"Old man, the person I recommend is Danzō."
Renya looked straight into Senju Tobirama's eyes and spoke softly.
Compared to Sarutobi Hiruzen, he still preferred Shimura Danzō's personality.
Don't be fooled by the fact that Danzō often resorted to ruthless methods to achieve his goals — it was precisely this kind of personality that could lead the village toward prosperity.
One could say that Danzō wasn't exactly a good person, but he could definitely become a good Hokage.
From the perspective of a leader, there was nothing wrong with his approach.
After all, ninja were a profession born from the shadows. When had their deeds ever been so righteous and aboveboard?
Renya's opinion of Danzō was based on his current behavior — not on the future "Shadow Kage" of Konoha…
At this moment, Danzō truly loved the village and was willing to dedicate everything to it.
As for the later change in his "Shadow Kage" persona, that was because his original intentions had been twisted.
Perhaps he wanted to become Hokage too badly.
Because his long-standing wish never came true, his behavior became increasingly extreme, leading him to make a series of incomprehensible decisions.
He started out wanting to protect Konoha, but later it turned into wanting to protect my Konoha.
From someone willing to sacrifice everything for the village, he became someone willing to do anything to seize the Hokage's seat.
In chasing his dream, Danzō gradually lost his way and became a pitiful man enslaved by power.
In order to become Hokage, he spread news of Hatake Sakumo's mission failure to ruin his reputation and prevent him from running for Hokage — which eventually drove Sakumo to commit suicide.
In order to become Hokage, he ordered Root operatives to assassinate Sarutobi Hiruzen, hoping that once Hiruzen died, he could seize the opportunity. The assassination failed.
In order to become Hokage, when Pain invaded Konoha, he deliberately held back Root forces, claiming it was to "preserve the village's strength," when in truth, he was trying to weaken Tsunade's faction and pave the way for his own rise.
In order to become Hokage, he even damaged the village's interests.
By that point, he had already strayed far from his original intentions.
Shimura Danzō spent his whole life chasing the Hokage's position. A single moment of hesitation when he was young cost him the chance to succeed, and he spent the rest of his life drowning in regret and frustration.
Renya had spent years interacting with Danzō and had come to genuinely recognize his worth.
He didn't want the passionate, loyal Danzō of today to gradually turn into the future "Shadow Kage" just for the sake of becoming Hokage.
He wanted Senju Tobirama to give Danzō a chance — a chance to prove himself.
If it turned out Danzō truly wasn't suited to be Hokage, they could always replace him later.
Besides, Tobirama was still alive, wasn't he?
Even if Danzō failed, Tobirama could still step in to handle things.
And really, it's not like Danzō was stupid right now. If he actually became Hokage, he'd probably be so diligent he'd spend twenty-four hours a day glued to his office.
"Danzō, huh?" Tobirama murmured softly.
For some time now, he had been secretly observing the performance of several disciples.
Danzō's performance was decent — he loved the village, acted decisively, and with a little guidance, he could indeed be trained as a Hokage successor.
If Renya weren't around, Danzō would certainly be one of the top candidates.
But unfortunately… this kid was simply too outstanding.
Outstanding enough that, as long as Renya existed, there was hardly any need to consider anyone else.
Tobirama raised his head, looked toward Renya standing by the door, and spoke in a deep voice:
"Kid, do you want to become Hokage?"
Renya was completely stunned by the sudden question. A giant question mark practically popped up over his head.
He held his breath for a while before finally squeezing out one word.
"Huh?"
He was seriously asking him that? What the hell was this old man thinking now?
Could this be another one of Tobirama's tests?!
Was the question about "who's suitable to be Hokage" just a cover, while the real purpose was to bait him into revealing his ambitions?
If Renya's guess was correct, there were probably ANBU hiding all around right now, ready to rush in the moment he said "I want to be Hokage" — and chop him into tiny pieces.
Hmph, truly worthy of the title "naturally evil" Senju Tobirama!
Even after he'd been cooking for him all these years, this old man still didn't trust him.
Not that Renya had any interest in being Hokage to begin with, but under these circumstances, he especially couldn't say it.
Watching Renya's expression shift repeatedly, Tobirama frowned slightly, confused about what was going through the boy's head.
It was just a simple question — was that really enough to make him look so pale?
Could it be that his battlefield injuries were acting up again?
"Kid, are you okay?"
Renya stared at Tobirama's concerned expression and scoffed inwardly.
Man, this old guy's acting was really convincing.
He was perfectly fine right now — but if he said he wanted to be Hokage, he definitely wouldn't be fine for much longer…
"Old man, I'm fine," Renya shook his head and added, "Also, I'm not interested in being Hokage."
He had always believed there was no real point in becoming Hokage; true strength was the ultimate path.
Tsunade was right — only an idiot would want to be Hokage.
In Renya's eyes, being Hokage meant spending every day buried in paperwork and worrying about every little matter in the village.
Just look at this old man Tobirama as the perfect example — sometimes he was so swamped he practically slept in his office, barely even having time to eat.
Wasn't that just pure self-torture?
Renya had no intention of living that kind of miserable life…
Only someone like Shimura Danzō would willingly suffer endlessly in pursuit of a dream.
Tobirama hadn't expected Renya to reject the idea so flatly.
After all, for the vast majority of academy students, becoming Hokage was their ultimate dream.
He had assumed Renya would feel the same — but reality seemed very different.
"Isn't your dream to become Hokage?"
Renya gave him a sidelong glance and said irritably,
"Old man, who told you I wanted to be Hokage?"
"And for what? To sit in an office all day drowning in endless paperwork like you? Or to be so busy I don't even have time to eat?"
Just being a ninja was already stressful enough. Becoming Hokage on top of that? That was a straight path to insanity.
Tobirama: "…"
The kid… actually made a solid point. He was speechless.
And everything Renya said was based on firsthand observation — this was Tobirama's actual daily life right now.
"Whoever wants to be Hokage can go for it, but count me out."
Renya becoming Hokage? Impossible. Not in this lifetime.
"Alright, old man, I'm done talking." He glanced at the pile of documents on Tobirama's desk. "You should focus on finishing your paperwork."
With that, he turned and walked out of the office.
Tobirama stared at Renya's retreating back, then at the mountain of paperwork on his desk.
The kid wasn't wrong. Maybe it really was time to move his retirement plans up the schedule.
Before that, though, he needed to thoroughly evaluate Hiruzen and Danzō. Renya was clearly out of the running.
Judging by his attitude just now, Renya was deeply resistant to the idea of becoming Hokage — his reasons were even so convincing that Tobirama himself was now thinking about retiring early.
"Between Hiruzen and Danzō, who do you think is more suitable to be Hokage?" Tobirama asked toward the shadows.
ANBU: "…"
Damn it… this time he was definitely talking about us!
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo