The respected civilians of the Land of Waves gathered together, arguing heatedly, but still had not settled on a plan after a long while.
"Buuurp~~~"
An old man sitting among them took a swig of liquor and let out a long, drunken belch. He slammed his bottle onto the table with a bang and said, "Everyone, pool your money and give it to me. I'll go to Konoha and post a mission!"
"Tazuna!"
"Good, I can rest easy leaving it to Tazuna."
"Tazuna, the future of the Land of Waves is in your hands!"
Soon, the civilians of the Land of Waves pooled what little money they had, handed it to Tazuna, and secretly saw him off to the Land of Fire.
Tazuna made his way toward Konoha, step by step...
Meanwhile, Naruto Uzumaki and the others had become much more composed after Shihōin Naraku's instruction. Under Kakashi Hatake's guidance, they steadily strengthened their foundations.
"It's about time. I should take on some harder missions for them."
Kakashi Hatake was pleased with the three youngsters' progress and decided to reward them by picking a more difficult mission to complete!
After many years, Shihōin Harumoto finally returned to Konohagakure.
Actually, that was not entirely accurate. While stationed at the border, he had occasionally been able to return to the village during breaks between rotations, but he could generally only stay for a while before heading back to the border.
This time, things were completely different!
As soon as Shihōin Harumoto returned, he was received by the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen Sarutobi praised his many years of service guarding the border for the Land of Fire and Konoha, after which Shihōin Harumoto was appointed director of Konoha's Chunin Ninja Exams!
Everyone knew what had happened: Shihōin Naraku had voluntarily stepped