+1 extra chapter because you surpassed the goal
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Hokage's Office.
"Hiruzen, do you really want Kushina to be promoted to jonin?"
"Danzo, I have told you to knock on the door," Hiruzen said calmly after seeing Danzo enter while slamming the door as always. "As for Kushina, she has the strength to be one."
"That brat, strength alone does not determine everything. Even if she is strong it is useless if she does not serve the village, especially with that strange energy she uses, who knows what it really is," Danzo protested.
For years he had tried to take control of Kushina, whether when she was a jinchuriki, when she lost the Nine Tails and began using that strange energy, and even now.
To Danzo, something as strange and powerful as Kushina and mana had to be under his command before it grew and became a threat. Of course, Danzo was not actually afraid of Kushina. With his own strength and hidden cards, he had the power to defeat even Hiruzen at his peak. However, a fully developed Kushina would be difficult to manipulate and would be a waste of such a powerful weapon.
But what he could think, his best friend could as well, and because Hiruzen knew those thoughts, that was precisely why he would never hand Kushina over to him.
"Kushina has served the village until now and was raised here, there is no reason for her to betray the village. She is a ninja of Konoha," Hiruzen said.
"A ninja of Konoha would not disrespect a councilor every time she sees one," Danzo said.
"Did you not start it yourself? That is just her personality, do not take it to heart," Hiruzen said with a small laugh, remembering every encounter between those two, where Kushina always attacked him with words.
But even though he laughed on the surface, in reality Kushina's attitude seemed correct to him. After all, they would never hand the position of Hokage to someone who got along well with Danzo. Perhaps it was not necessary for them to hate him, but anyone who got along with Danzo would definitely be removed from the list of candidates.
The clearest example of this was his own disciple, Orochimaru, who after Hatake Sakumo was the strongest contender for the position of Fourth Hokage, being one of the three Sannin of Konoha.
However, despite his high reputation as a Sannin, his vast experience as his disciple, and other reasons that made him highly suitable, Hiruzen never mentioned the matter.
The reason was simple. Despite their attempts to hide it, Hiruzen realized that Orochimaru and Danzo had been collaborating.
However, this was not entirely bad.
After going through the experiences with both Hatake Sakumo and Orochimaru, Hiruzen realized that finding someone who aligned with his thoughts and ideals to become the next Hokage was difficult.
For that reason, he decided to take matters into his own hands and not leave everything to fate.
Orochimaru's coldness and logical thinking, but without taking it to the extreme, Sakumo's morality and emotions, while still placing the village above all else. After finding someone who fused both within his personality, Hiruzen deliberately guided him.
A genius orphan, subtly guided since childhood, growing close to him and respecting him, joining his Hokage faction. That was Minato Namikaze, the perfect future Hokage.
However, even though he said he would not leave everything to fate, the truth was that he could not fully control it, and one of fate's variables was Kushina Uzumaki.
Hiruzen knew that, considering strength alone, both were the geniuses of their generation, but in terms of popularity Kushina surpassed him by far. The worst part was that both wanted the position, making a clash inevitable. And if that was already bad, the fact that Minato was clearly in love with Kushina made it even worse, since it could cause Minato to give up in the end.
Of course, if Kushina were to eventually marry Minato, the problem would be completely solved, and it would even be a solution that not only resolved issues but also created many advantages.
However, that was not something Hiruzen could control. With Kushina's personality, trying to force her to fall in love with someone was impossible. The only chance had been when she was young and naive, but that opportunity had already been missed.
The best way for Hiruzen to solve this now was to raise Minato's fame so that it could match or even surpass Kushina's.
Fortunately, the opportunity to achieve that was here.
"Let us not talk about that.
The teams sent to investigate the borders of Iwagakure and Kumogakure were attacked unilaterally.
The few survivors said that the other side never tried to negotiate, they attacked from the start with intent to kill."
"Those bastards, do they no longer take Konoha seriously?" Danzo said furiously.
"With all the recent rumors about Konoha, it is possible they believe we are weaker. However, this is also an opportunity.
If we show some weakness so they grow confident and then flip the board, we can easily win the war and return to peace quickly."
"You want peace? We can take advantage of the situation. Once they send their strongest ninjas against what they believe to be all of our forces, we can attack their village directly and gain much more than just peace," Danzo said.
"It is not necessary. Many would die to achieve something like that, and besides, the balance among the five villages is too fragile. If we accumulate too much power and the scales tilt in our favor, the other villages will not remain silent," Hiruzen explained.
"What nonsense. So out of fear of the other villages we can only defend and not attack ourselves? We are the most powerful ninja village, Hiruzen, it is time to remind them of that," Danzo reacted furiously, unable to believe his old friend had become so cowardly.
"Precisely because we are the most powerful village, we bear the greatest responsibility. If the entire ninja world enters war, we will head toward our own destruction," Hiruzen said calmly.
"But…"
"Enough, Danzo. I am the Hokage."
"Hiruzen, you will regret this."
With that, Danzo left, slamming the door once again.
Hiruzen sighed, exhaling smoke from his pipe before speaking to himself.
"A person who only thinks about power like Danzo would be the worst kind of Hokage.
Someone like Minato is who must become Hokage. In this war I will make sure he gathers enough merit.
I only hope that Kushina's popularity does not keep growing without reason."
As he said this, a ninja knocked on the door, and as soon as Hiruzen gave permission to enter, he came in immediately.
"Hirome, what is it?" he asked, seeing the person in charge of the mission hall.
"Lord Hokage," Hirome said respectfully. "We have just received information from Sunagakure."
"What is it?"
"Sasori, the grandson of the elder Chiyo, became a rogue ninja after being found turning living people into puppets, crossing the moral line of his village.
He has been considered a genius since childhood and his current abilities correspond to a jonin, so an S rank mission has been issued for his capture, alive or dead," Hirome explained.
"Do not publish the mission, we do not need our powerful ninjas leaving the village at this time," Hiruzen said after thinking for a moment.
Hirome nodded, having a general understanding of the village's internal situation.
"Since he will avoid routes under Sunagakure's direct control, Sasori will likely flee through the borders between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. Should I also cancel all missions in the surrounding areas?"
"It is not necessary," Hiruzen said.
He was not worried about someone facing Sasori. Simply put, those who could do so were at least jonin of Konoha, and with the Third Ninja War approaching, Hiruzen did not want to give them a reason to leave the village.
Nodding, Hirome left the room.
Only after thinking it through more carefully did Hiruzen realize the situation and immediately sent an ANBU team to head to the area.
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"Miss Kushina, should we check the situation?"
At the words of another ninja on the team, Kushina looked ahead. A few dozen meters away, a column of smoke was rising into the sky.
"I will go check it out, I will move ahead and you follow me," Kushina said, and everyone obeyed, following her as they approached the source of the fire.
After a moment, she arrived at a camp. The place was a complete mess.
There was fire everywhere and it was filled with smoke. There were tents, but all of them were destroyed and their remains were burning, the same with the various carriages in the area.
But no matter how much Kushina searched, she did not find a single corpse, which surprised her even more.
"Cough, cough. Miss Kushina, did you find anything?"
While she was observing, the rest of the escort team arrived, although unlike Kushina they could not function normally in an environment completely filled with fire and smoke.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)