The capital of the Fire Nation, the daimyo's mansion.
It's said to be a mansion, but it's actually an extremely majestic castle.
There are maids and guards who serve the daimyo, many of whom are powerful ninjas, who hide in secret to protect the daimyo's safety.
In the castle tower at the highest point of the castle, the daimyo of the Fire Country and several important ministers from the country gathered here for a meeting.
In addition, there is the Third Hokage, the leader of Konoha Village, who is the strongest military symbol of the Fire Country, as well as the two village advisers Koharu Koharu and Mito Monobu, as well as the root leader Shimura Danzo.
The four of them also came to the castle keep to meet with the Daimyo of the Country of Fire.
They discussed only one topic of the meeting, which was that the third generation of Hokage was about to step down and pass on the position of Hokage to the next generation.
Hearing that the Third Hokage was about to step down, the Fire Country Daimyo, who had known the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen for many years, expressed regret.
"It's such a pity. I think Hiruzen you have done quite well since you took up the position of the third Hokage. I didn't expect to retire so soon."
"Your Majesty the Daimyo is joking. In fact, I am already over fifty years old, and my energy and strength are not as good as before. It is better to decide the next generation of Hokage as soon as possible. Moreover, the reason why Konoha is always in war, It’s also because of my poor command.”
Hiruzen said with a sigh, seeming to have made up his mind.
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire nodded, opened the folding fan in his hand and fanned it gently in front of him, showing a lingering charm.
"In that case, then, if the four of you come here together, you must have decided on the candidate for the Fourth Hokage."
Although the daimyo is nominally in the country, he has the highest administrative power and the highest military power.
However this is not absolute.
It is difficult for daimyo to interfere in the decision-making of the Five Shadows, including the management of Ninja Village.
Therefore, it is Konoha Village's own choice to decide on the fourth generation Hokage. The biggest purpose of coming here is to go through a cutscene and let the daimyo serve as a witness.
After all, the Ninja Village needs financial assistance from daimyo and other nobles to operate.
This decades-long contract may not change even after hundreds of years, and it may remain unchanged forever.
"Yes, that's who we decided on."
Pass several documents with the same content to the daimyo and other important ministers of the Fire Nation.
These important ministers, including the daimyo, were from wealthy and famous families, possessing financial and human resources that ordinary people could not match.
At the pinnacle of power in the Fire Nation.
This has been true for generations.
The Fire Nation daimyo and other important ministers nodded slightly after reading the contents of the document.
Although the chosen candidate is a bit unexpected, it is also reasonable.
"Yellow flash? He is indeed an excellent ninja. We can hear a lot of rumors about him here. Even among the nobles, there are many girls who admire young and promising ninjas like him. The next time you come here, bring him Bring him here too, my daughter also wants to see him."
The Fire Country Daimyo smiled and said.
"Your Highness, Princess, is so precious that it is inconsistent with etiquette. Moreover, the Daimyo-dono really praises that boy Minato too much."
Hiruzen chuckled and calmly rejected the Fire Country Daimyo's proposal.
Relatives who are related to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire cannot be simple things. Especially for a princess, marriage means political purposes.
No matter what, as Hokage, you cannot let the power classes outside the village get involved. This will damage the Hokage's prestige and power.
"They are all young people. Maybe they have more topics to talk about than us old guys."
Facing the repeated requests from the Fire Nation daimyo, Hiruzen smiled and said nothing, showing no signs of anything unusual.
Danzo sneered silently, his eyes showing reluctance.
Because a ninja like Namikaze Minato would never be on his side no matter what.
But as one of Konoha's decision-makers, he must come here to attend such an important but not-so-important meeting.
◎
It didn't take long to decide on the matter of the Fourth Hokage. On the pretext that there were still things to deal with in the village, Hiruzen took Danzo, the three of them, and the accompanying ANBU to leave the capital of the Land of Fire and return to the Leaf Village.
The first thing he did when he returned to the village was to send ANBU to publish announcements throughout the village, letting every Konoha ninja and villager know about the news that the yellow flash Minato Namikaze would succeed the Fourth Hokage.
Konoha will also usher in a new era led by the new Hokage.
No matter what changes the village ushered in due to the change of Hokage, at the top of the Hokage building, Hiruzen summoned Minato alone.
"I'm sorry, Minato, for asking you to take on such heavy responsibilities so early."
