Chapter 496: Leave Your Ears Behind
*Witnessed and completely altered the Naruto world side plot: The formation of the Whirlpools' Five Masters, obtained 5 (10) = 50 Witness Points.
A line of Chinese characters flashed across his vision, and a broad smile blanketed Ryo's face. With his Witness Points hitting a fresh hundred milestone, he was yet another step closer to achieving his maxed-out account tier.
Before Ryo's position, Kimimaro's trio and Guren were precisely following his instructions—looking up at the spectacular vertical height of Juugo.
"He's so tall!" Karin lamented.
Juugo slightly rubbed his fluffy, orange hair, manifesting a thoroughly modest, self-conscious demeanor.
Ryo shook his head: "Wielding a colossal physical frame of this tier, exactly what do you have to feel tense about? Over the subsequent duration, these four shall operate as your unified companions; comfortably get acquainted with one another."
Juugo operated as one of the highly rare 'giants' populating the Naruto world. Over his monumental lifetime, Ryo had strictly witnessed a single specimen who vertically eclipsed his frame—Fuguki Suikazan.
That specific individual explicitly proved via his visual aesthetics alone that he had been raised on high-powered livestock grain, commanding a vertical height that sat infinitely close to 250 cm.
Juugo was a significant tier lacking compared to that benchmark, yet he comfortably scaled past the two-meter milestone, vertically eclipsing the greasy Killer Bee residing inside Ryo's pocket space by several centimeters.
Not only was he exceptionally tall, but Juugo was monumentally robust as well, commanding a dense layout of absolute tendon muscles. Under the relentless poking administered by Karin's fingers, the pure, rustic youth's face flushed a deep crimson...
"Ahem, Karin, monitor your behavioral presentation, Kimimaro is keeping his eyes locked onto you," Ryo let out a light cough, only to parse out that even Kimimaro was tentatively utilizing his index finger to poke Juugo's frame...
Encountering a peer who wielded this level of robust physical development for the absolute first time, the cluster of youths was naturally packed with intense curiosity.
"I remember now!" Karin suddenly let out a sharp cry of realization: "Juugo of the Balance! I have tentatively caught wind of your tracking parameters in the past. You are fully capable of executing fine communication alongside small animals, correct?"
Juugo scratched his hair loops: "Provided you dedicate your absolute focus and heart parameters, you can comfortably parse out their vocal expressions as well."
Barring the Uzumaki clan, the Land of Whirlpools fundamentally housed very few independent ninja lineages. The Tenpin clan, operating as an entity Ryo had personally recruited to relocate into the nation, commanded a highly prominent tier of baseline recognition, and Juugo operated as the absolute number-one genius populating the Tenpin lineage, meaning his fame was exceptionally widespread...
It was strictly because Kimimaro's trio commanded a highly specific, high-tier status, ensuring their active interactions were exclusively limited to the sovereign executive blocks of the Uzukage. Barring Karin—whose biological parents had tentatively referenced Juugo's metrics in the past, allowing her to parse out his existence—Kimimaro and Haku shared absolute zero historical intersections alongside Juugo.
Juugo's technical capability to engage in fluid communication alongside small animals successfully ignited a torrent of intense curiosity across the children. Following a rapid deployment of whistles to summon a vibrant fleet of birds, he smoothly integrated straight into their social matrix.
Subsequent to executing a brief, practical sparring block inside the training arena, Kimimaro found his focus increasingly locked onto Juugo—specifically because Juugo's combat presentation upon unleashing his Curse Mark mirrored his very own 'berserk, frantic' style flawlessly...
"Lord Ryo, permit me to personally escort him to execute field mission rotations over the subsequent duration. He desperately requires a greater frequency of absolute combat refinement!"
白眼 Ryo given a subtle pause, his gaze tracking across Juugo and Kimimaro, before locking onto Karin, who was frantically shaking her head in a blur directly behind Kimimaro's shoulder...
