Chapter 68: Chapter 68
One month later,
Tazuna finally completed the bridge in the Land of Waves.
But just when Tazuna thought that the villagers could freely travel between the Land of Waves and Konoha, a group of samurai occupied both ends of the bridge.
Euphemistically claiming it was for the safety of the Land of Waves, they began to collect protection fees with peace of mind.
This so-called protection fee wasn't for the protection of citizens but rather for the protection of the bridge.
In order to prevent outsiders from damaging the bridge.
Tazuna was dissatisfied that the bridge he built was occupied by the daimyo and led the villagers to protest.
However, under the threat of the warriors, they retreated.
Later, the Daimyo enacted a policy that their nationals could enjoy a 50% discount on traveling to and from both sides of the bridge.
The protection fee wasn't expensive in the first place, and even less with a 50% discount.
Additionally, the two countries opened up, allowing many villagers to travel to other places to earn money. Over time, no one objected.
Tazuna has always been resentful, but the villagers compromised, and everyone lived a better life, so he did not lead the villagers to the Daimyo's mansion to protest.
He simply thought of the name of the Land of Waves as his home, nothing more.
Although Tazuna is not a perfect person, he is indeed a great person to the villagers of the Land of Waves.
…
Konoha,
After returning to the village, Kazuki and the others were granted a half-month vacation.
Sasuke and Sakura raced against time to learn how to cultivate Summoning Beasts from Kakashi.
Since Kazuki already had Pakkun, he didn't plan to waste time cultivating any new Summoning Beasts.
The two possums he had were thrown to Yaya at the pet shop.
It's said they were bought by someone not long after.
Although these two little things are ugly, since they are not native to the Land of Fire, they are quite rare to some people with special tastes.
"The Art of Seduction!"
"Brother Naruto is so awesome!"
"That's great, Brother Naruto!"
"But such ninjutsu is really shameful——"
"As long as you can defeat Grandpa, it's a good ninjutsu! Naruto, you're too focused on the small details!"
"Really? I understand, Konohamaru!"
Kazuki, who was on his way to the training ground, happened to see Naruto, Konohamaru, and the others playing together.
Naruto had failed to graduate this year, but his understanding of Seduction Techniques had reached a higher level.
Even with Kazuki's determination, his blood surged when he saw this scene.
He subconsciously touched his nose,
Well, I've been getting a bit angry lately from eating!
"Kazuki? Is that you? Kazuki!"
When Naruto saw Kazuki, he immediately ran towards him but forgot to release the ninjutsu.
Kazuki just felt that the visual impact was a bit too much.
"Ahem, Naruto, stop, stop, stop! If you have something to say, stand there and tell me!"
He didn't want to be misunderstood on the street!
Naruto also realized his mistake at that moment and immediately released the ninjutsu.
"Long time no see, Kazuki!"
The two of them hadn't seen each other since the graduation exam.
Now that he saw Naruto again, Kazuki felt inexplicably friendly.
"Long time no see."
"I heard that you and Sakura are in the same class. How is Sakura doing? And is being a ninja hard? Are there a lot of dangers?"
Naruto smiled and bombarded Kazuki with questions.
Kazuki patiently answered him one by one.
"Sakura is doing well, she's much better now than before."
"It's hard work. I have to run around and take on boring tasks for very little pay."
"As for danger, it doesn't mean much to me, but fighting and killing are common, and you often encounter death."
Naruto was about to ask more, but Konohamaru interrupted first: "Brother, are you and Naruto in the same class? Why are you already a ninja? Are you a genius who graduated early?"
Kazuki glanced at Naruto,
Judging from the red and embarrassed look on his face, you could tell that this guy had been bragging to Konohamaru and the others!
But he didn't expose Naruto;
After all, they were classmates, there was no grudge between them, and Kazuki wasn't a villain, so there was no need to make things unpleasant.
"You guessed it right, Naruto and I are from the same class, and we are… geniuses!"
When the three Konohamaru kids heard this word, they immediately showed expressions of admiration.
"Then you must be better than Brother Naruto, right? Brother Naruto can defeat Grandpa, so you can too!"
"Brother, can you accept us as your disciples? We want to learn ninjutsu from you!"
"Yes, yes, please, big brother!"
"Impossible!"
Kazuki refused indifferently and was about to leave when a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.
[Ding! It is detected that the host's strength is slowly improving, and the system is upgrading independently…]
[The system upgrade is successful, the number of people the host can bind +1, please select the binding object!]
! !
The sudden sound left Kazuki momentarily confused.
Am I being rejected by the system?
Upon reflection, it seemed that apart from enriching his own methods in recent years, there hadn't been much overall improvement in strength.
Certainly,
Kazuki didn't think his slow progress was his fault; he just felt that Sasuke wasn't working hard enough!
After all, his strength was tied to Sasuke's.
If Sasuke made slow progress, so would he.
Fortunately, Kazuki no longer needed to rely solely on Sasuke.
Sasuke unreliable?
I'll switch!
"But who should I replace him with?"
Kazuki wasn't given much time to think as Konohamaru and the others were still pestering him.
"Please, big brother, we can pay the tuition!"
"I'll give you all my snacks for a year!"
"I… I don't have any snacks, but I can help you with housework!"
Kazuki glanced at the three of them,
Of the three brats in front of him, only Konohamaru's ninja talent reached Kage level.
With proper training, he could definitely become a Kage-level powerhouse in the future.
But… there was no special bloodline in Konohamaru.
You must understand that after binding an object to his system, Kazuki could not only receive feedback on their strength but also on their talent!
Thus, choosing a partner with a strong bloodline limit was extremely important!
If bloodline limits were the only consideration,
Haku would have been Kazuki's preferred candidate.
After all, Ice Release is not only powerful but also stylish!
It's just a pity that Haku had died by Sakura's hand.
Therefore, choosing a binding partner shouldn't only depend on talent but also on destiny and luck!
Speaking of destiny and luck, Kazuki couldn't help but glance at Naruto.
If it weren't for Sasuke's stronger early-stage abilities and equally high potential, choosing Naruto would have been a good decision.
After only a moment of hesitation, Kazuki made his decision.
Choose Uzumaki Naruto!
The ceiling of combat power in the ninja world, life is like an indomitable force!
Most importantly, Naruto had the highest potential for growth!
After all, the return of Kazuki's strength was based on real-time enhancement of the opponent's strength, not the strength they originally possessed.
If it were based on original strength, then choosing Senju Hashirama would have been more effective than Uzumaki Naruto.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case!
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