On the night he returned home, after putting his two children to bed, Masashi went back to the bedroom.
He and his wives lay in bed, chatting.
Their conversations always revolved around the shinobi world, though Hikari and Pakura had different areas of expertise.
Hikari had deep insight into the mindset of the ninja clans.
Pakura, on the other hand, had a better understanding of the mentality of the higher-ups in the ninja villages.
Even though it was just a family chat, he often found inspiration from their discussions.
Since he had just returned from a mission, it was natural for him to talk about Suna.
"Oh, really..." After listening to her husband's words, Pakura pondered. "That guy is quite generous."
"You know him well?"
"There was a time when we interacted frequently." Pakura recalled Rasa who had become the Kazekage early on and was also the one who had set her up. "He's ambitious, strong, but stubborn."
Hikari remained silent. Village politics didn't interest her.
Changing the subject, Pakura started complaining to Masashi.
"Isn't the Hokage relying on you too much? Why is it always you running around for everything?"
"Good question. I'm just a fighter, but lately, they've been giving me all these administrative tasks. It's pretty boring."
"You should say no when necessary. It's not like you hold an official position."
Though she said this, Pakura had a feeling that one day, Masashi would be dragged into becoming Hokage.
And knowing how often the Hokage worked overtime, she didn't like the idea one bit.
How could he be stuck in an office working late when she was at her peak combat ability? That was unacceptable.
"Hikari, what do you think?"
"Hmm… I also think refusing would be better. The children need their father's presence, too." Hikari replied properly, then suddenly asked, "By the way, is the Hokage's office usually crowded?"
Hearing this, Pakura immediately sensed something off. To prevent this troublesome girl from "driving" the conversation in a questionable direction, she quickly changed the topic.
"Masashi, you're done with missions, right?"
"Yeah, unless another Great Ninja War starts, I shouldn't have much to do."
"That's good. Stay in the village for a while, and it's about time you start training Yosuke."
"Isn't that a bit too soon?" Masashi looked up in surprise. "He's just a kid…"
"Better to start early. You don't want him lagging behind his classmates later."
"At least wait until he's three, like Yukino."
Masashi had his own plans when it came to raising their children.
Butsuma believed that training children to be capable and independent ninjas was the greatest form of parental love.
But in reality, once you became a parent, no matter how old your children got, you'd never truly feel they were independent enough.
That was why Masashi wouldn't raise his children the way he did.
He always thought that the personalities of the Senju brothers were forced into shape by their father.
Butsuma never once praised his sons, even up until his death. He always believed they had too many shortcomings as ninjas.
Tobirama, understanding his father's mindset, ended up becoming an even stricter version of him.
The guy could go on a blind date and still end up picking a fight.
His kids would definitely not end up like that.
"Anyway, don't worry about the kids. I won't let them be at a disadvantage." Wrapping up the topic, he reassured his wives. Feeling satisfied, he soon drifted off to sleep.
---
The next day, as usual, he woke up early and returned to his life as a teacher.
Haku, Karin, and Neji also began various training courses under Masashi's arrangements. However, due to the current tense situation, their training was mostly conducted within the village.
The conflicts and negotiations between Iwa, Suna, and Kumo continued as usual.
During this period, he visited Orochimaru a few times.
The Sannin was extremely secretive about his research on Edo Tensei, and Masashi couldn't uncover any substantial information.
He couldn't even figure out which organization Orochimaru had aligned himself with.
Over time, Masashi stopped paying attention to it, as it seemed like Orochimaru wasn't making much progress.
As time passed, a year went by.
Haku, Karin, and Neji graduated and successfully obtained their genin rank.
Unlike Kakashi in the original timeline, Masashi didn't make things difficult for them—their final trial was fairly standard.
Because of this, Hizashi even invited him for a meal, which he accepted.
That same year, thanks to Konoha and Kiri's mediation, Iwa, Suna, and Kumo finally reached a peace agreement. However, after two years of war, the northern borders of the Land of Stone and the Land of Iron were left in ruins.
