I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 604 Those who stir up storms in their respective eras are merely a drop in the long river of history.

Loulan is just a small country, a small country without even ninjas. In the past, Loulan would not have sought help from Konoha. After all, Loulan is located in the desert of the Land of Wind, and in the past, the orders were handled by Sunagakure.

Konoha didn't actively try to develop this tiny market because it wasn't worth it. It was fine for Jonin to carry out missions, but for Genin and Chunin, it would be difficult to bypass the Sand Village's surveillance.

Therefore, to carry out a mission in Loulan, one must report to Sunagakure, which is responsible for the protection of the entire Land of Wind. However, Sunagakure is unlikely to agree readily. The manpower and time required for these procedures are not worthwhile at all.

The reason why Konoha chose to accept this request was twofold: firstly, it was a request for help issued in the name of the Loulan royal family, and secondly, Sunagakure was powerless to interfere.

The competition between Rasa and Pakura has reached a fever pitch over the past year. Rasa has stronger personal abilities and battlefield influence, but Pakura has the support of Shukaku and abundant funds, attracting many Sand Ninja to join her.

Meanwhile, more and more evidence and clues suggest that Rasa may be colluding with ninja villages in other countries, which has greatly displeased the village leaders. There are even rumors that the village leaders want to set up an independent investigation team to find out the truth.

With the constant incursions from the external enemy Konoha, Sunagakure was in a state of unprecedented chaos since its founding. The defenses of the Land of Wind were also riddled with holes. How could they possibly have the energy to take care of Loulan, a small country that wasn't even a vassal state?

Konoha's acceptance of Loulan's commission was unlikely to be to help Sunagakure solve its problems; quite the opposite, in fact.

If Loulan, located within the Land of Wind, needs the assistance of the ninja villages of the Land of Fire, then once this matter becomes public, the already difficult situation of Sunagakure will worsen.

The surrounding small countries will likely completely lose trust in Sunagakure, while they will increasingly admire the Land of Fire and Konoha, which are stronger in terms of national power and military strength. The post-war entrustment will likely be transferred entirely to Konoha.

However, the premise is that Konoha must succeed in this mission. If it fails, the public backlash Konoha will face will be extremely severe, and it may even be labeled as showing off and disregarding the interests of its employers.

Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi carefully entrusted these two tasks to Tatsuma and Minato. It would be a "waste" for either of them to deal with an employer of the level of Roran.

To put it more bluntly, even the entire country of Loulan combined might not be able to persuade either Tatsuma or Minato to serve them, but Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to be "generous" this once in order to be thorough.

The reason why Chenma accepted this mission was because Loulan possessed something, or rather, a dragon vein of power!

Neither Tatsuma nor Orochimaru could solve the problem of the soul's escape, but Tatsuma believed that there was one person who definitely had a solution: the Sage of Six Paths, the progenitor of ninjas.

Of course, it's not necessarily only the Sage of Six Paths who can solve this, but Tatsuma can't think of anyone else for the time being.

However, getting the Sage of Six Paths to help him, or at least not getting the Sage of Six Paths to notice him, is an extremely difficult task.

It's not that Tatsuma is being self-deprecating, but although he can currently command respect in the ninja world, he doesn't actually have much influence over the overall trends of the ninja world or the fate of the ninja community.

Those who stir up storms in their respective eras are actually quite remarkable if they can only make a ripple in the long river of history.

Therefore, in order to get the Sage of Six Paths' attention, or even to appear and meet him, Tatsuma must do something that could threaten or influence the general trend of the ninja world or the fate of ninjas.

This requires immense power, which Chenma currently lacks, so he needs to rely on external forces, such as dragon veins.

The Dragon Vein is a massive energy flow buried deep underground. Its extent is unknown, but the power of the Dragon Vein can be utilized by ninjas and can be considered as chakra in a sense.

Tatsuma remembers that in the story, the Sand Village's Centipede, or rather An Lushan, after utilizing the power of the Dragon Vein and combining it with his own puppetry, could even achieve a certain degree of immortality.

Moreover, there is no better way to deal with an out-of-control dragon vein than by sealing it; it cannot be solved by simply blocking or clearing it.

Therefore, the energy of the dragon vein is probably unimaginably high. Most importantly, the power of the dragon vein involves space and time, especially now that space-time points are overlapping. If any accident were to occur, the Sage of Six Paths probably wouldn't want to see it.

For example, if Naruto, who traveled from another era, were forcibly kept in this era, the fates of Indra and Ashura would be disrupted, and there might even be a situation where two Ashura chakras and two "chosen ones" exist at the same time.

What Tatsuma wanted was to attract the Sage of Six Paths' attention through this method, which could be considered...

Chenma is a fledgling entrepreneur. When his project encounters a crisis, he plans to meet with the industry giant, Rokudo Senren, to try to secure some investment or seek cooperation.

