Time advanced to May 1.
At eight in the morning, Kitazawa walked into the Hokage's office.
The reason he had come in an hour early today was because the Ninja World Youth Martial Arts Tournament was going to be held inside the Divine Tree Game.
Its official start time was nine o'clock.
"Kitazawa-sensei."
When Yamanaka Ino saw him, she stood up with a smile and said, "Good morning."
"How long have you been waiting?"
Kitazawa walked over to her and asked.
"Not long. About ten minutes."
Ino took out a document and said, "Kitazawa-sensei, this is the file you wanted."
"Thanks."
Kitazawa reached out to take it, but Ino pulled it away first.
Under his puzzled gaze, she set the file down on the Hokage's desk.
"Kitazawa-sensei, I came to work an hour early. Do I get some kind of reward?"
She took his hand and looked at him with her beautiful eyes as she asked the question.
Kitazawa paused for a moment, then smiled.
If Hinata was always reserved and passive, Ino was the exact opposite.
She was the kind of girl who, when in love, seemed to radiate energy and youth from head to toe.
Kitazawa lifted a hand and gently stroked her golden hair.
A moment later, he cupped her face and lowered his head.
Ino leaned in without hesitation and kissed him.
Kitazawa caught a faint sweet scent.
It came from Ino's lips—or more precisely, from her lip gloss.
He held her soft, warm body in his arms and kissed her back.
After a long while, they finally parted.
Ino was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling.
She was wearing a tight outfit, and even the flat stretch of skin at her waist moved with her breathing.
Kitazawa's fingers brushed lightly across her midriff.
Ino's body trembled a little from the ticklish sensation.
But she did not pull away. If anything, she looked proud.
Hinata had her own strengths, and so did she.
And hers was this flawless waistline.
"You should head to the Ninja World Youth Martial Arts Tournament first," Kitazawa said, withdrawing his hand. "Do your best and bring home a good result."
"See you later, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Ino waved at him.
After taking two steps, she suddenly turned around, kissed him on the cheek, and then left with a bright smile.
Kitazawa smiled, then picked up the file from the Hokage's desk.
The contents were related to the Ninja World Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
Part of it was the list of participating ninja, and the other part was the list of invited guests.
At the same time, inside the Divine Tree Game—
The tournament was being held in a massive arena.
It was larger than any training ground or stadium in the ninja world and could hold fifty thousand spectators.
There was still about an hour left before the first day of competition officially began.
But all of the teenage contestants had already arrived.
Aside from Konoha's own Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata, and the others, there were also prodigies from the other four great villages.
From Sunagakure: Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro.
From Kirigakure: Hozuki Suigetsu and Chojuro.
From Iwagakure: Kurotsuchi and Deidara.
From Kumogakure: Darui.
Of course, the other four great villages already existed in name only.
Judging from the number of geniuses alone, even without Kitazawa, they would have struggled to match Konoha.
Konoha was simply too blessed, with talents like Naruto and Sasuke.
And it wasn't just the competitors who had come in large numbers. There were plenty of spectators too.
All of Konoha's upper ranks were present.
Since the tournament involved the genius class, even the retired Sarutobi Hiruzen and Maruboshi Kosuke had come to watch.
Only Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru—the former Legendary Sannin of Konoha—were absent.
Tsunade was busy resting through her pregnancy, and occasionally gambling.
Jiraiya was off somewhere in the ninja world gathering material.
As for Orochimaru, he rarely left his laboratory.
Especially now that the new era had begun, many of his research projects were finally becoming useful.
The higher-ups from the other four great ninja villages had also all arrived.
That included Terumi Mei, Rasa, Onoki, the Fourth Raikage, and the rest.
This had been specifically arranged by Kitazawa.
The reason was simple.
He wanted them to see, with their own eyes, the gap between the younger generations of the five great villages.
Kitazawa knew they were still unwilling to accept things, still secretly hoping that a hundred years from now Konoha might stumble and fall.
But unfortunately for them—
Kitazawa intended to show them there was no such possibility, and crush those thoughts completely.
"Who do you think will take first place?" Akimichi Choza asked.
"The answer is obvious," Yamanaka Inoichi said with certainty. "It'll be one of the members of Team Seven led by Hokage-sama."
"Neji isn't weak either," Uchiha Fugaku suddenly said in praise. "Especially with his Tenseigan. That power is world-shaking."
Hyuga Hiashi was a little surprised.
Why was he praising Hyuga Neji all of a sudden?
Did he think Sasuke's victory was already guaranteed?
Hiashi thought about it for a moment, then stopped caring.
In truth, ever since the ninja world had been unified, the Hyuga and Uchiha clans no longer had much reason to compete.
