章 160: ANBU

The Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato's speech received an outstanding response.

Compared to the long and sermon-like style of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen's speeches, Minato's speech was clearly more practical and full of the enthusiastic vigor of youth.

In his speech, Minato briefly informed the villagers about his administration's goals.

Retirement and compensation would be provided to the families of ninjas who died in the last ninja war, and the names of all fallen ninjas would be engraved on a memorial tablet.

He emphasized the importance of civilian ninja education, particularly increasing investment in medical ninja training to reduce the number of future ninja sacrifices.

To promote internal harmony within Konoha, a series of policies would be implemented to ease conflicts. Although not explicitly stated, this clearly aimed at addressing the Uchiha Clan issues.

Strengthening the role of ANBU in defending Konoha to prevent mistakes from the Third Ninja World War from happening again.

This was just a small part. As the youngest Hokage in Konoha's history, Minato's ideals and ambitions certainly went beyond this.

What Minato wanted to do was the same as Shintaro.

He wanted to change Konoha.

Shintaro listened intently below.

Most of his peers, even adult ninjas, only heard the excitement.

But he listened carefully to Minato's thoughts.

'Although this reform is somewhat conservative, there are still some obstacles.'

He silently commented on Minato's political ideas in his heart while glancing at Hiruzen behind Minato.

After all, Minato was still young and did not have a strong foundation to reach the top.

Moreover, Minato came from Hiruzen's lineage and was Hiruzen's student. Even if he became Hokage, he would not be able to escape Hiruzen's influence.

After hearing this, Shintaro stopped listening carefully.

Seeing is believing.

He decided to use the Six Eyes to see for himself if Konoha under Minato's rule could meet his expectations.

Shintaro looked down at Kurenai with a face full of longing beside him.

"Kurenai, what are you thinking?"

Kurenai reacted, and her face blushed for some reason.

Then she suddenly turned her face away, not daring to look at Shintaro again.

Even though Shintaro had the Six Eyes, he couldn't see into a woman's heart. He just felt strange but didn't investigate further.

Actually, what Kurenai was thinking was, if Shintaro also became Hokage a few years later, would she become his wife?

At that time, she would be as beautiful as Uzumaki Kushina, who was standing on the roof of the Hokage Building.

If Shintaro knew what Kurenai was thinking, he might not know how to respond.

Maybe he really could become Hokage, but Kurenai might be disappointed. After all, his method of becoming Hokage might not be as sincere as Minato's.

Minato came from the Hokage lineage, while Shintaro came from the Uchiha Clan lineage.

Since the First Hokage was held by Senju Hashirama, it was destined that members of the Uchiha Clan could not become Hokage in the usual way unless the Uchiha Clan was destroyed.

Minato's inauguration speech ended.

The crowd surrounding the Hokage Building immediately gave a very warm round of applause.

The crowd refused to disperse for a long time, and the fog of war seemed to be swept away by the newly appointed Hokage.

After a long time, the crowd gradually dispersed, and Shintaro and Kurenai were about to leave.

An ANBU member wearing a cat face mask stopped Shintaro.

"Uchiha Shintaro, the Hokage has summoned you."

Shintaro raised his eyebrows and asked, "Which Hokage?"

"The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato."

The cat-masked ANBU said calmly.

Shintaro then turned to Kurenai, "Kurenai, you go back first."

"Mm." Kurenai nodded and left.

The cat-masked ANBU looked at her, and as Shintaro was about to leave, the cat-faced ANBU spoke again: "Wait a moment, there's one more."

The cat-masked ANBU immediately left.

Shintaro was just assessing the strength of this ANBU, and he had just reached the Jonin level.

Judging by his attire, he seemed to be an ANBU squad leader.

Shintaro estimated the overall strength of ANBU.

The ANBU captain and vice-captain, Asuma's older brother and sister-in-law, were at the elite Jonin level.

The squad leaders should be at the regular Jonin level, and their teammates should only be at the Chunin or Special Jonin level.

From this perspective, ANBU's hard power was not very prominent, but it did not function on the front battlefield, so hard power was not very important.

Soon, the ANBU returned to Shintaro's side, accompanied by a white-haired boy, Hatake Kakashi.

The three of them walked towards the Hokage building.

"Shintaro, are you here too?" Kakashi turned to look with his only remaining eye.

"Yes, I'm here too. I don't know what task Minato-sensei will assign to us." Shintaro shrugged.

The silent cat-masked ANBU next to them said, "This is not a mission, it's an appointment."

Kakashi and Shintaro exchanged glances and walked towards the Hokage office door.

Opening the door, it was Minato sitting, not Hiruzen, which made Shintaro and Kakashi feel like they were in another world.

Minato had his classic gentle smile on his face.

"Kakashi, Shintaro, you're here."

Kakashi and Shintaro both responded when they heard this.

Minato quickly got to the point, "I plan to recruit you into ANBU to hone your strength and gather mission experience."

"What do you think?"

Kakashi turned and looked at the cat-masked ANBU beside him.

"ANBU..."

Minato thought Kakashi might not understand ANBU, so he began to explain.

"ANBU, also known as the special assassination tactics force."

"Founded by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama-sama, and directly led by the Hokage."

"ANBU members are all outstanding ninjas selected from the village. They are primarily responsible for protecting the Hokage and preventing foreign enemies from attacking Konoha village. Sometimes they are also responsible for tasks such as reconnaissance of enemy situations and assassination. All members wear animal-like masks while acting. The nature of the missions and all other information are kept secret. There are many squads under the army, and the squad leaders uniformly convey orders and lead the execution of tasks."

"Kakashi, Shintaro, you are both my trusted juniors and will ultimately become the pillars of Konoha."

"So I want you to join ANBU. Of course, it's okay if you have other ideas."

After Minato finished speaking, he waited for Kakashi and Shintaro to make their decisions.

Kakashi was the first to speak: "I am willing to join."

After he answered, his eyes immediately lowered.

"Obito and Rin are gone, Minato-sensei has become Hokage, and Team Minato no longer exists."

"Rather than regrouping and performing missions, I prefer joining ANBU."

Hearing this, Minato suddenly felt that his decision to let Kakashi join ANBU might be somewhat inappropriate.

After all, Kakashi was already very depressed, and working in an environment like ANBU might hinder his growth. But Minato ultimately decided to respect Kakashi's own wishes.

"Maybe Kakashi can find some peace in ANBU."