Danzo Shimura

"Father!"

Seeing his father, Shikaku Nara, suddenly appear, Shikamaru stopped in his tracks.

"You saw him!"

"You mean Mirai?" Shikamaru thought of Uchiha Mirai, whom he had run into earlier.

Shikaku Nara nodded.

"Shikamaru, even though you've been promoted to chunin, you mustn't get complacent. You still need to work twice as hard!"

Shikaku Nara sighed and looked at Shikamaru as though he were disappointed by his lack of progress.

Shikamaru looked at his father in confusion. Why had he suddenly said that?

Was he worried Shikamaru would get carried away after becoming a chunin...?

Not understanding why, Shikamaru could only brush it off. "Yeah, yeah, I got it!"

"Otherwise, others will leave you far behind..."

Only then did Shikamaru realize what he meant. He chuckled. "Father, are you talking about Mirai? I can guess it—he's probably being promoted directly to jonin!"

"What the hell do you know!"

Shikaku Nara rolled his eyes. "He isn't being promoted to jonin..."

"When I ran into him earlier, he was still bragging about becoming Hokage! Heh heh..."

Shikaku Nara froze at those words.

Then he stared blankly at Shikamaru.

Gradually, Shikamaru's expression became more and more animated.

From initial calmness, to surprise, and finally utter shock.

"Holy shit, could it be..."

Shikaku Nara nodded. "That's right. Lord Third informed me beforehand!"

Shikaku Nara was known as Konoha's strategist.

As a jonin of Konoha, he was able to learn of many things ahead of time.

"Shikamaru, look at Mirai, your classmate from the same generation. He's about to become Hokage, so you can't slack off either. Understand?"

Seeing Shikaku Nara's stern expression, Shikamaru nodded as well.

"Damn, so he wasn't bullshitting earlier!"

Shikamaru was completely stunned and had yet to recover.

It all felt too surreal.

What had been a joke just moments ago had turned into reality in the blink of an eye.

"Let's go home!"

Shikaku Nara draped an arm over his son Shikamaru's shoulder and led him away.

Meanwhile, during their conversation, Mirai had arrived at the Hokage's office.

Seeing several people standing inside the Hokage's office, Mirai suddenly regretted coming.

Could it be that the Third Hokage really intended to pass on the position?

No way. He had only said it casually just now.

The moment Mirai entered, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane kept their eyes fixed on him.

He wasn't afraid of them, but their staring still made his skin crawl.

These two wouldn't be having improper thoughts about him, would they?!

At that thought, Mirai's hair stood on end.

If Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado knew what Mirai was thinking right now, they would probably grab their weapons and start fighting him on the spot.

"You're Uchiha Mirai!"

Homura Mitokado looked at Mirai and asked with obvious displeasure.

Hearing that arrogant, dissatisfied voice, Mirai replied irritably, "That's me!"

"What, you need an autograph? Sorry, appointments and a queue are required for that!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had his back turned, froze for a moment before secretly finding it amusing.

Jiraiya struggled to suppress the smile on his face, his expression twitching slightly.

This Mirai was just too...

Hearing Mirai say that, Homura Mitokado was momentarily dumbfounded.

What was this situation?

He was one of Konoha's advisors.

When had anyone ever spoken to him like that?

Anger surged within him, his face darkening with rage.

"What kind of talk is that? Is that any way to speak to your elders?"

"Elders?"

Mirai glanced sideways at Homura Mitokado, bared his teeth in a grin, and asked, "What makes you think you qualify as an elder?"

"Impudent! Homura is a Konoha advisor—how is he not your elder?" Koharu Utatane angrily cut in.

Clearly, he was extremely dissatisfied with Mirai's attitude.

Mirai chuckled. You brought this on yourselves, so don't blame me.

"Since you say you're Konoha's advisors, then I have no choice but to ask you two something!"

"What do you want to ask?" Koharu Utatane asked with a dark expression.

The two of them had held high positions in Konoha for many years, yet they had never been treated like this before.

Perhaps Hiruzen Sarutobi, as the Third Hokage, could have treated them this way, but even the Hokage had never done so.

Yet today, Mirai, a mere junior, actually dared to behave like this.

Was he trying to turn the world upside down?

"I'd like to ask you two: after holding high positions for so many years, what contributions have you made to Konoha?"

"Or rather, what have you sacrificed for Konoha?"

Mirai's voice was not loud, but it carried great force.

With those words, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane's expressions immediately changed.

Clearly, they had made no contributions to Konoha.

Even if they had, it had been so long ago that they had long since forgotten.

Now that Mirai had laid it bare so bluntly, it would have been strange if they could keep pleasant expressions.

But for the sake of their pride, they could not admit that Mirai was right.

Homura Mitokado snorted and said, "Contributions? The contributions we made to Konoha were from so long ago. How could we still remember them now?"

"That's right. Digging up such old matters is meaningless!"

Rather than refute them, Mirai found a chair and sat down.

Looking at the two Konoha advisors, Mirai asked again, "Since you say those past matters are ancient history and you've forgotten them, then I'll assume you have!"

"But..." Mirai deliberately drew out the word. "During this recent chaos in Konoha, I roamed all across the Konoha ninja village, yet I don't seem to have seen either of you. Were you two busy with something again?"

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane immediately fell silent.

They wanted to speak, but had no idea what to say.

Could they say that they had hidden away out of fear of death and had not joined the battle?

Obviously, they could not bring themselves to say that either.

The two stood there awkwardly, mouths open, unable to utter a word.

Jiraiya was also stunned when he saw them like that.

These two had been checkmated.

"Alright, alright, don't start fighting the moment you meet!"

Seeing that it was about enough, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke up to break the deadlock.

Clearly, he also knew what Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane had been up to.

But as fellow Konoha higher-ups, and former disciples of the Second Hokage, he had not said much.

Besides, although the two had made no contributions to Konoha in recent years, when they were young, they had often risked their lives for Konoha.

It was just that after remaining in high positions for so long, their mindsets had changed somewhat.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had merely taken the opportunity to use Mirai to give the two a warning and make them understand.

Now that his goal had been achieved, he naturally had to step forward and continue playing peacemaker.

Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi speak, Mirai curled his lips.

Old fox. I knew you were just using me.

Still, talking back to them just now had felt damn good.

"Mirai, I called you here today because there's something very important I need to discuss with you!"

Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's serious expression, Mirai instinctively asked, "What is it?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe and stared at Mirai.

"Mirai, I've sat in this position for many years now!" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was filled with reminiscence.

"Mm!"

Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi begin as though he were entrusting someone with his final wishes, Mirai instinctively raised an eyebrow.