Naruto: Zanka No Tachi

Chapter 41: NZNT: Chapter 41

Seeing that her first opponent was actually Itachi, Anko was extremely depressed. Her expression instantly changed from eager anticipation to utter despair.

She had originally wanted to perform well in the third stage of the exam and show Yusuke her excellent side, but now she had completely lost her chance.

As expected, not long after they engaged in battle, Anko was defeated by Itachi. This made Anko, who wanted to show off her skills, very frustrated. It was only because Itachi had given Anko, his senior, some face and pretended to delay the fight that it didn’t end faster.

Seeing Anko, who was dejectedly leaving the competition, Yusuke could only sigh inwardly at her bad luck.

In this Chunin Exam, besides Konoha, Yusuke hadn’t found anyone particularly outstanding. Although Itachi was young, he was already the strongest among them.

Yusuke didn’t think there was any foul play involved in Itachi and Anko facing each other in the first round. Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, wouldn’t stoop to using such tactics in a Chunin Exam.

Besides, the results of the Chunin Exams weren’t solely based on victory or defeat to determine whether a genin was suitable for promotion to Chunin. It was necessary to consider their overall performance.

For example, Shikamaru in the Konoha Chunin Exams in the original story, although he lost to Temari in the duel, was the only one of the Konoha 11 who was promoted to Chunin.

In the subsequent matches, Konoha’s genin all performed exceptionally well. Itachi, who was only seven years old, was the focus of everyone’s attention throughout the entire exam.

Itachi’s battle IQ was extremely high. He could always easily find his opponent’s weaknesses during a fight.

He was also very skilled in ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. He could deliver effective blows to his opponents in a very targeted way. He defeated his opponents with minimal effort, which also greatly compensated for his lack of chakra.

The Fourth Kazekage looked at Itachi, who had defeated his last opponent and won the final victory, with deep eyes. He subconsciously turned his head to look at the young Yusuke, who was not far away. He couldn’t help but sigh.

”As expected of Konoha Village. It’s truly full of talented people. As one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, our Sunagakure is far inferior to Konoha.”

Rasa’s gaze was immediately noticed by Yusuke, who had powerful spiritual power. Yusuke turned to look and met Rasa’s gaze. Out of politeness, the two nodded slightly to each other as a greeting.

But Yusuke could see a look of wariness and worry in Rasa’s eyes. He was clearly intimidated by the performance of Konoha’s genin.

”Perhaps it’s time to make a decision,” Rasa thought to himself, remembering the One-Tailed Jinchūriki plan that Elder Chiyo had proposed.

In Chiyo’s plan, the candidate for the One-Tailed Jinchūriki was Rasa’s son, who had just been born prematurely. Rasa had always been reluctant to make this decision, but Konoha’s outstanding performance in this Chunin Exam had given him a great sense of crisis.

Although the Land of Fire was an ally of the Land of Wind, there were no eternal friends in politics, only eternal interests. When Sunagakure’s power was no longer enough to stand on equal footing with Konoha, the Land of Wind would only become a vassal of the Land of Fire.

In Rasa’s view, the Daimyō of the Land of Wind was truly shortsighted. He had been reducing Sunagakure’s funding year after year. It was simply digging his own grave. If he hadn’t been able to use Magnet Release to obtain sand gold and sell it to supplement the village’s funds, Sunagakure would only have to continue shrinking until it eventually became a second-rate ninja village.

”Gaara, forgive me. This is the fate of being a ninja,” Rasa, who was troubled by Sunagakure’s internal and external problems, made up his mind at this moment to sacrifice his own son, Gaara, and carry out the One-Tailed Jinchūriki plan!

On the other side, Hazuki was also amazed by Itachi’s performance. He thought that with the talent Itachi had displayed, he would soon become an outstanding ninja who wouldn’t be inferior to Yusuke. He was also very envious that Yusuke had a disciple like Itachi.

After the Chunin Exams ended, Konoha’s delegation didn’t linger in Sunagakure. Yusuke and Hazuki directly took the six genin back to Konoha Village and handed the sealed letter containing Sunagakure’s evaluation and promotion recommendations for Konoha’s six genin to the Third Hokage.

Combining Sunagakure’s promotion recommendations, the Third Hokage ultimately decided to promote all six genin to Chunin.

Among the six genin, Anko hadn’t had many opportunities to perform. Sunagakure’s promotion recommendations didn’t give her a very high evaluation.

But based on the recommendations of the guiding Jonin, Yusuke and Hazuki, who believed that Anko’s strength, endurance, and her ability to not hold back her teammates in missions all met the requirements of a Chunin, the Third Hokage also agreed to her promotion to Chunin.

The six genin were very happy to learn that they had all been successfully promoted. They made plans to celebrate together that night. Participating in the Sunagakure Chunin Exams together had also forged a good friendship between them. Anko and Kurenai Yūhi, in particular, had become best friends who talked about everything.

After leaving the Hokage Tower, Yusuke returned home and found that Izumi and Kabuto weren’t there. He learned from his mother, Uchiha Izumi, that they were training at the training ground.

Knowing that they hadn’t slacked off in their training while he was away, Yusuke was very satisfied.

He arrived at the training ground that he and his disciples used exclusively. From afar, Yusuke saw Izumi and Kabuto sparring.

Because Izumi had been diligently practicing Uchiha-style swordsmanship, she was now better than Kabuto at taijutsu.

