[Noon]
Konoha, which had just celebrated the New Year, was once again stirred up by an announcement.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, died under the attack of Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Itachi.
The head of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Fugaku, and most of the members of the Konoha Military Police Force also heroically died in battle with Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Itachi.
At the same time, it was also announced that Uchiha Madara was the true mastermind who controlled the Nine Tails behind the Nine-Tails Night.
Currently, Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Itachi have already been expelled from the Uchiha clan.
Tomorrow, Konoha will hold a collective funeral for the heroes of the village.
In an instant, Konoha, which had just experienced great joy, fell into great sorrow again.
And public opinion towards the Uchiha clan also became polarized.
However, with the secret guidance of Shimura Danzo's Root, what it would ultimately become was unknown.
He was a master of journalism.
Shimura Danzo was released after being detained for a few days, but he was still under house surveillance, and his daily activity range was strictly restricted.
It was also finally announced that Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, would become the Fifth Hokage.
This temporarily stabilized the tense mood in the village.
No one would question Tsunade becoming the new Hokage.
Although the Jonin voting meeting would not be held until the evening after the funeral.
———
Standing in front of the Konoha village gate.
Jiraiya looked at the familiar Konoha gate in front of him, and couldn't help but feel nostalgic, becoming a bit melancholic.
Konoha was still the same Konoha, but old Konoha people like them had already grown old.
He thought of the youthful high-spirited days back then.
Now when he closed his eyes, what often emerged in his mind were scenes of the people around him dying unexpectedly.
He should have been proud, because both his teacher and his student became Hokage, and his other disciples were also excellent ninjas.
But now they were all dead.
He had once told them that the value of a ninja is determined at the time of their death.
They all sacrificed themselves for the village.
And he was still on the road searching for the child of destiny, searching for someone who could bring transformation to the ninja world.
'What kind of ending will my own life have?'
"Jiraiya-sama!", At this moment, a surprised voice rang out.
Jiraiya turned his head and looked, it was the two gatekeepers of Konoha village, Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu.
It was said that precisely because these two gatekeepers were here, even the Six Paths of Pain dared only to fly in and not enter through the main gate when they came to Konoha.
However, their usual daily task was just to record the ninjas entering and leaving the village.
"Yo!", Jiraiya adjusted his mood and smiled at the two.
Since Tsunade asked him to be a bit high-profile, then high-profile it would be.
"Jiraiya-sama, welcome back to the village," Both of them were very happy. Right now was a critical period for Konoha. With one more of the Sannin holding the fort, they felt more at ease.
Jiraiya nodded to them, "I'll head in first."
He didn't have much impression of the two, and even if he wanted to chat, there wasn't much to talk about.
"Please!"
Watching Jiraiya's receding back, Hagane Kotetsu sighed with emotion, "This seems to be the first time we've registered Jiraiya-sama."
"..."
"But with Jiraiya-sama back, everyone feels more at ease."
———
[Inside the Hokage Office]
Besides Tsunade, who was the Hokage, there was also a small figure.
It was Aoba.
"Sensei, using child labor is an illegal act," Aoba said somewhat dissatisfiedly.
Tsunade looked innocent, "Illegal? Which country's law?"
"...", Aoba didn't want to deal with this deliberately acting cute old woman.
"Haha!", Tsunade couldn't help laughing, then she said seriously, "This is to let you adapt early to the future Hokage duties."
She found that although Aoba was young, his brain worked very well. He could completely act as a Hokage assistant now.
"But I'm only seven," Aoba protested.
'Adapting to duties ten years early, huh.'
But Tsunade directly overruled the protest, "Then just take it as cultivating your Hokage mindset from childhood."
Knock! Knock! Knock!
At this time, the sound of knocking came.
"Come in!", Tsunade said directly.
A white-haired Anbu ninja entered with a brown crew-cut-haired Anbu ninja.
"Tsunade-sama, I brought Tenzo over," Kakashi slightly bowed to Tsunade in greeting. As for why Aoba was here, he was already unsurprised.
Instead, the Tenzo behind him seemed to curiously glance at Aoba a bit more, then came to his senses and saluted Tsunade, "Hokage-sama!"
Tsunade nodded, "Take off your mask."
"Yes!"
Tenzo responded, then removed his mask, revealing a somewhat dull, expressionless face.
His pitch-black pupils showed no trace of light, completely lifeless.
Tsunade slightly frowned, thinking of the other's experiences, and couldn't help sighing.
As a survivor of Orochimaru's Wood Release experiment, later saved by Danzo and then raised by Root, it was understandable that he became like this.
But according to Kakashi, even in Root, he wasn't completely consumed by darkness and still had the desire to "protect."
"Tenzo is your name?"
Tenzo hesitated for a moment, "That is another experimental subject's name."
"Then do you have your own name?"
Tenzo shook his head, "No."
Tsunade thought for a while, "Wood Release is the jutsu with which the First Hokage established Konoha. He used Wood Release to create peace in the village. Since you also possess Wood Release, I hope you can use it to protect that peace of Konoha."
"From now on, your name will be Yamato, how about that?"
Tenzo was stunned. His pitch-black pupils didn't show much emotion, but the corners of his mouth slightly curved up.
On his stiff face appeared a somewhat eerie and terrifying smile, "Yes!"
Tsunade's mouth twitched a little. She felt it would be better if he didn't smile.
"From now on, you are the Hokage's bodyguard. If you have any problems with Wood Release, you can also come ask me."
"Even though I don't know Wood Release, there's no one in Konoha who understands it better than me."
Besides the bodyguard duties, the Hokage and the bodyguard also had a bit of a teacher-student relationship.
Just like how Sarutobi Hiruzen and others served as bodyguards to Senju Tobirama and also called him teacher.
Namikaze Minato also taught his shadow guards the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!", Yamato sincerely thanked her.
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