The next day, Hiruzen Sarutobi sitting in the office, held his pipe in his left hand and flipped through the scattered papers on the table in his right hand.
"Medical class request for funding - approved. "
"The Hyuga clan requested the withdrawal of the clan elders stationed on the west coast for the third time ... still denied. "
"The root department applied for a number of shinobi quota. This needs to be discussed with Homura and Koharu. "
...
Picking out the documents to be discussed and putting them aside, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a contented puff of his pipe and took out his beloved crystal ball from under his desk.
The daily inspection of the village he's protecting was his most enjoyable moment.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Suddenly, the office door was knocked.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was absorbed in it, almost dropped the crystal ball on the floor. He skillfully shoved it back under the table and looked down at the empty table, "Come in. "
"Ta, ta, ta, ta, ta. "
Manoshi walked into the Hokage's office by tapping his stick continuously on the ground.
"Hokage-sama. "
"Oh, it's Manoshi. " Hiruzen Sarutobi, smoking a pipe, looked up and showed a kind smile on his wrinkled face. "I forgot to ask you yesterday. Would you like to contribute to Konoha?"
"Hokage sama, I'm here for this matter. " Manoshi, with a surprised tone, lamented that the old man might be peeping at himself with a spying jutsu.
"I wanted to go to the Land of Wind to fight Suna. "
"What did you say?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's pipe dropped from his mouth to the table. He thought of the conspiracy theories that Danzō recited in his ears every day and began to wonder whether the teenager in front of him really faked his blindness under the arrangement of the clan.
He looked at Manoshi quietly and felt that this young man was like his teammate Kagami Uchiha who died young and really inherited the will of fire.
Wanting to go to war might just be a burning passion.
He immediately denied, "No, the village hasn't yet reached the point where a disabled young shinobi needs to go to the battlefield. As long as I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, don't fall for a day, you can't leave Konoha for a day. "
It was already unavoidable to let children graduate early and fight on the battlefield. It was undoubtedly a demoralizing thing to send Manoshi, who had already retired due to disability.
No matter how the world was, as long as it conformed to the structure of human society, it was a tragic and sorrowful thing to let old people and children go to war. Just like Suna Village, decades later, the young Kazekage was taken away by people who broke into the village. Finally, it was up to Chiyo, who was over 70-years-old, to cooperate with shinobis from other villages to save their leader.
Humiliating!
As the leader of a ninja village, it was absolutely impossible for Hiruzen Sarutobi to let Manoshi return to the battlefield.
However, Manoshi had anticipated the Hokage's attitude.
In fact, he had been thinking about the solution to this kind of problem for a long time, and then the answer naturally appeared in front of him -- retirement.
Since he was no longer a shinobi, naturally, he wasn't bound by ninja rules.
"In that case. " Now it's time to use the special nature of his identity, Manoshi made up his mind and said to Hiruzen Sarutobi with a smile, "So, Hokage-sama, as an ordinary villager, I don't need your permission if I want to leave the village, right? "
"Hmm, is there such an option?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was dismayed. It was really hard to prevent civilians from leaving the village under the pretext of having something to do. Even if he stopped Manoshi from leaving the village by force, it was hard to stop him.
What could he do? If Manoshi ran away from the village, he couldn't brand him as a traitor.
"But, I need to judge your strength to determine what kind of tasks you can perform. "
Hiruzen Sarutobi clapped his hands. An Anbu appeared at the side of the desk instantly, half kneeling on the ground waiting for orders.
"Ask Jōnin Minato Namikaze to come here."
It hadn't even taken a moment for the Anbu to enact the orders; the door had been knocked.
With a golden hedgehog head and wearing a green ninja vest, the mild-mannered youth pushed his way through the door.
If there was one thing to comment on, Flying Thunder God was really convenient. However, it was impossible for Manoshi, who was an Uchiha, to come into contact with the forbidden art in this Scroll of Seals.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Minato Namikaze and nodded with satisfaction. Although Jiraiya played around every day, the apprentice he taught was a talented person who could be entrusted with important tasks. He also learned Flying Thunder God Technique handed down from the Second Hokage. The more he looked at him, the more satisfied he was.
"Minato, this is your order. "
"Yes!"
"It is now ordered that Jōnin Minato Namikaze, Chūnin Kakashi Hatake, Genin Rin Nohara, and Genin Obito Uchiha from Minato's team, go to the Land of Wind for support, together with civilian Manoshi Uchiha. "
"Yes!"
Minato Namikaze received the order and turned his head to look at Manoshi, who was standing to one side.
The blindfolded teenager, wearing clothes embroidered with the standards of the Uchiha clan. Although he never met this young genius from Uchiha, he could combine a few elements and information to come to a conclusion.
"There's one more thing to do for you. " Hiruzen Sarutobi also glanced at Manoshi standing to the side. "Test Manoshi Uchiha's strength and arrange tasks on the battlefield according to the test results. "
The third generation Hokage and his Anbu guards, with Minato Namikaze and Manoshi Uchiha, went to the third training ground together. They happened to meet the three of Minato's team members who were practicing.
"Hokage-sama, Sensei, what brings you here? Are you here to see the results of my latest training?"
The nervous Obito Uchiha rushed out recklessly, tripped over something, and showed the crowd a rare ninja faceplant.
"Is this your new move? Why don't you just call it Earth Release - Earth Walking?"
Manoshi teased the rare hot-blooded Uchiha fool in front of him. It was just recently that he realized that the idiot who was often bullied by him when he was a child was actually the guy who gave his eye to Kakashi.
Rising from the ground, not bothering to pat the dust off his body, he hurriedly greeted his childhood bully, Manoshi Uchiha.
"Ah, Manoshi-senpai, it's been a long time. You don't know, do you? Walking silently is a kind of Lightning jutsu. "
"Stupid Obito, people are making fun of you. "
Rin Nohara stepped forward, greeted the Hokage and the teacher, then grabbed Obito's ear.
"No, I'm serious. Obito should develop a little earth transport technique; I think you are very suitable for earth transport. " Manoshi poked the ground with his walking stick. "After all, it will be safer to escape underground. "
"Even if you are a senpai, you can't insult me in front of Hokage-sama and Sensei!" If it weren't for Rin Nohara pulling him in her arms, the angry Obito would have punched Manoshi in the face.
"I, Obito Uchiha, will never be a deserter. I will fight you!"
Only, in Manoshi's perception, Obito wasn't angry at all, but a little happy...?
Manoshi only thought that his perception ability wasn't up to standard and shook his head.
"No, although I did come to duel, you're not qualified. "