CH_73

"Tomorrow's Lord Minato's inauguration ceremony. And the captain's heading off to the Land of Water—I wonder what urgent mission he's on." Natchi was curious about Kenji's assignment.

After all, most Konoha kids grew up playing ninja games and listening to adults tell stories about great shinobi.

The more ambitious ones dreamed of becoming great ninja themselves. Though Natchi never said he wanted to be Hokage, he'd always looked up to those legendary figures—especially Namikaze Minato.

That man was the closest to them in age. The kids who'd become genin in recent years had all grown up hearing the tales of his rise from the Academy.

For Tōji, he'd heard Minato's name more times than Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade combined.

He was a figure who'd left a deep impression on an entire generation.

"Anyway—the Land of Water mission isn't something we should be prying into. Are you both going to watch the inauguration tomorrow?" Neru asked.

"Of course!" Natchi's face was already full of longing.

Come to think of it, Tōji had been in Konoha for years now, and this would be his first time witnessing a new Hokage's inauguration ceremony.

"I'll go too." Tōji chimed in.

Most of the villagers would show up to watch.

Aside from those with differing political views, nearly every shinobi would be there to witness the historic moment.

"Then let's go together tomorrow." Neru turned to leave. "I'm heading back—you two shouldn't slack off either. The Chūnin Exams are just around the corner."

"Who's slacking off!" Natchi raised his oversized fist again.

"Alright, I need to get to the hospital too." Seeing Neru leave, Tōji also made his move.

Konoha Hospital had been busy lately. The war had left behind not only elite warriors, countless dead, and many orphans—but also a hospital overflowing with the wounded.

Tōji hadn't managed to "steal" the 【Healing Palms Technique】 during this time—that one really required Haruka's direct instruction.

But the 【Chakra Scalpel】 was just a chakra application technique, and he'd actually started making progress in "stealing" that one.

Of course, that was partly because Haruka was often overwhelmed and needed him to grow faster—meaning she'd intentionally "passed on" knowledge to him. Otherwise, "stealing" wouldn't have been so easy.

Still, Tōji felt it made sense that he was making progress—the early bird catches the worm, after all. He'd never had much to train in since he was little, so he'd always focused on fine chakra control.

After saying goodbye to Natchi and Neru, he headed straight to Konoha Hospital.

The most urgent and important surgeries at the hospital weren't handled by Haruka. She mostly dealt with muscle and bone treatments.

The severely wounded who made it back to Konoha were a classic case of "survivorship bias." Those with critical injuries rarely survived the journey home.

So Haruka's surgeries were scheduled during the hours of the day when she was at her best.

Tōji would arrive at the hospital in the morning and still have time to prepare for Haruka's procedures.

Another day of the same routine passed…

The next morning, after finishing his daily training, Tōji headed to the Hokage Tower.

It was one of the few times in his eleven years in the Naruto world that he'd get to witness a major historical event.

Of course, if he didn't die young, he'd see several more Hokage inaugurations in the future.

The area in front of the Hokage Tower was packed with people. Tōji couldn't even spot Natchi or Neru.

He didn't bother trying to force his way through the crowd to find them.

Spotting Gan Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo together, Tōji made his way over. Those two—future gate guards for life—were also his classmates from the same year.