Chapter 220: Let's Train a Successor
Seeing the two children getting along so harmoniously, the usually stoic Sakumo Hatake broke into a gentle, unburdened smile.
In truth, the moment Hiruzen Sarutobi told him that the young girl he needed to look after was named A-Mu, he had already made up his mind to agree. This was the very first friend his son had ever made in his entire life; such a milestone had to be treated with the utmost seriousness. Setting aside all the complex village politics and hidden agendas, seeing Kakashi show a rare, genuinely childish expression in front of a good friend—what could possibly be more important than that?
He stepped forward, his tall frame casting a protective shadow over them, and reached out. He took one small hand in his left, and the other in his right.
"Let's go," Sakumo said, his voice carrying a quiet warmth. "We can go home now."
The three of them walked toward the horizon, their elongated silhouettes stretching out beneath the bleeding orange hues of the setting sun.
High above on the hospital rooftop, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura stood silently in the open corridor, the evening breeze tugging at their robes as they watched the trio depart.
Hiruzen took a slow drag from his pipe, his mind already calculating the logistics. In the future, this child will have Sakumo guarding her at home and Kakashi by her side whenever she steps outside. As for her education... after a brief adjustment period, she'll be transferred directly to the Elite Class. Uchiha Kaito can teach her personally.
With the Academy Principal keeping a close eye on things, there shouldn't be any blind spots in her daily life. As for deploying Anbu squads to monitor and protect her? Sakumo despised being shadowed. Out of respect for the White Fang, the Anbu would be strictly forbidden from entering any perimeter Sakumo occupied. Having covert operatives watch her solely during her commute to and from the Academy would have to suffice.
However, Hiruzen knew the emotional bond between this mysterious child and Kakashi wasn't quite strong enough yet. It needed to be forged deeper, intensified until it was unbreakable. Relying entirely on Uchiha Obito to anchor her to the village simply didn't carry enough weight.
"It really is a deep pity about Sakumo," Hiruzen murmured, exhaling a plume of white smoke that quickly dissipated in the wind. "If he were still active in the field, who knows how many devastating losses the Anbu could have avoided. Every single year, when I sit down the casualty reports and personnel changes, I get a splitting headache."
The Hokage let out a heavy, rattling sigh. Throughout his tenure, he had been nothing but diligent. He worked his fingers to the bone, ensuring the Land of Fire developed steadily and harmoniously. His policies were effective; the village was thriving. Frankly speaking, he had done an exceptional job.
Yet, the ghost of imposter syndrome always lingered. He constantly, unconsciously compared himself to the towering figures of his predecessors. In their colossal shadows, he always felt his own achievements fell short. Whenever a shinobi died on a mission, Hiruzen would agonizingly put himself in the shoes of the previous Hokages. If they were sitting at the desk, would the sacrifices have been smaller? Would they have executed the strategy flawlessly?
Whenever that crushing guilt set in, he had to fight the overwhelming urge to march straight down to the Weimeiju Restaurant, grab Sakumo by the collar, and force him to reclaim his mantle as the Anbu Commander. The man was simply too lethal, too incredibly useful to be left tossing noodles. It was no wonder Stelle had ruthlessly assigned him mission after grueling mission back in the day, working the poor man to his absolute physical and mental limits.
But Hiruzen restrained himself every single time.
That disastrous incident back then had nearly cost Sakumo his life. The medics had barely managed to resuscitate him on the operating table. If Kagami hadn't rushed in at the last possible second, slamming that farewell letter down for Sakumo to read, the White Fang would have never pulled through. The situation had been so dire that the village higher-ups unanimously agreed to completely erase his active status, hiding the legendary Anbu Captain in plain sight as a humble ramen chef.
"Who says otherwise?" Danzo scoffed, his cane tapping sharply against the concrete.
At the mere mention of Sakumo, Danzo's tone dripped with a volatile mix of bewilderment and sheer frustration. His lone visible eye narrowed, his jaw grinding at the memory of the man's complete lack of ambition. "It was clearly a cluster of a situation where everyone involved was at fault. So why did he insist on taking the entire burden upon himself? Stubbornly carrying all the blame alone... that archaic Bushido spirit of his is truly beyond understanding."
Hiruzen rubbed his throbbing temples. Whenever this specific topic was breached, a phantom migraine flared behind his eyes. "I can see he's in a remarkably good state of mind today. Perhaps A-Mu's addition to his household will bring about a different result. Assigning him to look after her... it's also my way of giving him a chance to finally reconcile with himself."
"Let's hope so," Danzo muttered bitterly. "A Kage-level expert, wasting away as a chef..."
The two elderly statesmen sighed in perfect, miserable unison, their heads drooping simultaneously.
They were so sleepy. So incredibly tired. So utterly miserable.
Hiruzen was running on fumes, having stayed up for consecutive nights reviewing and organizing the highly classified Rinnegan intelligence, tailoring complex diplomatic and tactical plans to integrate the dojutsu into Konoha, all while juggling his mountain of regular administrative duties.
Danzo wasn't faring any better. He had pulled an all-nighter consolidating the village's complex financial reports, aggressively crunching numbers to fund his friend's ambitious plans.
At this exact moment, the two most powerful men in Konoha looked absolutely wilted. They resembled a pair of shriveled eggplants that had been left baking in the sun at a market stall for three days straight. The wrinkles on their faces seemed to have carved themselves twice as deep, and the dark, bruised bags under their eyes were heavy enough to rival a giant panda's.
