Konoha: From the moment I was adopted by Tsunade

Chapter 170 Newly Appointed Secretary Yamanaka Ino

Although no succession ceremony was held, Tsunade readily handed over power and then happily went home.

It's really time to get off work.

They even lured Shizune, a member of the Hokage's guard, to a casino where she spent lavishly.

They completely disregarded Natsume's feelings.

"Lord Hokage."

Throughout the journey, Natsume nodded repeatedly in greeting.

But he also discovered the problem.

Not loyal enough, or rather, not respectful enough.

This is because his prestige has never been comparable to Tsunade's.

To be more precise, he is not as good as any Hokage, including Minato Namikaze.

He made outstanding contributions during the Third Shinobi World War, saving the lives of many shinobi.

Although Natsume has been doing missions these past few years, they haven't been nearly as impactful.

Water Release combined with Sage Mode sounds pretty powerful.

However, most people don't have a direct sense of his strength.

In addition, given his youth, it's natural that he would be looked down upon.

Even if they are truly powerful, just how powerful could they be?

"We have to stir things up."

Natsume sat on the Hokage's soft chair, stroking his chin, lost in thought.

Directly revealing one's strength would seem a bit foolish.

Ideally, someone would come to him willingly, forcing him to take action and then he would gain another wave of fate points – that would be perfect.

"I wonder what Guoying has been up to lately?"

Natsume knew that Shimura Danzo was in Sunagakure because he had contributed Fate Points a year ago.

And together with Rasa and Gaara, the total is ninety points.

That's easy to guess.

It is believed that Danzo Shimura provided the sealing technique to seal the tailed beasts, which helped Gaara strengthen the seal and reduce his berserk state.

In return, the Kage settled down in Sunagakure.

In fact, despite Shimura Danzo's rather poor record and constant suppression by Hiruzen Sarutobi in Konoha, he would have been treated as an honored guest in any other ninja village. A little display of his skills would have made a significant difference.

Sunagakure is comparable to Kirigakure, ranking at the bottom among the Five Great Villages.

Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, was transformed into a sleepless man and a panda man due to a sealing issue.

Because when Shukaku goes to sleep, it goes berserk.

To test the stability of the Jinchūriki, Rasa also liked to carry out assassinations.

That's pretty outrageous.

Gaara was already quite lucky that he didn't become a rogue ninja on the spot.

The arrival of Shimura Danzo, who was proficient in the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan, was undoubtedly a great help.

A knock came at the door.

Natsume looked up and said, "Please come in."

The previous Hokage's guards filed in.

Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, and Kurenai Yuhi.

Shizune wasn't there; she accompanied Tsunade to the casino.

The three people who entered had different expressions.

Might Guy called out "Hokage-sama" with a strong voice, looking expectant, as if he thought there was some kind of mission.

Kakashi Hatake stared with dead fish eyes, looking rather listless and lacking enthusiasm.

Only Kurenai seemed preoccupied and worried.

She could guess why Natsume had called them over.

New work arrangements were made for them.

Generally speaking, the new Hokage will not use the team of the previous Hokage.

Especially the Hokage Guard, which is arguably the closest of organizations.

The most typical example is the Hokage Guard of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

Even if they could use the Flying Thunder God Technique together, they were driven away by Hiruzen Sarutobi and kept far away from the center of power.

Kurenai Yuhi believes that Shizune will not be affected, after all, she is Tsunade's apprentice.

Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy are also unlikely to do so, because both of them are incredibly strong and have impressive backgrounds.

However, given her less impressive background and weaker abilities, she will most likely become just an ordinary Jonin.

Besides status, there's also money.

At Natsume's suggestion, the Hokage Building has fully implemented a reward system.

Based on a comprehensive consideration of their respective strengths, the Hokage Guard was given a monthly salary of 300,000 taels.

Actually, there are already quite a lot.

An S-rank mission costs at least a million taels of silver and takes an average of one to two months to complete. Even for a Jonin, it is extremely dangerous.

Besides, there aren't that many S-rank missions to accept.

Take Kurenai Yuhi as an example. According to official records, she has only completed fourteen S-rank missions.

Most of the tasks are below level A, with rewards of only tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands.

Of course, it's a different story for ninjas with abnormally high strength like Minato Namikaze and the Legendary Sannin; they have quite a few S-rank missions.

But this is an isolated case; ordinary Jonin like Kurenai Yuhi are the most common.

Working in the Hokage Building, one can earn a monthly salary of 300,000 taels.

In addition, you can also take time to do tasks to earn extra money.

For Kurenai Yuhi, this was simply too good to be true.

Family members won't have to live in constant fear because of this.

She doesn't have many extravagant desires, such as becoming Hokage, so her current life is already her ideal state.

"Although my teacher is no longer the Hokage, I don't touch the things she left behind much."

Natsume looked at them and smiled, "You can continue to serve as the Hokage's guard."

"Yes, Hokage-sama! I will certainly not let you down!"

Matt Kay was visibly moved, tears welling in his eyes.

Kakashi Hatake glanced at Natsume with some surprise, but didn't say anything, only nodded.

Kurenai was both surprised and delighted, and said gratefully, "Thank you for your trust, Hokage-sama!"

Natsume smiled.

The three people's reactions were quite in line with their personalities.

