Back in Konoha, Uchiha Yusuke had already ended his seclusion—yet he still didn't jump straight back into politics.
During those three years, the Third Hokage and the two advisors had monopolized power. Even Tsunade had been pushed to the margins.
Tsunade didn't fight it. She simply guarded her little corner—the Medical Department—and watched coldly.
Jiraiya was still wandering and refusing to return. And with his loose personality, even if he came back, he wouldn't be suitable to inherit the Hokage seat anyway.
The Third had no real successor.
Sooner or later, the Hokage position would still fall to either Tsunade… or Yusuke.
And honestly?
Tsunade wanted to see exactly how long those old fossils planned to cling to power.
Team Assignments After Graduation
After Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and the others graduated, the usual team assignments began.
Under the Third Hokage's direct interference:
The new generation of Nara / Yamanaka / Akimichi were placed under Asuma.
And Asuma's love interest, Kurenai Yuhi, was also "taken care of":
Her students—Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga—were all from prestigious clans.
This wasn't kindness.
It was the Third Hokage laying political groundwork for the next generation.
Asuma might never reach the Hokage seat, but becoming elite leadership was still possible.
And when his grandson Konohamaru grew up, these networks could become a ladder.
The Hokage seat could "temporarily slip away"…
but the Sarutobi clan he built with so much effort could not be allowed to decline.
Compared to the Senju—who produced two Hokage with far less "family strategy"—
Sarutobi Hiruzen's private ambitions were heavy.
The "Hot Potato" Team: Naruto + Sasuke
For the most troublesome two—Sasuke and Naruto—the Third Hokage decisively assigned them to Kakashi.
The Nine-Tails incident from twelve years ago left him with a deep shadow.
To him, the words "Uchiha" and "Nine-Tails" were nightmares.
And since Kakashi had already begun drifting away from the Hokage faction…
Fine.
Then you can take the village's hottest potato.
If anything goes wrong, public opinion alone will drown Kakashi.
It was the same tactic used back then against the White Fang:
Even if you wear the Hokage half-cloak, you can still be "praised to death."
The Hidden Currents of the Shinobi World
Meanwhile, Akatsuki had been unusually quiet—only making small moves now and then, nearly disappearing from the world's surface.
By Yusuke's estimate, Nagato was likely preparing to finally move against Hanzo the Salamander.
Waiting until Hanzo was old and weakened before revenge…
Nagato was, in his own way, very steady.
Speaking of steady—
Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was the same.
After his all-in gamble to crush Konoha in the Third War failed, Iwa had made almost no moves since.
Iwagakure was naturally defensible, hard to invade.
As long as that old turtle stayed in his shell, nobody would go looking for trouble.
Still, Iwa had its own issues:
The jinchuriki Roshi had clashed with Onoki and simply left the village.
Onoki felt the loss—but the other jinchuriki, Han, was far more dependable, already earning fame as the "Steam Ninja."
The Five Great Nations: Who's Truly Stable?
Kirigakure — "Stable" Only on the Surface
The Hidden Mist looked calm, but it was an illusion created by isolation.
For years, that earth-and-stone bastard had controlled the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, pushing the village into brutal rule.
Bloodline users were persecuted.
Even the famed Seven Swordsmen had six members flee.
Internal coups and purges never stopped.
The difference from wartime?
Mist was killing its own.
Talent dried up. Kiri slid toward bottom tier among the Five.
Sunagakure — A Village Bleeding Out
Suna was no better.
After the Third Kazekage vanished, Rasa became the Fourth.
First he dealt with stubborn old hardliners.
Then he fell into a tailed-beast crisis:
Three failed jinchuriki experiments couldn't properly sync with Shukaku.
The Wind Daimyo kept cutting budgets and manpower.
In the end, Rasa sealed Shukaku into his son: Gaara.
At first it held.
But in the last two years, Gaara began showing signs of losing control.
Rasa was terrified Gaara would become another "failed weapon."
Suna was already weak—losing that war asset would be fatal.
So his survival instinct began turning toward Konoha:
If Yusuke stays out of politics, isn't that old Third Hokage easy to manipulate?
Kumogakure — Growing Fast, Getting Bold
Kumo had grown the most rapidly.
After losing to Yusuke, the Fourth Raikage, A, rebuilt his military with a hard hand.
Losing the Benihisago (Amber Purifying Pot) was humiliation.
A wasn't the type to accept defeat.
He swore he would one day challenge Yusuke again.
And there was a dangerous pattern:
When A once faced the "Yellow Flash," Minato, he knew he couldn't win—
but after Minato died, A instantly felt he was "back in the game."
Likewise, after Yusuke killed Danzo and then went quiet, Kumo began to underestimate him:
One man can be strong, but nations are won with strategy.
A was rash—but also a capable political operator.
He believed he could defeat Konoha without battle if he played it right.
Sound Village — Orochimaru's "Era"
And then there was Orochimaru.
Years of research had brought Edo Tensei close to completion.
In his mind, the time to stir the world and rewrite history was finally coming.
Konoha Year 60: Calm Surface, Violent Underflow
The world looked peaceful.
But underneath, everything was shifting.
Yusuke sat steady, like a fisherman, waiting for the right fish to bite.
Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai, Asuma—jonin instructors—became full-time babysitters to their genin.