As the continent gradually returned to peace, commerce flourished once again. Konoha received a surge of new mission requests, with orders from the Land of Wind pouring in like snowflakes.
Suna's performance in the war had merely secured its core influence, but Konoha still managed to take a share of the mission requests from the Land of Wind.
Konoha remained at its peak, widely recognized as the number-one ninja village.
In this prosperous period, the next year arrived.
For Masashi, this was a significant year.
Because this was the year Naruto and Sasuke were set to graduate from the Ninja Academy.
However, in this timeline, there was no dead-last Naruto, nor was there an angsty Sasuke.
Instead, there were two little troublemakers.
As graduation approached, following tradition, the Hokage assigned jonin instructors to conduct the final tests.
These tests didn't necessarily determine whether the students would become direct subordinates of the jonin conducting them. For example, Masashi had overseen the tests for Haku, Karin, and Neji and even mentored them for a while, but they weren't officially part of his squad.
After their transition period, they were reassigned to different departments with new superiors.
Karin joined the Sealing Team, while Neji and Haku entered the Police Force. Notably, both Haku and Neji's superior was Tetsuka.
And now, yet another class of students was about to graduate.
On this day, following tradition, Minato summoned the relatively free jonin from the jonin corps.
Unfortunately for Masashi, he had been quite idle lately, so he was summoned as well.
It had to be said—the lineup this time was quite impressive.
To say that the Hokage and his advisors had no intention of using their positions to give their own sons an advantage would be a blatant lie.
The gathering took place in the jonin corps' meeting room.
Every notable jonin in Konoha was present. Not a single one of the frequently appearing jonin from the original timeline was missing, and there were even additions—Shisui and Itachi.
The meeting room in Konoha hadn't been this lively in a long time.
This place was originally established to help jonin socialize and strengthen relationships.
But in reality, it was a total failure.
After all, once someone became a jonin, they were usually very busy. Even during their so-called "downtime," it only meant they were temporarily without a mission. But did having no mission mean they had nothing to do?
If they wanted to socialize, wouldn't the commercial district be a better option? This meeting room had nothing except a bunch of tables and chairs... This was hardly an inviting atmosphere.
As a result, the room was usually deserted, with only a few on-duty jonin hanging around to kill time.
The only time it ever got a little crowded was during the graduation team assignments, but even then, it was rare to see it as lively as today.
Everyone knew the reason—this year's graduates were of exceptional quality.
Among them were the sons of the Fourth Hokage and the Hokage Advisor, as well as the grandson of the Third Hokage.
There was also the Hyūga clan's main family heiress, the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Chō trio, and the most highly regarded heirs of the Inuzuka and Aburame clans.
How the teams were assigned and who would lead them were matters of great importance.
The village's "renowned instructors" were also well known to everyone.
To be recognized as a great teacher, first and foremost, one's own strength had to be outstanding. Second, they needed strong teaching abilities. And third, they had to be a good match for their students.
For example, the Aburame clan's children were a special case—they couldn't be taught just any ninjutsu, as their techniques followed a unique system. The same went for the Inuzuka and Hyūga clans, whose techniques were exclusive to their own families. That meant external instructors couldn't provide in-depth training.
Fortunately, these were exceptions rather than the rule.
Inside the room, the extra tables and chairs had been cleared out, leaving only a long table at the front with five chairs.
As the jonin waited for the higher-ups to arrive, they chatted amongst themselves. Given today's topic, much of the conversation revolved around the graduating students.
Those who taught at the Ninja Academy naturally had the most insight into the students.
Coincidentally, some of the graduates had family members among the jonin present.
One such family member, in particular, was especially chatty.
"Masashi, is Sasuke usually very attentive in class?"
"Does he care for his classmates?"
"Does he—"
"Enough already!"
