"Third Hokage, I cannot accept this mission," Hagoromo said to the man standing before him.
Yes, he said he couldn't accept it.
The Third Hokage was visibly stunned by his words. Can a ninja actually refuse to execute a mission? In all his years leading the village, he had never heard of such a thing.
"Is it because of your injuries? Are you not fully recovered yet?"
"My injuries are completely fine now, but I still cannot accept this mission."
Hagoromo's injuries had indeed fully healed. On this matter, he had no reason, no need, and absolutely no way to lie—mainly because a little something called "medical records" existed in this world.
"Although its significance is immense, in terms of difficulty, it's not a hard mission. It's just a matter of delivering Minato's appointment letter for the Fourth Hokage to the Daimyo's capital, having the Fire Daimyo review and sign it, and bringing it back. There's no danger along the way, and Asuma is there too... Setting certain variables aside, an ordinary ninja could carry out this assignment. We only handed it to you considering your reputation."
The Hokage originally thought that the newly recovered youth could handle this kind of task first to gradually regain his form. He hadn't expected him to outright refuse.
Although he always kept a low profile, the White Yaksha was still considered a prominent figure in the ninja world. After all, he had built a shrine in Hakurei and warmed Reimu's bed... Cough, that was a hallucination.
After all, he had done many things that affected the course of the war.
"If it's solely about reputation, you could send an Uchiha. 'Shisui of the Body Flicker' sounds much more renowned than the 'White Yaksha', and that surname inherently comes with a prestige bonus..." the youth said. However, he couldn't just refuse a mission directly issued by the Hokage without providing any reason whatsoever. That would be unjustifiable.
So, he began pulling out scrolls... Considering his habit of throwing things around like grenades, this action was easily misunderstood. But ultimately, he wasn't going to assassinate the Hokage over a simple disagreement, so the older man could rest easy.
He simply handed several scrolls over for the Hokage to review.
"Moving forward, I plan to focus all my attention on construction, dedicate myself wholeheartedly to development, offer my strategies for our village, throw myself unwaveringly into theoretical research, and maintain a firm, resolute ideology..."
Ignoring the boy's absolute nonsense, the Hokage took the scrolls and unfurled them directly to see what they were.
Thus, he saw...
"On the Simplification of Hand Signs During the Execution of Ninjutsu"
"Nature Transformation of Chakra, Mutual Restraint, Training, and Principles of Application"
"The Mastery and Utility of Lightning Style"
"On Determining the Limit Threshold of Lightning Style Ninjas and the Detriments of Exceeding It"
"Oh, your theoretical attainment is quite high. Not at all like a ninja of your age." Regardless of whether the Third Hokage was considered a doctor or a professor, he was indeed an all-rounder and an expert in his field. Therefore, with just a glance, he recognized the value within these texts.
These were professional treatises that ninjas below a certain level wouldn't even be able to comprehend.
Facing the Hokage's praise, Hagoromo smiled a faint, charming smile. As if. Did the old man think he was going to admit how much of this kind of crap he wrote back in his past life?
The only difference was that back then, it was pure nonsense. Now, it was well-reasoned, evidence-based nonsense.
At this moment, he almost had the urge to push up a pair of non-existent glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"Hmm, so you've been busy with this sort of thing lately?" the Third asked without looking up.
Setting the earlier parts aside, Hagoromo's explanations and explorations regarding Lightning Style truly possessed unique personal insight and genuine value.
"Because I had nothing to do while injured, I tried doing some theoretical research," he said.
By stating this, he proved with cold, hard facts that he hadn't been taking the Konoha Senate's stipend for nothing.
But he knew exactly what was really going on. It was all just a facade and an excuse. From now on, he absolutely had to stay in the village, without leaving for even a moment.
"I see..." The Third Hokage thought for a moment, then said, "In that case, I'll change the ninja assigned to this mission."
Konoha had many capable ninjas, but genuinely few who engaged in research. Acting on the principle of maximizing everyone's talents, since the youth was actually busy with this, he would let him continue to be busy.
After all, the Hokage himself had said there were quite a few ninjas who could carry out this mission. Even actually sending Shisui would be fine, as Shisui was different from the other Uchihas.
Just as planned. Hagoromo silently lowered his eyes. Regardless, for the time being, he shouldn't be assigned any missions that required leaving the village.
After leaving the Hokage's office, he thought about it and decided it would be best to inform Minato about this. Although there was a high probability the man already knew, what if he didn't?
It was a piece of good news, after all.
Following Kushina and Minato's recent marriage, Hagoromo naturally didn't insert himself as closely into their lives as before. After all, things were different now.
In reality, from then on, Kushina had effectively relinquished her status as an active ninja.
Although she no longer lived in her old place, habit was a terrifying thing. Hagoromo still passed by her former residence before detouring to where she and Minato currently lived.
He knocked and entered... A bit unfortunately, he had arrived right at mealtime.
At this hour, Minato was naturally at home.
"Hagoromo, have you eaten?" Kushina asked him.
"Of course, I've eaten." Of course, he hadn't eaten.
It had to be said, habit was indeed a terrifying thing. Minato actually looked like he was enjoying those dishes. Perhaps his taste buds had suffered a devastating blow a long time ago.
"Hagoromo, are your injuries fully healed?" Minato asked.
"Absolutely no problems at all," the youth replied while casually finding a place to sit—on principle, staying as far away from the dining table as possible.
Maintaining distance in daily life, acting normal during interactions, being close but not overly intimate—this was his principle.
"Minato-senpai, the appointment for the Fourth Hokage has been approved, hasn't it?"
"So you found out," Minato looked slightly surprised, which simultaneously proved he already knew about the matter himself.
"The Fourth Hokage? Why didn't I know about this?" Kushina looked astonished, which quickly turned into pleasant surprise. "Minato, is this true?"
"It's true. I was originally going to wait until all the procedures were finished to tell you."
Uh. Hagoromo rubbed his nose, feeling slightly awkward. Had he ruined the surprise Minato had prepared for her?
Waiting until Kushina's excitement subsided, he then asked, "Kushina-sensei, what were you two talking about just now?"
"..." She paused for a moment before answering openly, "We were discussing what to name our future child."
"Oh, the legendary question that outsiders shouldn't ask..." He completely lacked the self-awareness that he shouldn't have asked, then cast a pointed glance at Minato.
Clearly sensing the implication in that gaze, Minato quickly clarified, "We're just discussing it early."
Was there really a need to explain that?
"Kushina-sensei, you aren't letting Minato-senpai hold the naming rights, are you?"
That would truly be a terrifying prospect.
"Of course not. But Minato wants to name him after the protagonist in Jiraiya-sensei's novel, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, if it's a boy."
"The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, huh? That's probably Jiraiya-ossan's highest quality work, even if the sales are tragic," he remarked. He had actually read that book; after all, he'd had a lot of free time in the past.
"Hold on, wait a minute!" Hearing him say that, Kushina's eyes narrowed seriously. "Hagoromo, there's a lot packed into that sentence."
"Packed into it?" This left him completely baffled.
"That's a conclusion that can only be reached through comparison. So... you've read Jiraiya-sensei's other books?!"
"Uh?"
What was Jiraiya's best-selling book? It certainly wasn't about ninjas.
Could it be that Hagoromo had hidden 103,000 magical grimoires on Dantalian's bookshelf?
Hagoromo shifted his gaze to Minato.
Faced with the boy's pleading eyes for help, Minato gave him an expression that said there was absolutely nothing he could do to help.
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