing as powerful as a dragon, a gait as graceful as a tiger, eyes as bright as a dragon's, and extraordinary bone structure piercing the crown of his head. His eyes are like a river, his mouth like the sea—this is an awe-inspiring and magnificent appearance. Only a genius of extraordinary talent like Snake Uncle can truly help him develop comprehensively in virtue, intelligence, character, beauty, and diligence. Only then can the heavy responsibility of maintaining world peace be entrusted to him. As the saying goes, 'Heaven will entrust great responsibilities to those who are destined for them, but first it will test their will, strengthen their bodies, and subject them to hunger.' No rainbow appears without rain; temporary hardship forges eternal glory. Given time, your younger brother will surely become a great hero who saves the world..."

Add a little pants emoji next to the signature...

..........

After reading the contents of the letter, Itachi quickly burned it away with a small fire jutsu to prevent Kisame from seeing it and embarrassing him in the ninja world.

What a mess this is! So many words, but to sum it up in one sentence: You can rest assured leaving your little brother in Orochimaru's hands; he'll definitely amount to something great...

With such an unreliable teacher, what can he do? Now that his younger brother has become his enemy, he can't exactly tell him to stay away from Snake, can he? This matter can only be left to fate. Hopefully, this unreliable teacher is right...

"Itachi, Pain has sent word that two Jinchuriki from Kumogakure have left the village and we are to go and capture them now."

Kisame walked over and said this after Itachi finished reading the letter.

"It's about to begin..."

Itachi muttered to himself as he walked toward the Land of Lightning.

Both he and Orochimaru had relayed the information back to Konoha that the Akatsuki's goal was to collect all the Tailed Beasts to create nuclear weapons. However, for some reason, his teacher kept telling him that the time wasn't right and that he should continue to stay with the Akatsuki. In his view, now that they knew the Akatsuki's purpose, all they needed to do was protect the Tailed Beasts. If all else failed, they already knew the Akatsuki's strength. With Konoha's strength, they could easily launch an attack on the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki simply couldn't withstand Konoha's strength. Wouldn't it be safer to nip the danger in the bud?

But what he didn't know was that Shanks wasn't worried about the Scions of Akatsuki; they were just minor bosses. The real trouble was the old man of the Six Paths, Black Zetsu, that ugly monster. Black Zetsu was the will of Kaguya-hime, and he had lived for over a thousand years. Who knew if this thing could actually be killed? Anyway, all he remembered was that in the end, he and his mother, Kaguya-hime, were sealed away by the two male leads together.

That kind of earth-shattering, awe-inspiring seal seems to only be possible with the power of the Six Paths given by the old man of the Six Paths, which he doesn't even have. That stingy old man of the Six Paths would only give it to his two sons, how could he possibly give it to him? What's the point of dealing with the Akatsuki if he can't even handle that ugly Black Zetsu? He still wants to survive until the finale of this series and see who can outlive the longest with Onoki and Red-Nosed. If Black Zetsu hides for decades before filming the finale, he won't live that long either...

...........

"Naruto, come here... How's your training going lately?"

After hearing the news of the second male lead's rapid progress, Shanks also took the time to check on Naruto's training. Jiraiya, that idiot, didn't take Naruto out to have fun like in the original story. Instead, after seeing Naruto learn how to make Rasengan, he left him to fend for himself in the village while he went to the village bathhouse to find inspiration and make money. After making a small fortune recently, he disappeared again, and no one knows where he went to enjoy himself.

Jiraiya's teaching method might work for a super genius like Minato, but Naruto clearly doesn't have his father's talent. After being left to his own devices for so long, who knows how far Naruto has progressed? Other male leads have almost reached the maximum level.

"It's so-so. I've worn out my dad's Rasengan, and the Perverted Sage is nowhere to be found, nor is he teaching me any new ninjutsu."

Although Naruto said he was so-so, Shanks really wanted to punch him for his smug expression.

