[Konoha, Orochimaru's Laboratory]
"Alright. Get up and give it a try."
Orochimaru's low, slightly hoarse voice rang out.
Minato, who had been lying on the hospital bed, sat up and put on his clothes.
Next, he began to calmly draw in the surrounding natural energy, merging and converting it into senjutsu chakra.
Sage Mode, activate!
In an instant, large numbers of pitch-black lines, like living serpents, rapidly crawled over Minato's entire body.
At the same time, the machines beside him showed that all of Minato's physical indicators had been significantly enhanced.
Different from the Otsutsuki Kama state, this Sage Mode had evolved from the traditional Sage Mode.
Added to that, Minato's mastery of the Four Symbols Sealing Technique pushed his efficiency in using his own energy to an even higher level.
Looking closely, one could see that on those densely packed black lines covering his body, many black sealing symbols of the Four Symbols Seal faintly surfaced.
"Next, use your Golden Body Mode."
Orochimaru stared unblinkingly at everything before him, continuously recording data while issuing instructions.
Before his words had fully fallen, Minato's entire body suddenly burst forth with dazzling orange-yellow light, like a blazing golden sun rising in an instant, too bright to look at directly.
Enhanced Sage Fox Mode, Namikaze Minato.
Orochimaru gazed at Minato and nodded involuntarily, then slowly said, "Not bad. That's enough. With the strength you're showing now, you're only slightly short of the Six Paths level."
Hearing this, Minato smiled faintly, deactivating the Tailed Beast Cloak and Sage Mode covering his body, returning to his usual state.
He did not become complacent because of this. Minato knew very well that the ninja world was full of danger.
Especially those Otsutsuki from deep space, each of them was born with kekkei mora.
Compared to people of the ninja world, their strength was on an entirely different level.
With such powerful enemies surrounding them, there was never room for even the slightest slackness or pride.
After thinking for a moment, Minato asked, "Lord Orochimaru, Rengoku has been gone for half a year now, and there's still no sign of him coming back."
"From the looks of it, Kumogakure and Iwagakure didn't fall into the trap we set, and they've even started probing us in the commercial sphere."
"What should we do next?"
Although Minato held the esteemed position of Fourth Hokage of Konoha, he always maintained respect toward Orochimaru.
This was not only because Minato himself was humble and polite, but also because he was far younger than Orochimaru.
Previously, Rengoku had returned briefly and held in-depth discussions with Orochimaru, so he must have already had some plans regarding the current situation.
Orochimaru's hands, which had been rapidly flipping through the data in his grasp, came to a stop.
"In the last ninja world war, Konoha exposed far too much of its true strength. That's made the other villages even more wary of us."
After a brief pause, Orochimaru continued his analysis, "The encirclement plan I carefully prepared together with Rengoku against Kumogakure also had to be abandoned due to Rengoku's sudden disappearance."
"Now it seems they've seized upon the weakness of our manpower shortage."
"They're provoking us like this, trying to test our bottom line and our response."
"Many of the development strategies Rengoku set down all require us to have a period of peaceful growth."
"The Hokage seat has been vacant for too long. The longer this drags on, the more unfavorable it will be for Konoha's internal stability and development."
Orochimaru's gaze fell on Minato.
"Minato, you should step forward and take up the position of Hokage again."
In truth, everyone understood clearly that with Orochimaru's current status and influence in Konoha, if he himself wanted to sit in that Hokage seat, it would be effortless.
Yet what was surprising was that Orochimaru, who had once craved power and been obsessively devoted to the Hokage position, now viewed it as nothing more than an ordinary job.
He even somewhat disliked how the position required dealing with too many tedious administrative affairs, taking up his precious research time.
Faced with Orochimaru's suggestion, Minato appeared calm and composed, as if he had already expected it.
He nodded without hesitation and replied, "I understand, Lord Orochimaru."
"Then, regarding Konoha's future direction and development plans, has Rengoku already made arrangements?"
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly, falling into brief contemplation.
Moments later, he took out a thick booklet from the folder beside him.
As Orochimaru flipped it open, the pages were filled with dense records of Rengoku's detailed plans and concepts.
Orochimaru raised his head.
"Next, publicly announce the successful development of my limb-cloning technology."
He continued, "At the same time, expand our hospital scale and accept ninja orders from other countries."
"However, for orders from Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure, the fees need to be raised tenfold."
"Also, begin issuing a currency exclusive to our Land of Fire, to strengthen the independence and stability of our national economy."
"And all the funds absorbed will be invested entirely into improving the people's livelihood."
"For example, vigorously building roads to promote convenient transportation;"
Stimulating commercial activity to energize the market;"
"And introducing policies to encourage childbirth, increasing the population."
Orochimaru only listed a few key measures, yet it was already enough to make one feel the sheer scale of Rengoku's plans.
After saying this, he casually handed the booklet to Namikaze Minato standing nearby, then turned around and buried himself back in his work.
"I still need to hurry up and further modify and refine senjutsu, making sure it can perfectly adapt to the human body."
"After all, when facing the powerful Otsutsuki clan in the future, we're still at a disadvantage right now."
"Also, regarding the follow-up matters after this ninja war, go help Rengoku clean things up."
"The reform plan we're pushing this time consumes a massive amount of startup capital alone. As for how to obtain these funds, that's for you to figure out."
"If anyone doesn't listen, go intimidate them a bit."
Minato nodded slightly to show he understood, then solemnly accepted the booklet from Orochimaru's hands.
He followed up by saying, "Lord Orochimaru, I'll immediately start preparing for the high-level meeting."
Orochimaru casually waved his hand in response.
Minato was already used to this.
He first bowed respectfully to Orochimaru, then turned and left.
After all, every field has its own expertise, and Orochimaru was undoubtedly an exceptionally intelligent person.
Not only did he have outstanding achievements in biotechnology, he had also made considerable progress in technological machinery.
Back then, Orochimaru's defection left him without sufficient funding or a stable research environment.
He could only do biological research, after all, poor people rely on mutation.
But now, even with little free time, he had still successfully developed many mechanical products closely related to everyday life.
Judging from the current development of Konoha and the entire Land of Fire, far too many matters rested on Orochimaru's shoulders alone.
Orochimaru had long been working without sleep, developing multiple projects at the same time.
Minato truly admired Orochimaru from the bottom of his heart.
And he had long grown accustomed to Orochimaru's no-nonsense style of speaking and acting decisively.
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