章 82: To the Konohagakure

I woke up early this morning as today was the time we depart the Iwagakure to Konoha for the upcoming Chunin Exam.

When I first heard from Onoki, I tried my best to argue against him to change his mind. But any Iwa shinobi knew that shorty old man's temper and stubbornness are off the chart.

This was my first time as the leader of delegates sent to another village. Although I am worried, at least knowing Shuji was accompanying me lessened my burden.

Since I was leaving for a lengthy period, I asked Kitsuchi, who had the freest time among us, to take care of Han. Han was now 9 years old and lively as ever.

He was still a child, but his chakra reserve was twice as Jounin-level. To be frank, I was a bit jealous of Jinchuriki's massive chakra.

I have trained my ass off and risked countless dangers to reach Jounin-level reserves, while this brat only needed to eat and sleep.

Onoki deemed Han is eligible to train and prepared the training schedule for him. Onoki wanted Han to achieve at least a bit of control over the beast inside, so he won't go rampage inside Iwagakure.

Roshi was the teacher for Han. I clearly remembered that Roshi messed up the previous 5-tailed beast Jinchuriki's training on the day I was born and caused me to die once more.

But this time, Gin was added for Han's training. With his now flawless Byakugan, he can tell when Han is overwhelmed by the beast's chakra and act quickly.

Come to think of Gin, Gin and Karen broke up about a year ago. Well, the reason was that Karen was being literally Karen herself. Whenever they went out, they would attract a lot of attention due to Karen's picking fight on literally every shop there was.

Gin also couldn't hang out with her as he was busy as a ROCK member. Karen couldn't hold anymore and decided to end their relationship.

Gari was the most excited one to hear the news that he opened the party immediately. He even invited Onoki to a party for such a happy occasion. Despite all these farces, Gin and Gari are still buddies.

Gari was now one of three vice heads of Explosion corps, right below Captain Ishika. He had immense authority over the explosion corps no, along with Kan.

Gari has been wooing Karen ever since she broke up with Gin. Honestly, I don't see any charm in her to make my best friends fell head over the heel for her.

*Sigh* They really had a low standard, unlike me.

Kan was still captain of the amateur training division but, he was one of the candidates to be the head of the explosion corps if Captain Ishika resigns.

I was sure Kan would be the one to teach explosion release to Deidara in the cannon.

Unlike Gin and Karen, Kitsuchi and Kimiko were still lovey-dovey and going strong. We all assumed that they already did it. That was how much affections we felt from them.

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I entered Onoki's office to notify that my delegate was going to leave now.

"Old man. Just dropped by to inform ya that we will leave now."

"Okay, Genji. Make sure you and others show the pride and dignity of Iwa to other villages.

I am not too sure who will escort welcome you to Konoha. But I believe in your ability."

"Yea, yea. Just don't forget to send messenger birds to Konoha that we are going. I don't want them to think we are intruding without any permission and provoke trouble."

"Mhm, don't worry."

After a quick chat with Onoki, I went to the entrance/exit gate of Iwagakure. I could see several people were waiting for my appearance.

For the upcoming Chunin exam, there are a total of 4 Iwa teams joining, including my Genin team. Also, there were 2 Iryo (medic) shinobi, 1 sensor, and 2 Chunins joining the journey. I was quite familiar with most of them.

So, including me, Shuji, and 3 other Jounin-senseis, there were 22 people. That seemed a lot, but it was far little when visiting the enemy village.

"Yoh, is everyone gathered?"

"Yes, Genji. Everyone was waiting for your arrival. I know you are still not happy about this mission, but to be late for the first gathering as the leader is a bit too much." Shuji replied to me.

"Sorry, I was running here, but on the way, I saw beauty *Cough* *Cough* I mean...I saw a person just perfect for my research. So I took some time to chat with her."

Shuji just shook his head while Nagato and Konan looked embarrassed in front of other Genin teams and Shinobi. But Yahiko seemed excited and even asked ridiculous things.

"Oh really, Genji-sensei? What were her three sizes? Is she prettier than last time onee-san??"

"..."

I gave out a deep breath of disappointment. When I first opened Yahiko's eye to the world of Hentai, it was just to seal his lip from Kimiko and Karen.

