Konohagakure
The next morning.
As Sakura yawned and headed to Konoha Hospital to continue her dical ninjutsu training, she once again ran into Ino, who was also yawning and looked exhausted.
Ino greeted first, “Sakura, didn’t you sleep well last night either?”
Sakura nodded, “Yeah, I kept feeling like there were a lot of people walking on the roof.”
Ino empathized, “It wasn’t so bad where I was, but a lot of my clan mbers were woken up and left, including my dad. I have no idea what happened; I couldn’t sleep well at all.”
Despite their potential, the two girls were still just Genin and unaware of the significant events that had occurred the previous night.
However, it didn’t take long.
When two ANBU ninjas suddenly appeared in front of them, asking them to cooperate with an investigation and inquiring about Dr. Souke, Sakura and Ino exchanged surprised and confused looks.
What exactly had happened?
Iron Country, the Five Kage Summit
Having not yet received updates from Konoha, Tsunade, along with Shizune and Naruto, traveled day and night to reach the Iron Country. After eting with General Mifune and resting well for a night, they proceeded as planned the next day. They joined the other four Kage in a specially prepared eting room to officially comnce the long-awaited second Five Kage Summit.
When Tsunade and her group arrived, the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, was already seated, with Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi standing behind him.
“Old man Ōnoki, long ti no see,” Tsunade greeted with a chuckle.
During the ti of the Shinobi World War, she, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru had often clashed with the Iwa-nin.
There was an incident where they were surrounded by Iwa-nin and in grave danger, and Orochimaru had suggested killing the heavily injured Jiraiya, which Tsunade rembered clearly.
If she recalled correctly, Ōnoki was commanding the Iwa-nin forces at that ti.
Hearing this, Ōnoki looked over and replied with a smile, “Tsunade, I didn’t expect you to beco the Hokage.”
“Things rarely go as planned. Just like you, old man Ōnoki, still serving as the Third Tsuchikage,” Tsunade responded casually as she took her seat.
Ōnoki sighed and shook his head, “It can’t be helped. Not everyone has the abundance of talent like Konoha.”
“Isn’t this a new face?” Tsunade glanced at Kurotsuchi, whom she hadn’t t before, after recognizing Kurotsuchi.
Ōnoki replied, “This is my granddaughter, just brought her to gain so experience, so don’t praise her.”
Despite his words, Ōnoki’s expression was much brighter than before, clearly showing his satisfaction with Kurotsuchi.
“A granddaughter? They don’t look alike at all,” a quiet voice suddenly sounded in the eting room.
The speaker was Naruto.
Initially overwheld by the reality of the Five Kage Summit and the prospect of eting the legendary Five Kage, Naruto had been excited and a bit nervous, so he didn’t act as he usually did. However, after adapting for a while and realizing that the legendary Tsuchikage was just a kind old man, he relaxed and earnestly compared the two before quietly voicing his true thoughts in disbelief.
In an instant, Ōnoki’s cheerful face stiffened; Tsunade suppressed a laugh and looked away; Shizune tried to maintain her usual composure; Akatsuchi silently took a step back.
Kurotsuchi, however, with a half-smile, looked at Naruto and asked, “Hey kid, who are you?”
“You’re not much older than ,” Naruto replied, before confidently introducing himself, “I’m Naruto Uzumaki, the future Hokage.”
“Hokage?” Kurotsuchi looked in surprise at Tsunade, the idol of almost all female ninjas.
Unlike the clueless Naruto, Kurotsuchi couldn’t understand why Tsunade would bring such a young and seemingly naive kid to the summit.
Could this silly kid really be recognized by Tsunade?
Unlike Kurotsuchi, Ōnoki knew more.
Suppressing Naruto’s “truth hurts” comnt, he seriously assessed Naruto.
“Naruto Uzumaki… the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Tsunade actually acknowledges him? Will Konoha agree?”
Naruto Uzumaki’s identity had no longer been a secret since the day of the Chūnin Exam.
Due to the difficulty of controlling the Tailed Beast’s power, the childhood of a Jinchūriki was always filled with various tragedies and resentnts.
With the investigative capabilities of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they could naturally determine that Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
“Truly as willful as the rumors say.”
Ōnoki glanced at Tsunade.
Bringing a Jinchūriki to the Five Kage Summit was not as simple and easy as it seed.
In the following monts, Naruto and Kurotsuchi, who were almost the sa age, continuously bickered.
Soon enough, the one-ard Fourth Raikage, A, entered silently with Darui and C. He looked around the room, noticed the young and little-known Naruto, but said nothing and took his seat.
The group from Kirigakure arrived shortly after.
Like her predecessor, the Fifth Mizukage i Terumī curiously glanced at Naruto, the youngest and least known among them, and didn’t remain silent. Instead, she smiled and asked:
“Who is this handso blond guy?”
“Blond? Handso? Are you talking about ?” Naruto exclaid, pointing at himself in surprise.
Receiving affirmation, Naruto, who had never been called handso before, grinned widely, his face showing a bit of embarrassnt.
To show his gratitude, Naruto, recognizing i’s hat similar to Tsunade’s, called her just as he called Tsunade:
“Mizukage Granny…”
Boom!
A fair fist imdiately sent him flying.
“Call sister! Brat!”
i gritted her teeth as she spoke.
“Indeed. As expected of the ninja ranked number one for unpredictability.”
Recalling the assessnt of Naruto in Konoha’s ninja files, Tsunade wasn’t surprised at all seeing this scene.
Bringing Naruto here, it would be unusual if nothing unexpected happened.
Fortunately, the atmosphere had beco more lively as a result.
Overall… not bad.
After the commotion, things quickly cald down, and the scene returned to normal.
Rubbing his red cheek, Naruto, back behind Tsunade, thought this place was too dangerous and decided not to speak anymore.
Finally, the group from Sunagakure arrived.
Seeing a familiar face, Naruto’s eyes lit up, and he imdiately forgot his previous thoughts.
“Gaara! You’re here too…”
Naruto, with great enthusiasm, started walking over to greet Gaara.
But after taking a few steps, he suddenly noticed sothing and, in shock, pointed at Gaara, stamring:
“Gaara! You… you… you…”
“How did you beco the Kazekage so quickly?!!”
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