In Konoha, you get one evolution point every day.

The three were quite moved, at least much better than Lin Fan, who beat people up at the drop of a hat. Nara Shikao and Akimichi Tōyō had heard from the Jonin in their clan that Lin Fan had beaten someone into the hospital just because someone was following him and said a few words to him.

After the three were freed from their shackles, their chakra flow became smooth. If their chakra flow had been disrupted by the specially made shackles, limiting them to a weaker Chunin level, then now their strength had returned to the level of elite Jonin.

Nara Shikao looked at Tsunade, then at Lin Fan.

—Strange, where did Jiraiya and Orochimaru go?

"Assistant, Fourth Generation, I will now inform you of the contents of the meeting."

Just as Nara Shika was about to continue explaining, Lin Fan raised his hand to interrupt:

"No need."

"All we need to know is approximately how many people will participate in this campaign."

How arrogant!

Akimichi Dingyou and Yamanaka Haikichi thought to themselves.

Nara Shikao, who was in charge of explaining, was only stunned for a moment before smiling knowingly: "That's true. With Assistant-sama's strength, there are probably only a few people in the entire village who could save Danzo from Assistant-sama. And with Assistant-sama having the three legendary Sannin of Konoha, including the Hokage, as well as Konoha's White Fang, and Konoha's genjutsu master Kurenai Yuhi... and other elite ninjas in the team, Assistant-sama and the Fourth Hokage will surely be able to prove their prestige and status in this tournament."

Nara Shikasei sighed.

Back then, the Third Hokage relied on the cooperation of three advisors and the prestige of Mito Uzumaki to carry out various actions within the village, gradually securing his position as Hokage over several years.

Lin Fan, however, planned to secure the Hokage position firmly in Tsunade's hands in just over a month.

But it must be said that if they win the battle, who would dare say that Tsunade is unworthy of her position?

When Lin Fan heard the name Kurenai Yuhi, a question mark appeared above his head: "?"

Kurenai Yuhi? I didn't invite him to team up.

Judging from Nara Shikao's words, the Yuhi clan wasn't invited... Heh, another one I can boss around.

......

After giving their instructions, the three of them secretly left using their transformation technique, but this time no ANBU members stopped them.

To compile the statistics, Nara Shikao wrote down the names of all the clans and Jonin on a piece of paper before leaving.

There are more than twenty families, large and small.

The Shimura family did not send anyone to participate.

"That's strange," Lin Fan said, looking at the clan list he had written with pink chalk on a white blackboard that had been pushed in from outside. "The Uchiha and Hyuga clans, the two strongest clans, have both joined, so why is no one from the Shimura clan participating?"

Upon hearing Lin Fan's voice, Tsunade stopped what she was doing. She was currently studying what Lin Fan had mentioned—an advanced medical ninjutsu that used massive amounts of chakra to rapidly restore the body.

"The Shimura family..."

Tsunade's tone suddenly became somewhat melancholy.

"Lin Fan, if you had a relative like Danzo, you would definitely hate him."

"Why?" Lin Fan asked, puzzled and curious.

"In the past, the Shimura clan sent people to join Root, and a small number of them became Root ninjas..." Tsunade sighed, "But once, three Root ninjas died in a mission, and two of them were from the Shimura clan."

"And at the root of the death, the village will pay a pension to the family."

"At that time, Root didn't have much funding, so Danzo, you know what I mean."

Tsunade shrugged.

"..."

Even in the ninja world, there are relatives who exploit others, right?

Good, good, no wonder Danzo didn't look for his own clan when recruiting people into Root; it turns out he was blacklisted by his own clan... wait a minute.

Lin Fan suddenly seemed to understand why Danzo always recruited orphans or people who were disliked in their families and had no parents into Root—damn it, no one gets compensation for dying in battle!

......

With a month to go before the start of the conference, the various clans in Konoha Village have been much more peaceful since the meeting that day. However, some people are speculating about the positions of the three great ninja, who they are, and what will happen on the day of the trial.

During the month-long period, Lin Fan had Orochimaru research 'physical modification' ahead of schedule. Although Orochimaru didn't yet have the courage to undertake 'physical modification', this kind of thing always needs a starting point. At the same time, a 'test subject' was produced, so Orochimaru happily went to mentor the 'test subject'. In short, he temporarily treated Tenzo, who knew Mist Release, as his disciple. As for the boy Lin Fan named Yamato in nutrient pod number 7, Orochimaru continued to keep him in the nutrient pod—because he needed to cultivate and didn't have time to conduct experiments and observations on Yamato's body for the time being.

As Tenzo emerged from the laboratory, he saw the first rays of sunlight he hadn't witnessed in a long time. His memory remained stuck on the scene of Orochimaru promising to heal his clan.

"Lord Orochimaru, thank you so much!"

Tenzo bowed to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru waved his hand.

"No need to thank me."

"I only put in a little bit of effort."

Tenzo was deeply moved. Orochimaru was so kind to them. The "treatment room" was so big, just to treat him and another unknown boy, and so many people were arranged to take care of them.

Orochimaru taught Tenzo how to refine chakra, and then went alone to a nearby open space.

"The Great Ninja of the Serpent?" Orochimaru murmured, recalling Lin Fan's words. "Then I should also demonstrate my strength in a month to gain more recognition."

......

As for Jiraiya, Lin Fan didn't have much to say, because Jiraiya's training in various ninjutsu was actually quite slow. Don't be fooled by his strength, which is only enough to contend with Kage-level opponents. In terms of ninjutsu proficiency, Jiraiya didn't seriously study many of them. Most of them were just learned and usable. For example, in the original story, when dealing with the ninjas who attacked the village during his travels, or when fighting Hanzo, he didn't show the strength he should have had in the later stages.

This also shows that Jiraiya wasted a lot of training time because of his travels.

Therefore, Jiraiya only needs to practice the ninjutsu he knows and take Minato with him, as he will be of great use.

Inside a room, on the table were many bowls filled with insect food. Jiraiya and Minato sat at the table, and their faces turned green when they saw the insects.

"Teacher, I don't think I need to be in such a hurry to become stronger," Minato said seriously.

Jiraiya grabbed Minato's hand as he tried to cancel the summoning and return to Konoha, his face serious.

"Minato, are you going to abandon your master?"

"...No. I just feel that there's not much difference between cultivating here and cultivating in the village." Minato's face turned a little green; he couldn't stand eating insects for days.

......

After lunch, Jiraiya sent Minato to learn Sage Mode from Fukasaku, while he went alone to a relatively remote training ground on Mount Myōboku.