"How many times do I have to tell you to use the gates instead of the windows?" Hiruzen sighed.
With Hiruzen's casual tone and finally seeing the intruder, the Anbu Guard platoon of the Hokage took a sigh of relief.
"What's the fun in that? This way, we can check whether these guys are taking their job seriously or not," the intruder said, lifting the hat from his face, revealing a cheeky grin.
"You guys can leave now," Hiruzen said, taking out his smoke pipe from his drawer.
Upon receiving the orders from the Hokage, the Anbu ninjas suddenly disappeared from the office, but Jiraiya followed their movement with his eyes.
This simple move was a testament to Jiraiya's strength. Following the movement of a ninja using the Body Flicker Jutsu was not an easy feat. One could only predict the point they would appear, but once you reach a certain stage, it becomes easy to sense the fluctuation of chakra caused by using this jutsu.
"So, care to explain why you took 4 weeks to return to the village when you completed your mission in 1 week?" Hiruzen asked.
"Because the mission had an estimated time expectation of 2 months for completion, and I still have 1 more month," Jiraiya replied, picking his ear.
"That was the estimated time for others, not you. How do you always find such creative excuses anyway?" Hiruzen asked, taking a puff from his smoke pipe.
"This is the talent that helped me become the best author in the world—known as creativity," Jiraiya replied.
"Okay…" Hiruzen responded, causing a chill to run down Jiraiya's spine due to the tone as he continued, "Use that talent of yours one more time, and I'll make sure you become the next Hokage no matter what… even if I have to break your legs to keep you from running away."
"I'm sorry! I won't do it again, Sensei," Jiraiya replied, straightening up like an elementary school student.
"Here," Hiruzen said, handing a file to Jiraiya.
"If you called me here for a mission, it's such a waste. You could've just sent the file to me…" Jiraiya was saying as he opened the file. But as soon as he read the first page, his joyful demeanor vanished, replaced by the proper demeanor of the second-strongest ninja in Konoha.
"This is madness, Sensei. We are still not strong enough to take on other ninja villages," Jiraiya said.
"Continue reading," Hiruzen said casually, enjoying his leisure time while smoking.
Jiraiya resumed reading. There were many things in that file, even some reports he had sent were present. Those reports alone didn't have much value, but combined, they created a much bigger picture of what was happening around the entire ninja world.
"Everyone is too busy to do anything against us at the moment, and those who aren't busy will be soon. That's why we're planning to go ahead with this plan," Hiruzen said.
"You're planning to initiate a war between two small villages just for this?" Jiraiya asked, looking at Hiruzen as if he were seeing his true face for the first time.
"I'm not starting that war, brat. That war is inevitable. I'm just pushing it forward by a month and planning to save various orphans. If this war was going to happen no matter what, what's wrong with getting some benefit out of it?" Hiruzen asked.
"But that's not how Konoha does things," Jiraiya said.
"No, that's how I didn't do things. When Danzo was alive, it was his role to handle such matters. But now that he's gone, I've taken on that role," Hiruzen said, taking a deep puff of smoke.
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Sensei. It wasn't your fault; there was nothing you could have done," Jiraiya said, fully understanding the weight of losing a friend who had faced countless life-and-death situations with you. For a second, Orochimaru's image flashed in his mind.
"Let's leave that topic aside. You understand your role, right?" Hiruzen asked, regaining his serious demeanor.
"Becoming a sensei of three again, how nostalgic. Well, if these are your orders, there's nothing I can do other than follow them," Jiraiya said.
"If you're ready to handle this, you'll be training one of the ninjas yourself. Itachi is going to be trained by Fugaku, so you can choose between the other two," Hiruzen said, passing two more files to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya took the files and skimmed through them.
"One is a medical prodigy rivaling Tsunade, having Chunin-level strength only because he never trained seriously, but still powerful enough to handle Jonin one-on-one due to his exceptional medical knowledge. The other is a combination of the best clans of Konoha, possessing both the Senju clan's body and the Uchiha's Sharingan, and 3-tomoe Sharingan at that, along with an S-rank jutsu… Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu? Sensei, this brat is almost a Kage-level ninja," Jiraiya said, pointing to Kaida's file.
"Yes, he's worked really hard for this and recently learned the Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu. He's still not proficient in it, and the version he learned is inferior to the one Tsunade uses. She didn't share that version with me, and I only have the inferior one. So, which one do you want to choose?" Hiruzen asked.
"What about the other one I don't choose?" Jiraiya asked.
"I'll handle him," Hiruzen said.
"Then I choose him," Jiraiya said, pointing to one of the files with a big grin on his face.
---
A little before 4 pm, Kaida entered the Hokage building.
"Hey, I'm Kaida Uchiha. I was ordered to come here at 4 pm," Kaida introduced himself to the new receptionist.
"Yes, please wait in front of Lord Third's office. He's currently in a meeting and will call you as soon as he's free," the receptionist replied curtly. Kaida nodded and went toward the Hokage's office.
He was about to sit in the chair in front of the office when he suddenly froze, seeing the face of the ninja sitting nearby.
'Kabuto? What is this monstrous genius doing here?' Kaida thought. Then his mind began working overtime, deducing that Kabuto should still be under Danzo's command, and since Danzo was dead, Kabuto must now be under Hiruzen.
'Now, this is a welcome bonus from all that hard work,' Kaida thought.