Naruto: As a genin, I just want to live a normal life.

Page 161

Shirahoshi rubbed her nose, thinking to herself that Mikoto had changed so much. When Tsunade got out of the car and saw Shirahoshi's state, she couldn't help but mentally mutter to herself, "What a pathetic brat! She's already attracted to something so simple?"

Unbeknownst to her, Shirahoshi's youthful appearance made Tsunade feel as if she were a generation younger than him: the Sannin were thirty-one years old this year, and the Third Hokage was fifty.

Rope Tree nervously adjusted her mask, wondering why her sister had come. A glance around revealed the other inmates had stopped working. Lowering her voice, she snapped, "Do you want to go to solitary confinement?!"

"Get to work!!"

Upon hearing this, Sai trembled, sweat pouring down his forehead. Seeing this, Naruto couldn't help but recall asking Sai what had happened in the solitary confinement room, but Sai refused to say anything.

"Who's afraid of you! My teacher and Granny Tsunade are here! Do you think you can still be so arrogant?!"

Naruto put his hands on his hips and started to act tough, while Nawaki and a group of prison guards stared at him, raising several pistols and pointing them at him.

Naruto: “…”

“Private Marseille!!”

“An apology is enough, what’s the point of a warning? Let’s spend the night in solitary confinement,” said the short, woodworm-like creature.

"Eh?!"

"Rest in peace, Naruto. I hope you have sweet dreams tonight." Sai patted Naruto on the shoulder, his voice filled with fear.

"Eh?!?!" Naruto was startled by Sai's words and began to feel scared.

But soon after, Jiraiya and his group slid down from the forest floor high up to the mining area on the edge of the mountain below.

"Why are our Konoha ninjas in your hands?"

As the team leader, Tsunade was the first to ask a question.

Rope Tree tried his best to calm the natural pressure from his bloodline, straightened his body, adjusted his mood, and said seriously, "Because they violated the laws of our Loulan."

"He is to undergo labor reform for one month."

"We will release them in a month."

“One month.” Tsunade frowned, looking at Minato and the others who seemed too ashamed to show their faces. “How long have you been held captive?”

"..."

The three members of the Cloud Squad looked at their teacher, Shiranui Cloud, who had no choice but to raise his hand: "It's been half a month."

"..."

Minato felt a burning gaze on his back and knew it was from Choza Akimichi, Shimi Aburame, and Kakashi: "One week."

Sai sighed: "Five days."

"Who are you?" Tsunade nodded at the first two, but when it came to Sai, she couldn't help but complain.

Upon closer inspection, Tsunade noticed the Konoha headband the other person was wearing and frowned slightly: "I don't recall the village sending anyone else on the list. Are you from Root?"

"Uh... this..."

"Grandma Tsunade, Jiraiya-sensei, it's me! I'm Naruto Uzumaki!!" Naruto ran up to Tsunade, completely unaware that Tsunade's face had darkened, and kept pointing at himself as he introduced himself.

"Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto? Wait! Then aren't you that one..."

Before Jiraiya could finish speaking, Tsunade punched Naruto on the head, instantly creating a human-shaped crater in the ground, and Naruto fell into it.

"Who are you calling the mother-in-law?!"

"I'm only thirty-one years old!!!"

"There's no difference, right?"

"Ok?"

"I'm sorry," Bai Xing said calmly.

"Hmph." Tsunade also noticed the boy's situation. His name and appearance seemed to be related to Minato, and seeing Minato's worried expression, she made a preliminary judgment.

However, she needs to find a way to rescue the people from the Loulan guards.

"Hey. You guy standing there trying to look cool."

"Uh. Me?" Nawaki looked around and pointed to himself.

"Who else but you?" Tsunade said, hands on her hips. "How about we settle this with a duel?"

"There are four of us. You can pick any one of them, as long as you win."

"You should release our Konoha ninja."

"..." Rope Tree fell silent, thinking to himself that he didn't have that authority.

This rule is a hard and fast rule, set by the dean.

