Sasuke, who was listening carefully in class, yawned from time to time.
Since yesterday morning, he has felt very tired.
For this kind of thing, Sasuke could only attribute the reason to his recent excessive training, which caused his physical discomfort.
But even so, he tried hard to concentrate and remember every knowledge point taught by the teacher.
The teacher's name was Iruka, and he was an ordinary chuunin in every sense of the word.
Being friendly to others and being serious in teaching may be one of the few advantages he has.
"Okay, for the next practical session, is there any student who is willing to come up and demonstrate the techniques of using the transformation technique?"
Iruka closed his book and glanced at the faces of every student sitting in the classroom, hoping that someone would take the initiative to cooperate with his teaching tasks.
Although the Three Body Technique is an essential basic skill for ninjas, not everyone can master it skillfully for children.
In the class he teaches, there are also many stupid students called "crane tail", who are the type who cannot understand no matter how they are taught, which has troubled him more than once.
"I, I, Iruka-sensei, let me do it!"
One student yelled and raised his hands.
Wearing goggles on his head, his hair is blond, he has a pair of blue pupils, and there are six distinctive whiskers on his face, like a fox.
"Uh, it's Naruto. Anyone else want to come up?"
Iruka glanced at Naruto who raised his hand, and immediately looked away, hoping that someone else could come up and demonstrate the techniques of transformation.
"Hey, Mr. Iruka, don't underestimate me. I recently created a very powerful transformation technique! It will definitely surprise you!"
Seeing that Iruka disliked him, Naruto suddenly became dissatisfied.
"Before that, Naruto, please control your chakra first, otherwise you won't be able to practice the transformation technique well."
Iruka sighed helplessly.
Really, this kind of prickly student who doesn't recognize his own ability is the most troublesome.
Moreover, Iruka did not believe that Naruto had such ability when it came to creating his own ninjutsu.
Compared to ninjutsu, Iruka believes that Naruto's current task is to control chakra.
Otherwise, not only the transformation technique, but also the substitution technique and the clone technique will fail miserably.
It is likely to affect the graduation exam a few years later.
"What, you look down on people so much!"
Naruto sat in his seat and muttered, very dissatisfied with Iruka's attitude of not giving him a chance to show off.
"Sasuke, come up here and demonstrate the transformation technique, so you can become Hokage-sama."
Iruka then called Sasuke's name.
Immediately, many girls in the class exclaimed and looked at Sasuke with admiration and infatuation.
The girls' actions not only made Naruto feel unhappy, but many boys also stared at Sasuke's cold face with unhappiness and jealousy.
I really don’t know what’s good about such a cold guy. This is the resentment in the hearts of most boys.
As long as Sasuke was around, no girl in the class would even look at them.
Sasuke stood up from his seat, put his hands in his pockets, walked to the podium where Iruka was sitting, and then turned around in a cool gesture to face all his classmates.
He took his hand out of his trouser pocket and quickly formed seals with skillful techniques, and the chakra in his body began to circulate.
boom!
Thick white smoke enveloped Sasuke's body.
Sasuke transformed into the Third Hokage.
The figure, face, and clothing are exactly the same as the Third Hokage.
Even the facial expressions are so vividly displayed that people can't tell the difference between real and fake.
Iruka nodded appreciatively. In his opinion, Sasuke's transformation technique was almost perfect and he could graduate.
He is worthy of being the top student in his grade.
"Very good, everyone should learn from Sasuke-san, especially Naruto. When you have nothing to do, you can ask others for advice, or you can come to the teacher for advice."
His attitude toward Sasuke was undoubtedly satisfactory and gentle. When it was Naruto's turn, Iruka seemed helpless and troubled, which meant he was reprimanding him.
I don't know why, but in the test of the Three Body Techniques, Naruto couldn't do any of them perfectly.
As a ninja, his talent is really poor.
Most importantly, Naruto's physical skills are not outstanding, and his fighting skills are terrible.
The only thing that stands out is probably the fact that he is extremely energetic, which deserves recognition.
With a slight grunt, Naruto looked at Sasuke with hostility, as if declaring war.
Sasuke also snorted, not paying attention to Naruto's hostile gaze.
He didn't pay attention to this kind of crane tail at all.
He is no longer on the same level as this kind of crane tail.
Your eyes should be on the senior students, rather than looking for opponents in the same grade.
Soon, after school, Sasuke declined all the girls' invitations and returned to the Uchiha clan alone.
I habitually walked to Nanga Shrine. The stone tablet that contained a huge secret might contain the secret of opening the Sharingan.