"Very well. Kimimaro, you and Karin shall jointly escort this brand-new companion down the line."
Kimimaro gave a firm nod.
Karin: "...Understood (I desperately desire to blast the Great Ancestor straight to the absolute heavens)!"
Barring instances where he actively unleashed his Curse Mark, Juugo's baseline personality was exceptionally 'gentle and compliant', offering absolute, unquestioning submission straight toward every single arrangement mapped out by Ryo's hands.
Standing to the side, Guren let out a massive internal sigh of relief. She harbored zero desire to escort Juugo to execute mission rotations, especially considering that based on Ryo's initial framing, she would have been structurally forced to shield his vessel...
"Guren, your custom mission assignment is officially revoked. However, since you yourself parse out that harvesting benefits without executing dedicated labor is improper, travel out to independently conclude five separate S-rank mission assignments instead."
"Workable!" Guren responded with absolute crispness.
Ryo chuckled smoothly: "Hold back your words until I conclude my prose: these five assignments command absolute zero monetary compensation—pure community service!"
Guren fiercely grit her teeth: "Workable!"
The Whirlpools' Five Masters cluster was systematically established in this exceptionally pleasant and smooth manner.
From this exact fraction of a second forward, the Land of Whirlpools successfully added five youthful, high-potential individuals straight into its executive tier. Every single one of them commanded an excellent hope of ascending to the SS-rank baseline down the chain. As for climbing to even superior heights, it rested entirely on whether Kimimaro and Karin channeled a sufficient level of diligence into their parameters, paired with a small layer of destiny luck...
Every single time he successfully wove a highly resilient, foundational pillar of this tier to fortify the long-term structural progression of the Land of Whirlpools, a profound sense of self-actualized achievement would naturally surge from the absolute deep of Ryo's heart, parsing out that his contributions were monumentally grand...
Settle down inside the Land of Whirlpools for a handful of days, verifying that Kimimaro and Juugo had smoothly established a highly harmonious rapport, and that Guren had officially commenced her rotation as a premier source of free manual labor, Ryo turned and set his course to return to Konoha. He systematically resumed his daily routine of guiding the youths, while carving out windows to feed combat responses straight to Toneri.
Toneri transitioned from a state where delivering a single sequence of the Two Hundred and Fifty-Six Palms of the Eight Trigrams completely drained his physical stamina, into a tier where he could comfortably unleash three continuous sequences while retaining a vast repository of residual kinetic energy, marking an explosive surge across his independent capability.
The remaining generation of children concurrently logged unique layers of progressive refinement. Specifically Neji—upon learning that Toneri had successfully achieved a 'maxed-out mastery over his supreme style', his independent training parameters turned exponentially more grueling. However, he still commanded a non-negligible structural distance separating his baseline from the absolute execution of the Two Hundred and Fifty-Six Palms... Innate talent was simply the single most unvarnished, illogical parameter under the sun.
Fortunately, the Great Ancestor was significantly more illogical.
As the dates smoothly marched forward drop by drop, late May arrived precisely on schedule, and the active intelligence regarding the impending convention of the Six Kage Summit inside the Land of Rain rapidly rippled across every street block of the village. Concurrently, upon receiving confirmation that he had officially been handpicked to operate as a premier Hokage Guard, Naruto was so monumentally ecstatic he was on the absolute verge of levitating straight into the sky.
Since he had successfully secured an operational post as an official Kage Guard, could ascending to the sovereign mantle of the Hokage genuinely be considered far away?
Reflecting on the historical annals of the very first Five Kage Summit, every single personal guard populating that initial assembly—barring the specific Hidden Mist representative who smoothly transitioned to become the Third Mizukage—had systematically ascended to become their respective village's Second Kage... Which explicitly proved that a guard's baseline probability of transitioning into a Kage sat at a perfect, absolute hundred percent threshold!
Appraising a Naruto whose feet were practically failing to maintain physical contact with the dirt out of sheer excitement, Ryo smiled gently as he decisively dumped a heavy bucket of freezing water straight onto his parade.
