Chapter 135: Susanoo Is Real
Land of Fire, Konoha.
Iruka walked slowly down the street with his hands in his pockets and his head lowered.
Two days ago, he had taken the Chūnin Exams.
And he had performed terribly.
Although he had managed to pass with the help of cheating and assistance from his teammates, he couldn't bring himself to feel happy about it.
He simply felt…
They're getting farther and farther ahead of me.
His dream was to become a teacher at the Ninja Academy, but who didn't want to possess powerful strength?
Sigh.
Thinking about the training regimen his teacher had specially designed for him, Iruka irritably thumped his head.
He was simply too stupid.
A whole series of B-rank, A-rank, and even S-rank techniques had been placed right in front of him, yet he couldn't learn a single one of them.
Meanwhile…
Although it was already September 1, the scorching summer heat had yet to disappear. The trees looked almost dried out beneath the blazing sun, their branches swaying weakly in the heat.
Iruka held an ice cream cone in his hand.
He licked it once and felt guilty.
He licked it again and still felt guilty.
I should be training.
But I'm eating ice cream.
I should be training.
But I'm still eating ice cream.
Gulp.
He sucked the melted ice cream from the bottom of the cone into his mouth and looked up at the familiar buildings around him.
"I really want to become stronger."
"Hey, hey! Don't push me!"
"You made me lose my son!"
"…"
Iruka noticed the crowd gathered outside a bookstore.
Curious, he stood on tiptoe behind them and watched for a while.
Then he swallowed the rest of his ice cream in one gulp, squeezed through the crowd, and stared curiously at the sign hanging above the bookstore stall.
This month, Tsunade-sensei and I poured our hearts and souls into our work. After breaking the record of nineteen works in a single month, we have completed our twentieth major work. What makes this book special?
???
Major work?
Iruka stroked his chin and curiously glanced at the book in the hands of an adult standing nearby.
Pfft!
The moment he saw the non-human character with dog ears on its head, his face flushed bright red and blood immediately began pouring from his nose.
The Three Great Taboos of Shinobi.
The Three Great Taboos of Shinobi.
The Three Great Taboos of Shinobi.
He silently repeated the phrase several times until his heart finally calmed down.
This is something I shouldn't be looking at.
"Phew…"
Iruka took a deep breath and was just about to squeeze through the crowd and leave when the corner of his eye caught sight of another book at the bottom-right of the stall.
Its cover depicted a towering giant.
What's this?
Curious, he picked it up and stared at the blue giant on the cover for a moment before looking at the title and author's name.
The Land-Sea-Air Warrior — The Giant of Light
Author: Ban Liangde
Iruka clicked his tongue and opened the first page.
Chapter One — The Giant of Light
During the latter stages of the Warring States Era, as the political structure of the shinobi world gradually stabilized, hatred and conflict began to decrease. Everything seemed to be moving toward peace. The desire shared by every living being in the shinobi world—peace—finally seemed to be becoming a reality.
Yet none of them realized that, at that very moment, a tremendous upheaval was beginning.
Iruka gradually became absorbed in the synopsis.
He turned to the second page, eager to discover what that great upheaval was.
Roar?
The Two-Tails?
As he read the description of the Two-Tails, Iruka subconsciously nodded.
It matched what he had learned from his textbooks.
In Iruka's mind, the tailed beasts were synonymous with disaster.
They were terrifying monsters with anywhere from one to nine tails, beings that had left a deep impression of fear on people's minds.
And he wasn't the only one who thought that way.
Everyone around him seemed to share the same understanding.
He turned to the third page.
The moment he saw the scene depicted there, his heart tightened.
As a ten-year-old boy, Iruka's understanding of tailed beasts was limited to what he had read in books.
He had never actually seen one before.
This was the first time he had witnessed the destructive power of a tailed beast rendered so clearly through illustrations.
