Pakura had performed very well in Konoha over the years.
It was just that, in the past, she had not been trusted.
After all, she had once been Sunagakure's war hero. Even if she had been betrayed by her village, and even if Hikaru had personally vouched for her, the only reason she had been able to remain in Konoha so peacefully was because of him.
In essence, it was a fact that the people in power had never truly trusted her.
Even if Hikaru had given her a great deal of trust.
After Hikaru became the Fifth Hokage, Konoha began suffering a serious shortage of talent in every area.
Anbu was one of Hikaru's most important forces.
Otherwise, he would not have left Kakashi, who had followed him for many years, inside Anbu.
Since Kakashi remained in Anbu, he naturally needed reliable helpers.
Pakura had known Hikaru for years, and she had teamed up with Kakashi for a long time.
So naturally, she became one of the people Kakashi could truly rely on.
At the moment, Pakura was only a squad commander.
But one had to think about what that meant.
A shinobi from an enemy village had not only entered Konoha's Anbu, but had also become a squad commander.
That alone was unbelievable.
And part of the reason she had not climbed higher was because Pakura herself had never pushed too hard for promotion.
Otherwise, with nearly ten years of service, her talent, and her strength, becoming a unit commander would not have been strange at all.
Right now, she led one of Anbu's squads.
Hikaru had heard that her squad performed very well in every area.
Under normal circumstances, Hikaru should not have transferred her out of Anbu.
She was unquestionably talented.
And once she left Anbu, it might create trouble.
For example, Sunagakure might discover that she was still alive.
But Hikaru really did feel some sympathy for her.
He understood Anbu's environment better than anyone.
Letting someone spend their whole life in that place was not right.
Pakura had already contributed enough.
Letting her leave Anbu would cost him some of Anbu's strength, but after she left, Hikaru would give her a jonin position.
And now, a Konoha jonin position was something people fought desperately for.
Whether in social status or benefits, it stood at the very top of the pyramid.
To put it bluntly, Konoha's jonin were now treated better than any other village's jonin in the entire shinobi world.
Pakura hesitated for a while, but in the end, she accepted Hikaru's decision.
In truth, just as Hikaru thought, Anbu was not a good place to stay forever.
Pakura had spent nearly ten years there.
For a female shinobi, that was already a very long time.
Her concerns about her own identity, along with her gratitude toward Hikaru for saving her, had kept her from ever asking to leave.
Now Hikaru had given her a chance.
A new chance to live openly in Konoha.
Even if she had worries, she did not want to give it up.
"Looks like Kakashi will be busy. Once Pakura leaves Anbu, he'll have to find someone to replace her."
After the gathering ended, saya stayed at Hikaru's home.
She had actually wanted to leave, but Ayame and Hikaru both asked her to stay, so she naturally remained.
Still, she felt somewhat awkward.
So she looked for a topic to ease the atmosphere.
She was fairly familiar with Pakura.
After all, Pakura lived near Hikaru's home, and they had dealt with each other often back in Anbu.
saya also understood how special Pakura's identity was.
Now that Pakura could leave Anbu and live with a normal identity, saya was genuinely happy for her.
But she also knew that once Pakura left, Kakashi would have a headache.
Pakura was currently one of Kakashi's most capable subordinates.
Once she left, Kakashi would have no choice but to find someone who could take her place.
That would definitely frustrate him.
Kakashi had been right beside Hikaru during the gathering.
Even though he had been messing around with Guy, that did not mean he had not heard what Hikaru said.
And the news had indeed made Kakashi gloomy.
He just had not objected at the time.
After all, he also knew this was a good thing for Pakura.
"A little headache won't kill him. Life can't go smoothly all the time, can it?"
Hikaru smiled carelessly, then spoke in a relaxed tone.
"And once Pakura leaves, Anbu still has plenty of talent who can step up. Shisui has been performing well too, hasn't he?"
"Shisui?"
Ayame raised an eyebrow when she heard that name, then looked meaningfully at saya.
saya herself looked a little embarrassed.
Shisui had been Uchiha Shin's pledge of loyalty.
Although he had always performed well and was now an excellent squad captain, his identity was still somewhat special.
Especially after what had recently happened inside the Uchiha Clan.
If he was promoted now, people would inevitably start thinking too much.
However, in terms of experience, strength, record, and ability, Shisui was indeed an excellent choice.
He had been in Anbu for nearly ten years.
The eight-year-old child from back then was now an adult.
No one would doubt his ability.
"Yes, Shisui."
Hikaru nodded without hesitation, then spoke more seriously.
