"Has the Fifth Hokage returned, Hagoromo?"
Hagoromo was in the middle of "deporting" Naruto and his little friends when Mirai's question immediately made Naruto stop in his tracks and prick up his ears.
His little underling, Konohamaru, did the same. Clearly, the words "Fifth Hokage" had hit these two brats right in the sweet spot.
"What are you looking at? Does this have anything to do with you two?"
Seeing the two of them stop, Hagoromo gave each of them another smack. What a joke. Hokage this, Hokage that—did these two seriously think they had a chance of becoming the Fifth Hokage?
Their dreams were certainly grand, but everything would have to wait until they were actually grown up first.
"Hagoromo, what's this Fifth Hokage thing? Did you go welcome the Fifth Hokage back?"
Naruto obviously knew that Hagoromo had not been in the village for the past few days. He just had not expected that Hagoromo had gone outside the village to welcome the Fifth Hokage back… But who had been chosen as the Fifth Hokage? How had this person suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
"Go ask your teacher Kakashi. He understands all of this…"
Hagoromo could not be bothered wasting words on Naruto, so he added another completely ridiculous line.
"He understands it far better than I do."
To a certain extent, Tsunade's return to the village had been planned by Hagoromo from the very beginning. The Hokage and Jiraiya had merely happened to arrive at the same conclusion as him. What the hell could Kakashi understand? No matter how much he understood, he could not possibly understand more than Hagoromo, the original instigator.
But he might as well let Naruto go bother Kakashi about this. Kakashi looked like he had nothing to do all day anyway.
"I get it!"
After hearing Hagoromo say that, Naruto immediately turned and ran off to find Kakashi…
Only after sending these two monkey brats away did Hagoromo have time to answer Mirai's question.
"Lady Tsunade has already returned. And there probably won't be any surprises about her becoming the Fifth Hokage."
"Really? As expected of Hagoromo! You managed right away to do what Uncle Jiraiya couldn't!"
When Mirai heard that, she sounded almost ready to cheer. Then she immediately tried to slip outside.
But the two situations were not the same at all. Jiraiya had relied on emotional appeals, so of course changing Tsunade's mind had been difficult. Hagoromo, on the other hand, had relied on overwhelming logic.
Although Mirai had only met her once, she liked "Big Sister Tsunade" quite a lot. Now that Tsunade had returned to the village, Mirai naturally wanted to go see her.
But Hagoromo grabbed Mirai before she could slip away. This was not the right time for her to go deepen their relationship. Although a Hokage meeting was basically idle chatter, it was still official business. Children should not go barging in and causing trouble…
For Mirai, breaking into the Hokage's office really was not difficult at all.
...
On the second day after Tsunade returned to Konoha, the news was formally announced to the entire village, and her status as the successor to the Fifth Hokage was established.
Presumably, over the next period of time, the Third Hokage's authority would gradually be transferred to her. Once Tsunade had taken hold of all the authority that should belong to the Hokage, the Third would officially retire behind the scenes.
Although rumors had already been flying everywhere beforehand, only after the official announcement from the Hokage did Konoha truly erupt into excitement. With Tsunade's return as the symbol, the village seemed to have welcomed a new opportunity.
Moreover, confirming the next Hokage was not merely an internal matter for Konoha. It would also have a far-reaching impact on relations between the various villages. Konoha's allies would have to consider whether the new Hokage's rise to power might cause changes in foreign policy, while neutral or hostile forces would become wary of Konoha's renewed strengthening.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that Konoha's strength had begun to recover.
After the Nine-Tails' attack, Konoha had lost the brilliant Fourth Hokage. After that, all three Sannin left the village. Then came the Uchiha internal conflict and the clan's extermination. Anyone could see that Konoha's overall strength had been declining.
But now, two of the three Sannin had returned one after another. At the same time, the White Yaksha's strength had already reached maturity. It seemed as though Konoha's overall power was showing signs of swelling back toward its peak.
Tsunade's return and her appointment as CEO instantly made Konoha stock soar. The village faintly seemed to have regained the ability to take on four others by itself, and for a time, it seemed to have recovered that old spirit of, "When spring comes, if I don't speak first, which shinobi hamlet dares make a sound?"
Unfortunately, this was only a surface impression. Rather than saying Tsunade's return had caused Konoha's strength to rise sharply, it was more accurate to say that it had caused Konoha's morale to swell rapidly. Overall, before losing the Uchiha and after losing the Uchiha, there was still a definite gap in Konoha's strength.
That gap was systemic. It was not something that could be made up for by one or two top-tier shinobi.
Besides, Tsunade's strength had not reached the level where she could solo an entire village. More importantly, she should not be used as a combat unit in the first place. She should be used as a medical, logistical, and support unit.
Still, no matter how one looked at it, Tsunade's return had come at exactly the right time. Before the Chūnin Exams, the arrival of large numbers of shinobi from other villages in Konoha was itself an excellent diplomatic window. This was the perfect opportunity to present Tsunade to the outside world…
In essence, this was still publicity. Think about it: if the present Konoha still possessed the strength it had during the Third Shinobi World War, would there be any need for such deliberate promotion?
After adding Tsunade into the equation, the joint Chūnin Exams had now become a top-priority matter for Konoha. No accidents could be allowed to happen during the process, so the village's level of attention rose by another grade.
After Kakashi's Team 7 drifted off somewhere outside the village on a mission, preparations for the Chūnin Exams officially began.
Because this was a "joint" exam, the first thing Konoha needed to clarify was its own internal situation, especially the situation regarding genin participating in the exam.
Thus, the Third Hokage gathered most of the jōnin team leaders whose teams were suitable to take part in the exam.
Hagoromo was among them as well. He stood at the very back of the group. After sweeping his gaze around, he indeed spotted a few familiar faces.
Might Guy…
Hagoromo simply did not want to look at that combination of gleaming white teeth, overflowing confidence, thick eyebrows, and watermelon haircut. It was practically damaging Konoha's public image and village discipline.
In addition, there was Sarutobi Asuma, who had only recently returned to the village. As expected of father and son with the Third Hokage, perhaps; in this setting, the only two people who dared smoke were the two of them.
Yūhi Kurenai…
Fine, she had finally become a jōnin. In that regard, she was far better than Yamashiro Aoba. Even now, the latter was still only a special jōnin.
"Now, I will confirm the genin teams participating in the Chūnin Exams. From this year's graduating class, we have Team 6, Team 7, Team 8, and Team 10. From last year's graduating class, Team 3, Team—"
The Hokage looked completely focused. However, sitting beside him, the designated next-generation Hokage who was currently learning how to become Hokage looked utterly drowsy. Only when Shizune, standing behind her, could no longer bear to watch and poked her did Tsunade straighten her attitude.
But less than five minutes later, she was back to her old self.
This scene—the old and the young, the man and the woman, the serious one and the lazy one, and all the other contrasts formed between them—made Hagoromo suddenly burst out laughing.
The surrounding shinobi all glanced sideways at him. Sure, this guy was so strong that no one dared provoke him, but surely he did not have to laugh in an occasion like this? Where was the Third Hokage supposed to put his old face?
Unexpectedly, perhaps realizing that she might look a bit ridiculous in other people's eyes, Tsunade actually started laughing along with Hagoromo.
Great. You two laugh while everyone else cries. This was far too off-script…
Or was this the legendary "unity, tension, seriousness, and liveliness"?
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