With continuous development, the Leaf Seal imprint now allowed Torifu to teleport to a location himself.
When he broke through to the Six Paths level, this Jutsu was further developed, enabling him to bring others with him, though limited to a maximum of five people at a time.
Any more, and they might become lost in the space-time continuum.
"Alright, alright, enough with the chatter. Minato, hurry up and get ready. And the three of you, stay by Minato's side and assist him."
"Yes, sir!" The three little ones immediately stood at attention and accepted the command, while Minato used the Flying Thunder God to first teleport to the Hokage Office.
Kakashi and the other two exchanged glances, then immediately dashed off.
Thus, the preparation for the Hokage succession ceremony had officially begun.
"Let's go as well. I estimate the other villages will also come to celebrate. Perhaps it will be Ōnoki and his group?"
Currently, of the other Great Villages, all the previous Kage had retired, except for Ōnoki.
The Third Kazekage Ryūsa, had passed the Kazekage position to Rasa. After all, Sasori was too young, and Ryūsa did not feel comfortable handing the position over to him, so he chose the somewhat older Rasa.
After Rasa took office, in addition to maintaining the existing rules and regulations, he also strengthened the connection between Sunagakure and Konoha.
Torifu considered him to be a relatively smart person and thought highly of Rasa.
As for the brat Sasori, Torifu had met him two or three times since the first competitive event ended.
His strength had grown well, but his temperament was still the same as before.
It was likely he wouldn't want to be bound by the Kazekage position anyway.
The Third Mizukage, Getsuji, had passed the title to his disciple, Yagura Karatachi, retiring to an advisory role behind the scenes.
Getsuji was quite capable, and he was in the prime of his life; perhaps he was simply tired, which was why he stepped down.
Kirigakure was a rather tragic village in the original world, and Torifu had repeatedly hinted to Getsuji to be cautious and careful.
Torifu felt he had done a respectable job with the warning, and the rest was up to fate.
One generation makes way for the next. He just wondered who the three Shinobi Villages would send to offer congratulations this time.
In the past, whenever any of their villages had a change in leadership, Torifu had personally attended the congratulatory ceremony.
Torifu and Naori estimated the time was right and went to the gates of Konoha. From a distance, they could see a group of people sprinting towards the village.
"Ōnoki. He came, indeed."
In addition to the people from Iwagakure, Getsuji and Yagura came together from Kirigakure.
Sunagakure also sent both the Third Kazekage and the Fourth Kazekage to offer congratulations.
Torifu nodded in approval. The various villages were showing a great deal of respect, with both the former and current Kage attending.
The husband and wife stood at the gate waiting, and before long, the entourages from the three villages arrived at the gates of Konoha.
They were all old friends, so the elaborate, showy displays of courtesy had long been discarded.
"Hokage, haha, that title is about to change very soon."
Ōnoki laughed heartily. Torifu had once told him about his desire to retire, and Ōnoki had the same idea but suffered from a lack of a qualified successor.
Now, watching his old friends retire one by one, he was the only sixty-plus-year-old still fighting on the front lines.
This couldn't help but make him feel a little mournful.
"Tsuchikage, I hope you can also change that title soon."
Ōnoki chuckled at the remark. "Then I'll take that as a blessing, ha ha ha."
The new generation of Kage couldn't help but break into a sweat hearing the conversation between the Hokage and the Tsuchikage.
They had worked so hard to attain their positions, yet the Hokage and Tsuchikage seemed so eager to abandon them?
Having just taken office, they were still highly motivated, handling everything personally, vowing to develop their village to an even higher level.
They strived to be the best Kage their village had ever seen.
But Torifu wanted to tell them that working so hard would shorten their lives. Torifu had frequently instilled the philosophy of "slacking off" into Minato, who could now recite it fluently.
Yet these Fourth Kage, having been in office for over a year, were still so full of energy.
One could only say that youth was truly wonderful.
"Ryūsa, you're leading such a leisurely life these days. I see you constantly posting pictures of your travels all over the world."
Having grown accustomed to calling him Kazekage, Torifu felt a little awkward addressing him by his name for a moment.
[T/N: He was never named in this novel until now. The character was first introduced in chapter 342, then afterwards, he has been called Kazekage until now.]
Ryūsa smiled upon hearing this. "Just moderately leisurely, I suppose. Now that the Hokage is also retiring, you can take your wife and go on a carefree trip."
Among the group, Getsuji seemed relatively stoic. He wasn't particularly fond of communicating, and the Land of Water was geographically remote, so they had fewer interactions with the three inland countries.
However, ever since the development of the chat software, Torifu had pulled the four Kage and Mifune into a group chat.
They would chat and share photos when they had nothing else to do, which helped them become better acquainted.
"If the Hokage is interested, you can come and visit the Land of Water. The island scenery is something your inland countries cannot experience."
Torifu and Naori responded in unison, "Alright, we will certainly pay a visit when we have the time."
After chatting with everyone, he couldn't let them continue to crowd the entrance.
Torifu ushered the three groups into the village to rest.
The groups were frequent visitors to Konoha during the winter season and were quite familiar with their accommodations.
They didn't need Torifu to guide them and were able to find their own way.
With that taken care of, Torifu began to greet the new wave of guests.
Various small surrounding countries first presented their congratulatory gifts but had no intention of staying for the ceremony.
Torifu had been imposing sanctions on them and had only gradually eased them in recent years.
These small countries were now just here to express their gratitude.
Then, people from the Land of Fire's Daimyō Manor also arrived, and the envoy stayed to attend the ceremony.
The Land of Whirlpools also sent representatives, who brought many gifts. One reason was that the Land of Whirlpools was apologizing to Konoha and sought to repair the rift that had appeared.
The second reason was that the newly appointed Hokage was the husband of the Land of Whirlpools' princess. There was a family connection, making them in-laws.
They naturally wanted to cling to this connection, but Torifu would not let them do as they pleased.
The last to arrive was the Land of Iron. The Land of Iron today was not what it used to be.
Having recovered most of the former territory of the Land of Lightning, their land area had grown significantly.
Furthermore, regarding the aquaculture in the Land of Rain, the three nations gave a portion of the annual profits to the Land of Iron, in gratitude for their assistance in managing the war back then.
Though it was only a small portion of the profit, the combined earnings from the three countries was an immense sum.
It was enough for the sparsely populated Land of Iron to thrive.
The Land of Iron was now the fifth great nation of the Shinobi world, a country established by Samurai.
However, Mifune knew that the Land of Iron owed its current status entirely to Torifu. Without Torifu, not only would they have failed to become the fifth great nation, but they might have been destroyed by the war long ago.
Therefore, Mifune never dared to forget this favor and had also taught this to his disciples.