According to the dean, even if Queen Sally or her disciple Honglian were to go to prison, they would still have to serve their full sentence; the only difference would be that they wouldn't have to live in a prison cell.

Seeing Nawaki's silent expression, Shirahoshi couldn't suppress her teasing desire and abruptly spoke:

"What, are you scared?"

"The ninjas of Loulan don't seem to be anything special after all~~~"

Rope Tree: ?

Although Nawaki hadn't seen Shirahoshi for a long time and didn't know when Shirahoshi had returned to the village, he was actually somewhat moved.

but now......

"it is good."

"I promise you."

"You're choosing one out of four people, right?"

“That’s right!” Tsunade nodded, thinking to herself that young people are indeed easily provoked. All four of them, except for Shirahoshi, are Jonin; any one of the three could easily crush this guy…

"I choose the man with short black hair."

Shirahoshi: "......"

Mikoto: "..."

Jiraiya: "..."

Tsunade: "??????"

"Furthermore, what if Konoha loses?" Nawaki wasn't stupid; he was being provoked, and naturally, he wanted to make the bet fair as well.

Chapter 129 Sage Mode... Wood Release?!

The land of rivers, an unnamed mining area.

All the labor camp inmates climbed to the top, turning the construction site for transporting mineral materials into a duel between Shirahoshi and Rope Tree.

"we have a deal."

"If you lose, you have to hug that arrogant woman and do a hundred squats."

"..."

What kind of punishment is this?

Bai Xing thought to herself, "This is what I'm thinking."

At this moment, Rope Tree clenched his fists, loosened his joints, and finally took a deep breath:

"Are you ready?"

"casual."

Above, the rest area on the outer edge of the mountain.

Jiraiya was grinding his teeth so hard he almost broke them. He had no idea why that brown-haired kid would come up with such an idea.

hula-

Jiraiya glanced to the side and immediately saw Uchiha Mikoto, who looked just like Kushina and Paprika in their Red Hot Chili Pepper mode from anime: What a terrifying woman!

"Kill you, kill you, kill you..."

As Mikoto muttered to herself, Tsunade seemed to sense something, and a hint of worry flashed in her eyes.

I hope you are not a rope tree.

Rather than seeing Nawaki become a traitorous ninja who betrayed Konoha, she would prefer that Nawaki, like these convicts, was simply working for Loulan for free.

"So."

"I am coming."

Nawaki was looking forward to Shirahoshi's improvement in strength, and also wondered if his own strength would shock Shirahoshi.

As he spoke, Rope Tree raised his right hand and quickly formed a hand seal.

"One-handed hand seal? This technique seems to be..." Minato Namikaze, who was watching the battle, exclaimed in shock.

Not far away, upon hearing Minato's exclamation, Jiraiya gave the answer: "It's the Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

"Impossible! The Water Dragon Bullet only has four marks?!" Kakashi exclaimed in shock.

Let alone young Kakashi, even Naruto was shocked, saying, "How come I remember there were forty, forty-something seals?!"

"Forty-four," Sai said, stating the number of hand seals required for a complete Water Dragon Bullet.

Tsunade glanced at Naruto and the others, then continued looking down, saying, "The Water Dragon Bullet does indeed require forty-four hand seals. However, as long as one's mastery of Water Release is high enough, the number of hand seals required for a jutsu can naturally be reduced..."

But four handprints with one hand is still too exaggerated.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

As the brown-haired youth finished speaking, it was as if clear water was gushing up from the ground around his feet, gradually rising.

"A B-rank ninjutsu right from the start?" Shirahoshi was sweating, thinking to himself, "Is this guy really that serious? I'll expose his true colors soon enough."

—And incidentally, to test the Rope Tree's loyalty.

In the waterless area, the water dragon projectiles gathered slowly, but it only took two or three seconds for the dragon's head to lunge towards Shirahoshi.

At this moment, Shirahoshi also completed the hand seals for Earth Release: "Earth Release: Earth Pillar Technique!"

Bai Xing slapped the ground with both hands.