"I've got a new idea for a manga. This one will definitely earn the Teacher's approval!"
Jiraiya spoke energetically, when suddenly —
gugu
Akaba gave him a strange look and asked, "Haven't eaten yet?"
"I need to grab something to eat first. I'll give you the manga later on — help me go over and polish it."
Jiraiya held his stomach and quickly ran toward the village.
"Too hardworking..."
"Akaba, what are you looking at?"
"That kid might actually amount to something someday. You two might even end up cooperating."
Akaba said half-jokingly.
Izumi Yamano followed his gaze and saw Jiraiya running incredibly fast, leaving only a distant silhouette within moments.
But his hair was too noticeable to miss — unmistakably white. "The white-haired kid? I saw his work at last year's Manga Con."
"I see."
Akaba smiled knowingly.
After speaking, Izumi felt slightly awkward.
However, as factory director, such cooperation would bring significant profits to their factory. Suppressing those feelings, he continued, "If he truly wants to publish, he can come find me anytime. Even if our factory is busy, I can have others help print it."
"Let him bring it up himself."
Akaba replied.
"You're right. By the way, when will your 'One Piece' update?"
Izumi asked.
"Not later than day after tomorrow, I'll finish drawing."
"One Piece?"
Akaba paused for a moment. According to his original plan, he hadn't actually scheduled an update for One Piece.
But after earning points tomorrow, he could redeem for chakra enhancement.
After enhancing life force and chakra, the shadow clones could last much longer. With two clones working together, he could definitely complete the second volume of One Piece before the day after tomorrow.
"This batch only has around 200 copies. I'll deliver another batch day after tomorrow, so just take the updated version then."
Izumi nodded.
"One Piece's sales in Konoha ran between three to four hundred copies. Two hundred clearly wouldn't cut it."
"No problem."
Akaba glanced at the sky. It was already quite late. Treating someone to dinner probably wouldn't be feasible anymore.
Thinking for a moment, he sent a clone to order several boxes of fruit.
Half an hour later, the caravan guards finished unloading the manga.
Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, they grabbed the fruit and quickly returned to the factory without lingering.
Akaba sat for a while, planning to go home for a rest before dinner, when he saw several people running toward him from the front.
Leading the pack was Inuzuka Ishi and his Gammaru, followed closely by Loe, Yizhong Akimichi, and Take Yamano.
"Why are they here?" Akaba wondered. If they came to read manga, Take Yamano rarely visited the store.
"Didn't expect we'd catch the update! What luck!"
Inuzuka Ishi ran over excitedly, grabbed a copy, and started flipping through it eagerly.
Gammaru jumped onto his shoulder, glanced around vigilantly, then lowered his head pretending to read seriously.
In the meantime, Ino–Shika–Cho approached at a slow, unhurried pace — not the least bit rushed.
But when they arrived at the manga shop, the only one who greeted him was Loe. The other two immediately started eagerly flipping through manga volumes.
Loe wore a look of mild annoyance when Akaba leaned over and whispered, "What's going on?"
"Nothing much. Want to join us for dinner tonight?"
Loe gave a resigned sigh.
"Dinner?"
Akaba stiffened. *Whose dumb idea was this?*
"Hyuga Kazuhiko—you remember him?"
Loe continued.
"A member of the Branch Family. He was in our class before."
Akaba had a vague memory.
The Hyuga were a unique clan—one where most members trained exclusively within the family. Kazuhiko had been the only Hyuga in their class.
When teams were assigned after graduation, he had formed a reconnaissance squad with Inuzuka Ishi and someone from the Aburame clan.
However,
Akaba never got along well with Inuzuka Ishi, much less with Hyuga Kazuhiko.
"Yeah, I think you know what I mean."
This is going to be troublesome.
Both Akaba and Loe shared the same thought simultaneously.
Nobody shows up uninvited. If Kazuhiko suddenly wants to buy everyone dinner, he probably wants to butter us up.
As for why—they must have learned about what happened during the Chunin Exams.
Except for Tsunade, none of the others who participated in the exams came from major clans. Yet altogether, they formed a potentially powerful network of connections. And since six out of the nine were somehow linked to The Third, there was a good chance one of them might become the next Kage.
"Why are those Sand ninja carrying such weird stuff?"
"One carries a gourd, another a huge fan, and the third one—I can't even figure out what it is. Definitely strange."
"That guy Gaara looks pretty strong."
The three reading manga each threw in a comment as they chatted animatedly.
Loe walked over listlessly, glanced at them, then said thoughtfully, "Those must be puppets. Their appearances resemble Sunagakure puppet masters."
"Puppets?"
"So that's what a puppet looks like. No wonder they're wrapped in cloth strips."
The three exchanged stunned glances. Coming from ninja families, they naturally had books containing information about Suna Village in their clan libraries and had heard of puppets before.
Yet from childhood until now, none of them had ever actually seen what a real puppet looked like.
"Akaba," Yamanaka Take asked curiously, "I heard their puppets can disguise themselves as humans—is that true?"
"Yes, that's right. It's a kind of Ninjutsu similar to the Transformation Jutsu, though the principle is slightly different."
Akaba nodded.
During battles with the Sand ninja, he had personally witnessed such disguises.
