Takuno had been feeling a bit strange these past few days.
When he walked the streets of Konoha, villagers recognized him and called him the Hero of Konoha who sealed the Nine-Tails.
He felt very uncomfortable about this.
He was clearly a low-key person with a bit of social anxiety, and having to endure this kind of torment for no reason was truly headache-inducing.
Moreover, he actually disliked the title of 'hero,' because in stories, heroes always died quickly.
However, since people called him this, he couldn't possibly give them the cold shoulder; he could only force himself to greet them.
He felt that if this continued, and if Minato suddenly died from some incident later on, wouldn't he actually have a chance to become the Fifth Hokage?
Something like that... absolutely not! He would never sit in the busy position of Hokage.
Even a genius like Minato was tormented by the duties of the Hokage to the point where his strength was likely stagnating; whoever wanted to be Hokage could be, but he certainly wouldn't.
Takuno sighed; he was just thinking out loud. The possibility of Minato suddenly dying again was not high.
Given Minato's current age, he could probably remain in the Hokage position for a long time; the person most agitated right now was probably Danzo.
Just as Takuno thought, after learning the specific details of the Nine-Tails Attack, Danzo was currently consumed by rage, his eyes terrifyingly fierce.
Just a little bit, just a little bit!
That blond brat would have died at the hands of the Nine-Tails, and he would have had a chance at the vacant Hokage position.
But now, that chance had completely vanished.
He couldn't imagine what other incident, like the Nine-Tails Attack, could possibly kill Minato.
Given his opponent's age, he would likely be sitting securely in the Hokage position until Danzo's own death!
"Takuno!" Danzo muttered the name, grinding his teeth in hatred; if it weren't for him, Danzo might be the Hokage right now!
And after he had given him Sealing Jutsu, he was treated like this! What a damned fellow!
Danzo's gaze was extremely cold; he couldn't let things continue like this. He had to take action.
After thinking for a long time, he narrowed his eyes. It seemed he would have to use the same method he used against Hatake Sakumo, the White Fang.
The Nine-Tails Attack was an opportunity; no matter how well Minato performed, the damage the Nine-Tails inflicted upon Konoha was undeniable.
Since this happened during his time as Hokage, Danzo could stir up trouble and make an issue of it.
For instance, he could make the villagers believe that Minato was a harbinger of disaster, or use the massive losses Konoha suffered to question his capabilities.
Although he knew he couldn't bring Minato down with just this, he didn't believe Minato would never make a mistake later on. As long as he kept at it, there would be a chance someday!
Having concluded his thoughts, Danzo summoned members of Root and gave them instructions.
Takuno's promotion ceremony to Jonin finally arrived on time.
The number of attendees that day was certainly not as great as when Minato became the Fourth Hokage, but it was still considerable.
In particular, all the members of the Sealing Team rushed over, along with almost all the people who had been evacuated by the Sealing Team members and the Anbu.
When Takuno stepped onto the platform, endless cheers erupted below.
Takuno felt a bit resigned inside; he disliked this environment, but his strong composure prevented him from showing any inappropriate emotions.
He put on a standard, formal smile, took the speech that Minato had prepared for him in advance, and began his expressive presentation.
Minato, standing nearby, looked at Takuno with surprise. Wasn't he speaking quite well? Why was his senior so averse to this?
The Third Hokage and the two Advisors listened to the cheers below and were extremely satisfied with Takuno's performance.
"Finally, as a Jonin of Konoha, I will continue to do my utmost for the construction of Konoha, and I ask for everyone's continued support!"
Finally, Takuno finished his last line.
Below, cheers erupted once again, shouting phrases like 'Hero of Konoha' and 'Hero who sealed the Nine-Tails.'
Takuno quickly greeted them and then hurried off the stage.
"Senpai, you performed very well," Minato said at this moment.
"Next time, don't ask me to do this again," Takuno said helplessly. Being capable of doing something and wanting to do it were two different things.
Minato smiled upon hearing this but remained silent.
"There shouldn't be anything else, right? I'll head back now," Takuno said, wanting to go home and rest.
"Don't rush, there is something I need Senpai to investigate," Minato said, his expression becoming serious.
"Hmm?" Takuno was a bit puzzled, but when Minato told him what needed to be investigated, he was startled and looked at the flickering gaze of Minato.
Minato had asked him to investigate Danzo!
But that made sense; besides the Third Hokage, no supreme leader would turn a blind eye to Danzo's actions during the Nine-Tails Attack.
The Hokage had given him so much power, yet when assistance was needed, he hid behind the scenes and did absolutely nothing. Could the Hokage tolerate this?
The Third Hokage might endure it out of consideration for old friendships, but the Fourth Hokage certainly could not!
