Ninja Pot Shadow

Next to the document is a note from the Third Hokage, who says that Danzo had dealt with this Uchiha Madara on the night of the massacre of his clan, but the Third Hokage also expressed doubts about Uchiha Madara's true identity.

Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Hidan who is immortal, Kakuzu who is also suspected of being immortal but whose specific abilities are unknown, the masked man who is suspected to be Madara Uchiha, and a strange ninja who is suspected of having some kind of surveillance ability.

Information about the six members of this 9+1 Akatsuki organization has surfaced.

Jiraiya asked Hiashi Hyuga and Ino, and both of them said they didn't find any surveillance personnel at the scene.

Ino explained that her perception ability was only incidental and not particularly strong.

Hiashi Hyuga wasn't sure either. He said he had been focusing all his attention on Itachi Uchiha's chakra, worried that Itachi might use genjutsu, and hadn't been distracted by scouting the surrounding area. He wasn't sure if there were any other ninjas nearby.

Ino had some guesses about this. The guy who was monitoring her was probably Zetsu, right?

Zetsu has lived from the time of the Sage of Six Paths to this day. She has been able to lie low in the world of Eye Legend for so long without being discovered by Red Eye Disease or White Eye Disease. She must have some skills. It is normal that her perception ability cannot detect her.

……

Jiraiya's most trusted person right now is Tsunade, so he invited her for drinks and to discuss some work-related matters.

There was no point in discussing surveillance; he mainly talked about Madara Uchiha.

"What?! You're saying Madara Uchiha is still alive?" Tsunade put one foot on the stool and looked at him with great imposing manner.

Jiraiya quickly made a shushing gesture, then looked around before whispering, "It's just a suspicion, a suspicion!"

Tsunade shook her head firmly: "Impossible. My great-grandfather personally confirmed that Madara Uchiha is dead."

Jiraiya also didn't believe that Madara Uchiha could be alive today.

If you were alive today, how old would you be?

The ninety-year-old Genji from Kirigakure is considered a living fossil in the ninja world. If Madara Uchiha were alive today, he would be over a hundred years old. How is that possible?

"But... Danzo had a brief collaboration with this Uchiha Madara, and he never officially reported this to the village."

Tsunade slammed her fist on the table, punching a large hole in it, and said angrily, "That old dog Danzo should have been killed long ago."

Jiraiya sighed. Being Hokage was a restrictive job.

He couldn't just kill Danzo because he didn't like him; he needed a legitimate reason.

Back then, the village's higher-ups viewed the Uchiha clan as enemies, but so what? They used various measures to target and marginalize them for decades. The village only took action after the Uchiha clan officially rebelled. This was true for the Uchiha clan, and it was also true for Danzo. Danzo was even more troublesome than the Uchiha clan, who had already been marginalized.

His identity as Hokage meant that he couldn't actively stir up trouble.

Chapter 195 A New Mission

Danzo's matter was more like a grumble between friends. Jiraiya took a sip of sake and got down to business.

"Take a look at this." He handed Tsunade a rather formal-looking official document.

Tsunade often lacks patience when it comes to things that don't concern her. She usually leaves text-based things to Shizune. Right now, she patiently looked at it for three seconds before casually tossing it aside.

"Just tell me what's written on this."

"The daimyo previously supported Danzo. When I was appointed as the fifth daimyo, the document was sent to the capital, and it seems that they didn't say anything. However, a few days ago, the magistrate's office sent an official document stating that next year's budget will be the same as this year's."

Tsunade scratched her ear: "So?"

Jiraiya shook his head helplessly: "This year, the village was destroyed by Orochimaru, and we need to carry out large-scale reconstruction. The funerals of the three elders and my succession ceremony cost a lot of money, and the village's cash flow is almost completely depleted. If next year's budget is the same as this year's, the village's operation will definitely run into problems..."

The mention of money immediately perked Tsunade up, her languid demeanor vanishing completely. She clutched her wallet, saying, "I have no money!"

Jiraiya covered his forehead helplessly. "Whether you have money or not, don't I know that too?"

He held up one finger: "Over there with Ino..."

Tsunade refused decisively: "No, my disciple's money is my money!"

Jiraiya waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, you misunderstood. What I meant was that Ino has a great ability to raise funds, and you have enough connections. You and your master can leave the village and find some suckers..."

