The remaining Anbu members naturally numbered only a quarter of the original Anbu Ninja force.
This Anbu manpower was clearly insufficient. Now that he had succeeded as the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze's first fire was addressing the issue of Anbu numbers.
The first thing to decide was the Anbu Captain.
The Anbu is the most private and powerful military force of every generation of Hokage, and the position of Anbu Captain must be entrusted to the person he trusts the most.
However, Minato Namikaze currently had few reliable people at hand. After careful consideration, he still listed Kakashi as the primary candidate for the new Anbu Captain.
Minato Namikaze decided this, firstly, because Kakashi was his disciple. Kakashi had been by his side since graduating from the Ninja Academy at the age of five and could be completely trusted.
Secondly, it was due to Kakashi's talent and strength. Kakashi, currently under 14 years old, already possessed the strength of an Elite Jonin, and after a few years of experience in the Anbu, he would be ready to take over the position of Anbu Captain.
Thirdly, since both Obito and Rin Nohara had met with accidents, Minato Namikaze wanted to keep Kakashi close to him and protect him for a while to the best of his ability, preventing anything bad from happening to him.
If Kakashi were to suffer another accident, Minato Namikaze felt he would regret it for the rest of his life.
The only problem now was that Kakashi's Sharingan had just evolved, requiring some time for adaptation, so he couldn't immediately start working in the Anbu.
As for the other missing Anbu Ninja, Minato Namikaze planned to focus on recruiting from civilian Ninja, interspersed with a few Ninja from the Hyuga and Uchiha Clans.
To be honest, Minato Namikaze did not fully trust the Hyuga Clan. A large part of the reason they chose Minato Namikaze to become the Fourth Hokage was that the rise of Asana, a branch family member, threatened the status of the Main Family.
They did not want to see Asana's teacher, Orochimaru, become the Fourth Hokage.
If Orochimaru became Hokage, the status of the Hyuga Main Family would be more than just threatened.
Besides this reason, there was also an implicit one: the Third Hokage had been in power for so many years and had consistently supported the development of the Sarutobi Clan.
The continuous growth of the Sarutobi Clan had caused some pressure for both the Hyuga and the Uchiha.
Now that the Third Hokage had stepped down, the Sarutobi Clan had lost their biggest backer, and their development would naturally slow down.
Without the threat of the Sarutobi Clan, Minato Namikaze felt that neither the Hyuga nor the Uchiha would fully support him as Hokage.
Comparatively speaking, however, the Uchiha should be slightly more trustworthy than the Hyuga, because the Uchiha Clan's position in the Village was awkward, and they desperately wanted to change their situation.
This situation was somewhat similar to Minato Namikaze's current status, making them natural allies.
Furthermore, influenced by the subconscious memories of Rōran, Minato Namikaze consistently felt that Uchiha En was a trustworthy person.
Therefore, Minato Namikaze wanted to foster a closer relationship with the Uchiha Clan.
But currently, a portion of the Uchiha Clan members did not have a good impression of him as Hokage. The only ones he could approach and cooperate with were Uchiha En and Uchiha Fugaku.
Of course, recruiting for the Anbu was not something that could be done overnight. After finalizing the basic recruitment direction, Minato Namikaze focused his energy on another matter.
This matter was uniting the major Konoha clans, such as the Uchiha, Hyuga, and Ino–Shika–Choji, to weaken the power held by the two Advisor Elders and Danzo, thereby reducing their interference in the Village.
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