The Third Hokage's Troubles

The sound of a heartbeat grew stronger.

His body also regained sensation.

Not long after, he slowly opened his eyes.

He saw the surrounding ninjas looking at him with joy.

In front of him, Shizune wiped sweat from her brow, holding a syringe with a happy smile.

He slowly sat up and asked with some confusion, "Didn't I... die?"

Shizune shook the Power of the Heavenly Dao syringe in her hand and smiled.

"Third Hokage, this syringe was obtained from a scratch-off ticket."

"The boss said at the time that it could heal anyone, regardless of any condition."

"I've kept this syringe with me all along, and when I saw you collapse just now, I quickly gave you the shot!"

"So that's how it is!" The Third Hokage rubbed his head and looked in the direction of the Invincible Scratch-off.

Ever since this little shop opened in Konoha, many miraculous things seemed to happen around them.

After resting for a while, he slowly stood up.

Now that he was not dead, he had to continue doing what a Hokage should do.

Looking at the messy trees on the roof, he shook his head.

"Too messy, let's get rid of them all!"

As he spoke, he formed hand seals.

Only...

"Huh? Why is my hand seal speed slowing down?"

He smiled and shook his head, trying again.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

"Pfft!" A tiny wisp of hot air puffed out from his mouth.

He was stunned.

He quickly sensed the chakra within him.

"Nani? My chakra is gone!" he screamed, on the verge of collapse.

"If that's really the case, won't I have to practice ninjutsu all over again!"

This outcome was truly unacceptable to him.

Kakashi cleared his throat from the side.

"Third Hokage, actually, this isn't something that's too hard to accept. It's better to have no ninjutsu than to be dead."

Asuma chimed in, laughing breathlessly.

"Yeah, I think Kakashi is right!"

"The Team Ten I'm currently leading has Umino Iruka as their foundational teacher, and I think he's pretty good."

"Should I put in a good word for you!"

Outside the crowd, Iruka heard the strange laughter and felt a chill down his spine.

Having him teach the Third Hokage? Be a foundational teacher to the Third Hokage? That would be like telling a joke!

The Third Hokage glared at Asuma with a dark expression.

But to his surprise, Asuma stuck out his tongue at him.

"Now that you have no chakra, you can't use the Father's Love Technique on me anymore. I'm so happy just thinking about it!"

"Now I can finally play with scratch-off tickets with peace of mind!"

"A--su--ma!" The Third Hokage gritted his teeth.

Asuma lightly leaped and flew far away.

The Third Hokage sighed, shaking his head, "This son is a lost cause!"

He turned back and looked at Tsunade beside him, saying softly, "From now on, you will be the Fifth Hokage!"

Tsunade was taken aback, "Me? Is that appropriate? Why not let Jiraiya do it!"

"No!" The Third Hokage refused without thinking.

"If he becomes Hokage, the first thing he'll do is renovate the village's women's bathhouse. It's too much of a waste of money!"

Seeing his serious expression, Tsunade couldn't refuse further.

She could only nod lightly, "Okay, I'll take the job. But Teacher, what are your plans now?"

The Third Hokage swallowed and blushed, "I'll go back to the Ninja Academy and re-take the Genin exam. I estimate that within my lifetime, I can at least become a Jonin!"

Tsunade gave an awkward laugh.

Isn't this just a joke?

Such a big old man, attending class with a bunch of five or six-year-olds.

Plus, considering his former status, what could a teacher possibly teach him?

Tsunade said softly, "Teacher, actually, we could open a back door for you and let you be a special Jonin..."

Upon hearing this, the Third Hokage immediately became serious.

"Open a back door? What back door! No one is allowed to mention this again!"

"If I open a back door, who knows how that brat Asuma will mock me later!"

Even though he had lost all his ninjutsu, his words still carried weight.

When he forbade further discussion, everyone truly fell silent.

Invincible Scratch-off.

Shizune rushed over, looking extremely anxious.

As soon as she entered the shop, she burst out laughing.

"Boss, thank goodness for the syringes you scratched off!"

"Otherwise, the Third Hokage would have been completely done for today!"

"Since I'm so excited, give me a scratch-off ticket!"

Wu Di's eyes lit up.

His mood instantly improved.

He smiled and asked Shizune, "Since you're so excited, how big of a ticket are you planning to scratch?"

Shizune pulled a silver note from her bag and slapped it on the counter, saying generously.

"Give me a hundred-ryo one!"

Wu Di stumbled and swallowed a mouthful of saliva awkwardly.

So Shizune has never seen what a large denomination silver note looks like!

She slapped down a hundred ryo with such a loud sound!

He sighed and pulled a scratch-off ticket for her from behind him.

In the forest.

Naruto and Sakura had been chasing Gaara.

They had chased him all the way out of the village.

Suddenly, Gaara stopped and turned around abruptly.

Now, more than half of his body had transformed into Shukaku's form.

He swung his arm violently.

Over a dozen sand spheres, the size of millstones, were thrown out.

Sakura couldn't dodge in time and was pinned to a tree.

Seeing this, he let out a wild laugh.

Naruto bit his lip. At this distance, he was completely outside the range of Wood Release ninjutsu. He had to find a way to get closer!

He waved his hand and summoned the Flying Broom.

The moment he mounted the broom, he saw Gaara suddenly raise his tail.

Countless sand pellets, the size of marbles, rained down like a storm.

They completely blocked his path forward.

"Damn it!" he muttered, dropping to the ground beneath the trees, intending to approach from the ground.

Gaara, however, seemed to have anticipated this.

He aimed his tail at the ground below the trees again.

However, with the cover of the branches above, the amount of sand falling below was significantly reduced.

Naruto used the gap to move forward little by little.

Estimating he was about twenty meters away from Gaara, he quietly stopped and frantically formed hand seals.

"Wood Style: Thousand Years of Impalement Technique!"

Gaara was instantly sealed.

His half-beastified head shook wildly, and he let out beast-like roars before he... fainted.

Immediately, his body expanded by more than a hundred times.

A complete, earth-yellow raccoon dog appeared in the middle of the forest.

Naruto let out a hollow laugh, devoid of any will to live.

"Heh, you're playing around and even pulling out hair!"

"If you keep this up, it'll be hard for us to be friends!"

He sighed mournfully, scratching his head in pain.

Suddenly, a spark of inspiration hit him: "That's right, I can use Summoning Jutsu now!"

"If I summon the Great Toad Boss, I won't have to worry about dealing with that raccoon dog?"

He quickly formed hand seals and slammed them heavily onto the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Bang!"

A small tadpole that had just grown hind legs suddenly hopped out.