The following day, Ino discovered that the village had assigned her another A-rank mission: to assist Tsunade in raising funds for the village.

Speaking of which, they were a small team, led by Tsunade, with her, Shizune, and Tonton as the members, making a total of four...

"Teacher, you want our village to raise funds ourselves? What kind of talk is that? We absolutely cannot agree to that! If the daimyo doesn't give us the money, we'll have a serious talk with him..." In her understanding, this was all the daimyo's business. The ninja villages were just mercenaries, and the daimyo supported this army. You don't pay us, so you expect us mercenaries to pay for ourselves? What a joke! If you don't want to do it, you can find a daimyo who is willing to do it.

Tsunade nodded like a chick pecking at rice, very satisfied with her disciple's attitude. This disciple became very energetic when money was mentioned, just like herself!

“Yes, yes, that’s what I told the Fifth Generation too.” As she spoke, she changed the subject: “The village sent a document to the capital requesting an increase in the budget, but those bureaucrats are very inefficient. Now that it’s almost the end of the year, if the village doesn’t have any money, it will be difficult to hold the year-end celebration.”

With a new Hokage taking office, there must be a fresh atmosphere, and a joyful environment can also sweep away the trauma caused by the previous Konoha Crush plan.

Unfortunately, the village's current cash flow has been almost entirely tied up in reconstruction, and the daimyo is either saying he "needs to study" or "needs to spend time raising funds." The ninja village still has to follow the rules; they can't go and rob the capital masked. So things have reached a stalemate.

Tsunade knew many gullible people, Ino's ability to raise funds was evident to all, Shizune's smile was very approachable, and Tonton could be cute. Thus, their four-person "gold-collecting" team was officially formed.

Ino's mood stabilized a lot after hearing that she didn't have to pay out of her own pocket.

Thinking of using the village's name to make money... she thought this task was actually not bad?

Should we sell some of the gold buried deep in the desert? It doesn't matter who we sell it to, selling it to Konoha would be a way of contributing to the village's development.

Ino went to the Hokage's office, logged into her ninja ID, and checked her current total number of missions.

7 D-level missions, 3 C-level missions, 2 B-level missions, 2 A-level missions, and 1 S-level missions.

I've completed all the tasks at every level.

The S-rank mission was the previous mission to retrieve Itachi Uchiha, which targeted two S-rank rogue ninjas. She did indeed fight the two of them. In addition, this mission required strict secrecy and was essentially a cover-up, so she was given an S-rank mission.

The village entrusted her with this task, and once the order was given, she had to go. Similarly, the village, as the party that entrusted her, also had to pay her.

She took another million ryo from the village's already strained finances. She took it without a care in the world, and everyone thought it was normal. That's the rule of ninjas, and there's nothing to be ashamed of.

S-rank missions are very valuable, but there aren't many of them.

Taking the three legendary Sannin as an example, Tsunade completed the fewest S-rank missions, with 95, followed by Orochimaru with 108, and Jiraiya with the most, completing 138.

The minimum reward for each task is one million taels of silver, with no upper limit. Most of the time, he just enjoys the sights while gathering materials. He also has a side business of writing books. That's how rich he is!

The Sannin did a lot of S-rank missions, mainly because they were living in a time of war and were the absolute main force of that era, so they did a lot of hard and tiring work.

By Kakashi's time, S-rank missions had become less frequent. Kakashi, now 27, had only completed 42 S-rank missions, which Danzo considered insufficient "contribution" and disqualifying him from becoming Hokage.

Asuma has completed 20 S-rank missions, while Red has completed even fewer, only 13.

S-rank missions are highly valued by ninjas, as they can significantly boost both income and reputation.

To become Hokage, one must be qualified, belong to the Hokage's direct line, and then consider each person's "contributions." S-rank and A-rank missions are important indicators.

Theoretically speaking, an S-rank mission is considered a mission, and a D-rank mission is also considered a mission. However, in reality, they are definitely different. Doing a thousand D-rank missions is not as useful as doing ten S-rank missions. After all, we chose to be Naruto, not pig-raising experts or weed-cutting masters.

Ino completed an S-rank mission, which further boosted her reputation.

The village has an obligation to make a name for ninjas who fought for the village during the Chunin Exams.

Currently, Ino, Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino are considered the four rising stars of the village, with Ino ranking first.

