Chapter 76: The Anbu
Late Year 8 of Konoha.
The ninja world, which had been peaceful for eight years, was once again stirring with turbulence.
Several months had passed since the Battle of the Valley of the End. Even villages with the poorest intelligence networks had received accurate news: of Konoha's two pillars, one was dead and the other injured. Consequently, every village tacitly began to expand their military forces.
"Great-Uncle, is peace really so hard to achieve?" Hashirama had heard rumors from Tobirama recently and had been depressed for days, not even in the mood to play dice.
Masahiko smiled and shook his head. "Peace will definitely come. You will see that day."
Hashirama was silent for a while, then whispered, "Madara..."
Masahiko frowned when he saw this. Recently, Hashirama would mutter Madara's name whenever he had nothing to do. If this were his past life, Masahiko would happily discuss the Hashirama/Madara pairing with friends, but after knowing them personally...
"Could it be that something happened at the Valley of the End that I don't know about?" Masahiko murmured. "Madara should have noticed that I was being controlled that day. If so... And even if Hashirama didn't notice at the time, he would have sensed something later, yet he never asked."
Masahiko felt something was off, but he couldn't pinpoint the problem. He never imagined that Black Zetsu had appeared before Madara ahead of schedule.
While he was thinking, a clansman knocked and entered. "Great Elder, Lord Second Hokage wishes to see you!"
Masahiko sighed and looked at Hashirama. "You really need to manage Tobirama. Ever since he became Hokage, it's like he's grown roots in the Hokage Building. He even just sends someone to notify me, his Great-Uncle, instead of coming himself."
Hashirama snapped out of his daze and smiled bitterly, shaking his head. "As his big brother, I have less and less authority with him."
Masahiko glared at him. "Do you have authority with anyone?" He shook his head and walked out.
He arrived at the Hokage Building and was led into the conference room by the guarding ninja.
Upon entering, Masahiko frowned. He found that it wasn't just him and Tobirama; the other four Elders were there as well.
"What major event happened?"
Before Tobirama could speak, Uchiha Izuya rushed to speak first. "Grandpa... Masahiko, you're here just in time. Please persuade the Nidaime. Konoha has our Uchiha Military Police Force; that is sufficient. Why does the Nidaime insist on establishing some 'Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai' (Special Assassination and Tactical Squad)? What use is that?" As he spoke, he kept winking at Masahiko.
The Uzumaki Clan Head (Masahiko's nephew) stared wide-eyed at Masahiko, wondering when he had become so close with the Uchiha clan.
Masahiko was also bewildered. He didn't expect the Uchiha to be so overly familiar.
"First of all, we aren't close... Second, you should call Tobirama 'Lord Second' or 'Lord Hokage,' not just 'Nidaime'," Masahiko said first. "Only I can call him Nidaime. Isn't that right, my Lord Nidaime?"
Tobirama smiled bitterly. "Great-Uncle, I've been extremely busy lately. The peace in the ninja world won't last much longer."
Masahiko nodded, considering Tobirama forgiven. "So, you want to establish this assassination... what kind of special forces was it?"
"It is the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai!" Tobirama supplemented.
"That's too much of a mouthful. Let's just abbreviate it to Anbu..."
"Eh? Anbu?" As soon as he said it, Masahiko looked stunned.
Seeing the five people looking at him blankly, Masahiko added, "It's good to establish it! Oh, right, it hasn't been established yet. So why did you call me?"
Tobirama looked at the four Elders and shook his head. "The four Elders have different opinions..."
Masahiko looked at the Nara Clan Head and Hyuga Tenjin. "Which one of you defected to the Uchiha?"
The room fell into an awkward silence.
Tobirama sighed helplessly. "Great-Uncle, let's talk outside..."
Outside the conference room, Tobirama explained the situation to Masahiko in detail.
The Uchiha clan disagreed with the establishment of the Anbu because the Anbu would belong solely to the Hokage and would not be under the jurisdiction of the Konoha Military Police Force. Naturally, they wouldn't agree.
The other party who disagreed was the Hyuga clan.
The Hyuga clan's Byakugan was a supreme tool for reconnaissance. Therefore, they currently controlled most of Konoha's intelligence gathering. If the Anbu were established, they would lose a lot of power.
After listening, Masahiko frowned at Tobirama. "This doesn't seem like your personality, Tobirama. If you want to establish the Anbu, who can stop you...?"
Tobirama sighed. "Times are different now. I estimate that in three to five years, conflict will rise again in the ninja world. The Hyuga and Uchiha..."
Masahiko glared at him. "So, I'm supposed to be the one to offend the Hyuga and Uchiha, is that it?"
Masahiko finally understood why Tobirama had sought him out. However, he didn't really care, and besides...
"When establishing the Anbu, aren't you going to select some Hyuga clansmen to join?"
Tobirama fell silent. Masahiko immediately realized that the Hyuga might have developed some ambition for the position of Hokage.
"Your circle is truly messy..." Masahiko sighed. Ignoring Tobirama's reaction, he entered the conference room and began to "verbally tear apart" the Hyuga and Uchiha.
Being old and having high seniority had its benefits. Masahiko enjoyed the feeling of bullying people based on seniority more and more.
Before stepping down as an Elder, others addressed Masahiko as Elder Masahiko. After stepping down, it became Grandpa... Masahiko.
Facing a "Grandpa" who was being unreasonable and pestering, Hyuga Tenjin and Uchiha Izuya had no recourse. Ten minutes later, they flung their sleeves and left the Hokage Building in anger.
Masahiko flashed a victory sign at Tobirama, but Tobirama ignored it...
"Great-Uncle, thank you for your trouble. Take care on your way out." Tobirama said only this before turning to the Nara Clan Head and the Uzumaki Clan Head. "Next, let's discuss the candidates for the Anbu."
Masahiko was ushered out by Tobirama with a confused look on his face. He felt like Tobirama had just used him as an "old hooligan" to throw a tantrum and clear the room.
"Fine, I won't hold it against you..." Masahiko muttered. "This Konoha is looking more and more like the one in my memories from my past life. The Konoha Military Police Force, the Ninja Academy, and now even the Anbu is being established?"
Masahiko didn't participate in the subsequent events. The Anbu was established by Tobirama within half a month.
Masahiko didn't know the specific candidates, but it seemed Tobirama favored the various small clans, with almost no one from the major clans selected. Besides that, Tobirama had actually approached Kento-kun... Masahiko felt Tobirama was courting death. Fortunately, Kento-kun didn't join, otherwise, the "Dark Side" (Anbu) would have turned into the "Bright Side."
After the Anbu members were selected, Tobirama sent them all out, not even keeping his own guards. Masahiko didn't see a single one of them.
"Is the ninja world so tense right now? Does he need that many people for reconnaissance?" Masahiko didn't think a war would break out within two or three years. He suspected Tobirama might have other motives.
However, the news that trickled back made Masahiko laugh and cry.
Since the Battle of the Valley of the End, there must have been many spies around Konoha. Because the other four Great Ninja Villages, and even some small villages, simultaneously began to organize their own "Academies" and "Anbu."
"If the Ninja Academy hadn't been my idea, it probably would have been Tobirama who established it. So, Tobirama's decision-making ability is recognized by so many people?"
Thinking this, Masahiko looked at Hashirama, who had come back to pester him about learning dice, and sighed helplessly.
"You, as the big brother... no wonder you have no authority."
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