The Third Hokage's Considerations

To be honest, the Third Hokage had considered taking Ueno Kei as a disciple the very first time he laid eyes on him. Perhaps it was the look in Kei's eyes at that moment that reminded the Third Hokage of some past events.

The Third Hokage held a very strong conviction: as long as Ueno Kei possessed the potential to become a ninja, he would take him on as a student and train him meticulously, even if his natural talent were somewhat lacking.

Strictly speaking, this idea of the Third Hokage's was actually quite unrealistic and unfeasible, given the death of the Fourth, the complex affairs within the village, and the tangled, unending relationships between the five great ninja villages.

There were also the issues that needed to be handled between Konoha Ninja Village itself and the Land of Fire.

A mountain of matters required the attention of the Third Hokage, an old man who already had one foot in the grave.

Why did the Third Hokage have to resume his position as Hokage after the Fourth died? It was simply because there was no one else in the village suitable to be entrusted with such a heavy responsibility.

Those with both ability and prestige were his three beloved former students, but Orochimaru had defected, Senju Tsunade was nowhere to be found, and Jiraiya had absolutely no desire to be Hokage.

As for those who could take the position and were willing to shoulder the responsibility, either their status was unsuitable—such as Hyuga Hiashi, whose position as the head of the Hyuga Clan greatly restricted him.

If the head of the Hyuga Clan were to become Hokage, would Konoha Village belong to the Land of Fire, or would it be the Hyuga Clan's Konoha?

Others lacked the necessary ability or prestige, such as the Fourth's subordinate, Hatake Kakashi. Although the Hatake family was one of the ninja clans within Konoha, that clan had already declined.

Its final glory had dissipated completely after the death of Hatake Kakashi's father, the man once known as the White Fang of Konoha, whose strength was said to be even greater than that of the Sannin.

However, Hatake Kakashi's own strength and his prestige within the village slightly constrained him as well.

The Third Hokage did believe that Hatake Kakashi was well-suited to become Hokage, but it was not yet the right time, and as for the other ninjas in the village, they were even less worth mentioning.

Therefore, when the Third Hokage resumed the position of Hokage after the Fourth's death, he was so busy that the idea of taking Ueno Kei as a disciple seemed somewhat impractical at the time.

After all, the Third Hokage simply did not have much time to educate a student.

Yet, although the Third Hokage had wavered slightly for this reason, he soon reaffirmed his resolve; this factor did not make him abandon the idea of taking Ueno Kei as a disciple.

The reason he did not take Ueno Kei as a student later on was that the Third Hokage wanted to observe the boy—to understand him comprehensively, from his character to his disposition.

Of course, this did not mean sending people to monitor Ueno Kei; that would neither conform to the rules of Konoha Village nor align with the Third Hokage's original intentions.

Thus, for over three years, whenever the Third Hokage had a moment of free time, he would use his crystal ball to observe Ueno Kei.

Naturally, because Ueno Kei had come into contact with Uzumaki Naruto, the Third Hokage did, out of consideration, order the Anbu to monitor Ueno Kei.

With the observations from the crystal ball combined with the reports from the Anbu, the general outline of Ueno Kei's personality and his attitude toward handling affairs gradually became clear in the eyes of the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage even happened to be observing Konoha Village with his crystal ball when Ueno Kei obtained the Lingyu Blade, and he caught sight of it by chance.

In this way, over the course of three years, the last shred of hesitation in the Third Hokage's heart was eliminated. Even without the incident involving the Kurama Clan, the Third Hokage had intended to step forward and take Ueno Kei as his disciple. After all, the Third Hokage, who frequently observed him, knew that although the boy was slightly dull when it came to techniques, his foundation was very solid, he was diligent, could endure hardship, and often read books related to ninjutsu.

There was nothing left in the Ninja Academy that could be taught to Ueno Kei.

Graduating early was for the best.

The matter of the Kurama Clan was merely an accident, and the Third Hokage simply took the opportunity to go with the flow and take Ueno Kei as his student.

Whether Ueno Kei could be loyal to Konoha for his entire life and dedicate everything he had to the village, the Third Hokage could not be one hundred percent certain.

After all, there were quite a few rogue ninjas these days, and it was not as if none of the Third Hokage's own students had become rogue ninjas.

However, what the Third Hokage could be very certain of was that Ueno Kei was a person who knew how to repay kindness; in terms of his fundamental nature, Ueno Kei was "good." This was something the Third Hokage, who had seen countless people in his life, could confirm.

Even that beloved student who had defected, Orochimaru—was it truly just for selfish gain and the desire to overthrow Konoha that he had defected?

There must have been deep, hidden reasons behind it; the Third Hokage's experience made it impossible for him to be completely wrong about a person.

Now, the Third Hokage trusted Ueno Kei just as much. As his appearance suggested, the Third Hokage was already very old; he was currently relying solely on his past prestige and reputation to hold on, but how much longer could this last? Three years? Or five?

His body was aging step by step, his strength was slowly regressing, and now he could barely maintain Kage-level strength, which was no longer comparable to his peak.

Not only did the candidate for the next Hokage need to be put on the agenda immediately, but the Third Hokage also wanted to do his utmost to cultivate the best seedlings of Ueno Kei's generation to serve as the pillars of Konoha after his death.

Just like the White Fang, the Sannin, the Yellow Flash, and the Ino-Shika-Cho of the Second and Third Great Ninja Wars—heroes who made ninjas from other villages tremble with fear—the Third Hokage had his eye on many in the new generation of ninjas.

However, those individuals all had special family backgrounds or statuses, so the Third Hokage did not need to worry about their future development. Even for Uzumaki Naruto, arrangements for his future had long been prepared.

The Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, the orphan of the Fourth Hokage! Such a special existence was of extreme importance within Konoha! To say nothing else, take Hatake Kakashi, who was currently in the village and hailed as the ninja most likely to become the successor to the Hokage; when he graduated early from the Ninja Academy back in the day, his team leader was none other than Uzumaki Naruto's biological father, the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato!

As a subordinate of the Fourth, Hatake Kakashi would never let Naruto fend for himself, whether out of morality or sentiment. For these past few years, he had only been hindered by the orders of Konoha's higher-ups from interacting with Naruto.

Otherwise, Hatake Kakashi had even considered taking Uzumaki Naruto back to his own home to raise him. Even so, the Third Hokage had decided not long ago to have the newly graduated Uzumaki Naruto join Hatake Kakashi's team so that he could look after him.

Of course, Ueno Kei was unaware of these things. These young buds of Konoha, whom the Third Hokage valued, all had assigned instructors to teach them.

Ueno Kei alone was the exception.

One must know that after ordinary ninjas graduated from the Ninja Academy, the teams they joined were basically led by Chunin. However, Uzumaki Naruto and the white-eyed boy from Ueno Kei's cohort, Hyuga Neji, were different; the moment they graduated from the Ninja Academy, their team leaders were all Jonin.

Moreover, they were among the top Jonin in terms of strength, or Jonin who possessed specialized skills in certain areas!

PS: If I told you I wrote this chapter while drunk after drinking too much last night and being very happy, would you believe me? ...Ahem, anyway, considering how hard I worked to write this even during the New Year, please give me more recommendation votes. It's already been a hundred thousand words and I've got less than five hundred votes... it's miserable.