Faced with Hiruzen's apology, Minato replied: "Please don't say that, Lord Third, since the village has decided that I will become the Fourth Hokage, I will definitely carry the burden forward."
Minato was ready for this realization.
Compared to the days of fighting on the front line, no matter how busy being Hokage is, the road to the front line is probably more bumpy.
Moreover, this is also my dream since childhood - to become Hokage.
"I didn't want to tie you to the village, but many people in the village are already dissatisfied with my conservative approach. This is the right time for the transition."
Minato listened carefully to Hiruzen's words.
"You don't have to worry about Kumogakure. Although their movements are very strange, there are other ninjas in the village who can stop them from invading the Land of Fire. Anyway, congratulations."
A heartfelt blessing smile appeared on Hiruzen's face.
Although Minato was not his disciple, he was a Konoha ninja who almost grew up under his eyes, and he knew the ins and outs better than the others.
Minato, who recognizes and implements the meaning of the Will of Fire, will surely guide the village well in the future.
But before that, the rest of the sounds in the village must be eliminated.
Otherwise, he would not be able to truly entrust Minato with the responsibility of guiding the village.
For Minato, the job of balancing the various forces in the village was too difficult.
In short, let Minato slowly accumulate prestige and power through the work of Hokage.
By the time Minato was full-fledged, he would have almost resolved the sharp conflicts in the village and could truly retire, leaving everything to Minato to take care of himself.
So at this time, Hiruzen felt sorry for Minato.
On the one hand, he did not want Minato to be his puppet, but on the other hand, he hoped that Minato could exceed his expectations and let him develop Konoha.
This kind of contradictory and complicated emotions is what Hiruzen is struggling with.
Looking at the sky, Sandai was fascinated.
If Teacher Tobirama hadn't died at that time, the village would look different now. Hiruzen thought to himself, missing the scene at that time.
Uchiha, it's time to really deal with it. If you continue to delay, I'm afraid the situation will be extremely detrimental to the stability of the village. A sharp look flashed in Hiruzen's eyes.
◎
In early August, after the fourth generation Hokage's inauguration ceremony was held, Konoha officially announced to all countries in the ninja world that the yellow flash Minato Namikaze would succeed the fourth generation Hokage.
This matter, in a sense, is completely predictable.
The successor of the Fourth Hokage will only appear between the Yellow Flash and the Sannin.
And Yellow Flash becoming the Fourth Hokage means that Yellow Flash, a ninja with super strength, will not appear on the battlefield without special circumstances.
As for whether the yellow flash of becoming Hokage will make Konoha go further or go downhill, at present, it cannot be intuitively felt.
Yellow Flash is only powerful in combat. As for his leadership ability, it depends on what he does next.
No matter how turbulent the outside world is, Minato is trapped in distress and happiness.
It's a bit complacent to say this, but becoming Hokage is indeed a happy thing.
The troublesome part is that Minato doesn't have many trusted cronies under his command.
Those Jonin who have some experience are in a wait-and-see mode and rarely express their opinions directly. Like the people in the Ninja Village outside, they believe in Yellow Flash's personal strength, but it is worth thinking about what his leadership ability is.
Therefore, based on this embarrassing situation, Minato can only look for available talents from the new generation of ninjas.
For example, the Shadow Guards and their own ANBU were formed by themselves.
Based on this embarrassing situation, the former Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen selected four squads, a total of sixteen people, from his own ANBU to serve as Minato's team and join Minato's ANBU to share Minato's responsibilities. pressure.
As expected, one week after Minato succeeded the Fourth Hokage, Kakashi joined Minato's direct ANBU as a ninja to assist Minato in his work. In the future, as time went by, he became the team leader and deputy minister of the ANBU. , Minister, it will be a matter of time.
Everything is going in the right direction.
What makes Kakashi interesting is that the order given to him by the Third Hokage is to assist Minato well and just obey Minato's instructions.
Orochimaru asked him to pay more attention to the ninjutsu collection in the Hokage Building, such as forbidden jutsu and the like.
Danzo asked him to monitor Minato's every move to see if he could find some black material and use public opinion to put pressure on Minato.
Fortunately, Shiraishi didn't have any orders and allowed Kakashi to express himself freely, otherwise the burden on him would be really heavy.
The Third Hokage, the Fourth Hokage, the leader of the root, one of the three ninjas... are not easy to get along with, and everyone is stronger than him.