"You may leave."

Natsume waved his hand and said.

After bowing, the three people turned and left.

But the door was not closed.

Yamanaka Ino poked her head out and peered inside, immediately meeting Natsume's gaze.

She panicked and shrank back.

A few seconds later, she took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Natsume said with a smile.

Yamanaka Ino pushed open the door and entered.

She was still wearing a tight-fitting top and shorts.

But compared to three years ago, her waistline is extremely beautiful, without any excess fat, and her skin is fair and silky.

"Natsume-kun, congratulations on becoming Hokage."

Yamanaka Ino said with a sincere expression.

At the same time, a subtle change occurred in my mind.

After all, the Hokage is already quite different in Konoha.

She was a little worried that this might affect their relationship.

At least her father, Yamanaka Inoichi, had warned her not long ago that she shouldn't be too casual in front of Natsume.

If trouble is caused, it will implicate the entire mountain tribe.

"You don't need to be so reserved."

Natsume beckoned and said, "Come here."

"what?"

Yamanaka Ino swallowed hard, her heart starting to race.

Could it be that Natsume-kun is going to use the Hokage to... this is something my dad didn't teach me.

Feigning composure, she slowly stepped forward and asked, "Um... Natsume-kun, is there something you need?"

"Don't be afraid of me just because I'm the Hokage."

Natsume stood up, made way for her, and said with a smile, "Being the Hokage is nothing special, please come up and sit down."

"No...no, that won't do!"

Yamanaka Ino was startled and quickly waved her hand.

"Why not? Nobody can see it."

Natsume did not want to see a timid and cowardly Yamanaka Ino.

The best way is to dispel her fear of the Hokage.

Yamanaka Ino opened her eyes wide.

Nobody saw it, it sounds so exciting!

Her face flushed, and she didn't know what to do.

Natsume stepped forward, grabbed her wrist, and before she could react, pressed her down onto the Hokage chair.

"Be good, don't move."

Yamanaka Ino stopped trying to get up.

She immediately noticed Natsume's warm hand holding hers, and a blush rose on her fair face and neck, making her look very cute.

There's no way anyone can sit in the Hokage's seat.

This shows that Natsume-kun cares about me.

Yamanaka Ino lowered her head, but her eyes couldn't help but curve into crescent moons.

The sweetness dispelled her tension, and she gradually relaxed.

He also reverted to his previous attitude towards Natsume.

"It seems like the Hokage has a lot of work."

Looking at the various documents on her desk, Ino Yamanaka couldn't help but ask, "Natsume-kun will probably be very busy from now on, right?"

"Actually, it's alright."

Natsume casually picked up a document, opened it, and said, "The Hokage Secretariat has already handled it, so I only need to take a look."

"That's good."

Yamanaka Ino muttered to herself.

In this way, the time the two people spend together will not be reduced.

"Speaking of which..."

Natsume glanced at her and asked, "Are you interested in becoming the Hokage's secretary?"

"Eh?"

Ino Yamanaka pointed to herself, looking bewildered. "Me?"

"Um."

Natsume said in a serious tone, "The Yamanaka clan is good at analyzing intelligence, so they are very suitable to serve as the Hokage's secretary."

Yamanaka Ino was immediately captivated.

She didn't care about the Hokage's secretary.

But becoming a secretary means being able to see Natsume every day, which is clearly a very worthwhile deal.

"only……"

Yamanaka Ino tilted her head, looking somewhat conflicted, and said, "I'm young, people will talk about me, and then, Natsume-kun, you..."

She didn't dare say what came next.

"Ino, I am the Hokage."

Natsume smiled nonchalantly. "Who dares to say that about me?"

Yamanaka Ino paused, her heart racing again.

Wow, he's so handsome!

"But for Ino's sake, how about this: you take on the role of intern secretary?"

Natsume thought about it and realized it was a bit excessive.

If Tsunade finds out, it will cause a huge problem.

But if the secretary isn't a pretty young girl, but rather an older man like Hyuga Hizashi, he would absolutely refuse.

However, it is indeed impossible for Yamanaka Ino to lead the Hokage's secretariat at present.

After Hyuga Hizashi was promoted to Hokage advisor, he needed to find a sufficiently reliable secretary.

Hmm, let's just go with the Crimson Sunset.

The Hokage Guard is purely for show.

During Tsunade's term, Shizune also served as the Hokage's secretary.

Now that Natsume has taken over, it makes perfect sense to have Kurenai Yuhi take on the role as well.

Of course, he didn't mean anything by it; it was purely for aesthetic pleasure.

"OK!"

Upon hearing this, Yamanaka Ino happily agreed.

If it were an intern secretary, there wouldn't be as much controversy.

Moreover, for her, the goal had already been achieved.

"Then I'll be relying on you from now on."

Natsume said with a smile.

"no problem."

Yamanaka Ino patted her chest confidently and said, "I'll do my best!"

I look forward to your performance.

Looking at the smile on her face, Natsume thought, "Beautiful girls are definitely more pleasing to the eye." He said, "I'll take you to see Uncle Hizashi."

"Um!"

Yamanaka Ino immediately jumped off the Hokage's seat, her face beaming with uncontrollable joy.

If Natsume hadn't been watching, she probably would have jumped up.

Three thousand characters.

(End of this chapter)