In Konoha: Starting by Slapping White Fang

But Hatake Gengetsu, Tsunade, Jiraiya...

With so many big shots gathered here, he didn't dare put on airs as a direct force under the Hokage.

"Let's go, Minato."

Jiraiya nodded toward Minato Namikaze.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei."

After putting away the specially forged Three-Pronged Kunai, Minato Namikaze bowed deeply to Genetsu. "Thank you for the lesson."

Then, he returned to the village together with Minato Namikaze.

"That Mr. Minato was actually able to fight Lord Genetsu to a draw... It's my first time seeing something like this."

Nohara Rin, who had gradually grown from a little loli into a Big Loli, was thoroughly shaken as she murmured under her breath.

"Why... didn't you go all out just now?"

At that moment, a puzzled and childish voice came from the forest behind them.

Tsunade, Nohara Rin, and the others turned to look.

They saw a boy of about five, with curly black hair, staring curiously at Genetsu.

"An Uchiha!?"

Seeing the ping-pong paddle... no, the flame fan emblem on the boy's shoulder, Kakashi's mind instantly formed those words.

That guy Obito pestered him at the academy every day, so he had long since memorized that clan emblem.

However, although this boy had the Uchiha clan's signature black hair, it was curly, and his nose was rather flat.

He looked completely out of place among the other Uchiha.

"I wasn't trying to kill him, so why would I go all out? Besides... has the little mouse that's been hiding in the back and peeking lately finally decided to come out?"

Without even turning his head, Genetsu calmly sheathed his tachi as he spoke.

Over the past while, Genetsu had always been able to sense someone watching him.

But unlike those idiots from the Anbu before, there wasn't the slightest hostility.

So Genetsu hadn't bothered with it.

"I heard that the Konoha's Black Blade is the strongest sword-wielding ninja in the village, so I couldn't help myself..."

The Uchiha boy scratched his head sheepishly, then bowed.

"My name is Shisui Uchiha. Please take care of me, Lord Genetsu."

"Another weirdo."

Upon hearing that name, Genetsu wore a look of disgust.

"Huh?"

Not yet five years old, Shisui Uchiha looked utterly confused.

Genetsu had originally thought that his older brother Hatake Sakumo's death in the original story had already been weird enough.

But after learning how Shisui Uchiha died, Hatake Sakumo's death no longer seemed all that unusual.

Especially the move where he voluntarily told the Elder Council's group of four about Kotoamatsukami, a skill that was practically a bug.

It had utterly dazzled Genetsu, who had once been a reader in his past life.

With a godly technique like that, even before one's own parents and closest relatives, it should have been kept buried in one's stomach.

Everyone feared having their thoughts altered without their knowledge.

Let alone those four people, whose political scheming ran deep.

In the original story, Shisui Uchiha proposed using Kotoamatsukami to alter Fugaku Uchiha's mind and stop the coup.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others were even more afraid that Shisui would use that technique on them.

"L-Lord Genetsu, do you know me?"

Shisui Uchiha asked curiously.

He hadn't even officially enrolled in the Ninja Academy yet. Was he already that famous?

"I've heard a little about you. I think you and my big brother would make good friends."

Genetsu gave a strange smile.

"Really? Haha..."

Shisui Uchiha rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Konoha's White Fang?

That was someone praised as second only to the Black Blade.

Was that a compliment?

After all, he had only happened to pass by once and witnessed Genetsu sparring with Hatake Sakumo.

He had been deeply drawn in by their swordsmanship.

After all, he used a blade too.

"You're both equally stupid."

However, Genetsu's next sentence instantly gave Shisui Uchiha the miserable expression of someone who had eaten shit.

On Konoha's main road leading to the Administrative Building.

"Minato..."

After pondering for a long time, Jiraiya finally spoke.

"No matter what position the old man gives you later, just do your own job well. Don't meddle in anything else."

After thinking it over and over, that was all he could bring himself to say.

During the three years he had spent training away from the village.

Jiraiya had already seen through Minato Namikaze. He was the standard sort of ninja who aimed to become Hokage.

That was originally a good thing.

But if one wanted to become Hokage, especially a ninja like Minato Namikaze who truly had the strength to become Hokage.

Once that decision was made, getting dragged into political struggles became unavoidable.

And after much consideration, that was the only advice Jiraiya could offer.

He didn't want Minato Namikaze, whose heart was as bright and pure as a child's, to be stained by the darkness of Konoha's upper ranks.

"Uh... understood."

Seventeen-year-old Minato Namikaze was no longer as immature as he had been three years ago. He vaguely sensed the implication behind his teacher's words and nodded solemnly.

"I'm off. I still need to gather more material~"

With an abrupt shift in demeanor, Jiraiya put on a lecherous grin and turned toward the hot springs.

"One of the three ninja taboos... Sensei..."

Minato Namikaze shook his head with a wry smile, then turned toward the nearby Administrative Building marked with a huge "Fire" character.

"Gulp!"

After swallowing hard, Minato Namikaze forcefully suppressed the tension in his heart and stepped inside.

Five minutes later, inside the Hokage's Office.

"Both your bearing and the intimidation you give off are vastly different from three years ago, Minato~"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose beard had become slightly gray compared to three years ago, smiled as he looked at Minato Namikaze as though appraising an incomparably precious treasure.

The look gave Minato goosebumps all over.

Lord Hokage's preferences aren't weird, are they...

To Hiruzen Sarutobi now, Minato Namikaze was no longer merely "incomparably precious." He could practically be called an "irreplaceable treasure."

He was powerful. According to the Intelligence Department, after returning from training, he could even remain undefeated against that Hatake Gengetsu.

And he was only seventeen, with immeasurable room for future growth.

More importantly, he came from a civilian background and had no ninja clan forces behind him, making him safe to employ.

There was also his relationship with Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

The Nine-Tails was absolutely under Leaf Village's control.

That was also a card that could be used to restrain Minato Namikaze.

Honestly, Minato Namikaze's standing in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart was now faintly comparable to Orochimaru's.

"Starting today, you will officially resume your position in the village."

Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, Minato Namikaze immediately dropped to one knee and accepted the order. "Yes, Lord Hokage."

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi had not finished speaking.

He continued, "But with your current strength, the position of an ordinary Anbu member no longer suits you. You will take the post of Anbu Commander-in-Chief."

Minato Namikaze's expression changed drastically.

Although Jiraiya had repeatedly told him on the way back to the village.

That the Third Hokage would certainly focus on cultivating him once he returned.

He had never imagined that the position of Anbu Commander-in-Chief, a post second only to one person, would be dropped on him the moment he came back.

Ever since White Fang stepped down, that position had remained vacant.

Seeing Minato Namikaze's stunned and flattered expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled as before.

"White Fang once held this position as well, but he resigned for certain reasons. The vacancy has given me a terrible headache all this time."

After a brief pause, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued.

"But that no longer matters, because before me stands someone even more outstanding than him."

Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's words of praise, which even carried a hint of excessive flattery.

Minato Namikaze was not pleased at all. Instead, he became increasingly nervous.

Such immense favor... Is he trying to tie me completely to the Elder Council's chariot?

And Jiraiya-sensei had said more than once that Lord Hokage and Lord Genetsu were not on good terms.

Could he be trying to cultivate me into... a secret weapon against Genetsu?!

"Don't refuse. You won't be able to refuse anyway."

At that moment, Jiraiya's face surfaced in Minato Namikaze's mind, along with what his teacher had told him earlier.

"Then... I will do my best, Lord Hokage."

With no other choice, Minato Namikaze could only lower his head and accept the order.