Her previous bounty at the gold exchange exceeded ten million, and now that her reputation is growing, the Yamanaka family's enemies will certainly not be stingy with money.

Seeing that she had completed an S-rank mission, the senior sister with long white legs was very envious. Shizune and Kakashi were classmates, but because she had been running around with Tsunade, she had never done an S-rank mission before. She was a little excited in her words and actions and kept muttering to herself.

Chapter 196 Leaving the Village

The three people and the pig accepted the mission and then went to Konoha Hospital as a team.

When Kakashi fought Itachi Uchiha, he took a direct hit from Tsukuyomi. Even though he had the Sharingan, Itachi was holding back, and the mental trauma he suffered in the Tsukuyomi world was still significant.

With Tsunade about to leave the village, she examined Kakashi, prescribed a lot of medicine, and then told him to rest well.

Three classmates from Team 7 also came to visit Kakashi.

Jiraiya is currently busy with official duties and cannot protect Naruto as closely as he did in the original timeline. However, he has a solution: since Naruto's foundation is too weak, he can stay in Konoha Village to do some basic tasks and then catch up on his studies in his spare time.

Even if the Akatsuki are powerful, they can't just walk right up to us and kidnap Naruto, right?

During the Konoha Crush, Naruto used the Shadow Clone Technique to save many villagers. It's hard to say exactly how many people truly respected him, but nowadays no one dares to call him the Demon Fox anymore, because he is the Hokage's disciple!

This identity is more useful than saving ten thousand people.

His father was Jiraiya's disciple, and he was also Jiraiya's disciple, so the generational order seemed a bit messed up. However, ninjas didn't really care about that, and Jiraiya treated Naruto more like a grandson.

Although the issue of the monitors hasn't been resolved, the village has essentially reconnected with Itachi Uchiha's side.

Jiraiya planned to have Kakashi formally accept Sasuke as his student. This was different from the previous Jonin who led the team; it would be a formal master-disciple relationship, which could also be seen as a way of repaying Itachi. If Sasuke was good enough in the future, he could even succeed Kakashi as Hokage. Theoretically, all of this was possible.

Seniority doesn't matter; their seniority system is already a mess, so it doesn't matter if it gets a little more chaotic.

……

Jiraiya stayed in the village as Hokage, Tsunade treated all the patients in Konoha, and then she and Ino left.

They need to continue practicing the art of spiritual transformation. Many medicinal herbs and special environments are helpful for cultivation; staying in the village won't do.

Jiraiya tried to persuade Tsunade to stay, but Tsunade used Ino as an excuse to brush him off.

Unlike Naruto, who was away for three years in the original timeline, Ino is now a Chunin with a large family. She mentioned her promise to the Third Hokage, and Jiraiya found the Third Hokage's records and approved of her "commuter" learning method.

Perform a mission, use your rest time to learn from Tsunade, and then return to continue the mission.

"Put a good word for me in front of Tsunade. If you encounter debt collectors, just mention my name! I'm the Hokage now, and that name still carries weight, got it?" Even after becoming Hokage, Jiraiya's sleazy nature hadn't disappeared for a while. Seeing that no one was around, he winked and made Ino say a good word for him.

Ino confidently declared, "Leave it to me! I'll definitely get you back to be the Hokage's wife!"

Honestly, she felt that Tsunade and Jiraiya were a better match. The dead are dead after all, so why make the living suffer? Since they both had feelings for each other, there was nothing wrong with them being together.

However, things have been very difficult these past two years. Ino needs to go out of the village to cause trouble from time to time, so it's better for Tsunade to stay out and wander around. As for Jiraiya... well, he's been single for so many years already, so he doesn't mind waiting for another two years.

Tsunade also asked Shizune what she thought. If she was willing to stay in the village, the village would appoint her as the head of the medical team.

Shizune was promoted to Chunin at the age of thirteen, and then followed Tsunade around. She got used to this life and directly refused the position of head of the medical team. She wanted to continue to follow Tsunade.

……

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Ino left Konoha Village with Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton.

Ino felt especially happy when she thought of Naruto's disappointed expression.

Young man, you should stay in the village and study hard. I'll go out and play for you!

Konoha Village isn't bad, it's just that it can feel particularly oppressive at times, and staying there for a long time can easily make you sick.

There are definitely bad people outside the village. Even if you asked her to come out at the beginning of the transmigration, she wouldn't.