Let the villagers suffer a little more

Amamiya Maki often felt that he was not a student at all, but a living dining table.

Sometimes, his imagination even ran wild.

If he really did become Hokage someday, his inaugural address would probably reach unprecedented levels of absurdity.

Thank you to my esteemed mentor, the illustrious Orochimaru, my dear friend Minato Namikaze, and my childhood sweetheart Yakushi Nonō.

And finally, thank you to Kushina Uzumaki.

And to Minato Namikaze's secret sauce-dimensional strike.

That speech would undoubtedly be immortalized in Konoha's history, most likely under the title "Lord Hokage's most outrageous inaugural address."

At the front of the classroom, Junji Ito focused on writing out the hand seal sequences for the Clone Technique.

He deliberately kept his gaze a safe distance from the three students in the back row.

This was wisdom accumulated over years of teaching.

One student could no longer stand it and raised a hand, hoping the teacher would put a stop to the chaos in the back.

Junji Ito spoke calmly without even turning his head.

"The fifth-grade practical combat class happens to need sparring partners. If you have energy to spare, I can sign you up."

The student silently lowered their hand at once and settled down completely.

Ninjas of the Warring States Period had fought desperately to survive amid the chaos.

As an ordinary Chunin teacher scraping by on the fringes of a classroom battlefield, he was essentially following the same principle.

Now that someone had volunteered to shoulder all his troubles, he could hardly be happier.

Even if something did go wrong later, the Hokage would not lay the blame on him.

He had even used the title page of his lesson plan.

There, he had written a survival rule only he could understand: do not approach the three in the back row unless absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's Office.

Shimura Danzō slammed his palm down on the desk with tremendous force.

The crash was so loud that even the Anbu standing guard outside could not resist edging toward the crack in the door to sneak a look.

"Hiruzen! Take a good look! This is what our new Jinchūriki has been up to!"

"School has only been in session for a few days, and she's already beaten up half her class!"

"As Konoha's root, I must take firm action to discipline such a willful, unruly, emotionally unstable Jinchūriki!"

"An unstable element that could lose control at any moment should be placed under Root's strict supervision!"

Danzo clutched a newly delivered Root report, densely packed with records of every conflict Kushina had been involved in since enrolling.

It listed the exact time and location of each incident, along with the names and injuries of the students she had beaten, all clearly organized and meticulously presented.

The report even included a statistical table at the end, tallying how many times she struck each day and the distribution of those injured.

The final line contained a recommendation marked in glaring red ink: immediate containment and observation advised.

That was how Root operated.

Even a little girl's scuffles during recess would be reduced to cold statistics, with every potential danger magnified beyond measure.

After reading the report, Danzo had stopped to consider it.

He had paced around his office for a full ten minutes before charging straight into the Hokage's Office, report in hand, to demand an explanation.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura frowned almost simultaneously.

"That is enough angry talk. Don't let any of it reach Lady Mito's ears."

Koharu's voice was soft, but her stern tone brooked no argument.

As she finished speaking, she glanced at Homura beside her.

Homura raised a hand to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his signature prelude to a lengthy debate.

"Lady Mito has devoted her entire life to Konoha."

"And now, when one of her clansmen has only just arrived in the village, we intend to treat her so harshly over nothing more than children's squabbles?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed away at his pipe, quietly breathing a sigh of relief behind the curling smoke.

Thankfully, Koharu and Homura still knew what truly mattered.

When he had insisted on sending Kushina to the Ninja Academy, the two had complained about the trouble, but they understood perfectly well how important it was.

He owed his secure hold on the Hokage position in no small part to Mito Uzumaki's wholehearted support.

If he handed the Jinchūriki Mito had entrusted to him over to Danzo merely because of a few childhood scuffles, the consequences were obvious.

Mito would not even need to say a word. His time as Hokage would be over.

This had never been a simple question of right and wrong. It was a choice about how Konoha would treat its next Jinchūriki.

Would they bind her in chains and keep her under strict control from the start, or treat her sincerely and gradually win her heart through the warmth of everyday life?

Lord Hashirama had chosen the latter, giving Konoha the most stable and peaceful Nine-Tails Jinchuriki it had known in sixty years.

History never repeated itself exactly, but it always rhymed closely.

The Third exhaled a cloud of smoke and looked at the old friend with whom he had argued for so many years.

"Danzo, they're both right."

"The Jinchūriki has only just arrived in Konoha. She isn't familiar with the village's rules or its people yet. Minor friction with villagers her own age is perfectly normal."

"Our job is to guide her positively and temper her character, not forcibly turn her into a weapon of war that knows nothing but killing."

Shrouded in thick smoke, Danzo's expression grew darker and uglier.

"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

"Today she dares to attack ordinary villagers. Tomorrow she'll dare to draw a blade on us, on all of Konoha!"

Shimura Danzō understood the terror of the Nine-Tails better than anyone, and he knew the true nature of a Jinchūriki just as well.

In his eyes, a Jinchūriki had never been a villager, only a weapon of boundless power.

A weapon needed neither the will of fire nor affection. It only needed to remain firmly in its wielder's grasp.

He had always believed that Hiruzen's philosophy of winning over a Jinchūriki through warmth and love would eventually end in disaster.

Just as he had never approved of Hiruzen's strategy of maintaining relations between ninja villages through gentle diplomacy.

Whenever they argued in the past, all he had to do was say, "You'll regret this."

Hiruzen would shut down every objection with "I am the Hokage," then continue doing things his own way.

This time would most likely be no different.

"Enough, Danzo."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile vanished, and his tone became firm.

"I am the Hokage of Konoha."

"What a Jinchūriki needs is guidance and acceptance. As long as her heart is filled with love and the will of fire, she will never turn against Konoha."

Danzo wasted no more words. He stormed out, leaving behind only the heavy crash of the slamming door.

The noisy office instantly fell silent.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exchanged a glance, then rose to take their leave, giving the Third some time alone.

Hiruzen Sarutobi set his pipe beside the ashtray and raised a hand to rub his throbbing brow.

At first, he had worried that Kushina might be introverted and get bullied by children her age after arriving in the village.

Now it seemed he had worried for nothing.

The child was not merely outgoing. Her aggression was off the charts.

Her nickname had gone from Tomato Monster to Red-Hot Habanero, a name that struck fear throughout the school. Half the boys in her class had tasted her fists.

The parents of the beaten students had come to complain one after another, practically wearing down the Ninja Academy's doorstep.

Just yesterday, one parent had alleged in a complaint letter that their child had merely said "tomato" in passing, only for Kushina to throw him hard enough to give him a concussion.

But when the Third went through the medical records, the student had suffered nothing more than a minor bruise on his back.

That same afternoon, he had run five full laps around the playground, bursting with energy.

Hiruzen did feel somewhat troubled.

But on second thought, this could count as another way of quickly integrating into Konoha.

The Jinchūriki's stability affected the safety of the entire village.

The grievances of a handful of villagers were insignificant compared with the greater goal of keeping the village stable.

Let the villagers suffer a little more. For the sake of the village and the nation, they ought to understand.

He put his pipe back between his teeth, flipped over the data-filled report Danzo had delivered, and wrote his instructions on the back.

"Continue observing. No intervention necessary."