However, becoming an ANBU was not without its benefits for Kakashi, that is, Minato used the power of the Hokage to open up some important ninjutsu information to him for him to read, allowing him to quickly become stronger.
The ninjutsu information compiled by Konoha over the years was of great help to Kakashi.
Although it is not a more mysterious senjutsu system, the use of pure chakra is not simple to use.
After completing the ANBU mission, Kakashi, as the leader of the four-man ANBU team, will come to the Hokage Building to report on the mission.
The mission this time is very simple. You need to deal with the spies who infiltrated Konoha from the enemy's ninja village. After the enemy spy stole the secrets in Konoha, he fled to the border of the Land of Fire. He was chased and eliminated by the ANBU team led by Kakashi, and the stolen secret scroll was successfully recovered. The bodies of the spy ninjas were also recovered and handed over to the interrogation department to identify which country's ninja force they belonged to.
Putting the stolen secret scroll in his ninja tool bag, Kakashi, who had already changed into ANBU costume and animal mask, walked towards the Hokage's office, preparing to hand the scroll to the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato to confirm its authenticity.
Before arriving at the office, a ninja walked out of the front room. The ninja held a large box filled with documents and carried it toward the corridor, holding a toothpick-like Senbon in his mouth.
Seeing Kakashi in ANBU uniform, he smiled and said, "Kakashi, are you here to find the Hokage?"
"Hey, Genma, don't call ANBU ninja names by random names."
It should be common sense among ninjas that the identities of ANBU ninjas need to be kept secret.
Kakashi looked helplessly at the Konoha ninja in front of him.
Wearing the uniform of Konoha Chuunin, he is about the same age as himself, about thirteen or fourteen years old, and his name is Shiranui Genma.
He is one of the three former subordinates of the defected ninja Uchiha Ruri. Now he is transferred to work here in the Hokage Building. He is also a member of the Shadow Guard of Hokage Minato.
"Haha." The man laughed and said helplessly, "I can't help it. Your silver hair and the short sword behind you are so iconic that everyone can recognize you."
"What are these documents?"
Kakashi looked at the contents of the box.
"It's a discarded file. I'll go take care of it. Sorry, I have to go first."
"It's okay, just go about your business."
Kakashi watched the other party leave with the box in his arms, sighing that there really was no one under Minato's command.
It's not that he looked down on Genma who became a chuunin, but that the members of the Hokage's Shadow Guard were actually served by ninjas who had just become a chuunin. The other party looked more like he was here to do chores than the guard work of the Shadow Guard.
As for the other two ninjas who were members of the Minato Shadow Guards like Genma, they were also the new generation who had just become chunin.
Can you only choose your cronies from the new generation of ninjas? Kakashi felt a little pity for Minato's experience.
I came to Minato's office, knocked on the door and got permission to enter, and found that there were three other people there.
Nara Shikaku, Haiyi in the mountains, Ding Zuo on the autumn road.
Three Konoha Jonin who went on a mission together two years ago.
Although they are jounin, the importance the three of them hold in the village cannot be underestimated.
They were born from the Nara clan, the Yamanaka clan and the Akimichi clan.
The three families formed an indestructible alliance during the Warring States Period, advancing and retreating together, inheriting secret techniques with special abilities, and occupying a pivotal position in Konoha.
The most important thing is that these three families have been friends with the Sarutobi clan of the third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen for generations.
The three of them came here, what did the Third Hokage mean? Kakashi became confused.
The internal disputes in Konoha are far more intense than outsiders imagine.
And Kakashi felt that he was at the center of such a fierce storm.
After Kakashi arrived, Shikaku and the other three also glanced at him. Even if Kakashi wore a mask, others could identify him at first glance.
With silver hair, a short sword with white teeth, and a small body exuding an unparalleled sharp aura, in this office, Minato was the only one who could treat him calmly.
"Then, I'll trouble you about the things I just mentioned."
Sitting on the seat that not long ago belonged to the Third Hokage, Minato smiled and said to Shikaku and the others.
"Don't worry, leave this matter to us, Hokage-sama, and we will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."
Shikaku responded with a smile, took Haiichi and Dingza away, and closed the door.
After the three left, Kakashi took out the stolen secret scroll from his ninja bag and placed it on the table in front of Minato.
"Hokage-sama, the mission has been completed."
