HSU: Ch. 331

Crack!

Inside the dimly lit training room, Minato shattered a moving target in an instant.

He stopped, looked at his own hand, and let out a sigh.

The broken moving target automatically retracted, and the lights in the training room flickered on.

"Why don't you take a break?" Kushina stood at the doorway.

"Alright." Minato turned to his wife with an exaggerated grin.

"Don't give me that silly smile. Compared to before, you're as slow as an old granny. At this point, you really can't beat me anymore."

"Well, I was never really a match for you anyway." Minato chuckled.

The couple began cleaning up the debris left in the training room.

The Hokage's Residence, as the home of generations of Hokage, could be summed up in one phrase: small, yet fully equipped.

The Five Kage are the true highest powers of the shinobi world, and their personal strength is one of the key reasons they can firmly hold that position.

A Kage's great power not only prevents internal dissent but also ensures the dignity and authority of the title "Kage" in the eyes of the outside world.

Although Konoha didn't strictly require its Hokage to be undefeated against the entire village the way Kumo did, the Hokage still had to be at the very top of the power scale. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to keep things under control.

But here lay the bug in the system: the Hokage must be strong, but the Hokage's office work was ridiculously overwhelming, consuming much of the time they needed to maintain their strength.

Chakra gave ninjas superhuman combat power. Even a freshly graduated academy student, when pitted against several strong ordinary warriors, would surely come out on top.

But ninjas are still human. Neglecting training meant regression.

This problem didn't surface during the First and Second Hokage's eras.

The First Hokage was the "God of Shinobi." He could slack off entirely, and no one could ever catch up anyway, so the issue of "not strong enough for the position" simply didn't exist.

The Second Hokage was a genius inventor and a deadly tactician. If you gave him chakra, he had no problem at all.

The first one to actually face this issue was Hiruzen. But he had the support of his old teammates from Tobirama's unit. They weren't only highly capable, but also extremely united. The result was that Hiruzen, the "Professor," rarely had to work overtime. His schedule was practically nine-to-five. Miraculously, he avoided the problem too.

Compared to the first three Hokage, the Fourth, Minato, wasn't so lucky.

Although he was the rare genius who achieved a complete sweep of accolades as a jonin team member, his team only pushed him into the Hokage seat. They didn't stick around to help with the grind of paperwork.

He wasn't part of the Sarutobi "mainline" generation, either. By Minato's time, the Sarutobi faction had already begun to weaken. That left him without strong allies. Among his peers, he was the only one truly capable.

Take Shikaku, for example. Working overtime voluntarily? Dream on.

His peers couldn't help, and the generation of his teachers was even worse.

By the time he became Hokage, the Sannin were already scattered.

Jiraiya had embraced his "the world is vast, I want to explore it" philosophy. Tsunade had quit frontline duty entirely, turned into a gambling drunk plagued by hemophobia. And Orochimaru had already evolved into the perfect creepy guy.

Without enough capable people to support him, Minato had to lean on Hiruzen's old administration at first. But the truth was, those people weren't in their prime anymore. They were all elderly by then.

Asking them to work overtime? He couldn't bring himself to do it.

In the end, he shouldered everything alone.

And so, he inevitably became the first Hokage to truly face this problem.

What had once been a lighthearted joke between husband and wife, "I can't beat my wife," had now become reality.

Wanting to retire wasn't a matter of "whether he wanted to." He had to retire.

Though Konoha was the land of bosses, that didn't mean they could allow a Kage-level ninja to be ground down by office work until he was no longer Kage-level, or worse, a Kage-level "instant kill" weakling.

Neither Konoha nor those relying on Minato would allow it.

It was already decided: he would resign as Hokage, and remain in the upper echelons as an advisor or support role.

This was also Kushina's wish.

She was, after all, the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, and the newly reestablished Uzumaki clan was still fragile. They needed Minato.

At his current age, he should have been in his prime.

After cleaning the training room, Minato took a shower, then joined Kushina in the kitchen to prepare dinner together.

The house only had the two of them now.

Naruto and Karin were both full-fledged ninjas. Karin, at least, was still in the village as part of the sealing squad. Naruto, on the other hand, was active duty. His main job was taking on missions, and once he was dispatched, he couldn't come home.

The home had grown much quieter.

Though Minato and Kushina were proud of their children, they couldn't help but feel both lonely and worried.

