The Approachable Great Shinobi / Choosing the Third Member

"As expected, you two are still the better ones this year." Nara Shikamaru sighed and looked at Konohamaru Sarutobi, who was sitting on the ground looking completely bewildered, with a sympathetic gaze.

To be fair, Konohamaru is very strong. Unfortunately, every time he's ready to challenge someone to a duel, Naruto Uzumaki and Uchiha Sasuke always come up with a new trick.

The result was that they lost very quickly every time.

"Hey, Konohamaru, just give up, you might as well admit defeat," Nara Shikamaru called out lazily. "We get really bored watching you lose every three to five days."

After thinking for a moment, he added insult to injury.

"If you keep doing this, it will only make Karin -senpai dislike you even more."

Upon hearing that last sentence, Konohamaru, who was on the ground, blushed instantly.

"You... you're talking nonsense!" he hurriedly retorted, "How could I possibly like Senior Karin!"

Nara Shikamaru: "..."

Naruto Uzumaki: "???"

Uchiha Sasuke rolled his eyes, then skillfully pulled out a small piece of paper and plugged his ears.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto Uzumaki roared, his voice booming, "You actually coveted my sister!?"

"I... I didn't..."

"Enough with the nonsense, I'm going to beat you up today!"

"Huh!? Don't think you won just because you ambushed me! Come on!"

The Ninja Academy was as noisy as ever that day.

Chapter Two: The Approachable Great Ninja

The Sarutobi Clan Compound.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was enjoying the pleasures of writing in his study.

He wrote a big word "forbearance" on the paper. He was very satisfied with his performance today.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had three great passions in life.

Scolding his grandson, calligraphy brush, smoking.

Add a crystal ball.

This isn't a hobby; it's just that as the former Hokage, he has a deep affection for the village and unconsciously wants to appreciate its current prosperity, especially to gain a deeper understanding of the happy lives of each villager.

Seeing the happy expressions on everyone's faces at the bathhouse makes him feel very content.

Suddenly, he heard the familiar sound of running outside the door.

Sarutobi Hiruzen wore a kind smile.

Haha, this mischievous grandson! Yesterday he kept pestering me to teach him Ninjutsu, so I reluctantly taught him an Earth Release technique.

He must have bragged about it to his classmates, and now he's happily sharing the good news with his grandfather.

There's just no way to deal with such an adorable grandson.

The door was flung open with a whoosh, Konohamaru Sarutobi rushed in.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't see any smugness on his grandson's face; quite the opposite.

"Konohamaru, what's wrong? Sigh, you..." Sarutobi Hiruzen instinctively tried to protect his words.

But it was too late.

"Grandpa!" Konohamaru Sarutobi pounced like a hungry dog, leaping over the desk to hug Sarutobi Hiruzen's waist. "Naruto is so despicable!"

"Ouch! My dear grandson, be gentle!" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the Xuan paper that had been turned into a stepping stone, his heart aching terribly.

The word "endurance" used to describe his exceptional performance is no longer visible.

Tortured by five horses!

This is Xuan paper, not steel plate.

"You fought with Naruto again..." Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed.

I don't know if it was because of his calligraphy, or because his grandson fought with Naruto again.

He quite liked Naruto; he was energetic and mischievous, but he still respected his Hokage grandfather and was relatively well-behaved in front of him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's favorite thing was Naruto's catchphrase. "I want to become Hokage as powerful as Hokage!"

The children of Leaf Village should be like this.

Several years have passed, Sarutobi Hiruzen is now over sixty years old, approaching seventy.

The signs of aging are no longer easily concealed.

Although his strength has long since declined significantly, he remains the most respected elder in Hidden Leaf Village.

The same goes for his old friends.

Torifu Akimichi's hidden injuries flared up, rendering him unable to continue serving the village as a ninja.

The powerful figures of Sarutobi Hiruzen Hidden Leaf Village's fighting force reserves.

Currently, there are four Kage Level in Leaf Village who are in their prime: Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina, Uchiha Shingen, and Uchiha Shisui.

In reality, the only ones who could be dispatched were Uchiha Shingen and Uchiha Shisui.

But this is only temporary. Uchiha Fugaku, who is over forty, has clearly expressed his intention to retire at the age of fifty. Once Uchiha Fugaku retires, Uchiha Shingen will definitely have to fill the position of Uchiha Clan Head, and the position of Kagesuke will probably be his as well.

At that point, he won't be able to leave the village freely anymore.

This means we must hope that a new Kage Level ninja will emerge from the next generation to fill the vacancy.

Currently, the most likely Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, and Uchiha Itachi.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was very satisfied with this configuration.

A single dominant player is not a good thing; a system with varying levels of power and rotating leadership is a positive phenomenon.

And the number was just right, exactly three people.

For a village like Hidden Leaf Village, the pressure would be immense if they couldn't maintain at least three mobile Hokage -Kage Level.

The Sunagakure before and after the Third Shinobi World War is a typical example of this.

"Grandpa, Naruto is so despicable! He learned Ninjutsu that makes you disappear in an instant!" Konohamaru complained to his grandfather, indignantly. "I want to learn it too!"

But Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't understand at all.

It disappeared in an instant, which is hardly a precise description.

"Konohamaru, don't rush, tell me slowly." Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the unrecognizable desk and helplessly pulled Konohamaru off him.

While Sarutobi Hiruzen was helplessly playing with his grandson at home, inside the Hokage Building, a man considered an "approachable and great ninja" was reviewing intelligence reports.

He went through each document very carefully, one by one.

After reading them, he returned the intelligence files to the ANBU standing nearby.