"Shisui is capable. He wasn't promoted before for several reasons. Even after I became Hokage, I still needed him to help me keep an eye on the lower ranks.
"After all, the reforms were still ongoing, and Anbu's talent pipeline needed to be rebuilt.
"But now Konoha has basically stabilized, and Anbu's reforms are complete.
"If he keeps sitting in a squad captain position, the other Uchiha who joined Anbu may start feeling dissatisfied."
Inside Anbu, Shisui was basically the Uchiha Clan's symbol.
There was no point suppressing him forever.
In truth, Hikaru had kept Shisui down for another reason.
He wanted to see whether Shisui could awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
In the original timeline, the two most unclear awakenings were Shisui and Fugaku Uchiha.
Of course, Fugaku had not possessed the Mangekyo in the manga, but in this world, he did.
As for Shisui's Mangekyo, it was a mystery.
In the original story, he seemed to awaken it either in Root or Anbu, but Hikaru had no idea what exactly happened.
The Uchiha awakened their eyes in all kinds of strange ways.
No one could be sure what event would touch that critical point in them and make them break through.
So Hikaru had let Shisui remain a squad captain and carry out missions for years, just to see if anything special would happen.
In the end, Shisui had performed very well.
But nothing related to the Mangekyo had appeared.
That left Hikaru somewhat helpless.
"If you can't awaken it, and Pakura is leaving anyway, then you can take her position.
"I can only hope your achievements won't be lower than in the original timeline, and that your brain works better than it did there…"
…
In the original timeline, Shisui Uchiha's intelligence seemed fairly high.
But he had a very obvious weakness.
When he encountered truly difficult problems, his judgment became unstable, and the way he handled many things was simply baffling.
For example, after Danzo ambushed him and stole one of his eyes, Shisui ultimately chose suicide instead of properly using his brain to think of a solution.
Calling that the lowest point of his intelligence was completely fair.
Of course, one could also say he was running away and avoiding responsibility.
Back when Hikaru watched the manga and anime, the Uchiha's pair of extreme village loyalists had left him speechless.
They had been holding incredible cards, yet somehow managed to play them into a disaster.
It was painful to watch.
But now Hikaru had become Hokage.
Those two extreme loyalists had fully leaned toward him.
And because of Konoha's special conditioning and environment, Hikaru was not afraid that they would go against him.
Instead, both of them had become people he could use properly.
Hikaru's only hope was that they would not make any mind-boggling decisions.
He really could not handle that.
Pakura submitted her resignation from Anbu the day after the gathering.
Kakashi had already known the result, so he naturally did not block her.
After she finished handing over all her duties, Shisui successfully took over her position.
On the same day, Itachi Uchiha also entered Anbu and reported to the squad under Shisui's command.
Unfortunately, Shisui was rather unlucky.
He had barely taken over the squad and had not even had time to feel happy before he was forced to accept a mission that nearly made him want to cry.
Find Tsunade and bring her back.
As an old Anbu member, Shisui naturally knew how terrible the Fifth Hokage's attitude toward the so-called Sannin was.
And Hikaru's reason was impossible to refute.
As Sannin, they had not been in Konoha when Konoha needed them most.
They had not contributed at all to Konoha's postwar reconstruction.
If people like that returned or stayed away, what difference did it make?
Since they liked staying outside so much, they might as well never come back.
Although Hikaru had not gone so far as to strip Tsunade and Jiraiya of their shinobi status, his words had left them almost no face.
And that opinion had spread widely through Anbu.
There were quite a few supporters.
Aside from Kakashi, who was in the most awkward position, the others either supported it or did not care.
Shisui was one of the people who more or less agreed with that view.
Now that he had to bring Tsunade back himself, he did not dare show dissatisfaction, but he was not exactly thrilled either.
Still, it was the Hokage's order.
He could only complete the mission honestly.
In truth, the difficulty of this mission was not in finding her.
This was Anbu.
Their intelligence network was not something ordinary people could compare to.
Even Jiraiya, who spent all day wandering outside, could not match Anbu in precise intelligence gathering.
The real difficulty was how to persuade one of the Sannin, a woman who also suffered from hemophobia, to return.
Honestly, Shisui could kill without hesitation.
After so many years in Anbu, he had long since discarded any unnecessary mercy.
He knew the people he killed were people who had to die.
Killing them benefited Konoha.
But persuading someone?
That was outside his area of expertise.
Was he supposed to put a blade to her throat and "persuade" her to return to Konoha?
That did sound tempting.
The problem was, Shisui did not think he could beat a woman with Tsunade's reputation.
