Red Nara

The Hokage had allocated a whole block, previously occupied by a park and a few training grounds, for the stadium to be built, after which the trees had been cut down and the Doton users had tamped down the huge excavation, starting to build the massive walls around the inner ring of the arena, and then the stadium itself, or rather, the rough sketch of the hired architect.

Large brigades of laborers took over the processing of the masses of stone erected by the technicians, and the genini-chunin were used as rough laborers - carry, feed, get out of the way, do not interfere.

Every day the huge building grew out of the ground, and shinobi of various ages, fussing at the construction site, carrying planks, beams, coils of wires and other building materials that sometimes exceeded their own weight on vertical surfaces, had become a familiar sight to the residents of Konoha over the past month and a half.

In fact, not only for them, but for all the teams of genin that had already learned the skill. Those that had just graduated were urgently urging their mentors to fix it and join the general rush of available and well-paid missions. The first five hours on the construction site were worked mainly by teams of genin, and after that the chunin joined in, from lunch until the evening rustling ants around the stadium, which was gradually gaining its planned appearance.

If it weren't for the shinobi's battle-oriented nature, they could have been the most efficient, cheapest, and fastest builders in the world. Even with the best estimates and the technology available, it would have taken ordinary people more than five years and a lot of ryo to build such a massive structure.

The help of shinobi allowed to complete about two thirds of the work in a month and a half, and judging by the pace taken, the construction should be finished within a month.

- I like to watch others work," Kei Shibatori sighed, keeping me company on the roof of a building just across the street from where our genin were working.

- Is that why you took on another training team after you got rid of the previous ones? - I snorted derisively, pulling the sauce-slathered dango off the wooden stick with my teeth and moving my jaws with relish.

- Well, not right away, of course," he said, taking his portion of food from the box, "but I'd rather have a steady, stable, average income than take on expensive but risky missions - you know my wife just had a baby and won't let me leave the village for long.

- I know that," I grinned.

I had a specialist at the hospital, but I was the one Kei had brought Okuno to to check on the development of the fetus during the early stages of pregnancy, shortly before I left the hospital.

- And I like babies," the jonin shrugged, chewing with concentration, "but if it's a good match, why not?

- By the way, how's Okuro-san's health? - I asked him, remembering the road to Suna and my impression of the kunoichi who had begun to lose her mind.

Despite my friendship with Shibatori, I didn't go to their house, mostly running into Kei in crowded places and exchanging news.

- Her team was given chunins based on the number of missions, and after Mitsuru's pregnancy and birth, she resigned instead of taking a maternity leave, more or less settling down, but she doesn't want to hear anything about continuing her career, devoting all her time to her daughter.

- You have a house, you work, so let her take care of the child, - I clapped Kei on the shoulder, - it's better for your mental health, - having closed the topic, I switched to another, - will you send your genins to the exam?

- Are you kidding me? They're only in their fifth month of training after the academy and haven't even seen blood yet, let alone fought against more experienced genin," Shibatori snorted and took a drink of tea, "not to mention that I only have one student from Meido, and the rest of them come from ordinary townspeople and know only the basics, so I'll have to pull them for another year and a half or two before I send them to take the chunin exam.

- I see," I nodded to him, "and how are the past students doing?

I've got more interesting stuff on patreon (+ 200 chapter)

patreon.com/Chill76