Chapter 175 : Becoming A Team Lead JōNin To Take The Sunagakure ChūNin Exam
Tsunade thought about it carefully, and finally came to a conclusion.
"But the village can’t officially support this," she said.
Although Sasuke had his own reasons, there was no way Konoha could openly endorse his actions—especially since he had gone to Orochimaru. In any other village, that alone would have labeled Sasuke a traitor.
In Konoha, however, Tsunade hadn’t branded Sasuke as a rogue ninja, largely because of Naruto’s influence.
Riku smiled. "Then treat him the way you were treated back then."
Tsunade had indeed wanted to do so, but it was difficult to justify that choice to the two Hokage advisors and Danzo.
Still, that was a burden the Third Hokage should have handled. It wasn’t something Tsunade should be stuck with now.
Unlike during the Third Hokage’s tenure, power under Tsunade was far more centralized. The influence once held by the Hokage advisors and Danzo had been significantly reined in by her.
However, since this was a matter concerning the Uchiha clan, it would still need to be discussed with them.
But just looking at Riku now, Tsunade made her decision.
Riku was no longer part of Team 7. He didn’t need to follow them on missions anymore.
After leaving the Hokage Building, Riku returned directly to the Senju clan’s hidden chamber to continue studying.
Truthfully, he didn’t want to get involved in Sasuke’s situation.
For the past year, Riku had secluded himself in the Senju clan’s secret chamber.
In that time, he had read every scroll and book in the Senju archives—from their complete ninjutsu records to techniques passed down from the Uzumaki clan that had been incorporated into the Senju legacy. He had even absorbed knowledge of Uchiha techniques.
That wasn’t all that surprising. After all, the Second Hokage—Tobirama Senju—had been obsessed with researching the Uchiha. If his work didn’t include Uchiha ninjutsu, then what had he even been studying?
There were also extensive notes on the Sharingan—more detailed and insightful than even what many Uchiha would know.
Every scroll was personally signed by Tobirama himself.
Riku had to admit—Tobirama, despite being the Uchiha’s greatest rival, had a frighteningly thorough understanding of their abilities.
Because of that, Riku had become exceptionally proficient in the use of the Sharingan.
Around this time, Naruto had begun traveling with Jiraiya. Ostensibly a training journey, it was also meant to protect both Naruto and the village.
With Jiraiya by his side and the vastness of the shinobi world as cover, it was extremely difficult for the Akatsuki to locate them.
And even if they did, with Jiraiya present, no Akatsuki pair could confidently defeat him.
Meanwhile, Riku hadn’t been assigned any new missions, but his singlehanded suppression of the Three-Tails had already been made public by the Hidden Cloud Village.
News quickly spread across the shinobi world—Konoha now had a Kage-level prodigy, and he was only thirteen. Now, at fourteen, he had become even more formidable.
Uchiha Itachi and Kisame had reported their findings about Riku to the Akatsuki.
Nagato’s order was clear: if any member encountered Riku in the field and wasn’t absolutely certain of victory, they were to disengage immediately.
After completing his study of the Senju archives, Riku was appointed as Tsunade’s personal guard.
He had already finished going through every classified document in the Hokage’s office and the Senju chamber.
As Tsunade’s guard, Riku was soon assigned several S-rank missions.
One day, after returning to the village from an S-rank mission and preparing to take a short rest, he was summoned again by Tsunade.
Riku sighed. "I knew it. Once you show you’re capable, they’ll work you like a mule."
"But I’ve figured it out," he muttered to himself. "Kakashi’s still running missions non-stop. The moment he hands one in, he gets another. At least I get some rest time in between. That’s not bad."
It was grueling, yes, but still better than Kakashi’s situation.
Konoha had very few Jōnin left. Kakashi was essentially doing the work of three shinobi.
Riku, however, was only assigned A-rank and S-rank missions.
Over the past year, Riku had completed three S-rank and five A-rank missions.
That was an overachievement by any standard. In peacetime, even elite Jōnin might only receive one or two S-rank missions per year.
Kakashi was an even more extreme case. In just one year, Tsunade had assigned him six S-rank missions and ten A-rank missions. Every time he returned to the village, he barely had time to rest before being sent out again.
Riku couldn’t help but feel bad for him.
But Tsunade had different motives for overloading Kakashi and Riku.
Kakashi’s assignments stemmed from Konoha’s manpower shortage—there simply weren’t enough Jōnin. And although she trusted him, the workload placed an enormous burden on him.
Riku’s case was different. Tsunade gave him so many high-level missions to prepare him for Jōnin promotion and to increase Konoha’s high-tier task completion rate. She had full faith in his strength, confident that no mission would overwhelm him.
When Riku arrived at the Hokage’s office, he saw a crowd of Jōnin gathered—Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai were all there, along with their students, including Hinata.
Kakashi wasn’t present, most likely still out on a mission.
Riku stepped forward and asked Tsunade, "Lady Hokage, another mission?"
Tsunade smiled. "Yes, but this time it’s a different kind. Sunagakure is hosting a joint Chūnin Exam for all villages. I want you to lead the Konoha team."
Riku glanced at Guy and the others, puzzled. "Wouldn’t it be better for Guy-sensei to lead the team this time?"
Tsunade shook her head. "You’ll be the team leader. They’ll accompany the teams as Jōnin instructors."
Guy nodded. "We’re bringing our students to take the Chūnin Exams. But the liaison and coordination duties... we’ll have to rely on you, Riku."
In truth, this was Tsunade’s way of promoting Riku to full Jōnin under the pretense of leading a Chūnin Exam delegation.
Given his completed missions and proven ability, he had already more than earned it.
And it was a prestigious, high-profile assignment.
Riku looked at Guy, Asuma, and Kurenai, then nodded. "Understood."
Tsunade smiled. The Chūnin Exams themselves were relatively minor—the real importance lay in using the event to formally promote Riku.
This time, even Lee and the others would be participating.
Only Riku and Shikamaru had passed the previous Chūnin Exam—Riku had even been promoted directly to Special Jōnin.
Three days later, Riku led the Konoha delegation to Sunagakure.
After exchanging official documents with Sunagakure’s reception team, Riku guided the Konoha team to their assigned accommodations.
The Chūnin Exams wouldn’t begin for another three days.
This time, most of Konoha’s "Rookie Nine" were participating—except for Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto.
Now, the one who used to be their classmate—Riku—would serve as the leading Jōnin of the entire delegation.
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