This is understandable, as soon as he enters work, the teacher-student relationship between him and Minato will cease to exist. Here there is only the relationship between superior and subordinate, and between Hokage and ANBU.
Minato picked up the scroll and opened it. After confirming the contents, he rolled it up again and put it away in the drawer.
"Thank you for your hard work. There is no problem with the scroll. Fortunately, it was resolved before it caused any trouble."
Minato breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Kakashi with an appreciative tone.
"Nothing, this is what I should do."
"There is an important task for you next, no problem, Kakashi. After completing this task, I will give you a few days of vacation to rest."
"It's my pleasure, Hokage-sama."
Kakashi replied seriously.
Minato asked him to complete tasks one after another, mainly because there was no one.
Even the members of the Shadow Guard are all chuunin, and there are very few jounin who can be completely trusted.
"This is the content of this mission, take a look."
Minato handed Kakashi the new mission scroll.
Kakashi opened it and confirmed the content of this mission.
"The Land of Rain?"
Kakashi's face beneath the mask raised a brow.
The mission location was in the Land of Rain, which surprised Kakashi.
To be honest, Kakashi feels that there are many extremely dangerous places in the ninja world now.
Apart from the Kingdom of Ghosts, the only one left is the Kingdom of Rain.
This country, which seems to be in ruins and has even lost its sovereignty, is secretly undercurrent.
"Yes, I'm asking you to do this. Be careful, I think things are not simple. If you find something is wrong, there is no problem in giving up the mission."
Minato said to Kakashi with a serious expression.
Kakashi could only nod.
Of course he knew that the Country of Rain was dangerous, and if he encountered the Samsara Eye, he would have no choice but to run away at the risk of his life.
He didn't want to die so young and young.
Therefore, you need to prepare more detonating symbols.
◎
"In the end, is it Yellow Flash who will inherit the position of the Fourth Hokage?"
In a secret room in the cave, Nagato finished his training and was resting in the room when he heard such information from Bai Zetsu.
"Yes, everyone is surprised. That Orochimaru was completely defeated."
Bai Jue chuckled.
"Speaking of which, Nagato-sama is also a sect member of Yellow Flash. They are both disciples of Jiraiya, one of the three ninjas."
Black Jue also said on the side.
"Let's put aside Mr. Jiraiya's matters. We can't take things lightly about Konoha. Of course, the same goes for those three people. Do you have any information about them?"
Nagato looked at Black Zetsu.
Hei Jue knew who the 'three people' in the long doorway were.
"Not yet. It's really strange. We have searched almost every corner of the ninja world and can't find their whereabouts. It's like they have disappeared."
Bai Jue smiled disapprovingly and said: "What's strange about this? When Madara-sama was still here, he suffered a lot from them. Their ability to hide themselves is indeed superb. But next, Konoha should be able to free up his hands. Come, deal with those three people."
Black Jue also nodded in agreement.
"No, now is not the time to deal with those three people."
Nagato said a different view, which surprised Black Zetsu and White Zetsu.
Nagato looked at the half-burned candle on the candlestick, stared at the candlelight and said: "Compared to those three people, Konoha is the biggest problem. I need to take back the sovereignty of the Rain Country, and I must first let Konoha Or maybe the Fire Nation will have a chance when it becomes chaotic, and then we can deal with those three people."
"But……"
Nagato stood up from his seat and interrupted Black Zetsu's speech:
"Nothing. Konoha...the power of the Fire Nation is too strong. The more powerful the Fire Nation is, the more we have to rely on it to survive. Konoha and the Fire Nation are our number one enemies. The most important thing is What's more, Konoha is on the bright side, making it easier to target. We don't know how long it will take to find those three people."
Seeing that Nagato had made up his mind, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu could only agree.
What Nagato said is true. The power of the Fire Country and Konoha is too strong.
Especially since the one who holds the position of Hokage now is the famous yellow flash in the ninja world. Konoha will only become stronger and stronger in the future. If we don't target him now, it will be harder to deal with him in the future.
"By the way, Bai Zetsu at the border of the Land of Rain got some very interesting news."
Bai Jue remembered something.
"what news?"
"Kakashi Hatake, that student with the yellow flash, sneaked into the Kingdom of Rain not long ago, and seems to be planning to investigate the matter of collecting treasures."
"Exploration?"
Nagato frowned.