However, due to limitations in puppet-making techniques and Puppet Techniques, so far he had only encountered Special Jonin-level puppet users like King Sand who could control large-sized puppets. Small puppets couldn't convincingly imitate adults yet—they could at best disguise themselves as similarly sized animals or children.
Inuzuka Ishi rubbed Gammaru's head while saying enviously, "Impressive. Too bad I couldn't attend the Chunin Exams."
"The Chunin Exams are practically a battlefield. There's nothing enviable about it."
Akaba sighed softly.
The written test wasn't too bad, but the second and third rounds felt like miniature war zones—people dying there meant no possibility of revenge.
"Just getting to the Chunin Exams is already a big deal."
Take Yamano said, "The first Chunin Exams after the war ends...making it to Chunin in this one would be seriously impressive."
After hearing that, Loe glanced at Akaba, silently leaning against the manga shop's pillar.
Promote to Chunin?
You've got a big chance right here in front of you.
"Is the Chunin Exams dangerous?"
"Definitely."
Akaba turned serious and continued, "I'll turn some reflections about the Chunin Exams into manga and summarize them."
"So you're saying the next arc will be about the Chunin Exams?"
Yizhong Akimichi held a book in one hand while cramming snacks into his mouth with the other, looking particularly busy.
"Just thinking about it already sounds exciting."
Inuzuka Ishi flipped to Chapter 36 and saw the handsome, pupil-less character drawn on the first page. He asked in disbelief, "This character is from the Hyuga clan?"
"Seriously? He looks pretty cool."
"These eyes are actually kind of cute."
"Not cool at all. Real Byakugan is terrifying, okay?"
Inuzuka Ishi loudly argued back. Gammaru on his shoulder nodded furiously as if he understood perfectly.
"Tell me your story."
Akaba became interested, dragging over a small stool and sitting down with an expression full of curiosity.
The Ino–Shika–Cho trio excitedly gathered around, settling down like they were ready for a show.
"There was this time during a mission when Kazuhiko was on night watch. I woke up in the middle of the night to pee, and then..."
When Inuzuka Ishi got to this point, his body couldn't help but shudder.
Everyone started imagining what happened...
[All white eyes, even with prominent blue veins bulging out when using the Byakugan.]
Such eyes appeared late at night, when they were half-asleep and drowsy.
Thinking about this scene, sympathy showed clearly on everyone's faces.
"Being a ninja is just too tragic."
Sakuma Yunlang murmured with a shiver, obviously relieved that he apparently lacked what it took to become a ninja.
"Woof woof!"
Gammaru barked twice, no one knowing exactly who he was agreeing with.
Still shaken by the memory of the Byakugan, he quickly flipped past this page and moved on to Team 7's storyline.
"This bowl-cut ninja is so hilarious. How can someone this strong act like that?"
Take Yamano was just about to mercilessly mock, but as soon as he flipped the next page, he saw how the bowl-cut ninja suddenly appeared like wind between Sasuke and that chunin, blocking their attacks.
So all that earlier clowning was just an act!
"Hey, wait—have you guys forgotten? We came to find Akaba to go to the party."
Loe sighed heavily.
It's because I'm stuck on a team with these people every day that I feel exhausted and constantly want to quit.
" Oh yeah! The party!"
Inuzuka Ishi suddenly snapped out of his daydream, having completely forgotten about the gathering since starting to read the manga.
"Barbecue! Barbecue!"
Just hearing about food made Yizhong Akimichi's eyes light up.
"Then let's bring some manga along. That way we can eat, chat, and read manga all at once. Sounds like a solid plan, right?"
With that, Take Yamano stood up and went straight to the shelves to grab more manga.
After grabbing over a dozen volumes, he pulled out two thousand ryo and handed it to Sakuma Yunlang.
"Hey, I didn't even say I'm going yet."
Akaba groaned.
"What difference does it make? Just come hang out with us!"
Inuzuka Ishi dragged Akaba along while holding several manga volumes and headed directly toward the barbecue restaurant.
Akaba sighed helplessly and shouted from a distance, "Big Brother Sakuma Yunlang, could you please inform my parents?"
"No problem."
Sakuma Yunlang smiled brightly.
The young master Akaba's connections were expanding further. Who knows? Maybe after this gathering, the Hyuga clan would start buying manga more regularly.
That would be great!
"Boss Yunlang, we're off."
Loe sighed and fell in step with the others.
"Alright, I won't see you off then."
Sakuma Yunlang put the money into the cabinet and placed another twenty books on the counter.
There weren't many barbecue restaurants in Konoha. When Akaba arrived, he just saw Orochimaru being dragged along by someone—Shinku Yuhi.
Making eye contact with Akaba, both recognized the helplessness in each other's gaze.
Having gone through the Land of Wind journey together and survived both the illusion and the Chunin Exams, they'd practically become battle-hardened comrades.
If someone outside their nine-man group had come looking for him, Orochimaru might not have been so accommodating.
"You can let go now, Ishi."
Akaba broke free and tidied his clothes.
No matter how much of a homebody you were, once you stepped outside, you had to keep up appearances. Being dragged around like that upon entering ruined all sense of image completely.
Orochimaru did exactly the same thing, instinctively.
The two exchanged glances again.
"You guys go inside first. I'll come in with them later."
Loe signaled the rest to enter ahead.
As another unwilling participant dragged here, he felt he shared more common topics with Akaba and Orochimaru.
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