Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 354 Hiruzen Sarutobi: If you don't pretend, how can you become Hokage?

"Naruto?" Hiruzen Sarutobi was slightly surprised to hear this.

"Speaking of which, I also need to question you, old man. What's going on?!" Jiraiya said, his tone extremely displeased. "Naruto is, after all, Minato and Kushina's child. He's clearly the son of a hero in the village, but look what you've done to him all these years! Helpless and bullied like this, don't you even know how to do anything about it? How can you be Hokage?"

At this point, Jiraiya even slammed his fist on the table in frustration, saying, "He was delivered by Lady Biwako herself! How could you treat him like this?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was speechless after hearing this, his face turning red and then pale, and he remained silent.

"Hmph!" Jiraiya snorted coldly when he saw that the old man had nothing to say.

After a long silence, Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Kushina's pregnancy was a closely guarded secret; even few people in the village knew. Then that incident happened, and both she and her husband died. Tell me, how can I tell everyone that Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's son? Did he just appear out of thin air?"

Because Kushina Uzumaki was the previous generation's Jinchūriki, she would become extremely weak if she became pregnant and gave birth, making her vulnerable to being taken advantage of by external enemies. Therefore, from the very beginning, Kushina's pregnancy was a closely guarded secret, known only to a very few people.

Most people who know this are aware that Naruto Uzumaki is the son of the Fourth Hokage.

Those unaware of this matter could not be informed by Hiruzen Sarutobi. After all, no one knew that the Fourth Hokage's wife was pregnant. After the couple's sacrifice, wouldn't it be awkward to suddenly say that she had a son? How would you explain that?

Before Jiraiya could speak again, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued, "Furthermore, the Fourth Hokage made many enemies during the Third Shinobi World War. If he were alive, naturally no one would dare to cause him trouble. But he has already sacrificed himself. If those enemies find out that he had a son, Naruto would be in danger, wouldn't he?"

"Absurd reasons!" Jiraiya completely disagreed with these claims.

Even if everyone is told that Naruto is the son of a hero, shouldn't Naruto be given enough protection?

So what kind of situation did Naruto end up in the village? It's absolutely outrageous.

However, Jiraiya didn't argue any further. At this point, saying anything more would be pointless. He had already made his stance clear, which meant he was standing behind Naruto and supporting him. Presumably, with his words, things would eventually change somewhat from this terrible situation.

Seeing that Jiraiya was no longer bringing up these matters, Hiruzen Sarutobi wisely refrained from making any further excuses and instead asked, "How can you be so sure that Naruto is the prophesied child you're looking for?"

"The Spirit Lord told me," Jiraiya said softly.

After a slight pause, Jiraiya continued, "Although I only recently received this answer, I feel inexplicably at ease. If it's Naruto, I believe he definitely won't disappoint me."

Jiraiya was genuinely relieved after learning that Naruto was the child of prophecy he had been searching for.

The protagonist of his first book, the son of his most proud disciple—if the prophesied child is him, that would be wonderful.

"The Spirit Lord?" Hiruzen Sarutobi stroked his beard and sighed, "If the Spirit Lord said so, then it must be true."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had only met Bane once, but that encounter was enough to leave a deep impression on him. The Spirit Lord was a ruthless person, an absolute big shot. Didn't you see that even the Shinigami of the Pure Land were chased and beaten by the Spirit Lord? One of his fingers was even broken off.

The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku is at most on par with the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave.

But the Spirit Lord is an even nobler and more mysterious being than any of them, so his words should be credible.

"So you're going to take him as your apprentice?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Jiraiya again.

"That's right, I'll go find Naruto tomorrow and take him as my apprentice." Jiraiya nodded, then said, "Not only that, I'll also take him away from Konoha to train. I don't plan to get involved in this war with Sunagakure."

"You're not participating!?" Hiruzen Sarutobi exclaimed in surprise, "You're a formidable fighter, something like this..."

"Come on, Sunagakure isn't a powerful village like Kumogakure. Although it's also one of the Five Great Hidden Villages, don't you know what level they really are?" Jiraiya said with great disdain.

While Konoha may not be at its strongest point, it initially boasted two formidable figures, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, who dominated the entire ninja world.

Now that the Uchiha clan has perished and the Senju clan has retired, Konoha is not at its strongest point in history.

However, it can definitely be described as prosperous, and its strength, if placed among the five great ninja villages today, would indeed rank first.

Putting aside other things, attacking the Hidden Cloud Village might be a bit difficult, but attacking the Hidden Sand Village would be a piece of cake.

Looking at the five great ninja villages, Sunagakure is the weakest. The Daimyo of the Land of Wind cuts Sunagakure's military budget every year, forcing Rasa to go gold mining himself just to keep the village running.

Among the five great ninja villages, Sunagakure currently has the fewest ninjas, and apart from Rasa and a few old guys, there are almost no figures who can be considered worthy of the title.

Previously, at least they had a tailed beast that could serve as a deterrent against external threats, but now even that tailed beast has been snatched away by the Spirit Lord.

The current situation of Sunagakure is such that it has no money, no people, and no fighting power.

Rasa was probably driven to desperation by this situation and thought he should take a gamble and team up with Orochimaru to take down Konoha. If it succeeded, Sunagakure could exploit Konoha to grow stronger and prove their worth to the Daimyo of the Land of Wind. After that, they could have anything they wanted, and their future might be bright.

Conversely, if they didn't take this gamble, given the previous situation of Sunagakure, a slow death was inevitable, especially for Rasa. If he were to die one day, Sunagakure's funding would be in serious trouble, and its size would have to be reduced. What would be the point of being one of the Five Great Ninja Villages then?

