Chapter 37: Chapter 37: I Heard from Mito, She Has a Cousin
Early the next morning, Kazekaze finished breakfast at home and headed out. The sun was high in the sky, with not a cloud in sight, marking another beautiful day. This kind of weather was perfect for an exhilarating battle, and then...
"After passing the exam, let's soak in the hot springs." Kazekaze set off towards the training ground with long strides. Speaking of Konoha, there are two places that must be mentioned. One is the famous Ichiraku Ramen, which is affordable and delicious. Of course, it's currently the tenth year of the Konoha calendar, and Kazekaze doesn't even know if Teuchi has been born yet. Naturally, there's no Ichiraku Ramen.
The other place is the hot springs.
"After so many days of training, it's time to relax the body a bit." It took about twenty minutes for Kazekaze to arrive at the training ground. The destruction from yesterday had completely disappeared, and the ground was perfectly smooth. Once again, Kazekaze was the last to arrive.
"It's not just Might Bai and Tobirama..." Kazekaze looked around and found that besides Might Bai and Tobirama, Sarutobi, Danzo, Kagami, Koharu, Homura, and Torifu were all stationed on either side of the training ground. Most importantly, Hashirama, who was suffering from a terminal illness, was also there.
"Good morning, Kazekaze." Hashirama greeted him warmly as soon as he saw him. Although he was the First Hokage and the God of Shinobi, he was very down-to-earth.
"Big brother, be serious." Seeing Hashirama wanting to walk over and hug Kazekaze, Tobirama immediately lowered his voice. He hoped that this God of Shinobi would pay attention to his image. Besides, this exam was very important for Kazekaze. Once he passed, he would become a true ninja, meaning he would be eligible to take on missions. He would transition from being protected to protecting others. For both emotional and rational reasons, Tobirama felt that Hashirama should take this seriously.
"Tobirama, are you serious?" Hashirama couldn't help but frown. Tobirama had seemed like a different person these days. Whenever he had the chance, he would emphasize how talented Kazekaze was. Anyone who didn't know might think Kazekaze was Tobirama's own grandson. It's important to note that Might Bai was almost twenty years older than Kazekaze. His physical condition, combat thinking, and tactical experience were all overwhelmingly superior to Kazekaze. Having him as Kazekaze's opponent seemed a bit too much. Generally, a child only needed to learn the Transformation Jutsu, Clone Jutsu, and some basic theoretical knowledge to graduate from the Ninja Academy. But Kazekaze had to challenge Might Bai. No matter how he thought about it, Hashirama felt that Tobirama was being unreasonable.
"Big brother, don't you understand why I arranged it this way?" Tobirama gave Hashirama a hard look. At this point, what was there to deny? If it weren't for you sneaking out of the village to teach Kazekaze, would he have mastered superhuman strength? Would he have learned the Eight Gates? What a joke!
"Tobirama, you're speaking incoherently. Are you under too much pressure lately?" Hashirama looked at Tobirama with concern, patting his shoulder. "Honestly, have you considered someone from the Uchiha clan, or maybe someone from the Uzumaki clan? I heard from Mito that she has a cousin..."
"Shut up, big brother!" Tobirama shouted in annoyance. They were in the middle of an exam, what cousin?!
"But..."
"Shut up!" Bang! Hashirama's mood dropped again. The others, witnessing the little episode between Hashirama and Tobirama, all had black lines on their faces. The so-called God of Shinobi, Lord Hashirama, truly lacked any dignity. Although Tobirama was the younger brother, he wasn't much younger than Hashirama, and their personalities made their brotherly bond more carefree and spontaneous.
'However, Hashirama just mentioned a cousin... is he planning to introduce a girlfriend to Tobirama?' Kazekaze couldn't help but think. Even if not by ninja standards, Tobirama was an older bachelor. An elder brother is like a father. It's not surprising that Hashirama would worry about such things. Kazekaze couldn't help but think of himself. Although he was only seven now, marriage was something he would have to face sooner or later. Especially given his status, he might be arranged for a political marriage by Hashirama or Tobirama. The other party would not only have to be exceptionally beautiful but also from a prominent family.
'The wives from the Uchiha clan seem to be very virtuous.' Kazekaze thought of the virtuous image of Uchiha Mikoto. 'But the girls from the Uzumaki clan seem to be more beautiful.' Like Uzumaki Kushina, Uzumaki Karin, and his grandmother Mito.
"Why must people always face choices?" Kazekaze sighed helplessly, as if he could foresee the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans vying for his attention. No matter what he did, they would all exclaim, "Kazekaze-sama is so handsome!" Just like how Sakura, Ino, and others would react to Sasuke during their time at the Ninja Academy.
"Forget it, let's focus on passing this exam first." Kazekaze pushed his worries about the future to the back of his mind. He walked to the center of the training ground and said to Might Bai, "Might Bai-sensei, I hope you won't hold back and will use your full strength." Before Might Bai could nod in agreement, Kazekaze's gaze had already shifted to Hashirama and Tobirama.
"Lord Tobirama, I hope you won't stop the match too early." Kazekaze paused. "I really want to test my current strength." Kazekaze wasn't saying this to show off; he genuinely wanted to know. Although he had checked in three times and received good rewards each time, he didn't have a clear concept or feeling of how strong he really was. So he planned to use this exam as an opportunity to verify his strength. Therefore, Kazekaze didn't want Tobirama to stop the match while he was verifying his abilities.
"Kazekaze, are you running a fever?" Hashirama looked at Kazekaze in surprise, wondering if this grandson of his knew what he was saying. Might Bai was a taijutsu expert in Konoha Village. It was said that he had trained the Eight Gates to the sixth gate, the Gate of View. Kazekaze was asking Might Bai to go all out and not let Tobirama intervene. Wasn't this asking for a beating? Or had Tobirama given him the illusion that he was very powerful?
"No, I'm not." Kazekaze looked puzzled.
"Tobirama, what's going on here?" Hashirama was utterly confused. He only knew that Tobirama had arranged an exam for Kazekaze, but he didn't expect the exam to be like this!
"Big brother, at this point, do you still need to pretend?" Hashirama: "???"
"Forget it, since big brother doesn't want to admit it, I won't say more." Tobirama directly ignored Hashirama and turned to ask Might Bai. "What do you think, Bai?"
"Since Kazekaze-sama has said so, I'll have to give it my all." Might Bai said excitedly, his teeth gleaming with a white light.
Hashirama: "???" Can someone please explain to me what's going on right now?