Alliance Year 2, February 7th.
Today was the day when Alliance City opened to the public. The families of the participants and the spectators who had purchased tickets to watch the event in person could now enter Alliance City.
The hotels within Alliance City had already recruited a large number of staff to be prepared for this occasion.
At eight in the morning, the portal leading to Alliance City opened, and people poured in like a stream. People from both worlds rushed eagerly into Alliance City.
Meanwhile, in the sky and on the sea to the north of Alliance City, numerous airships and people arriving on sea trains were coming in waves.
Alliance City quickly became bustling with activity.
People curiously asked which individuals were the participants, eager to see how strong those who had obtained eight gym badges were.
At the same time, the exchange team from Konoha had also arrived at Alliance City, with Hyuga Hiashi being one of the members.
However, the Konoha exchange team didn't seem to be in a particularly good mood, appearing somewhat heavy-hearted upon their arrival.
But soon, the scenery of Alliance City drew their attention.
"So many people!"
"Is that the main point? Look over there, there are even angels, fish-men, mermaids, and people with really long arms and legs..."
"Do you feel that people in this world all have exaggerated physiques? They don't seem like normal people at all."
"Maybe to them, they are normal."
"So many Pokémon, and so many that I've never seen before. They all seem to have reached their final evolutions."
"Everyone looks so happy here. This world seems very peaceful."
The fifty members of the Konoha exchange team felt mixed emotions as they looked at the sights within Alliance City.
Simply put, they were envious.
They envied the people here who could live in a world without war and chaos, without feeling the pain and pressure of death from warfare.
Anyone could see that the people in this world were living happily, enjoying peaceful daily life alongside Pokémon.
Hyuga Hiashi looked at this beautiful world, this harmonious scene, and a glimmer of light shone in his pale eyes.
Yes, this was the kind of place where the proud Hyuga clan should live.
Only a beautiful place like this was worth protecting by the Hyuga clan.
Under Hiashi's wide robes, his fists clenched tightly. His journey here had been made under immense pressure.
As the head of the Hyuga clan and a representative of the main family, Hiashi was typically not allowed to leave Konoha. This wasn't due to the decisions of Konoha's higher-ups, but rather the internal policies of the Hyuga clan.
However, this time, Hiashi insisted on joining the exchange team and coming to Alliance City.
When Hiruzen first heard that the head of the Hyuga clan wanted to personally join the exchange team, he was quite surprised.
In this time of impending war, the heads of the major clans were all extremely busy. Who would have the time to leave their clan and travel to another world to watch a tournament?
Even the Sarutobi clan had only sent Asuma.
Hiashi didn't know if this unusual behavior of his would arouse the suspicions of Hiruzen and the other leaders of Konoha, but opportunities like this were rare, and he had to seize it.
All of this...
Was for the purpose of finding Dak or a high-ranking member of the Alliance, so that they could discuss the possibility of the Hyuga clan relocating to Pokémon Island.
Within the exchange team.
"Pancham, look quickly, that's what you'll become in the future!"
Asuma caught sight of a tall black-and-white figure out of the corner of his eye.
He turned to look and immediately recognized it as the evolved form of Pancham—Pangoro.
Nowadays, Asuma's thoughts were no longer entirely focused on Kurenai.
Pancham held at least a quarter of his thoughts, while Kurenai took up a third, and the rest was for everyone else.
Although Kurenai was the one he wanted to always be with, and was very important.
It was Pancham who was constantly by his side. Even during bathroom breaks, they would go together—such a friendship could only be understood by men.
Precisely because Pancham held such an important place in his life, Asuma had spent a lot of effort studying Pancham's species traits, and could immediately recognize Pangoro as Pancham's evolution.
"Pancha?"
Pancham himself didn't even know that was his evolution.
He popped his small head out from Asuma's chest pocket and looked over. Seeing Pangoro's imposing figure made Pancham's eyes shine.
He could hardly imagine himself becoming that cool in the future.
Excited, Pancham jumped off Asuma, and spun around with a Leaf Hurricane on the spot, drawing the attention of some passing Sky Island ladies.
"That Pangoro seems way too big, doesn't it?"
Asuma frowned as he noticed something unusual.