He wanted to open his Sharingan as soon as possible so that he could officially take the first step on the road to revenge.
If you want to defeat Itachi, the Sharingan is an indispensable power.
As usual, Sasuke opened the seventh stone slab from the right of the main meeting room, followed the downward secret passage, and entered the secret place below.
When they arrived in the underground darkroom, Sasuke glanced directly at the opposite wall, and his eyes widened immediately.
In front of the wall with the magatama pattern, it was actually empty.
The stone tablet recording the secret of the Sharingan's opening has disappeared...
◎
"Hey, old man."
He did not come in through the front door, but squatted at the window of the office. Jiraiya appeared there and greeted the Third Hokage with a smile who was working on documents in the office.
Although he was smiling, the smile on his face was very forced.
After waking up in the ward of Konoha Hospital not long ago, Jiraiya discovered the fact that he was in Konoha, and he also heard from Shikaku that the Kingdom of Demons used him to trade with Konoha, which not only eliminated its own As a rebel ninja, he also used the power of Konoha to gain an advantage at the Five Shadows Conference, and also gained an advantageous position in dealing with Uchiha issues.
It was a blessing to have narrowly escaped death, but Jiraiya's mood was very complicated.
In the prison of the Kingdom of Ghosts, he seems to be in an optimistic mood, but the reality is that he is enjoying himself in hardship.
As a prisoner, Jiraiya still has this bit of self-awareness.
Putting down the document he was approving, the Third Hokage turned to look at Jiraiya and asked with concern: "How are you, is your health okay?"
As the Hokage, Hiruzen was very worried about what spells the enemy had reserved on Jiraiya.
It was a matter of personal safety for his disciples, and Hiruzen did not dare to be careless.
"No problem, the ANBU people have already checked it, and I didn't feel any physical abnormalities myself. The other party didn't do anything to me. Besides, with Chiba Shiraishi's strength, there is no need to do anything to my hands. .”
When Jiraiya said this, his eyes couldn't help but darken.
Even his own immortal mode was defeated, but as a result, he still had only a partial understanding of the enemy's abilities, which was not systematic and could not be systematically organized in detail.
The strength shown by the opponent that day was definitely just the tip of the iceberg, not the whole story.
This point was extremely clear to Jiraiya.
Maybe he was a very proud and arrogant Sannin in front of others, but the current ninja world was so unfamiliar that he couldn't understand it.
In the end, he couldn't spy on Shiraishi's true purpose, but when he thought about Shiraishi's technique, he cruelly annihilated thousands of sand ninjas in Sunagakure Village, and his cold eyes that didn't put his life in his eyes were completely unlike what humans should do. Some spirit.
Such a person will definitely be unwilling to be lonely, and will ignite the war that was finally ended again, burning crazily throughout the ninja world.
The prediction of the Great Toad Sage is absolutely correct. For the ninja world, the other party is the source of trouble.
Jiraiya had this premonition.
But do you still have the ability to stop it next time?
In other words, with Konoha's current power, is it really qualified to stop it?
Jiraiya didn't know the answer.
Maybe the final result is cruel, but I have to stop it.
"Yeah?"
Hiruzen could not empathize with the despair that Jiraiya encountered, but to be able to make his proud disciple feel so fearful and fearful, he could imagine the specific situation of the war in the Kingdom of Wind, which must have given Jiraiya a very heavy psychological state. blow.
"Sorry, old man, I let you down this time. The mission can be said to be a complete failure. Moreover, it cost the village so much to rescue me..."
Jiraiya came down from the window and looked at Hiruzen's old wrinkled face, not knowing how to explain it.
"It doesn't matter, as long as you can come back alive. For the current village, your and Tsunade's power are indispensable."
Hiruzen didn't blame Jiraiya.
If he made a mistake, he himself, the Hokage, could not escape the blame for what happened.
"Old man, don't you want to..."
"Yes, you guessed it right. Speaking of which, all this is because I was unable to inherit Teacher Tobirama's will perfectly, so I had no choice but to let Danzo bear all the darkness in the village alone... This darkness could have been used as a It has helped the village grow. However, I am not able to control this darkness, which makes this power go out of control and even creates serious discord within the village. This is probably where I am far inferior to Tobirama-sensei."
Remorse appeared on Hiruzen's face.
Sakumo is like this.
Orochimaru is like this.
The Uchiha clan is like this.
These tragedies can actually be undone by oneself.
As a result, it was because of his own hesitation and constant indulgence of Danzo that he ended up in this situation today.
