Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

The sea breeze, carrying salt particles, hit him in the face, and Hiruzen Sarutobi sneezed.

He stood by the railing on the flagship's deck, clutching a cup of tea that had gone cold.

The tea was brewed by Shizuku, who said it was aged Tieguanyin that he had smuggled from the higher-ups in Kirigakure. It tasted like dishwater.

Three large ships lined up in a triangular formation in the morning mist.

In the center is the Hokage's flagship, with the Land of Fire flag fluttering in the sea breeze on the mast; to the left is an agricultural ship, and on the deck, one can vaguely see members of the Akimichi clan carrying something; on the right is a construction ship with a tall, black-haired figure standing at the bow, scanning the sea with binoculars.

Shinnosuke.

They're on patrol early in the morning.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a swig of the herbal tea and smacked his lips.

astringent.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama."

The sound of still water came from behind.

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around and saw that the boy was holding a bowl of steaming white porridge with two slices of pickled radish on top, and a small dish of dried salted fish.

"Chef Akimichi from the kitchen said that the ship's ingredients are limited, so breakfast will have to be simple. However, he said that lunch will be made with tuna sashimi from last night, so please look forward to it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi took the bowl of porridge, his gaze lingering on the two slices of pickled radish for a second.

"Hasn't Qu Feng arrived? Which ship is he on?"

"Agricultural ship".

"What does he eat there?"

Shisui thought for a moment: "Uh... I just took a look through the binoculars, and it looks like they're grilling takoyaki."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked down at the pickled radish in his bowl.

There was a three-second silence.

"...Give me the communicator."

"What do you want to do?"

"Have him send me two skewers."

Shisui handed over the communicator expressionlessly; he was used to it by now.

After dealing with international diplomacy, the Third Hokage would always degenerate into a middle-aged man with no limits when it came to food.

The communicator is connected.

The first sound coming from over there was a sizzling sound, the sound of oil hitting the iron plate.

Then came Akimichi Torifu's booming voice—

"What? You want takoyaki? Sure, no problem! I just had the juniors set up a new one! But you'll have to wait a bit, Kakashi's squatting over there waiting for the second batch, saying the dipping sauce ratio is wrong, too much wasabi will mask the fish's natural flavor—that brat's as picky as his dad—"

Kakashi's indifferent voice came from the background: "The truth."

Then Obito yelled, "Why does Kakashi have it but I don't?!"

Rin's laughter broke through the boys' bickering: "Obito, you ate eight of them all by yourself..."

"That's because it's delicious! You should eat more of what's delicious! That's the truth Uncle Akimichi taught me!"

The other end of the communication line was in complete chaos.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi, holding a bowl of congee, listened to this group's morning live broadcast for half a minute, the corners of his mouth unconsciously turning upwards.

He turned off the communicator, picked up the pickled radish, and put it in his mouth.

I chewed it twice.

Well, it's not actually that bad.

-

morning.

The sea was as calm as a blue iron plate.

The three ships maintained a steady speed as they moved northwest, their sterns carving out three white trails of foam.

Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in a folding chair in the cabin, holding a scroll in his hand.

The scroll was sent by Shika-no-Kami—a remote briefcase delivered via communication ninja hawk before departure.

He rolled up the reel and stuffed it under the chair.

He turned over, put the pipe in his mouth, and stared at the wooden ceiling above the cabin.

"Phew~"

The boat rocked gently in the waves, with a hypnotic rhythm.

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to close his eyes, the hatch was pulled open from the outside.

"Sandaime-sama."

Sarutobi Nami stood at the door, holding a stack of gray folders.

His brown hair was a little messy from the sea breeze, and his headband was tilted to the left, but he stood straight, in the standard ninja reporting posture.

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at him.

He is a distant nephew of mine, one of the most clear-headed among the younger generation of the Sarutobi clan.

The first members of the Night String Squad to use the battlefield simulation system were crowd control type players who were skilled in water-based escape techniques.

"What is it?"

"The ship will pass through the waters of the Land of Hot Springs in three days. Senior Shisui asked me to confirm whether we need to contact the Root base in the Land of Hot Springs in advance to arrange reception and port docking."

"If you contact them, it doesn't count as skipping work."

Bo Cheng blinked.

"……grown ups?"

I said,

Hiruzen Sarutobi took his pipe out of his mouth. "Just let the people at Root prepare as usual. We're just passing by, so we'll stop by, take a break, and soak in a hot spring. That's all."

"Take a hot spring bath?"

"What, you've never done it before?"

"No, I—"

Bozumi's expression was somewhat subtle. "The person in charge of the Hot Spring Country base is Koga, the squad leader from Root. The last time I saw him, he was organizing an intelligence network diagram in a secret room on the third basement floor. There were over four hundred photos and red lines pasted on the wall. Putting him in charge of receiving hot spring tours..."

"That's perfect."

Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand.

"Let him relax a bit, and tell him it's the Hokage's order—prepare towels and yukata."

Bo Cheng's lips twitched slightly, but he still nodded seriously.

"Understood. I'll contact them right away."

He turned to leave, but was called back.

"Bo Cheng".

"exist."

"Where are your two teammates?"

"Sata is practicing Wind Release on the deck, while Shiori is helping organize the medicine inventory in the infirmary..."

"Tell them to come over for lunch with me."

Bo Cheng nodded and closed the door.

His footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor. Hiruzen Sarutobi put the pipe back in his mouth and stared at the wood grain on the ceiling.

These young people are promising talents.

The Sarutobi clan, the Shimura clan, and even a commoner—all mixed together—coordinated more smoothly than many veteran teams. This was the result of his educational reforms at the Ninja Academy: disregarding background and clan, focusing solely on whether they could work together effectively.

He sank deeper into his chair and yawned.

Okay, I don't want to think about work anymore.

-

It was very windy on the deck.

Shimura Sota pushed his hands forward, and a bluish-white gust of wind exploded from his palms, carrying a cloud of sea mist that swirled into the sky.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough—"

The wind column dispersed into a misty haze in the air, and sunlight pierced through the mist, refracting into a small rainbow.

Ju Xilin, who was squatting next to her, looked up at the rainbow, then lowered her head to continue writing in her notebook.

"Sata, you've been practicing this all morning."

"Not enough, the speed is still a bit slow."

Sota tossed his light brown hair, which was blowing in the sea breeze, onto his face. The copper earring in his right ear glittered in the sunlight. "Lord Danzo said last time that every second faster the hand seals of Wind Release are, the more lives you have on the battlefield. I remember that very clearly."

"But you're already 0.3 seconds faster than the standard."

"Then make it 0.3 seconds faster."

He grinned. "When have I, Shimura Sota, ever let my teammates down?"

tide Lin poked her orange braid with the pen and said slowly, "During the last joint exercise, you used a breakthrough technique to knock Bo Cheng's water escape technique back and soak me."

Sota's smile froze on his face.

"That time... the wind direction wasn't calculated correctly..."

"Bo Cheng said you're blind to the wind direction."

"So whatever he says is law? Does that mean the Sarutobi clan's words are the truth?"

"No, it's because he's right."

Sota Shimura opened his mouth, but found himself unable to refute it.

He put his hands in his pockets, his ears turning red, and walked towards the open space on the deck to continue practicing, muttering something under his breath.

"It definitely won't happen again next time."

tide Lin watched his retreating figure, and drew a small circle on her notebook with the tip of her pen.

Next to the circle was a line of text: "Sata's Wind Release control precision: Improved."

He added another line below: "But he's still an idiot."