Becoming the Deputy Minister

After returning to the village and submitting his mission report, Li Yu went straight home.

He began to study the Hero's Water he had obtained from the rogue ninja of the Hidden Waterfall Village.

Recently, the village had been abuzz with rumors about the White Fang of the Leaf, Hatake Sakumo. Because he had chosen to save his comrades instead of completing his mission, the village had suffered heavy losses, leading the villagers to blame him.

Even the comrades he had saved turned around to condemn Hatake Sakumo; perhaps that was the final straw that broke him.

Li Yu had only just returned from his mission when he heard that the White Fang of the Leaf had committed suicide.

His name was not inscribed on the Leaf's Memorial Stone, and it was said that this incident had dealt a heavy blow to Kakashi.

Knowing that Li Yu had returned from his mission, the Third Hokage summoned him the very next day.

Inside the Hokage Office Building.

Only the Third Hokage and Li Yu were in the office.

"Nawaki, now that you have just returned to the village, you must have heard about it already."

"I have. The rumors in the village regarding the White Fang of the Leaf, and the fact that he took his own life at home yesterday."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff of his pipe and sighed.

"Sakumo could not weather this crisis and chose a dead end."

"There have been movements along the border of the Land of Wind recently. I fear that news of Sakumo's death will reach the Hidden Sand, and the hard-won peace is about to be shattered."

Don't worry, old man Third, Li Yu muttered to himself. They definitely know. According to the plot, the Third Kazekage is probably about to kick the bucket anyway.

Sitting at home, disaster strikes from the sky. "The Hidden Sand Village needs a vent, and the Leaf is destined to take the blame."

"Lord Hokage, regardless of the situation, we must prepare for war."

I didn't expect the Third Hokage to suddenly want to have a heart-to-heart with me; there's something fishy going on.

"Nawaki, in view of your excellent performance over the past few years, I am promoting you to Deputy Director of the Anbu."

"You don't need to go on missions anymore. Stay in the village and focus on handling Anbu affairs."

Li Yu was startled by this order. With this show of strength, the Leaf's top brass intends to keep me under surveillance.

Thinking this, Li Yu left the Hokage Building and returned home.

Li Yu had put in so much work, but unfortunately, evolving the Sharingan into a Mangekyo was truly difficult.

In this great war, the Sharingan's utility was becoming increasingly limited; without reaching the Mangekyo stage, it didn't provide much of a boost to his combat power.

His chakra reserves had long since surpassed the Kage level, and he had yet to encounter anyone who could force him to go all out.

He had to evolve his Sharingan into a Mangekyo Sharingan as soon as possible.

Recently, the death of the White Fang of the Leaf had been overshadowed by the exploits of Lord Zi Yu, who had fought thousands of ninja single-handedly, along with the Hokages and Jinchuriki of the three major ninja villages.

Under the influence of those with ulterior motives, people gradually chose to forget about the death of the White Fang of the Leaf, shifting all their attention to the battles in the Land of Birds.

A few days later.

Leaf Village Anbu.

Using his authority, Li Yu immediately transferred Shui Qi and Yue Ying to his side to serve as his guards.

Having completed their missions, the two finally arrived to report to Li Yu.

"Shui Qi, after all these years, you're still so thin. You haven't changed a bit, you've just grown taller."

"Yue Ying, long time no see."

"Zi Yu, we were in the same squad back then, and now you're already a director, while the two of us have only just been promoted to Special Jonin."

Yue Ying said with an unnatural blush.

"Yu, your strength has left us far behind."

Li Yu changed the subject with a smile.

"Having you serve as my direct subordinates means that from now on, your priority will be handling official business for me."

With that, he tossed a pile of files to Shui Qi and set him to work.

He then took Yue Ying's small hand; it was as warm and soft as jade, and holding it felt quite comfortable.

After giving instructions to Shui Qi, Li Yu pulled Yue Ying's hand, activated the Flying Thunder God, and brought her back to his home.

Shui Qi, with a face full of dark lines, helplessly looked at the files and pouted.

"He's got a girl, so he's got no humanity."

Li Yu took off his mask and set it aside, signaling for Yue Ying to sit down as well.

"Uzuki Yuying, actually, I've known your name for a long time."

Hearing Li Yu call her by her name, she also took off her Anbu mask. With her purple hair, willow-leaf eyebrows, large eyes, and sexy red lips, she possessed a very mature feminine charm.

Li Yu stared at Uzuki Yuying's cheeks until she blushed and lowered her head, at which point he withdrew his gaze and said:

"My real name is Senju Nawaki. My family inherited the glory of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage, which allowed me to survive."

"I should have died in the Second Shinobi World War, but I lived. This proves that the Senju Clan is not meant to disappear."

"Yuying, I have actually held feelings for you for many years. For your safety, I dared not get too close to you."

"Yan Xing died during our last mission together. Someone in the village leaked the intelligence; Yan Xing died because he was implicated by me."

Upon hearing of Yan Xing's death, Yuying looked saddened for a moment, but she quickly recovered, perhaps having seen too much life and death during her many missions.

"The death of the White Fang of the Leaf this time—the fact that he died so indignantly—has made me make up my mind."

Uzuki Yuying asked in surprise, "What are you going to do? Don't tell me you want to..."

Li Yu smiled and said, "It's not as serious as you think. I won't do anything detrimental to the village; at the very least, the village is the lifeblood of the First and Second Hokage."

"I'm just going to find that smug Fake Blind Man and have a chat about life."

Li Yu did not want to say more, simply looking straight into Yuying's eyes.

Seeing that Yuying did not lower her head this time, he said loudly, "I will always support Nawaki-kun."

Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, took Uzuki Yuying's hand, and said with a wicked grin, "Yuying, from today on, you are my personal bodyguard, or secretary for short."

"What is a secretary?"

"It's the kind where, if there's work, the secretary does it, and if there's nothing..."

Realizing what he had just said, Li Yu quickly changed the subject.

"Go home and pack your things. From now on, you'll be living at my place."

After saying this, Li Yu did not look at Uzuki Yuying's expression and walked out on his own to give instructions to his clansmen.

It was time to cause trouble for Danzo and settle the score with him. And then there was Orochimaru; this poison might have been his doing.

During Li Yu's many S-rank missions, enemy ninjas had frequently ambushed him, possessing intelligence on his ninjutsu and often countering his techniques.

The enemies particularly liked using genjutsu and taijutsu against Li Yu. Each time, he had relied on his Three Tomoe Sharingan, Sage Mode, the speed of the Flying Thunder God, and Wood Clones that were indistinguishable from the real thing to turn danger into safety.

Especially during this last mission, he had nearly lost his life in the Land of Birds, a place where birds defecated all day long.

"If this can be tolerated, what cannot? If an uncle can tolerate it, an aunt certainly cannot."