[Hokage] Summer Festival

As soon as Hinata Xiu's voice fell, the surrounding was so quiet that even the sound of a needle dropping could be heard, and I knew how many scrutinizing eyes fell on me without looking around.

It was awful to be looked at, wondering if my body would look too rigid.

After the last mission, I kept thinking that he wouldn't deliberately hide this matter from me, but I didn't expect him to say it on this occasion.

There must be embarrassment, and there is also a guilty conscience of self-knowledge.

How to do?

Refute or admit?

When he raised his head, he saw that Hokage's expression had changed from the initial stunned to embarrassed, and Kamenyan also pushed his glasses to look over, with a serious expression like a doctor facing intractable diseases.

The one with the worst complexion was Xiaochun.Her brows were almost twitched, and her tense face made the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes more obvious than usual.

But yes, students are being questioned under the watchful eyes of the public, and of course it is impossible for a teacher to stay out of it.

It was Menyan who broke the silence first, his eyes turned to Xiu Hinata's face, and he said slowly:

"Xiu-kun, Natsuko passed the Jōnin test, which is obvious to all."

It should be a tense and embarrassing atmosphere, but the moment I heard this sentence, the corners of my mouth curved into a small arc uncontrollably.Self-deprecatingly thinking that Xia Zi may have stepped into the next reincarnation long ago, and what everyone "sees" is only a body left over by God's negligence.

To be honest, I still don't know why I, who was supposed to die, came to this incredible world.

I kept standing quietly, without saying a word.

Not to refute or admit it is indeed a rascal, but I can't think of a better way.

What's more, there doesn't seem to be an absolute and exact limit for their criteria for evaluating Jonin. Unlike paper exams, where the paper score is 60 points, even if it is 59.9, a failure is a failure.

In fact, this Jonin test is cruel and unequivocal. The judgment of "surviving is a Jonin" is indeed more objective and straightforward than other methods, but who would have thought that there would be such a thing as resurrection from a dead body? A big BUG that people believe.

"but……"

As soon as Hinata Xiu opened his mouth, Hokage waved his hand to signal him to be calm.

Hokage glanced at Xiaochun, although the latter was still frowning, but his face had softened a lot compared to the beginning.

"What do you say, Xia Zi." Xiaochun said in a deep voice.

How can I say it.

They would never ask me to take the jōnin test again just because Hinata Shuji was alone, and Konoha didn’t seem to have a precedent for downgrading jōnin to zhongnin, and besides, during the war, the village did not allow such incidents to arise.

But looking at the meaning of Hokage, it seems that although he was surprised by the sudden doubts among the ninjas, he didn't have to make the matter clear, and he didn't show favoritism because Natsuko was Xiaochun's student.

I bowed my head and thought for a moment, then said:

"I obey the arrangement of the teacher and the third generation."

This is the least error-prone answer I can think of.

Hokage and Koharumenyan glanced at each other, and when they raised their eyes again, they landed directly on my upper right, and said:

"Since Natsuko is now a member of the third team, it's up to Sakumo as the captain to judge whether she has the strength of a jounin."

Then his eyes turned to me and Hinata Osamu:

"What do you think of Xiu Jun and Xia Zi?"

Hinata Osamu looked at Hatake Sakumo, and said seriously:

"I trust Shuo Maosang's judgment."

I also nodded and said "yes".

He turned his head to look at Sakumo Hatake, his side face was clearly defined, his eyes were looking at Hokage who was talking without blinking, his hands were naturally hanging by his sides, the posture was exactly the same from the beginning of the rally to the present.

I have heard a lot about his deeds. Although I am not familiar with him, I know that he is a man who will never let go.

I lowered my head to look at my palm, the wound I accidentally scratched during my practice yesterday had scabbed over, cutting off the interlaced lines.It is not sure whether it is a bad omen or a good omen, the only thing that can be done is to do everything possible and obey the destiny.

And I also want to know the extent of my strength after practicing according to that scroll.

***

After the meeting, Miki and I walked out of the venue while talking, and met Osamu Hinata who happened to be here at the door.

He raised his eyes to meet mine, seemed to hesitate for two seconds, turned his head away unnaturally, and walked out from the other side of the door.

I also turned my head nonchalantly and continued talking with Miki, she was talking about her younger sister Mikoto who just became a ninja and her neighbor Kushina.

Probably because the same student and Natsuko had helped her, the friendliness and closeness she showed to me was particularly obvious.

I stopped by the cherry blossom tree at the door and said to her:

"Mei Shu, you go back first, I still have something to do."

She glanced at the venue where people walked out one after another, and a clear look appeared in her black eyes:

"Waiting for Senior Shuo Mao?"

I nodded and didn't speak again.

