Chapter Thirty-One: Minato's Decision
At the Hokage Building, just as Nara Shikaku finished a full day of official duties and stepped out of his office, a voice from the corridor called out to him.
"Lord Shikaku, the Hokage is requesting your presence!"
Shikaku turned his head and saw that the speaker was a young ninja with long brown hair and a blue hat.
It was Shiranui Genma, a Konoha special jōnin and a newly recruited member of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze's personal guard.
"Alright."
Shikaku nodded and followed Shiranui Genma toward the Hokage's office.
"Hokage-sama, what are your instructions?"
Pushing open the door, Nara Shikaku walked slowly into the Hokage's office and found Minato Namikaze carefully flipping through a stack of documents in his hands.
"Shikaku, the Chūnin Selection Exams will probably have to be postponed for a while," Minato said, lifting his head to look at him.
In Konoha, the Nara clan had always been known for its Shadow Techniques and exceptional intelligence. Thanks to their outstanding strategic minds, the clan head of the Nara family usually held an important position within the village. Shikaku had already begun working in the Hokage Building during the Third Hokage's tenure.
After Minato took office, he had begun entrusting many matters to Shikaku, who was from the same generation.
After the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha's forces at all levels had suffered heavy losses and urgently needed fresh blood to replenish them.
Among them, chūnin—being the backbone of the village—shouldered the most numerous and diverse missions, making the demand for manpower especially pressing.
For this reason, two days earlier, Konoha's leadership had already discussed and decided to hold a Chūnin Selection Exam one month later. Nara Shikaku had been appointed as the chief examiner for this exam.
Under normal circumstances, someone as relatively new as Shikaku would not have been chosen as the chief examiner for the chūnin exams.
However, this chūnin selection differed from previous ones. Not only did it need to promote enough talent to replenish the village's ranks, but it also had to achieve its true evaluative purpose, without appearing overly lenient. Striking the right balance was no easy task.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had only recently taken office. If anything went wrong during this chūnin exam, it would be a major blow to his authority.
To be safe, Minato boldly appointed Nara Shikaku as the chief examiner.
Out of consideration for the transition between old and new leadership, the Third Hokage and others did not oppose this decision.
That said, compared to the age at which his son later served as a chūnin examiner, Shikaku was still considered too old.
"Hokage-sama, did something happen?" Shikaku asked, frowning slightly.
"There was a problem in the Forest of Death," Minato said, rubbing his temples with a headache. "A ninja snake devoured a large number of the forest's large animals, disrupting the ecological balance. It's no longer suitable as a live-combat training ground."
"How could a ninja snake capable of damaging the ecosystem appear in the Forest of Death?" Shikaku asked in confusion. "Didn't the Barrier Team handle it in time or report it?"
Minato gave a bitter smile. "It was a summoning beast belonging to a village genin that wandered into the Forest of Death. The Barrier Team reported it months ago, but at the time, both the Third Hokage and I were busy with the transition of power and didn't pay much attention to it.
It wasn't until yesterday, when I sent Suigetsu and Chidamatsu to deal with it, that we realized the snake's strength far exceeded our expectations."
Shikaku's expression grew strange. "A genin's summoning beast? Even Suigetsu and Chidamatsu couldn't handle it?"
"Yes," Minato replied. "That wasn't an ordinary ninja snake. Even the giant snake summoned by Lord Orochimaru couldn't suppress it. Given the lack of information, it's understandable that the two of them were caught off guard.
Moreover, I sensed traces of natural energy on that ninja snake."
"Oh? Even Orochimaru's giant snake couldn't suppress it—its strength is indeed formidable. How was it resolved in the end?" Shikaku asked, visibly moved.
In Konoha, Orochimaru—one of the Legendary Sannin—was a master of snake techniques. The giant snakes he summoned were already second-tier elite summoning beasts, surpassed only by Manda and Gamabunta. Even ordinary jōnin would struggle against them.
As for Manda, it stood at the very pinnacle of the ninja world's summoning beasts, its strength nearly rivaling that of a tailed beast.
Minato nodded. "That genin sensed the disturbance nearby and directly summoned the snake away."
"Hearing you say this, Hokage-sama, I've become quite curious about this genin," Shikaku said with a hint of interest.
"This is his file. Take a look," Minato said with a smile, handing the documents to Shikaku.
Shikaku took the file and immediately began reading. A trace of surprise flickered in his eyes.
He hadn't expected that the genin who possessed such a powerful summoning beast would be from the Akimichi clan.
In Konoha, the Ino–Shika–Chō trio was one of the village's signature forces. Historically, each generation's trio was formed by the current or next clan heads of the three families, maintaining a close alliance in which they advanced and retreated together.
This alliance meant that the three clans were very familiar with one another.
From what Shikaku knew, among the Akimichi clan's past ninja, there had never been anyone like Ryūya—someone who possessed a powerful ninja snake as a summoning beast.
This meant that the snake was most likely subdued or cultivated by this young Akimichi Ryūya himself.
A ninja snake comparable to a jōnin… It seemed the younger generation of the Akimichi clan had produced another talent.
For the allied Nara clan, this was good news.
However, when Shikaku reached the latter part of the file and saw Ryūya's mission records completed alongside Shisui and Itachi, his brow slowly furrowed again.
"Shikaku, the village urgently needs manpower right now, and the chūnin exams will be delayed again. So I'd like you to organize a separate promotion assessment for Akimichi Ryūya alone. With his strength and mission achievements, he's more than qualified to serve as a chūnin," Minato said after Shikaku finished reading.
"Hokage-sama, rest assured. I'll have this arranged as soon as possible," Shikaku replied, nodding in understanding.
Although the number of missions Ryūya had completed wasn't large, he had already participated in three A-rank missions and two B-rank missions. Given his strength and merits, holding a separate evaluation for him wouldn't provoke criticism from other ninja.
Moreover, a fifteen-year-old chūnin was nothing unusual in Konoha.
Among the major ninja clans, there were plenty of geniuses who achieved the rank of chūnin at that age.
After settling the matter of Ryūya's individual chūnin promotion assessment, Shikaku discussed the postponed chūnin exams with Minato a bit longer before taking his leave.
Walking out of the Hokage Building, Shikaku hesitated briefly on the street, then turned and headed toward the Akimichi clan compound.