After a stretch of boring missions, Naruto and Sasuke finally got a real trial:
Team 7 escorted Tazuna to the Land of Waves… and clashed with Momochi Zabuza, one of the Seven Swordsmen.
Two brutal battles later, Zabuza and Haku both died.
Naruto and Sasuke gained real combat experience—already showing early chunin-level fighting quality.
As for a certain useless pink-haired girl…
she was still, as always, dead weight.
Kakashi's Special Training, Naruto's "Unfairness," and Jiraiya's Arrival
Kakashi favored Sasuke more—partly because their chakra natures matched.
He planned to teach Sasuke his signature technique: Chidori.
They trained together, and Naruto felt like a wronged wife.
Only Sasuke gets a new jutsu? Kakashi-sensei is biased!
But it wasn't actually bias:
Naruto's chakra nature was Wind, and it couldn't properly fit Chidori.
While Naruto dragged Konohamaru around near the women's bathhouse practicing "Sexy Jutsu," he met the white-haired "Toad Sage"—
the legendary pervert: Jiraiya.
Jiraiya one-shot Ebisu, and Naruto immediately demanded to be trained.
Jiraiya refused at first—
but after Naruto performed Sexy Jutsu twice, the old man's brain was completely hijacked by "art."
This kid is a genius…!
He still acted reluctant.
"Fine. I'll barely teach you Summoning Jutsu."
Despite his lust, when he taught Naruto, he taught seriously.
Naruto was Minato and Kushina's son.
Minato—who became Fourth Hokage at a young age—was Jiraiya's proudest disciple.
And Naruto was different from Minato:
Minato was a born genius.
Naruto was a true bottom-ranker.
Great stamina, huge chakra… but fundamentals were a disaster.
Which made Naruto eerily similar to young Jiraiya.
The more Jiraiya trained him, the more he liked him.
When Naruto complained that Kakashi taught Sasuke Chidori—
Jiraiya immediately gave Naruto something even more iconic:
Rasengan, developed by Minato.
Naruto's basics were weak, but his learning talent was abnormal.
After only three weeks of hard training, Naruto mastered Rasengan.
Jiraiya was shocked.
Minato's legacy had a successor.
From that moment, Jiraiya decided to fully cultivate Naruto.
Yusuke's Training for Hinata: Bloodline First
While Naruto and Sasuke grew rapidly, Yusuke began special training for Hinata too.
Most people thought Hinata lacked talent.
Yusuke believed she had simply been pointed in the wrong direction.
Hyuga tradition prioritized taijutsu and treated dojutsu as secondary.
To Yusuke, that was fundamentally mistaken.
Taijutsu at its peak… at best reaches "Hiashi-level."
But if the Hyuga fully focused on bloodline and eye-power?
They might approach Madara and Hashirama's realm.
The Senju and Uchiha inherited Asura and Indra.
The Hyuga descended from Hamura Otsutsuki.
In Yusuke's eyes, Hinata was a major potential asset.
If raised correctly, she would not be inferior to Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto/Sasuke's Six Paths inheritance was terrifying—
but the Hyuga's path to Hamura's power was no joke either.
The moon-dweller Toneri was proof: his Tenseigan Chakra Mode could threaten even god-tier.
Under Yusuke's guidance, Hinata's mastery of the Byakugan and bloodline control rose fast.
Her dojutsu hadn't "mutated" yet, but her chakra control became extremely refined.
And that bloodline growth fed back into her taijutsu:
A technique that once took her two years—Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists—
she now controlled smoothly in just two weeks.
The Konoha Rookies Accelerate, and the Turning Point Approaches
Others also improved:
Rock Lee, under Guy, learned Eight Gates.
"Little Rich Girl" Tenten mastered ninja-tool summoning.
As for Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba and the rest—
they mostly built on their clan secret techniques, learning teamwork and field experience from their jonin.
Konoha's new generation surged forward—
and soon reached the next turning point of their lives:
The Chunin Exams.
Created in the Second Hokage Tobirama's era to select talent, the exam's meaning evolved over time.
Now it was also a stage for nations to compare strength.
The Third Hokage was generally satisfied with this generation.
To showcase Konoha's power, he invited:
Ally: Sunagakure
Neutral villages: Amegakure, Otogakure, Kusagakure, Takigakure, and more
Responses varied.
Some saw Hiruzen as friendly and peace-loving.
Others saw it as flexing and intimidation.
Yusuke, however, thought—
the Third was digging his own grave.
Without this ridiculous invitation, Orochimaru wouldn't get such a clean opening to launch the so-called "Konoha Crush."
If the Third wanted to die, Yusuke wouldn't stop him.
He was even curious—
just how far could Orochimaru stir the waters?
Sound Village — Orochimaru's Excitement
When Orochimaru received Konoha's invitation, he was thrilled.
A once-in-a-lifetime chance.
His long-prepared revenge plan could finally begin.
Back when the Third banished him, Orochimaru had already planted the desire to challenge his teacher.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, once called "The Professor," "The Hero of Shinobi," "The Strongest Hokage"—
a household name across the world.
If he could stomp a figure like that underfoot…
How interesting would it be?
And so—
beneath the peaceful surface of Konoha Year 60,
the new order took shape.
And history began to move again.
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