Hokage: You Call This Guy the Savior?!

Anyone would get sick of fighting no less than three times a day.

"Sigh, youth is truly wonderful. Back in my day..." Kakashi watched the three of them bickering and couldn't help but sigh, showing not the slightest intention to intervene.

Yet, lost in some thought, his mood suddenly darkened, and he didn't continue.

"Kakashi-sensei, aren't you going to stop them? Naruto is being too reckless, and Sasuke's injuries haven't even healed yet!" Sakura looked over with pleading eyes.

Looking at Sakura, Kakashi vaguely saw the silhouette of a young girl, and a sudden, intense wave of guilt surged in his heart, causing him to lower his head.

He had to help Sakura find a suitable teacher; if things continued like this, her talent would only go to waste...

Otherwise, once Naruto and Sasuke grew up, she would likely become the one holding them back.

We shall set aside the noisy journey of the group for now; on the other side, Hiruzen had already received the detailed report regarding this mission.

There were two reports in total: one from the hand of Kakashi, and the other from—

Anbu Root!

Timeline Convergence

Although the Root organization had long since been ordered disbanded by Hiruzen due to a grave error, that did not mean they had ceased to exist. These documents appearing on his desk from time to time were all testaments to their presence.

Hiruzen knew very well what Danzo was expressing. Whether he liked it or not, Root was there; protecting the Leaf was their duty, not loyalty to him as Hokage.

The intelligence files have been delivered to you; read them or don't.

As for this file... Heh, Danzo was expressing his dissatisfaction!

The underlying message was—

Look at this, you let the Jinchuriki and the Uchiha remnant run wild and cause so much trouble. This is the result of not following my advice!

Yes, both Naruto and Sasuke were key subjects of Danzo's surveillance, and he knew the reason for that all too well.

The two reports had different perspectives, and thus told different stories. By reading them together, Hiruzen could easily understand the full picture as a bystander.

It had to be said that the growth of Naruto and Sasuke far exceeded his expectations.

He was very satisfied with this point; it showed that his strategy was correct. Naruto should be sent out more often so that he could grow into a qualified combat force.

The only thing that made him frown was that the seal had leaked after all. Naruto entering the Tailed Beast state was not under his own control, and the Root ninja lurking nearby had almost exposed their identities to intervene.

What was a mere mission compared to the fact that the Nine-Tails seal must never have any flaws!

Fortunately, the thing he feared most did not happen, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

As for the culprit behind Naruto's Tailed Beast transformation, the file pointed directly at the civilian ninja named Keiichi. It was his unauthorized actions that led to everything.

The suggestion in the file was to send him to Root to be personally 'guided' by Lord Danzo, so he would understand that a qualified ninja did not need ideas of their own!

Hiruzen thought about this suggestion for a long time, but in the end, he rejected it.

Because looking at the final result, it could be said to be as perfect as it could possibly be, even if there was a large element of luck involved.

Moreover, Keiichi had made a great contribution this time. Whether it was helping the Leaf secure ownership of the bridge or killing Zabuza and obtaining the Kubikiribōchō, both were worthy of commendation and encouragement. What sense would it make to send him to Root?

He knew all too well how ruthless his old friend's methods were.

Unless Keiichi made a mistake one day, there was simply no reason to send him to Root.

Of course, if Danzo were willing to concede some benefits, then he would have to wrong this little friend.

Hiruzen retrieved the mission request for protecting Tazuna from the database and personally supplemented and modified some of its contents.

In this way, what was originally a C-rank mission was elevated to an A-rank mission in one leap.

The mission reward also increased to one million ryo, to be distributed by Kakashi as the team leader.

Having settled this minor matter, Hiruzen turned his attention to the upcoming Chunin Exams. Many ninjas from other villages would be visiting this time, and maintaining order alone was a headache-inducing problem.

Furthermore, the Chunin Exams were, at their core, a stage for each village to display its own strength. If the Leaf, as the host, could not produce a convincing performance to deter the surrounding neighboring countries, it might just become the fuse for a war.