"What a headache…"
Shisui sighed quietly.
Then he set out with Itachi and several team members.
This mission did not seem dangerous, so bringing Itachi along to adapt to Anbu fieldwork was fine.
He truly had not expected his little brother figure to actually become an Anbu member.
Shisui going to find Tsunade was not a big deal to Hikaru.
But Hikaru was not as relaxed as he had expected either.
Because he realized he had said the wrong thing.
The last time Hashirama had annoyed him, Hikaru had snapped back by telling him to go find Tsunade and revive Mito Uzumaki.
He had not expected Hashirama to take that so seriously.
Less than a week after Hikaru sent Shisui out, Hashirama brought Mito Uzumaki into his office.
That did leave Hikaru slightly stunned.
"So you are the Fifth Hokage. You really are young."
Mito Uzumaki looked at Hikaru with a kind smile.
It was just that her smile, paired with the age at which she had been brought back, created a strange feeling.
She had not been revived as an old woman in her final years.
Instead, she appeared young and beautiful.
But her smile and expression looked exactly like an elder looking at a junior.
Even though there was respect on her face, Hikaru still felt uncomfortable.
So he could only nod silently.
"That's right."
"Hikaru is much more impressive than you imagine. He has already been Hokage for many years."
Hashirama noticed Hikaru's awkwardness and immediately laughed loudly to smooth things over.
"He is the youngest Hokage in Konoha's history. In fact, he may be the youngest Kage in the entire shinobi world.
"And his strength is terrifying too. Even if I fight with everything I have, I'm not his match."
Hashirama's words were not wrong, but for some reason, Hikaru felt like he was being awkwardly praised.
At his current level, Hikaru still did not dare go all out against Hashirama.
Neither of them could properly hold back anymore.
One careless mistake and someone might have to be revived again.
As for being the youngest Kage in the shinobi world, maybe he was for now.
But Gaara would appear in the future, so Hikaru did not feel comfortable bragging about that either.
The three of them chatted casually for a while before Hikaru decided to be more direct.
Hashirama had brought Mito here for a reason.
There was no need to circle around the point.
"Mito-senpai, what do you think?"
"I have examined Hashirama's condition. It truly is perfect. You completed an extraordinary technique, Hokage-sama."
Mito smiled calmly.
But very soon, her expression grew more serious.
"Hashirama and Tobirama have both chosen to return to life. If you are willing to help me, I naturally will not refuse.
"I lived for a very long time, but I would not mind seeing more of the world.
"There is only one question troubling me."
"Oh?"
Hikaru looked at Mito curiously.
This woman seemed much more open-minded than he had expected.
She was not tangled up in thoughts like, I have already died, so why should I come back?
That improved Hikaru's impression of her.
But the fact that she had a question surprised him slightly.
He was quite curious what she wanted to ask.
"Go ahead, Mito-senpai."
Hikaru nodded casually.
But when Mito spoke, his expression changed slightly.
"Hokage-sama, before I died, I sealed the Nine-Tails inside Kushina.
"And I heard Kushina is still alive and training in a sacred land like Mount Myoboku. That proves the Nine-Tails inside her has no problem.
"Then where did the Nine-Tails inside you come from?"
…
Hikaru's expression turned rather unpleasant.
He truly had not expected Mito's perception to be so sharp.
His Nine-Tails was clearly hidden very well.
Even if he stood right in front of Kushina, Hikaru was certain Kushina would not discover anything.
Yet Mito had noticed the clue so easily.
That left Hikaru feeling rather helpless.
Now that this woman knew and had exposed him, Hikaru had become somewhat passive.
Even though he had not used that particular cover identity in a long time, that did not mean he would never use it again.
"The Nine-Tails? Are you sure you didn't sense wrong?"
Hashirama froze for a moment, then looked at his wife curiously.
But when he turned toward Hikaru, he realized something was off.
Hikaru's face no longer held its usual warmth.
Instead, it had become calm, with a faint indifference beneath the surface.
For a moment, even Hashirama did not know what to say.
In truth, Hashirama did not think the Nine-Tails was a big deal.
If Hikaru had the Nine-Tails inside him, so what?
Of course, Hashirama was not truly stupid.
He knew the Nine-Tails was inside someone else, yet Hikaru also had the Nine-Tails.
Did that mean tailed beasts could be cultivated through some special method?
Besides, it was not as though he did not know the legend of the Ten-Tails.
"Yes. I do have the Nine-Tails' power inside me."
After a long silence, Hikaru finally broke it.
He tapped the desk lightly and spoke slowly.
