Jonin and the Hokage Position

In Konoha, in the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage was unaware that his good friend Danzo had lost an arm. He held the Scroll given to him by Namikaze Minato and examined it carefully.

After a moment, he exclaimed in admiration, "I never imagined that you would develop this technique left behind by the Second Hokage to such an extent. You are truly remarkable, Minato!"

"Third Lord, you flatter me," Namikaze Minato said with an embarrassed smile. "Because my talent in other Ninjutsu is average, I can only focus my efforts on Fuinjutsu and the Flying Thunder God Technique."

"Are you going to contribute it to the village? After all, it's practically your own secret technique."

"Of course, I would be very happy to learn if anyone is willing to do so in the future."

Sarutobi Hiruzen carefully put the Scroll away, intending to organize it and place it in the Scroll of Seals. Then he looked at Minato, who was smiling, and many thoughts flashed through his mind.

"Nine-Tails, the Yellow Flash, the Flying Thunder God Technique..." Thinking of these things, he seemed to have made a firm decision, and said in an extremely serious tone, "Minato, you can start making some preparations. I intend to..."

"Ah..." Namikaze Minato paused, a mix of joy at his dream coming true and worry in his heart. "Okay, Jiraiya- sensei and Orochimaru are even more..."

"I consulted Jiraiya, and he recommended you to me," the Third Hokage said in a deep voice. "Orochimaru shouldn't object either."

Namikaze Minato's expression turned serious. "I will certainly not let you down."

As the two began discussing the succession, little did they know that someone else had always coveted the Hokage Position, never giving up even after years of living in darkness.

"Clatter!"

At the Root Base underground in Konoha, Danzo sat in the Medical Department, catching his breath. Two Medical Ninja were treating his arm injury, while Root Member reported on the outcome of the battle.

After engaging with the AB Combo team, more than half of the Root members who were dispatched were killed or wounded, and he himself was also crippled, which can be described as a heavy loss.

"Perfect Jinchuriki has such power, and this is only the Eight-Tails," Danzo thought to himself.

As he gets older, he has already felt his strength declining, not to mention now that he has lost an arm. It seems that the Hokage Position is completely out of his reach.

"No, I'm not reconciled! I still have a chance!" Danzo was slightly gloomy. Wood Release possesses extremely powerful Life Energy, and with the Nine-Tails, the strongest of the Tailed Beast, losing an arm is nothing if he can control it.

"Looks like I need to go find that guy..."

After returning to Konoha from the Land of Grass, Shuichi's life became a little easier.

According to his speculation, this is now a halftime break in the war, and large-scale invasions relying on supply lines are unsustainable.

After participating in the conflict on two fronts, he finally understood the significance of logistical support.

Simply put, the stronger the ninja, the more mobile they are, and the less dependent they are on logistics. However, the ninja village cannot keep these elites at the forefront indefinitely.

Therefore, when logistical support is sufficient, a large number of "cannon fodder" can participate in the war to help, and their main tasks are to deplete the enemy's chakra, gather intelligence, and transport supplies.

"The Kirigakure hasn't joined the war yet, but they'll most likely come anyway," Shuichi thought to himself. "The White Zetsu are too good at causing trouble. With the strength of the five great ninja villages still intact, Madara will definitely continue to stir things up from the shadows."

In time, Konoha may truly fall into crisis.

In his memory, the Land of Fire was invaded by enemies during the later stages of the Third Shinobi War, and Konoha was facing an unprecedented shortage of combat power. He did not believe that his arrival alone could turn the tide, because the other major powers were clearly not "enough" to fight yet.

"There's nothing I can do now, I can only take care of myself."

In the training ground, Shuichi kept practicing Explosion Release Chakra Nature Transformation. At his current level, it was already relatively easy for him to replicate some of the techniques of the Iwagakure Explosion Corps.

However, apart from close-range explosive Taijutsu, which are more suitable, other methods of use are inevitably not flexible enough. If he had the time to set up a plan, he would have rushed over and killed the enemy. Therefore, he can only try to find new ways to use the techniques.

"Brush..."

"Huh? Who's looking for me?" Shuichi suddenly heard someone running towards him, making no attempt to conceal their footsteps, but it didn't sound like an urgent communication.

A figure appeared at the edge of the field. The newcomer had blond hair and a sunny smile; it was none other than Namikaze Minato.

"It's been a while, Shuichi-kun." Minato walked over when he saw that there wasn't much noise around him. "I hope I didn't disturb you!"

"It's Senior Minato! I was just taking a break, your arrival is perfect."

"Haha, looks like today is your lucky day!" Minato said with a smile. "I happen to have something to tell you, and some questions about Ninjutsu."

"Oh?" Shuichi was slightly surprised.

"First of all, congratulations on becoming the youngest Jonin in the history of Konoha." Minato handed him a document. "You made significant contributions in both wars. We didn't do so before because you were young and we were worried about controversy."

"Your performance in this war against Iwagakure was absolutely impeccable, so this is just a natural progression."

Shuichi felt quite pleased to receive the Jonin Appointment Letter. However, as far as he knew, the Jonin personally conducted the appointments of Hokage. Now, Minato was giving him the letter on behalf of the Third Hokage, which seemed to hint at something. "Could it be..."

As he silently speculated, Minato continued, "Shuichi-kun, you did me a huge favor before. That Ninjutsu called Rasengan has been successfully developed; it's the chakra ball we used when we fought side by side."

"Well... I think Jiraiya- sensei's naming is so-so. I had already thought of several really cool names, like Spiral Blue Whirlwind..."

Shuichi. He had actually hit Kakuzu with it in actual combat. Fortunately, Jiraiya didn't come up with any other strange names, otherwise he would have to change his name later.

"The most difficult part of compressing that Rasengan was the idea you provided. I believe that with your talent, you should be able to learn it easily. So today I have prepared a special gift for you, and that is this!" Minato held Trident Kunai on one Finger Sleeves in front of him, looking at him with a smile.

"Flying Thunder God Technique?"

"That's right, I know from the Third Lord that you asked about it. Although I don't know if it's appropriate, I'll still tell you about this technique!"

"It's finally here." Shuichi was pleasantly surprised. In fact, he had already made many guesses about the Flying Thunder God. Even if it wasn't the final version yet, it was definitely worth watching at this point in time.

"That's wonderful!" he said happily, naturally wanting to show his delight at receiving a gift. "My Body Flicker Technique and reaction time are pretty good, but the Flying Thunder God Technique that the Lord Hokage explained had many flaws, and I felt I had no way to overcome them."

"However, I Minato you didn't seem to have these problems when you used it in battle, which really makes me curious."

Namikaze Minato replied, "Indeed, I've had this technique for quite some time now, and I've made many improvements over it, requiring extensive practice before I could use it in actual combat."