The Team Leader Was Actually the Third Hokage!

Watching Jiraiya sit on the ground, exhausted to the point of collapse, too lazy even to straighten his clothes, the Third Hokage was a little speechless.

Now that everyone had arrived, the Third Hokage had no intention of staying any longer.

"Ahem!!!"

That cough drew everyone's attention, including Jiraiya, who was exhausted to the point of collapse. He sprang straight up from the ground and stood properly. No one knew who their teacher would be, and if they ran into someone with a bad temper, things would be tragic.

"Lord Hokage?!"

Aside from Hiko, who had been mentally prepared, the other three stared at the Third Hokage in disbelief. A strange thought surfaced in their minds. Could the Third Hokage be their teacher?!

That couldn't be right.

Yet there was no one else beside the Third Hokage. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were utterly confused, and even Hiko was a little bewildered. Where was his teacher?

There were four of them. If three were assigned together, one person would have to be sent elsewhere. But only the Third Hokage had come. What was going on?

Could all four of them be one team?

Such a situation was not unheard of, but it was extremely rare. Except under special circumstances, three-person teams, including one support ninja, had basically become the standard arrangement. That was why Hiko had never considered that all four of them might be grouped together.

"All right, children. Follow me. From today onward, I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, will be your teacher."

Today, the Third Hokage was not wearing his Hokage battle robes, only ordinary casual clothes.

To be honest, at this time, the Third Hokage looked like an utterly ordinary, even somewhat short middle-aged man. He had a brown goatee, and his head had not yet gone bald.

After saying that, the Third Hokage headed toward the Training Ground, leaving the others staring wide-eyed at one another.

This time, not just the others—even Hiko was dumbfounded. He had never expected the Third Hokage to place him in the Sannin's team. Hiko had long prepared himself to end up on a Rogue Team and become a drifter.

Who would have thought that he would instead be grouped with the future Sannin?

The standard team now had three people, but that was not absolute. Sometimes, teams of four, five, or even six would appear, depending entirely on the situation.

Though it was not absolute, such cases were far too rare.

Hiko had never expected the Third Hokage to place him, Uchiha Hiko, among the future Sannin. While shocked, he thought of the Sannin's future fame and felt an urge to complain. I'm not going to ruin the Sannin's legend, am I?

It was not that Hiko's arrival would prevent the Sannin from reaching the heights they had in the original story. Rather, his existence might cause the original legend of the Sannin to disappear entirely.

No one knew whether that would actually happen.

Even Hiko could not guarantee anything.

However, the Third Hokage had not assigned him to another team. Instead, he had placed him together with Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya. That brought Hiko many benefits.

This alone was enough—their team leader was the Third Hokage!!!!

"Ha... hahaha, am I dreaming?"

Jiraiya gave two dazed, dry laughs and turned back to look at the others with great difficulty. Orochimaru merely snorted and could not be bothered with him as he followed after the Third Hokage.

Hiko smiled. "You're not dreaming. It really is Lord Hokage. Come on, we still don't know what kind of test we'll face."

"How pathetic!!"

After recovering from her shock, Tsunade curled her lip at Jiraiya, mocking him for making such a fuss. Although Tsunade herself had been shocked at first that the Third Hokage had personally come to take them on, once the surprise passed, that was all there was to it.

Compared to the others, Tsunade's horizons were exceptionally high. She was the Senju Clan's little princess, after all.

"Huff!!!"

"Huff!!!"

Jiraiya breathed heavily, muttering to himself, I won't lower myself to your level! I won't lower myself to your level!!

What kind of test would they face? Would it still be a fight to snatch Bells?

Hiko left the Playground together with Tsunade, with Jiraiya following behind them. After being mocked by Tsunade and Orochimaru, he was fuming. Hiko had no interest in dealing with that. What he cared about was what kind of test awaited them today.

If it was still a Bell-snatching test, that would be a little troublesome. Two Bells, four people fighting over them!!! There simply would not be enough to go around. Though the Bells were only a pretext, their true purpose was to teach them that they needed unity and that they needed to respect their teammates—their new teammates.

Snatching Bells, eating Lunch Boxes, tying someone to a log... Hiko could only say that Konoha's tests were a little boring!!!