Therefore, Jiraiya promoted him to the position of deputy commander here, and the intention is self-evident.
To train his leadership abilities.
How to turn the people here into his supporters depends on whether he can seize the opportunities to come.
"Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei. I will do my best."
"Oh, no need to be so formal. This is what I should do as a teacher. You just need to do your best to achieve your dreams. The rest, your teacher will handle for you."
Jiraiya said, patting his chest.
"Isn't there any problem with Orochimaru-senpai?"
Minato was worried that Jiraiya supporting him might damage Jiraiya and Orochimaru's friendship.
"Of course not, Orochimaru and I have been close since childhood, like brothers. He won't be so petty."
Jiraiya smiled, reassuring Minato not to worry.
There was one thing he didn't say, which was that he never expected Minato to stand out in the contest for the Fourth Hokage.
After all, the difference in reputation and public support between Minato and Orochimaru was too great.
From the last Ninja Realm war, Orochimaru had already been noticed and heavily nurtured by the higher-ups; he was a shoe-in for the Fourth Hokage.
His actions were not an effort to make Minato the Fourth Hokage but to prepare him to become the Fifth Hokage.
When Orochimaru retires from the position of Fourth Hokage, by that time, there will be no contemporary ninja who can compare to Minato, making the position of the Fifth Hokage a sure thing.
In this way, both his friend and his disciple would become Hokage.
Thinking of this, Jiraiya felt immensely pleased.
"But, as for the official election of the Fourth Hokage, who knows when that will be? Right now, our focus should be on winning this war."
Minato was about to respond when his expression suddenly changed slightly.
"What's wrong? Is it the aftereffects of the technique?"
Seeing Minato's expression, Jiraiya thought something might be wrong with his health.
"No... the Flying Thunder God Mark I engraved on Hyuga Ayane's wrist has disappeared. I can't sense her location now."
Minato's face was serious.
"What? The Flying Thunder God Mark actually..."
Jiraiya was also taken aback.
He knew the might of the Flying Thunder God Mark. Once engraved, it meant a lifetime of being unable to escape the pursuit of the Flying Thunder God Jutsu.
Even he, as one of the Sannin, couldn't remove such a curse seal through any means.
In the entire Konoha, there weren't more than five people who could erase this Flying Thunder God Mark.
"Sorry, Jiraiya-sensei, I messed it up. I thought engraving the Flying Thunder God Mark would allow us to track them anytime, but I didn't expect it to be erased so quickly... There won't be such a good opportunity again."
Minato looked somewhat troubled, sighing in disappointment.
"It's alright, the opponent isn't a simple ninja. You should know that the Caged Bird Cursed Seal of the Hyuga Clan was also broken; they definitely have ninjas skilled in curse removal."
Jiraiya patted Minato's shoulder, comforting him.
To say it wasn't a pity would be a lie, but the fact had already occurred, and regretting it now would only add to their side's troubles.
"Even so, it was my personal mistake that caused it. I'll take on the patrol duty; letting others go would be sending them to their deaths."
Minato quickly recovered from his disappointment.
Jiraiya didn't refuse either; as Minato said, only he could handle the patrol task, sending other teams would just be sacrificing lives unnecessarily.
"Kakashi is injured and can't fight now, so you're short of a capable person. That kid, Obito, even though he awakened the Sharingan, his control is still immature. Stay here at the camp for now. I'll reassign a few Jonin to you to form a temporary patrol squad."
Minato nodded in agreement.
Facing such a dangerous S-rank renegade ninja, even he couldn't guarantee his own safety, just that he had some assurance.
Letting Chunin like Obito and Lin participate in such battles would be detrimental and wouldn't benefit them, most likely getting them killed at the start of the fight.
As for Kakashi... if he were at full strength, he'd have the power to contend with Jonin, but at the moment, he's bedridden and won't be able to move for at least a week, so Minato can only choose new teammates to carry out the patrol mission.
◎
In Kakashi's hospital room.
"See this, Lin? This is our Uchiha's Sharingan, isn't it amazing?"
Obito lifted his goggles, revealing the red Double-Tomoe Sharingan, displaying it proudly in front of Lin.
"This is the Sharingan? Such beautiful eyes."
Lin, seeing the Sharingan up close for the first time, showed a curious look in her eyes.
"That's right, from now on, I'm also an elite ninja of the Uchiha."
Obito stood with his hands on his hips, enjoying the attention from Lin's gaze.
Being watched by a girl he liked was a wonderful feeling indeed.
Of course, there was also a tinge of bitterness.
Because in the past, all the girls' attention was stolen by the genius Kakashi.
"Even without awakening the Sharingan, I always believed you were an elite of the Uchiha, Obito."
Lin said, smiling gently.
"R-Really?"
Obito blushed, somewhat embarrassed, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
The injured Kakashi lay on the bed, holding a book, reading.
He paid no attention to Obito and Lin's conversation, considering it topics he wasn't interested in anyway.