There was no help for it; as Hokage, if he didn't worry about these things, who would? He could only pull himself together and start optimizing the plan, striving to ensure everything was foolproof.

What is going on?!

What exactly happened!

Only a few days after returning to the Leaf, when Keiichi opened his system panel, he wore an expression of extreme shock.

Plot Modification Degree: 0.83551%

In fact, the progress had been over 1.2% just the day before; how could it have dropped so much all of a sudden?

Because of this, many items in the Exchange Shop that required over 1% were suddenly unavailable, no matter how many points he spent!

Why did it drop so much?

Keiichi thought about it for an entire day without understanding, until the third day, when he accidentally heard a piece of news from Naruto, and his whole world fell apart.

That bridge, which he had clearly renamed "Leaf Bridge," had been changed back!

It had become "Naruto Bridge" again!

Keiichi almost vomited blood from anger; all his efforts had gone down the drain in an instant!

After asking for the reason, he finally understood: Hiruzen had a sudden whim and decided to let the people of the Land of Waves name the bridge themselves, hoping to win over their hearts.

As it turned out, because Naruto had accidentally saved Kaiza's wife, he had gained the adoration of the entire village.

One must remember that Kaiza was a hero who stood against Gato, and his death remained a painful wound in the hearts of all the villagers.

Thus, everyone unanimously decided to name the bridge the Naruto Bridge to express their gratitude for Naruto's kindness.

Upon hearing the sequence of events, Keiichi felt incredibly depressed.

Couldn't they have at least named it the Kaiza Bridge? Why did it have to be the Naruto Bridge?

Wasn't this just coming full circle?

No wonder the Magic Modification points had dropped so sharply; it was simply too logical.

Wait, could this be...

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Keiichi, and he couldn't help but frown.

He had watched many movies about time loops, and among them was a concept called Timeline Convergence, which roughly meant that if a certain person was destined to die, then no matter what you did, they would eventually die at that specific point in time.

So, had the Naruto Bridge also been affected by Timeline Convergence?

If that were the case, the difficulty of modifying the plot was even higher than he had imagined, because you never knew if your efforts would actually pay off—perhaps with a sudden snap, everything would just return to its original track.

Thinking about it carefully, the entire Naruto Bridge Incident he participated in had undergone massive changes in process, yet the outcome remained the same. Could this also be the influence of Timeline Convergence?

If the Naruto Bridge, a relatively insignificant side-plot, was already subject to Timeline Convergence, would he be able to change anything when it came to the truly critical plot nodes?

For example, Sasuke's defection. If he could change Sasuke's mind, he would surely reap a massive amount of Magic Modification points, but what if Sasuke suddenly changed his mind at the very last moment?

With the influence of Timeline Convergence, that was not impossible at all!

The only thing that brought him comfort was that although the bridge's name had been reverted, the Magic Modification points he had gained from the previous name change hadn't been confiscated; otherwise, he really would have cried himself to death.

Perhaps fearing the system might go back on its word, Keiichi hurriedly opened the gift package interface, selected the monthly gift package to redeem, and spent all 50 Magic Modification points immediately.

It's not like you can deduct them into the negatives, right?

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining the following rewards:"

"50 Magic Modification points, Water Clone Technique (Elite Grade), Summoning Beast: Magikarp (LV1), Spirit: Iron Wall (1 use remaining)."

Looking at the Magikarp wiggling on the floor, Keiichi felt completely numb.

Such a humiliating scene was practically on par with Naruto summoning a tadpole!

Chapter 27: New Teacher

After handing over the Kubikiribōchō, the compensatory reward was issued quickly, almost moving Keiichi to tears.

He finally had a house; he no longer had to struggle to pay off a mortgage!

And as luck would have it, he was now neighbors with Naruto, living in the exact same floor plan.

On his first day moving into his new home, Keiichi couldn't help but muse—

Heaven have mercy, what right do you have to cry poverty, Naruto? You've had your own house since you were a child!