Whenever he reached this level of bone-deep exhaustion, Hiruzen couldn't help but deeply admire the previous Hokages. They always seemed to manage the village in such an orderly, effortless fashion. They left work early. They actually had time for personal hobbies!
The First Hokage would casually wander around the bustling streets of Konoha like a carefree vagabond, helping random villagers carry groceries and laughing with the local children. The Second Hokage would often accompany him; though his idea of 'helping' usually involved scaring the kids into a crying fit with his terrifying aura, leaving the First to frantically coax them back to happiness.
His own teacher had been even more ridiculous, spending all hours of the day locked away in a damp laboratory researching forbidden jutsu, yet Konoha's infrastructure remained perfectly intact.
And then there was the Fourth Hokage—the one Hiruzen knew best. Unless the sky was literally falling or a major war broke out, that woman strictly worked a nine-to-five schedule. Anyone who dared approach her desk with overtime paperwork was practically guaranteed a severe physical beating. When she had free time, she simply holed up in her office, gleefully researching all sorts of bizarre, highly dangerous Sealing Techniques.
Why did they all have such boundless energy and infinite free time? Hiruzen mentally wept. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm on the verge of working myself into an early grave every single day!
Should he just copy their shameless methods? Should he aggressively train a successor ahead of schedule and dump all these trivial, mind-numbing administrative matters onto their lap?
If he did that, wouldn't he finally have time to go out and admire the beautiful women around town?
Cough, cough. No, wait. Time to rest. Yes, rest.
But who could he possibly choose?
Jiraiya was constantly running around the elemental nations, chasing skirts and 'researching', completely off the grid. Orochimaru and Tsunade were permanently entrenched in their respective laboratories. One was obsessed with pushing the boundaries of biological technology, while the other was revolutionizing medical science. Neither of them showed even a fraction of a desire to sit behind a desk and stamp trivial mission requests.
What about letting Minato Namikaze give it a try?
Thinking of the Fourth Hokage's brilliant blonde student, Hiruzen couldn't help but silently praise the Fourth's incredibly sharp eye for talent. The boy was a genius, polite, and scarily efficient.
It's decided, Hiruzen thought, a spark of desperate hope igniting in his chest. The moment Minato returns from his current mission, I'm transferring him directly to the administrative office to see how he handles the pressure.
"No, I need to go rest for a bit. If I keep this up, my heart is going to give out and I'll drop dead right here," Hiruzen declared suddenly, adjusting his Hokage hat. "Danzo, keep an eye on things in the office for me. If there's an absolute emergency, have the Anbu wake me up. Otherwise, I am dead to the world."
With a sharp 'whoosh', Hiruzen vanished on the spot, using the Body Flicker technique with the speed of a man fleeing for his life. He had made up his mind; unless the literal sky collapsed on Konoha, absolutely no one was going to stop him from clocking out early today.
"Wait, I also—"
Before Danzo could even finish the words 'am very tired', Hiruzen's afterimage had completely faded from view.
Danzo swallowed the rest of his bitter complaint, his cane hovering awkwardly in the air. He lowered it with a heavy thud. Forget it, he thought begrudgingly. Compared to him, Hiruzen genuinely was under more strain. Danzo only had to manage the village's finances and the dark, trivial matters that Hiruzen couldn't afford to touch in the light of day.
But Hiruzen had to shoulder the entire Land of Fire. With such a vast, sprawling territory, the Hokage couldn't afford to relax for a single day; even a momentary lapse in judgment would lead to a suffocating mountain of paperwork.
Fine. Let the old monkey have a good rest today, Danzo conceded internally. He would handle the remaining administrative garbage. In any case, with him watching over the desk, Konoha certainly wouldn't fall into chaos.
Grumbling under his breath, Danzo Shimura walked down from the roof and entered the Hokage's office. He bypassed his usual spot and went straight to the massive mahogany desk where Hiruzen usually graded documents. Needing a specific red pen to authorize some trivial budget files, Danzo grabbed the handle of the bottom drawer and yanked it open.
Spill.
Because it had been crammed far beyond its physical capacity, a massive pile of glossy magazines violently erupted from the drawer, cascading all over the polished wooden floor.
Danzo froze. His lone eye slowly tracked downward.
Spread across the floor were dozens of brightly colored covers featuring various voluptuous beauties posing in skimpy swimsuits, sheer stockings, and tight fishnet shirts.
Danzo's face instantly darkened to the color of a thundercloud. A vein bulged violently on his forehead.
With stiff, jerky movements, the fearsome Root Commander crouched down and began aggressively snatching the magazines off the floor, shoving them back into the drawer. How in the Sage's name did that degenerate monkey even manage to cram all of this in here?!
There were simply too many to fit easily. He had to physically crush the bindings to force the drawer shut. If he weren't terrified of some random Chunin walking in, seeing the stash, and permanently ruining the Hokage's public reputation, Danzo wouldn't have even bothered to pick the filthy things up.
After finally slamming the drawer shut with a resounding crack, Danzo stood up, his chest heaving with sheer indignation. He turned on his heel and stormed back toward his own office in a huff.
If Hiruzen Sarutobi had the time and energy to wrestle with a desk drawer completely stuffed with softcore pornography, how could he possibly claim he didn't have time to review a few budget documents?!
A man should do his own damn work, Danzo fumed, slamming his own office door shut. As a mere Hokage's Assistant, it was clearly best if he didn't meddle in the affairs of his 'exhausted' superior.
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