With the thought of "it's not like we can't afford to raise another one," they started to consider having a third child.

"Tonight, Karin won't be coming home," Kushina suddenly said.

"Mm, the Sealing Squad has to work with the Barrier Squad to repair the sensory points in the forest," Minato answered out of habit.

Then, he quickly realized his wife wasn't really talking about Karin not coming home.

He silently put down what he was doing.

"I'll go buy some groceries."

The supplies at home were running low. It was indeed necessary to restock. But most importantly, he needed to make sure that tonight, no one would come to interrupt them.

"You're not going to 'disappear' halfway through shopping, are you?" Kushina asked. "Since you're on leave, then really take a proper break. With the Second Hokage here, plus the arrangements for Masashi's internship already made, you can come back early."

"Mm, I'll be quick. I'll be back soon," Minato replied.

He untied his apron, draped it over the chair outside the kitchen, and then disappeared in an instant using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

When he reappeared, he was already in the Hokage's office.

Tobirama, still reading over documents, lifted his eyes briefly, then lowered them again.

"How's your recovery going?" he asked.

"Embarrassing to admit, but I've really been training far too little." Minato smiled awkwardly. "I might not make it back tonight, so…"

"It's fine. Just call for Masashi," Tobirama said casually. To him, Minato's condition was the more pressing issue.

"But… are you really sure about this?" Tobirama asked. "Once you step down, there's no going back. Retiring means you'll never return to the position."

"Yes. My original wishes have already been fulfilled. It's time to give others the chance."

"If that's the case, then it's fine." Tobirama nodded. "You're luckier than I was. Back then, I didn't have so many choices."

He was willing to help Minato, but only because certain conditions were met.

Minato was diligent, his challenges were more complex than Tobirama's had been, and the workload was much heavier than in Tobirama's time.

Though disappointed in some of Hiruzen's choices, he was still satisfied Minato.

Minato's passion for the village was beyond question, but more importantly, he had never taken the Hokage's seat for the sake of power itself.

"Oh, by the way, Masashi came by just now," Tobirama informed him. "Be careful not to get caught. He mustn't find out yet."

"Understood." Minato nodded.

With that, he was about to leave. But after a moment's thought, he turned back.

"Why don't we just be direct about this? All this secrecy… if people overinterpret, it could cause problems."

"Because I've looked into his past. I've met many like him before." Tobirama explained, "He looks obedient, but he's actually very rebellious. You have to guide him slowly. Otherwise, who knows how violently he'll react."

Naive. Did Minato really think someone would obey just because he was Hokage?

Tobirama glanced at Minato, silently shaking his head.

He was still young, after all.

"You seem awfully experienced in this sort of thing. Were there really so many 'problem youths' back then?" Minato didn't catch Tobirama's inner thoughts and instead took his words at face value.

So, the Warring States Period was like that? With rebellious ninjas everywhere? And you, just happened to run into them all? Birds of a feather, perhaps…?

"There were plenty," Tobirama admitted. "After all, years of constant war make psychological issues inevitable. War tends to amplify certain personality traits, especially the stubborn ones. It often pushes them to extremes." He sighed. His words weren't entirely sincere, but his emotion was. "That's why the Uchiha clan… when they lose themselves, they really go mad. Which is why I created the Police Force in the first place."

Minato nodded in agreement.

He recalled the Uchiha of his childhood. Back then, they weren't like they are now. Being around Uchiha ninjas with awakened Sharingan, you could clearly feel the aura of keep your distance.

Clannish and exclusionary. That had been his early impression of the Uchiha.

"True. But these years, they've changed so much. We've even seen ninjas like Masashi emerge."

"Something like that…" Tobirama muttered, clearly unconvinced. He skipped the topic and continued, "Anyway, he may seem sharp on the surface, but in truth, he's stubborn. He has no real political ambition. He'll do fine in his current role, but if you want him to step beyond it, you have to ease him across first, then tell him he's already crossed. Otherwise, he'll run."

"It's like you've known him for years."

"I've seen many like him. It's nothing unusual," Tobirama replied calmly. "When people resemble each other, they can seem almost identical. Your generation has more people, but less open conflict. That's why you've encountered fewer of this type."

"I understand. Once my leave ends, I'll move forward quickly with the retirement process."

"Good. This is a major matter. We must act fast."