Was trading a sword for a house a loss?

Not at all!

In the eyes of others, it was a huge loss, but Keiichi was more than satisfied, so much so that even that little old man Hiruzen felt a bit embarrassed.

Did I go too far with this?

Silly child...

Only Keiichi knew that after the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, the ninja world entered a period of visible, long-lasting peace. Consequently, housing prices in the Leaf Village began to skyrocket. The house he was living in now would be worth hundreds of millions of ryo a decade later.

Is a Kubikiribōchō worth that much money?

What do you call this?

This is called investing in the future!

With this, he no longer had to squeeze into a room with his teammates, nor did he have to listen to their snoring, teeth-grinding, or the smell of their pungent, smoky feet...

Third Hokage, you really are a good man!

Just after moving in, he couldn't wait to run to the hospital to visit his recovering companions and share this 'good news' with them.

Then, he left the hospital with his head held high, basking in their gazes of envy, jealousy, and hatred.

Excellent, the show-off was a huge success; he felt absolutely refreshed!

The only bad news was that they still had to stay in the hospital for another month, and with recovery training on top of that, there was no way they could make it to the Chunin Exams.

Fortunately, Hiruzen assured him that he would find a team leader for Team 25 as soon as possible, and one at the Jonin level, no less.

This could be considered part of the compensation for handing over the Kubikiribōchō.

Therefore, Keiichi wasn't too worried; as long as the team leader was willing to help him register, he could still make it to the Chunin Exams.

With his current strength, was he supposed to be a Leaf Village Genin for the rest of his life? He had already abandoned the path of the coward in this lifetime.

"Keiichi-kun, I have broken my promise." Just as he returned from the hospital, he saw Kakashi waiting at his doorstep, looking quite embarrassed the moment he saw him.

"Huh? What's going on?" Keiichi was completely bewildered.

"I'm afraid I can't teach you the Water Clone Technique after all." Kakashi scratched the back of his head, his expression quite awkward.

Upon hearing this, Keiichi understood immediately; Kakashi couldn't vouch for him, and the matter of him 'knowing the Water Clone Technique' had hit a snag.

"Why?" Keiichi steadied his nerves and asked.

"It's an order from Lord Hiruzen; he won't allow me to do it."

Kakashi provided a brief explanation: in the report he had drafted, he had written that the Water Clone which broke the stalemate was one he had prepared in advance, thereby distancing Keiichi from the incident.

What he didn't know was that even the report from Root didn't believe Keiichi had the ability to manifest a Water Clone disguised as Kakashi, viewing him only as a supporting character who had distracted Zabuza.

Therefore, Hiruzen couldn't understand why Kakashi had suddenly taken a whim to teach Keiichi the Water Clone Technique.

Consequently, he had directly vetoed the proposal and even sent Kakashi to warn Keiichi that even if he had truly learned the Water Clone Technique, he was not to use it.

If he were to use it and someone became suspicious, he was not to say that Kakashi had taught him, or he would have to bear the consequences himself.

Keiichi was not surprised; compared to himself, Kakashi's existence was clearly of far greater significance to the Leaf Village.

Thus, Kakashi could not teach Keiichi the Water Clone Technique; this connection had to be severed.

If he were to use the Water Clone Technique in the future, he would have to clearly explain where he had learned it, otherwise, no one would back him up.

This made his mood turn sour instantly, for he had just opened the Water Clone Technique from a gift pack, only for it to be banned in the blink of an eye—truly a joy for nothing.

Perhaps for a ninja with a clan behind them, learning a Water Clone Technique was no issue at all; even if someone asked, they could simply say it was taught by their family, and no one would care.

After all, apart from their unique secret techniques, it was only natural for major clans to possess a collection of ordinary ninjutsu.

But Keiichi was merely a civilian ninja who rarely left the village for missions; if he suddenly mastered a ninjutsu he shouldn't have, an investigation would likely land him in the interrogation room once again.

Constantly pinning it on a deceased captain wasn't a sustainable solution either.