Konoha Notes.

Chapter 484 Titles

Chapter 484 Titles

Iruka has always been a person who doesn't hold grudges.

But occasionally, a little resentment would creep into my heart.

For example, the sentence he just said, "Anyway, you're alone too," was said so naturally, so matter-of-factly, as if Iruka Umino was destined to spend every night alone.

He was clearly trying to date.

He was promoted to Chunin at the age of fifteen. Although it was partly due to his experience in Kumogakure, his resume was already outstanding.

Most of the seniors at the Ninja Academy were only Chunin. Those who could rise to Jonin would not stay at the Ninja Academy for many years in an era that had only recently emerged from war.

Especially in the first few years, once you were promoted, you were basically running around doing missions.

Currently, the non-Chunin in the Ninja Academy is Ebisu, who is also a Special Jonin.

Therefore, he is somewhat deserving of the title "young and promising".

If it weren't for that date when they accidentally bumped into Naruto, Shikamaru, and Choji, and Naruto suddenly used his Sexy Jutsu...

Things should have gone smoothly.

Iruka turned his gaze to Naruto beside him. Naruto was discussing with Choji what they should buy later.

Shikamaru noticed it, and considering what had just happened, he seemed to understand the meaning of that gaze. His gaze drifted to the other side of the street.

Shuji had already left. Now, Iruka was leading the way, having just finished their afternoon combat training.

Therefore, the three Sand Village siblings who had their evening training suspended, along with Fu who excitedly joined the team, plus Naruto and the other two, made a total of eight people.

This feeling of having to take care of so many kids after get off work —

Iruka's resentment grew even stronger.

"Hey, hey, Iruka-sensei—" Naruto rubbed his hands together and came closer.

"What's wrong?" Iruka asked irritably.

"Could you lend me some money later?" Naruto grinned, rummaging in his pocket. "I don't have that much money with me; I need to buy lots of snacks."

"I can return it to you when I get home."

Before Iruka could speak, Temari said, "I have some money that Mr. Shuji left for his living expenses. You can use it first."

"Wait a minute," Shikamaru interjected, "We don't need to buy so much stuff. We should have enough pocket money."

Fu immediately responded, "Me too!"

Kankuro touched his clothes, looking a little embarrassed: "My money—I spent it on puppet parts a few days ago."

"

Gaara and Choji took out their pocket money.

Iruka watched from the side, and his slight resentment vanished. In its place was the involuntary satisfaction a teacher feels when they see their student behaving well.

"Since we're visiting Naruto's house today, it's only natural for adults to prepare a gift. You don't need to worry about that."

He asserted his authority as a teacher.

After that initial bit of emotion faded, Iruka also began to feel curious about the person Naruto now called "Dad."

He had only heard of the person's appearance: blond hair like Naruto's, but never his entire face was shown; he seemed to be injured.

Like most villagers who were unaware of the details, Iruka also believed that this was probably a guardian arranged by the village for the Jinchūriki.

As for why this particular time was chosen, it is puzzling, but since it was arranged by the village, there must be a reason for it.

However, looking at Naruto's current state...

That person must be a very good person.

With that thought in mind, Iruka rallied his spirits and walked to the front of the group, leading the children through the shopping street.

"Takoyaki! I want to buy some takoyaki!"

"Candied apples! I want candied apples too!"

"Choji said he wanted to try the new spicy potato chips—"

The sounds of people buying things rose and fell, but Iruka didn't take out his wallet; the students covered this small expense themselves.

Until we entered the largest shop in the village.

When the group stood on the street again, Iruka squeezed his visibly deflated wallet and remained silent for a moment.

I just received my salary at the beginning of the month —

Will I have to take on a few more commissions at the mission center in addition to my work at the Ninja Academy this month?

Temari noticed his movement and said softly, "Shuji-san actually instructed—"

"It's...it's alright," Iruka forced a smile. "It's just a small matter."

3

"I—I'm an adult who has been working at the Ninja Academy for three years."

3

Just a small expense —

This idea shattered completely when he saw Naruto's new house.

