Chapter 778 New Year

The seasons changed, and in the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve.

On the night of December 31st, Konoha's 56th year.

Kanpū, Hoshino, Keiko, Hayate and Karin had a sumptuous dinner, and then, the family split up neatly.

Hayate went to find Yugao. Karin took Hinata next door to the Uchiha Clan to find arrogant and aloof Sasuke, while Keiko and Hoshino held hands and strolled the streets, sprinkling some dog food along the way.

Kanpū not unwilling to be outdone, carried over a lot of crayfish and sake, and went to find Mei for a drink.

After months of effort, Kanpū has successfully rekindled his relationship Mei again, becoming good friends who could talk about anything.

Of course, Kanpū has never believed that there is any pure friendship between men and women. For this reason, he didn't hesitate to take risks, repeatedly flirting after drinking.

Unfortunately, he always encountered Ao along the way, making it difficult for him.

When he rushed to the backyard of Ichigo hot spring, as expected, Mei sat on the roof alone, drinking while watching the stars.

She had been in Konoha for half a year, but the task given to her by Elder Genji has not been completed. She sensed that Konoha was trying to quietly handle the deaths of Yondaime Mizukage and the disappearance of Sanbi. So she wrote to Genji, expressing her wish to return to Kirigakure, but Genji refused, and continued to write letters to comfort and encourage her. Mei felt trapped and distressed.

At this time, Kanpū, the friend who enjoyed drinking with her, arrived!

"Why is it you again?" Mei rolled rolled her eyes, but without hesitation, she took the crayfish from Kanpū's hand and ate it. The spicy smell went straight to her nose, and Mei lightly sneezed.

"Happy New Year." Kanpū said with a smile.

"Thank you for coming to accompany me, but unfortunately, my home is not here." Mei said with a touch of sadness, pouring two more glasses of sake.

Kanpū subconsciously wanted to flirt, but suddenly, he caught Ao's figure from the corner of his eye.

This guy sat silently at the stone table in the small courtyard like a ghost, but stared at the roof like a wolf.

'Why did he come so early today?'

Kanpū was furious and rolled his eyes, then he deliberately asked loudly: "Mei, are there any other people in your home?"

Asking personal questions was the conversation style most hated by girls, so Kanpū hopes that Ao could learn it. For this reason, he even prepared a set of questions!

Do you have a house?

Do you have a car?

Do you have savings?

How much is your monthly salary?

How many exes do you have?

Educational background… Well, such thing need not to be asked, it's definitely elementary school, as everyone is all the same.

"I'm the only one." Mei replied with a lonely look, and she extended her slender hand, ran it through her beautiful hair. The fragrance mixed with the scent of alcohol slowly diffused in the air.

Kanpū felt a bit distressed, but for Ao's future, he continued to ask in a serious manner: "Do you have a house?"

Mei, now a bit drunk, naturally answered all questions: "Of course, my parents left me a villa."

"Do you have a car?" Kanpū continued to ask, noticing that Ao below seemed to be pricking up his ears to eavesdrop.

"Car? Do you mean carriage? As a Shinobi, why would I ride such a thing?" Mei hiccuped, showing a little impatience.

"How much is your monthly salary? Do you have savings? How many exes? Why did you break up? Do you still keep in touch with them after breaking up?" Kanpū continued the questioning.

"…Hey, why do you keep asking these messy questions?" Mei slapped the sake bottle, making a clattering sound.

Even when drunk, she instinctively disliked these questions.

Kanpū covered his mouth with his hand and whispered: "In fact, these questions were asked by Ao."

"Ao?"

Mei turned her head, only to see Ao sitting seriously at the stone table in the courtyard, and her disgust instantly exploded.

Ao was indeed eavesdropping on their conversation, but he did not hear Kanpū's last sentence. Even so, he instinctively felt a deep evil intent coming from the roof.

Gekkou Kanpū, it must be you scoundrel who said bad things about me in front of Mei!

Ao's heart was in a state of panic, urgency, hatred, and discomfort!

At this moment, a Kirigakure's Shinobi suddenly rushed in from the outside: "Mei-sama, Ao-sama, there's a letter from the village."

"Letter? Give it to me." Mei stretched out her hand.

Then Kirigakure's Shinobi came to the roof and handed the letter to Mei.

Mei, still in a daze, opened the envelope and started reading it with the help of moonlight.

