Chapter 183: The Indispensable Bell-Grabbing Segment for a Hokage
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"Alright!" Naruto said, rubbing his fists and wiping his palms, eager to start. "Teacher, just you watch!"
"Don't get happy too early," Uchiha Douhuan chuckled lightly. "Passing the test will allow you to skip the trash-picking mission phase, but if you don't pass, there's a punishment."
"Punishment?" Naruto was stunned upon hearing this.
"Of course. Wanting to get opportunities others don't have without paying any price? There's no such good thing in this world," Uchiha Douhuan said. "The punishment for each of you will definitely be tailor-made, guaranteed to be unforgettable for a lifetime. Now, do you still want to participate in this test?"
Hearing this, Sasuke and Neji exchanged glances and simultaneously swallowed hard, but they had no intention of giving up.
"Teacher, for this test, can I receive assistance from Tenten?" Neji asked.
"Of course, you can," Uchiha Douhuan replied. "That's also part of your strength. Let me make it clear in advance: you must approach this with the determination to kill me; otherwise, you absolutely cannot pass my test."
"Teacher, just you wait and see!" Naruto said, full of confidence.
After the three left Uchiha Douhuan's office, they went to Ichiraku Ramen together to discuss tomorrow's tactics.
"Are you three crazy? Challenging Lord Hokage? If you feel like life is too smooth, why not come to the Ninja Tool Research Institute and help us test something?" Tenten, having received Neji's message, also rushed to Ichiraku Ramen. As soon as she arrived, her little mouth, uncomfortable if not roasting someone, immediately started.
As Tenten's voice fell, Naruto instantly shrank his neck. In the two years since the Ninja Tool Research Institute was established, the things they researched were truly bizarre. And as Neji's junior disciple brother, Naruto would occasionally go help with testing. But it was better not to go; once Naruto's beast-like body was there, this group of researchers at the institute latched onto him. Every time he went for testing, they would increase the intensity for Naruto, testing those messy new ninja tools from the institute.
As for whether the Jinchuriki would lose control doing this, the current head of the Ninja Tool Research Institute, Katasuke Tōno, was someone who in the future would dare to trick the Seventh Hokage's son into causing trouble. Never mind a Jinchuriki; even if the Nine-Tails were present, this fellow would dare to get hands-on and study it.
"It should be very difficult for the three of us to defeat Teacher," Neji said at this point. "However, this assessment probably only requires us to demonstrate our current strength to pass."
"I think it's probably not that simple," Sasuke analyzed at this moment. "If it were just that, then Teacher could have taken us to the training ground just now, instead of setting the time for tomorrow morning. Combining this with the fact that this assessment is to let us skip the tedious D-rank missions, Teacher probably also intends to assess our ninja fundamentals, including intelligence gathering and pre-battle preparations."
"Makes sense!" Naruto nodded hastily from the side.
"That's right. Otherwise, Teacher wouldn't have told us the location of the assessment in advance," Neji analyzed.
"Correct!" Naruto continued to nod.
"Well then, later Neji, you go use your Byakugan to gather intelligence on Teacher. I'll take Naruto to Training Ground No. 3 to set up traps," Sasuke proposed.
"Let's do that!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Can't you say anything else?" Tenten, seeing Naruto just agreeing with whatever the two said, couldn't help but roast him.
"They've both finished speaking; what else can I say?" Naruto retorted.
"You could at least offer some suggestions," Tenten said.
"Suggestions?" Hearing this, Naruto actually thought seriously for a moment, then tentatively said, "How about... we go give Teacher some laxatives?"
Sasuke: ...
Neji: ...
Tenten: "I feel like sooner or later, you're going to get yourself killed by your own antics."
"Forget it, let's just stick to the plan from earlier," Sasuke said after a sigh. Expecting Naruto to handle these things was less reliable than hoping the kid would have a flash of inspiration during the battle tomorrow.
"Wait for me to make a trip back to the institute, then I'll go with you guys to set up traps later," Tenten said. "The institute just recently developed new types of traps."
After finalizing their battle plan, Neji disguised himself and began to lurk around the Hokage Building. Having spent over a year in the Anbu, he knew very well which parts of the Hokage Building's defenses were weaker.
Soon, Uchiha Douhuan sensed a prying gaze from behind. Uchiha Douhuan smiled knowingly at this, then acted as if he hadn't seen anything.