"Is that so? It's just so-so, but that's about all you can do. Even if you have more ninjutsu in your memory, you won't be able to store them all. Call Wen Tai out, I need to talk to him."

Shanks figured that was enough. This idiot was a one-trick pony anyway. The others already had their signature skills, so it was time to let him practice some magic.

"Oh, what do you want with Boss Wen Tai?"

Naruto responded and then asked another question.

"Stop talking nonsense and bring it out now."

Shanks waved his hand impatiently. This was something Jiraiya used to do, but that idiot had disappeared somewhere again.

"Spiritual communication!"

"boom!"

"Idiot! I'm talking about Wen Tai, the one with the big pipe, not this little toad! Again!"

Naruto's series of actions were as fierce as a tiger, but what came out was a little toad, and a little toad with a white beard at that. Shanks couldn't help but give him a punch.

"Redhead, it's been years, and your mouth is still as foul as ever,"

The little toad with the white beard spoke in a very old-fashioned manner.

"..............Sigh, it's been years since anyone dared to call me that. The last one who called me 'Red-Haired Kid' was beaten so badly he had to report to the Six Paths Old Man early. Old Toad, which path are you from?"

Shanks looked at the white-bearded old toad and felt a slight resemblance to it, but he couldn't remember when he had seen it before. Perhaps Jiraiya had summoned it before.

"You damn red-haired brat, I'm Moon-tae's father! Fukasaku the Great Immortal!"

The old toad angrily jumped onto Shanks' dog head, pulled out a stick from somewhere, and smacked the dog's head with it.

735. The Arrogant Toad, Moon-tae's Father

"Haha! So it's Fukasaku the Sage! I didn't know you were still alive. The last time I saw you, you were already quite old... I didn't expect Naruto's skills to have improved so much, he was actually able to summon you."

Shanks wasn't really hurt by the blow, but he was quite embarrassed that he hadn't recognized one of the two leaders of Mount Myōboku...

Back when that sleeping toad asked him to go to Mount Myōboku, he was curious how two toads as small as Shima and Fukasaku could give birth to the toad brothers, Buntai, who had such large heads...

"...You brat, we live much longer than you humans. You're dead and I'm still alive. So, what do you want from me?"

Fukasaku the old toad said he didn't want to continue arguing with him. This bastard's foul mouth is something he can't change.

"Haha, here's the thing. I saw that Naruto has already learned Minato's Rasengan, and his brain can't hold any other ninjutsu. So I wanted to ask him to call out Gamabunta and have him take him to Mount Myōboku to learn Sage Mode. I didn't expect him to bring you out instead. That's even better. Naruto, this is your father's boss's father. Aren't you going to greet him?"

After Shanks finished explaining, he turned to Naruto, who was standing there dumbfounded.

"...Then what should I call myself?"

Naruto counted the relationships on his fingers, but in the end, the relationships were too complicated and he didn't know how to address them anymore.

"Just call me...Big Brother, anyway, you won't lose out by having a celestial big brother."

Shanks did the math... Who cares what it's called? The important thing is being able to learn magic. The name doesn't matter.

"........Let's talk about it another day, I'm not in a good mood today."

Fukasaku, the old toad, gave Shanks a haughty glare, then slammed his fist on the ground and went back inside. What the hell? This kid isn't losing out, he's the one who's losing out—he's inexplicably a generation below his son...

"........."

Shanks stood bewildered in the storm...

This old toad is so damn arrogant! So what if I forgot who you are? Is it really necessary to act like this? Besides, you're not my idol, who the hell has time to remember an old toad like you...?

"Grand Uncle... what should we do?"

Naruto was also dumbfounded. What happened to the Sage Mode? Sage Mode! It sounded so high-level...

"...It's probably menopause, it's nothing to worry about, it'll be fine in a couple of days..."

............

"Lord Shanks, the Hokage requests your presence!"

In the Senju clan's territory, Shanks looked at the masked ANBU member in front of him with a displeased expression. He had drunk himself into oblivion with Tsunade last night and was woken up by this ANBU member early this morning, giving him a terrible headache.

