132 -=a new challenger has appeared=-

-=- Neji

As Kaede lived in Konoha, she had to one day cross paths with Neji, who for those who forgot, had a brief encounter with her previously, and her passive aura may or may not have affected him more than you may think

...

Let's be honest, everyone here already knows that he was affected, right?

Anyway, He obviously asked her about their previous conversation, but Kaede who still resents his indecisiveness, and had to also act her fake memories, answered:

"What are you talking about? I remember seeing you, but we never talked before..."

"September 10th, ring any bells?" He asked, finding it weird that she didn't immediately know what he was talking about

"September? I was not even in the village at that time... you can ask the Hyuga patriarch, as he was probably warned about what happened..." Kaede said, seemingly uncomfortable about this topic

"What happened? what are you talking about?" Neji asked, he didn't understand

"I-I need to go" Kaede said, walking away quickly

Neji thought about going after her for answers, but he decided against it... he could talk with his uncle for now

for now

-=- Akane

Kaede got a job on the Ichiraku, but it would take a while to actually have to work, as the restaurant was still being built

so, in the meantime, she had another thing to do for them, go around Konoha to spread posters about the new restaurant, but she wasn't going to do it alone

Who is going with jer, Teuchi? no way, that's a stupid idea

Ayame? nope

then who?

Meet Akane, a girl that just like Kaede, was going to work at the restaurant as well

"Where is this Akane girl?" Kaede asked as she arrived at the restaurant, they are supposed to meet here to start their job

"For fuck sake, not another lazy ass that can't get an alarm like Kakashi..." She complained, rightfully so, no one likes people who are always late

that's when she saw some people walking away from somewhere quickly, with annoyed expressions on their faces

"It couldn't be... right?" Fearing that it may be related to this Akane girl, which now that she said this, was definitely going to be related, she approached the place, it was just a turn to the left on the street

and what did she see after? A girl with long black hair, some dark dress that was too complicated to be her casual clothes, and her most... noticeable? detail, her heterochromatic eyes, one red and the other yellow

She was going from one person to another, talking about something and making them leave annoyed

Kaede facepalmed, secretly sighing while she prayed to Yuna that this wasn't her co-worker... but, Yuna is a troll, so she didn't give her this relief

"Oh! Are you that Kaede girl Teuchi-Sama told me about?"

The girl asked, appearing in front of Kaede out of nowhere

Not like many people in Konoha used a fox mask, but eh

"Sigh... are you Akane?" Kaede asked, her first impression of Akane being that she was probably the irritating type

"Right, that would be me! hoohoho

how thoughtful of you to recognize me so easily!" It didn't take 10 seconds for Kaede to know why Ayame, that troll, decided to hire this girl

Sure, her personality is funny to see, but a nightmare to interact with

'Sigh... I don't deserve this shit...' Kaede lamented

<You do, actually

call it Karma>

'Karma? but I was never annoying, or arrogan... ok, I see what you mean...'

<Hehe>

Hearing Ceres words made Kaede see the truth

'I'm paying for Rimuru's annoying and arrogant personality, I see' She thought, nodding to herself

<...

...For God's sake...>

Back to Akane, she saw Kaede nod while talking with Ceres and laughed even more

"Hoohoho" She laughed, keeping her hand just slightly below her mouth

"Anyway, Since we are now acquaintances, do you want to enter the no-harem sect?" Out of nowhere, Akane asked

"...I'm sorry, what?" Kaede asked, not sure if she heard it right

This was going to be so annoying that she contemplated if she should accept Sasuke's previous offer, but knowing that this would make him even more annoying, she decided to deal with Akane

after all, nothing a secret genjutsu couldn't solve, right?

<Might I remember you that your role is of a good girl with no chakra? using a genjutsu will count against your bet with Rimuru> Ceres threw a cold water bucket on Kaede's dreams, making her exclaim

'You can't be serious! then why did I show Hinata my dojutsu and it didn't count?!' She asked

<Because in your fake memories you could use it with vitality instead of chakra> Ceres explained

'But then I can use it on this weirdo!' She argued

<Nah, that's not happening, your eye can only give you the skills on your fake memories, and there was no genjutsu on those skills>

'Nooooooooooo' Kaede screamed dramatically

"So?" With an expectant look, Akane asked

Kaede looked at her with a bored face, hidden behind her mask, and said

"We don't have time for this, we have a job to do" She then turned to the restaurant and walked there, to get the posters

Akane looked at her as she walked back with a confused expression, before her left eye glowed a bit, making her look back in surprise

"Weird... why did I feel a stalker was nearby?" She murmured, not seeing anyone

"What is taking you so long?" Kaede asked, looking back

her eye barely catching a dark-haired shadow walking away as if pretending to not be there

'Weird... what is this idiot doing here?' She thought, but just pretended she didn't see the person

"Nothing..." Akane answered while walking along with Kaede to the Ichiraku

meanwhile, behind a barrel a loud crack could be heard, as 5 finger-shaped holes 'Mysteriously' appeared on a wall nearby...

(Was it Sasuck or Hinata? good luck guessing)

-=- Monke clan?

*Tak tak tak*

Naruto and Hiruzen trained like normal, their staffs whizzing through the air as if it wasn't there

for the dummies out there, air resistance

anyway, after a long training with Naruto being beaten over and over and over and over...

Hiruzen suddenly stopped and asked

"Okay, what's wrong Naruto?" He asked, stopping his attacks completely

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed confused as to why Hiruzen suddenly stopped

"You have something bothering you, Don't think I can't tell" He said

"Ah, no no, there is nothing like that grandpa, believe it!" Naruto denied it, but Hiruzen gave him a hard glare infused with his brainwash ability (lol), which made Naruto talk

"...

Okay, okay... something is bothering me, geez" He said

"So, what is it?" Hiruzen took a bad approach to the problem, but it's not like he is an exemplar 'grandpa' anyways

"I'm too weak grandpa..." Naruto said sadly

Hiruzen immediately knew why he said so, Naruto was easily dealt with by Rimuru after all, which don't forget was his worst loss to date, the only other time being when Kaede beat him using some tricks, and she was also controlled by Rimuru at that time

"I see" He said, not knowing what to say to cheer Naruto up

"Is there a way to get stronger quickly?" Naruto asked, not hoping for such a method to exist, but he was surprised by Hiruzen's answer

"Actually, there is one... while it won't make you stronger, it can boost your fighting capabilities by a large margin..." Hiruzen said after thinking about it a lot

"Seriously? what is it? what is it?" Naruto asked excitedly

"Summoning" Hiruzen said, making Naruto stumble on his own feet

"Uhm? what is the problem?" Hiruzen asked, not knowing why this reaction

"I.. uh... I can summon frogs..." Naruto answered scratching the back of his head in embarrassment

indeed, Jiraya taught Naruto for a month, and he got the toad summoning contract, but he forgot about it since there was no one to remember him of it, aka Jiraya

"Ohh? Jiraya gave you the scroll? that's great" Hiruzen smiled, remembering Minato using his toad summons as well, a family tradition almost

"Grandpa, do you also have a contract with the frogs?" Naruto asked in curiosity

"Hahaha, They are toads Naruto, not frogs.

And no, I have a contract with the monkeys"

(Because he is one as well... )

"The monkeys? can I sign a contract with them as well?" Naruto asked, expectantly

Hiruzen thought about explaining why he couldn't but decided to show it instead

he thought that it was best to explain to Naruto that he couldn't have two summoning contracts after he tried and it didn't work

yes, he was about to give a kid false hopes, what a great teacher...

but to his surprise, when Naruto's blood touched the scroll, he vanished in a poof of smoke

*Poof*

Hiruzen blinked twice before he managed to comprehend what just happened

"... You must be kidding me" he sighed

about summons, there is no rule that you can't have two contracts, but most summoning clans are against sharing a summoner, and the monkeys are especially against having summoners in general

as such, even though Hiruzen had a contract with them, he could only summon one specific monkey, and that was also only possible because of his Sarutobi clan having a debt from the monkeys

but now, Naruto was not only accepted instantly but also reverse summoned immediately to their... uh... tree? Hiruzen was not sure, he was never reverse summoned by them before...

truth to be told, he didn't even know they had their own summoning place...

"Sigh... I'm too old for this..." he complained, deciding to wait for about 30 minutes before summoning Enma to ask how long Naruto would have to be there

"I swear this kind of thing only happens with me..." He complained as he sat down to wait