Takigakure, which also possesses tailed beasts, has been eyeing this location for a long time.

Hanzo of the Salamander is dead now, but before that, no one knew he was dead. According to that logic, Rasa might even have been worried that Hanzo of the Salamander would lead Amegakure to attack and seize the throne of one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Take a gamble, and you might be able to turn your life around; don't gamble, and you'll likely face a slow and inevitable death.

So after initially refusing Orochimaru, Rasa ultimately couldn't resist the temptation and chose to join forces with him.

But clearly, he lost the gamble, and since he lost, he naturally has to pay a sufficient price.

"In short, I don't care about the affairs of Sunagakure, and as for Hokage, I won't become one," Jiraiya said decisively.

"You rebellious disciple, what use is it for me to have trained you?" Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his fist on the table in anger.

"I will take Naruto away from the village temporarily. As for the position of Hokage, if you are really determined to retire, I will go to Tsunade," Jiraiya said in a deep voice.

"Tsunade?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been furious just moments before, quickly regained his composure, stroking his beard as he said, "Tsunade is indeed more suitable than an unreliable guy like you, but are you sure you can win her back?"

Jiraiya and Tsunade were both his personal disciples, so either of them could succeed Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Back then, he even preferred Orochimaru, but later he discovered that Orochimaru was truly inhuman. Hiruzen Sarutobi was already quite ruthless, but at least he knew how to put on a show. Orochimaru, on the other hand, didn't even bother to pretend, which was just too much.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

Sometimes, Hiruzen Sarutobi would think to himself that if Orochimaru had been even willing to put on a show, he might have been able to make the decision to give him a proper makeover.

If you don't even try to put on an act, how can you become Hokage?

In this village, although someone must be a shady character, the Hokage is the face of the village, and that face must be clean.

Otherwise, if the villagers heard that their Hokage was conducting human experiments, carrying out forbidden research, and even killing his comrades, would that be acceptable?

Look at Hiruzen Sarutobi, walking around the village, everyone praises him.

His titles were renowned and prestigious: Ninja Hero, Ninja Doctor, and the Strongest Hokage of All Time. The village children all called him "Kind Old Grandpa."

This is what the Hokage should be doing, the proper label, okay?

"I'll try my best. That girl has been away for so many years. It's impossible for her not to miss the village. I'll exaggerate the severity of your 'illness' and mention the Reaper Death Seal. Even if it's just to see you one last time, Tsunade will probably come back to the village. When she comes back, you can use the same tactics you used on me on her. Wouldn't that be a piece of cake? After all, I'm stubborn and unyielding, but don't you know Tsunade? She's cold on the outside but warm on the inside, tough on the outside but soft on the inside. If you act like you're about to die, she can't resist your persistent pleading." Jiraiya said calmly.

"You make a good point." Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't care that Jiraiya had exposed his 'scheme' and nodded to himself.

In fact, Tsunade would have had more advantages than Jiraiya if she were to become Hokage.

First, in terms of gender, she is a woman. If she becomes Hokage, she will be the first female Hokage in Konoha's history. This would greatly inspire the fighting spirit and ambition of the other female ninjas in Konoha, which is practically politically correct.

Secondly, Tsunade's status is an advantage. Although Jiraiya also has a very high reputation, he is still somewhat inferior to Tsunade, after all, Tsunade is the direct descendant of the Senju clan.

If Tsunade becomes Hokage, it is almost foreseeable that the support of the Fire Country nobles for Konoha will continue, and may even become stronger.

The Senju clan's influence is no joke. They are now nobles, and if their direct descendant becomes Hokage, how could they possibly mistreat Konoha?

Thinking this through, Hiruzen Sarutobi changed his mind and agreed, saying, "Fine, if you can persuade Tsunade to come back as Hokage, then naturally you're out of the picture. You can do whatever you want, and I won't bother with you. But let me make this clear: I am indeed getting old, and even if I continue in this position, I don't have much time left. The matter of the next Hokage must be resolved, but as you know, besides the two of you, who else is suitable to be Hokage? Obviously, no one. Do you want me to hand over the position to Danzo? So this is a strict order: if Tsunade doesn't come back, you have to come back, understand?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's words were quite blunt, but Jiraiya found it difficult to refute them.

There is indeed no one in the village who is suitable to be Hokage. Kakashi and Shikaku Nara are both too young and do not have the prestige to subdue everyone.

Most importantly, because he is young, he does not have a strong force under his command to support him.

Kakashi, according to Hiruzen Sarutobi, is indeed qualified to be chosen as Hokage, given his impeccable lineage. However, given Kakashi's current situation, he is very likely to be sidelined by Konoha's higher-ups, advisors, and Danzo, among others.

Because his foundation and experience are insufficient, Kakashi will only truly be qualified to become Hokage once Naruto and his generation of fresh blood have grown up and become the backbone of Konoha.

In contrast, Jiraiya didn't need to worry about this problem because Kakashi and the others were his "foundation." With the support of these pillars, Jiraiya could easily contend with the so-called high-ranking officials of Konoha without being sidelined from the start.

Some people always say that when the Fourth Hokage took office, he became Hiruzen Sarutobi's puppet. But if you think about it carefully, the situation is not that simple.

Wasn't Hiruzen Sarutobi also serving as the foundation for the Fourth Hokage? Without him, could the Fourth Hokage truly have secured his position? Could the young and somewhat naive Fourth Hokage have defeated Danzo? Could Hiruzen Sarutobi have succeeded without his guidance?

Of course, this was just Hiruzen Sarutobi's own idea.

The truth has been buried along with the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage in the past.

(End of this chapter)