Konoha Village.
Upon returning to the village, Sasuke immediately reported to the higher-ups: Naruto Uzumaki, the Fifth Hokage, had changed his route without authorization and gone to the Hidden Sand Village alone. Konoha was to send reinforcements.
Half an hour later, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had mobilized every available ninja in the village. They dispatched twenty ANBU squads to set out immediately, tasked with rescuing their unreliable Hokage. If the situation was dire, they might even have to call upon the First and Second Hokage for aid.
In the end, that order was canceled just as quickly as it was given.
Raidō Namiashi, Genma Shiranui, and other members of the Hokage Guard Platoon returned via the Flying Thunder God Formation. They reported to the higher-ups that the Sand Village had, once again, unconditionally surrendered to Konoha.
This whole affair made it seem like Konoha's leadership was just playing games with its own shinobi.
Fortunately, the safe return of the new Hokage was the best news they could have received. He had even brought back the Fifth Kazekage as a hostage to ensure the Sand Village's surrender. After a brief moment of silent anger, the Konoha council was cheerful again. They had effectively subdued the Sand Village without spilling a drop of blood.
Besides the Sand Village… the one most hurt by this was Sasuke Uchiha.
Kakashi Hatake looked at his prized student with an awkward expression. "Although this was because of Naruto, the mission didn't exactly meet the objectives for an ANBU assessment..."
"Did my assessment mission fail?" Sasuke's expression darkened.
His original mission was to protect someone who didn't need protection in the first place. The fact that this person was so infuriatingly familiar only made it worse. Then, of course, an accident had to happen during the assessment.
Is it true that nothing good ever happens when you're with Naruto?
"Strictly speaking, yes," Kakashi replied, watching Sasuke clench his fists. He adjusted his own mask and delivered the bad news. "Tenzo and the other ANBU members will be held accountable by the ANBU commander. As an intern who just joined, you'll probably be dismissed..."
To be honest, Sasuke was an innocent victim in all this. He had handled the sudden incident reasonably well. However, the standards for ANBU were incredibly strict. Since Tenzo and the others had lost track of Naruto, they were the ones who had to take the blame, even if the Hokage himself was the one who made the mistake.
Crack!
Sasuke crushed his ANBU mask in his hand. What kind of ridiculous rule was this? Why should he suffer the consequences for a mistake that idiot Naruto made?
"...Alright, I'll stop teasing you," Kakashi said, bending down to look at his angry student. His eyes crinkled into a smile. "The ANBU will handle this fairly. Although your first assessment mission failed, it was due to circumstances beyond your control. I'll help you apply for another one."
"...Thank you, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke sighed after a long silence.
Kakashi scratched his eyelid, thinking aloud. "For the next assessment, how about maintaining order at the Hokage succession ceremony?"
"No!" Sasuke's fingers cracked as he squeezed them into a fist. He shook his head. "Kakashi-sensei, can you arrange some combat missions for me?"
"Combat missions?" Kakashi fell silent.
As Naruto resolved the threat from the Sand Village, Konoha's higher-ups promptly posted the announcement of his succession as the Fifth Hokage. When it came to guiding public opinion, they were quite skilled.
The higher-ups wrote in great detail about Naruto's feat of defeating the entire Sand Village by himself. This brand of individual heroism, while not typical in the ninja world, easily stirred the admiration hidden in every ninja's heart. After all, everyone dreams of being a hero.
A powerful ninja comparable to the First Hokage…
The new generation's God of Shinobi…
The Strongest Hokage…
These titles were all heaped upon Naruto. Coincidentally, the buzz from his battle against three other Hokage hadn't faded yet, so it all fit quite well.
But this inevitably led to the awkward situation of "consuming" the memory of the deceased Hiruzen Sarutobi. After all, he was previously praised by Konoha as the Strongest Hokage, only to be killed and controlled by Orochimaru during the Chunin Exams, and then beaten up by Naruto.
Since the time between Konoha's two Hokage wasn't long, it was inevitable that people would compare the Third with the new Fifth, leading to some controversy.
Supporters of the Third Hokage argued that he was too old, and his lack of stamina was unavoidable. His defeat was excusable. After all, the one who killed Hiruzen was the Second Hokage, controlled by Orochimaru's Reanimation Jutsu.
However, the supporters of the Fifth Hokage had only one response: The First, Second, and Third Hokage, along with Orochimaru, couldn't defeat the Fifth Hokage even when they teamed up.
The whole issue was rather awkward.
In fact, Koharu and Homura had already thought about it in great detail. They knew that Naruto had brought back many hostages, including not only the Fifth Kazekage but also the families of all the Sand Village's Jonin.
When they first heard about it, they were somewhat dismissive. How many people could the families of the Sand's top ninja possibly be?
However, when Naruto actually brought the hostages back, the two elders could hardly believe their eyes. Why was there a whole string of children?
"What on earth is going on?"
"I signed an eighteen-article agreement with the Sand Village..." Naruto began, then suddenly turned to the red-haired boy beside him. "Gaara, what were the clauses in that agreement we signed?"
"..." The Fifth Kazekage's face darkened. He glared fiercely at Naruto before listing the humiliating clauses one by one.
Koharu looked at Gaara in confusion. "How could the Sand Village possibly accept such terms?"
It wasn't as if they hadn't had the upper hand against the Sand Village before. During the battle of Kikyo Pass, a large number of Sand ninja were killed, and many of their young shinobi were captured and integrated into Konoha. In the end, the Fourth Kazekage had no choice but to surrender, even ceding the village's primary source of funding to Konoha.
The red-haired boy's expression was grim as he said, "Lord Hokage of Konoha destroyed the entire Sand Village. We had no choice but to accept his conditions..."
"..."
Even after serving as Hokage advisors for decades, Koharu and Homura had never encountered such a situation. They had originally thought Naruto was just holding Gaara hostage to intimidate the Sand Village. They never expected him to aim for the complete destruction of their village.
It wasn't as if no one had proposed such harsh conditions to the Sand Village during the Third Great Ninja War... but that person had just had his funeral not long ago. Hiruzen had believed that such terms would only lead to desperate resistance, which would hurt Konoha's efforts on other fronts, so he vetoed the proposal.
And now, the Sand Village had surrendered so easily?
Is pacifism... a bit outdated?
"Alright," Naruto said, his tone calm but carrying undeniable authority. He gave Koharu and Homura a deep look. "Have the two advisors arranged the Hokage succession ceremony?"
"It will be held in three days. The daimyo's official appointment has already arrived."
"First, send people to settle Gaara and the others," Naruto ordered, clasping his hands together. "Then, gather the village's Jonin and help me implement the clauses of the agreement with the Sand Village, one by one. Also, disband the current Hokage Guard Platoon. I want to rebuild it."
"..." Koharu was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.
This little brat goes on one trip, she thought, and he comes back with the authority of a full-fledged Hokage.
-----
Bonus:
Sasuke: My assessment failed...
Kakashi: How is that possible? I even pulled some strings for you!
Sasuke: But... Naruto left the protection detail on his own!
Kakashi: ...
Naruto Uzumaki: How many times have I said it? No pulling strings and using connections!
Kakashi: ...
Sasuke: ...