"Bee, what does the Eight-Tails think about this?"
Hearing the Fourth Raikage's question, Killer Bee paused and then said:
"Little Eight says the Great Katsuyu Sage is incredibly powerful. If what Yugito says is true, then Kumogakure shouldn't consider fighting Shishou. We can't win. We should focus on forming an alliance."
"The three Great Sages of the ninja world's Sage Regions are top-tier beings, even the Sage of Six Paths couldn't do much against them."
"Even the tailed beasts have to behave in front of these three Great Sages."
Hearing Killer Bee relay this, the Fourth Raikage slumped powerlessly into his seat.
The legendary Great Katsuyu Sage was Shishou's summoning beast, and he could summon her full form. It was almost too absurd to believe.
How could anyone else even stand a chance?
Everyone knew that the famed Tsunade of Konoha could only summon a small clone of Katsuyu, and even that had made her one of the Legendary Sannin.
After a moment of despair, the Fourth Raikage regained his resolve and looked at Dodai:
"Go inform those war-hungry elders that anyone who suggests going after the Akatsuki should handle it themselves."
"Kumogakure won't be getting involved."
When Yugito said she couldn't defeat the Akatsuki leader, the Fourth Raikage immediately realized that the leader must have become much stronger in the past two years.
So, he abandoned any thoughts of dealing with the Akatsuki.
Seeing Dodai nod, the Fourth Raikage continued, "We need to expedite the research on the dimensional chakra cannon, improve the chakra cannon, and accelerate the research on the annihilation sealing talisman."
"Whatever resources you need, just let me know."
Aside from a few Six Paths ninja tools and the deceased Gold and Silver Brothers, Kumogakure didn't have many bloodline limits, so they had to focus on chakra tools.
"Yes, Raikage-sama."
...
Konoha.
After school in the afternoon.
After seeing Ino and Hinata home, Shishou went to the forest in Konoha where he had arranged to meet Tenten.
"Shishou, over here!"
Tenten sat on a large tree, waving at Shishou and calling his name loudly.
Climbing up the tree to sit beside her, Shishou asked with a smile, "When does your graduation exam start?"
Swinging her legs, Tenten casually threw a shuriken at a target on the ground, hitting it perfectly after a beautiful arc.
Seeing Tenten's skill with shuriken, Shishou sighed inwardly.
Tenten had great talent with ninja tools and space-time techniques, but without a proper mentor, she would just be an unnoticed green leaf to highlight the main trio.
In the original story, aside from the main characters and the big villains, everyone else was just background.
Whether it was Neji, who could master the clan's secret techniques on his own, or Lee, who worked hard on the Eight Gates, or any of the other Konoha 12, they were all the same.
If Shishou hadn't awakened his system, he might have ended up following Orochimaru's path.
Unaware of Shishou's thoughts, Tenten continued swinging her legs, revealing a bit of her fair skin, and said, "The graduation exam starts on June 10th."
"Do you know what the exam will cover?"
"No."
"Tenten, you'll definitely pass."
"Of course, but I don't know how well I'll do. I heard that only top performers get assigned to strong jōnin. Not only is it safer during missions, but you also learn more."
"Not necessarily. According to Konoha's tradition, teams usually have one genius, one underachiever, and one average student."
The distribution method Shishou mentioned was an old tradition in Konoha.
Whether it was the Sannin, or the team of Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, or the future team of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.
They were all assigned this way.
Tenten's generation would naturally follow the same pattern, with top student Neji paired with underachiever Lee, and then Tenten, who was somewhere in the middle.
Although they would be led by elite jōnin Might Guy, Neji and Tenten wouldn't learn much from him.
Only Lee, who followed Guy in training the Eight Gates, would benefit greatly.
Tenten had to practice her shuriken skills on her own, and Neji had to master the Hyuga clan's techniques on his own.
Of course, this wasn't Might Guy's fault, as he specialized in taijutsu.
Guy followed the path of Strong Fist, while Neji followed Gentle Fist, which were both forms of taijutsu but very different.
Teaching Tenten shuriken techniques was out of the question.
Hearing Shishou's explanation of team distribution, Tenten imitated an adult's manner and rubbed her chin, saying uncertainly, "So, Shishou, does that mean it doesn't really matter if I work hard or not?"
Shishou smiled, "Who knows about these things."
"Never mind."
Tenten shrugged, jumped down from the tree, and shouted, "Shishou, spar with me!"
Although she was a bit anxious about the future team assignments, the optimistic Tenten focused more on the present. As long as she continued to improve her skills, it didn't matter who she was teamed up with.
Shishou grabbed a small branch, jumped down from the tree, and said, "What if you start crying after I beat you?"
"Tsk... Ah, you sneak attacked!"
Tenten was about to speak when Shishou tapped her hand with the branch, making her glare at him playfully.
Shishou shrugged, "Enemies won't give you time to prepare."
Knowing she couldn't out-argue Shishou, Tenten wrinkled her cute nose, took out two wooden kunai, and charged at him.
"Ow, that hurts..."
"What's wrong, are you going to cry?"
"No way, I'm going to become a strong kunoichi like Lady Tsunade."
"Really? Then you'll have to compete with her someday to see who's more like a ninja."
"...It feels like you're saying something strange."
"...Only people who are strange themselves think others are saying strange things."
"..."
After sparring for a while, their match ended with Tenten's defeat.
Tenten's hands were covered with red marks from Shishou's branch, making it look like she had been bitten by mosquitoes.
As Shishou held her small hands to heal her injuries, Tenten blushed deeply, feeling both shy and embarrassed.
Shy because Shishou was holding her hands.
Embarrassed because even though she was a year ahead of him, she couldn't beat him, which frustrated her.
Seeing her expression, Shishou chuckled and said, "Don't feel discouraged. In this world, very few can beat me."
"Boasting!"
"You'll see in the future."
"I'll be waiting."
**********
This fanfiction is complete on my Pa treon. If you want to read it, you can find it at patreo n.com Betek.