Chapter 168
2-in-1-chapter
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Candidate-wise… I do have two in mind."
Rēn spoke with a hint of hesitation.
"These two, I can guarantee, are both strong fighters. Neither is any weaker than Kakashi. But…"
"No weaker than Kakashi? Then there's no problem!"
At the mention of shinobi who could stand on par with Kakashi, Akimichi Torifu's expression lit up with joy. Before Rēn could even finish, he had already agreed without a second thought. Experts of such caliber were not easily found, especially with most of their forces tied up by the Cloud. The village's middle and lower ranks were stretched thin, and even among the upper ranks, true elite combatants were few and far between.
There was no room left for pickiness.
Even if they came with flaws, as long as they could fight, they would do.
"They can fight, that's for certain. But their temperament is… very straightforward—no, very pure in nature. Sometimes, when emotions take hold, they're not easy to control." That was the reason Rēn had shown hesitation when bringing them up.
"Would they deliberately defy orders?"
"No, they wouldn't."
"Would they act on their own?"
"Generally speaking, they shouldn't."
"Then there's no problem."
Torifu didn't even ask for their names before making the decision.
Rēn said nothing more. After a moment's thought, he chose not to press further.
Aside from these minor flaws, their strength was undeniable, and both were battle fanatics. Dangerous missions like this would not frighten them; if anything, the news would make them thrilled. He could already picture the delight on their faces when they heard the assignment.
The small meeting in the office was reaching its close.
Torifu had already ordered the ANBU Commander to gather all four members chosen for the mission. Jiraiya's march would still take preparation, but this urgent task—to meet and handle the Walking Shrine Maiden—could not be delayed any longer. A four-man squad required no massive mobilization.
Once the team assembled, they could set out immediately.
It was then that Rēn raised a third matter without forgetting his original intention.
"Hokage-sama, if the news spreads that we are about to go to war with the Stone, I fear unrest will break out in the village. To stabilize the people, I believe it is necessary for you to remove the title of acting and formally take office as the Fifth Hokage."
At that moment, only Rēn, Torifu, Jiraiya, and Nara Shikaku remained in the office. ANBU Commander Matsuzō and Interrogation Division Head Shiosui had departed, one to carry out a mission, the other discerning that she was no longer needed and tactfully withdrawing.
Hearing Rēn's words, Jiraiya's expression remained calm. He had already heard Rēn voice similar arguments earlier in the park.
"Rēn, I'm old and my body is failing. Serving temporarily as Hokage is already close to my limit. I believe the village needs a younger Fifth Hokage, with full strength and vigor. Jiraiya refused, but we can still seek out Tsunade…"
Torifu repeated the same line as before.
But Rēn wasn't buying it. "If the question is who is most suitable, there is no one more fitting than Tsunade-senpai. But the issue is that she doesn't even want to return to the village, let alone take on the position. The ANBU have been searching for so long, yet they still haven't found her."
"Even if, someday, she is found, I fear she will most likely refuse the Hokage's seat, just as Jiraiya-senpai did. And when that happens… what are we supposed to do?"
Jiraiya opened his mouth as if to defend her, but the words stuck in his throat. He remembered Tsunade's likely unhealed hemophobia. It was a secret known to very few. Even Torifu was unaware. Beyond Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraiya himself, only a handful knew. Most in the village believed Tsunade had left because, after losing both her lover and her brother, she had grown weary of war.
That explanation was not entirely wrong. But the truth was that her uncontrollable hemophobia had left her unable to step onto a battlefield, or even enter an operating room. That was the real reason she had abandoned the village.
If word spread that Tsunade suffered from hemophobia, it would be devastating. For a shinobi, it was a crippling psychological condition. Forget becoming Hokage—returning as an ordinary ninja would be nearly impossible.
Better to let her remain outside the village, at peace, until the day she overcame it. Then, matters could be reconsidered.
"As for you claiming to be old and frail, Hokage-sama—Konoha is not at the point where it needs you to fight on the front lines. What you must do is sit here in the village, steadying its heart. And if you feel the workload is too heavy, isn't that what Captain Nara is here for? Let him help you handle the paperwork."
Rēn had made up his mind to see Torifu placed firmly in the seat of Fifth Hokage.