"Naruto, across this impending summit, Obito is slated to escort two separate guards. Do you possess the active data regarding who populates the alternative slot?"
"Two guards?" Naruto given a sudden pause, parsing out that a direct technical competitor had successfully broken into his tracking. "Exactly who is it?"
"Sasuke."
"Sasuke, is it..." Naruto muttered a low syllable under his breath. "I will definitively flatten him in a straight fight!"
Ryo shook his head with a light laugh. With Obito escorting two personal guards who were monumentally primed to violently engage each other at any given fraction of a second, Ryo genuinely harbored a trace of concern for his public presentation. He desperately hoped they wouldn't perform a fraction too comically before the alternative nations.
In truth, even if they performed comically, it posed zero structural issue. Even within the local street blocks of Konoha, very few commoners possessed the active data that Obito was a technical apprentice under Ryo's wing, and across the alternative major villages, that intelligence was fundamentally nonexistent...
Catching sight of a Naruto who still maintained a highly elevated state of exhilaration, Ryo tossed a secondary bucket of freezing water straight toward his face: "Gaara is officially participating in this summit operating under the sovereign mantle of the Fifth Kazekage, you know."
Naruto violently swung his arm into the air: "By the time the third rotation of the Six Kage Summit convenes down the timeline, my presence shall officially participate operating as the Sixth Hokage!"
Ryo systematically continued his campaign of verbal suppression: "You lack the capability to beat Sasuke in a straight fight, and you are miles away from matching Itachi's baseline. You possess zero capacity to flatten Shisui, and you can fundamentally never hope to clip Izumi's metrics... Even though the office of the Hokage doesn't explicitly prioritize pure raw destructive output above all else, when all is said and done, a candidate must rightfully operate as one of the single most formidable powerhouses native to the nation."
Naruto's countenance remained entirely packed with absolute, matchless self-confidence: "Down the subsequent duration, I will undoubtedly surpass every single one of them!"
Ryo pursed his lips. Is Fish Leong the source gifting you this monumental volume of courage? Wait, exactly who constitutes Fish Leong again?
"Exactly why do you assume this operational post of Hokage Guard managed to drop straight into your hands this time around?"
"It must definitively be because you mandated it, Great Ancestor!"
Ryo froze for a split second. His physical body dynamically swayed to materialize directly behind Naruto's flank, cleanly delivering a sharp, echoing slap straight onto his backside.
Smack!
"Ow! Exactly why on earth did you execute a strike against me yet again?!"
"The physical tactile sensation checked out flawlessly; it is indeed the authentic Naruto."
Naruto: ???
Ryo chuckled smoothly: "Under the continuous guidance administered by the Great Ancestor, you've finally successfully sprouted a trace of an actual brain."
"...Hehehe."
"This upcoming trip to the Land of Rain operates strictly as a brief technical transit point for your vessel; your true, ultimate destination is locked within an exceptionally enigmatic location. The Great Ancestor shall personally guide you to entirely conquer the Nine-Tails!"
"Ohh!" An absolute torrent of burning exhilaration blanketed Naruto's face.
"Prior to setting out on our route, the Great Ancestor shall first escort you to get acquainted with a certain plump gentleman," Ryo spoke with a broad smile, before supplemental adding a deadpan clarification: "The absolute fraction of a second you lock eyes with him, leave your ears behind."
"Leave my... ears behind?"
"Precisely. Sever your dual ears from your skull parameters; the Great Ancestor shall temporarily pocket them to look after the inventory for you." Ryo wove his hand to extract a sharp kunai from his pocket space, passing it straight into Naruto's grip.
Accepting the kunai, Naruto held the blade up to loosely measure the dimensions against his neck, his face collapsing into a thoroughly miserable, twisted knot... If a person fundamentally lacks the heart to execute the slicing, how on earth is he supposed to proceed?!
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