---

After a short break, Minato finally returned to where he belonged. It was obvious that he looked much better now.

After all, Tobirama was worth two men on his own. But he, in the end, was not the current Hokage. Some documents simply had to be handled personally by Minato.

Three days of rest for him was enough for a considerable amount of paperwork to pile up.

Still, his mood was excellent.

Quietly and without fuss, he had shifted part of the workload onto Masashi. The arrangement went very smoothly.

Within all of Konoha, the one most skilled in external affairs was Danzō. Although he had made plenty of blunders, his achievements outweighed them.

Looking back carefully, one would find that most of the truly questionable outcomes appeared only in his later years. He was still human. With age, he inevitably became rigid, less sharp, and increasingly conservative. His tendency to forcibly solve problems with brute methods only grew stronger.

But to be fair, in the prime of his career, he truly did protect Konoha's interests abroad, eliminating threats and ensuring Konoha's deterrence as one of the great powers of the shinobi world.

As for Minato, his biggest stain as Hokage had always been ANBU operations.

This really wasn't entirely his fault. No matter how flawed Danzō had become in his later years, his professional skills were still undeniable. He could still get results, at least in the short term. But after his fall, in all of Konoha, not one person in the Sarutobi faction could competently take over the job.

That was, until Masashi stepped in as acting head of ANBU. He became, after Danzō, the one relatively skilled in handling external affairs.

Yet he didn't start by focusing outward.

First, he reduced the size of ANBU's combat units, condensing them to fewer than a hundred.

Honestly, after so many years, ANBU's personnel structure was a mess.

There was an overflow of fighters, while true intelligence operatives were severely lacking.

Among those active on the front lines, there were plenty who could give polished opinions, but far too few who could actually make decisions in the heat of the moment.

These were exactly the areas Masashi targeted.

Now that Minato had returned to his office, Masashi's support work in the Hokage's office decreased, and his main workplace once again became ANBU.

The restructuring of ANBU was nearly complete. Everything was falling into place.

---

As usual, Masashi walked familiarly through the Hokage Building, entering the area reserved for ANBU. Now, when he walked here, the atmosphere was much better.

In the past, everyone here carried the stale air of office clerks.

Now, the scent was more like that of the old Root. The old ANBU spirit.

Originally, ANBU operated in an open style, granting subordinates considerable autonomy.

Of the members of Tobirama's team, even the one most dictatorial, Danzō, actually imposed the least restrictions on his men.

As long as subordinates followed his set direction, even if they caused trouble, Danzō would take responsibility.

The ANBU style of the Second Hokage's era was passed down to Root in the Third Hokage's era.

Now, Masashi sought to restore this style to ANBU as a whole. Otherwise, he'd work himself to death. On this point, he sided with Danzō, not Minato.

They were ninjas, not aristocrats relying on bureaucracy and rhetoric. Many powers didn't need to be clung to so tightly.

Especially not in ANBU.

The very nature of ANBU's work and environment required its members to have strong adaptability. Flexibility on every level, including the higher-ups.

Causing trouble was normal. Causing trouble was practically the daily routine.

If you wanted to avoid it entirely, you might as well do nothing.

Masashi entered his office and sat down in his chair.

A stack of documents was already neatly arranged on his desk. As ANBU commander, he had a secretarial team dedicated to sorting the paperwork requiring his approval each day.

But the workload was far less than what piled up for Minato.

Not just because the Hokage oversaw everything, but also because the first thing Masashi did after officially taking charge was to clearly define the chain of command and reorganize the departments.

At headquarters, he consolidated a mess of old divisions into two main sections: the Intelligence & Analysis Division and the Secretariat Division.

The old branch system was retained, but branches were no longer considered a secondary level under headquarters. They now reported directly to the Intelligence Division.

The Secretariat Division handled intelligence collation and analysis, organized into teams to structure their work.

Meanwhile, all ANBU combat operations were managed by the Special Operations Corps, which retained ANBU's original squad structure. This division operated independently, taking orders directly from Masashi.

This way, everyone had their own responsibilities, while he delegated all tactical decision-making downward.

He set the strategy. The tactical execution was left to them.

If they couldn't handle it, or if things went wrong, then they would escalate it to him, and he would solve what they couldn't.

Most of the time, Masashi only handled tricky problems or held meetings with division heads to exchange views.