The letter was sent by Elder Genji, who now held the highest authority in Kirigakure. It began with words of comfort and encouragement, and then talks about how Kirigakure received a letter from Minato a while ago, talking about Joint Chunin Exam. Genji considered for a long time and decided to accept this proposal. So he hoped that Mei could support the Kirigakure's participants who would be coming to Konoha. The attached list of participants was led by Hozuki Suigetsu.

Mei's alcohol-induced haze seemed to clear up a bit at this moment.

'Joint Chunin Exam?'

'What was Konoha up to?'

She looked at Kanpū suspiciously and asked about this matter.

Kanpū was also stunned when he heard it, and then he felt sad!

'How could Minato not inform me about such an important matter!'

'Break up!'

...

Of course, breaking up was out of the question.

The next day.

January 1st, Konoha's 57th year.

Kanpū arrived at Hokage Tower early, but found that Minato was on holiday, so he had to change his course and headed to Minato's home.

Minato has two huge Kadomatsu at the door of his house. Naruto is holding a broom. Naruto, holding a broom, was now leaning against the Kadomatsu, dozing off. It seemed that Kushina had asked Naruto to wake up early to clear the snow at the entrance, but…

Ahem.

Kanpū cleared his throat and loudly called: "Big Sister Kushina!"

"Ahhh!"

Naruto sprang up from the ground immediately, "Mom! I didn't slack off or sleep, I just, I just…"

Naruto looked around nervously, sweating profusely in the freezing weather.

"Huh!"

'Kaa-san is not here. It's just a false alarm.' Naruto let out a long sigh of relief, then immediately glared at the instigator.

"Kanpū-sensei, you're too much…" Naruto secretly vowed to draw a clear line with this bad person in the future, 'If I talk to him again or call him sensei one more time, I'll clean up all the snow on this street!'

"I'll treat you to Ichiraku Ramen later." Kanpū said with a smile.

"Really? Kanpū-sensei!" Naruto was overjoyed and immediately started energetically clearing the snow with the broom.

Kanpū then knocked on the door and enter.

Kushina and Minato were busy cleaning up the house.

Most households would have finished cleaning a few days ago, but Minato is Hokage, and he only got a day off last night. Kushina is also busy, and they couldn't rely on Naruto to do the cleaning. Although they could use shadow clones for cleaning, doing it themselves added to the New Year's atmosphere.

"Hokage-sama, Big Sister Kushina." Kanpū said with a smile, "Happy New Year."

Minato is wearing a paper hat made of newspaper, holding a chicken feather duster, and wrapped in a scarf. When he saw Kanpū coming in, he immediately invited warmly: "Kanpū, you came just in time. Help us clean up!"

"Hehehe…"

'I arrived at a bad time.'

Kanpū took the feather duster with a forced smile and began to dusting around, and at the same time, he asked about Joint Chunin Exam.

"I originally planned to inform everyone after the New Year, but it seems you already know."

Minato said while busy cleaning. "Sunagakure, Takigakure, and Kusagakure have agreed to hold this Joint Chunin Exam with our village… Yesterday, I received a letter from Kirigakure and they are also willing to participate, which was a bit unexpected for me… However, Otogakure declined."

'Otogakure…'

'Did I hear it correctly?'

Kanpū mind shook: "Hokage-sama, when did Otogakure appear?"

"Oh, this Shinobi Village only appeared in the second half of the year, in Land of Rice Fields." Minato casually mentioned, "Since it was recently established, they rejected my proposal, but Land of Rice Fields' Daimyo mentioned that during the next Joint Chunin Exam, Otogakure would send participants."

Kanpū nodded subconsciously.

'The next Joint Chunin Exam should be in three years, in Konoha's Year 60th.'

'However, Otogakure… Orochimaru…'

Kanpū's eyes sparkled, 'I didn't expect you to establish Otogakure in Land of Rice Fields…'

'Great, I must visit your home... Ugh, I mean, visit your village more often.'

Even though Orochimaru is not a great person, his vision is quite keen. Currently, Kabuto, Jugo, Kimimaro and Karin on Kanpū's side, are all Orochimaru's people in the original work. And except for these people, there are also Suigetsu, Uchiha Shin, Guren and the others. Of course, what Kanpū wants most is Uchiha Shin!

'I hope I find his trace in Otogakure. Looking forward to it.'