Chapter 388: A Procession

Rei sat on a roof of a house, blending in with the hundreds of other Konoha ninjas while looking at the street leading from the Hokage Tower towards the arena where the finals would take place.

The street was full of civilians standing on the left and right sides, eagerly watching the procession that was currently going on.

This was Tsunade's idea on how to properly greet the foreign Kages and show them and their villages respect. Doing it separately for each of them when they arrived in Konoha would have been a bother so this way, everybody would be announced and introduced to the crowd while walking from the Hokage Tower towards the arena.

It did wonders for the Kages' feelings of self-importance.

The Raikage... Rei had to sigh and shake his head in exasperation as the massive musclehead soaked the attention of the crowd, visibly feeling smug all the while Killer B was beside him, rapping and 'dancing' his way through the procession.

Rei had no idea which one of them was the bigger clown.

Sure, the civilians were finding them cool but... he wondered why the two were not feeling even a shred of embarrassment.

From what Rei heard, Tsunade had to let him go first in the procession because he wouldn't have it any other way. Fortunately, the Tsuchikage had a bit more political understanding and that made him reserved about this procession so he didn't demand to go first too.

The midget Tsuchikage walked silently, not bothering to greet the crowd but Rei noticed he was a bit straighter and his nose was just a tad bit held higher than usual as he strutted through the street alongside his guards.

The next leader was a shock for everyone gathered who didn't have previous intel. The man who came out of the Hokage Tower next, walking like a snake stalking his prey with a smirk on his face as the crowd booed and jeered, was Orochimaru in his role as the Otokage.

Because of the laws that safeguarded the visiting Kages, he couldn't really be touched despite his status as a rogue ninja. It would have brought a lot of problems for Konoha if he died inside of the village during this event.

Tsunade found it funny that he had the balls to show up in his capacity as Otokage but since he did, she would welcome him with open arms and a promise of removing his manhood if he tried something.

Both just cordially smiled at each other, both knowing Orochimaru showed up only because he wanted to 'try something'. But at least his arrival was peaceful because neither wanted to break the appearances.

As such, here he was, walking through the crowd of angry people and seeming to enjoy every second of it.

To be fair, Orochimaru mostly ignored the crowd and with the corner of his eyes looked towards the balcony where Konoha clan heads were gathered. There, Hiruzen Sarutobi was trying to combust him with his gaze with the sheer rage it conveyed.

No wonder the Snake Sannin had the time of his life.

There was a reason why Tsunade let these three go first and the reason became apparent when the next group appeared from the Hokage tower.

Pakura with grumpy Sasori beside her, acting as her guard, Ringo with Raiga, and Shikaku, guarded by no one since there were hundreds of Konoha shinobi all around, walked out side by side.

The crowd raged in excitement, applauding the loudest simply because this was Konoha so most of them were Konoha's civilians and the Hokage was walking in front of them.

Shikaku was surprisingly a very well-liked Hokage by both ninjas and civilians. A part of it was Tsunade's reforms and the bit of credit he got for enacting them as his Daimyo wanted but other than that, Shikaku really tried to be a good leader and it was felt by Konoha's inhabitants.

Neither of these three Kages showed any visible reaction to the crowd's loud cheering though.

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Ringo looked fed-up, barely holding herself from scowling as Raiga boredly followed her, Pakura was too serious for her own good, showing a strong front for the crowd while Sasori was visibly annoyed, and Shikaku... he just sluggishly walked forward, his head dropping low every so often as if he was about to fall asleep.

It was the ninjas, especially the experienced veterans who understood how politics worked and how they affected their work and the dynamics between the villages, that looked shocked when the three leaders appeared side by side.

It was a clear message of their upcoming alliance and that spelled future conflict. And if the majority of Konoha ninjas were shocked, the other foreign ninjas were pale as snow and shitting their pants.

Rei inwardly snickered, knowing exactly which 'civilians' were just infiltrators from Kumo and Iwa. Their expressions were priceless as they realized they might be fucked.

Unfortunately for them, it was too late to call off their plan and their respective leaders were already almost near the arena. Even if Tsuchikage and Raikage were informed of this and got spooked, they had to attend the Chunin Exam finals. They had no time scrambling in order to change the plan, much less fully call it off at this stage.

Naturally, the entire procession was just one big farce.

Tsunade simply wanted to show that Konoha is the 'bigger man' and can show respect to the other Kages. No other village had such a grand welcome for the visiting Kages during their own Chunin Exams either.

In short, it was also a flex.

Tsunade was subtly showing to foreigners that Konoha was better than them. That it was a 'good' village.

Considering she was currently seated on a balcony belonging to a luxurious restaurant with many visiting Daimyos as they watched the procession... There certainly was merit in keeping up these appearances.

Unsurprisingly, neither the Daimyo of Lightning nor the Daimyo of Earth showed up. But... who cared, right?

Frankly, Rei knew Pakura and Ringo should be offended by this move but he knew they wouldn't care. Kiri and Suna were always more secretive in nature. They did not care much for prestige. They had their reputation and one procession would not affect that.

They just found the entire thing bothersome to the extreme.

...

The procession finally ended and what followed was an hour full of people moving to the arena and finding seats while Daimyos used a special entrance to get to the VIP area that also served as a restaurant in case they got hungry during the matches.

Kages were already seated in their own area, Tsuchikage stoic and Raigake disgruntled. They did not appreciate it when the Mizukage, Kazekage, and Hokage showed up together.

Rei sat with Konan in the VIP area for Daimyos. She was not officially a Kage so she didn't go and sit with them despite being the representative of Uzushio. It was also a bit of security assurance for Tsunade.

After all, if the Daimyos got hurt in the upcoming upheaval, it would be bad for Konoha even if it came out of it unscathed. Konan was mostly there to protect them.

When everybody was seated, Tsunade finally stood up, slowly trailed her gaze over the crowd until it quieted down, and then she smiled before exclaiming,

"Let the Konoha's Chunin Exam finals begin!"

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