In the evening, as the sky darkened, Tatsuya left Konoha Hospital and walked home. Without realizing it, a month had already passed since Tatsuya's return to the village.
Upon returning to Konoha, Tatsuya hadn't spent time undertaking missions. All his focus had immediately been redirected to his "technological" pursuits, constantly shuttling between the Sealing Division and the hospital. He needed to develop the medicine that could enhance life energy in the shortest time possible.
During the establishment of Otogakure, Yoshida Jin, under pressure from the two major hidden villages backing Tatsuya and Pakura, had spent a considerable amount of money. However, it was impossible to expect him to continuously invest money in Otogakure. Tatsuya had to develop a source of income for Otogakure himself. And the key to this stable financial source lay in this medicine.
After a period of research, the development of the medicine had made some progress. However, Tatsuya was still somewhat dissatisfied with this progress, and there were too many things to do, making it impossible to attend to everything!
It seems I need to find a way to get my hands on the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique.
The Shadow Clone Technique had a limited number of clones it could produce. Since Tatsuya had already left several shadow clones in Otogakure, after returning to the village and creating one clone to continue his ninjutsu training, he was unable to create any more. If he had the Multi-Shadow Clone Technique, then Tatsuya could freely utilize more clones for other research.
With the Fujinhoin, as long as he had money, Tatsuya didn't need to worry about running out of life energy and chakra. The Multi-Shadow Clone Technique was a forbidden technique developed by the Second Hokage, recorded in the village's Scroll of Seals. Obtaining it wouldn't be easy. Stealing or robbing was definitely out of the question. He had to find a way to accumulate enough merit points and then exchange them with the village.
Thinking about this, Tatsuya arrived at a quiet, tree-lined alley.
"Come out!" Entering the alley, Tatsuya stopped and said in a low voice.
Whoosh!
"Chunin Akimichi Tatsuya."
A figure flashed in the alley, and a masked ninja appeared before Tatsuya.
"Who sent you?" Tatsuya raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at the newcomer.
During the first half of the month after returning to the village, Tatsuya had constantly felt like he was being watched. This feeling was extremely peculiar, coming and going, and he couldn't detect anyone nearby who was watching him. Tatsuya guessed that it was most likely the Third Hokage using the Telescope Technique to monitor him.
This didn't surprise Tatsuya much. After all, Sage Mode, a ninjutsu that led directly to the pinnacle of the ninja world, couldn't be ignored by anyone. However, this feeling of being watched had disappeared for some time now. The Anbu-dressed ninja in front of him had deliberately revealed himself to Tatsuya.
"Chunin Akimichi Tatsuya, Lord Danzo requests your presence!" Hearing Tatsuya's question, the newcomer stated his purpose.
"I'm sorry, I'm a coward! Without the Hokage's orders, I won't go to see Elder Danzo." Tatsuya shook his head directly, refusing.
Danzo was an old schemer who would do anything. Tatsuya wouldn't risk his life by going to see him.
"You dare to disobey Lord Danzo's order!" The newcomer's voice became low.
"Elder Danzo is only an advisor to the village. He doesn't have the authority to directly command the village's ninja," Tatsuya said with a sneer.
A faint killing intent began to permeate the air. In the alley, Tatsuya's expression remained unchanged as he stood his ground.
Whoosh!
A moment later, the Root ninja who had come to deliver the message disappeared in a flash.
Tch!
Seeing this, Tatsuya clicked his tongue in disdain and turned to go home. He'd already burned his bridges; Tatsuya didn't expect to mend his relationship with the old geezer Danzo. Moreover, Tatsuya believed that Danzo wouldn't dare to make a move against him within the village.
Returning to the clan compound, while having dinner at Uncle Rou's house, Tatsuya received news that the village had him participating in the Special Jonin selection. The village's Special Jonin selection wasn't conducted publicly, but rather, the village selected suitable personnel for internal assessment.
Special Jonin could already be considered the village's high-level combat force. Although the village could mobilize tens of thousands of ninja during wartime, in reality, including Special Jonin, the number of Jonin was only a few hundred. In other words, out of every hundred ninja in the village, there were only a few Jonin and Special Jonin, and the remaining ninety-plus were Chunin and Genin.
This ratio meant that Special Jonin were effectively part of the command structure. In wartime, a Special Jonin could even command several four-man squads to carry out missions. Therefore, the village leadership had always been very cautious about the selection of Special Jonin and Jonin, and they would also conduct a thorough investigation of suitable candidates before the selection.
Generally speaking, those promoted to Special Jonin were ninja with both strength and merit. It seemed that he had passed the "political review" on the Third Hokage's side.
No wonder Danzo was so eager to send someone to contact me. Was he trying to get me into Root before the Third Hokage did? Tatsuya thought to himself.
The examination location for the Special Jonin selection was a hidden Anbu base. Arriving at the exam site, Tatsuya discovered that there were over a hundred people participating in the selection. Among these people, Tatsuya also found many familiar faces.
Among them were Might Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Iruka Umino, Anko Mitarashi, Genma Shiranui, Hayate Gekko, and a large number of chunin around his age. The rest were mostly elite chunin older than them.
However, what surprised Tatsuya slightly was that he saw almost no ninja from the Uchiha clan or the Hyuga clan among the ninja participating in the selection. These two top noble clans of Konoha hadn't sent anyone to participate in this Special Jonin selection. Could it be that the village leadership was deliberately targeting them?
Tatsuya couldn't help but think this maliciously.
"Tatsuya, over here!" From afar, Might Guy shouted loudly to Tatsuya after seeing him.
Instantly, Tatsuya felt the attention of everyone in the area. He was no longer the dead-last nobody he once was; many people were curious about him.
Tatsuya, with a dark expression, walked over and began to greet Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Anko Mitarashi, and the others. Although they weren't very close before, they had been classmates at one point, so he couldn't just ignore them.
Seeing Tatsuya, their reactions were varied. Might Guy and Iruka Umino were extremely enthusiastic towards him, Kurenai Yuhi, Genma Shiranui, and Hayate Gekko were curious, while Asuma Sarutobi and Anko Mitarashi were somewhat displeased.
Tatsuya didn't care about these reactions. He wasn't a piece of currency; it was natural that not everyone would like him.
After chatting with the group for a while, Tatsuya also gained some understanding of the Special Jonin selection. According to Asuma, the son of the Third, there were more than 160 people participating in this Special Jonin selection, but only twenty slots were available, which meant a pass rate of approximately 8:1.
This was after the village's initial screening. If the scope were expanded to include all the chunin in the village, the pass rate would be appallingly low. The reason why there were no Uchiha or Hyuga ninja present was because the two major clans had recently promoted two Special Jonin through emergency promotions, and therefore, didn't send anyone to participate in this selection.
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