As long as your mind doesn't slip, there will always be more solutions than problems.
After chatting with Hashirama and Tobirama for a long time and confirming the exact date of his succession, Torifu took Minato home.
Soon after leaving the Senju Clan Compound, a system notification sounded in his head.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on completing an S-rank mission. Reward: 10,000 Peace Points, one Palace in the Clouds, one Intelligent Puppet.]
Oh, Torifu almost forgot about this mission. Thankfully, the system wouldn't deduct rewards. The Peace Points were an old reward; he got them from every mission. The Intelligent Puppet also made sense; it was probably for his own use to slack off. The system was quite thoughtful. But what was this Palace in the Clouds? Torifu suppressed his curiosity and decided to check it out after he got home.
"What did you play outside just now?"
Minato was very happy at the moment and had a smile on his face. "Hehe, Tsunade Nee-san just taught us ninjutsu, and I learned it very quickly, so I'm happy." Torifu gave him a thumbs-up when he heard this. "That's great. Minato is amazing. I'll get you to sign a contract with a baby crane today."
Minato immediately jumped up in excitement. "Big brother is so nice!"
Torifu smiled and led Minato to walk a little faster. He then exchanged for four summoning seeds in the system. He had originally planned to let the baby cranes grow up a little before giving them the seeds, but then he got delayed by the mission and forgot. He figured they could probably already fly by now, since they had the bloodline of a crane. Aokumo and Ryūfū had also grown up incredibly fast.
But when the two arrived at Aokumo and Ryūfū's nest, Torifu found that he had overthought it. The baby cranes had only grown some feather shafts and didn't even have full feathers yet. Perhaps Aokumo and Ryūfū had grown so fast because they had been evolved.
Torifu had Minato wait outside while he walked in. When Aokumo and Ryūfū saw Torifu, they said, "Are you here to give the children that thing?" Torifu nodded. "I gave this seed to you before you were born. It can better enhance their potential."
Aokumo nodded. "We know, but it's a shame that we still weren't able to help you."
Torifu waved his hand. "What are you talking about? If it weren't for the two of you, I wouldn't have been able to defeat that guy."
"Now that it's all over, let's not talk about unhappy things anymore."
He then walked over to Ryūfū and placed the four seeds on the baby cranes' heads one by one. With a flash of red light, the beating hearts were gradually absorbed into the baby cranes' bodies. At first glance, it really did look like a cult's sacrificial ritual. After a while, they could clearly feel that the four little ones' auras had become stronger, and the chakra in their bodies had also increased. The one with the best talent had a strength that was far superior to the other baby cranes. Its eyes were also clearer, and it seemed to already be able to understand the conversation between Torifu, Aokumo, and Ryūfū.
"Is it okay for it to sign a contract with Minato?"
Aokumo nodded. "Of course, it's fine. Minato is also a part of our family, so we trust him completely."
Torifu smiled, then called Minato in. He took out a summoning scroll from his ring and unrolled it on the ground. The entire scroll only had Torifu's name and Aokumo's and Ryūfū's claw prints.
"Are you ready, Minato? You're about to sign a contract with your first summoning animal."
"Nii-san, I'm ready."
Then, Torifu used a small knife to cut Minato's finger and had him write his name on the scroll. Aokumo then used its sharp claws to cut the baby crane's leg, and blood flowed onto its claw. It then pressed it onto the scroll. There were no special effects, but the contract had already been signed. With a healing jutsu from each of them, Minato's and the baby crane's wounds were healed.
"What do you want to name your partner? Remember to give it a simple and easy-to-remember name." Minato had already come up with a lot of cool names, but Torifu's last sentence immediately made him discard all of them. In the end, he hesitantly came up with the name "Fūfū". The name was highly approved by Aokumo and Ryūfū. It was similar to their names and was more fitting for a crane.
Torifu put the scroll back into his ring and said to Minato, "After signing the contract, you have to build a good friendship with Fūfū. When you're both at the right age, you can learn Sage Mode." Minato didn't know what Sage Mode was right now, but it sounded very advanced.
"Okay, Nii-san! Don't worry, I'll definitely get along well with Fūfū."
From then on, Minato had another friend in Konoha. Everything was developing in a good direction.
After all that busyness, with eating, visiting, and helping Minato sign a contract after coming home, time had passed by without him noticing. It was already time to rest. Torifu hadn't rested since he had returned to Konoha. After putting Minato to bed, Torifu also went back to his room. He washed up and lay on his bed. Just as he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly remembered the Palace in the Clouds that the system had given him. He then sat up to check it out.
When he looked at it, he was amazed. It was a real treasure. With it, Konoha's defense would be even more reliable.
Overall, it could be divided into two abilities. One was a defensive ability that could detect all outsiders within the range of the Palace in the Clouds. Once an outsider was detected, it would immediately notify him.
The other ability was to select some people to be messengers of the Palace in the Clouds. Torifu could summon them back to the Palace in the Clouds at any time or switch places with them, no matter where they were.
"It's been a long time since you've given me such a good thing."
He could put this Palace in the Clouds in the sky of Konoha to cover the entire village. This way, no outsider would be able to sneak into Konoha. Things like what Rain did, secretly influencing Tobirama's mind, would be impossible to do. It was a very useful item. The second ability was a bit like choosing his own personal Anbu, but he had to choose people he could trust.
Torifu then took out the puppet and found that its face was no different from his, but there was a feather mark in the middle of its forehead to distinguish the main body from the puppet. He tested its abilities and found that its speech and demeanor were a little dull and it had no strength, but those were all minor issues. He was only going to use it to do his office work so he could slack off, not to protect Konoha.
Torifu was very satisfied with this. After so many years, the system finally had a conscience again. Maybe it knew he was about to become the Third Hokage? Whatever the reason, Torifu wasn't going to guess. After putting the puppet away, he lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.