Chapter 56 Return to Konoha
"Hurry up, or I will leave you behind."
Among the trees, several figures kept running forward, it was Aangji and his party.
After the battle with Namikaze Minato yesterday, several people took an early rest.
The next day, just after dawn, several people got up and embarked on the journey back to the village.
The one running in front was the most eager Uchiha En, and it was he who made the urging voice.
"Yan, is it necessary to be in such a hurry? With the speed we are traveling at now, we will be there in half an hour at most." Regarding Uchiha Yan's impatience, Aangji said helplessly.
"Haha, this guy En probably wants to go back to the village quickly to eat Ichiraku Ramen." Uzumaki Kushina said teasingly.
"It's been more than half a year since we last returned to Konoha for supplies. I don't know how the village is doing, and when Teacher Jiraiya will come back."
There has been no news about Jiraiya who has left them to participate in the Great Ninja War for two years, and Namikaze Minato is also very worried.
"Don't worry Minato, with Teacher Jiraiya's strength, as long as the Kage-level strongmen in each village don't take action, he will not be in danger. Even if he encounters a Kage-level strongman, Jiraiya-sama will be able to escape without any problem. "Yes." Uzumaki Kushina said to Namikaze Minato comfortingly.
After listening to Uzumaki Kushina's comfort, Namikaze Minato smiled and nodded.
Although he was still worried, Minato felt that it made sense, so he didn't say anything else.
Half an hour later, several people finally saw the standing gate of Konoha.
With excitement, several people walked in one after another.
The people guarding the gate of Konoha are not Gang Zitie and Kamizuki Izumo yet. These two are still babies who have just been born for a year.
"Stop, whoever is in front of you, please stop!"
Two young chunin, probably in their early 20s, stood up and stopped a few people.
After seeing clearly that all four of Aangji were wearing Konoha forehead protectors, they all breathed a sigh of relief, but still did not let them go immediately.
"Konoha Chuunin Namikaze Minato, Hyuga Soji, Uzumaki Kushina, and Uchiha En have returned from completing their missions!" Namikaze Minato answered on behalf of several others as the captain.
Then, one of them took out a booklet, looked through it, found the photos of Cangsi and others, and compared them one by one.
"Huh, thank you for your hard work. Come in quickly, Hokage-sama is waiting for you." After comparing and confirming that their identities were correct, the four Aangji were released.
"Wow, I'm finally back. The air in Konoha is still fresh." Uchiha En took a deep breath and said intoxicatedly.
"Yeah, Konoha can make people relax." Aangji's tense mood finally relaxed.
The closer he got to Konoha, the more worried Aangji actually became, always afraid that something would happen.
This may be the shadow caused by reading too many anime novels in my previous life.
Moreover, you have to be careful outside at all times to prevent sneak attacks from enemies, which is completely incomparable with the relaxed atmosphere in Konoha.
Who is still worried at home?
"Let's go hand in the mission to Hokage-sama first, and then find a place to have a good meal. I'll treat you." Minato also had a relaxed expression on his face.
"I'm waiting for your words, captain!" Uchiha Yan said excitedly.
"You usually call Minato, but when I treat you, you are the captain?" Minato also laughed and teased Uchiha En.
"If the captain is willing to treat you every day, I will call you that every day." Uchiha En said seriously.
"You guy." Minato was also helpless to Uchiha En's tricks.
"Yan, you have changed. You were so cold before, why are you so naive now?" Aangji originally wanted to say something funny, but after thinking about it, he changed the word.
"Tch, how can the guy with the lowest strength still have a cold face." Uzumaki Kushina directly exposed the truth to the point.
After hearing this, Uchiha Yan's face turned blue and white.
Although he wanted to refute, he suddenly realized that what he said made sense. He was speechless and could only sulk silently.
This is indeed the case. When we first met, Uchiha En always had an expression like I, Uchiha Long Aotian.
But after being beaten a few times by Minato and Aoji, he became better behaved.
Later, after graduating and forming a team of four, his strength was at the bottom, unable to even beat Kushina Uzumaki, and he became completely autistic.
Being aloof can also score points!
In front of people who are weaker than him, he is really cold. In front of people who are stronger than him, it is called pretending to be AC, and he will be beaten.
Therefore, at least Uchiha En's style in the team has completely changed.
Being aloof and immobile, I can only be responsible for occasionally activating the team atmosphere.
But if you want to say it, Uchiha En's strength is not that bad.
If you really break it down, Namikaze Minato is now at the Kage level.
Aangji is an elite jounin level one.
If Kushina Uzumaki does not use the power of the nine tails, she is equivalent to the first level of special jounin. Using the power of the nine tails, she can briefly burst into shadow level strength.
Uchiha En is comparable to Uzumaki Kushina who does not use the power of the Nine Tails, both are equivalent to the strength of a special jounin.
But you have to remember that several of them are only 14 years old. It can be said that less than 1% of the entire village can achieve this level of strength at this age.
They can already be very proud.
Being at the bottom is only relative to the entire team. If you go out, it will definitely be a dimensionality reduction attack.
Who told their team to be called the genius team? The top four in the grade were all here, which made it impossible for their classmates to play.
And looking at the friends who were joking and arguing with each other, Minato Namikaze smiled as if he were the parent of several people.
Then several people came all the way to the Hokage's office.
It's still a familiar place, familiar people, and familiar layout. Only the Third Hokage, who is over 45 years old, has some gray hair on his head.
"Minato, Kushina, Aoji, and En, you have done a great job, thank you for your hard work." The Third Hokage stood up from behind his desk and looked at the four of them.
