Before Yoruha could react, Kakashi was already smiling.
"I agree. Yoruha should be promoted to chūnin."
Not every chūnin had to go through the Chūnin Exams.
In reality, in every major village, most chūnin and even many jōnin had not been promoted through the exam system.
If the exams were the only path, then by the time of the Fourth Great Ninja War, no village would've had enough shinobi to field.
For many, promotion came through a combination of mission count and strength.
Once both reached the standard, promotion followed naturally.
Of course, Yoruha had only done a handful of missions so far, all low-ranked ones.
Even if the Land of Waves mission was counted as a B-rank, that still meant he'd only completed one such mission.
By usual standards, his mission record was nowhere near enough.
But the Hokage had the authority to promote anyone he acknowledged straight to chūnin or even jōnin.
The Hokage was one of the strongest shinobi in the village—
no one understood Konoha's overall combat power better than he did.
If someone personally promoted by the Hokage became chūnin or jōnin—
no one would question their qualifications.
In fact, being personally promoted by the Hokage was considered an honor.
It meant the Hokage valued you deeply.
It also meant every faction in the village would now recognize exactly which "camp" you belonged to.
Minato Namikaze had been the same back then.
He was civilian-born…
yet he married Uzumaki Kushina, became Jiraiya's disciple, and was eventually chosen by the Third Hokage to succeed him as the Fourth.
Yes, Minato's talent was exceptional—
But he was also, from the beginning, firmly within the Third's political line.
Of course, neither Yoruha nor Kakashi cared much about any of that.
Yoruha didn't care which "side" claimed him.
And Kakashi didn't care whether the Third considered Yoruha his own—
Kakashi himself had always belonged to the Third's faction anyway.
As Minato's student, he had been part of that line from the start.
Naturally, he fully agreed with the Third's desire to draw Yoruha closer.
Originally, Hiruzen had planned to raise Yoruha as a second Minato.
Their situations were very similar:
Extraordinary talent
A clean background
Kakashi as their teacher
But now, Yoruha's growth had far exceeded Hiruzen's expectations.
That left the old Hokage troubled about how exactly to "arrange" him.
After thinking it over, the only realistic first step was to promote him to chūnin.
Only then could he reasonably start involving Yoruha in the village's affairs.
Hiruzen was already in his sixties.
By the time Yoruha hit twenty, he would be in his seventies.
Even if he wanted to hold onto the position then, his body wouldn't allow it.
He didn't have the Senju clan's monstrous vitality.
No matter how powerful he had been in his prime, age wore everyone down.
He had been thinking about retirement for quite some time already—
But Konoha simply had no one suitable to take over.
Jiraiya refused outright, and his personality wasn't ideal for the role anyway.
Tsunade had her own issues.
The most suitable choice had originally been Orochimaru—
but after Hiruzen picked Minato to be the Fourth instead of him, that bridge burned completely.
And now Orochimaru had left the village.
Give it to Danzō?
Even ignoring the fact that Danzō was nearly as old as he was, Hiruzen would never entrust Konoha to someone whose ideology he fundamentally opposed.
As for the other elders?
They were only on the council because they'd been Tobirama's students.
In terms of actual capability, they were never "Hokage material."
That left only one remotely plausible candidate:
Kakashi.
But after years of personal trauma, Kakashi had stagnated. His strength had barely grown since his ANBU days.
His reputation was solid, but his seniority was thin—
and without overwhelming strength to back him, no one would accept him as Hokage.
That was Hiruzen's dilemma.
He wanted to retire.
He just had no one to pass the hat to.
Now, looking at Yoruha…
It was like seeing Minato all over again.
But Yoruha's seniority was still far too shallow—
even shallower than Kakashi's had been back then.
If rank and experience couldn't be built up quickly, then there was only one way to make everyone accept him:
Let his strength do the talking.
And the first step in that direction… was to raise his rank.
To give him the official qualification to participate in Konoha's future.
Yoruha, of course, had no idea what the Third was thinking.
He just assumed the Hokage wanted to promote him early so he could squeeze more work out of him.
Still, he was happy about the promotion.
He'd already planned to raise his rank anyway.
As a chūnin, he could take on higher-paying missions, earn more money, and accumulate more experience.
If the Third Hokage knew this was what Yoruha was thinking, he'd probably cough blood on the spot.
He'd agonized over this decision, finally resolved to groom Yoruha as a successor—
And Yoruha was thinking: "Nice, higher rank, better pay."
Yoruha stayed silent for a few seconds, then noticed the Third looking at him.
He hesitated and asked,
"But I've only done a few missions. I don't think I meet the requirements for chūnin yet, do I?"
The Third smiled.
"That's true. But you already have all the leadership and strength required of a chūnin."
"So of course, you can be promoted."
Seeing that, Yoruha no longer pressed the issue and bowed his head.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen was quite satisfied with his attitude.
"There's no need to thank me. You should've become a chūnin long ago. Honestly, if you hadn't graduated the Academy less than a year ago, I should be making you a jōnin."
Yoruha waved his hands quickly.
"That's a bit much. Being promoted to chūnin is already more than enough."
The Third looked at Kakashi.
"Your teacher became a chūnin at six years old. You should learn from him."
Kakashi rushed to deflect.
"That was because it was wartime. Special circumstances."
"But you were still the only one to manage that," the Third said warmly.
"You and your teacher both have incredible talent as shinobi."
"With Kakashi teaching you, I'm very much at ease. And from here on out, Konoha's future will be counting on you."
When he finished, Yoruha was speechless.
That was… a bit much.
He felt like the Hokage was just being polite—
but this kind of "polite talk" felt crushingly heavy.
"Hokage-sama is exaggerating," Yoruha said carefully. "I can only do my part properly."
He meant it.
In his mind, becoming a chūnin meant exactly this:
Do the jobs assigned to him.
Earn what he deserved.
Live the life he wanted.
As for the rest of Konoha's issues?
He had no intention of getting involved.
But Kakashi knew better.
There was no way the Third would let Yoruha stay on the sidelines now.
He could already hear the unspoken intent behind Hiruzen's words.
He felt both glad… and uneasy.
Yoruha was far too young.
Dragging him into Konoha's upper-level politics wouldn't do him any favors.
Even Kakashi himself had always avoided those waters.
But now, Yoruha had stepped fully into the Third's line of sight—
and in Kakashi's eyes, he already possessed Hokage-level power.
Even if Yoruha didn't want to get involved…
Reality wouldn't give him a choice.
Kakashi sighed inwardly.
Looks like I'll be getting dragged in too…
In the past, he never would've wanted to be part of Konoha's political struggles.
But now that the Third had pulled Yoruha in—
Kakashi had no choice but to follow.
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