According to the Pokédex, the average height for Pangoro should be about 2.1 meters, but this particular Pangoro was at least three meters tall.
"Asuma, have you noticed that the Pokémon living here all seem to be larger than the average height stated in the Pokédex?"
Kurenai's comment confirmed Asuma's suspicions.
"Yeah, I noticed too." Asuma nodded and adopted his usual calm demeanor from missions, observing his surroundings. He quickly noticed, "Look at those people, they're also taller than us. Maybe that's just the style of another world?"
Asuma and Kurenai's discussion soon reached the ears of other members of the exchange team.
In no time, they too began to notice the peculiarity.
After all, all the members in the exchange team were at least at the level of chunin, and they had enough perception to notice these differences.
"Maybe we can ask the Alliance members about this issue when we meet them. For now, let's keep moving."
Asuma was the representative and captain of this exchange team.
He had the highest authority in the team.
Based on the instructions from Hiruzen, their first task was to head to the Alliance base and meet the members of the Alliance before splitting up for their own activities.
"Hello there!"
"Hey, your clothes look like those of ninjas. Which sea are you from?"
"Wow, it's a Froakie! That's one of the starters of the Alliance's Nine Families. You'll definitely become a powerful Trainer someday."
"You must be new here. How about a guidebook for Alliance City? This is the only one in the city that's so detailed. It's just 5 gold."
The members of the Konoha exchange team walked down the streets leading to the Alliance base, their unified ninja attire and headbands making them very conspicuous.
Many curious people greeted them enthusiastically.
Such warmth and friendliness was something the ninjas from Konoha had never experienced before, and for a moment, they were at a loss.
Especially the cool-looking Kakashi, who, due to having a Froakie—one of the Alliance's Nine Families starters—received a lot of attention from Trainers.
This left Kakashi quite flustered. He was not much of a talker to begin with, and was now extremely socially anxious, frequently waving his hand in silence.
"Masana, use Psychic to grab that idiot Naruto!"
"Mana~"
At that moment, a voice came from the side of the street, causing Hiashi to pause.
He immediately turned his head to look, and sure enough, he saw his eldest daughter, Hinata.
Hinata looked quite different from before. No longer timid, she was dressed up as a little princess every day by her family, and she seemed more confident—even somewhat bold?
Of course, spending every day with the children of the Monkey family, how could she not be influenced?
Maybe she should be called Monkey D. Hinata now.
Beside Hinata was a Fighting/Psychic Pokémon, Medicham.
Ahead of Hinata and Medicham, two small figures were running wildly.
One of them was familiar to most of the Konoha exchange team members, as they had all survived the Nine-Tails incident eight years ago.
Uzumaki Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of Konoha, the child called a 'demon fox.'
Moreover, among the exchange team, many, including Kakashi, knew Naruto's true identity beyond just being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Especially those who had survived the night of the Nine-Tails attack and knew Naruto's parents.
After all, the last name Uzumaki, paired with blonde hair, and being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—anyone familiar with Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina would have recognized whose child Naruto was.
Beside Naruto was what seemed to be his Pokémon partner.
When the Konoha members saw what kind of Pokémon Naruto had, their expressions turned somewhat peculiar.
It was a Vulpix.
And Vulpix evolves into Ninetales.
"Ah, Father."
Hinata had been chasing Naruto with Medicham, but when she suddenly saw the Konoha group, she quickly reined in her behavior and immediately reverted to the demure young lady, Hyuga Hinata.
"Hmm, Hinata, you seem to be doing well."
Hiashi originally intended to say 'you've changed a lot,' but looking at Hinata, he changed his wording.
"Yes, everyone takes good care of me."
This was something Hinata truly meant.
If this had been in the past, she probably would have said it just to maintain the reputation and basic manners of the Hyuga family.
"It seems so. Since that's the case, I can rest easy. Hinata, can you ask your grandfather when he'll be free so we can have a meal together?"
The grandfather Hiashi referred to was, of course, Garp.
However, not many in Konoha knew that Garp was now Hinata's grandfather, unlike the fact that many knew Naruto had a powerful grandfather named Zephyr.
This was because the matters back then had only occurred within the Hyuga household.
Although it had caused quite a stir, outsiders basically didn't know what had happened.
(End of Chapter)
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