The ninja world was now so vast, and both clans had gained so much, that there was no need to fight over anything anymore.
"There are gifted ninja from the other villages too," Nara Shikaku said with a smile. "They shouldn't be underestimated."
"One step behind means every step behind after that," Hiashi said dismissively. "They can't keep up with Konoha's prodigies anymore."
"That's true," Fugaku agreed. "They have no idea how terrifying Naruto and the others have already become."
Time passed as everyone chatted.
At nine in the morning, Kitazawa appeared in the arena.
Uchiha Izumi was with him.
Today was only the first day of the Ninja World Youth Martial Arts Tournament—or rather, the preliminary round.
He only planned to show his face and then leave.
He would stay and watch the entire event on the second day, during the finals.
As for bringing Izumi along, it was because he had assigned her to act as today's referee.
Tomorrow's referee would be Yakushi Kabuto.
As for Aburame Torune, because he was still young, Kitazawa had let him enter as a contestant instead.
"Your Majesty!"
Everyone shouted in unison.
"Thank you all for coming today," Kitazawa said briefly. "I won't waste time with extra words. The Ninja World Youth Martial Arts Tournament begins now!"
With that, he stepped down and left the field to Uchiha Izumi.
"I'm today's referee, Uchiha Izumi."
After introducing herself, Izumi began explaining the rules of the tournament.
Because it was taking place inside the Divine Tree Game, no one could truly die.
There was only one rule: the loser would be the one who lost the ability to continue resisting.
As for what counted as losing the ability to resist, severe injury or even in-game death were both allowed.
Kitazawa logged out of the Divine Tree Game and returned to the Fire Nation Metropolis.
Since most people had gone to the tournament as spectators, the royal palace was unusually quiet for once.
Only Konan was still around.
Kitazawa entered the Hokage's office, sat down on the sofa, and let her take care of him.
As the sun set, the first day of the tournament came to a smooth close.
After a full day of matches, twenty winners had finally been decided.
They would move on to tomorrow's next round.
By then, the audience had mostly left, leaving behind only the Fourth Raikage, Rasa, and the others.
They stood there in silence for a long time, unable to say a word.
The reason was simple: out of the twenty winners, everyone except Gaara was a ninja from Konoha.
They understood exactly what that meant.
Back when they had surrendered to Konoha, they had still held onto the hope that after Kitazawa's death, the ninja world would one day split back into five parts.
But now, that hope seemed absurdly far-fetched.
Judging from today's performances, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata, Hyuga Neji, and the others had already surpassed them in strength.
In terms of Kage-level fighters, Konoha had already become the undisputed number one.
And the terrifying part was that they were still so young—only eighteen, with a very long future ahead of them.
Back in the Hokage's office—
Konan had already gone off to rest after work.
Kitazawa was still sitting on the sofa, waiting.
Soon, there was a knock at the door.
"Kitazawa-sensei."
Hyuga Hinata pushed the door open and walked in.
She stopped only after reaching him.
"How did today's matches go?" Kitazawa asked.
He reached out and rested a hand lightly on her thigh.
Even through her pants, the touch made her legs feel weak.
But after the past month of special training, she had already grown used to this kind of closeness.
She steadied herself and, fulfilling her duties as the Hokage's secretary, began reporting the names of the twenty winners from the tournament.
As Kitazawa listened, his hand gradually moved higher.
Hinata's eyes grew soft and helpless.
Her face flushed bright red, and even her voice began to tremble.
Even so, she endured the discomfort in her chest and finished giving the full list of the twenty winners.
"Pretty much what I expected," Kitazawa said with a nod and a smile.
He withdrew his hand, leaned in close, and whispered a couple of things by her ear.
The special training had already gone on for a month, and now he wanted to see the results.
Hinata's face instantly turned crimson.
If she had heard those words a month ago, she probably would have fainted on the spot.
But now, despite her shyness, she managed to suppress it and do as asked.
She didn't dare look at him and instinctively lowered her head.
Kitazawa let out a long sigh.
This time, he really felt like he had discovered a hidden treasure.
An hour later, he said, "There'll be plenty of hard fights tomorrow. You should get some rest early."
Hinata swallowed and nodded.
Kitazawa stood up and personally escorted her home.
The next day arrived.
At nine in the morning, Kitazawa appeared right on time at the Ninja World Youth Martial Arts Tournament.
After a moment's thought, he decided not to sit in the audience section and instead headed for the preparation area.
"Kitazawa-sensei!"
Naruto was as enthusiastic as ever.
"Kitazawa-sensei, sit here!"
Ino hurriedly waved at him.
Hinata was sitting beside her.
In truth, over the past month, Hinata had not been the only one taking part in the special training—Ino had as well.