When he saw Naruto's new detached house on a bustling street, he finally couldn't hold back his tears.

Mr. Umino still lives in the ninja apartment.

"This is it!"

Naruto had already rushed to the door. He took out his key and awkwardly turned the lock. The door opened a crack, then was pushed open completely.

A person was standing in the entryway.

He has blond hair, wears a dark green Jonin vest, and has a wolf-shaped mask covering the upper half of his face.

"Didn't Brother Shuji say that Dad would be busy today?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide.

"The work has just finished." Minato ruffled his son's hair. "Shuji is inside."

His gaze passed over Naruto and landed on Iruka.

"You're Iruka-sensei, right? Naruto has always been taken care of by you."

Naruto immediately turned around and pointed to the various bags in everyone's hands: "Iruka-sensei bought us so many presents!"

"And also, Iruka-sensei often treats me to ramen."

Minato laughed: "That's wonderful."

Iruka stood there. He watched Minato bend down to take the things from Naruto's hands, looked into those same deep blue eyes as Naruto's, and saw that natural intimacy.

Suddenly I understood.

Minato Uzumaki was not the guardian the village found for Naruto.

He is Naruto's family, or rather, he is Naruto's father.

With this thought in mind, Iruka followed the water gate into the house, somewhat bewildered.

Shuji was sitting in the living room, holding a cup of tea. When they came in, carrying a bunch of things, his gaze swept over Temari's face, and after receiving a shake of the girl's head, he turned to Iruka.

"You're richer than I thought, Iruka. Do you know that Mr. Uzumaki works in the Hokage's office and are trying to bribe him?"

"We really seized a great opportunity."

"You didn't even treat me, the person who helped you get promoted, with this level of respect."

"Was it because I've been too cold-hearted in the past?"

"Since we're talking privately now, let me tell you something extra."

"I'm a collector too."

Iruka stammered, "This—you, Captain Shuuji, this is yours—"

You forced me to come here.

"Don't mind what Shuuji said." Minato patted Iruka on the shoulder. "He's not in the Hokage's office right now, so he can't do anything to you, Iruka-sensei."

"Think it over carefully, Iruka." Shuji picked up his teacup and gently blew on the steam. "I might be spending a long time at the Ninja Academy, at least a month or two."

Iruka's mind was a complete mess.

Naruto looked at them, puzzled. "Dad, Shuji-nii, what are you talking about?"

Shikamaru silently turned his face away. This man, as always, was as wicked as ever.

Minato gestured for the children to sit down: "The food will be ready soon."

"If you don't mind, let's eat some of the snacks everyone brought first?"

The table wasn't big enough, and the sofa wasn't big enough to seat everyone.

So Minato took out cushions, and the seven children and three adults sat down in a circle.

Fu immediately started to dismantle things.

"Wait a moment." Choji raised his hand, his expression unusually serious. "I have a somewhat immature opinion regarding the order in which we should eat the snacks. If no one has any other suggestions, please proceed with my plan."

Minato laughed: "In this respect, Choji is even more serious than Mr. Choza."

"This is a sign of respect for food," Choji said solemnly.

So for the next ten minutes, under Choji's direction, the children laid out the snacks one by one, following the principle of alternating between sweet and salty and from light to heavy flavors.

Naruto tried to sneak a piece of it several times, but Choji's small eyes immediately widened in anger.

"Disrupting the order is a desecration of food!"

"Okay, okay—" Naruto awkwardly withdrew his hand.

When all the snacks were finally spread out on the table, Naruto remembered the question from earlier.

"What kind of work does Dad do?"

Minato immediately became interested: "Perfect timing, Iruka-sensei is here too, we have some ideas."

He took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and laid it in the gap between the snacks.

There were more than a dozen lines of text written on the paper, each line being a very long string, which looked like some kind of name or title.

Iruka leaned closer and read out the first line: "Unparalleled Battlefield Decisiveness and Command: The Instantaneous Badge —"

He looked up, his face full of confusion.

"What is this?"

Shikamaru pondered the pop-up terms: "Are they badges that recognize tactical abilities?"

