I thought I could raise a Hokage!!!

Last night, the patriarch and his wife personally visited to make a request. Uchiha Shisui had plenty of free time for the rest of the year and had no reason to refuse… Besides, the crow was quite interesting.

This morning, Uchiha Shisui sat at Itachi's house, drinking tea back and forth through three courses, waiting for Beiyuan, who was still sleepy, to finally wake up.

Uchiha Itachi held Sasuke and stood at the door to see them off. "Shisui, please! If Beiyuan is willful, please bear with him..."

"Hah, I can't beat him anyway, so what can I do?" Shisui chuckled and stretched out his arm, signaling for the crow to fly up. "Let's go!"

Konoha ninjas are generally not allowed to leave the village easily. However, there are still ways around it, such as taking a mission that requires travel.

The main reason for restricting travel is to control the movements of high-level Jonin, as they may be called upon for village matters at any moment.

The Third Hokage was not on duty at the mission assignment desk today, and Shisui took on a mission to eliminate some nearby bandits. As a ninja with a reserved Anbu position, he was not given much trouble.

"Let's finish the mission first. There's a small town nearby that's usually lively. How about we check it out after?" Shisui grabbed the mission scroll and tucked it into his ninja tool pouch.

"Gah…"

Shisui couldn't tell whether the crow agreed or not, but there was nothing unusual about it—until, after leaving the village, Beiyuan suddenly flapped his wings and flew off.

"…Hey! You bastard! Where are you going?!" Shisui leaped onto a tree, watching Beiyuan fly farther and farther away. He clapped his hands helplessly.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Gah… gah… gah…"

Shisui's own summoned crows emerged from the seal, circling around him. It made for a dramatic scene.

"Go after that crow and bring him back immediately!"

His summoned crows obediently flew after Beiyuan. Since he didn't fully trust their ability to handle it, Shisui created a shadow clone to follow as well.

Meanwhile, the real Shisui chased after Beiyuan himself.

Two minutes later, Shisui stared at Beiyuan with a complicated expression.

The crow was perched at the top of a tree, happily eating fruit.

His summoned crows flew back and forth, dutifully picking wild fruit and delivering them to Beiyuan one by one. As their summoner, Shisui no longer knew what to think.

"…Gah…"

Beiyuan, feeling generous, offered Shisui a fruit.

Shisui shook his head. "I don't really want it."

"Qu… qua… qua…"

Shisui's summoned crows suddenly stopped and cawed in unison, flying above him.

As their summoner, Shisui understood their meaning—they had now become Beiyuan's translators in the span of two minutes.

"…The Fire Country's Daimyo's residence isn't too far from here. At our speed, we can make it in time…"

"Gah…"

Beiyuan secretly rejoiced that Shisui had come along this time. After more than a year in the ninja world, he had never left Konoha and had no idea where the Daimyo's residence actually was.

His main goal in leaving was to visit the Daimyo's palace. Hokage, as the leader of Konoha, was only a temporary representative of the Fire Country, and every Hokage had to officially register at the Daimyo's residence.

Konoha tried to keep Hokage's movements a secret, but that wasn't the case at the Daimyo's residence. No matter how powerful Hokage was, he couldn't make the Daimyo keep quiet.

If the Hokage was at the Daimyo's residence, the news would spread across the entire Fire Country. If Beiyuan couldn't confirm it, then this trip would simply turn into sightseeing—he could always look for another opportunity later.

The reason he chose today was mainly because he had seen Hatake Kakashi yesterday… As one of Konoha Anbu's strongest ninjas, Kakashi's missions usually involved assassinations or intelligence gathering.

Escorting information should have been something any regular ninja could handle, with Anbu protecting them from the shadows at most. That meant the person transporting the information was probably the Hokage himself.

A simple-minded cub like Itachi wouldn't think about it this way. His foolish younger brother Sasuke didn't even have the brain capacity yet. Only someone as sharp as Beiyuan could reverse-engineer the process from the results.

The result was clear: Danzo had sent Root to assassinate the Third Hokage, attempting to seize the Hokage position, but ended up mistakenly targeting Hatake Kakashi instead.

Of course, even if Kakashi hadn't interfered, Root wouldn't have succeeded. The real reason they failed was because of Kakashi's sudden counterattack and Root's forces being weaker than expected.

What Beiyuan needed to do was fan the flames. If Root suddenly gained significant strength, Konoha's leadership would be forced to shift their focus away from the Uchiha.

That would buy time—time for Fugaku to maneuver, time for Itachi to grow. As for how to make it happen, Beiyuan had his own plans.

Today, when he accompanied Shisui to the mission desk, the ever-diligent Third Hokage was conspicuously absent.

If Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't in Konoha today—or at least not officially—then Beiyuan just needed to confirm it at the Daimyo's residence.

The problem was the extra baggage weighing him down. Beiyuan shot a glance at Shisui, who was leaping through the trees, and cawed in annoyance.

"Gah…"

"Qu… qua… qua… qua…"

A hundred summoned crows translated in unison.

Shisui sighed. "I get it, I get it. Hurry up."

If he had to bring along this teenage Chunin, he might as well let him witness the true nature of Root—so he wouldn't be fooled by the so-called old friends of his ancestors in the future.

-The Fire Country's Daimyo Residence-

No matter how you looked at it, the Daimyo's residence couldn't compare to the prosperity of Konoha. Chakra-fueled creativity was limitless. The Daimyo's residence felt more like a massive market—a seemingly thriving economy, but mostly due to population concentration.

Beiyuan's guess was correct.

"Hey, I heard the leader of Konoha's Hidden Village is here today, meeting with the Daimyo!"

"Those ninjas are always fighting…"

"At least they protect the Fire Country!"

"Apparently, he's being officially appointed as Hokage today…"

The secrecy that Konoha had gone to great lengths to maintain was now being spread recklessly in the Daimyo's city. The people here spoke of it casually—it wasn't a big deal. The Daimyo probably leaked the news himself.

Beiyuan: "…"

Uchiha Shisui: "…"

Why did this feel so ironic?

The information they tried so hard to keep confidential was considered trivial and openly discussed by others.

The Daimyo had the upper hand here. To the people in his city, the Hokage wasn't some untouchable leader—just another official in service to the Fire Country.

Shisui, who had always taken pride in being a ninja, was now beginning to sense the true power structure at play.