It was drizzling, the entire Village was in mourning, and the flowers at Yamanaka Flower Shop were selling like crazy.
Ino quietly rolled out family packages, couple packages, children's packages, and so on, with various discounts and promotions, or at least that's what she claimed.
After attending the Third Hokage's funeral, everyone went back to their usual routines.
There wasn't much grief; even his two disciples, Jiraiya and Tsunade, and his biological son Asuma, weren't particularly saddened.
Ninja had seen too much life and death.
Dying at seventy years old could hardly be considered an untimely death; compared to children who went to war in their teens and were annihilated in their first battle, dying at this age was truly nothing to lament.
The older Ninja reacted indifferently, having seen too much and understanding the Third Hokage as a person, with both merits and demerits; they were all mentally prepared for his passing.
In contrast, the younger generation of Ninja were very sad. Ino publicly displayed a very sorrowful expression. For three full days after the funeral, she continued to dress solemnly, constantly reminding everyone not to forget the Third Hokage's achievements, and to quickly go buy two bouquets of flowers from the flower shop to commemorate the deceased elder.
Naruto was genuinely sad, though the extent of his sadness was limited; for him, it was simply losing an elder who acknowledged him. Konohamaru was the most distressed.
Children are more sensitive to certain things, and adults' words and actions are sometimes not very considerate. Before, he was the Hokage's grandson, referred to as "Konohamaru-sama" by many; now that his grandfather had died, he instantly became just Konohamaru.
Outsiders found it difficult to comment on such matters, leaving him to adjust on his own.
Jiraiya appeared unreliable, but in reality, he lacked neither political skill nor connections.
Following Shikaku's advice, he sent a secret letter in his own name to the Lord of the Land of Fire, essentially stating that the Third Hokage's death was too sudden, the acting Hokage was not in the Village, and the villagers and Ninja enthusiastically supported him, forcing him to become the Fifth Hokage, hoping that the Ninja Village and the Land of Fire would continue to maintain harmonious relations and jointly build a beautiful home, and so on.
The wording was perfunctory, but this was the Ninja Village's usual attitude towards the Lord; as long as appearances were kept, it was fine. Did you, a Lord, really think you could decide the appointment and removal of a Village's Kage? Don't be ridiculous.
Jiraiya maintained the Third Hokage's previous political structure, bringing in the two Advisors.
Afterward, Shikaku gradually handed over the work of the Jonin Squad Leader, focusing on being the Hokage's strategist from then on. If an Advisor were to pass away in the future, he could then naturally fill the position.
The Jonin Squad Leader position was prepared for Kakashi, clearly indicating he was the successor.
Jiraiya becoming the Fifth Hokage, his choices were similar to Tsunade's in the original timeline, or rather, there weren't many choices for this position.
He used the pretext of promoting Chunin to win over and probe the intentions of the major Ninja clans.
Jiraiya's prestige was higher than Tsunade's, and with the Third Hokage's legacy, he had more leeway and room to handle problems.
Teams like Team 7 and Team 10 generally don't last too long. Jonin have extremely heavy workloads and cannot babysit them for three or five years; that would be a waste of resources.
This is like new employees starting work; an elder guides them for a period, and once they are familiar with the work process, they can work independently.
Promotion to Chunin signifies that they have acquired independent work capability, and the Jonin can then withdraw.
Gaara is from Hidden Sand Village, so he's not included.
In Konoha, it should have been Ino and Sasuke promoted to Chunin, while Naruto, Shikamaru, and Shino all needed further evaluation by the Village's high-level officials.
There had been too many issues previously. Jiraiya assumed the role of the Fifth Hokage, and after briefly sorting out the chaotic situation, he began to address the lingering issues of the Chunin Exams.
After deliberation, Ino, Sasuke, Naruto, Shino, Neji, and Shikamaru were all on the promotion list.
This essentially covered the four Jonin-led teams, with one or two from each team, and most of the major Ninja clans were also included.
For Naruto, he wanted to compensate him as much as possible; Chunin was just the first step.
But upon seeing Naruto's blank test paper from the Chunin Exams, he had a bad premonition. He then quickly called Naruto to his office, personally set questions, and conducted an on-the-spot assessment.
"What kind of garbage are these answers?!" Jiraiya exploded on the spot. He had casually given ten questions, and they were the simplest kind, yet Naruto didn't answer a single one correctly.
How could he make him a Chunin like this? Wouldn't that be harming him?
"I'm sorry! Hokage-sama, it's all my negligence, I'm truly sorry!" Iruka bravely took responsibility, bowing ninety degrees, believing he had failed to teach Naruto properly.
Jiraiya had a splitting headache. Naruto's theoretical knowledge was almost zero, and this Chunin appointment was truly difficult to approve; he couldn't get past his own conscience.
It's not that I'm not giving Minato face, but you, you should remain a Genin!
Ino also presented a bit of a problem. With Ino's strength, referencing Kakashi's old precedent, becoming a Jonin would be more than sufficient; Kakashi's strength when he became a Jonin was not even as good as hers.
Ino's shortcoming was too few completed missions. Jiraiya asked Tsunade to appease her, telling her to be a Chunin first, and then when her mission count was sufficient, she would be promoted to Jonin.
Tsunade punched the newly appointed Fifth Hokage into the wall. Her disciple was qualified to be Hokage directly; Chunin? Who are you trying to fool? But in the end, she still agreed to relay the message.
Ino didn't care about this at all; she just wanted Tsunade to leave the Village quickly so she could go out and cause trouble herself.
She had been meticulously deciphering the Fourth Kazekage's brain, not touching any of the secrets involving numerous cerebral Sealing Technique formulas. Now, she had only found one piece of information: she had located the Fourth Kazekage's hidden stash of gold dust!
The global economic situation wasn't great. Gold couldn't be sold all at once, as that would drive down the price too much. The Fourth Kazekage would pan for gold in the desert whenever he had time, and over time, he had accumulated a significant amount of gold.
The Fourth Kazekage had not told anyone about this secret storage location.
Now, a large amount of gold was waiting for her deep in the desert. Ino was incredibly anxious; what did she care about being a Jonin or a Chunin? How much money was that?
On the third day of Jiraiya's tenure as the Fifth Hokage, Ino, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Neji, and Shino were promoted to Chunin.
They updated the information on their Ninja registration cards and received their Chunin vests.
Ino took a photo with her Chunin vest and promotion document, then put the green uniform away at the bottom of her chest.
This uniform could be worn or not; the Village did not enforce it.
Someone with Orochimaru's personality had always worn this vest before defecting from the Village, hoping to leave a good impression on everyone. Later, when he heard, "What? Minato Namikaze became the Fourth Hokage? Screw that!" He stopped wearing it!
Ino still wore her crop top, Neji hadn't abandoned his Chinese-style attire, the Aburame Clan had to wear their clan's special clothing because of the insects covering their bodies, and Sasuke didn't feel anything about the green uniform. In the end, only Shikamaru put on the Chunin vest.
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