Anka immediately nodded, recording the matter in her notebook. "Understood, Hokage-sama. I will take care of it. I have a decent relationship with General Mifune and know some of his preferences."
Torifu was aware of this. When Mifune had not yet become a general, Anka had accompanied him on his visit to Konohagakure. For a whole week, Anka had led their sightseeing tour. They could be called old friends, but now that Mifune had become a General, he naturally could no longer address Anka as a casual friend.
This was simply the way of the Shinobi World. Although Torifu disliked titles like 'sama' in everyday life, he couldn't help it. The villagers of Konohagakure still believed in a difference between the honored and the lowly, let alone those from other nations. This wasn't something that could be changed overnight; it required a slow and steady process. The mindset of the villagers needed to shift little by little, progressing from one generation to the next. If he tried to change the deeply ingrained ideology of tens of thousands of people in just a few years, Torifu felt that would be a superhuman task.
"Besides Mifune, the Tsuchikage and the Kazekage should also be leaving soon. You can inquire about the exact times and then present them with a gift as well."
Those people held high status. Whether they were arriving or departing, there had to be an appropriate welcoming and sending-off ceremony. It was a matter of basic respect.
"Understood, Hokage-sama. I have noted everything."
With that, Torifu had nothing more to do. After chatting with Anka for a while longer, he left the office, intending to head home.
As he opened the office door and stepped out, he saw a team of shinobi carrying several large boxes toward the Personnel Department. Torifu figured these must be the collected résumés. Sifting through this many people, then conducting simple interviews, truly amounted to a major project. The staff in the Personnel Department would have to work hard for the next couple of days. However, their usual work was very light; they only had a few major projects like this all year.
"Hokage-sama! Are you heading out?" The leading shinobi saw Torifu leaving and asked with a look of respect and admiration. He was just a regular Chunin who rarely had a chance to speak with the Hokage, and even when he did, it was usually the fake one. Now that he had run into the real one, he offered a greeting.
Torifu smiled. "That's right. I handled official duties all afternoon and am a bit tired now, so I'm going out for a stroll."
"These are the résumés submitted by the villagers, I assume? It must be a hassle for you to deliver them."
The leading shinobi quickly shook his head upon hearing Torifu speak to him at such length. "It's no trouble at all, Hokage-sama, this is our mission. Well, Hokage-sama, we won't bother you any longer."
The shinobi then bowed slightly, watching Torifu depart. Torifu smiled and waved, then turned and left.
When Torifu's silhouette vanished around the corner of the hallway, the shinobi all broke into happy smiles. "Hokage-sama is so kind! He even showed concern for us. Let's hurry and deliver these résumés so we don't delay the Hokage-sama's business."
"Yes, Chief!"
The shinobi then scurried off toward the Personnel Department, carrying the boxes.
After leaving the Hokage Residence, Torifu planned to go straight home. Passing the notice board, he saw that the job advertisement had been torn down. This marked the completion of the recruitment process; all that remained was screening the interview candidates.
In essence, this meant filtering the qualified résumés and then verifying if the credentials matched the person's background. However, the subsequent verification wasn't the strictest part; the most demanding stage was the initial screening. Six or seven thousand résumés would be slashed by more than half, leaving only about two thousand. The majority of people wouldn't make it.
But this couldn't be helped. The factory was providing jobs, not running a charity. They had to choose the most suitable employees who could benefit the factory.
"Alright, the employees should be screened within a week. Then we can sign the contracts and hand them over to Amado for unified training."
Teaching over two thousand people how to assemble bicycles and manufacture parts was no small feat. However, Amado had a flexible mind and always found time-saving, labor-efficient methods to train and prepare these villagers for their jobs. He seemed to use recorded instructional videos, but Torifu didn't know the exact specifics. Once a task was delegated to Amado, Torifu had no desire to inquire further. Just hearing about it gave him a headache.
As long as the factory could operate smoothly and produce marketable goods, Torifu didn't care how they learned their trade.
People came and went on the street. The paper cuttings, couplets, and lanterns had not yet been taken down, as the New Year celebration had just been yesterday. The festive atmosphere was still strong today; officially speaking, today was the first day of the lunar year. Still, this was another world, and celebrating one Spring Festival was already quite good.
Torifu hummed a little tune as he returned to the Kumotsuru Clan compound. Upon entering the yard, he noticed Minato was back.
"What happened? Was your mission that simple? You finished the round trip in half a day?"
Minato smiled and nodded at the question. "It was. It wasn't a big mission—just going to a somewhat remote village to eliminate a group of rogue shinobi. They seem to have drifted over from the Amegakure region."
In this day and age, there were still rogue shinobi? And from the Amegakure area? What was going on with Kakuzu and the others? Couldn't they even control rogue shinobi?
Speaking of which, it had been a while since Torifu had checked in with Kakuzu and the others. This was a good chance to give them a call and ask.
"Did you clear them all out? We can't have rogue shinobi harming the citizens of the Land of Fire."
Minato patted his chest. "Don't worry, Big Brother. The mission was successfully completed. I guarantee not a single one escaped."
Torifu nodded slightly. "Very good. I'll ask Kakuzu about the origin of this group of rogue shinobi. You go on with whatever you need to do."
Minato acknowledged him and went to the backyard to find Yahiko and the others. Torifu didn't mind what he was up to. He went straight to the house door, pulled up a chair, lay back on it, and dialed Kakuzu's number.
Less than ten seconds later, the call was answered. "Hello, Leader, do you have any instructions?"
Torifu cleared his throat. "No, not exactly. Minato executed a mission today and mentioned encountering a group of rogue shinobi in the Land of Fire that had fled from your territory. I wanted to ask what's going on."
"As far as I know, rogue shinobi haven't appeared for a very long time."
Hearing that term suddenly gave Torifu a sense of 'tears of the era.' Ever since the Land of Rain was partitioned by the three great nations, the numbers of rogue shinobi had gradually dwindled. Now that they had reappeared, Torifu was naturally curious and wanted to get to the bottom of it.