Takuno was also reflecting at this time on whether he had overreacted during the Nine-Tails Attack.
But no matter how he thought about it, he felt that his actions were all within calculation. Going to the Nine-Tails' location in front of the Anbu was just to let them know about it.
And for him to be able to seal the Nine-Tails, it required Minato to exhaust the Nine-Tails first.
His only excessive action was using Sealing Jutsu to split the Nine-Tails in half.
Takuno thought long and hard, and his performance seemed fine, so where was the problem?
Soon, he got the answer: it wasn't that he was strong, but that his peers were too weak!
Only four people performed best during the Nine-Tails Attack.
First, Minato. Without him, the Nine-Tails' initial Tailed Beast Bomb would have directly destroyed the Hokage Rock, and those shattered stones would have caused massive damage to Konoha.
And a second time, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport the Nine-Tails, which was about to condense another Tailed Beast Bomb, far away, thus saving Konoha.
Not only that, he also held back the masked man and inflicted considerable damage on the Nine-Tails.
It can be said that Minato was definitely the absolute hero of this Nine-Tails Attack. If he had died as in the original story, he would still be the one set up as an example.
Second, Kushina. She was even more formidable. After the Nine-Tails was extracted, she was still able to restrain it with Adamantine Sealing Chains, which was quite outrageous. She truly lived up to being the one chosen by the Uzumaki Clan to become the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
However, Kushina's identity is generally not suitable for exposure, so such an evaluation would be impossible.
The third, naturally, was the Third Hokage.
Although he seemed to do nothing, his single act of using Enma's Adamantine Staff to thrust the Nine-Tails from inside Konoha out of the village was already enough.
If the Nine-Tails had been allowed to continue its destruction within Konoha at that time, the entire Konoha might have been completely destroyed.
And the fourth, the most outstanding, was naturally Takuno.
The others seemed to be cannon fodder, not showing anything special.
Therefore, the Third Hokage didn't need this title, Kushina needed to conceal her identity, and while Minato needed it, it was only natural for someone of his status to do these things.
Thus, the best person to set an example fell upon him. Not only did he perform exceptionally well during the Nine-Tails Attack, but his identity was also just that of a civilian ninja.
Takuno clicked his tongue. Perhaps if he were the Hokage, he would also choose such a person.
"Am I unable to refuse this?" Takuno asked with a hint of helplessness.
"Please help us, senior. You know the current situation in the village; someone has to step up," Minato knew that Takuno disliked crowds, but there was no other way. Besides him, he couldn't think of anyone else suitable.
"Alright then," Takuno sighed and agreed.
"That's great, senior! I'll have someone write a speech for you afterward," Minato smiled. He knew Takuno would eventually agree.
Takuno shrugged and did not reply.
"Also, after this, I'd like to move your position, senior," Minato suddenly said.
"Huh?" Takuno looked at Minato with a little surprise. This was quite sudden; he had thought it would take some time before rewards were given for merits.
"Deputy Commander of the Anbu, is that position high enough?" Minato asked with a smile.
"Are you sure it's not because you have no one else available that you're putting me in charge?" Takuno was actually satisfied with the position.
Big matters would be handled by the Anbu commander, and small matters by the Squad Leader, so he should be relatively free.
Minato gave an awkward laugh. This Nine-Tails Attack had caused heavy losses to the Anbu, and the Deputy Commander he had brought to Kushina's delivery site had also died at the hands of that man in black.
Moreover, Konoha's talent pool was severely depleted, and this position required someone he could trust, so the choices were even more limited.
Kakashi had not yet grown up and still needed more training in the Anbu.
So, after much thought, he could only ask Takuno to help him out once more.
"Senpai, please help us out," Minato pleaded.
Takuno looked at Minato. Although he was satisfied with the position inwardly, he didn't agree directly, as that wouldn't fit his persona.
"If I become the Deputy Commander of the Anbu, what would I need to do?"
Minato breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Since the other party was willing to inquire, it meant he would likely agree.
And knowing Takuno's personality, he had already made arrangements from the start.
"Senpai, the Anbu's duties include protecting the Hokage, intelligence gathering, and executing highly confidential missions like assassinations. You will be responsible for the intelligence gathering aspect."
Minato said, raising an eyebrow at Takuno, as if to say this was a position he had specially chosen for him.
"This duty isn't dangerous. Although your subordinates will be very busy, as a leader, you only need to process the intelligence they gather and distribute tasks. It's not too busy."
"Are you sure?" Takuno seemed a little tempted.
