Konoha Notes

Chapter 209 Seventeen Years Old

Seventeen years old is the age when Naruto Uzumaki defeated powerful enemies, saved the world, and finally brought Sasuke Uchiha back to Konoha.

Seventeen-year-old Shuuji had already spent most of Konoha's fifty-seventh year in the experimental forest behind his old house in the western suburbs.

This year's tree species cultivation has yielded some results.

After repeated selection and hybridization, and with the aid of Wood Release techniques, he finally obtained a mother tree that relatively met his expectations. Its wood was more stable in supporting the flow of chakra, and its resilience far surpassed any of his previous experimental subjects.

However, as a product of short-sighted pursuit of quick profits, the vitality of this generation of plants was excessively depleted. It only maintained its lush growth for less than two months before irreversibly declining. The branches and leaves lost their luster, and the trunk showed signs of decay.

Before it completely collapsed, Shuji used a sealing technique to forcibly preserve a small section of the branch that still had a sliver of life.

"What are you doing? I'm busy. If you have nothing to do, go away." Tsunade didn't even look up, her tone full of impatience.

Shuji walked to his desk and placed the branch next to a pile of documents.

"I would like to ask you to help me prepare a nutrient solution, otherwise my six months of leave will have been wasted."

Tsunade then lifted her eyelids and glanced at Shuuji's experimental results.

"Wood Release was over-catalyzed?"

Shuji admitted, "I was in a rush to select qualified plants as quickly as possible."

Tsunade extended her index finger, sensed the vitality of the branch, and rolled her eyes.

"This thing is really troublesome."

"It's a hybrid plant, and there's no precedent for it."

"It's not that we can't give it a try..."

"But I am the Hokage, not some lowly Jonin who can leave his post at will to study flowers and plants."

Xiu Si consciously took a pile of documents, walked to another desk, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"Hmph, now you know how to play innocent..." Tsunade scoffed, picked up the branch, and twirled it nimbly between her fingers. "Well then, you can stay here until I've dealt with this."

She stood up, adding the last sentence in a cheerful tone and with a bright smile:
"—Ordinary, Mr. Ninja."

The Fifth Hokage left her office with light steps.

The lowly Jonin buried himself in his official duties.

It's already July, and the ninja world is certainly bustling this year.

After Sunagakure received a share of the profits from the Joint Chunin Exams last year, it couldn't resist organizing its own.

Unfortunately, the harsh environment of this windy and sandy country meant there were no decent places to watch the games outside the village, which ultimately failed to attract many outsiders.

In addition, injuries are inevitable in ninja matches, and the medical costs in Sunagakure are high. It is said that in the end, they did not make much money.

Meanwhile, the practical exchange activity between Konoha and Kumogakure has been scheduled to open in August, and the publicity campaign has already begun, attracting attention from all sides.

Last year, Wuyin came with a strong observational mindset and seemed quite enthusiastic. However, this year, contrary to expectations, Wuyin has remained calm and has not rushed to hold a similar event. It seems that Wuyin is still observing calmly and weighing the pros and cons.

Aside from these commercially driven events, the ninja world is generally peaceful.

There were no major wars sweeping across the land, only occasional frictions and conflicts. The major ninja villages seemed to be busy digesting their internal affairs and developing independently. Konoha, in particular, was one of them.

Last year, twelve Uchiha members of the police force used genjutsu on the daimyo in order to return to the village, and were subsequently captured.

Taking this opportunity, Konoha dispatched an Inuzuka clan squad, a Hyuga branch family squad, and a team of civilian ninjas to the police force.

The atmosphere within the police force today inevitably carries a sense of tension.

After all, even the most mild-mannered Uchiha, having been accustomed to their clan's control over the police force for decades and viewing it as their preferred destination after graduation, are now facing the situation where the proportion and influence of the Uchiha within the military continues to decline.

In any case, it's inevitable that one's mindset will become unbalanced.

Fortunately, the village is currently on a roll. Since Tsunade took office, the external environment has improved year by year, and last year's grand Chunin Exams, which involved four villages, boosted morale even more. In the end, the champion was an unknown Konoha villager.

Furthermore, given that the Uchiha clan was in the wrong from the start, and that clan leader Fugaku had clearly expressed his support for the village's reforms, and that their clan had indeed gained more diverse opportunities for development and tangible benefits through joining the Anbu and the Ninja Academy...

Overall, problems exist and undercurrents lurk, but they are still within a controllable range.

After finishing processing the most important batch of documents, Shuji saw the application files submitted by the Ninja Academy regarding the recruitment of new Ninja Academy teachers.

He opened the file, his eyes scanning over the names and accompanying basic information.

This year, six Uchiha clan members still signed up. However, unlike the first year, when there were many Uchiha members who were quite skilled but couldn't get into the police force, leaving them in a limbo.

It's already the third year, and the remaining spots can only be described as ordinary. At most, considering the situation within the Uchiha clan, reserving one or two spots for them would be about right.

In addition, there are two more familiar names.

One of them is Iruka Umino. After returning from the Chunin Exams in Kumogakure last year, he was promoted to Chunin as one of the performers who performed reasonably well.

The other one is Mizuki. He's been a Chunin for several years now. Shuji glanced at the notes on the file and noted that this person had previously applied to join the Anbu but was rejected. This year, he's trying to get a teaching position instead.

Indeed, as a department directly under the village, the Ninja Academy is an excellent choice for Chunin who have no hope of being promoted to Jonin at the moment, as it offers a high level of experience and generous benefits.

However, normally, Mizuki wouldn't be able to get into the Ninja Academy.

This idiot did something stupid, just like in the original story.

In order to gather intelligence, he personally killed his wounded comrade. The mission report described the cause of his comrade's death in an extremely perfunctory and hasty manner, as if Konoha were some third-rate ninja village that did not even have basic investigation procedures.

When it comes to the deaths of ninja from the village, especially abnormal casualties during missions, the Anbu will inevitably intervene to investigate. This is to prevent anyone from faking their death to defect, or to prevent malicious incidents such as betrayal or cover-ups within the team.

As for the idea that "as long as the mission is completed, casualties during the process are irrelevant" that Shuimu might hold...

Shuji just found it funny.

This is no longer the era of Sakumo Hatake. Training each official ninja consumes a significant amount of the village's resources.

If a Chunin is truly defeated in battle and dies at the hands of the enemy, then there's nothing to say. But to be so eager to eliminate the burden for a mere B-rank mission, even neglecting to properly clean up the scene...

This only shows that this guy values ​​his "mission completion rate" on his resume far more than the lives of his companions and the rules of the village, yet his methods are pitifully clumsy.

Shuji picked up his pen and lightly drew a horizontal line over Mizuki's name.

However, in this timeline, did this guy still encounter Orochimaru after the mission...?

(End of this chapter)