"Shingen, how is it?" The Fourth Hokage, Minato, looked at him expectantly. "Should we take any action?"

"Lord Hokage, what action do you intend to take?"

"Hmm, the ANBU has drafted a special operations plan. Take a look." Namikaze Minato took out another intelligence report.

Uchiha Shingen took it, glanced at it, and then looked away.

"Lord Hokage, I don't recommend doing this."

Now, he is twenty-seven years old, and ten years have passed since the end of the Third Shinobi World War.

Ten years have passed, but it seems that no trace has been left on his face.

"Well, I don't really agree with it either, but I'd still like to hear your reasons."

"It's only a matter of time before the Land of Earth and the Land of Water establish risk control mechanisms. To sabotage them at this time is tantamount to openly telling them that the Land of Fire's previous promises of win-win cooperation were fake. It's too blatant."

"Shingen, if we allow traitors to establish this system for both countries, our advantage will be greatly diminished," said the head of the ANBU. "We are merely dealing with traitors; the two countries have nothing to say to each other."

"No need to say anything, just keep it in mind." Uchiha Shingen shook his head. "Calling them traitors is just copying what they've done. They're harmful to both countries and doing nothing to help them. Letting them cause trouble is actually the best thing for us."

"How so?" Namikaze Minato became interested.

"Lord Hokage, our market-based interest rate isn't meant to set prices, but rather serves a transitional role. Its purpose is to eliminate the vicious competition among money houses that previously existed in the Land of Fire, and to guide funds towards production. Now, several years later, the results are beginning to show. The village's revenue from mission payments has increased significantly in recent years, which is quite obvious."

Namikaze Minato nodded.

Leaf Village has kept records of the fluctuation range of mission fee income in previous years, and the fluctuation range is relatively stable. However, there has been an explosive increase in the past few years. The main reason is that the number of people in the Land of Fire who have the financial resources to entrust missions has indeed increased.

The proportion of income contributed by nobles is declining.

"Those recruited by the Land of Earth and the Land of Water use the market quoted interest rate as a pricing anchor, but this tool is actually more suitable for small and medium-sized organizations and individuals who are not sensitive to market interest rates and have difficulty in effectively pricing in bulk." Uchiha Shingen tried his best to explain this mechanism to Namikaze Minato. "The transitional use of this tool is to promote the concentration of money shops and weaken the basis for vicious market competition. After achieving this goal, the role of this tool as a pricing anchor will be weakened, and it should never be used as the mainstream pricing benchmark."

At this point, Uchiha Shingen noticed that Namikaze Minato's eyes were a bit unfocused, so he gave up on going into more detail and changed his approach.

"In short, this tool was suitable for the Land of Fire back then, but not for the Land of Earth and the Land of Water now. These two countries don't have many money shops to begin with, so they don't have the foundation for it. If they use this tool to set prices domestically, it will become artificial price manipulation, which will deal a great blow to their limited money shops."

Namikaze Minato understood what he meant.

Not only did he understand, he also wanted to add some drama.

"Shall we send some more people over there?"

"No!" Uchiha Shingen exclaimed in surprise. "It's just an act. The traitor sneaked into those two countries through Hidden Mist Village and Iwagakure. We'll just send a strongly worded letter to the two villages, making them promise that this won't happen again."

"That's it..." Namikaze Minato felt it was a bit too lenient. "Just a letter?"

"Yes, just send a letter." Uchiha Shingen nodded. "After the condemnation, this matter will be none of our business. We'll help Hidden Mist Village and Iwagakure when they face a crisis. That's in Leaf Village's best interest."

"Alright, we'll do as you say." Namikaze Minato ended the conversation.

After finishing discussing the matter, he gestured for the head of the ANBU to go and handle the other things.

He decided to talk to Uchiha Shingen about something else.

Chapter Three: Choosing a Third Person

"Shingen- ah~~" Namikaze Minato began, drawing out the familiar tone of Uchiha Shingen, "Come, come, have some tea, let's talk."

Uchiha Shingen: "..."

After all these years, has your accent become so ingrained that you can't change it?

"Lord Hokage, please speak frankly." Uchiha Shingen was reluctant to sit; he wanted to slip away.

Based on his experience over the years, Namikaze Minato never does anything good if he starts with this accent.

But Namikaze Minato was persistent; he dragged Uchiha Shingen to the sofa and started making tea.

"Shingen ~" While brewing tea, Namikaze Minato launched into another attack. He carefully considered his words before saying, "I actually want to talk to you about something."

"What's going on?" Uchiha Shingen wondered if Namikaze Minato wanted to continue the conversation from earlier and wasn't giving up on adding more drama.

"Oh dear, it's not about work," Namikaze Minato somewhat embarrassedly. "Look, my daughter and your son are about the same age..."

"Not quite." Uchiha Shingen nodded, expressionless. "They're all little brats under five years old."

"Wow, time flies! They've grown up so fast. Look at Naruto and Sasuke, they're quite big now."

"Your words are ambiguous."

"See, you're getting nervous, aren't you? I'm not a bad person." Namikaze Minato coughed. "Look, my daughter is a little older than your son, and my son is a little older than your daughter. Isn't that fate?"

Uchiha Shingen's first reaction was to feed this guy a pound of goji berries.

Do not soak in water, feed dry!

You son of a bitch! What do you want to do!?

My daughter is only three years old! My son is only one year old!

Facing Uchiha Shingen's extremely sharp gaze, Namikaze Minato gave a dry laugh.

I can't keep quiet about it, after all, Uzumaki Kushina used her ultimate move yesterday.

Although he felt it was pointless, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to go to work tomorrow if he didn't say anything.