"Hokage-sama, please have a seat. I'll go make you some tea."
Anka said, standing to leave, but Torifu stopped her. "Don't bother. I'll only be here for a moment before I go. Will this clone have any problems handling official business? Like making corrections, for example?"
Anka recalled, it didn't seem like such a thing had ever happened.
"So far, no problems have been found. Please rest assured, Hokage-sama. I handle all work matters very diligently."
Torifu nodded. As long as no mistakes were made, it was fine. This puppet was hard to come by; he couldn't let it break.
He didn't have the ability to repair puppets, so if this one broke, it would simply have to be discarded.
At that point, he would have no choice but to send a clone to handle official business.
Afterward, Torifu left the Hokage's office, preparing to head home.
Anka and Amado were getting along reasonably well; a good start had been made. Now they just had to take things slowly, one step at a time.
As soon as he left the Hokage Building, Torifu activated his Concealment Jutsu, preparing to go home. However, Dan spotted Torifu and walked over to him.
"Hokage-sama, all the ANBU ninjas who applied to execute missions in Rain Province have been dispatched. Their movements are very discreet and won't be discovered."
Torifu nodded after hearing this. Konoha Village's ANBU currently numbered around a thousand.
He recalled that not many had applied to go to Rain Province, only about a hundred, just enough to form a single unit.
It wasn't that the ANBU ninjas were uninterested in Rain Province; it was primarily because the province was already saturated with personnel. If a large number of ANBU members went, it would create an awkward situation with no missions to perform.
Therefore, Torifu had also limited the number of applicants.
Even the recruitment missions at the Mission Assembly Hall had been canceled.
The ninjas who had initially planned to observe for a while were now all lamenting their missed opportunity.
The mission's difficulty wasn't particularly high, but its rank was significant, and the compensation was very generous. It was perfect for bolstering their resumes.
For ninjas looking to advance their professional titles, it was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity.
Yet, many people failed to seize the chance, allowing a professional title they could have gained to slip away.
The Mission Assembly Hall's recruitment had only lasted one day, yet thousands of ninjas had already departed for Rain Province.
It was clear how much the villagers valued the unification of the nation.
"Alright, leave the rest to my clone. The ninja world might not be particularly peaceful during this time, so you need to keep a close watch and prevent the kind of attack that happened a few years ago from reoccurring."
Dan immediately acknowledged the command. He had already ordered ANBU ninjas to go out and gather information yesterday.
He expected the latest intelligence to be reported back soon.
After the two discussed some more work-related matters, Torifu headed straight home.
Apart from Rain Province, there were no major issues to deal with in Konoha Village recently, so everyone was still quite relaxed.
The recruitment for the new factory in the back mountains was also complete, and construction had begun.
The villagers had recovered from their Lunar New Year holiday and returned to their work.
The entire Konoha Village began to operate in an orderly fashion once more.
Peace, stability, and harmony—this was what Torifu desired. Konoha Village's position in the ninja world was now beyond doubt; all that remained was to continue its development.
Back home, Minato was practicing the Flying Thunder God in the courtyard. He would be heading to Rain Province tomorrow, so today he chose to hone his skills, increasing his proficiency a little.
After all, he hadn't gone on missions for so long during the Lunar New Year, so he had to seize the opportunity to train diligently now.
"Yahiko, Konan, once you two arrive in Rain Province, you must listen to your Big Brother. You may only act when he tells you to, understood?"
The two youngsters nodded and replied, "Understood. You've already told us many times."
Torifu smiled slightly upon hearing this. "Don't mind my nagging, safety is the most important thing. You don't know the strength of the person behind this, so naturally, you're not afraid. But that person once fought fiercely against numerous Kage-level experts for a long time, and in the end, she still managed to escape."
"Her methods are also varied and unpredictable. She can make people spontaneously combust and even elevate ordinary people to Kage-level strength. You might just encounter one of her puppets, so Master is just giving you a reminder."
Hearing how strong the mastermind was, Yahiko and Konan only became more cautious, but they felt no fear.
No matter how strong they were, they couldn't be stronger than Master—they always believed that.
Minato also stopped at this moment and walked over to Torifu. "I will take good care of them, Big Brother, rest assured."
Minato was naturally very reliable, and with his promise, Torifu felt a little more at ease.
"Oh, and by the way, during this mission, you might even encounter Kaito. After all, the samurai have also joined this battle; they're here to reinforce our three nations."
Torifu had only learned about this last night. The Kazekage and Tsuchikage had sent a distress message to Mifune, asking him to come and assist.
Afterward, when the Land of Iron occupied the former territory of the Land of Lightning, those two nations would also go to assist.
Mifune naturally agreed to such a deal without hesitation.
Although the former territory of the Land of Lightning had no great power, it was filled with bandits and rogue ninjas.
Each group claimed a mountain as their domain, and with the numerous mountain ranges in the Land of Lightning, almost every peak harbored a den of bandits.
For the samurai of the Land of Iron alone, trying to claim the Land of Lightning's territory for themselves would be incredibly arduous.
Over the past five years, they had only managed to secure a small area.
This time, the Tsuchikage and Kazekage decided to exchange the Land of Lightning's territory with Mifune, primarily because the Land of Lightning was no longer of much use to them.
These two nations were too far from the Land of Lightning. Even if they wanted to send ninjas for training or to extract resources, the round trip losses would be a significant drain.
Gradually, they sent ninjas there less and less frequently.
Only the Land of Fire still regarded the Land of Lightning as a training ground.
After all, it was closer.
The promise these two nations made to the Land of Iron certainly involved their own territories, specifically the part that had been conventionally agreed upon.
The Land of Fire's training areas were naturally not included.
However, such a large territory would be enough to sustain the Land of Iron for a long time.
Once they fully controlled the resources of the Land of Lightning, the Land of Iron would truly become a great nation.
The fifth great nation of the ninja world would also reclaim its place.
"Kaito is going too? That makes sense. His strength is decent; it's a good opportunity for him to train."
After training with Yahiko and Konan for several days, Kaito's strength had significantly improved, and he had gained new insights into Bushido.
Mifune had specifically brought him along to Rain Province for this trial.
.......
Chapter End
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[TL Note: I apologize for the unreliable chapter updates. I lost motivation for doing this work long ago and find it a chore. Right now, am just forcing myself to work for the paying members on patreon and chugging a couple dozen chapters once a week whenever i get free time. As of this day, the work at patreon is at 1344 chapters and around 260 chapters are left. I would really appreciate it if you guys could spare some donations if your situation allows it - Buy one time subscription of this fanfic collection, or a monthly subscription. One thing it occured to me was that due to my unreliable release schedule, it works better if you buy the whole collection, it saves fees in case of works that have too many chapters and relatively slow release pace. If you could help, that would be really kind of you. Meanwhile, I am trying to set up the auto release feature for webnovel here to around 3-4 chapters a day. ]