Minato immediately exclaimed, "Shikamaru-kun can understand, right?"

"No, no—" Shikamaru felt that if he nodded, he might encounter some serious trouble.

Shuji's voice came from the side: "These are the titles you might need to wear in the future, besides rank titles like Chunin and Genin."

Iruka exclaimed "Huh?" again.

He continued reading. The second line was the badge for outstanding squad leadership and coordinated combat command; the third line was the badge for exceptional enemy reconnaissance and intelligence analysis; and the fourth line was the badge for masterful trap setting and environmental utilization.

The names in each line are ridiculously long, and the words used are increasingly exaggerated.

"What do you mean by this?" Iruka couldn't help but ask.

"It's part of the new evaluation system," Minato said enthusiastically. "Currently, the standards for ordinary rank from Chunin to Jonin are not clear."

"Therefore, we are considering introducing a more detailed ability evaluation, with the quantity and quality of badges earned serving as an important reference for advancement."

As Iruka stared at the ridiculously long names on the paper, imagining himself introducing himself as "I am Umino Iruka, who possesses the badge of unparalleled battlefield decisiveness and command." Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Well, this is naturally a decision for the village to make—"

Although he felt that the whole concept, starting with its name, had an indescribable meaning, Iruka, as a Chunin teacher, still maintained a cautious attitude.

Shuji glanced at him: "This matter concerns me personally. If I don't speak up now, I won't have another chance."

"—Captain Shuji, don't you have any ideas?" Iruka believed that Shuji couldn't possibly be unaware of the biggest problem here.

"I'm already a Jonin, what does this have to do with me?" Shuji said indifferently.

Minato turned to the children: "You can share your thoughts now."

Kankuro chewed on a senbei (rice cracker), feeling incredibly grateful to be a Sunagakure ninja. These abstract nicknames seemed like something only Konoha had to do with him.

Shuji's voice rang out again, shattering Kankuro's relief: "The badge itself will not be awarded solely by Konoha."

"The initial plan is to establish a Chunin professional skills exam through the Joint Affairs Bureau. Badges will be awarded to the winners and will be available to all ninjas who have joined a ninja village."

What he didn't say was that using this as a standard for promotion was merely an internal decision within Konoha.

But once Konoha follows through with the follow-up measures, will other ninja villages follow suit in terms of their requirements for honor? In peacetime, the rate of Jonin dying in battle is much slower than in wartime.

After all, the main purpose of putting the matter in the Joint Affairs Bureau is to increase the difficulty of obtaining the badge.

And as a broadcaster of the event, the goal is to make this matter open and transparent.

Kankuro dropped the senbei from his hand onto his knee.

He slowly turned his head to look at Temari, his eyes conveying a meaning so clear it was almost tangible: Once you're at the secret service, you must find a way.

Temari returned a glance. That glance seemed to say: I'm only sure I'm going, and even if I do, I'll start from the bottom. What can I possibly do?

Besides, the people in the other ninja village offices aren't stupid; they'd definitely have objections if they saw those names. Minato continued enthusiastically, "We're still in the preliminary discussion stage."

"I'm very confident in the name, but I still want to get everyone's opinions. After all, we'll need to get the approval of other ninja villages in the end."

Shuji said, "Feel free to express your opinions; after all, it's not really our business."

Temari suddenly realized what "we" meant.

Those who truly make decisions in the office are all Jonin!

Nara Shikamaru realized this as well. He might not know about others, but didn't he know what kind of person the head of the Joint Affairs Bureau was? That Hatake Kakashi was second only to the person in front of him in terms of wickedness.

The best chance to prevent these titles from becoming a reality is now.

Shikamaru looked at the people around him.

He saw Temari's eyes, and he saw Kankuro's eyes.

Gaara seemed indifferent, Choji was still eating, and Fu and Naruto seemed quite satisfied with everything.

So he poked Iruka.

Now, it's just the four of us who can do it.

Iruka felt the touch on his arm and turned to look at Shikamaru. The boy winked at him, then glanced at Temari and Kankuro.

At that moment, Iruka suddenly understood.

This is an alliance that transcends village origin and age.

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