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

At this solemn and profound moment, an untimely voice suddenly rang out.

"Yo~Yo~! check it out!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Killer Bee had somehow pulled out his notebook, was wearing sunglasses, and was swaying his body to a peculiar rhythm, improvising a song for the magnificent dam.

"Look at this dam! It's so tall and strong! Even stronger than my older brother's muscles! Oh yeah!"

"The raging river is suppressed! Konoha's technique—"

On Ai's forehead, veins bulged out one by one.

His expression shifted from serious to bewildered, and then to volcanic rage in less than three seconds.

"asshole--!!!!"

A roar echoed throughout the canyon.

"Bang!"

Ai's figure was as fast as a black lightning bolt. A precise heavy punch sent Killer Bee, who was still shaking his head, flying through the air in a perfect parabola before finally falling into the distant lake, splashing up a small ripple.

"Don't rap for me in this serious setting! You idiot! You bastard!"

The Fourth Raikage withdrew his fist, trembling with rage.

The entire platform fell into a deathly silence in an instant.

Obito and Asuma gaped, wanting to laugh but not daring to, their faces turning red from holding it in.

Kakashi silently adjusted his headband, his mind completely unmoved. He even analyzed the angle at which Killer Bee fell into the water and the size of the splash.

Tsuchishiro covered his face with his hands, looking like he couldn't bear to watch.

"Cough cough,"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile was like a ray of sunlight shining on the vast lake surface of the Cloud Thunder Dam—gentle, even warm.

But to Tsuchishiro and the Fourth Raikage A, this ray of sunlight was more biting than the howling wind in the canyon.

"Mr. Tsuchishiro, do you mean... to send the elites of Kumogakure to Konoha to study... civil engineering?"

His wording was very deliberate. He didn't use the term "construction ninjutsu," which sounded more like a ninja world exchange, but instead used the term "civil engineering," which sounded academic and distant.

Tsuchishiro lowered his head deeply, his emotions well concealed in his single eye, his voice hoarse yet exceptionally clear: "Yes, Hokage. Having witnessed your village's power to change the world, we deeply understand that mere destruction cannot bring a future. Kumogakure... hopes to obtain this power of creation."

He spoke with utmost sincerity.

Ai could feel the gazes cast upon him by the Cloud Village ninjas behind him—complex, bewildered, but mostly filled with a sense of surviving a catastrophe.

When Kumogakure was at its weakest, Minato's team was sent to block the despicable sneak attacks from Iwagakure and Sunagakure.

Now, this man named Danzo has been sent, and in a way that Danzo completely cannot understand, he has brought life to the barren Land of Lightning in a way that Danzo could never have dreamed of.

For the village, for all those who died and those who survived the war.

"Please, Hokage!"

Ai's voice was filled with the strength of his entire body as he slowly bent down towards Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Behind him, Tsuchishiro and all the Cloud Village ninja bowed deeply.

"this……"

Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed somewhat troubled. He glanced at Danzo beside him, whose face was almost bursting with a fanatical smile, then looked at Kagami Uchiha's gentle expression, and finally sighed.

"Since Lord Raikage is so sincere, Konoha, as an ally, naturally has no reason to refuse."

He stepped forward and helped Ai up with his own hands. "However, learning always comes at a price. Our Konoha's construction technology is not a free lunch."

Ai's heart sank; he was prepared to be ripped off.

However, what Hiruzen Sarutobi said next completely stunned him.

"How about this?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi patted him on the shoulder, his tone becoming as if discussing family matters with a nephew or niece. "Consider the first batch of exchange student slots a personal gift to Lord Raikage and Kumogakure. As for the subsequent tuition fees, they can be paid for with minerals unique to the Land of Lightning, or with surplus electricity generated by this dam. What do you think?"

Ai's mind went blank.

He had envisioned countless humiliating conditions, such as ceding the mines or even handing over some secret technique... but he never expected it to be such a... almost fair trade.

This sounds... almost too good to be true.

"Lord Hokage, you..." Ai was momentarily at a loss for words.

"We're allies, aren't we?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile remained unchanged, as if that cunning smile from moments before had never appeared. "Konoha's prosperity should not be built on the poverty of its allies. A rich and powerful Land of Lightning is beneficial to the peace and stability of the entire ninja world. I hope that one day, trains departing from Konoha will be able to reach every corner of Kumogakure without any obstacles. When that time comes, perhaps we will no longer be discussing war."

His words possess a strange magic.

The future it depicts is so beautiful that it's impossible to resist.

Looking at the man before him, Ai saw a future of prosperity and peace, seemingly reflected in his deep eyes, a future free of war. In that instant, the hatred in his heart seemed to be diluted by something far greater.

"On behalf of Kumogakure, I thank you for your generosity."

Ai's voice was no longer so stiff, and once again, he bowed his head to Hiruzen Sarutobi from the bottom of his heart.

Not far away, Kakashi, who had witnessed everything, silently closed the book in his hand.

He glanced at Obito and Asuma beside him, who were still in shock because of the dam, and then at the Hokage in the distance, who looked down on everything like a god.

Suddenly, I realized that I had been too superficial in my understanding of the phrase my father, Sakumo, often used to say, "The wisdom of the Hokage is unfathomable."

……

On the return landship, the atmosphere was much more subtle than on the way there.

The front half of the carriage remained a silent battlefield for the higher-ups.

Danzo finally found someone to confide in. He pulled Tsuchidae, who also showed a strong interest in engineering, and began to enthusiastically explain his grand vision for the Pancontinental High-Speed ​​Railway Network, from the selection of materials for the sleepers to the chakra transmission efficiency of the rails, and how to utilize the terrain along the route to establish supply stations.

Tsuchishiro broke out in a cold sweat. He felt as if he wasn't listening to an infrastructure plan, but rather a world conquest plan aimed at binding the entire ninja world to the Leaf Village's war machine with steel and concrete.

Meanwhile, under the gentle persuasion of Uchiha Kagami, Ai engaged in a friendly and in-depth discussion about the list of students to be sent abroad by Kumogakure and their majors.

"Lord Raikage, I believe that in addition to ninjas who study civil engineering, you should also consider sending some elites skilled in Lightning Release to learn Konoha's energy conversion and network maintenance technologies. After all, the system designed by the Second Hokage requires an extremely high level of precision in the operator's chakra."

Uchiha Kagami smiled and suggested that although his Mangekyou Sharingan was not activated, his clear eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts.

The Fourth Raikage could only nod stiffly. He felt like a rabbit being targeted by a fox. Every word the other party said was full of goodwill, but behind every suggestion lay a scheme that he could not refuse.