Specifically, Minato asked Takuno to investigate the performance of Root, led by Danzo, during the Nine-Tails Attack.
He was currently unsure whether Root had participated in the Nine-Tails Attack.
If they had, that would be for the best, but if they hadn't—
Minato's eyes held a hint of coldness.
He didn't care if Danzo went to stop the Nine-Tails; it was normal for someone to be unwilling to take on such a dangerous task, as not everyone could face danger calmly.
But if they didn't take any action at all, watching the Nine-Tails rampage inside Konoha without coming out to save the ordinary villagers, then what necessity was there for Root to exist?
Previously, because Danzo had restrained himself significantly, Minato couldn't find a suitable opportunity to expose him, and he also had to consider the opinions of the Third Hokage and the two Advisors.
Therefore, even though he knew what Danzo had done in the past, as long as he didn't cause trouble during Minato's tenure, Minato still had to save face for the Third Hokage and the others.
But now, after this incident, Minato could no longer tolerate it.
Root was also a member of Konoha. During a village-wide crisis like the Nine-Tails Attack, it was bad enough that Danzo didn't help, but his subordinates didn't even show up?
Was Root, acting like this, still a member of Konoha?
Minato had heard that the core principle of Root was protection in the darkness.
Its meaning was to protect Konoha even while dwelling in the darkness.
However, Root, led by Danzo, couldn't even manage superficial protection, so how could Minato expect him to protect Konoha in the shadows? It would be a blessing if he didn't cause trouble for Konoha in secret!
Therefore, Minato genuinely wanted to take action now and eliminate this organization that existed in the shadows and was virtually useless to Konoha.
Protection in the darkness did not require Root; the Anbu, directly under the Hokage, could also shoulder this responsibility!
"I understand!" Takuno's expression was also solemn; he naturally knew the special status of Root.
Logically, Root was considered a squad under the Anbu, and its configuration was basically the same as an Anbu squad.
However, Root was not controlled by the Anbu Commander, and certainly not by him, the Deputy Commander.
So currently, his status was definitely not higher than Danzo's, but Danzo also couldn't suppress him based on his position as Root's leader anymore.
"I entrust this to Senpai," Minato said solemnly, emphasizing that this matter was very important.
Soon, Takuno put on the hawk mask that had been issued to him long ago and walked toward his office in the Anbu headquarters.
"Commander," the Squad Leader greeted Takuno respectfully.
"It's Deputy Commander," Takuno said after glancing at him.
"Deputy Commander, my mistake," the Squad Leader quickly replied. He found it strange; previous Deputy Captain Commanders liked being called Commander, only correcting people to Deputy Commander when the actual Commander was present.
After all, everyone yearned for a higher position.
But this current Deputy Commander was clearly different from the previous ones.
"How many people are left in your squad now?" Takuno inquired.
"Deputy Commander, because we are responsible for intelligence gathering, our casualties were small during this Nine-Tails Attack. We originally had seventeen people, and now fifteen remain. These are the files for me and my squad," the Squad Leader said, respectfully handing seventeen files to Takuno.
Takuno looked at the files in his hand. They only recorded the Ninjutsu and specialties of those individuals, but not their true identities.
He was not surprised by this; only the Hokage was qualified to know the true identities of the Anbu members.
The records in the seventeen files were very detailed, and two of them were marked with the words 'deceased.'
Furthermore, there were no Anbu members he was familiar with among them. Yamato hadn't joined the Anbu yet, and as for Kakashi, he was currently in a different squad.
Kakashi should primarily be in the squad that handles confidential missions or assassination tasks; Minato would only dispatch him here if he needed to understand this aspect of the work.
Takuno wasn't disappointed. Even if Kakashi came over, Takuno could only use his Sharingan to observe how his Lightning Cutter was used, and nothing else of major significance.
Kakashi's strength was less helpful for intelligence gathering than his eye.
"I will request two people from Hokage-sama to fill the vacancies later. Hokage-sama has a mission for us now," Takuno said after reviewing the files.
"Please tell us, Sir," the Squad Leader said respectfully.
Takuno quickly informed the Squad Leader of the mission: investigate Root's performance during the Nine-Tails Attack.
The Squad Leader nodded, simultaneously letting out a sigh of relief. This mission was not difficult; it mainly involved asking the evacuated villagers whether they had seen anyone wearing a mask with angular features.
Because Root's masks were extremely distinctive and clearly different from the Anbu's animal masks, there was no need to worry about people making a mistake.
"I guarantee the mission will be completed!" The Squad Leader accepted the mission and walked out.
Takuno watched him leave and stretched lazily. Being a leader was comfortable; if there was a mission, he just needed to delegate it to his subordinates.
He had nothing else to do next and could continue practicing Spirit Transformation Jutsu and Eight Gates.