As soon as the voice of the Lord of the Myriad Worlds fell, the shinobi in the gathering areas of the various hidden villages became highly tense.
They had just witnessed Deidara obtain Lava Release and Might Guy obtain the Byakugan with their own eyes.
The rewards given by the Lord of the Myriad Worlds were not only incredibly generous, but also seemed to be extremely compatible with the shinobi fortunate enough to guess correctly, allowing their strength to increase by leaps and bounds.
How could anyone not be tempted?
But then again, the candidates for the top five biggest show-offs were becoming increasingly difficult to guess.
Who could possibly be more impressive than the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze?
At the Konoha Village gathering area,
Kakashi, Nara Shikaku, the Third Hokage, and the others were gathered together, discussing the matter intensely.
They only had three minutes before they had to give their answer.
The situation was extremely urgent.
Kakashi said, “Third Hokage, with your experience, during your years as a shinobi, have you ever encountered anyone who could be even more powerful than the Fourth Hokage?”
Danzo asked doubtfully, “More powerful than the Fourth Hokage? Shouldn’t we be considering this from the perspective of who likes to show off?”
Kakashi shook his head and analyzed,
“As far as I know, the Fourth Hokage—my teacher—was always known for his overwhelming strength. He wasn’t particularly fond of showing off.”
“Yet he suppressed Tobi and became the sixth biggest show-off!”
“This means that apart from ‘loving to show off,’ ‘strength’ must also be one of the criteria the Lord of the Myriad Worlds uses when selecting the biggest show-offs!”
Nara Shikaku nodded in agreement.
“I think so too. Without powerful strength, how could someone possibly show off?”
Danzo nodded thoughtfully.
The Third Hokage answered, “Aside from my teacher, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, there are only those legendary shinobi.”
He took a deep breath, a look of reminiscence appearing on his face as he slowly said,
“These people are…”
“The God of Shinobi, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju!”
“The strongest member of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Madara!”
“Hanzō, who was known as the Demigod!”
“And Kakashi, your father, the White Fang of Konoha!”
“Oh, right. My disciples Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade should probably count as well.”
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
“That isn’t a very large range. Our chances of guessing correctly shouldn’t be too low.”
Looking left and right, he asked in surprise,
“Speaking of which, where are the Toad Sage and Tsunade? Weren’t they pulled into this alternate dimension?”
What Kakashi didn’t know was that before Jiraiya was pulled into the alternate dimension, he had been “gathering material” at a bathhouse.
After hearing the Lord of the Myriad Worlds say that everyone could leave whenever they wanted, he hurriedly exited and continued gathering his material.
As for Tsunade, she was much the same.
After leaving, she had gone off to find someone to gamble with.
The Third Hokage had already been looking for the whereabouts of his two disciples, but he hadn’t found either of them.
He shook his head.
“Forget about them. We need to decide who the fifth biggest show-off is. The three minutes are almost up.”
Everyone looked toward Nara Shikaku.
Nara Shikaku sighed.
“You want me to make the decision? What a troublesome task! It’s really troublesome. I just want to go home and eat a bowl of soba noodles made by my wife…”
Kakashi smiled.
“If you guess correctly, I’ll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen.”
Nara Shikaku said, “Hmm… I think we should first guess the most likely candidate, Lord Jiraiya!”
The Third Hokage asked, “Why?”
Nara Shikaku said, “It’s troublesome to explain the analysis, but that’s the conclusion I came to. However, if we’re wrong, I’m not taking responsibility.”
Just then, the voice of the Lord of the Myriad Worlds rang out.
“All right, everyone from Konoha Village, please send out your representative and guess who the fifth biggest show-off is!”
Kakashi looked left and right.
Seeing everyone staring at him, he had no choice but to step forward.
“I guess Jiraiya!”
The Lord of the Myriad Worlds said, “Unfortunately, that’s incorrect.”
Kakashi raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
The Third Hokage and the others were disappointed, but it wasn’t a big deal.
The answer had been extremely difficult to guess in the first place.
The voice of the Lord of the Myriad Worlds rang out again.
“Your turn, Hidden Cloud Village!”
Killer B jumped out and began rapping.
“Yo! Yo! If we’re talking show-offs, then it’s gotta be my brother!”
“As the Raikage, fifth biggest show-off, he deserves it! Yo! Yo!”
The Fourth Raikage, A, immediately smacked Killer B on the head and roared,
“You idiot! Don’t you know you have to respect your big brother?!”
The people of the Hidden Cloud Village had been unable to reach a conclusion after discussing it, so they had simply let Killer B fool around.
The voice of the Lord of the Myriad Worlds rang out.
“Wrong as well.”
“Your turn, Hidden Mist Village!”
Mei Terumi stepped forward, placing one hand on her hip as she said gracefully,
“I guess the fifth biggest show-off is… Hanzō!”
The Lord of the Myriad Worlds said, “Wrong again.”
Next, the shinobi villages of the Five Great Nations, as well as the Hidden Sound Village, Hidden Rain Village, Hidden Smoke Village, Hidden Grass Village, Hidden Hot Spring Village, and Hidden Snow Village, all sent representatives to make their guesses.
As expected, every single one of them was wrong.
The shinobi sighed, their faces filled with regret.
The reward really wasn’t that easy to obtain.
Soon, it was the turn of the Hidden Waterfall Village.
The Hidden Waterfall Village had maintained friendly relations with Konoha Village for generations and was considered an ally.
The village was hidden behind a massive waterfall.
Because of its safe environment, the people of the village also tended to have relatively gentle and easygoing personalities.
A cute little girl of around twelve or thirteen years old, with large, pitch-black eyes, skipped happily to the front of the Hidden Waterfall Village’s group.
The higher-ups of the Hidden Waterfall Village knew that there was almost no chance of correctly guessing the fifth biggest show-off, so they simply let the village’s cleverest and most eccentric little girl have a go.
The little girl raised her head, revealing a bright smile.
Her voice was clear and loud.
“Hello, Lord of the Myriad Worlds! I’m Yusetsu from the Hidden Waterfall Village. I guess the fifth biggest show-off is… Kakuzu!”
The reason she had made this guess was because she had heard terrifying stories about Kakuzu from her parents ever since she was little.
Kakuzu had been a demon who emerged from the village a very, very long time ago.
He had ripped out the hearts of all the adults before defecting from the village, nearly causing the village to be wiped out!
The little girl had a particularly deep impression of Kakuzu’s name, so she simply guessed him.
The voice of the Lord of the Myriad Worlds rang out the next moment.
“Congratulations! You guessed correctly!”
“The fifth biggest show-off is indeed Kakuzu!”
Over in the Akatsuki’s area,
Kakuzu was stunned.
“Why me?”