"Vigorous Paradise" contained many metaphors referencing real figures in the Shinobi World—specifically a certain steroid-abusing Kage and his rapping brother—but Kakashi didn't give a shit about it.
Didn't Jiraiya's "Gutsy Ninja Tale" have self-inserts too? Who cares about politics when the plot is this thick?
What Kakashi was actually worried about—terrified—was that he might never see Volume 2.
He had been waiting for the next Icha Icha next volume since he was eighteen. Jiraiya was technically "gathering material" abroad (peeping on bathhouses), but the writing speed was slower than a snail on tranquilizers.
What about Makoto's Vigorous an Paradise? Would Makoto still have the leisure and mood like during the Snow Country mission?
It might become a lost masterpiece!
...
A few days later.
Kakashi and several other Jonin gathered in the Hokage's office. The room was filled with smoke and tension.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind his desk, looking like he aged five years in five minutes.
He slapped a document on the table.
"Here is the participation list for the Chunin Exams."
Among the Five Great Shinobi Countries, only the Kazekage from the Sunagakure had notified them in advance.
The rest were all from smaller villages. The remaining participants were purely spectators who came to watch the excitement.
That was normal.
But now? The long-absent Kirigakure and the recently reformed Iwagakure were both participating.
This made Sarutobi Hiruzen sweat.
This wasn't the Boruto era where everyone was in peace, somewhat.
Having parts of three major villages and their Kage gathered in the Hidden Leaf Village was too dangerous.
When it was just Sunagakure, Hiruzen wasn't too worried. Sunagakure was broke and weak.
But the Iwa and Kiri were different.
One had just undergone a radical "socialist" revolution, and the other was still recovering from a civil war.
"Huh? Sandaime-sama, they're participating too?" Kakashi spotted a familiar name on the VIP list.
Amegakure Village: Makoto.
"Yes."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded without elaborating, shooting Kakashi a look that said shut the hell up.
After Kakashi brought back the intel about Hidan's Death Controlling Blood Possession, Hiruzen had locked that info down tight.
If the public knew there was an immortal psycho who could kill you just by licking your blood, mass panic would ensue.
"Who is it?" Might Guy leaned in, squinting at the list over Kakashi's shoulder.
"Amegakure... Makoto? I don't recognize him."
Guy scratched his bowl cut, uttered three words, and went back to doing push-ups in his mind.
Although Team Guy had been in the Land of Snow, they were mostly on the sidelines fighting fodder.
Plus, Guy had a medical condition where he couldn't remember faces unless they wore green spandex.
Makoto was just another NPC to him.
"Why are there so many people from Kiri and Iwa?"
Yuhi Kurenai widened her red eyes, looking at the dense list of names. "This feels like an invasion force."
"The Mizukage and Tsuchikage claim they suffered heavy losses in previous eras," Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, filling the room with smoke. "They say their new generation lacks combat experience. They want to use our exams as a meat-grinder for training. Whether they pass or die doesn't matter to them."
"The 'Bloody Mist' era and the Third Great War..." Asuma took a drag of his cigarette. "The reasoning makes sense, but it smells like bullshit. If we let that many foreign ninjas into the village, what if they join forces and riot?"
"I'll have the ANBU monitor everyone," Hiruzen said, tapping his fingers on the desk. "We'll analyze every Genin before they cross the border. If they are truly weak, we let them in."
"As for whether the Mizukage and the Tsuchikage will discover this and take offense—we'll apologize to them when the time comes."
Hiruzen was playing a dangerous game.
If Kirigakure and Iwagakure were sending large numbers of genin to participate in the Chunin Exams, and these were truly genin, any attempted riot in Konoha would likely result in heavy casualties.
While Jonin are the generals and Chunin are the captains, Genin are the future.
If a village loses too many Genin, it creates a massive power vacuum in ten years.
Hiruzen couldn't risk slaughtering Konoha's future just to prove a point.
So, he decided to proceed with paranoid caution.
"Find Jiraiya," Hiruzen ordered the ANBU shadows in the corner. "And try to find Tsunade. Tell them the village might be facing a crisis."
He knew Jiraiya would come.
Tsunade... well, she'd probably tell them to fuck off, but it was worth a shot.
Hiruzen's only consolation was the intelligence report on the "Council for Mutual Economic Assistance."
Iwagakure and Kirigakure were in bed together economically.
But Sunagakure hadn't joined that alliance yet.
That meant Sunagakure wasn't plotting with them.
...
Several days later.
Makoto and Konan arrived at the gates of Konoha.
Konan was wearing a simple straw hat and a travel cloak, disguised as the "secretary" to the Village Head.
The streets were packed.
The Iwa and Kiri delegations had arrived earlier, and the inns were overflowing.
Hiruzen's ANBU reported back: 'The visitors are indeed Genin. In fact, most of them sucks.'
Hiruzen had overthought it.
The mass participation was Makoto's idea.
He forced Iwa and Kiri to send their rookies to avoid the "Fourth War Syndrome"—where you have thousands of ninjas who only know how to throw a shuriken and then stand there shaking until they die.
He needed to harden the new generation!
Also, this was why he didn't tell the veteran Kage about the Otsutsuki yet. If you tell a bunch of hard-bitten soldiers that moon-people are coming, they'll just laugh at you.
You have to ease them into the apocalypse.
"It's really lively here," Konan remarked, looking at the bustling streets of Konoha.
It was so different from the gloomy, rain-soaked steel of Ame.
"Don't worry," Makoto chuckled softly. "Our place will become just as bustling in the future."
"A weak nation caught in the middle is a battlefield," he quoted. "But a strong nation in the middle? That's the heart of the world."
"Are you sure you don't want to join the fun?" Konan asked, tilting her head.
A small, playful smile touched her lips.
"If you need teammates, I can call Ajisai and you can register as a Genin."
"Is there any fun in bullying children?" Makoto deadpanned.
"You're not much older than them, are you?"
"..."
She had a point.
Temari was fifteen. Kabuto was in his twenties, masquerading as a forever-Genin.
The Chunin Exams weren't Little League; there was no strict age limit.
You could be a forty-year-old failure and still take the test.
"Better not," Makoto declined, watching a group of kids run past.
'I don't have Orochimaru's thick skin. Using Kage-level strength to beat up twelve-year-olds? That's just sad. I leave the grooming and bullying to the snake pervert.'