That afternoon, Uchiha Takeyasu, looking thoroughly refreshed, strolled over to the Hokage Building to clock in. As expected, he found an extra desk in the Hokage's office.
A beautiful woman in a dark kimono, her hair tied in a side ponytail, was calmly and gracefully reading through documents.
"Hokage-sama."
Seeing him arrive, Minako Uzumaki immediately stood and greeted him. Mito Uzumaki glanced over from the desk opposite and chuckled. "What brings Hokage-sama to the Hokage Building?"
"Minako, you don't need to stand around either. If you don't want to work overtime, hurry up and finish your tasks."
Konoha was swamped with work after the war. The various subsidies and merit awards alone were enough to give anyone a headache, not to mention the missions pouring in from all over the Land of Fire like snowflakes. If the Uchiha Clan hadn't gone out of the village to sweep through the area, Mito Uzumaki figured she'd have been working late every night.
Compared with that, Hokage-sama, who had nothing better to do and was treated like royalty, made Mito Uzumaki feel her short-tempered younger self stirring to life.
"Then I'll be off?"
"Wait!"
As Uchiha Takeyasu made to leave, Mito Uzumaki's eye twitched. In the end, she calmly took out a document. "Tomorrow is the Ninja Academy graduation ceremony. This is the list of graduates for this class. Take a look."
I've had so much going on lately, I nearly forgot about this.
Uchiha Takeyasu took the document with interest. As Mito Uzumaki explained, he began looking through the names.
"Next, Hokage-sama needs to select Jonin instructors for each team. You'll also need to make an appearance at the Ninja Academy that day and explain to the students what the Will of Fire means."
"For the Jonin instructor assignments, I'll have Clan Head Shikata come discuss them with Secretary-in-Chief Mito. The two of you know the Jonin from the clans and the village better than I do, so I won't stick my nose into it."
"As for the appearance at the Ninja Academy, I'll send a Shadow Clone. Minako can accompany it."
Mito Uzumaki nodded at Uchiha Takeyasu's reasonable arrangement. Minako Uzumaki, who had just sat down, stood up again and nodded in agreement, earning another fresh glare from Mito Uzumaki.
"By the way, I'll take these four students."
Uchiha Takeyasu pointed to four names on the roster: Orochimaru, the future biologist; Jiraiya, the future Toad Sage; Hiruko, the future master of bloodline techniques; and Dan Katō, who would one day master the Spirit Transformation Technique.
Without exception, they were all civilians, and in the future each had the potential to become a Strong Kage and a pillar of Konoha.
Unaware of that, Mito Uzumaki was a little surprised by Uchiha Takeyasu's choices. "You're not going to pick from Ino-Shika-Cho or your own clan? And you're taking four students. Don't complain later that they don't meet your standards and quit on the spot."
For many ninja from the clans, their minimum potential was the maximum a civilian ninja could reach. Mito Uzumaki suspected Uchiha Takeyasu wanted to win over civilian ninja, but she was also worried he might let his Uchiha temper get the better of him and damage the Hokage's reputation instead.
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Besides, I'd be more motivated if I had some competition."
Uchiha Takeyasu smiled. "Why don't you take on a few students too, Secretary-in-Chief Mito? Then we can compete and see who's better at training students."
"Are you planning to do all this work, Hokage-sama?"
Mito Uzumaki slapped the stack of documents piled half a meter high on the desk beside her. The thump was followed by a sidelong glance at Uchiha Takeyasu, and he immediately fell silent.
"Ninja teams usually have four members, one Jonin leading three others. With the members working together, they can generally handle missions below S-rank. That's what experience has taught us over the years."
Mito Uzumaki spoke unhurriedly. "As Hokage, you need to act with the Hokage's responsibilities in mind. You can't just leave the village whenever you please, especially to carry out missions concerning the country. That would give the other nations the wrong idea about Konoha's stance."
Uchiha Takeyasu listened patiently.
He wasn't some blond brat who picked fights with everyone and everything, much less a tragic hero weighed down by hatred. Mito Uzumaki had offered her advice out of a sense of duty; there was no need for him to reject it outright. Whether he followed it was another matter.
If some foolish country or ninja village provoked him, he'd simply wipe them out. Blood and bone were the most direct route to the heights Uchiha Takeyasu sought.
But only if they provoked him first. That was the principle he'd set for himself.
He couldn't just become a monster.
"Of the Hokage's four students, you could choose one to be a deputy leader and send them on missions that would be inconvenient for Hokage-sama to handle personally."
"Thank you for the advice, Secretary-in-Chief Mito."
After Mito Uzumaki finished, Uchiha Takeyasu continued.
"Also, if you don't mind, Tsunade could become my student too, just as the Second had Kagami Uchiha as his student, and Senju Tsunade had the Third Generation."
Faced with Uchiha Takeyasu's earnest gaze, Mito Uzumaki thought for a while. She neither refused nor agreed, but spoke softly. "Hokage-sama, Tsunade is the Senju Clan's heir. Nothing can be allowed to happen to her."
"Secretary-in-Chief Mito, even Lord Hashirama, as mighty as he was, reached the end of his life. Once Tsunade becomes a ninja, combat and killing, blood and blades, will be the main themes of her life."
"And Senju Moriki's example is right there before us."
"Nothing can be allowed to happen? Secretary-in-Chief Mito, can you guarantee that yourself?"
The mood in the Hokage's office fell silent. Uchiha Takeyasu met Mito Uzumaki's now-cold gaze without flinching.
"Don't look at me like that. I won't be happy, and neither will the Senju of the Forest."
"Besides, Senju Moriki is the Clan Head of the Senju Clan. What's wrong with keeping an eye on him?"
"Heh. Hokage-sama certainly knows how to get things done."
Only a handful of people knew about Senju Moriki's situation. After ruling out a traitor, Mito Uzumaki couldn't help but suspect that Uchiha Takeyasu had already deciphered the sealing barrier around the Senju of the Forest's clan grounds and slipped in without anyone noticing.
If he could pull off something like that, Mito Uzumaki shuddered to think what he could do as an assassin.
"That's why I'm the Hokage."
Uchiha Takeyasu replied as though it were obvious. Then he took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch. Mito Uzumaki's gaze sharpened when she saw the Flying Thunder God Mark on it.
"Secretary-in-Chief Mito, you should know better than I do what this Flying Thunder God Kunai can do. I'd like to ask you, as someone skilled in Sealing Jutsu, to see if you can add a warning seal to it."
Uchiha Takeyasu gave an example. "A seal that would let the person on the other end know immediately if someone touched it with Chakra, for instance."
Mito Uzumaki's eyes lit up. She instantly understood the benefits.
Having a powerful Hokage who could arrive at any moment standing behind you was more useful than any technique. In return, you'd be entrusting your life to Uchiha Takeyasu's whim.
Mito Uzumaki thought it over and realized she still had no choice.
Once Tsunade became a ninja, combat was inevitable. Mito Uzumaki didn't know the Flying Thunder God Technique, so she couldn't stay by Tsunade's side forever. The only person who could protect Tsunade at any moment was Uchiha Takeyasu.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama. I'll leave Tsunade's training in your hands."
Mito Uzumaki accepted the Flying Thunder God Kunai and bowed to express her gratitude. Beside her, Minako Uzumaki had remained silent; now she bent deeply at the waist, revealing the graceful curve of her hips.
Uchiha Takeyasu's eyes flickered. Smiling, he helped Mito Uzumaki back up. The soft touch of her shoulder felt just like that of a sixteen-year-old girl.
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