But Ino had very deliberately staggered her schedule so it never overlapped with Hinata's.
And because Hinata had been so absorbed in her training, she had never noticed.
Even if Hinata hadn't realized it, Ino had grown much closer to her through going through the same experience.
The two of them had already been good friends before, but now their bond had deepened even further, and they had become inseparable.
Kitazawa walked over and sat down between them.
Since there were others present, he didn't do anything special. He simply watched the matches in silence.
"First round, first match," Yakushi Kabuto announced from the center of the arena. "Gaara versus Rock Lee."
As his voice rang out, the audience fell silent and all eyes turned toward the preparation area.
Rasa's face changed at once.
Did this mean that the only remaining hope from the other four great villages was going to be knocked out in the very first match?
Kitazawa, however, looked intrigued.
This match was practically a grudge match.
Of course, that was in terms of the original story, where Gaara had beaten Rock Lee so badly during the Chunin Exams that Lee ended up hospitalized and nearly lost his future as a ninja.
If not for Tsunade, he might never have become a ninja again.
Kitazawa stroked his chin.
The current Gaara was very strong.
He was the only jinchuriki who had actually grown drastically stronger after losing his tailed beast.
Even in the original Fourth Great Ninja War, he had already shown Kage-level power.
Back then he had been seventeen. Now he was eighteen.
But Rock Lee was not guaranteed to lose.
Unlike the original version of him, he had not lost a long stretch of training time.
On the contrary, he had become Might Guy's student ahead of schedule.
Whether he could win would depend on just how many of the Eight Gates he could open.
"The Eight Gates!"
The moment the battle began, Rock Lee went all out.
He knew very well that anyone who had made it this far into the next stage was no weaker than he was.
"Sixth Gate—Gate of View, open!"
Rock Lee roared, and the chakra around him instantly became incomparably violent.
Gaara's breathing caught for a second, his expression turning grave.
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
Rock Lee moved.
Gaara only saw a blur before Lee's triple kick slammed into him.
Fortunately, his Sand Shield activated automatically.
The tremendous force hit him, forcing him to stumble backward.
Before he could regain his footing, Rock Lee was already in front of him again.
He was moving so fast Gaara could barely track him.
Gaara immediately changed tactics.
A massive amount of sand surged up around him, wrapping him up like a spiked shell.
Rock Lee's attacks landed against it, but all were blocked.
Gaara had some understanding of the Eight Gates and knew the technique placed a huge burden on the body—it couldn't be maintained for long.
So he chose to defend and wait.
"Morning Peacock!"
Seeing that, Rock Lee unleashed an enormous amount of chakra.
A storm of punches streaked across the sky.
They moved so quickly that the friction between his fists and the air created bursts of flame, spreading out like a peacock opening its tail.
The terrifying barrage poured down.
Gaara's Sand Shield began cracking apart all around him.
Sensing danger, Gaara immediately formed hand seals.
Quicksand Waterfall Flow!
With him at the center, the ground transformed into a desert.
Countless waves of sand surged toward Rock Lee like a rolling sea.
But Lee shot straight through them like an arrow, and his fist smashed into Gaara's body.
Gaara was sent flying.
He crashed to the ground, then struggled back to his feet.
But the exposed skin on his body had begun to crack, revealing the real flesh beneath.
In several places, blood had already started to seep out.
"Only the Sixth Gate... Looks like that won't be enough to bring Gaara down," Kitazawa commented.
"Seventh Gate—Gate of Wonder, open!"
Rock Lee realized the same thing and immediately forced open the Seventh Gate.
In any other setting, he never would have dared.
For him, it was still too much.
But this was the Divine Tree Game.
"Daytime Tiger!"
The moment he opened the Seventh Gate, Rock Lee launched his attack without the slightest hesitation.
If he delayed even a little longer, his body would collapse first.
The air compressed to the limit, forming a gigantic white tiger that slammed toward Gaara.
In an instant, it was as if heaven and earth split apart.
Shockwaves exploded outward in every direction.
Only after a long while did the arena finally grow still again.
Gaara had already been knocked unconscious.
But a moment later, Rock Lee also fell to the ground.
"The winner is Rock Lee," Kabuto announced.
Although both of them had blacked out, Rock Lee had lasted just one second longer.
The tournament continued.
To Kitazawa, most of the fights were not especially impressive.
After all, his own strength had already reached an entirely different level.
But to the rest of the audience, the battles were astonishing.
That included the Fourth Raikage, Hyuga Hiashi, Uchiha Fugaku, and the others.
Among the twenty ninja who had made it into the second round, even the weakest were elite jonin.
Quite a few had already reached Kage level.
Aside from Kitazawa, every single spectator felt like they were witnessing something extraordinary.
~~~
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