Unbeknownst to Shiki, Mito or anyone else for that matter, a certain Monkey was beginning to harbor some "interesting" suspicions.
Hiruzen's actions as Hokage were more aptly described as misguided than malicious.
He simply lacked the absolute authority to deal with the issues his brand of command generated within the village and then let those issues fester until drastic measures became necessary.
His overindulgence of Danzo was also problematic.
Yes, Konoha needed someone to handle all that dirty work in the shadows but, as Hokage, Hiruzen ought to have a much tighter handle on said individual.
Still, while Danzo's "For Konoha" justification was deluded to a large extent, Hiruzen's "For Konoha" was not nearly as far gone.
And, now, he sensed the winds were shifting.
Hiruzen's instincts had always been good, his flaw was the lacking reaction to the signals those instincts provided but that too, was something that got worse with age, right now, he was still "spry" enough.
Mito had become a destabilizing factor to his rule as Hokage and, with her being in the end of her life, the Hokage played his usual game of trying to weaken her position and move her along, letting the Uzumaki matriarch fade quietly before she became a problem.
However, the strong position and aura of power projected during their meeting by the supposedly weakening old lady, did provoke some doubts.
"That was not the kind of power produced as a last blaze before burning away to nothing . . ." Hiruzen muttered to himself, alone in his office.
The Hokage drew deeply on his pipe, breathing out a large puff of smoke.
Sight within the room was becoming slightly turvy from all the tobacco fumes, but the man was too preoccupied with his thoughts to care or even notice.
"Is this just a second wind? If so . . . how long will it last . . ." Hiruzen talked to himself, sorting through his troubled mind.
If Mito was going to stick around for longer than he believed, then his view on matters would change considerably.
While his old friend Danzo would likely just revise the Uzumaki matriarch's threat level and possibly prepare even harsher measures to fight back, the Hokage was different.
"Another decade . . . If Mito-sama can hold out for another decade or so, then the boons she brings to the village make accepting her rising authority a better option." Hiruzen thought out loud.
'If she's dying soon, letting her influence grow now just invites instability when she inevitably perishes but if she can hang around long enough, then cooperating with her actions will ultimately benefit Konoha's strength and stability more.'
'Mito-sama just needs to hold out until her ward and his generation grow up and Konoha might enter its greatest period of prosperity since the time of Hashirama-sama.' He internally concluded.
Hiruzen knew Shiki was immensely sharp and had a good grasp of politics while his potential as a shinobi was monstrous.
'If properly groomed, he could become a fusion of Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sensei when he matures. He would be the perfect Hokage . . .' Hiruzen's thoughts kept turning.
'Maybe I should approach Mito-sama about this . . .' He mused.
If the boy himself could hear what was going on inside the Third Hokage's head, he might just make a rash decision and become a nukenin.
"Being Hokage? Who would want such a thankless job except for idiots like you?"
Those were the precise words Shiki had told Nawaki one day when the older boy asked whether he wanted to become Hokage too.
The little Senju was very displeased with him for several days but he had zero intention of changing his answer.
Shiki's ideal would be to install a perfectly obedient puppet Hokage who could handle all the work while fulfilling all of the boy's wishes using their official authority.
Either that or he would have to utterly revamp the whole administrative system to reduce the workload.
"One of the most important skills for a leader to have is delegation."
Shiki declared this belief to Mito while discussing official assignment of positions within their budding faction.
Putting it eloquently, it meant finding the right person for the job instead of trying and failing to do everything yourself.
Putting it more crudely, it was about pushing work onto others to free up your schedule while maintaining all the benefits that come with positions of leadership.
And now, the extremely administrative work adverse Shiki, was being targeted by a scheming middle aged man seeking to dump all of his own workload onto the boy.
Worse still, he would likely be unable to count on Mito for help regarding the matter.
In fact, the Uzumaki matriarch would likely be extremely cooperative with this plan "targeting" her ward.
She was, of course, extremely aware that Shiki lacked strong attachment to Konoha.
The boy was only attached to her, not the village.
If one day, he was forced into a position where he had to sacrifice her for the village or sacrifice the village for her, Mito had zero doubts that her ward would choose the latter option.
On one hand, it lit a fire in her, burning with love and adoration for Shiki every time she thought of him.
But it also made her afraid.
Afraid that he grew too callous to the rest of the world.
Afraid that he would never truly find a place to call home.
Afraid that he would be swallowed up by the hollowness inside him.
. . .
Afraid . . . that she might fail to live up to his love for her and how that might affect him.
Part of Uzumaki Mito wanted to selfishly hoard Shiki's love and attention, keep it all to herself, the most selfish and primal part of her.
But the redhead's more reasonable side wanted her ward to learn how to love others, people and places, find a place to belong, lovers, friends, a larger family beyond her.
Mito knew Shiki had an odd sense of responsibility towards things, he did not leave anything half done and once he decided to do something, the boy would never half-ass it.
It was precisely because of this characteristic of him that the Uzumaki matriarch would love to make him Hokage.
Not only would he become, in her opinion at least, the best Hokage her beloved Konoha would ever have, the position would also ground him, tie him down and help him meld into the world and society that he never quite seemed to integrate into.
Perhaps those thoughts and emotions would change in the future . . . But now, this was what Mito believed to be best for Shiki and what she wanted for him.
*
Blissfully unaware that, in the future, his beloved Mito-sama might team up with the dastardly Third Hokage to force him into the accursed Hokage chair, Shiki happily continued doing the only activity he truly loved in this word . . .
Training.
Be it jutsu development, physical training, skill training, it did not matter.
No matter how harsh or painful it became, the boy enjoyed it, his head cleared, his troubles regarding future enemies from beyond the stars vanished and he was fully at peace.
"Ironic that I feel most at peace when preparing for war, no?" Shiki questioned out loud.
The now re-named Ryumon Maiko who always watched his training with wonder just cutely tilted her head with her signature expressionless face.
The boy just gave a wry smile and refocused.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
To promote the novel I will be releasing BONUS CHAPTERS on SUNDAYS based on the previous week's power stone count.
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
500 Power Stones = 2 Bonus Chapters
1000 Power Stones = 3 Bonus Chapters
Every earned BONUS CHAPTER on Webnovel will also be posted on Scribble.
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -