Chapter 177: A Peaceful Wedding
Towards the end of Year 37 of Konoha, Nawaki and Mikoto's wedding was drawing near. Masahiko originally thought he only needed to quietly act as a "Konoha Guard," but unexpectedly, another job found him—Tsunade came knocking on his door.
"Great-Great-Grandpa, I have a favor to ask you."
Masahiko was startled, his expression changing drastically. He was clearly still disguised as the shop owner.
"What Great-Great-Grandpa? My name is Hagoromo. Hmm, that's right, Hagoromo Otsutsuki."
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Then, Grandpa Sage of Six Paths, can you do me a favor?"
"Damn it..." Masahiko muttered, realizing his cover was blown but still pretending. "What business do you have with this old man?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes again and said helplessly, "Nawaki and Mikoto's wedding is approaching. I hope you can carve two statues for them."
"Is that so..." Masahiko scratched his head; he really hadn't thought of that. With Tsunade's reminder, he suddenly had an idea. If he carved the two together and made them do a "finger heart" or form a heart shape with their hands, it would definitely be interesting.
"No problem, leave it to me!"
"Then I'll leave it to you, Great-Great-Grandpa." Tsunade turned to leave, but Masahiko hesitated and sighed.
"Tsunade, when did you find out?"
Tsunade turned back and smiled. "The first time we came here to buy carvings, Orochimaru and I found out. Don't worry, we only told Sensei; we didn't even tell Jiraiya."
"Only told Hiruzen? You might as well have told Jiraiya so I could have known I was exposed earlier." Masahiko emphasized each word. After a long while, he sighed and waved away the confused Tsunade.
"Of all people, you had to tell Hiruzen..." Masahiko muttered, shaking his head helplessly. "Half the reason I stayed here was to prevent Hiruzen from pulling any tricks under Danzo's instigation!"
"No wonder it's been so peaceful for the past year and a half. I should just be a quiet sculptor."
...
More than half a month passed in a flash. Konoha spent the New Year in celebration for a few days. After just two days of calm, things became lively again.
Nawaki and Mikoto's wedding had a greater impact than Masahiko had imagined; too many people were paying attention to the marriage alliance between the Senju and Uchiha. The arrival of the Fire Daimyo didn't surprise Masahiko; after all, in terms of seniority, Nawaki was his nephew. Besides him, even the Wind Daimyo arrived, accompanied by the Third Kazekage.
Of course, there was also the Whirlpool Daimyo and the Great Elder of the Land of Whirlpools... which was Masahiko's Shadow Clone.
Masahiko's carving of the couple making a heart shape had long been completed and placed in front of the Senju clan gate. Since Mikoto Uchiha was marrying into the Senju clan, the wedding was naturally held at the Senju clan grounds.
Because there wasn't enough space, the civilian onlookers could only be kept outside. Masahiko, in his identity as the shop owner, became the only "civilian" allowed to enter because his carving received unanimous praise.
"This counts as an advertisement for the Taobao Shop. It's a pity that I plan to close the business for a while after Nawaki's wedding to go back and check on the development of the Land of Whirlpools. A Shadow Clone is ultimately not as good as the main body." Masahiko sighed and exchanged a glance and a greeting with his Shadow Clone.
About an hour before the wedding started, representatives from various countries and clans presented their gifts to Nawaki and Mikoto one after another, then were escorted to their respective seats.
The seats were divided into left and right rows. The left side was for people from various clans, realistically arranged from front to back according to clan strength. No one had any objections to this arrangement. Of course, as a "civilian," Masahiko sat in the very last seat of this row.
Next to him were a few civilian ninjas with enough status to attend the wedding, such as... Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
"Old stubborn fool, how did you sneak in?"
Masahiko looked helpless. It seemed he had grudges with Jiraiya in both identities. Of course, he knew Jiraiya was just teasing; otherwise, he would have "beaten him up."
"Didn't you see the statue at the entrance?"
Jiraiya paused, then looked hopeful. "I guessed long ago that you made it. How about making one for me and Tsunade?"
"Idiot..." Before Masahiko could reply, Orochimaru cut in to save him the trouble, and the two started bickering in low voices.
While they were talking, the seats on the right side of the venue gradually filled up with heavyweights.
For example, sitting in the first seat was the current strongest in the ninja world, self-proclaimed Uzumaki the Defeated, Great Elder of the Land of Whirlpools, a witness to the ninja world who had lived for over a hundred years... That's right, it was Masahiko's Shadow Clone.
Following him were the three Daimyos, then the Hokage, Kazekage, Mito, the Konoha Elders, Nawaki and Mikoto's relatives, and so on.
Since it was a wedding, there had to be a host. The choice of person was something Masahiko absolutely hadn't expected.
"What the hell? How did Tsunade manage to become the wedding host?" Masahiko muttered, feeling that the wedding might have some chaos.
As the time for the wedding drew closer, Masahiko felt increasingly uneasy.
"Hiruzen, temporarily turn off Konoha's sensory barrier alert," Masahiko's voice sounded in Hiruzen's ear.
Hiruzen, who was talking with the Third Kazekage, was startled. He first glanced at Masahiko's Shadow Clone, then nodded to the shop owner Masahiko, and waved an Anbu over.
Five minutes later, Hiruzen's expression shifted, and he nodded to Masahiko again. Masahiko's expression hardened as both his main body and Shadow Clone expanded their sensing range to the maximum, covering the entire Konoha.
"No anomalies."
Masahiko breathed a slight sigh of relief, cancelled his sensing, and waited for the wedding to begin. Of course, he would activate his sensing every five or ten minutes to guard against interruptions or attacks.
Unexpectedly, Nawaki and Mikoto's wedding was very peaceful. Tsunade's hosting was fairly standard. The blessings from the representatives of various countries and clans seemed genuine. No melodramatic plot like Fugaku snatching the bride occurred. In the entire wedding scene, only the two Masahikos were tense.
The wedding wasn't boring; on the contrary, it could be said to be full of highlights, which could be felt from the lively atmosphere. However, Masahiko wasn't focused on it and didn't feel it at all.
It wasn't until the wedding ended and the newlyweds were thanking everyone for their blessings that Masahiko snapped back to reality.
"It's over just like that? Where are the troublemakers? Where is the Akatsuki?" The fact that something as big as the sky in his mind had ended so peacefully was a bit hard for him to accept.
"I'm really going crazy..." Masahiko smiled bitterly, thoughtful.
"It seems the Akatsuki's determination to correct the plot isn't that strong, or perhaps it's more that I was expecting someone to disturb the wedding..." Masahiko sighed inwardly, realizing he had become almost obsessed with this matter.
"Forget it, it's better that nothing happened!" The two Masahikos exchanged glances and relaxed.
Now Mikoto was already Nawaki's wife. He didn't believe there was anything that could make Mikoto "divorce and remarry." The plot change could no longer be corrected, so there shouldn't be any problems. He really hadn't heard of divorce existing in the Naruto world...
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