Minato nodded; it was indeed true.
"Alright then, what about my current position as Sealing Team Captain?" Takuno inquired.
"You can continue to hold that position, senior. That's your public identity. Your Anbu identity is a secret within the village and generally cannot be exposed," Minato said. "Besides, the Sealing Team doesn't really have much going on, does it? It's fine for you to go there when you need to research Sealing Jutsu."
"Then... alright," Takuno finally agreed after hearing such excellent conditions.
Minato immediately smiled. Since the senior had agreed to become the Deputy Commander of the Anbu, he could smoothly take over the commander position with future merits.
At that time, he would have Kakashi take over the Deputy Commander position, and then later have him transition to the commander position with Takuno. Perfect!
Before, he had been hesitant about how to reward Takuno. He had originally thought of giving him the Four Symbols Seal as a reward, but not only the Four Symbols Seal but also the more advanced Eight Trigrams Seal had already been given to him during the Nine-Tails Attack.
Moreover, those were taught to him to help him perform Sealing Jutsu. To offer that as a reward was something Minato simply couldn't do.
But besides that, there seemed to be nothing else good to reward.
Ultimately, it seemed he could only promote Takuno in terms of position, even accommodating his personality by finding him a relatively leisurely and safe role.
Most importantly, with Takuno in this position, he could confidently entrust him with Anbu matters.
"Hokage-sama, is there anything else?" Takuno asked, staring at Minato, with an attitude that implied he wouldn't do it if there was anything else.
Minato smiled helplessly at his posture and said, "That's all for now."
Suddenly, he thought of something else and asked, "Senpai, have you decided on your codename and mask style?"
Takuno paused, then thought of the Anbu's styles. He couldn't choose a fox mask, as that would overlap with his identity as a collector.
He also had to be careful about choosing a crow mask; it was best not to reveal that his summoned beast was a crow.
"Let's go with 'Hawk,'" Takuno quickly decided.
"Alright, I'll notify you when the mask is made, senior," Minato said.
Takuno nodded. The other party couldn't have the Anbu deliver the mask, because his identity as Hawk was secret. How could the Anbu subordinates know his specific identity?
"Then I won't disturb Hokage-sama anymore," Takuno said with a chuckle, glancing at the mountain of documents piled on Minato's desk.
Minato also shook his head helplessly and continued working after Takuno left.
He sighed as he looked at the intelligence in his hand. This was the report from the Sealing Team: on the night of the Nine-Tails Attack, five people had infiltrated Konoha.
At the time, due to the Nine-Tails, there were no available personnel to search for them. After the Nine-Tails Attack ended, they had vanished without a trace.
Four of them were never discovered from beginning to end.
However, one of them had entered a critical secret location in Konoha, the place where the Scroll of Seals was kept.
Fortunately, the individual seemed only interested in Ninjutsu and had no intention of killing, so the two Anbu guards there were merely knocked unconscious, saving their lives.
Moreover, the individual didn't even take the entire Scroll of Seals. Was it out of fear that the Scroll of Seals might have tracking methods?
"They are truly cautious," Minato remarked with a sigh, not considering issuing a wanted poster.
After all, he knew nothing about the individual's identity, only that they wore a fox mask. How could he assign a mission based on that?
Furthermore, he wasn't someone who valued Ninjutsu that highly, and the fact that the individual chose not to kill the two Anbu guards lessened his ill will towards them.
He only hoped now that the Ninjutsu stolen from the Scroll of Seals was for personal study and not to be spread.
Minato knew the difficulty of the Ninjutsu in the Scroll of Seals; even if those Ninjutsu were released, very few people would be able to learn them.
But there would always be someone who couldn't resist trying to learn them.
Moreover, the Ninjutsu on it were basically forbidden Jutsu, some even inhumane. If such Ninjutsu were to spread, the entire ninja world would likely fall into chaos.
More than the person in the fox mask, Minato was more curious about who the other four, who never showed their faces, truly were. He absolutely did not believe that they had no designs on Konoha.
But no one reported any damage caused by them. Perhaps someone saw them but was silenced?
Minato narrowed his eyes, eager to find out but helpless. No one had seen these four people, so how could he find them?
Minato sighed again. He had probably sighed more these past few days than he had in his entire life combined. Besides these opportunistic individuals, the Cloud Shinobi and Stone Shinobi were still competing with them for resource-rich missions.
And Konoha now needed to recover and rebuild, so such missions were precisely what it needed.
Truly, it was a headache!