He cleaned up the leftover food. They should be arriving soon. It wouldn't look good if it was a mess.
Just as Torifu was about to take the trash out, he saw Hiruzen walking toward him. With guests arriving, Torifu couldn't just leave, so he used Ice Release to freeze all the trash. He then patted it, and it turned into a cloud of mist and vanished.
"Hiruzen, it's been a while since we've seen each other."
Hiruzen smiled. "You're right. We haven't seen each other since we ran into each other on the street last time."
Torifu patted his shoulder. "Come on in. I can't believe we're fighting side by side again."
Speaking of this, Hiruzen was a little confused. "Do we really need to send so many elite Jōnin for a prince's rebellion? And you, as the soon-to-be Third Hokage, are going too?"
Torifu spread his hands. "I can't help it. The higher-ups have all the power. Who told me that I'm not Hokage yet? I'm just a small fry under the Hokage's command?"
Just as Hiruzen was about to laugh, a clear male voice came from outside the door. "If Tobirama-sama heard that, he'd be mad again."
Torifu and Hiruzen turned to see that Kagami and Naori had arrived. Torifu was nonchalant. "He's always mad. He gets mad about new things every day, so I guess this time won't be any different."
Everyone laughed. Only Torifu in the entire Hidden Leaf Village would dare to be so presumptuous. No one else was as carefree as he was.
"Go ahead and sit in the courtyard. Go to the biggest gazebo."
Naori gave Torifu an OK sign with her hand. "Don't worry, I know the way. I'll take them."
Kagami then teased, "Oh, look at you, the future lady of the house. You're already acting the part, huh?"
Naori's face flushed red, and she immediately gave Kagami a punch. "What are you talking about?"
Kagami winced and smiled. "Alright, alright. Why are you so shy? It's going to happen sooner or later anyway."
The three of them then walked in. Kagami and the others didn't come to Torifu's house very often. When they had gatherings, they usually went to the Sarutobi Clan grounds, since Hiruzen loved to organize these things.
"We heard laughter from far away. Did we miss something?"
Koharu's voice rang out, and Homura and Danzō also arrived together. They first congratulated Torifu on becoming the Third Hokage, and their congratulations were all sincere. Even Danzō didn't feel the need to compete with Torifu for the Hokage position, because the gap between them was just too great. And since his good friend Hiruzen didn't become Hokage, Danzō felt much more at ease. This was why he hadn't become as paranoid as he was in the original story. There's a saying, "Your friends want you to do well, but they don't want you to do better than them."
[T/N: True. The only person in the world who wholeheartedly wants you to do better than them are your parents. Not siblings, not friends.]
This was the same principle. If the person who was going to become Hokage was Hiruzen, Danzō, who grew up with him and was his brother-in-arms, would naturally feel unbalanced. But with Torifu, it was a different story. Although their relationship was good, it wasn't as close as the one he had with Hiruzen.
"Nothing. Naori just told a joke to liven up the mood. Come on in, let's go join them."
Koharu nodded when she heard this. Danzō and Homura also said okay. Akimichi Torifu was not on this mission because he had already left the village on another mission and had not yet returned. So he would miss this one.
They all gathered in the gazebo. Although they were all good friends, they now all had their own families and different positions, so it had been a while since they had seen each other.
"Everyone, Tobirama-sama should have already told you about the details of this mission, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"Even though we know the situation, it's basically the same as not knowing anything. We have no idea where to even start."
Torifu waved his hand. "Don't worry. We've done so many missions over the years. Are we really going to be stumped by this?"
Although he said that, all their previous missions had very clear goals, whether it was to protect someone, kill someone, or rescue someone. But this mission was too vague. Nine princes had sent requests for aid to the Hidden Leaf, but in that time, one of the princes had already been killed. They didn't even know who the killer was.
Torifu continued, "The princes' letters are for borrowing the Hidden Leaf's army to quell the rebellion, so we'll just lend it to them."
Danzō frowned when he heard this. "What do you mean, Torifu?"
"There are seven of us. The eldest and second princes are my responsibility. The rest of you will each take one."
"Surveillance?"
Torifu nodded. "You could say that. Since we have so little information, this is a quick way to weed out the princes who are causing trouble."
"And our ultimate goals are multiple. First, find the real rebellious prince. Second, find the killer of the eighth prince. Third, find the missing Uzumaki Ashina. This is what Mito-sama requested."
Torifu then told his friends about the information he got at Hashirama's house last night. "Regarding what Kushina said about Uzumaki Ashina meeting with the eldest and second princes before he disappeared, I feel like there might be a connection between the two of them, so I'll be responsible for them."
Everyone agreed. In this operation, they were Torifu's subordinates, and they had to follow his orders.
"I feel like this is a little exciting."
Torifu smiled. "I've had that feeling for a while. It's like a guessing game."
Hiruzen stretched. "It's been a long time since I've felt like I was preparing for a big fight. After becoming a clan head, I feel like my mindset has become old."
Everyone else agreed. Like Hiruzen, Kagami, and Danzō, they were all clan heads now. They spent their days thinking about the development of their clans, so it was hard for them to have the same drive they had when they were younger.
But even though Torifu was also a clan head, he never had this worry. After all, his clan only had a dozen or so lives, including the birds and beasts.
They then talked about the details of landing on the island and monitoring the princes. Although they saw it as surveillance, they still had to help the princes with some things on the surface, since they were the Hidden Leaf's reinforcements. They could only take things one step at a time. This was a mission they had never done before. But this sense of the unknown made them all a little excited.
"We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning. It will take at least a day to get to the Land of Whirlpools, so we all need to get a good rest today."
Everyone nodded. After they finished talking about the mission details, there was nothing else to discuss. After some small talk, everyone went home to get ready to leave for the Land of Whirlpools tomorrow.
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chapter end
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