Hokage asked him to judge whether I have the strength of Jonin, and others including Hinata Osamu seemed to think that if it was him, no matter what the conclusion was, it would be convincing.I don't know what his judgment method is, so I thought to wait for him to come out and ask carefully, after all, I will go to the Kingdom of Wind to perform a mission in two days.

Miki said goodbye to me and left, but just took two steps, she suddenly turned around and said softly:

"Xia Zi, I believe in you."

There is no smile in the big eyes that usually flashes, but it makes me feel warm for no reason.

I don't know if her words contained comforting elements, maybe she said it casually with a kind heart, but for me at this time, I finally really felt a little at ease.

Not long after, Sakumo Hatake came out with his hands in his trouser pockets. He was not surprised when he saw me, and walked over naturally.

"I was looking for you."

He smiled and said.Then turn around.

"Talk while you walk."

I followed him, not knowing where he was going, and not asking.Just walking in line with his pace, listening to him occasionally say a few words about the difficulties of this mission, but not seeing him mentioning what happened just now.

Is it completely inappropriate or do you already know it?

It was impossible to guess from his demeanor and tone.

At the end of May, the cherry blossoms have already fallen, and the sky over the streets is not as dazzling as the pink flower clouds in full bloom in March and April. The cherry trees that are not leafy are extremely lonely under the boundless blue sky.

The wild beard branches beside the road are growing vigorously. Although there are still two or three months before the flowering period, the formation can easily make people mistakenly think that the flowers will bloom overnight.

His voice above his head called "Xia Zi", and then he heard him say something inexplicably:

"Don't be nervous."

I turned my head and glanced at him, and said disapprovingly:

"I'm not nervous."

There was a slight helplessness in his eyes, and he smiled.

Strange to say, although most of his face was covered by a mask, when he laughed, he only needed to see his eyes to know that he was smiling.

Moreover, unlike Ah Liang who always likes to make a "hahahaha" laugh, or Dashewan's kind of laughter that seems to linger in his throat, he rarely makes a sound when he laughs, but it is not difficult to make people feel His smile.

No less than five people have told me that Sakumo Hatake is a very easy person to get along with.

"If you push harder, you will hurt your muscles and bones," he said.

I froze for a moment, followed his gaze and looked down for some unknown reason, and couldn't help being startled.

My right hand was tightly held on the wrist of my left hand. When I let go, I realized that the place where I was holding was bruised unconsciously.

This is my habit in the past when I encountered difficult decisions or felt nervous. Now I unconsciously make such movements, but I didn’t expect that Xia Zi’s physical strength is different from that of me in the past. The strength almost broke his left wrist.

... I really appreciate him reminding me in time, if he can put it a little more tactfully.

An old woman in her 50s walked by with a three- or four-year-old child. After greeting Sakumo Hatake, she smiled kindly at me, then picked up the little child and taught him to say hello to the elders.

The child tilted his head and rolled his round eyes, let go of his lips with his thumb in his mouth, and called out in a clear and crisp child voice:

"Hello uncle and sister."

I laughed all of a sudden, and the "uncle" beside me also smiled and patted the child's little head.

The age difference between Hatake Sakumo and Natsuko is only a few years, but in the child's mouth, it is a generation difference.I think it would be even more awkward if the kid called him "brother".

After turning left and right, I heard the sound of running water, as if I was right next to me, but I didn’t see any source of water when I looked around. There was only a flat sandy land surrounded by ginkgo forests.

"This is... near the back mountain of the ninja school?" I asked.

In the past two months, the Ninja School has been the place I go to most often, but I have never crossed the school to the vicinity of the back mountain.Probably this is the training ground that is rumored to be favored by Jonin.

He was standing in front of me only a few steps away, there was really no smile in his eyes at the moment, his obsidian-like pupils were radiant and oppressive.The warmth and modesty of the previous moment disappeared like an illusion, and in the blink of an eye, a sharp and sharp aura exuded from his whole body.

It wasn't like the horrifying murderous look when he accidentally ran into him wielding a knife last November, but it also clearly conveyed his determination that he was not joking.

The short knife was out of its sheath, and the white cold light dazzled the eyes for a while, and a layer of white chakra appeared on the blade in an instant, surging like water ripples.

He looked at me intently and said:

"Shall we play a game?"

The sparring between two people is indeed the most efficient way to test each other's strength.

The war is imminent, but there is no observation period or Jnin practice period.

I took a few steps back, closed my eyes and recalled the moves on the scroll, and suddenly felt a steady stream of warm energy surging in my veins, even the pores on my body were screaming and full of energy.

Not to be outdone, I looked at him, I concentrated the chakra on the palm of my hand, ready to fight and said:

"it is good."