The reports reaching him now were primarily intelligence summaries and analyses. Few were "unsolvable cases." This showed that frontline ANBU weren't incapable of making decisions. It was their previous environment that made them afraid to.

Anyone in this line of work was sharp-minded.

Suddenly, one piece of intelligence caught Masashi's attention.

It came from the Land of Rain.

Not Ame itself, the current village was hard to infiltrate, but the country as a whole. The report showed that Akatsuki had undergone an abnormal change. It looked like a major internal purge or reshuffle.

Masashi pulled that file out, placed it to his right, and continued reading the others.

When he finished everything, he sorted the items labeled "difficult cases" and set them to his left.

This batch of "difficult cases" was the kind that meant trouble. Things caused by frontline personnel either misjudging situations or overreacting.

And the targets weren't other ninja villages. They were the various independent ninja groups that had become increasingly active since the Third Great Ninja War.

To him, these kinds of screw-ups weren't really worth fretting over. The two sides weren't comparable. It was the same logic as when Hiruzen reacted to Danzō's extermination of the Hannya Black Ops by complaining only about the cost. The principle was the same. Ninjas make a living by killing. In such a vast shinobi world, there are always grievances and unjust deaths.

He pressed the intercom button to the Special Operations Corps' lounge. After a while his office door opened and an ANBU, dressed in traditional gear, entered.

"Here, take these." He handed over the difficult-case files. "These people probably won't quit while they're ahead. Deal with them."

The ANBU glanced through the papers and understood immediately.

"There are no outsiders here. You can drop your mask," Masashi added when he noticed the agent's formality.

Keeping things solemn looks professional, but the Special Ops' duties meant they only needed to follow discipline during missions. Their job was to confirm the target and cut it down. Back in the day the people who frequented this room were jokers and pranksters in private, but they were ruthlessly efficient at killing when it mattered.

The ANBU removed his mask.

It was Itachi.

"How's it been in ANBU recently?"

Shisui's temperament was better suited to a jonin squad. But Itachi, both in mind and character, was born for ANBU work. Masashi thought Itachi would be the best person to take on ANBU's heavy responsibilities in the future. This wasn't nepotism. In this generation there really was no one more suited to run ANBU than Itachi. His tactical style was saturated with ANBU sensibilities. It wasn't something learned inside ANBU alone.

"Pretty good," Itachi replied. "Everyone's enthusiastic, especially the two deputy captains."

Of course they were enthusiastic about him. These people had sharp eyes. Otherwise why would anyone be parachuted in to lead the Special Ops?

"That proves they like you," Masashi said earnestly. "Everyone can see your potential."

He remembered the evaluations Torune and Fū had given about Itachi. They didn't sound like compliments at first, but from the Root culture's perspective those remarks were actually praise.

"Okay. Don't worry, I'll work hard." Itachi took a deep breath. With so many people showing their faith in him, why would he hesitate?

He looked at the papers in his hand again. Not today. Finish what needs finishing today. He resolved to kill those people today.

"I'll get to work!"

"All right, go." Masashi waved him off.

He'd bet the people named on those files wouldn't see the next sunrise.

After Itachi left, fired up, Masashi picked up the Land of Rain intelligence and began to think.

Any major change within Akatsuki would have to be driven by Nagato's will or be linked to him. The name "Akatsuki" carried special meaning to Nagato.

He pressed the bell for the Secretariat Division. Soon a duty ninja arrived.

"Pull together all the supporting materials for this intelligence. I want to read the entire package from start to finish."

"Yes." The ninja replied and hurried off even faster than he had come.

Everyone understood how important the Land of Rain was. There were multiple Kage-level figures there, more than one, and the strongest among them would count as a top-tier ninja even in Konoha.

Masashi then considered other possibilities for why Akatsuki might have suddenly changed. Naturally, his suspicion fell on Madara. Only he could ignore Nagato and make a move against Akatsuki. But in Masashi's view, the Akatsuki operatives themselves were mostly small fry. Madara was picky. Not everyone was worthy of being used by him.

If the intelligence checks out, someone will need to go inspect the situation in person.

He thought this and put the file into a folder in his drawer.

Whether it was Nagato or Madara, both were threats Konoha couldn't take lightly. Something so important had to be reported to the Hokage, and there weren't many people capable of handling that task.