But Kabuto had an overwhelming advantage in ninjutsu. His endless stream of jutsu kept Izumi on the defensive. In the end, Kabuto was still the better of the two. He used an Earth Release jutsu to trap Izumi, who was running out of stamina.

”Not bad. It seems like you haven’t been slacking off,” Yusuke walked over, rescuing Izumi from Kabuto’s Earth Release jutsu.

”Brother!”

”Sensei!”

Izumi and Kabuto showed happy expressions when they saw Yusuke.

Yusuke took out the Kusanagi sword, ”Senbonzakura,” from his storage scroll. The delicate-looking katana immediately caught their attention. Izumi, who was now passionate about swordsmanship, was particularly fascinated.

Handing the katana to Izumi, Yusuke smiled, ”Izumi, this is a gift for you. I believe you won’t let this sword down!”

Izumi solemnly took the katana and immediately examined it carefully. The ”Senbonzakura” was originally designed for female swordswomen, and Izumi couldn’t put it down.

Holding Senbonzakura, Izumi was both happy and touched. Although she was young, she could tell that this sword was incredibly valuable. It must have been something her brother had carefully prepared for her.

At this time, Yusuke already had a plan for his three disciples’ futures.

In Yusuke’s view, as long as Itachi continued to grow steadily, he would become a Kage-level or even stronger than Kage-level expert. And Yusuke’s expectations for him were even higher.

Kabuto’s overall talent was somewhat inferior to Itachi’s, but he was a ninja with the potential to learn Senjutsu!

During this trip to Sunagakure, Yusuke had obtained information about Ryūchi Cave from Orochimaru.

In the original story, Kabuto successfully learned the Ryūchi Cave Senjutsu, which even Orochimaru hadn’t learned. His use of Senjutsu was absolutely the best in Naruto.

In Yusuke’s view, Kabuto with Senjutsu and Kabuto without Senjutsu were two completely different concepts!

But Ryūchi Cave was very deep, and learning Senjutsu also carried a great risk. Yusuke would only carry out this plan when he was confident in his ability to control these risks.

As for his sister and disciple, Izumi, although her talent was inferior to the first two, she was still very good. She had shown great talent in swordsmanship, and coupled with the Sharingan’s powerful dynamic eyesight, she would definitely be a top swordswoman in the ninja world.

When the time was right, Yusuke planned to give all three of his disciples cursed seals to make up for their congenital shortcomings. Of course, these shortcomings were only in comparison to the overpowered characters in Naruto.

Currently, Yusuke had only developed the ”Four Symbol Seal,” which could seal Yin Release chakra. He had also decided that he would have to develop the ”Reverse Four Symbol Seal,” which could seal Yang Release chakra, in the future. He already had a few choices in mind for the materials to make up the ”Reverse Four Symbol Seal.”

Itachi was proficient in genjutsu, and Yusuke planned to use the ”Four Symbol Seal” on him, using Yin Release chakra to strengthen his mental power. As for Kabuto and Izumi, Yusuke planned to use the ”Reverse Four Symbol Seal” on them, using Yang Release chakra to strengthen their vitality.

”With these kids’ talent, I believe it won’t be long before they can truly become my help,” Yusuke hoped.

Not long after the Sunagakure Chunin Exams ended, Tsunade, who was traveling, received news that the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was seriously injured and unconscious. She temporarily returned to the village.

Although Tsunade’s personality was a bit willful, she always did as she pleased. But she still cared about Minato, her junior. Therefore, even though she didn’t want to return to the village, she still came back to see if she could help Minato recover.

Konoha Hospital, Minato’s ward.

The Third Hokage, Tsunade, and Kakashi were standing in front of Minato’s bed, discussing his injuries.

”I didn’t expect Minato’s previous injuries to be so severe. If it were a normal person, they would have died,” Tsunade examined Minato’s condition and said with a serious expression.

”Then, do you have a way to wake up Sensei?” Kakashi asked anxiously.

Tsunade nodded, ”There is a way, but...”

At this point, Tsunade shook her head helplessly, ”It’s a long process. I don’t know how long it will take, and I can’t stay in Konoha that long.”

”Although Minato’s physical injuries were very serious, they’ve actually completely healed after so long.”

”But because he suffered injuries that far exceeded what his body could bear, his mind, or his brain’s judgment of his body, is in a state of death. That’s why he hasn’t woken up yet.”

”What we need to do now is to use gentle medical chakra to stimulate Minato’s brain for a long time, activate his brain’s activity, and allow him to regain consciousness.”

Hearing Tsunade’s words, the Third Hokage and Kakashi present both understood the meaning behind her words.

Stimulating the brain with medical chakra requires a very high level of chakra control for a medical ninja. If you’re not careful, it could have extremely serious consequences. Therefore, only Tsunade herself was currently capable of performing this treatment.

And it was very clear that Tsunade didn’t want to stay in Konoha Village for too long. She had already made a big concession by coming back to check on Minato’s injuries.

”Tsunade, both Minato and Konoha need you...” The Third Hokage frowned and tried to persuade Tsunade to stay in Konoha. But before he finished speaking, he was decisively rejected by Tsunade.

”Sarutobi-sensei, I’m sorry. I don’t have any plans to stay in the village right now. Even if you force me to stay, I won’t have the heart to perform this treatment for Minato day after day. If I make a mistake during the process, it could be irreversible damage to Minato,” Tsunade waved her hand.

”Is there really no chance for anyone else to perform this treatment for Sensei besides you?” Kakashi asked unwillingly.

Hearing this, Tsunade thought for a moment and said slowly, ”Now that you mention it, there might be a chance.”

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