Chapter 119: Kazekage?

Konoha, the Hokage's office.

Mabui stood in front of the Hokage's desk holding a clip board in one hand and documents in the other.

"The first of the major problems that have crept up is the reconstruction that needs to take place throughout the village."

She paused and looked at Hinata.

"Secondly, the Anbu directly under the previous Hokage have suffered heavy losses and many are not willing to accept new leadership. For now, they have been placed under 'Ako', real name Izumi Uchiha."

The smile on Hinata's face stiffened.

"Lastly, as the longest reigning Hokage, the Third has a considerable influence among the civilians. Many are dissatisfied, even if they dare not oppose us openly."

Ignoring, the expression of despair on the new Hokage's face, she continued to professionally list the ongoing problems and give some advice of her own.

"Traditionally, the faces of the Hokage are sculpted onto the rock wall by masters of great renown. We could use earth ninjutsu to create the same effect, saving money and giving your standing and authority a much needed boost."

As an assistant which served the Raikage for over ten years, Mabui was well acquainted with the difficulties that the Kage faced.

Hinata heaved an unenthusiastic sigh and took a page from the seemingly endless sea of paperwork.

Hachiro brought a chair over and looked through some of the documents and commented, "I think you should help us with these or we will be here all night."

Mabui rolled her eyes and placed her glasses into their case and replied.

"I have summarised the past decisions of the previous Hokage, proposals that have been sent in and binned any rubbish that didn't need a second glance. A lot of this work was created by you, please understand that you sound like a spoiled brat. You are one by the way."

Ignoring the shade thrown at him, he scratched the back of his head and said.

"Right, it shouldn't be so bad after a few months, most of the work is reconstruction based anyway."

He handed a document to Hinata for her to sign it and said, "Don't worry about the annoying civilians."

"They seem to be quite small in number as of right now. Kicking them out is an option, that prevents their argument from getting any traction. It would work as a good deterrent.

Mabui frowned, "That might cause them to fear us which would prove to be counterproductive and the shinobi to try take things into their own hands."

Hachiro shook his head and replied, "You don't need to worry about them, I don't plan on moving about for a while so I can prevent them from doing anything too damaging."

He rubbed his chin slightly, and pondered over what to do about the rest of the problems.

Previously, Mabui had proposed to him to give a share of the work to the Nara clan leader, Shikaku.

However, he refused and just handed over some of the more unimportant transactional work to him.

Obviously, he was trying to avoid decentralizing the power within the village, so there wouldn't be any Danzo's making decisions on behalf of the village.

Knock, Knock!

Hinata looked at Mabui who nodded in response.

She shouted, and sounded quite shy.

"Please, come in!"

Hachiro rubbed her head and told her, "You don't need to add please in the future. Politicians will see you as a push over."

She blinked and nodded to show she understood.

The door opened to show a familiar face and three siblings from Sunagakure.

Pakura, Temari, Kankuro and Gaara.

Hachiro smiled seeing them and asked, "I heard you four were hanging around each other a lot recently. Is something wrong?"

Pakura opened her mouth but hesitated to say anything.

Temari stepped forward after noticing the pause and nervously, said in her place.

"Ehm, Hachiro-sama, Hinata-sama, on behalf of Sunagakure, we have a request. We hope that you will permit Pakura-sensei's return to Sunagakure."

Hachiro stood up and looked at her strangely, "You want to become the Kazekage?"

She tilted her head sheepishly and cutely said, "Please?"

Temari narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Is there something going on here?

Kankuro and Gaara just watched dumbly not noticing the strange behaviour.

Hachiro could recall asking if she wanted to become the leader of the Sand well before the death of the Fourth Kazekage.

Back then, she had refused.

While, he didn't know what prompted her to change her decision, he could guess it was something along the lines of the current situation in Sunagakure.

Even if the Fourth Kazekage wasn't a good man or leader, he was a great shinobi. That was impossible to deny.

With his death, the strongest shinobi were two puppet masters with a foot in the grave.

Naturally, unless there was no other option, they would avoid placing Baki, an elite jonin as their kage.

If that really happened then they really would lose their position as one of the five major villages.

Their economy was in shambles, without the support of a daimyo or the gold sand that the Fourth Kazekage regularly procured they would swiftly decline with Kusagakure or a similar village taking their place as a prominent ninja village.

Their eyes sat on Pakura for two reasons. One, she displayed the strength of a Kage-level ninja during the Konoha crush project and she seemed to have a good relationship with the Cloud.

The Diamyo in the Land of Wind was quite eager to agree and was even prepared to contribute some of his treasures as a way to entice Pakura into accepting the position.

While, she didn't exactly desire the position, she still liked her old village and thought it was a good way to help contribute to her current one.