By now, he had thought things through.
If his tailed beast power had been exposed, then so be it.
It was not that big of a problem.
He knew what they were probably worried about.
Mito had only heard Hashirama say he was very strong.
She had not seen it herself.
So she likely assumed Hikaru's dependence on and interest in the tailed beasts would be great, even dangerous.
And the destruction tailed beasts could cause was indeed terrifying.
Although she had guessed part of the truth, her perspective was still limited.
Hashirama had enough perspective.
After all, he knew the legend of the Ten-Tails.
So Hikaru also intended to give him an answer and explain some of his thoughts.
With that in mind, Hikaru suddenly smiled.
At the same time, tailed beast chakra began surging wildly from his body.
In an instant, Mito's expression changed.
Hashirama also raised his eyebrows in surprise.
They both clearly sensed that the chakra Hikaru released did not belong to only one tailed beast.
Aside from the Nine-Tails, there was also the power of the Two-Tails, Three-Tails, Six-Tails, and Eight-Tails.
What was going on?
Why did this man have the power of so many tailed beasts?
Hashirama and Mito were both stunned.
They had never expected Konoha's Fifth Hokage to have hidden so much.
There were only nine tailed beasts in the entire shinobi world.
Yet without anyone realizing it, the Fifth Hokage had already gathered five of them.
What exactly was he trying to do?
"Hikaru, are you trying to summon the Ten-Tails?"
Hashirama remained calm.
After his initial surprise, he quickly regained his composure.
He did not have any other thought at the moment.
He was simply curious.
"And your tailed beast power feels strange. Why does it feel different?"
"Because it was originally nurtured from tailed beast chakra, then fused and altered through certain means."
Hikaru smiled casually.
Then he stretched out his hand.
Golden chakra immediately circled around his palm.
Soon, a fluffy little fox that looked as if it had not fully woken up appeared in Hikaru's hand, lazily swaying its nine tails.
At that same moment, Hikaru saw faint red chakra appear around Mito.
It belonged to the Nine-Tails.
Although Mito had not been revived at her peak, she had once been the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
Even though the Nine-Tails was no longer inside her, her body had contained it for so long that she naturally retained some of its chakra.
And losing that power did not mean her perception had vanished.
In life, she had relied on her own strength to control the Nine-Tails.
Her control had absolutely not been inferior to Naruto's.
Now, with her perception and traces of Nine-Tails chakra, she could sense the secret hidden inside Hikaru.
That was not especially strange.
"In truth, the vitality of the Nine-Tails' chakra is far stronger than any of us imagined. Hashirama-senpai, you still remember the information we saw on the moon, right?"
"Of course I remember. We have already modified that place. When I have time, I still plan to go up there and take another look."
Hashirama nodded directly.
Naturally, they would never ignore the moon.
There were so many records there.
There was also a Tenseigan stored there.
Hikaru's eye evolution relied on that Tenseigan's power.
In addition, he planned to establish an experimental teleportation station in the Land of Fire.
Because of that, the interior of the moon was even more important than most people could imagine.
Over the past three years, Hikaru, Hashirama, and Tobirama had repeatedly used shadow clones and wood clones to go there and rebuild everything inside.
The moon had essentially become their second base.
If not for the troublesome time-flow difference between the moon and the shinobi world, they might have gone there personally every week.
"The tailed beasts' power comes from the Ten-Tails, and the Ten-Tails is far greater than we can imagine.
"I have always been curious about what kind of existence the Ten-Tails truly is, so I tried something."
Hikaru spoke slowly.
There were some secrets he definitely could not tell others.
But with Hashirama and the others, not everything needed to remain hidden.
"On the night of the Nine-Tails incident, I accidentally obtained some of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
"So I kept it inside myself and nurtured it with my own power.
"What I didn't expect was that after this little guy devoured my power, it slowly began to take shape.
"And after I mastered Yin-Yang Release and began feeding him with it, he completely became a new Nine-Tails, distinct from the original tailed beast."
Hikaru spoke slowly.
The little Nine-Tails, who had just woken after being disturbed, secretly rolled his eyes.
Could this lie be any more ridiculous?
When you raised me, you didn't know a thing about Yin-Yang Release!
The little Nine-Tails complained internally, but he did not bother refuting anything.
He could tell that his existence had been exposed.
But he and Hikaru were mentally connected, so he could sense what Hikaru was thinking.
Since Hikaru did not care, there was no need for him to think too much either.
Still, he raised his head and glanced at Mito.
This woman really meddles too much.
Why drag me out for no reason?
