"Danzo, now that Minato Namikaze has become the Fourth Hokage, what are your plans?" Homura Mitokado of Root asked Danzo.
"Minato Namikaze is too young and lacks political experience. I don't have high hopes for him governing the Village well," Danzo replied.
"It's just the two of us here, so I'll be blunt: Are you planning a power grab?" Homura Mitokado continued to ask.
"Although Hiruzen is no longer serving as Hokage, he hasn't relinquished control over the Village. Now is not the time for us to act."
Minato Namikaze had just become Hokage and still had much to learn, but he was diligent, spending every day studying with the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, on how to be a good Hokage.
After becoming Hokage, Minato Namikaze also fulfilled his promise, beginning to exert influence on the Konoha higher-ups to help the Uchiha Clan improve their relationship with the villagers.
At the same time, Minato Namikaze also introduced a series of policies beneficial to civilian Ninja.
Overall, Konoha was showing a thriving and prosperous scene due to Minato Namikaze's rise to power.
Just as Konoha was steadily improving, the Land of Fire's "good neighbor," the Land of Waterfalls, was undergoing a major event: the capture of a Tailed Beast.
The previous Jinchuriki of the Seven-Tails Chōmei was about to die. After careful selection, Takigakure chose Fū to be the new Jinchuriki for the Seven-Tails.
However, Takigakure severely underestimated the Seven-Tails' intelligence, as the Seven-Tails itself was the most cunning of all the Tailed Beasts.
Not to mention, it was the only one of the Nine Tailed Beasts capable of flight.
When Takigakure unsealed the original Jinchuriki, a momentary lapse in caution allowed the Seven-Tails to escape.
The Seven-Tails was extremely cautious; immediately after regaining its freedom, it transformed into a pupa and hid itself.
Takigakure dispatched all of its Ninja, even the Takikage, to search everywhere for the escaped Seven-Tails.
But the Ninja of Takigakure never expected that the Seven-Tails hadn't left Takigakure at all; it was hiding right beneath the Village.
While the Ninja of Takigakure were out searching for it, the Seven-Tails flew out from underground, taking the opportunity to wreak havoc on Takigakure, but as soon as the Taki Ninja returned, the Seven-Tails would immediately hide again.
The Seven-Tails' repeated harassment and destruction plunged the civilians of Takigakure into tremendous panic.
In fact, let alone the civilians, even the Ninja felt increasingly powerless against such a cunning Seven-Tails.
Ultimately, the overwhelmed Takigakure had no choice but to appeal to Konoha for help, offering a massive reward to assist in capturing the Seven-Tails.
At that moment, in the Konoha Hokage Office, a young man who looked to be in his early twenties was anxiously speaking to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
After the young man finished speaking, he took out a scroll and handed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was solemn while listening to the young man, but after he opened the scroll and saw its contents, the Third Hokage broke into an extremely bright smile.
Minato Namikaze secretly glanced at the scroll and also smiled.
"Hokage-sama, you have seen our sincerity. When can you send someone to our Village?" the young man asked anxiously.
After pondering for a moment, the Third Hokage spoke to the Anbu behind him: "Go and fetch Orochimaru for me."
"Wait a minute!" Minato Namikaze frowned upon hearing the Third Hokage's choice and quickly spoke up to stop him.
"Minato? What is it?" the Third Hokage asked.
"Hokage-sama, for this mission, I suggest sending En." Saying this, Minato Namikaze pointed to his own eye.
The Third Hokage was stunned for a moment, then understood. The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan has some suppressive effect on Tailed Beasts, and Uchiha En had the strength to repel Kitsuchi. Combined with the Sharingan, suppressing a Tailed Beast without a Jinchuriki shouldn't be a problem.
Thus, the Third Hokage changed his order, instructing the Anbu to summon Uchiha En.
A moment later, Uchiha En arrived at the Hokage Office.
"En, I have a mission I'd like to entrust to you. A few days ago, when the Taki Ninja were transferring the Seven-Tails from the previous Jinchuriki to the new one, a moment of carelessness allowed the Seven-Tails to escape.
The Seven-Tails is now hiding near Takigakure, taking revenge on the Village that imprisoned it for many years. I would like you to assist the Taki Ninja in capturing the Seven-Tails," Minato Namikaze explained the situation simply to Uchiha En.
Uchiha En's eyes lit up upon hearing this—this was truly a pillow delivered when one was sleepy!
Uchiha En had already been looking for an opportunity to collect Tailed Beast Chakra, and now Minato Namikaze was assigning him the task of helping the Taki Ninja capture the Seven-Tails—wasn't this Tailed Beast Chakra being delivered right to his door?
Once he obtained the Seven-Tails' Chakra, he would have the Chakra of three Tailed Beasts.
Thinking this, Uchiha En decisively nodded and accepted the mission.
Minato Namikaze nodded in satisfaction upon seeing this, then handed the S-rank mission to Uchiha En.
What surprised Uchiha En was the shockingly high reward for this mission. It astonished him that Konoha, which was usually so stingy, would offer such a large payment.
However, Uchiha En did not know that the reward Konoha gave him was only one-tenth of what Takigakure had promised to pay Konoha.
To be honest, the Third Hokage originally didn't want to accept such a dangerous task as capturing a Tailed Beast, but they offered so much money that he simply couldn't refuse.
Afterward, Uchiha En left the Hokage Office with the young man from Takigakure.
The young man seemed somewhat constrained following behind Uchiha En. The Uchiha Clan was notorious throughout the Ninja World, and mostly for unpleasant reasons.
Because of this, the young man was slightly afraid of Uchiha En and didn't dare to speak much.
Uchiha En did not initiate conversation either, and the two traveled in silence until they reached the Police Force headquarters.
Finally, the young man couldn't hold back any longer: "Um, Lord En! My name is Shōsui, and I am a Special Jonin from Takigakure. Please take care of me!"
"Shōsui? Who is Shiboku to you?" Hearing the name, Uchiha En recalled the timid new leader of Takigakure mentioned in the original work.
"Why does Lord know about Shiboku? He is my nephew, and he is only four years old right now," Shōsui asked, slightly puzzled.
"No particular reason, I just asked casually. I need some time to prepare. We'll meet here and depart in an hour, is that alright?"
"Understood, Lord En." Shōsui immediately agreed to Uchiha En's request.
Although the situation in Takigakure was critical, it was common sense that Ninja required time to prepare before missions, so Shōsui naturally would not, and dared not, raise any objections.
Uchiha En didn't actually need much preparation. He returned to the Uchiha Clan compound and briefed Uchiha Hane on matters concerning the Third Squad.
Then, he made a trip to Uchiha Shisui's house and brought along Shisui, who was currently obsessed with raising crows.
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