Chapter 5

The flap of green cloth is pulled up revealing a weathered old face of a man in his middle age. On top of his head is the glorious hokage hat upon it the image of leaf symbol in emboldened in red.

Squinting his eyes he turns to look me straight in the eyes before tracing the figure of a certain red head sitting across from me as she happily slurps her ramen.

Cheeks full of food she eats with talking to me like some inconsiderate ingrate.

"Oshima-kun I thought we were going to practice our taijutsu today? When did you become so generous?"

Excitedly blabbing Kushina fails to recognize the current hokage, the 3rd hokage, walking into the ramen shop.

Yes. Ever since the first tournament Kushina has been following me like some lost kitten searching for attention. Obviously as a six year old with no friends in a place she doesn't recognize Kushina would cling to anyone who bothered to give her any type of affection, that person happened to be me.

Everyday we'd do basically nothing but talk and train. Kushina spent most of her training her kenjutsu and Uzumaki sealing jutsu while I practiced genjutsu.

It seems after a few months of constantly being around the kyuubi jinchuriki and coming at the top of my class Hiruzen has decided to rope me into the hokage faction.

Before he approaches our table however he stops in front of Teuchi and the younger version of the ramen man leans over the counter with a happy smile.

"Sandaime hokage-sama it's a pleasure to see you again."

The old man just nods his head taking a fat puff of his pipe and letting out a dark cloud from his mouth before speaking.

"Thank you for your hospitality Teuchi but you have no need to address as such, I'm simply an old man."

Teuchi shakes his head with a bright smile on his face.

"How could I possibly do that to one of my best customers sandaime-sama."

I wonder whether he deliberately acts like this or if this is some inside joke between the two. Did Hiruzen ever come to Teuchi's shop in the original? Wait? Why does Hiruzen look so old? Has the stress of the upcoming 2nd world war put a strain on his body?

After all despite Hiruzen's strength he clearly can't settle things between the five great nations diplomatically so it's probably inevitable that he's stressed right now.

When did Hiruzen gain the reputation as 'God of Shinobi?' If I'm being honest the viewings from the anime don't impress me in the slightest.

In this era Onoki, the 3rd Raikage, the 3rd Kazekage as well as Hanzo are all in their prime. Hiruzen should not be able to gain such a reputation.

Not to mention 'God of Shinobi' Hiruzen would have lost in that one on one fight with Orochimaru if he had his original body and not the body of that woman he had possessed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, you have a reputation that really shouldn't be so exalted, you have strength that isn't backed up by any feats or accomplishments, you have authority that is constantly pressed by the three advisory elders yet still managed to be the longest ruling hokage.

Every time I look at you I feel as if your not a real person with an actual motive or personality as many of your actions contradict themselves constantly.

You promised to protect Naruto yet he grew up malnourished and weak. You promised to the 2nd to protect Konohagakure yet let leeches like Danzo and Orochimaru constantly kill off members from the village you supposedly care about.

Apparently you're one of the few seal masters in the world but couldn't break a seal made by Obito who was only 14 at the time? Maybe it can be attributed to Zetzu or Madara having some Op sealing jutsu but that still feels contrived.

You also didn't know that Danzo had implanted Hashirama cells and sharingan despite having full access to the sensory jutsu of the 2nd which most certainly has jutsu to detect the chakra of an Uchiha?

The sharingan should still have a peculiar chakra no matter how Danzo may have tampered with them.

I don't know what to think or feel about such a person as Hiruzen because his strength is supposed to be incredible yet he appears so weak. The man is supposed to be a kind old grandpa but he lets experiments on children from Konohagakure happen?

Whether Hiruzen knows of the hidden activities going on in Konohagakure isn't really important. Regardless Hiruzen is either extremely incompetent to the point of not having any control over Konohagakure and it's anbu or he purposefully let's human experimentation happen under his nose.

Do I want to serve under such an incompetent leader where I'll most likely be sacrificed in order to strengthen Konohagakure? If this was another hidden village I would never do so but in Konohagakure I don't have a choice.

Danzo controls his subordinates with slave marks while no one else in the village has any political power that even comes close to that of Sandaime or Danzo. It's either that I join the hokage faction or the root and both options are bad but at least in one I won't be a slave.

My thoughts may seem irrational but I need support to continue to strengthen myself. Genjutsu, sealing jutsu, and special taijutsu techniques are things I need. No one else can get me such high level techniques but Hiruzen or Danzo.

Money and a catalyst to use my personification magic are also necessary. If I can get the bodies of a few elite jonin then I myself can simply recreate a force of my own similar to the anbu overnight.

I can't help but get involved in the politics of Konohagakure if I want progress to happen. In a couple of years I will hit my growth cap and by that point I can only rely on external help to gain any progress.