This time, he even spoke with full honorifics.
"…Let me think about it. Let me truly think it over, Rēn."
Torifu smiled wryly.
He could sense Rēn's determination, that he would not rest until the matter was resolved. Already indecisive, his heart grew only more conflicted. If possible, he would not have minded serving a full term as a proper Hokage rather than merely an acting one.
Yet his love for Konoha was genuine, and his weakening body was no lie. He worried how long he could last in the position, and whether he could truly make the village better.
What troubled him even more was that if he truly accepted the seat, he would be forced to contend with the increasingly powerful Uchiha clan. That had been a burden he intended to leave to the next Hokage, but now, it seemed the problem might fall squarely into his own lap.
Entangled in these thoughts, Torifu sank into deep hesitation, as though caught in a mire, unable to decide immediately.
He resorted to stalling.
He would discuss it further with Shikaku. After all, the Ino–Shika–Chō families were inseparably bound. Torifu trusted Nara Shikaku completely, as if he were his own right hand.
"Hokage-sama, of course you may take time to consider. But I must repeat myself: this matter has dragged on long enough. The sooner we settle on the Fifth Hokage, the sooner we can devote ourselves fully to the fight against the Cloud and the Stone, without splitting our attention between the battlefield and worries over unrest in the village."
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Yakushi Nonō pushed open the window. A chill morning wind swept dust into the room, and when she looked outside, the view was nothing but desolation. The barren mountains of rock were almost devoid of greenery, the monotone depths of their color pressing down on the heart with a suffocating weight.
Within the village itself, there were small patches of green here and there, yet compared with the vast expanses of darkness that surrounded them, those tiny touches of life only made the barrenness seem more stark.
Yes—this was Iwagakure, one of the most prosperous regions of the Land of Earth.
"Completely incomparable with Konoha."
Nonō pushed her oversized glasses up the bridge of her nose and let out the same sigh she had repeated countless times. The longer she lingered in Iwagakure, the stronger her longing became for the orphanage she had built in Konoha. However simple that orphanage had been, every blade of grass and every tree there remained her most cherished home.
"Doctor Shiso, you're up early again today!"
Across the street, the meat-pie shop on the first floor had already opened its doors. Its bold, straightforward proprietress was sweeping dust from the storefront. With so little vegetation, the northern winds often swept clouds of dust into the streets of Iwagakure, making daily sweeping of the streets and rooftops a necessity.
The dust was troublesome enough, but what the residents of Iwagakure feared most was the natural disaster known as "rock rain." At times, the violent northern winds carried stones high into the sky, and these rocks—no smaller than the size of eggs—would come pelting down like a storm.
To outsiders, it might have seemed like a curious spectacle. But to the people of Iwagakure, it was one of the most dreaded calamities. Were it not that the houses here were almost entirely stone-built, the recurring rock rains that struck every few days would have reduced Iwagakure to rubble again and again. Even so, each such storm still caused serious damage to the village.
"Doctor Shiso, good morning!"
"Doctor Shiso, my father says the medicine you gave him worked wonderfully!"
It was not only the nearby neighbors; even passing villagers greeted Yakushi Nonō warmly. She returned each with a gentle smile. "Doctor Shiso"—that was the name and identity she carried in Iwagakure.
Years of working as a spy had given her a wealth of experience. In her eyes, infiltrating a village was never particularly difficult. Whether Konoha, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, or elsewhere, none had a truly strict and comprehensive registry system. Ninja had proper records, but every village also had many people who were not shinobi yet lived among them.
The simplest example was this: ever since Senju Tobirama had founded the shinobi academy, and other villages had followed suit, there had always been those who could refine chakra but could not graduate as proper shinobi. These individuals lacked sufficient combat ability, unfit even to serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield. Villages had tried sending them into combat, but the results were disastrous.
Instead of aiding the fighting forces, they only dragged them down, and every village had suffered dearly from such mistakes.
As for rear-line logistics—what was needed were bright, capable minds, not a crowd of dropouts from the academy. Those who failed to graduate eventually left the school once they came of age and moved into other trades. The chakra-refining methods they had learned were less useful than simple arithmetic. Unless they resigned themselves to pure physical labor, they had little to contribute.
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