Chapter 144: Minister of the Upper State Does Not Bow to Lord of the Lower State
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"Naruto, come here." Uchiha Douhuan waved towards Naruto. Naruto obediently came to Uchiha Douhuan's side.
"What exactly happened?" Uchiha Douhuan looked at Naruto and asked.
"Uh..." Naruto tried to organize his words. Mainly, the misunderstanding between him and his good big brother tonight was rather significant, which led to causing such huge trouble.
"Hokage Uncle, don't bother my little bro! Everything was done by me alone!" Deidara suddenly spoke up to Uchiha Douhuan at this moment.
"Hey," Uchiha Douhuan was also amused upon hearing this. "You kid are quite loyal, huh."
"Enough!" At this point, veins were bulging on Onoki's forehead, and redness began to spread from his ruddy nose across his entire face. But with Uchiha Douhuan right before him, he still had to maintain basic etiquette. "Hokage, please take your disciple back first. Don't let him continue wandering around the village during this time. Otherwise, if anything untoward happens to him, it would be something neither of us wishes to see. Don't you agree?"
"Of course," Uchiha Douhuan didn't provoke this little old man, who was already on the verge of boiling over, any further. He pulled Naruto along, preparing to leave. "It was my poor discipline that caused Lord Tsuchikage trouble. Naruto, apologize to Lord Tsuchikage."
"Sorry," Naruto obediently bowed to Onoki after hearing this.
After Uchiha Douhuan took Naruto away, they hadn't gone far before they heard sounds of a fierce argument erupting from the Tsuchikage Building behind them. A short while later, Deidara's resonant miserable screams echoed through the night sky.
Hearing these screams, Naruto shrank his neck and carefully glanced at Uchiha Douhuan. Seeing Uchiha Douhuan seemed to have no intention of pursuing the matter, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
For the next few days, Naruto, knowing he had caused trouble, obediently stayed cooped up in the inn until the Joint Chunin Exams officially began.
During the first three days of the survival test, although the two squads Uchiha Douhuan brought fought desperately, only the two Uchiha clan members and one commoner member advanced to the final combat stage. Fortunately, in this exam with an extremely high mortality rate, none of the six Genin Uchiha Douhuan brought died, though three were severely injured. Their injuries, however, helped the two Uchiha Genin awaken a pair of two-tomoe Sharingan and a pair of one-tomoe Sharingan, respectively.
The situation at the time was roughly that Konoha's two squads were jointly besieged by Iwagakure Genin teams within the examination grounds. Outnumbered, their situation was extremely critical.
However, to preserve Konoha's effective strength, those commoner ninjas from the Security Department spontaneously began protecting the Uchiha clan members in the team with valiant fearlessness of death. After the three were heavily injured, the immense mental stimulus caused the two Uchiha clan members to undergo a transformation, managing a limit counter-kill against all their besiegers. This scene stunned everyone who had wanted to see Konoha lose face.
At this moment, Uchiha Douhuan in the VIP seats, however, looked composed as usual. Onoki beside him spoke up, "It seems congratulations are in order for the Hokage; the village has gained two more geniuses."
"Those two are still far off," Uchiha Douhuan said without changing expression. "Shingetsu is alright, but Masato still has some distance to go to meet our Uchiha clan's standard for Chunin. Besides, they don't count as geniuses in Konoha."
Onoki was speechless. How was he supposed to respond to that? So what if your Konoha Village has many geniuses!
Furthermore, after the survival test ended, Uchiha Douhuan rewarded the four commoner ninjas who fought desperately in this test, while the two clan members who completed their Sharingan advancement were instead criticized by Uchiha Douhuan.
"What, do you think you won honorably?" Uchiha Douhuan looked at these two clan Genin, who wore the hereditary sunny expressions due to their Sharingan advancement, and reprimanded them. "Don't forget how you got your Sharingan!"
The two, who were originally feeling complacent, recalled the scene on the battlefield where their teammates desperately blocked ninjutsu for them after being scolded a couple of times by Uchiha Douhuan. They couldn't help but lower their heads in shame.
Only after Uchiha Douhuan left with Naruto and the other two did the other commoner-born Security Department ninjas gather around, speaking to Uchiha Shingetsu and Uchiha Masato:
"Um, don't take it too hard. Lord Hokage being strict with you is also for your own good," a commoner-born Security Department member comforted.
"Right. You two are more talented than us. By advancing to the next round, you can better protect the village's honor," said a member still wearing bandages on his head.
"If you really feel bad about it, then just perform well in the next round, for our sakes too."
These commoner ninjas owed their current strength largely to the Uchiha instructors in the Security Department teaching them everything they knew without reservation. Therefore, they spontaneously felt very protective towards these two Uchiha clan members who were younger than them.
"Thank you, everyone," Uchiha Shingetsu said, pursing his lips as she thanked the group.
"Don't mention it," a team member waved his hand. "Just perform well in the upcoming matches."
"Yes!" Uchiha Masato nodded forcefully.
Everything that happened before the training ground entrance was taken in by Onoki. Regarding this, Onoki could only sigh deeply.
He had learned quite a bit about the Uchiha clan's previous situation within Konoha village through spies planted there. But following Uchiha Douhuan's rise to power, as spies were rooted out one by one, Onoki's understanding of Konoha's situation became less clear.
He hadn't expected that after such a short time, the Uchiha clan would have integrated so perfectly into the village.
"This Fifth Hokage's methods are truly extraordinary," Onoki couldn't help but remark with emotion regarding this.
...
Soon, the day of the final tournament arrived.
On this day, not only the leaders of the ninja villages from surrounding countries but even the Daimyos of some countries arrived at Iwagakure Village to watch this grand event.
And as the only two Kage present, both Uchiha Douhuan and Onoki changed into their respective formal attire and sat on the main platform by the arena.
However, at this moment, someone lacking foresight came before Uchiha Douhuan.
The newcomer had a greasy face, looking fat and stupid. His luxurious silk formal wear couldn't conceal the foolish aura about him.
He came before Uchiha Douhuan and immediately questioned, "You are Uchiha Douhuan? The Fifth Hokage of the Land of Fire?"
"May I ask who you are?" Uchiha Douhuan frowned slightly. Since he took office as the Grand Minister of State of the Land of Fire, it had been a long time since anyone dared speak to him like this.
"Hmph, I am the Daimyo of the Land of Grass! Why do you not bow upon seeing me?" the Land of Grass Daimyo said. Some time ago, he received the reply letter from the Land of Fire. It had to be said, Miura Kazuo's literary talent was quite something; just a short composition of 400 characters made him curse for a whole day in his palace.
Added to that was the bill for compensation and reconstruction sent by Kusagakure village, which directly pushed him beyond anger.
Therefore, the Land of Grass Daimyo, after hearing Uchiha Douhuan would attend this Joint Chunin Exam in Iwagakure, insisted on coming to join the fun even though none of his country's ninjas were participating, precisely to curse Uchiha Douhuan a few times to his face.
In his view, Uchiha Douhuan was just a lowly ninja who worked for money. Even if he was the Kage of a major power, he couldn't be disrespectful to him. Didn't he see even Onoki bow when meeting him?
"Hehe, I wondered who it was. So it's an ignorant fool who doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth," Uchiha Douhuan chuckled lightly.
"You..." the Land of Grass Daimyo choked with anger. "Didn't the Daimyo of the Land of Fire teach you about respect and hierarchy?"
"I only know one principle: a minister of the upper state does not bow to the lord of a lower state. Want me to bow? Are you qualified?" Uchiha Douhuan looked down condescendingly at the other party, his eyes filled with coldness.
(End of Chapter)
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