Chapter 46

Kuzo felt refreshed after spending time with Anko that day. It felt so good that he could forget about his revenge against Danzo. That's what he thought about when he woke up the next morning beside Hotaru.

"Good morning, Kuzo-sama," she said, sounding a bit sleepy.

"Good morning."

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

"Yep. Today is my Chunin exam day," he replied, giving her a kiss on the cheek before standing up.

"I still don't understand why a Jonin like you would do such a thing."

"Playing the results of the gambling and bringing Konoha more clients."

"Oh. I get you. I read at school that when a village appears strong, they get more clients and thus become richer."

"You're a very smart girl." Kuzo patted her on the head, messing up her hair.

His life had been good with two women around him. Hotaru was with him daily, except for the times he would be visiting Anko's apartment. He had a hunch that Hotaru knew that, but since she didn't say anything, he didn't mind.

When he walked down the stairs, he found the red-haired cutie playing with tubes with different materials.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Seeing him, Karin shook her glasses and replied. "I'm doing some experiments in creating medicines."

"Kabuto is teaching you."

"He doesn't have a choice either, as I can see his memories." Karin replied, "He was a big help in mastering medical ninjutsu and other jutsus. Thank you, Kuzo-sama."

"If you want to thank me, continue the hard work." Replied Kuzo, patting her on the head. He had learned that to be a good leader, you need to make people feel good when they do a good thing. In this case, he gave Karin a warm touch.

Her face turned into a tomato. She lowered her head and nodded.

Kuzo jumped, vanishing from sight as he headed toward the final exam center.

Yesterday, he had made a bet on himself in all of the matches that he would win. He had even made sure that a shadow clone stuck with the gambling agency.

With the people Kuzo had been refusing to teach spreading bad rumors about him, Kuzo was sure about the odds. It was 3 to 1 for each match. And if he won all of them, he would get a lot of money. For the 4 matches, if he won while playing weak, he could end up with 3 times 3 times 3 times 3 of his original money.

That's 81 times his original wealth.

At the same time, he and the Hokage had made a plan to deal with Danzo.

Danzo had yet to know that Orochimaru is dead.

And that's the bait.

They used Orochimaru's name to invite him to the test for a chat with the Kazekage.

But that was a story for another time.

Because now, what Kuzo cared most about was making money.

For his future clan, he needed to do that.

Kuzo arrived at the test center, a stadium surrounding a field where the shinobis would fight. The matches were like this: His first match was against Rock Lee. Then, whoever won between Shikamaru and Temari. Then, whoever won between Hinata and Kankuro. And then whoever won between Sasuke and Neji. And then, the Aburame guy and Naruto. And the Sound ninja against Ino. Poor guys. Or lucky, since they were killed.

Kuzo entered, looking down at the referee. A few matches were interesting, and he wanted to watch. Others were funny, like Kankuro and Hinata.

Kuzo walked down, hands in his pocket, and looked at the stadium. He turned his head to the seats. Most people from different clans were here. Clan leaders were here too, and so were Jonins. When he turned his head, he saw Anko crossing her legs and smiling at him with her eyes closed.

"First time you smile like this. What's the catch?" he asked her.

She grabbed him by the collar, whispering to his ear. "I've bet all of my life savings on you. You better not lose this one."

Deciding to tease her, Kuzo shook his head and said, "I don't know. The Hokage said I should give up after the first match for some mission." He was just playing on her nerves, as the Hokage had never said something like that.

She smiled wider. "I don't care if it's the Hokage or not. You lose, I'll destroy Konoha."

"You for real?"

"Yes. And I won't let you put your face here again."

"Ai ai. You should make a better offer."

"Like what?"

"Half of your earnings."

"That's too much. Just 50 million Ryo." She replied. That was still a huge sum of money. But seeing her throwing it like that, he knew that he wasn't wrong with his calculation.

Kuzo smiled and nodded.

"Now, go and win," she said and kissed him on the lips. Kuzo got a fluffy feeling and kissed back, before walking to the stadium.

After the first match between Naruto and the insect guy, Naruto won. Although the insect guy was at an advantage, Naruto managed to summon a relatively big frog, which ate all of the insects with one bite. The insect guy lifted his hand and gave up.

'His name is Shino, right?' he looked at the screen, 'Yep, Shino. Hard to remember, guy.'

Kuzo turned his head.

Next to the Hokage, who had been watching, was someone dressed as the Kazekage. Behind them was Danzo and a few Anbu.

Danzo had taken the bait.

"Next match, Kuzo Turo and Rock Lee," announced the referee.

Rock Lee jumped off, and Kuzo followed.

The fighting terrain was quite big with rocks and a few trees in the corner.

It was an ideal representation where usually shinobi battles occurred.

Lee had taken his stance, looking at Kuzo.

"Kuzo-san; I'm glad to see that you finally graduated and are now making your way in the shinobi world," said Lee. "I bet you put a lot of effort into being here."

Oh, right. They used to be classmates.

Seeing that Lee was thinking of him as a hardworking shinobi, Kuzo rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

"Ah, glad to see you here too."

"Please, don't hold back anything," Lee said before dashing toward Kuzo, who smirked.

Lee kicked toward Kuzo, who held him by the leg.

"It's quite hypocritical to tell me not to hold back anything while ..."

The purpose of the exam wasn't just to make money. It was to represent Konoha's power. That was the deal Kuzo made with the Hokage to keep Karin here.

"I don't know what you are talking about?" Lee said, trying to pull his leg.

"For a human, you weigh too much." Kuzo said.

Lee jumped and kicked with his other leg. Kuzo held both legs. He then spun and threw Lee toward the wall.

Lee backflipped and stood on the wall. When his legs made contact, the wall crumbled, showing cracks.

"You could see through me then," Lee said. He then looked at Guy, who gave him a thumbs-up.

A flame appeared in Lee's eyes. "Yosh," as he screamed, he jumped to the top of the wall, before reaching his legs, pulling a few sealed weights. He then dropped them. The audience had a cheerful laugh, thinking that it was nothing. But when the weights dropped, they released a big shock wave. One could tell they both weighed a couple of tons. The audience opened their eyes widely at the sight. But Kuzo was unsurprised.

'I'll let him display a little power.'

When Lee took a step, he vanished from sight, appearing behind Kuzo and punching toward his head.

"Not bad, not bad." Kuzo replied as he sat down, dodging the fist. He then punched backward. Lee vanished again, appearing a few meters backward. "Entertain me more."