"Don't you know that disturbing someone's sleep is like killing their parents? Don't think that just because you're wearing a mask I don't know you're a member of the 'Oil Woman' clan. Write a 100,000-word self-criticism tomorrow and give it to Zhihui so he can give it to me."

"...Yes, but...but Lord Shanks, the Hokage has urgent business with you."

The Aburame clan member, hiding behind his mask, said with a crying face, "What the hell is wrong with me? Today it just so happens to be my shift, and of all things, it has to be him who notifies this old guy."

"Alright, alright, I'll go after I have breakfast. You go back first, and remember to write a self-criticism; I'll be checking it tomorrow."

The reluctant member of the secret service, upon hearing the last sentence, slipped and nearly fell. What bad luck!

After the ANBU left, Shanks calmly washed his face and brushed his teeth, slowly eating his breakfast without any rush.

"Minato was looking for you, wasn't he? You've never been so slow before."

Seeing his wretched state, Haruko-sama gave him a Tenseigan.

"You don't know, the fact that they came to notify me so early in the morning means something big must have happened. Usually, when something big happens, those old guys from the third generation are always involved. Those old guys get more and more shameless as they get older. They always wait until everyone is here before they show up. I can't stand their behavior."

Shanks leisurely sipped his breakfast milk, taking half an hour to finish a cup before finally getting up to go to the Hokage Building.

...........

Sure enough, something big was about to happen. When Shanks arrived at the Hokage's office, all the Jonin from Konoha who were qualified to attend the meeting were there, each with a serious expression. The atmosphere was like a world war was about to begin.

"What's going on? You didn't sleep a wink last night?"

Shanks sat down next to Tsunade, who was dozing off and nodding.

"I don't know. After I got you drunk last night, I went to the casino to play a couple of rounds. I was called here as soon as I got home."

Tsunade stretched and yawned.

"........."

Shanks covered his face. It wasn't that he couldn't hold his liquor; Tsunade drank like a berserker, getting stronger with each drink. In the entire Hidden Leaf Village, probably only Minato, who drank alcohol like it was a beverage, could outdrink her.

"Captain, you didn't even invite me to the drinking party!"

Jiraiya glanced over with a resentful look.

"...You bastard, I haven't seen you for so long, I thought you were dead, where am I supposed to find you?"

Shanks glanced at him sideways.

"Cough...cough! Last night, the border outpost was attacked by a mysterious force. After investigation, it was confirmed that this mysterious force was from the Sky Country."

Minato spoke with a serious expression.

"The Land of the Sky? What's that? There's a country like that in the ninja world?"

Shanks looked at Jiraiya with a question mark on his face. It wasn't that he was bragging. He had traveled almost all over the ninja world, even to the extremely remote Land of Mountains and the Land of Stone, but he had never heard of the Land of Sky. Jiraiya had been traveling around for so many years, he should know something about it.

"I do not know either."

Jiraiya was completely bewildered. It wasn't that he was bragging; he hadn't wasted his more than ten years in the ninja world. He knew how many countries there were and could talk about the beautiful women and customs of each country. But this was the first time he had ever heard of the Land of the Sky. Did such a country even exist in the world?

Not only Shanks and Jiraiya, but everyone present was also puzzled. They were all from the younger generation of Konoha, and even Shanks and Jiraiya, who were relatively unknown, didn't know this. How could they possibly know?

"...I think it would be more appropriate for the Third Hokage to give a detailed introduction to the Sky Country."

He was completely dumbfounded when he received a ninja headband from the Anbu. It was a ninja headband he had never seen before. Did this ninja village even exist in the ninja world?

Finally, Shikaku's friend found some information while reviewing the documents, though it was only a few brief details. It was true that this country existed before World War II, and it was destroyed by Konoha during the war. The reasons weren't mentioned, so he had to summon Hiruzen Sarutobi to find out more...