Where there is light, there must be shadow. This is the meaning of Naruto.
The light and darkness of the village originally belonged to the power of Hokage alone.
When he is powerless to control the dark side of the village and gives this power to others, the disaster has already been laid.
The backlash of the shadow comes unexpectedly.
All causes and effects are born here.
"I'm a failed Hokage."
There is no ability to implement the teacher Senju Tobirama's policies to the end.
He also failed to fulfill his obligations as an elder, causing great inconvenience to Minato when he came to power.
This is Hiruzen's denial of himself.
Jiraiya looked at his teacher in silence, not knowing how to comfort him for a moment.
"Next, I want to hand over the future of the village to you and Tsunade. Please."
Hiruzen turned his head and spoke to Jiraiya very solemnly, his eyes filled with infinite expectations and hope.
Jiraiya was a little at a loss, and then said with a wry smile:
"Old man, you should know that a person with a loose personality like me is not suitable to be Hokage. If you don't want Konoha to end in my hands, you'd better find someone else to take over."
This sentence is not a joke.
Jiraiya knew very well what serious consequences his loose personality would have on Konoha after becoming Hokage.
In a sense, the consequences of Danzo becoming Hokage are more serious.
Hiruzen and Jiraiya looked at each other. He also knew that Jiraiya's character was not suitable for being Hokage, but now Konoha had no choice.
"Tsunade is more suitable to be Hokage than me. She has the purest blood in Konoha. The medical system she established has benefited many people in the village. She is strong enough and she is cautious in everything she does. No matter where she comes from, From a perspective, she is the perfect candidate for the Fifth Hokage."
Jiraiya said to Hiruzen seriously without looking away.
Hiruzen sighed and said, "Tsunade has left."
"leave?"
Jiraiya was stunned.
Hiruzen nodded, a look of deep tiredness hidden between his brows.
"After Tsunade came back, I did talk to her about this matter, but Tsunade didn't give me an accurate answer and just kept silent. After that, she disappeared from the village."
It would be a lie to say that I have no regrets.
In Hiruzen's mind, he also believed that Tsunade was a more suitable candidate for Hokage than Jiraiya.
However, Tsunade's heart is still escaping from the past. Relatives and lovers have passed away one after another, leaving indelible scars on Tsunade's heart.
"Is that so? Then leave it to me to convince Tsunade."
Jiraiya's face turned serious.
"Are you going to convince Tsunade?"
Hiruzen looked at Jiraiya in surprise.
Jiraiya nodded heavily.
"This is the only way. Tsunade still loves the village in her heart. After all, she has the blood of the first generation of masters flowing in her body. If she can be rational and emotional, she will definitely understand the current difficulties of the village."
Hiruzen felt the firm belief in Jiraiya's eyes, but he was still not very sure whether Jiraiya could convince Tsunade to serve as the fifth Hokage of Konoha.
"Even so, it won't be easy to convince Tsunade."
Hiruzen was well aware of Tsunade's inner conflicts. She undoubtedly loved Konoha deeply and loved every inch of Konoha because it was an important legacy left by her grandfather.
However, Tsunade was not determined to become the leader of the village.
Hiruzen also knew that such a decision was a bit sudden, but now that the international situation was changing, a military power like the Demon Country had emerged in the western part of the continent.
In terms of relationships, the Kingdom of Ghosts, the Kingdom of Fire, and Konoha are not the same people.
Hiruzen could not see a vision of peaceful coexistence between Konoha and the Demon Country, at least in the short term.
The conflict between the top management of Konoha and the top management of the Kingdom of Demons is no longer just a simple hatred and confrontation.
"I have already made up my mind about this. Whether it takes one year, two years, or longer, I will convince Tsunade!"
Jiraiya assured firmly.
"It's up to you. If possible, it's best to convince Tsunade before I retire. I feel like I can't be Hokage for a few more years."
I am already over sixty, and my body's various functions are declining rapidly. It seems that I am unable to deal with many things.
He was worried that something similar to the Uchiha clan would happen again in the village. At that time, he would have to make balance and compromise again.
"I will try to persuade Tsunade, but old man Danzo, you also have to put some restrictions. I don't want Tsunade to become a Hokage in name only."
"Don't worry, even though I'm old, I still have some power around me, and Danzo's roots cannot yet pose a substantial threat."
Hiruzen said.
Although the dark impression has backfired on him as Hokage, as long as he toughens his attitude, he can still use the power in his hands to suppress the growth of his roots.
