Hm?
Wait, if Hokoma could no longer continue serving as Assistant Agent...
With a tap as his foot landed on the tree trunk, Chiba halted atop a massive ancient tree somewhere off the broad road leading from the village to the camp.
At that moment, he seemed to have thought of something important.
I...
Wouldn't that mean removing the word "Agent"?
In other words, I was going to become the Hokage Assistant? Spend the rest of my life stuck in that position? In that instant, sweat slowly began to seep from Chiba's temple.
It was now set in stone that Hokoma would die. And Hokoma was still the Hokage Assistant. Though Chiba wielded real authority, he was merely an Assistant Agent—only an agent.
There had been two reasons why Chiba had accepted this job in the first place. On one hand, the assistant's status would allow him to take many fewer detours when dealing with Hirohiko and Yukina's matters. With that status, he could gain many conveniences and resolve Hirohiko and Yukina's issues more easily.
On the other hand, it was because of those two words, "Assistant Agent." He had originally been appointed Assistant Agent because "Hokoma was involved with a certain person and was unable to carry out the assistant's duties." He was only filling in temporarily. Once Hokoma returned, he would naturally step down.
But now that Hokoma had been confirmed to be doomed to die, his temporary position would likely become permanent.
Nor could there be any other candidate.
If there had been another candidate, they probably would not have directly appointed a child barely over ten years old.
His permanent appointment was practically certain.
But he could not spend his entire life as an assistant. Especially from now until next October, he needed to improve his