However, the gap between him and the Sage of Six Paths was too great, so he wanted to kidnap the Sage of Six Paths' child in order to gain an opportunity to meet with the Sage of Six Paths.

This might anger the Sage of Six Paths, but the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

If there are risks, why not try them? Are you just waiting for your soul to slip away and become completely uncontrollable, living like a wandering ghost?

Although the [Breath of Immortality] allows Tatsuma to survive without relying on a physical body, what's the point of surviving with a soul?

If one cannot participate in, interfere with, or change anything, can one still be considered to be living in this world? What's the difference between that and watching from behind a computer screen?

Even in his past life, although he couldn't participate in, interfere with, or change the plot, he could still speed things up or pause when necessary, watch the show while eating, and have his own life.

In that situation, even just observing is interesting, but if he becomes a "wandering ghost," then it becomes quite boring.

Within the Senju clan's territory, Tatsuma was in no hurry to depart, as not all personnel had arrived yet. Choza had been transferred to the southeastern coast some time ago to establish a defensive line against the Kirigakure.

Although he came back a few days ago to attend a wedding, he has now set off again for the front lines. I imagine that guy must have some grievances in his heart.

After all, in the past ten days, Dingza has been either on the road or preparing to travel. He finally managed to have a big meal, but was then "warned" by Shikaku about a blind date. It's estimated that when Dingza returns to the village, he'll have to be treated to a meal to comfort him.

However, Tatsuma picked up his wallet and looked at it. Even though he said he was too busy to help with Minato's wedding, he still insisted on paying for the drinks and food in the end.

"We have to go and carry out the mission."

He sighed to himself, "If I don't go to the front lines, I'll have to pay for everything myself, from food and drink to clothing and lodging. I haven't officially taken office as Hokage yet, so I can't secretly transfer my living expenses to the village's expenses."

He recalled the few things he needed to do recently: first, to go to Loulan to try to solve the problem of his soul slipping away; second, to bring the war into a truce and preparation period so that he could go to Daming Prefecture to ask for money.

After collecting the money and "dividing" it up, it's time to get ready to start work.

It's said that those who start wars profit from them, but Chenma felt that the more he fought in the three years of war, the poorer he became. Sure enough, he wasn't destined to accumulate wealth.

Closing his wallet, Chenma canceled his plan to buy desserts and even started thinking about whose house to go to for a free meal.

In fact, after being modified by the [Breath of Immortality], activities such as sleeping and eating are no longer essential for Chenma's survival, but in addition to survival, humans also have life.

Even if he doesn't starve to death, his body's memory of hunger and his conscious habits still make it difficult for Tatsuma to get rid of eating.

As for who to freeload off, Minato is out of the question. They're newlyweds, all lovey-dovey, and if he went, he'd probably get kicked out by Kushina. After all, his good brother Minato is just a live-in son-in-law.

Tsunade and the others all returned to the front lines. There was no fighting next door, or maybe they went to the Third Hokage's house? Using the excuse of asking for advice on handing over work, it wouldn't be unreasonable to freeload a meal.

After all, both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Biwako Sarutobi would welcome him as a guest, but

When Hiruzen Sarutobi moved out of the Hokage's residence and returned to his own home, Tatsuma was lying in a hospital bed. Since he hadn't gone to the housewarming party, it would be impractical to visit him now without bringing a gift.

The Hatake Sakumo family? Kakashi had only recently been promoted to Jonin, and he hadn't gone there to deliver gifts either. No way.

As he pondered, Tatsuma looked out the window. The orphans in the Senju clan's territory had someone come to cook for them and take care of their daily needs. Maybe he should go over there and mooch a meal?

Putting his wallet back in his inner pocket, Chenma strolled over there, greeting the children and chatting and laughing along the way.

This is quite rare, since most of the time, Tatsuma finds children somewhat annoying. Meaningless noise and activities are seen by Tatsuma as pointless and time-consuming endeavors.

But today, I'm going all out to get a free meal!

The future Fourth Hokage showed his approachable side to his villagers for the first time.

After teaching the children ninja tool throwing for two hours, the future Fourth Hokage joined in the fun, happily eating the same relief meals as the children.

"What is this?"

While eating, Tatsuma saw Yamato and Kabuto, who had just returned, and noticed the thick stack of papers in their hands. He asked them a question with some curiosity.

Yamato quickly handed a flyer to Tatsuma and said, "Tatsuma-sama, a new ramen shop has opened in the village. It's opening the day after tomorrow, and there's a 50% discount on opening day. Kabuto and I are working part-time, helping the boss distribute flyers."

Tatsuma took the poster and smiled as he looked at the keywords "Ichiraku Ramen" and "50% off" on the rough poster. It seemed like he had enough money to treat Choza to a meal, and he figured Choza wouldn't refuse a newly opened ramen restaurant.

(End of this chapter)