Heavy footsteps shook the earth, and the houses throughout the town trembled. The Two-Tails advanced with its sharp claws and powerful limbs, tearing buildings apart as though they were made of paper. Bricks, tiles, and wooden beams were utterly fragile before it.
Dust and the smell of burning filled the air. Panic and despair spread throughout the town.
People fled in every direction, desperately trying to escape the unstoppable disaster.
Yet as the Two-Tails drew closer, despair continued to spread throughout the entire town.
The Two-Tails ignored the screams and cries of the people. Driven by an endless desire for destruction, it wantonly demolished everything in its path. Streets and alleys were instantly swallowed by flames and thick smoke, while flickering firelight illuminated the beast's cold, eerie face.
Then—
Iruka saw a group of shinobi with the Byakugan appear in the town and charge forward.
One of the stronger shinobi unleashed Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm from several hundred meters away, striking the tailed beast and forcing it back one or two meters.
The beast roared in pain.
Others rushed beneath it and attached explosive tags to its body.
Iruka couldn't help admiring the Hyūga clan's courage.
They truly were brave enough to charge straight into battle.
But…
Looking at the completely unharmed tailed beast, Iruka couldn't help shaking his head.
"I don't know who drew this, but if you're portraying the Hyūga clan like this, I'm absolutely certain Hana is going to be furious if she sees it."
Whoosh!
When Iruka turned to the fourth page, the art style suddenly changed.
A man drawn in a completely different style stood on a rooftop.
He wore a black cloak with the Uchiha fan crest embroidered across his back. His long hair and bangs flowed dramatically around his face.
There was even a close-up of his face.
So handsome.
Iruka stared at the handsome man.
He was almost certain this had to be the protagonist.
Then he read the dialogue.
"Heh."
"No wonder the Hyūga clan is so weak. So their opponent is a tailed beast."
"Uchiha clan member, stop coming any closer. Even you won't be able to defeat a tailed beast."
"Do you know who you're talking to?"
Iruka's mouth twitched.
He was now highly suspicious that the author had something against the Hyūga clan.
Unfortunately, he had no evidence.
The next moment, the man's black pupils transformed into three tomoe.
Then he reached into his robes and pulled out a pair of sunglasses.
What is he doing?
Just as Iruka was wondering about the man's strange behavior, his gaze drifted toward the next page.
And then he couldn't look away.
A blue giant, as tall as—or even taller than—the tailed beast, suddenly appeared before it.
Inside the giant's head stood an Uchiha wearing sunglasses.
The giant charged forward.
And punched the tailed beast away.
???
"They're lying, right?"
"How could a giant this powerful possibly exist?"
Iruka stared at the giant fighting the tailed beast, his face practically screaming I don't believe this.
Sure enough, manga was manga.
This is way too ridiculous.
"No, that's not true."
A woman's voice suddenly came from beside him.
"That giant is called Susanoo. It really exists."
Iruka turned his head.
Standing beside him was a cute little girl.
She had dark-blue hair, pale skin, blue-green magatama earrings, and a white robe. She was completely absorbed in the exact same manga he was reading.
Iruka noticed the Hoshigakure forehead protector on her forehead and asked curiously,
"Were you talking to me?"
"Yes!"
"Uh… does the Uchiha clan really have a giant?"
The girl nodded.
She waved the book in her hand and explained,
"That's something every clan with a long history in the shinobi world knows."
She then tossed some money to the bookseller, picked up three copies of the manga, and squeezed through the crowd.
As she left, she muttered to herself,
"When did this happen? Why didn't I know when the Uchiha's blue Susanoo fought the Two-Tails?"
Listening to the strange Hoshigakure shinobi's muttering, Iruka shook his head.
Then he lowered his gaze back to the manga in his hands.
His emotions rose and fell violently with the story.
Bang!
"Excellent!"
The people around him quietly stepped back as Iruka repeatedly slammed his fist against the table.
A child's manga really can't compare with adult books.
I checked the introduction to Susanoo.
Apparently, quite a lot of people in the shinobi world know about it.