He hated the new leader who had usurped Hanzo's power and now commanded Yugakure.
What's more, now Hanzo has long been reduced to an obedient lackey of Konoha, domineering in Amegakure and constantly excluding dissenters.
If he hadn't been afraid of Konoha's power, he would have taken action against it.
Nagato felt more and more that his decision was the right one.
If Konoha is not allowed to become chaotic, the situation in the Land of Rain and Amegakure will only get worse.
"Yes. There seems to be an accident in the human trafficking between Kanzo and Danzo. If that yellow flash gets evidence... Hehe, that will be interesting in Konoha. Let's see how Danzo ends up."
Bai Jue smiled happily.
"Don't be too happy too early. Yellow Flash has just assumed the role of Hokage, so he may not be able to pose a threat to Danzo. However, this is indeed a good opportunity, so let's take advantage of it."
A gleam appeared in Nagato's eyes.
◎
Leading three ANBU subordinates, Kakashi only took one day and one night to rush from Konoha to the border of the Land of Rain. Before officially entering the border of the Land of Rain, Kakashi's ANBU team rested for half a day to recover all their strength. After gaining physical strength and chakra, he began to enter the Kingdom of Rain.
The Kingdom of Rain, which had been away from war for two years, did not find peace immediately. Instead, it became even more chaotic than during the war.
Bandits and wandering ninjas are rampant everywhere, and corpses are exposed in the wilderness every day.
Whenever you enter this country, it is normal to encounter battles.
Even a jounin like Kakashi must be fully prepared.
There are three subordinates in the team, one special jounin and two chuunin. Although they are good in strength, if they encounter a real master, they may not be able to do anything at all.
After all, it was a newly formed ANBU team. There were neither medical ninjas nor sensory ninjas in the team, so the lineup was quite shabby.
Kakashi just had an attitude of trying his best towards this mission.
According to the intelligence provided by Minato, there seemed to be frequent criminal operations of human trafficking at the junction of the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain.
There are hundreds of people involved.
Kakashi also didn't know what was hidden behind human trafficking.
In short, confirming the truth of the matter as soon as possible is Kakashi's top priority.
When the time comes, it is inevitable that he will have to fight a powerful ninja.
It is impossible to control such a large amount of human trafficking without powerful ninja control behind it.
While rushing in the Land of Rain, Kakashi suddenly noticed something and made a gesture to the three people behind him to stop.
The three of them stopped in accordance with Kakashi's instructions, and looked with Kakashi at the person blocking the way in the rain ahead, showing surprise.
"Jiraiya-sama, why are you here?"
The man caught in the rain on the path ahead was tall, with long white hair reaching his waist. He was none other than Jiraiya, one of the Sannin.
Kakashi and others were surprised by Jiraiya's arrival.
"Don't worry, Kakashi, I was entrusted by Minato to come here to carry out this investigation mission with you."
"Come on a mission with us?"
Kakashi was confused, with a cautious tone in his voice.
"That's right, Minato feels that the mission you are carrying out is a bit dangerous, and accidents may occur if you leave it to you, so please ask me to come over and assist you not long after you set off."
Jiraiya explained.
As he said that, he showed the transfer order written by Minato to Kakashi and others for confirmation.
Team Kakashi then believed that Jiraiya was entrusted by Minato to help them complete their mission.
"Then I'm sorry to trouble you, Lord Jiraiya. If you were here, this mission would go much smoother."
Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, he didn't know who was behind this matter. With Jiraiya here to help, the situation would be much better, at least in terms of safety.
The guy with Samsara Eyes who is staring at the Land of Rain from nowhere feels extremely scary just thinking about it.
"I hope so. My coming to the Land of Rain is not necessarily because of Minato's commission."
Jiraiya replied.
"Jiraiya-sama, do you have anything else to do?"
"Well, it's old stuff."
Jiraiya looked at the gray rain scene around him with sad eyes.
Nagato, how are you doing now? Are you still alive and well, or are you already...
Jiraiya thought of this and didn't dare to think about it anymore.
No matter what, he wanted to find the three Nagatos. He wanted to see the people in life and the corpses in death.
Hopefully it won't be the worst.
However, Jiraiya knew that most of the three Nagatos were already in danger and died in the war that took place in the Land of Rain two years ago.
Is the child of prophecy really Minato? Jiraiya murmured in his mind.
