The Third Hokage Gets a Visit from the Elders

"By the way, what are your plans for the weekend?"

Iruka asked from beside him.

"What plans could I have? I'll train like always."

Hagoromo shook his head. He had been a teacher for the past few years, but he still trained whenever he had time off.

"You really do stick with it."

Hearing that, Iruka couldn't help marveling.

"Oh, come on. Train while you still can. Who knows when even we might get sent out on missions?"

Hagoromo had only figured this out in the past few days. After all, in the original story, there seemed to have been several serious shortages of ninja available for missions.

Even a team-leading Jonin like Kakashi Hatake would sometimes be reassigned to missions on his own.

"Huh?"

Iruka was a little confused, and his voice rose without him realizing it.

The other teachers in the office heard him and turned to look.

Hagoromo hurriedly covered Iruka's mouth and apologized to the teachers.

Only then did he lower his voice and say, "Hey, don't make such a fuss."

Fortunately, only he and Iruka had been able to hear what he'd just said clearly. Otherwise, a crowd would have gathered around them by now.

Iruka scratched his head in embarrassment. "You just startled me, that's all."

"All right, it's only a guess."

Hagoromo waved a hand and leaned back in his seat.

But he was still thinking about it.

After all, once the night of the Uchiha Clan's massacre came, the missions originally allotted to the clan would be returned to Konoha as a whole.

No, it was more likely that the elders would carve them up among themselves first.

After all, missions escorting high-ranking officials and members of financial groups were easy pickings served up on a platter.

That was a staggering amount of wealth.

The Senju had already fallen into decline, while the Uchiha were at the height of their power.

And the Land of Fire's high-ranking officials and financial groups favored the Uchiha greatly. After all, their strength spoke for itself.

That was also why Danzo and the Third had always kept such a close watch on the Uchiha, eager to make it impossible for them to stay in the village.

If the Uchiha produced another figure like Madara, Konoha would be in no position to produce another Hashirama to keep him in check.

After all, the Shinobi World was only so big, and although Konoha occupied the best location,

and had financial support from the Land of Fire's daimyo, there were still many things the ninja village had to pay for itself.

Training talent and covering the village's various expenses all cost money.

And once a ninja village couldn't make ends meet, the individual clans would naturally have to make their own arrangements.

As soon as one clan became powerful enough to overshadow the village, the other clans would inevitably start entertaining other thoughts.

Otherwise, Tsunade wouldn't have had such a constant headache after taking office as the Fifth Hokage.

Hagoromo looked out the window at the conspicuous Hokage building standing in the distance.

Inside the Hokage building, the Third had his pipe in his mouth and, after a long while, exhaled a cloud of thick smoke.

The entire Hokage's office was already filled with smoke.

Utatane Koharu, seated across from the Third Hokage, frowned and waved the smoke away before looking at him.

"Hiruzen, the Uchiha Clan already has a monopoly on the Military Police Force, and now the clan head's son is preparing to join the Anbu."

"Aren't you afraid they'll become even more dominant?"

Mitokado Homura nodded in agreement.

"That's right. And someone from the Uchiha Clan is preparing to join the Anbu. Yet you never told us about it."

"Remember, we're the Elder Advisory Council, with the authority to deliberate on village affairs!"

The Third Hokage frowned as he listened.

He hadn't expected that no sooner had he told Danzo to stop his actions behind the scenes than Danzo would send these two old comrades straight to his door.

"Koharu, Homura."

"I have my reasons for letting Uchiha Itachi join the Anbu."

"Besides, he now belongs to the Hokage's Anbu, which answers exclusively to me, so there's no need to worry."

However helpless he felt, the Third Hokage could only explain himself gently to Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.

Upon hearing that, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exchanged a glance.

After all, that wasn't what Danzo had told them before they came. The Anbu was divided into two parts.

One was the Anbu guard unit that served the Hokage alone.

The members of that unit answered to only one person: Konoha's Hokage.

The funds used to train them also came from the Hokage's own coffers.

By rights, if Uchiha Itachi really had joined the Hokage's Anbu guard unit,

the two of them had no standing to criticize the decision.

That left them in an awkward position.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the Hokage's office turned awkward.

After a long while, Mitokado Homura finally stood up. "Then we'll be going, Hiruzen."

"And smoke less. It's bad for your health."

The Third simply nodded from his seat to show he understood.

Seeing that, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura could only turn and leave the Hokage's office.

Phew—

Only then did the Third exhale another cloud of smoke. He stood up and went to the window.

Looking at the neatly arranged houses in Konoha, a momentary confusion clouded his eyes.

It wasn't just his old classmates and teammates who had changed. Even the Third himself felt that he no longer seemed to be the person he had been when he first took office.

"Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Tsunade..."

For some reason, the Third found himself missing his three disciples.

But all three had now left Konoha, and Orochimaru had become a missing-nin.

Not a word had come from either Jiraiya or Tsunade.

A few years ago, when the Fourth was still around, Jiraiya would at least come to see him.

But since the Night of the Nine-Tails, he hadn't heard a single thing about his disciple.

Even the Anbu he had sent specifically to bring Jiraiya back couldn't find a trace of him.

"I really am getting old."

The Third let out an almost imperceptible sigh, then turned around and resumed handling his official duties.

Ring, ring, ring~

The school bell rang, and the students, who could hardly contain themselves, shouldered their bags and ran toward the school gate.

Naruto, who was already prepared, immediately got up and ran outside the teachers' office to wait for Hagoromo.

The teachers who came out gave him undisguised looks.

Naruto paid them no attention and simply waited in silence.

After a long while, Hagoromo and Iruka returned from inspecting the classrooms.

Seeing Naruto standing outside the office, Hagoromo smiled and said,

"Have you been waiting long, Naruto?"

"Hagoromo-sensei! No!"

Naruto immediately answered with delight when he saw Hagoromo. On seeing Iruka standing beside him, he instinctively greeted him too.

"Hello, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka, who had been about to return to the office on his own, was taken aback when he heard Naruto greet him.

Then he smiled and said, "Hello, Naruto."

"Iruka, Naruto and I are heading out first. I'll leave you to lock up later."

Without going back for his papers, Hagoromo put an arm around Naruto's shoulders and strode off with him.

"Okay!"