More than half an hour later, in the Hokage's Office.
"Oh... Chiba. It's so late. What brings you here?"
Minato Namikaze raised his head from the piled-up documents and looked at the slightly breathless Chiba, who had just shut the office door behind him, before speaking.
This... Kakashi's reply just came in, and this kid is already here.
Could it be...
Is he here to ask me for someone? Yet inwardly, he was not as clueless about Chiba's purpose as he appeared. On the contrary, he had already sensed something.
This kid... I must be overthinking it. No matter what, he can't possibly try to poach someone from the Hokage, can he?
No! Maybe he can. This kid is famously audacious. After the Mount Kibitsu Battle, despite having no wartime mission experience at all, he successfully convinced Lord Third Hokage to let him carry out the mission to rescue Sunagakure and form an alliance with them alone, thereby changing the course of the entire Third Shinobi World War...
Compared to the overall situation in the Third Shinobi World War, Kakashi alone doesn't seem like much!
No, I need to stay on guard!
I can't let Chiba lead me by the nose.
After sensing what might be going on, Minato Namikaze initially found it hard to believe. After all, he was now the Hokage and possessed the authority befitting one. At the very least, he still had a little authority over Chiba.
However, the moment the thought that he still had authority arose, his vigilance immediately dismissed it.
What was his little bit of authority worth? Chiba had even talked the Third Hokage, who had served for decades, into letting him take on a mission by himself.
Letting a child with no wartime experience carry out a mission alone... No, forget