After finishing his speech, Hiruzen shunshin moved into the arena with his students, appearing only a couple of meters away from us.
- Ryo Nara, congratulations on your promotion," the Hokage nodded with a neutral expression and took a scroll out of his sleeve, tossing it to me, "your vest and from tomorrow, all the privileges of rank will be available, and all the necessary documents will be sent to the head of the clan.
- Thank you, Hokage-san," I bowed, catching the scroll.
- That's all, if you'll excuse me, but I've got some work to do," Hiruzen nodded and left the same way he had come.
- Congratulations, Ryo-kun, that's quite an accomplishment for your age," the toad-like sannin grinned, immediately becoming more like himself.
- If I'm not mistaken, the three of you got your ranks at about the same age," I squinted at him, grinning back, "so it's not that big of an accomplishment.
- It was a war, Ryo-kun," the white-haired shinobi shrugged simply, though his words were heavier than a stone, "promotions go to the survivors. We survived, many didn't.
- I did, too," I snorted mockingly in response to his words, "he's going to make me feel bad about it.
I was a lot younger than the Hokage's students, and I wasn't as strong as I am now. Jiraiya, judging by the embarrassed look on his face and the hand that reached for the back of his head, didn't know or had forgotten that fact.
- Don't listen to that moron, Ryo," Orochimaru stepped forward gently, bailing his partner out of an awkward situation, "the fight was really great, especially the unusual ninjutsu, and weren't you afraid to show it to the Uchiha? They're notorious thieves of techniques.
Ahh, the snake sannin's famous passion for new ninjutsu. I could see why he was staring at me like a sweet tooth at a cake. There are very few inventors in the shinobi world, it's a dangerous business, they'd rather steal other people's inventions than try to make something of their own, and here I was demonstrating two new ninjutsu.
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