Ever since Masashi had left the Uchiha compound, his ears hadn't had a moment of peace. The culprit was the obsessive younger brother next to him, who had been pestering him with questions the entire way to the room.
"Why do you have so many questions? Kids are supposed to be a little mischievous in school."
"Ah! Sasuke is mischievous?" Itachi asked anxiously. "Do the teachers and his classmates dislike him?"
No, actually, they enjoyed watching him practice calligraphy.
Mikoto's Iron Palm technique had probably reached mastery by now. And Sasuke's... probably red.
"Hey, don't overthink things. He's graduating today, isn't he?"
"Okay…" Although Itachi wanted to ask more, he saw that Masashi had already squeezed into a group of Hyūga jonin, so he had to give up.
After all, Itachi didn't have any friends in the Hyūga clan, so he wasn't comfortable joining in.
Masashi, on the other hand, seemed to have friends everywhere.
"Itachi, don't worry. Sasuke is such a good boy; he surely gets along well with everyone," a gentle voice reassured him.
Shisui patted Itachi's shoulder, offering comfort in a warm tone.
Still, even Shisui was inwardly complaining.
He couldn't blame Masashi for running away. Ever since they left the Uchiha compound, Itachi hadn't stopped his brotherly rambling.
Even Shisui was getting a little overwhelmed.
Wasn't this level of overindulgence too much?
Sasuke was indeed a good and adorable kid, but spoiling him too much would be bad for his growth.
Shisui glanced over at Masashi, who was happily chatting with the Hyūga.
He couldn't help but envy him a little.
Shisui had also tried to build good relations with the Hyūga clan, but he always felt there was some invisible barrier between them.
They had started in the same place—both of them had been on the Mist battlefield together.
Could it be that drinking a few rounds of fancy sake made that much of a difference?
That was one thing he just couldn't learn.
Suddenly, the room fell silent. Masashi finished his conversation with the Hyūga jonin and returned to stand beside Shisui.
Shisui quickly tugged on Itachi's sleeve, signaling him to stop muttering.
The Hokage had arrived.
The doors of the meeting room opened.
Minato entered first, followed by Hiruzen.
Behind them were Fugaku and the two elders.
The five key figures of Konoha took their seats while the jonin organized themselves according to rank.
Seating arrangements were determined by the jonin Corps.
Masashi and Shisui were placed in the front row. Those in this row either had exceptional strength or significant influence—essentially, they were the "military heads."
Itachi stood in the second row alongside Kakashi and others, marking them as elite jonin.
"Thank you all for gathering here today. I'm sure you already know the reason," Minato said as he surveyed the room.
Nearly two hundred jonin stood before him, creating an impressive sight.
Konoha's jonin count had surpassed three hundred.
Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, Konoha alone had reached this scale. The smallest, Kiri, currently had fewer than a hundred jonin.
Looking at the assembled jonin, he felt a surge of emotion.
More than a decade of relentless effort had led to this moment—it hadn't been easy.
Hiruzen was just as sentimental. When he stepped down, Konoha had been in shambles, barely able to keep going.
Thirteen years later, the village was stronger than ever.
Hiruzen's gaze lingered on the Uchiha jonin. The Uchiha clan now had more than ten jonin in the corps, with five present today.
Both Masashi and Shisui, the Uchiha's strongest warriors, were here.
The top newcomer, Itachi, was also present.
Hiruzen stared for so long that Masashi, unable to pretend he didn't notice, had to force a polite but awkward smile in return.
Hiruzen, however, remained entirely unbothered, smiling benevolently.
Meanwhile, Minato pulled out the student roster.
"Everyone is familiar with the process, so I won't waste words. Let's start with the team assignments." He gestured to the Education Department staff at the door. "Please distribute the team lists."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
The staff responded and began handing out the lists.
It was just a single sheet of paper containing the team placements.
Masashi quickly scanned it, immediately searching for two names.
As expected, Sasuke and Naruto were still in the same group, but their third teammate had changed.