In any case, he is also the Hokage of Konoha and the most powerful leader in the village.
It's not that simple for Danzo to evade his Hokage's power.
Compared with Danzo, Hiruzen's real concern is the succession of the next Hokage.
"That's good, then, I'll leave first. Not only Tsunade, but I also have some things to deal with at Mt. Myoboku. As soon as there is news, I will report it to the village through the ANBU, including the organization's So is the thing.”
Jiraiya didn't hesitate, he formed seals with his hands, his body was wrapped in thick white smoke, and he disappeared from the Hokage's office.
◎
The ANBU suffered heavy losses.
Because Sarutobi Takashi and Sarutobi Saruko died on the battlefield of the Land of Wind and were killed by Chiba Shiraishi, the former Konoha S-level rebel ninja, the positions of minister and deputy minister of Konoha ANBU were vacant.
Although there is still the Hokage as his immediate superior, with the physical energy of the Third Hokage at this time, he is almost exhausted from dealing with various matters in the village. As a result, he has to command the ANBU, which will inevitably weaken the ANBU's mobility.
With the loss of the Uchiha clan's security force, if the ANBU department does not function, the internal stability of the village cannot be effectively stabilized.
Moreover, the backlash came faster than Hiruzen imagined.
After the Uchiha Guards disappeared, obvious cracks appeared in Konoha's internal management system.
"Hokage-sama, this is the report letter collected in the past month or so. There are about a hundred villagers who are dissatisfied with the ANBU's handling of matters. Some of them were suppressed by me and were not reported."
Kakashi placed the hundreds of villagers' reports he had received on Hiruzen's desk and spoke in a businesslike and serious manner.
As one of the four ANBU squad captains, when the Uchiha Guard system was paralyzed, Kakashi's squad had another added task.
That is to regulate various civil disputes within the village or serious criminal incidents, punish the offenders, conduct surveillance and detain them.
With the ANBU's current manpower, coupled with the loss of the leadership of the minister and deputy minister, not only is there a severe shortage of manpower, but also a lack of efficient action capabilities. This has led to the recent increase in illegal and discipline incidents within Konoha. There is no way to stop the loss in time.
If this continues, it will definitely shake the ANBU's reputation, which will in turn affect the prestige of the Hokage himself.
In the past, the responsibility could be passed on to the security force controlled by the Uchiha clan. Now that the Uchiha clan has been exterminated, the security force naturally no longer exists, and ANBU has become the target of reporting.
In particular, Konoha Village has a large population, and the ANBU members involved in various practical operations are only seventy in total, not including various support personnel.
In addition, the four Anbu detachments have different tasks and functions, and the number of people who can be used to manage the village's illegal and disorderly affairs is less than one detachment.
Now how to stabilize the internal environment of the village has become the primary problem to be solved.
At this time, Jiraiya had just left and embarked on the path of finding Tsunade and convincing her to serve as the fifth generation Hokage. Although things seemed to be moving in a good direction, Hiruzen knew that it was completely wrong after seeing the large number of report letters on the desktop. It's an illusion.
Things are not developing in a good direction.
The Uchiha clan has always been responsible for managing violations of discipline within Konoha, supplemented by ANBU operations.
Because compared to the huge number of people in the security force, if you want to deal with the illegal and disciplinary matters within a ninja village with the strength of ANBU alone, you will be underestimating the villagers' ability to cause trouble.
Due to the lack of school institutions for ordinary people, most villagers in Konoha Village have not received good quality and moral education.
The only school that exists is to cultivate ninjas, and the cultivation of ninjas is not for quality and moral education, but for the study of killing and fighting skills, and to train the students in the school into fighting talents.
This means that if the people within the Ninja Village are not controlled by strong armed forces, it is easy for crime to occur.
Like the police force that Uchiha commanded in the past, it is an indispensable public security management department for a village.
Now that there is a vacancy in this public security management department, it is reasonable for the probability of illegal and criminal incidents within Konoha to increase.
What Hiruzen was thinking about was whether to reorganize a new security department to manage the security within the village.
Jiraiya was planning to persuade Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage. Hiruzen felt that he should also do something, and could not leave all the mess to Tsunade to deal with.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kakashi. By the way, go and call Shikaku over now. I have something to discuss with him."
Hiruzen thought for a moment and finally gave the order.
Kakashi nodded and disappeared from the office to call Shikaku.
Not long after, Shikaku came to the office and stood in front of his desk.
"Hokage-sama, why did you call me here?"
Shikaku asked.
