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

The rear half of the carriage is a world for young people.

"Hey Kakashi, did you see that just now? Danzo's eyes were practically glowing when he spoke! So cool! I want to learn that too, and build Konoha something a hundred times better than this dam!"

Obito waved his fist, his face full of excitement.

"idiot,"

Kakashi lazily flipped through the book, not even lifting his eyelids. "Creating things requires brains, not a single-celled organism like you with nothing but enthusiasm."

"What did you say?!"

Obito instantly bristled.

On the other side, Asuma crossed his arms and stared intently out the window, seemingly contemplating some philosophical question about life.

"What are you thinking about?"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke opened his eyes at some point, holding a short sword, and asked in a cold voice.

"I'm wondering... has my dad always been scheming against others?"

Asma muttered to himself, "That laugh he just gave me... that's the same laugh he gave me when I was a kid and he caught me stealing snacks from the kitchen. As a result, I was punished by not having any allowance for a month."

Shinnosuke's lips twitched very slightly, but he quickly regained his composure.

He didn't answer, he just closed his eyes again.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the front, seemingly resting with his eyes closed, but in reality, he heard everyone's conversation clearly.

He felt a little amused.

Asma's intuition is pretty accurate.

He was indeed scheming; he had been scheming from the moment he decided to help Kumogakure.

These so-called international students, once they arrive in Konoha, how can they live without Konoha's system in terms of food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and training?

When they returned after completing their studies, they brought back not only technology, but also the Konoha way of life, Konoha's values, and even... their dependence on Konoha.

Just then, Lu Xingzhou slowly came to a stop.

"Lord Hokage, the place we booked for lunch is just ahead."

Danzo reluctantly reported to his superior, clearly feeling that stopping for a meal was a waste of precious time for construction discussions.

"Okay, let everyone take a break."

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his eyes, stretched, and gave a tired smile like a corporate slave after get off work. "Man is made of iron, food is made of steel."

He got out of the car, and in front of him was a temporary camp.

Dozens of tables were already set up, and the Akimichi clan ninjas were busy at the huge grill. The rich aroma of meat mixed with the scent of various spices filled the air.

This was the logistical support that Sakumo Hatake's agricultural team had arranged long ago.

"Wow! It's barbecue!"

Obito and Asuma's eyes lit up, and they instantly transformed into two afterimages as they rushed over.

Ai and Toshiro also got out of the car, and looking at the bustling scene before them, they fell silent once again.

They recalled how they used to gnaw on dry, hard military rations, and then looked at Konoha... even their lunch during field training was as lavish as a festival.

"Lord Raikage, please have a taste."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and handed over a skewer of freshly grilled, sizzling beef. "This is a specialty of our Konoha Ecological Farm. The cattle are fed with specially made grass and are said to grow up listening to illusion music, which makes the meat exceptionally tender."

Ai took the roast meat, her feelings extremely complicated.

Just as he was thinking this, an ANBU ninja appeared behind Hiruzen Sarutobi like a ghost, knelt on one knee, and handed him a small communicator.

"Lord Hokage, this is an emergency communication from Konoha, via an S-rank encrypted channel. Advisor Shikanobu... Please answer this call personally."

The weary smile on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, like that of a corporate slave leaving get off work, was replaced by a cold, sharp glint the moment he took the communicator.

His aura, which had been as gentle as a friendly neighbor just moments before, instantly turned as sharp as a knife.

The lively atmosphere around them seemed to be held in place by an invisible hand, and even the sizzling sound of the Akimichi clan ninja flipping the grilled meat seemed much quieter.

Obito and Asuma stopped their playful fight. With meat still stuffed in their mouths, they stood frozen in place, looking at each other somewhat bewildered.

Kakashi closed the book in his hand and shifted his gaze from the pages to the back of his Hokage.

Even the Fourth Raikage, A, and Tsuchishiro instinctively straightened their posture. They could clearly sense that the relaxed atmosphere that had just enveloped the dining table had completely vanished.

Communication from Konoha.

For the Third Hokage, who is usually so composed, to switch between these states in a single second, something momentous must have happened on the other end of the phone, enough to shake the entire village.

Hiruzen Sarutobi held the small communicator to his ear and gently tapped the device with his index finger.

"Hello, it's me."

His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion, but it was precisely this calmness that was most frightening.

There was a 0.5-second silence on the other end of the phone, as if someone was organizing their thoughts or building up anger.

Immediately following, a hoarse voice, filled with exhaustion and frustration, as if the person hadn't slept for days and nights, erupted like a volcano that had been suppressed for a long time.

"The Naruto...!"

However, before he could utter the respectful title of "adult," Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted him lightly with an enthusiastic tone, as if he were seeing a long-lost friend.

"Oh! It's antlers! Good afternoon! We're just about to start lunch! How's it going? Have you had lunch yet? Remember to eat on time."

A barrage of meaningless greetings, like a smooth and flowing combination of punches, completely stunned Nara Kanojo on the other end of the phone.

He had prepared a whole host of questions—"When are you coming back?", "If you don't come back soon, I'm going to quit!"—all these tearful accusations were stuck in his throat, neither coming out nor going down.

"I……"

Deer Antlers felt as if his brain had been filled with a lump of paste.

"Oh, right, there's something I need to tell you."

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him no chance to organize his thoughts, his tone shifting to a solemn and expectant one, "I have discussed it with Lord Raikage. Kumogakure will soon send its first batch of students to Konoha to learn our civil engineering technology and energy management system."

"This is a great step in exporting Konoha's culture and building a new order in the ninja world! Its significance is extremely profound!"