Torifu used his Cloud Release to condense a small eye in the air, observing the movements on the training ground.
He had initially thought that Kaito's training providing some benefit would be good enough, but to his surprise, over the past few days, Yahiko and Konan's taijutsu had improved remarkably fast.
Whether it was due to external motivation or some other reason, the gains far exceeded Torifu's expectations.
"It's such a shame. If they had stayed a little longer, Yahiko's swordsmanship might have advanced even further."
But there was nothing he could do. Torifu couldn't forcibly keep the general from the Land of Iron just for the sake of his disciples' progress.
Torifu was already satisfied that these two children had made so much progress.
It wasn't a wasted effort to give Kaito a good sword; it was practically a guaranteed profit.
A short while later, Naori came out of the house with Akihara. Torifu placed a chair beside him and invited her to sit down.
"It seems a new batch of ninjas is about to graduate from the Ninja Academy. I'm considering whether I should take on a class."
Torifu pondered this for a moment. "That's up to you, of course. I support your decision. You've been home for a long time over the New Year, so it would be good to get out and about with a ninja class."
Naori hadn't been on missions for quite some time. In fact, ever since Akihara's birth, Naori had intentionally reduced the frequency of her missions.
She had shifted her focus to taking care of Akihara.
Now that Akihara had grown a bit, and due to his early maturity, the child was very sensible.
Naori could confidently leave him at home.
The main reason was that Torifu, the Hokage, slacked off daily, always sending a shadow clone to the office.
With his main body staying at home, he could naturally look after Akihara.
Hearing Torifu say this, Naori made up her mind. "Alright, then I'll take on a class. I'll talk to Principal Suiga in a bit and ask him to assign me a class with slightly better talent."
"Mmm, those are minor details."
Torifu had heard that the students this year were quite talented; some could perform ninjutsu right after graduating, and with high proficiency.
The future of Konoha Village could be said to be very bright.
Naori then took Torifu's hand and earnestly said, "If I go to lead a class, I'll be relying on you to take care of Akihara at home."
Although leading a ninja class didn't mean being away every day, once the students reached a certain level, they would need to be taken to the Land of Lightning for missions.
Killing people and building courage.
That round trip would take a month, so Akihara would definitely have to be left with Torifu.
"No problem, don't worry. It's just that there are no signal towers in the Land of Lightning, so cell phones won't work."
Naori smiled slightly. "It's fine, it's close to the Land of Iron, so I can enter the Land of Iron to call you."
As the couple chatted, Akihara also perked up his ears and listened.
He understood that his mother seemed to be going on a long trip, but he didn't cry or make a fuss.
His mother would always come back anyway; he just had to wait patiently.
"Oh, right, have you found out anything about Amado and Anka's situation?"
Naori asked curiously. Gossip, indeed, was something everyone loved to hear.
Torifu chuckled, then waved his hand. "What we can confirm for now is that Amado is interested in Anka, but Anka's attitude isn't clear yet. It's possible Amado is experiencing unrequited love."
"Is that so? I thought they were mutually fond of each other." Naori seemed a little disappointed by this.
Amado had dressed very smartly that day, and Naori had thought he might actually find his fated woman.
"You should find an opportunity to ask Anka what she thinks. If Anka also has feelings for Amado, we can try to set them up."
Naori and Anka also had a good relationship. She didn't dislike or harbor hostility towards Anka just because Anka was Torifu's secretary.
She was very confident in herself and understood Torifu very well; Torifu wasn't that kind of person.
The reason for her concern about Amado and Anka's situation was that both of them were no longer young.
With both of them nearing thirty, if they didn't marry soon, they would truly be destined to grow old alone.
Most villagers in the village were already married by twenty, and they would certainly only consider those of similar age.
Torifu had also been very anxious about this.
Seeing Amado and Anka chatting and laughing yesterday, he couldn't have been happier.
"Of course. If it works out well, it would solve two worries at once."
One was Amado's marriage; as an elder brother, he naturally had to be concerned about his younger brother's romantic life.
And with such a brilliant mind, he definitely needed a family to carry on his legacy.
As for Anka's marriage, Torifu actually felt somewhat indebted to her. He often slacked off on many things, whenever he could.
This resulted in Anka bearing too much responsibility alone, and her time was consumed by work, naturally leaving no time for romance.
Torifu had no other way to compensate her than by giving her some positions and power, which could also bring him some peace of mind.
But now, Torifu saw the hope of killing two birds with one stone.
Such a good opportunity naturally couldn't be missed.
"I just hope it's not unrequited love on Amado's part," Torifu sighed.
Amado was still quite handsome; at this time, he wasn't the "old man" from the original world.
He was a proper young, dashing man, talented and wealthy—quite exceptional.
"I'll head to the office now. I'll see about inviting Anka over for dinner tonight."
Naori displayed a smile, seemingly implying, "Oh, not bad, huh?"
With that, Torifu stood up and left the clan compound, leaving Naori holding Akihara, reclining on the chair.
At this time, the streets of Konoha Village were very clean and tidy; the sanitation workers had already finished cleaning them.
All the trash from yesterday's festival activities had been cleared away, and the remnants of the fireworks had also been dealt with.
There was no sign that a grand event had taken place yesterday.
When Torifu arrived at the main street, he found it bustling with people, many of whom were flocking towards the bulletin board.
"A new factory is hiring! Is this for real? I'm going to quit my job right away!"
"The bicycle factory! Bicycles are finally going into production. I wonder if I can buy the first one!"
"You're not even submitting a resume, so move aside! Can't you see we're all in line?"
Many villagers held brand new resumes, ready to compete for positions at the bicycle factory.
Torifu roughly estimated that about five to six thousand people were participating this time, but ultimately only around two thousand would be hired.
More than half would be rejected, and many among them had directly resigned from their previous jobs to gamble on this opportunity.
If they weren't hired, their original jobs might not be secured either.
....
Chapter End
...
[T/N: This Author, I am getting more and more doubtful about this fanfic's future. He forgot that Torifu picked up an Aburame Disciple, he also forgot that Anka is in a Relationship with some unknown chunin.... Would've dropped it by now if i didn't have a paying reader on Patreon... I don't really enjoy Slice of Life Genre when it becomes this stretched.]