"Yes, there are some things I want to discuss with you. Take a look at this first, and I want to hear your opinion."
Hiruzen pointed to the stack of reports on the table.
Lu Jiu took a step forward and picked up these report letters. He read them slowly at first, then flipped through one in four or five seconds. In just a few minutes, he read through hundreds of report letters.
"Hokage-sama, do you want to rebuild the security department?"
Shikaku was clever and could see through Hiruzen's inner thoughts at once.
In fact, this question is not difficult to guess, and after the Uchiha were exterminated, this question became one of the sharp conflicts within Konoha.
Uchiha Itachi destroyed one of Konoha's arms, and it was the most powerful arm in Konoha.
He didn't know if there was tacit approval from the top management. If so, it could only be said that this decision was quite irrational and stupid.
But things have happened now, and it will be useless no matter how much Lu Jiu speculates.
It is an unshakable fact that Uchiha Itachi committed the crime of genocide... As for the truth, it is no longer important.
"Yes, the recent security issues in the village deserve attention. I plan to open a new department within the Anbu to replace the functions of the Uchiha Guards in the past and specialize in managing security issues within the village. Shikaku, what do you think? Sample?"
Hiruzen looked seriously into Shikaku's eyes.
Shikaku pondered for a moment, and opened a new security department in the Anbu, which was tantamount to increasing the Hokage's power in disguise.
For Naruto, this is undoubtedly a good thing.
For the village, the advantages of establishing such a department as soon as possible outweigh the disadvantages.
"I don't think there is a problem, it's just that Elder Danzo..."
Yes, the only question is whether the roots agree.
Integrating the power of the Uchiha Guard into the ANBU system is increasing the Hokage's authority. Shikaku's only worry is that Hiruzen will once again be indecisive and divide this part of power, causing the power struggle within Konoha to escalate again.
"I will tell Danzo, Shikaku, I need you to draw up a list for me as soon as possible to form a new guard team."
"yes."
This is a very tedious and troublesome job, but as the Jonin squad leader, there is no reason to refuse.
"Also, there are currently vacancies for the Minister and Deputy Minister of ANBU. Do you have any recommendations?"
Hiruzen asked Shikaku.
The opponent is a high-minded figure in Konoha. If Tsunade succeeds as the Fifth Hokage in the future, he must now train a strong enough team for Tsunade to suppress Danzo's roots.
The root and the guard will be the two sharpest blades in the hand of Naruto.
Shikaku didn't expect that Hiruzen would suddenly ask himself such a question instead of holding a high-level meeting to make an internal decision.
Sometimes, Shikaku also feels that he, as the jounin class leader, is too weak to interfere in high-level decisions and is a marginalized figure.
However, now Hiruzen has directly pulled him into the core. Does he want to regain the power that Naruto should have?
Or is it because of the incident in the Kingdom of Ghosts that a sense of crisis arises in my heart?
Regardless of these external factors, Shikaku believed that the reason why Hiruzen did this was probably a denial of his past.
"What are the candidates for the ANBU Minister and Deputy Minister... I think Kakashi is qualified for the job of ANBU Minister."
Shikaku planned to test Hiruzen's reaction.
If the other party really wants to make changes, then making Kakashi the ANBU minister will undoubtedly be an important bargaining chip.
Otherwise, it would be a good way to balance the situation by continuing to select Jonin from within the Sarutobi clan to serve as the minister and deputy minister of the ANBU.
This is Hiruzen's most common method.
Although the internal stability of the village was maintained, it also made Konoha lose the possibility of growth, and its strength continued to wear out in the balance.
This is the price of balance.
"Kakashi?"
Hiruzen murmured, his eyes flickering, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Yes, as a ninja, Kakashi is very good. Among the younger generation, his strength is unrivaled. He is also loyal enough to the village. He is a qualified candidate for ANBU minister."
"Since you think so, I will seriously consider it later."
Hiruzen did not make a decision immediately. The position of ANBU minister was extremely important, because the ninja who sat in this position meant that he would control part of the Hokage's power, and would undoubtedly be among the core of Konoha.
Because of this, the choice of ANBU minister requires not only strength, but also loyalty as the primary condition.
Otherwise, once he betrays Hokage, the consequences will be disastrous.
However, Hiruzen is also inclined to this view of making Kakashi the ANBU minister.
The reason why I asked Shikaku was just to further confirm Kakashi's ability.
Hiruzen has never doubted Kakashi's loyalty to Konoha. When the ANBU is now leaderless, Kakashi may be the best person among the ANBU to turn the tide.
