Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 325 Special Commission

"Have you been spending all your time in the archives lately?"

During a break from submitting materials, Tsunade suddenly called out to him.

Naruto, who was almost completely absorbed in his research on "Source," didn't immediately realize that it was always a clone that entered the archives room, not his real body, and the time he spent there was adjusted according to his real body's training schedule. So, he naturally replied, "Don't those things need to be dealt with as soon as possible?"

"No need to rush... as long as it doesn't affect my current work." Tsunade sighed helplessly. A large part of the reason she assigned this task was to shut up the advisors. As long as she kept a low profile for a long enough time, the advisors wouldn't necessarily go against her, the Hokage. Then Naruto could cause a ruckus, and wouldn't that give her a legitimate reason to lift his confinement? But the brat, who was usually so cunning, had actually been doing clerical work obediently for almost three months, much to her dismay as the Hokage who was short-staffed.

Naruto blinked before remembering that the harvest season had arrived again, and requests from all over the country would surely be pouring in. Granny Tsunade was short of manpower again.

"It's been a long time since I've fought, and I feel like I'm getting rusty. Can't I take on missions outside the village now?"

Tsunade, with an expression of "this kid is teachable," said with a smile, "Leaving the village is barely possible, but going abroad is out of the question."

"Really?" Naruto said this with some enthusiasm, but then he dropped the pretense and asked directly, "So... what kind of mission is it? When do we set off?"

"..." Tsunade was speechless for a moment, then said, "The Fire Country Daimyo requested that Konoha send its strongest ninja to protect his daughter's wedding procession."

It seems there is such a thing, but the destination of the wedding is within the Land of Fire, so he thought it had nothing to do with him.

"Are you sending them abroad?" Knowing the information is one thing, but you still have to ask the questions you should ask, after all... a wedding procession usually doesn't specifically request the strongest ninja.

"No, we'll send you to the southeastern peninsula of the Land of Fire. Luo City, which you visited, is quite close to there."

"Should I start from the capital?"

"Nonsense, do you expect the princess to come and fetch you?"

"...Isn't the daimyo afraid of me? He actually wants me to go to the capital."

Tsunade chuckled lightly, "Who told him to choose the strongest ninja? Konoha doesn't have many Kage-level ninjas that they can send out."

Naruto was taken aback and was about to say something modest to remove his Kage-level status when Tsunade interrupted him.

"You haven't forgotten the big thing you did a few months ago, have you? Root changed your strength rating to Kage level overnight. In that situation, even a Kage-level powerhouse couldn't have the high mobility you had. It's too late to hide your strength now."

Naruto gave an awkward laugh; he truly had nothing to say about it. This was already rated Kage-level; if they knew he hadn't actually used his full strength, and that many of his clones were still scattered outside... that scene would be far too "beautiful."

Will the daiming (official name) really be approved?

"Go ahead, I'll handle the rest." Tsunade casually tossed the mission scroll aside, then added, "However, you can't choose your own team this time, and you're not guaranteed to be the captain. I can only guarantee that the captain won't be from Root."

"Thank you, Granny Tsunade." Naruto smiled understandingly at Tsunade's explanation; he knew better than anyone how difficult it was to sit in that position. It must have taken a lot of effort to get him into the team.

"Oh, by the way, Konohamaru has come looking for you several times, but he's always turned away in front of the archives. If you have time, go visit him at the school; he'll be graduating next year."

He specifically mentioned Konohamaru to him... Could it be that he wants him to become a Jonin instructor? Last time, he was a sure-fire Hokage candidate for so long that he never had the chance to have his own Genin class. Could it be that he's going to steal Ebisu-sensei's job this time? It shouldn't be... that bad, right? No matter how you look at it, his qualifications aren't enough, are they? But he really hasn't seen those three kids for a while; it's time to find a time to check on their training results!

"Is it really necessary to make such a big fuss about sending off a bride in the country?"

"Do you think every country can eliminate all unstable factors within its borders like we can?"

"But, when dealing with bandits or the like, is it really necessary to specifically name the strongest ninja?"

"This is a tradition. The southeastern peninsula is far from the center of the Land of Fire and has always maintained its rule through intermarriage. You can understand this behavior as a form of deterrence."

"Slapping someone and then giving them a treat is a common tactic."

Never one to be unprepared, Naruto promptly returned to Hokushin to seek advice from his seniors, and unsurprisingly learned the true reason behind the wedding procession. In his true fifteenth year, his mind was only focused on becoming stronger and bringing Sasuke home; he had no time for such trivial matters. The advisory group couldn't possibly persuade the perverted Sage, one of the Legendary Sannin, to return, so this troublesome task was inevitably handled by other Jonin of Konoha. Unexpectedly, in just two short years, he had already become one of Konoha's most prominent figures; at this rate… the success of the "Sixth Hokage Plan" seemed imminent.

Clearly, he wasn't the only one who thought this way.

Izuna said in a particularly enthusiastic tone, "Do you know? This wedding procession is the safest gilded journey in the Land of Fire. Many people would kill for it."

"Does Granny Tsunade think I need to be gilded?"

“I think she’s very anxious about passing the Hokage position.” Even after so much time had passed, Tobirama still understood his grandniece so well. “She’s creating the shortest shortcut for you. Almost all the tasks she assigns you are for this purpose.”

Hashirama, who was looking at this year's harvest report, was amused and laughed, saying, "Tsuna is still the same as always, he hates trouble the most."

"Smiling so happily...looks like it's another bumper harvest this year. Can we allocate more land to the research institute next year?"

"The research institute doesn't handle agricultural breeding, so why does it need so much land?"

"We just haven't been involved in agriculture yet. Aren't cash crops something we're researching how to develop? Without samples, how can the experiments continue?"

"Let's fight! Let's fight!"

Work can indeed be addictive. The Senju brothers immediately started arguing over the allocation of agricultural land, while Izuna clapped and cheered from the sidelines, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

Naruto, used to this kind of scene, silently moved towards the door, only to bump into Fugaku, who also disliked such commotion. While the others were chatting, Fugaku had been completely buried in his stack of official documents, not participating in the discussion at all. During harvest season, it wasn't just agriculture that was busiest; transportation was also running non-stop. Plus, their scale was expanding every year, requiring annual adjustments to scheduling, making it seem like they didn't have enough ninjas.

However, Fugaku, who was so busy he was in a coma, asked his children the first question he would ask, since neither of them were easy to take care of.

How's Sasuke doing lately?

"He doesn't seem to be in a good mood. I guess he's hit a plateau in his training, but he won't tell me. His reply was barely a few words long." The famous reader guessed most of the situation from just a few words.

"Really... I have a few more scrolls of advanced fire jutsu here. Find a reason to give them to him."

"Yes, no problem!"