However, opening the Box of Ultimate Bliss was no simple matter. It required an enormous amount of chakra to activate.
Not just one or two jōnin— even dozens or hundreds wouldn't be enough.
But precisely because of this, the jonins of the hardstance faction firmly believed that the box truly possessed the power to grant any wish.
"No! Absolutely not! The Box of Ultimate Bliss is far too dangerous!"
Yet their proposal was immediately and unanimously opposed by the Peace-loving faction.
It was often said that Grass Village had once nearly ruled the shinobi world.
But what people seemed to forget was that the very reason the original Grass Village had been destroyed… was because of the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
In truth, many in Grass Village had always scoffed at the idea that the box could grant any wish. If that were really true, then the original Grass Village wouldn't have been annihilated.
However, since they lacked hard evidence to disprove it, the debate surrounding the box had raged on endlessly between the two factions.
"Short-sighted fools. So what if it's dangerous? The current Grass Village needs the Box of Ultimate Bliss!"
"If we unlock it, not only will Konoha pay for their arrogance, but we'll be able to unify the entire shinobi world once and for all!"
Watching the hardline stance Jonins' spiral deeper into delusion, the peace-loving faction no longer argued and instead turned to the village chief, who held final authority.
"Chief, the Box of Ultimate Bliss is far too dangerous. Under no circumstances should it be opened!"
"If it is… I fear Grass Village will face a second destruction!"
Looking at both sides, locked in such fierce disagreement, even the chief of Grass Village appeared conflicted. As the leader, he never aligned with either faction.
But after today—after witnessing Konoha's attitude—he was starting to lean toward the Hardline Stance.
"Chief, we can't afford to hesitate any longer. Let's transfer the Box of Ultimate Bliss to Hōzuki Castle under the supervision of Mui, and use the prisoners there to infuse chakra into it."
One of the Hardline Faction Jonin continued persuading.
Hōzuki Castle sat on an isolated island surrounded by sea, near Grass Village. Within the castle were incarcerated criminal shinobi from various nations, placed under Grass Village's care.
In essence, it served as a global shinobi prison.
Finally, the Grass Village chief made his decision. "The Box of Ultimate Bliss is too dangerous. We will not open it. Do not bring this matter up again."
The Peace-loving faction rejoiced, praising the chief's wisdom. The Hardline faction, however, was visibly frustrated and still tried to persuade him.
But the chief no longer wished to hear it—he ordered them out.
---
That night, unwilling to give up, the Hardline faction secretly reconvened. They resolved to transport the Box of Ultimate Bliss to Hōzuki Castle in secret.
Yes—even without the chief's approval, they had no intention of abandoning their goal to unlock the box. Just as they reached a consensus, a sudden voice rang out.
"So, it seems none of you took my words seriously."
It was the village chief! He had already anticipated that the Hardline faction wouldn't obediently give up.
He had hidden nearby and listened to their entire discussion—then appeared to catch them red-handed.
"Chief, we… we…"
Stunned by his sudden appearance, the Hardline Jonins panicked, scrambling to explain but unsure what to say.
To their surprise, the chief didn't scold or punish them. Instead, he signaled for calm and uttered something unexpected:
"I approve your plan. Make sure Mui activates the Box of Ultimate Bliss as soon as possible."
"But remember—this operation must remain absolutely secret. Not a single outsider can know."
As it turned out, the Grass Village chief also supported unlocking the box. His earlier speech during the meeting had simply been to reassure the Peace-loving faction.
More importantly, if Grass publicly prepared to unlock the box, it could easily draw interference from Konoha or one of the other great shinobi villages.
As the saying goes, to deceive your enemy, you must first deceive your allies.
If even the Peace-loving faction remained unaware of their true intentions, then outsiders had no chance of finding out.
Of course, the chief understood that no wall is truly leakproof. But until success was within reach, secrecy had to be absolute.
"This is a top-secret mission."
---
Meanwhile, back in Konoha, Aoshi had no idea what was unfolding in Grass Village.
At that moment, his real body was working as usual at Konoha Hospital, while a shadow clone was tasked with developing the Rasengan.
For others, this one-month break was a precious time to gather intel on their opponents and improve their skills. But for Aoshi, none of that was necessary.
To him, increasing his chakra reserves through steady work was the top priority.
"This guy's actually a real medical ninja?!" In the shadows, Motoi watched Aoshi enter the hospital and muttered in disbelief.
Killer Bee remained silent. After witnessing Aoshi's strength in the Forest of Death, he hadn't given up. Instead, he'd made up his mind to gather as much intel as possible during this break—hoping to identify a weakness and defeat Aoshi in the third round.
From Killer Bee's perspective, none of the others posed any real threat. If he could defeat Aoshi, he would be the undisputed champion.
Killer Bee had assumed that no matter how strong Aoshi was, he'd still be using this time to train intensely. After all, the third round would be held in front of daimyō and nobles—it was a critical event.
But Aoshi's behavior shocked him.
He showed no sense of urgency—just calmly went to the hospital and treated patients like nothing was at stake.
"So what do we do now? We barely have any intel on this guy."
"Motoi, Hiko—keep watching him. I'm heading off to train."
Although both Motoi and Killer Bee had made it to the final round, it was clear that Killer Bee was Kumogakure's greatest hope for victory.
So he had to make the most of this month and grow even stronger. And when that time came, so what if he had no intel?
"Leave it to us."
After leaving the area, Killer Bee went to find Toroi and asked him to help with special training. Naturally, Toroi agreed without hesitation.
Soon, evening fell.
But Killer Bee showed no signs of fatigue—still focused on training. Toroi remained at his side.
"This Cloud brat really doesn't know how to get tired, huh?" Hidden nearby, one of the Konoha ANBU assigned to monitor Toroi couldn't help whispering to his teammate.
"Shut it. Focus." What the ANBU didn't realize was that the real reason Toroi stayed with Killer Bee…was to distract them.
Meanwhile, a clone of Toroi that had been sent out earlier had already slipped away to a desolate, unmonitored location.
Waiting for him there was none other than Rasa, who had likewise managed to evade ANBU surveillance and came here without a trace.
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Sorry, everyone—I couldn't update until now because I wasn't able to obtain the raw chapters. I've finally got them, so you can expect regular updates from here on out.