Sasuke and Naruto, meanwhile, after Tenten brought the traps from the institute, began to set them up one by one in the training ground.
"Stop spacing out! Memorize the locations of these traps clearly, lest you trigger them yourself during the battle," Sasuke couldn't help reminding Naruto, seeing him still distracted while setting traps.
"Yes, yes!" Naruto finally snapped back to attention, then said, "But I still think our plan to give Teacher laxatives has a chance of success."
"How is that possible?" Sasuke looked at him somewhat speechlessly. "When there's no banquet, Teacher's daily meals are personally prepared by the clan butler and delivered to the Hokage Building. The whole process makes it very difficult for us to find an opportunity, not to mention the risk is huge."
"You also said when there's no banquet. I heard from Kakashi-bro that Teacher seems to be hosting a banquet for all the ministers tonight..."
"And then tomorrow, the entire court of the Land of Fire's officials will have diarrhea until they're weak? If you really do that, just see if Teacher doesn't deal with you," Sasuke facepalmed.
"Alright," Naruto nodded, then joined in setting up the traps.
By the time the traps were all set, it was already very late. After the three met up with Neji, Sasuke handed Neji a map marking the locations of the traps.
Early the next morning, after Uchiha Douhuan finished his breakfast, he headed to the training ground. When he arrived, Sasuke and the other two were already waiting there.
"You're quite early," Uchiha Douhuan said, simultaneously surveying the dense forest around them, estimating the number and locations of the traps hidden within.
"Teacher, what is the content of the assessment?" Sasuke clearly didn't want to give Uchiha Douhuan more time to observe the traps and quickly asked.
"The content of the assessment is very simple, and it's also a Konoha tradition," Uchiha Douhuan said, taking a bell from his waist. "You have two hours. As long as one of you can touch the bell on my waist, you pass the test."
"Is it that simple?" Naruto said in disbelief upon hearing this.
"Simple or not, you'll know once you try," Uchiha Douhuan said, turning sideways and raising his foot to kick a Naruto clone that had darted out from a hidden spot attempting a sneak attack into a puff of smoke.
After dealing with the ambushing clone, Uchiha Douhuan looked back towards the three's direction. Neji and Naruto were already gone; only Sasuke remained in place.
"Are you planning to have him hold me off from the front?" Uchiha Douhuan chuckled.
"Correct," Sasuke nodded, his expression grave as he drew the long sword from his waist. This sword was a graduation gift from Uchiha Fugaku to Sasuke. Takagi Shōban, after hearing his 'godfather' wanted to forge a ninja sword entirely from chakra metal, specially gathered the best chakra metal from within his domain and had Kirigakure's best swordsmith forge it in the style of Jirai.
This ninja sword, named Ziden (Purple Lightning) by Sasuke, was made of materials even slightly more precious than Uchiha Douhuan's Jirai.
"In front of you, Teacher, my Lightning Release ninjutsu is unlikely to be effective. So, all I can do is engage you with swordsmanship," Sasuke said.
"Then let me see if you've slacked off on your sword practice during this time," Uchiha Douhuan said after nodding.
"Aren't you going to draw your sword, Teacher?" Sasuke asked.
"Hehe, making me draw Jirai is also part of your test," Uchiha Douhuan stated.
Sasuke held his sword in one hand and formed seals with the other. Soon, three Sasuke figures, treading on lightning, charged towards Uchiha Douhuan in the center. Uchiha Douhuan smiled faintly, and two bolts of lightning descended from the sky, instantly dispelling Sasuke's lightning clones. He then raised the still-sheathed Jirai and precisely tapped the flat of Ziden's blade. Sasuke's real body instantly lost its balance.
However, Sasuke didn't panic. Twisting his body to regain balance, he adjusted his angle and launched another attack towards Uchiha Douhuan. Uchiha Douhuan calmly responded. Just then, Uchiha Douhuan suddenly became alert. Blocking Sasuke's strike with Jirai's scabbard, he turned his head to see Naruto descending from the sky with a giant Rasengan.
"Super Odama Rasengan!" The descending Rasengan emitted a humming sound. Seeing this, Uchiha Douhuan wanted to dodge. However, just as he lifted his foot, he found the ground beneath him suddenly turning incredibly muddy, trapping his feet.
"A bit interesting. I remember none of you three know this Water Style ninjutsu. Is it a new type of trap developed by the Ninja Tool Research Institute?" Uchiha Douhuan unhurriedly watched the Super Odama Rasengan descending, still in the mood for a bit of idle chat.
