In addition to appointing the four Advisors, Hatake Shūichi was named Head of the Anbu, with Senju Genma as his deputy.
Genma was the same age as Senju Mori, and Mori believed that during his upcoming service in the Anbu—given his natural talent with the blade—he would surely learn much under Hatake Shūichi's tutelage.
Below them, several jōnin from smaller clans loyal to the Senju—such as the Gekko and Shiranui Clan—as well as a few from the Senju clan itself, were assigned as captains of the Anbu's various squads.
The full name of the Anbu was "Special Assassination and Tactical Squad", an organization originally founded by Senju Tobirama.
Its primary duties included protecting the Hokage, monitoring the village, carrying out assassinations, and escorting top-secret missions.
Soon after its creation, the other Four Great Shinobi Villages began to imitate the system.
The Anbu was the Hokage's strongest covert force, the eyes and ears of the village leader, and the ultimate guarantee that the Hokage could truly exercise his authority.
No matter what, Senju Mori understood—this organization must remain firmly in his grasp.
As for the Logistics Department, things were… interesting. Mori made no appointments at all.
It was as if he had deliberately left the post vacant—waiting for someone specific to fill it.
The decision stirred no shortage of speculation throughout the village.
After completing all these arrangements, Senju Mori turned his attention to the Forbidden Jutsu Chamber of Konoha.
Despite its name, the "Forbidden Jutsu Chamber" did not only store forbidden techniques.
In addition to secret arts from various clans, it contained the complete collection of ninjutsu ever gathered by Konohagakure.
There were scrolls of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Lightning Release techniques; various sensory jutsu; intricate genjutsu; and even several sealing techniques donated by the Uzumaki clan.
The room itself wasn't large or particularly well-lit, but three full bookshelves of scrolls lined the walls—each one a silent testament to the immense depth of Konoha's ninjutsu heritage.
And yet, the most important items were the three massive scrolls placed carefully in the corner of the room—
The First Hokage's Wood Release techniques,
the Scroll of Seals, which recorded all the forbidden jutsu in the village,
and the complete collection of Water Release techniques created by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
In the past, Tobirama had never given Mori the chance to study these—nor had he ever personally taught him the way he had Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Aside from the occasional bit of training in ninjutsu or kenjutsu from his father, Senju Mori's current strength was, in truth, almost entirely self-taught.
To many, in a world where overwhelming power existed, authority seemed insignificant.
But Senju Mori sneered at such a notion.
He understood that the essence of authority lies in obedience from below—and in this village called Konoha, no matter how powerful a shinobi might be, they still obeyed the orders of the village leadership.
Besides, aside from the celestial Ōtsutsuki clan, no one was born invincible.
In the process of gaining strength step by step, power itself was the most effective tool.
If one pursued strength alone and abandoned authority, then when authority eventually fell into the hands of others, it would become the greatest obstacle on the path of a true strongman.
Had Sarutobi Hiruzen won yesterday, Senju Mori would never have had the chance to stand here today.
Instead, he would either be holding secret meetings within the Senju compound, scheming to plan a near-impossible coup…
Or else, he would have accepted his fate, forced to live under Sarutobi's command and manipulation.
And truly—aside from a Hokage who himself came from the Senju—
no leader could ever tolerate the existence of such a monstrous, powerful figure of unmatched strength and reputation standing before them.
It would only be a matter of time before the once-glorious Senju clan, the greatest of Konoha, became a relic of the past…
Fortunately—
It was he, Senju Mori, who became the Third Hokage of Konoha!
Casting aside the tangled thoughts in his mind, Senju Mori refocused his attention on the scrolls laid out before him.
For now, the First Hokage's Wood Release techniques were of little use to him.
What truly captured his interest were the advanced Water Release techniques created by the Second Hokage—famous across the entire shinobi world—and the various forbidden jutsu sealed away here.
So-called forbidden jutsu fell into two main types:
those that carried great risks in learning or use,
and those born from taboo research, violating both morality and human ethics.
As Senju Mori unfurled the Scroll of Seals, a list of familiar names appeared before his eyes—each followed by strange, intricate black sealing patterns:
Forbidden Jutsu: Edo Tensei (Reanimation Technique)
Forbidden Jutsu: Eight Branches Technique
Forbidden Jutsu: Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags
Forbidden Jutsu: Dead Demon Consuming Seal
Forbidden Jutsu: Eight Inner Gates
Forbidden Jutsu: Flying Thunder God
Forbidden Jutsu: Multiple Shadow Clone Technique
Even in the present, techniques worthy of the "forbidden" title were exceedingly rare—
Konoha possessed only seven of them in total.
The Scroll of Seals also contained incomplete or experimental techniques, such as methods for soul reanimation and unfinished reincarnation jutsu.
Though he deeply coveted such knowledge, Senju Mori understood that aside from the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, these jutsu were not ones he could easily master.
Pragmatic as ever, he rolled the Scroll of Seals back up and set it aside,
then turned to the massive scroll recording Senju Tobirama's lifetime of Water Release techniques.
This, he thought, was the true treasure that could rapidly elevate his power.
...
Senju Tobirama, the great inventor of ninjutsu, had created and used more techniques in his lifetime than stars in the sky.
Among them was the Water Release: Water Severing Wave,
the same high-level jutsu Mori had personally witnessed in battle—not long ago—
when Tobirama sliced the half–tailed-beast form of Kinkaku clean in two with a blade of pressurized water expelled from his mouth.
Then there was the Water Release: Water Colliding Wave,
a technique capable of summoning torrents of water like a waterfall,
creating an aquatic battlefield even in arid land.
And its complementary technique, Water Release: Surfing Strike,
which allowed the user to merge with the water flow, gliding beneath the surface at incredible speed.
Yet, more than the techniques themselves, what intrigued Senju Mori most was Tobirama's unique system of hand seals.
Tobirama hadn't merely simplified the seals—
he had reduced complex chains of dozens of hand seals (like those needed for Water Dragon Bullet Technique) down to three or four.
Upon closer inspection, Mori discovered that Tobirama's hand seals were different from the conventional twelve zodiac seals—
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
Instead, Tobirama had created his own custom sequence of hand gestures—
the true secret behind his ability to shorten the casting process.
As Mori flipped through the scrolls, studying Tobirama's notes and diagrams,
he found himself deeply absorbed—
it felt almost as if the late Second Hokage had come back to life,
personally teaching him the mysteries of ninjutsu once more.
Before long, Senju Mori lost all sense of time,
completely immersed in the vast ocean of ninjutsu and knowledge.