The little Nine-Tails had no good impression of Mito.
After all, he had inherited the memories of the original Nine-Tails.
Of course his attitude would not be good.
But he also knew Mito had spent her whole life fighting the Nine-Tails, so being sensitive about this was understandable.
And she had never seen Hikaru's battle with Hashirama.
She knew exactly how strong Hashirama had been, which was precisely why she found it hard to believe anyone could reach that level.
Experience could mislead people.
And Hashirama Senju had once been so strong that he made people despair.
Hikaru naturally sensed what the little Nine-Tails was thinking.
He also felt the fox had a point.
But now was not the time to discuss such things.
He continued explaining casually.
"After this little guy appeared, I started wondering whether I could do the same with the other tailed beasts.
"So I took some risks and collected chakra from other tailed beasts.
"Of course, I did it under the identity of a Nine-Tails jinchuriki."
Hikaru stopped there and calmly observed their reactions.
Hashirama remained very calm.
He naturally understood what Hikaru meant by collecting chakra from other tailed beasts.
But to the current Hashirama, who had been repeatedly lectured by Hikaru and Tobirama about why he had not unified the shinobi world back then, he had already grown numb.
Naturally, he also felt that perhaps he really should have acted differently back then.
Otherwise, Madara might not have left.
And now, the other villages in the shinobi world could basically be considered Konoha's enemies.
Even if they had signed peace agreements, some things would not change.
Hikaru's actions were not exactly moral, and the consequences could be very bad.
But aside from worrying a little about civilians, Hashirama did not think it was a major issue.
As for Mito, she was clearly stunned.
She probably had never imagined that someone like this would exist in the world.
Nor did she fully understand what her husband and the Fifth Hokage were discussing.
But she clearly understood one thing.
Her husband did not care.
And she also knew this was no longer a situation where she had much room to speak.
"You weren't exposed, were you?" Hashirama suddenly asked. "You know that if your identity was exposed, it would create a lot of trouble."
"Do I look that stupid?"
Hikaru shook his head dismissively.
"I needed to train with the tailed beast power anyway. And to be safe, I specifically chose Kirigakure."
Hashirama nodded.
Kirigakure was indeed a suitable choice.
The village was currently sealed off from the outside world.
Even if Hikaru's actions had been exposed there, the information might not be able to leave.
"So you are fusing tailed beasts now?"
Hashirama lowered his head and poked the little Nine-Tails in Hikaru's palm.
The little fox immediately wanted to bite him.
But clearly, the little guy still carried fear deep in his bloodline.
He had not forgotten how badly this man had beaten him.
So he only made the gesture.
"And how is your Nine-Tails power? Why does this little guy feel so weak?"
"You think everyone is you?"
Hikaru almost rolled his eyes.
The little Nine-Tails also showed an expression of extreme displeasure and helplessness.
He had been sleeping peacefully.
Then he had been woken up.
And after waking, he had to face one person who had sealed him and another who had beaten him.
Worst of all, the man who had beaten him was now calling him weak.
He was truly miserable.
"As for how the Nine-Tails power performs…"
Hikaru ignored the little fox.
He slowly absorbed the fox back into his body.
Then, golden chakra suddenly rose around him.
In an instant, a powerful aura filled the office.
…
"According to the intelligence, this should be the place."
In the Land of Hot Water, Shisui finished speaking with the shinobi of the newly reorganized Yugakure, who were still learning how to carry out simple missions.
Then he returned to his squad.
Before setting out, they had already known Tsunade's general location was in the Land of Hot Water.
So they spent some time tracking her here.
Knowing she was in the Land of Hot Water was one thing.
But the country was not small. Finding her still was not easy.
Fortunately, the current relationship between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Fire could be described politely as an all-weather strategic partnership.
To put it bluntly, Yugakure might as well call Konoha "Dad."
Since they were already that close, if Konoha had a question for them, they naturally could not refuse.
It did not take long for them to lock onto this town.
After exchanging information with the local shinobi, they finally obtained some clues about Tsunade.
"There is one more situation I need to mention."
Shisui thought for a moment, then continued.
"According to them, they have not found Tsunade-sama herself.
"But they did find a little girl who looks extremely similar to her, often appearing near gambling houses.
"I suspect this is one of Tsunade-sama's techniques.
"And it is probably not the Transformation Jutsu.
"Everyone, be careful."
"Captain."
Just as Shisui finished, Itachi suddenly pointed ahead.
"Is that her?"
All the Anbu turned their heads.
A blond little girl was walking forward.
And the street ahead was no ordinary street.
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