Chapter 184: A New Atmosphere in Konoha
Danzo's surprise attack on the Hidden Sound Village only made it halfway. Gen'yūmaru fancied himself formidable, but in the face of the Leaf Village's elite ninja, he was nothing. The hastily assembled defenses were riddled with holes, and just as the Sound Village was on the verge of collapse, news of Jiraiya's appointment as the Fifth Hokage was relayed by a Yamanaka clan ninja.
Danzo was thunderstruck.
Calming down, he knew that when he wanted to reason with the Third Hokage, the old man would play by the rules. But when Danzo wanted to play by the rules, the Third would act like a rogue. What was he supposed to do now?
The nature of old people is generally stubborn and inflexible. This has its drawbacks, but also its advantages. One of them is that the elderly usually don't do anything too impulsive.
Options like defecting from the village or establishing his own with his trusted followers were completely outside Danzo's considerations. He would die in the Leaf Village, no matter what.
He thoroughly searched the Hidden Sound Village, obtaining a great deal of Orochimaru's research data and some secret ninjutsu. Afterward, he immediately led his people out of the Land of Rice Fields and returned to the Leaf Village.
The Third Hokage's physical condition could only be described as good for someone at death's door. Looking at the photograph that seemed to be of Hiruzen Sarutobi in his sixties, Danzo recalled their last conversation.
"Danzo, you will regret this."
"Hiruzen, I am the Hokage!"
The words still echoed in his ears. Did he regret it?
Danzo's fighting spirit recovered quickly.
He had been set up this time, but it didn't matter. As long as he was alive, there was hope. He had already served as Acting Hokage, even if only for two days. That was still experience. Next time! When the Hokage position became vacant again, he would be the most qualified person to take over.
Danzo returned to the village and immediately shut himself in. When Jiraiya summoned him, he used the excuse of a serious illness and didn't leave his house at all.
The pollen that had blanketed the Leaf Village gradually subsided, and Ino began to study her gains.
The impact was so widespread, affecting so many people. The First Hokage took the blame squarely on his shoulders. But precisely because it was the First Hokage, the resentment from many was minimal. Comments like, "If it weren't for the First Hokage's Wood Release, the Leaf Village would have been destroyed by Orochimaru," or "Pollen is better than a flood," made the First Hokage's image even more brilliant and wise. The blame lessened, resulting in her only gaining four "pot points." The corpse of the Fourth Kazekage was a troublesome matter. The village took the blame for her, and perhaps because Orochimaru was the one who killed him, this corpse only gave her one pot point.
Regardless, the Konoha Crush was another significant harvest for her.
Following the First Hokage's teachings, she went to the riverbank for rigorous training. She tried skipping stones according to the "force," "half-squat," and "bounce" techniques, practicing until her wrists were sore, but she couldn't develop Flower Release or Wood Release.
Ino was annoyed. Enough training, time to add points!
One pot point was invested, and Flower Release, a Kekkei Genkai formed from Water Release and Earth Release, was unlocked. Flower Release Lv. 1.
Another pot point was invested, and Flower Release became Lv. 2. It wouldn't level up any further.
She tried it out. Techniques like Six Petal Bloom, Twenty Petal Bloom, and Flower World Descent could all be used. The power was definitely inferior to the First Hokage's, after all, there was a significant gap in chakra and ninjutsu levels. However, as a supplementary means or used unexpectedly in battle, the effect was still quite good.
Now that the village's pollen incident had just subsided, she absolutely couldn't use these techniques in the village.
The remaining three pot points weren't enough to increase her "Spirit" (精).
Ino felt that she didn't lack chakra at the moment.
The First Hokage thought Ino's chakra was too low, but in reality, the First Hokage thought everyone's chakra was low. This wasn't really a fair comparison. At this stage, Ino's 9 points in "Spirit" were already sufficient. The three pot points didn't need to be saved up. She decided to continue improving her weaknesses.
One point each was added to "Body" (体), "Speed" (速), and "Seal" (印).
Through Tsunade's targeted training, the previous battles, and the Ashura chakra gifted to her by the First Hokage, Ino's "Strength" (力) had automatically increased by one point.
It rose from 3 to 4 points.
The name "Yamanaka Boar" wasn't given in vain. Inoichi looked refined and spent his days in the office, not exercising much, but his strength was actually similar to Asuma's. Ino's previous low strength was entirely due to her young age. Now, with Tsunade's training methods and 1% of Sage Body, her physical abilities in this area naturally developed.
No need to add points. Let's see in two years; her strength might catch up to Temari's natural superhuman strength.
Ino's final stats were Ninjutsu 10, Body 6, Genjutsu 4, Intelligence 8, Strength 4, Speed 7, Spirit 9, and Seals 7, for a total of 55.
Her ninjutsu levels were Water Release Lv. 4, Earth Release Lv. 3, Wind Release Lv. 3, Yin Release Lv. 4, Yang Release Lv. 3, and Flower Release (Wood Release) Lv. 2.
Her "Genjutsu" (幻) was a bit low. This stat not only related to her proficiency in genjutsu but also had an effect on her resistance to it. Ino planned to find some time to ask Kurenai-sensei about genjutsu, first putting in the effort herself, and then adding points if she really couldn't improve.
Shadow Clone training wasn't about making as many clones as possible, at least not for her. When the Shadow Clones returned to the original body, the physical and mental fatigue was unavoidable.
Ino now kept her Shadow Clones to within four at a time, using them to read medical books, practice medical ninjutsu, train in Earth Release, Wind Release, and Water Release, and attempt to develop new chakra attributes. She kept her Shadow Clones' time fully occupied.
With Jiraiya becoming Hokage, his old friend, Shueisha Publishing House, immediately responded.
Shueisha and a certain flower shop jointly launched a promotional campaign.
The Third Hokage's epic series, the "Will of Fire," began to be discounted. Buy one, get three free; buy three, get ten free! A clearance sale!
Shueisha also reprinted Jiraiya's early work, "The Tale of Utterly Gutsy Shinobi." Buy one copy and get a 5% discount coupon for a certain flower shop.
Books written by the current Hokage must be bought and carefully studied to understand his thoughts and stay in step with the leadership, so as not to fall behind.
Smart people like Hiashi Hyuga and Shikaku Nara bought stacks of them, taking them back to have their clansmen deeply understand the new Hokage's ideology and then requiring them to write reports on what they learned.
Even the advisors Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado disposed of their "Will of Fire" series that occupied three bookshelves and each bought a copy of the new book.
Before he became Hokage, you could call him a pervert, a scoundrel, anything you wanted. You could even ignore him. But now he was the Hokage. Everyone would be working together in the future, possibly for the next twenty years, so it was necessary to understand him. You couldn't look at him with the eyes of a junior anymore.
The books he personally wrote were an important way to understand his personality and thoughts.
Following the book-buying craze, the flower shop launched a new promotion. After purchasing the supreme gift package of ninety-nine flowers, customers would randomly receive a charm with one of the three kanji characters from "Ji" (自), "Ra" (来), and "Iya" (也). Collect all three characters, and you could go to Shueisha Publishing House to receive a free copy of "Sasuke's Springtime Story" and a set of the old editions of "Make-Out Paradise."
Whether they were young girls or lecherous old men, everyone was very interested in this promotion.