"Fortunately, these are what we should do, Hokage-sama." At this time, of course, Namikaze Minato, as the captain, stood up and answered.
"Haha, there is no need to be modest. Your contribution to Konoha is indelible, because your mopping up missions in the Land of Fire provided us with a stable rear. This contribution is no less than going directly to the battlefield to kill the enemy. "The Third Hokage said this very seriously.
The Third Hokage has said this, so of course they will not stand up to refute it.
"Moreover, the Daimyo's impression of you is also very good. You have rescued the captured nobles and civilians of the Land of Fire many times. The Daimyo hopes that you can visit together when you have time." The Third Hokage continued to tell how many people expressed their feelings towards you. Konoha and the Fire Nation's contribution.
"Daimyo? Hokage-sama, we have never come into contact with daimyo. Isn't this appropriate?" Aangji asked this question doubtfully.
The rest of the people also looked at the Third Hokage, hoping that he could answer their questions.
After thinking for a while, the Third Hokage decided to tell a few people the reason.
Anyway, after Aoji and the others returned from their mission, he planned to promote them to special jonin, and they were already qualified to know about this matter.
"Hey, it's still because of the war. The daimyo controls the economic lifeline of our entire Fire Country. A considerable part of our Konoha military expenditures are also provided by the daimyo." After saying this, the third generation Hokage stopped to take a puff of cigarette and thought What to say next.
The four Aangji didn't interrupt, they just continued to listen quietly.
"The Daimyo wants to form a 'Twelve Guardian Ninjas' for his own safety. He hopes that Konoha will send a ninja team to help. Now the Daimyo can point you in the right direction." The Third Hokage continued to finish the words in one breath.
The four of them couldn't help but look at each other in confusion.
Does the daimyo want to form his own direct army?
The four Aangji would like to ask the Third Hokage in front of them, do you agree with this?
These few people are not novices, and they all understand the political structure of Konoha.
Although the daimyo is said to be the leader of a country, this leadership is actually all illusory. The daimyo cannot command the ninjas in the village to fight for him.
The daimyo is just a symbol of the leader of a country. In fact, the ninjas who lead a village are existences as "shadows".
At least as far as Aangji knows, the relationship between the Fire Country and Konoha Village is more like an alliance.
The daimyo is responsible for providing funds and dispatching tasks to Konoha, while Konoha is responsible for protecting the personal and property safety of the daimyo.
The daimyo could not actually command the ninja of Konoha.
Anyway, among the five major countries now, the ninjas in each ninja village do not have a daimyo. They will only listen to the daimyo when the shadow of the village orders them.
Even for Sunagakure Village, which has not yet failed in World War II, the daimyo of the Land of Wind do not have that much influence on Sunagakure Village now.
As a symbol, we provide financial assistance and distribute tasks to the village every year.
Each ninja village will then be responsible for protecting the daimyo's safety.
This is the current normal state of the relationship between ninja daimyo and ninja villages.
As for the threat of cutting off funding?
Haha, maybe in two days the entire ninja world will hear rumors that a certain country's daimyo died suddenly due to a serious illness.
Since you are not obedient, then change your name to someone who is more obedient.
After all, the arm cannot twist the thigh. The daimyo is the arm, and the shinobi village is the thigh.
The daimyo is responsible for a country's economy, and the shinobi village is responsible for a country's military. The division of labor is clear and they do not interfere with each other.
At the same time, both parties jointly promote the development of the entire country.
However, Aangji and the other four did not expect that the Fire Country Daimyo would be so courageous and now dare to bring trouble to the Third Hokage.
Could it be that the current Daimyo of the Fire Country wants to imitate his ancestors?
But that also requires the cooperation of the Hokage!
With the character of the first Hokage at that time, he would not compete with the daimyo at all, so everything went according to the daimyo's will, and therefore the daimyo at that time was indeed very cool.
But when the Second Hokage came to power, the Fire Country Daimyo continued to dictate to Konoha, and he died suddenly not long after.
Since then, the Daimyo who took office has always been very well-behaved, for fear that he would become the next victim of sudden death.
Now there is another daimyo who dares to pull out the tiger's beard. Aangji really wants to give this daimyo a bravery and fearlessness award.
Is it because the Third Hokage is too old to draw the knife?
It was probably because the Ninja War broke out, so I wanted to test Konoha's bottom line.
The war is not only about people, but also about money.
If the daimyo suddenly cuts off Konoha's financial aid at this time, it will definitely cause unimaginable serious consequences.
"Hokage-sama, please teach us how to do it." In the end, Minato Namikaze asked the third Hokage.
Although Minato himself doesn't like this kind of intrigue involving politics.
But since we are targeting Hokage, we will have to come into contact with these sooner or later. It's just a difference between one step earlier and one step later.
The Third Hokage nodded with satisfaction at Namikaze Minato's attitude.
Minato's strength and talent were obvious to all.
Even if the Third Hokage doesn't know that Minato has reached the Kage level yet, it doesn't prevent him from knowing that the other party is now very strong.
But he still had to test what kind of person Minato was.
After all, Minato is technically his disciple and is naturally on their Hokage side!
The Third Hokage's current plan is to let Orochimaru succeed him as the Fourth Hokage.
Then investigate Namikaze Minato and, if possible, let him take over as the Fifth Hokage in the future.
It's just that the changes that will happen in the future are something that the Third Hokage could not have expected.
It can only be said that things are unpredictable.
Just when the Third Hokage was about to speak, an ANBU member finished knocking on the door and walked in directly.
