Shizune turned and walked into the central street. From here, she could see that the fourth monument on the Hokage Rock had been completely carved and was currently covered with a red cloth. Everyone on the street was beaming with smiles, Shizune herself included.
"The Fourth Hokage Inauguration Ceremony is going to happen in two days. I'm so excited!"
It was possible Shizune hadn't even been born during the last Hokage Inauguration Ceremony, so this was truly a rare sight. After all, the Third Hokage, Kumotsuru Torifu, who had managed Konoha for so many years, was finally stepping down from the position of Hokage and handing it over to his disciple and younger brother, Namikaze Minato.
The villagers had no objection whatsoever to Namikaze Minato as the candidate for the Fourth Hokage, because he was, without a doubt, the strongest ninja among the younger generation. He reached Kage-level strength at the age of seventeen, and his power already far surpassed that of many great clan heads. By the time he was twenty, there was practically no one left in Konoha, aside from a few highly respected elders, who could stand against him. And he was still so young. Therefore, when Torifu proposed handing the Hokage position to him, virtually none of the village elders objected. Hashirama, Tobirama, and Mito were also strongly in favor.
Thus, the long governance of the Third Hokage was drawing to a close, and the village was about to usher in the new era of the Fourth Hokage. To welcome this vibrant new Konoha, the village was being decorated with such solemn grandeur.
Shizune returned to the Hokage Tower and entered Anka's office. "Anka-sama, the decorations on the outskirts of the village are complete, and the quality is up to standard."
Anka looked up at Shizune with an appreciative gaze. "Well done. I imagine you had to engage in a battle of words." These tasks had always been handled by Anka herself. Because there were fewer people, the construction teams on the outer streets tended to cut corners. Shizune had managed to complete this task perfectly on her first try, which was truly excellent. "Your father would definitely be very happy to hear this."
Shizune smiled happily. "Thank you, Anka-sama. I will take my leave now."
Anka waved her hand. "Yes, go on."
Anka was quite satisfied to see that this child had such a talent for office work. If she were to retire in the future, she could let Shizune become her successor. She just needed to cultivate her properly first.
Anka had already married Amado. In fact, they had married in the third year of their relationship. Their life after marriage was still very sweet, and the Kumotsuru Clan compound became even livelier with Anka's addition.
Anka picked up the documents she had organized and headed to the Hokage's office. She knocked and entered. Inside, besides Torifu, Minato was also present.
"Second Sister-in-law, you're here."
Anka smiled. "Yes."
She then looked towards Torifu. "Hokage-sama, this is the total number of fry released in the Rain Province during the spring this year. The types of fish fry are detailed." The remaining two copies were for the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, along with an estimated income from Aquaculture in the Rain Province and the revenue from the Central City for the year.
Torifu nodded at the documents in front of him. "Mm, excellent. Thank you for your hard work, Anka."
Anka said nothing, but took a few steps back and stood with Minato. While in the office, it was work time, and all interactions were based on professional roles.
"Minato, have a look. In a few days, all of this will be your responsibility."
Minato acknowledged this and walked to the desk, picking up a document to read. As he read, he was baffled. The characters were all familiar to him, but how did they become completely unintelligible when put together? What was all this information about? Seeing Minato's bewildered expression, Torifu couldn't help but laugh. "Haha, alright, alright, put it down quickly."
"From now on, when you handle official duties, you should learn more from your Second Sister-in-law, or you can ask me. You need to learn how to manage government affairs quickly, and then you can use Shadow Clones to slack off."
Torifu, as the senior, didn't pass on any proper ideology to the new Hokage, but instead taught him how to slack off and avoid work. Anka was somewhat exasperated, but in recent years, after the Hokage Tower was expanded, the number of employees had increased significantly. Nearly half of them were assisting Anka, so it didn't matter much if the Hokage slacked off; there was strength in numbers. Since the time of the Third Hokage made it through, she believed the Fourth Hokage would surely bring about some positive changes.
Anka continued to give herself psychological affirmations, but whether things would truly go as she wished remained to be seen.
"Has the Hokage cloak been made yet? Are you personally satisfied with it?"
When the Hokage cloak was mentioned, Minato's eyes lit up. "Satisfied! I've already seen it! I am extremely satisfied!"
The style of the cloak was drawn by Torifu based on the original Fourth Hokage's cloak, and Minato added some flame patterns himself. The overall look was not much different from the original version, and Minato loved it very much. He had been asking about the progress every few days. The embroidery shop had been urged so many times that they no longer allowed Minato to enter.
"Good. Even though it's finished, you can't take it yet. Wait until your inauguration day."
Minato nodded. "Okay!"
Looking at him, he didn't have the slightest bit of a Hokage's gravitas, acting just like a child. But Torifu knew that Minato was this way—very casual in front of family. However, when faced with something that required seriousness or something he needed to protect, he would transform into a completely different person.
"Alright, you both go ahead and leave. I'll look over this report. Naori cooked lunch, so remember to come home to eat."
Minato and Anka agreed, then left the office to attend to their own business.
Torifu, meanwhile, picked up the report on the Land of Rain Aquaculture. Anka had organized it very thoroughly, making it easy to understand.
"A total of fifty million fish fry were released in the entire Land of Rain this year. The estimated income is..." The number was quite large, and Torifu was very satisfied. This was nearly double the income from previous years, thanks to increasingly sophisticated breeding techniques.
He remembered that when they first started a few years ago, they could barely break even, earning not a single coin. Many people were ready to give up on Aquaculture until the third year when they finally started seeing returns. Only then did Torifu's Land of Rain development plan gradually proceed. Now, in the seventh year, both the Central City and the Land of Rain were developing exceptionally well. And people in inland villages and cities of various countries no longer had to spend a huge sum of money to buy fish.
"This should be the last Aquaculture report I read as the Hokage." Torifu was incredibly happy to be retiring soon.
However, the development of the Land of Rain was a long-term plan, and he would still need to pay some attention to it in the future. Otherwise, all these years of investment would be wasted.