"Teacher, you should worry about surviving this wave of attacks first!" Naruto shouted while fiercely smashing the Super Odama Rasengan towards Uchiha Douhuan.
However, Uchiha Douhuan just pulled out a blank scroll and, in mid-air above it, constructed a set of runes. The moment the seemingly powerful Rasengan made contact with the scroll, the chakra contained within it dissipated into the air.
"How can it be like this?" Naruto was dumbfounded. After the Rasengan disappeared, he fell straight down, then received a heavy blow to his forehead from Uchiha Douhuan.
"I told you to learn more Sealing Jutsu, but you wouldn't. Now you can't even find the weak points of sealing jutsu, right?" Uchiha Douhuan said after kicking Naruto away.
However, the next second, Uchiha Douhuan was hit in the back of his heart by a beam containing a massive amount of chakra.
Boom!
The compressed chakra energy exploded in an instant, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
In a corner of the training ground, Neji lowered a strangely shaped sniper rifle in his hands. Just then, Naruto's real body also came to his side and asked, "Did it work?"
"It should have... worked, right?" Neji, with his Byakugan activated, carefully searched everything within the smoke.
"Well done. You even forced out my first stage Susanoo," Uchiha Douhuan's voice sounded from behind the two. They instantly felt their hair stand on end.
Neji dropped the sniper rifle, grabbed Naruto, and threw him to the side. The chakra within his body began to surge, gushing out from the acupoints all over his body, and he himself began to rotate at high speed.
"Rotation!"
The turbulent airflow forced Uchiha Douhuan back half a step. However, Uchiha Douhuan merely raised his hand and snapped his fingers. An azure lightning bird formed, let out a long cry, and began to circle around Neji.
From Neji's perspective, the outline of the blue bird before him grew increasingly clear. The meaning of this was self-evident: the speed at which this thunderbird circled him had already caught up to his own rotation speed.
The next instant, the thunderbird changed direction and charged towards him at high speed.
"Tenten!" Neji roared, stopping his Rotation, and simultaneously crossed his hands before him.
A ripple of space-time fluctuation flashed. A shield with a ninjutsu formula inscribed on its surface appeared precisely in front of Neji. Without thinking, Neji infused chakra into it. The Wind Style chakra embedded within the formula was activated by Neji's chakra, forming a turbulent vortex of sharp Wind Style chakra in front of Neji. The thunderbird transformed from Uchiha Douhuan's ninjutsu was quickly shredded in this turbulence.
However, after the thunderbird perished in the turbulence, Uchiha Douhuan appeared behind Neji, striking towards him with a hand-chop.
"Neji, behind you!" Tenten, sharing vision with Neji, quickly warned, simultaneously sending a new ninja tool to Neji's hand.
The coordination between the two was exceptionally tacit. The moment the newly sent ninja tool appeared, Neji could open his palm and grasp it.
It was a long staff, entirely dark gold in color. After Neji took the staff, he first swept it to force Uchiha Douhuan back, creating some distance. Subsequently, Neji, treading with his family's inherited Eight Trigrams footwork, delivered several consecutive staff strikes towards Uchiha Douhuan.
Uchiha Douhuan watched this wave-like offensive, parrying while nodding, "Not bad. Able to integrate your Hyuga clan's palm methods into staff techniques, using the staff's longer attack range to strike acupoints."
Indeed, without needing to waste time researching Rotation, Neji's talent in taijutsu was finally truly manifesting. This set of staff techniques, which combined the Hyuga clan's Eight Trigrams footwork and acupoint striking methods, although still just a prototype, Uchiha Douhuan could see its future potential.
Among the three of them now, in terms of taijutsu level, Neji was indeed the one who had progressed furthest.
Soon, Sasuke also arrived with his sword drawn, joining the battle.
Uchiha Douhuan, while fighting one against two, said unhurriedly, "It seems you two have pinned your hopes of touching the bell on Naruto, right?"
"Correct," Sasuke said while arduously resisting Uchiha Douhuan's attacks. "In this battle, the mission we gave Naruto is to let him play freely. You know, for that guy, the best tactic is no tactic."
"Hearing you say that makes me start to look forward to it," Uchiha Douhuan chuckled. "How big a spectacle can he pull off for me?"
"Super Sexy Jutsu!"
(End of Chapter)
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