But I didn't expect this rascal to grow more infatuated than me about women later. If he doesn't read the Hentai every 2 days, he would sometimes go crazy acts like Brook, boldly asks for the color of underwear when he sees beautiful girls.

What monster have I created...

I punched Yahiko's head for asking idiot questions.

"Alright, since everyone is here, let's head out. We would do an introduction while traveling.

It will be a long journey to Konoha, but don't let your guard down.

Depart!!"

"""Yes, sir!"""

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After 2 weeks of the journey, we entered Konoha's territory. I gave orders to proceed in care. The sensor was to be in the middle of our formation and alert me if he picks up any chakra signals.

Along the way, I gauged the combat prowess of Genins. They were all excellent as all of them were above low-Chunin level.

Of course, my Genin were the strongest. Yahiko successfully learned Wing Chun sword art, which tremendously improved his taijutsu. Since he learned the art, System gave Shadow-clone jutsu scroll as a reward.

With shadow-clone jutsu, the training of my three students progressed rapidly, also mine as well.

Yahiko also learned several powerful earth defense jutsu.

'Konan now could fly by making paper wings. She also learned the explosion seal and could make her papers into the bomb quickly.

She even knew a bit of Iryo jutsu, learned from Karen. Her main weakness was the chakra reserve. She had a bit too low reserve compared to all the jutsu she learned.

Nagato is far most the strongest in the team. He has powerful lightning, fire, earth, wind offense, and defense jutsu. He also knows a lot about Seals. Along with Yahiko, he could use Rasengan!!'

With all these accounts, Nagato and Yahiko were low-Jounin levels while Konan was high-Chunin level.

----

It was one day after we crossed into Konoha territory. The sensor picked up several chakra signals and alerted me immediately. This caused the group to tense up.

A few minutes later, I saw Konoha's Anbu squad fronted us. Anbu leader stepped up.

"State your purpose for entering Konoha territory."

"Hello, we are Iwa shinobi to participate in the upcoming Chunin exam in Konoha. Here is the Emblem of Tsuchikage."

"Emblem confirmed. Hello Iwa shinobi-san, we are the Anbu squad tasked to escort you guys to Konoha.

Please follow us from now on. We suggest not to stray behind or set unnecessary actions. Please understand it as this is Konoha." Anbu squad leader politely spoke to us.

'Oyaa?!! Konoha Anbu polite to Iwa shinobi?? Now, this is something I didn't expect. Probably Hiruzen's doing. Even though I could sense their hostile eyes, they spoke a polite tone to me.

That peace loving fool must have thought that we would find fault with the attitude of Konoha shinobi and use it to create trouble.'

"Ah, thank you for coming to escort us. Everyone, make sure to follow the Anbu squad closely." I politely answered the Anbu squad leader.

Since they were polite to us, I also didn't mind polite to them. Just like Hiruzen, I also hated trouble as much as him.

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After 2 more days, we finally arrived at our destination. A big giant Konoha gate greeted us.

"We arrived, Genji-san. Please wait as we would inform Hokage-sama."

Anbu squad immediately left after seeing Konohagakure. I guess they reached their limit for staying with us, Iwa shinobi, and speak a polite tone for 2 days straight.

We waited for roughly 30 minutes and someone finally came to greet us. But I was surprised to see who it was. Shuji was trembling to even see him.

It was Sakumo Hatake. The one who killed Uncle Masashi, Shuji's father.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Hatake Sakumo. I will be your guide in Konohagakure until you depart for Iwagakure." Sakumo remained his political smile.

"Please take care of us, Sakumo-san. I am Genji, the leader of the Iwa delegate."

Just then, Sakumo and I sensed the slight killing intent coming directly from Shuji. Luckily only two of us picked it up. I quickly sent a glare at Shuji to warn him.

I couldn't afford to let him create trouble when we are not even entered Konohagakure.

"Sorry for my subordinate. It just that he has a slight hatred for the Konoha. I will punish him next time he does this again."

"Haha, no problem. I also understand. Now, how about we go to your hotel and tour around the Konohagakure?"

"That will be very nice, Hatake-san."

We both maintained professional smiles and introduced ourselves. Pretending as we previously had never met despite knowing we faced each other during the war.