Chapter 336: Shikamaru must be Hokage at all cost!

Three days later, Konoha Village, Hokage's Office,

As I suspected, I really should have taken the chance to declare war on some shinobi village.

Link glanced at the intelligence documents, which had again grown in thickness, feeling a serious headache.

The Five Kage Summit had been dragged out as if constipated, only to end abruptly like diarrhea, and the aftermath was quite troublesome.

Whether it was Kumogakure or Iwagakure, both had stepped up their probing, sending in wave after wave of their Anbu and spies as though money were no object, and nobody knew what they were thinking.

Fortunately, Konoha hadn't incurred much in the way of casualties—mainly because Link had innovated a system in which shadows would accompany every single Anbu and ordinary shinobi going out on missions.

Even the weakest among his shadow-forms possessed at least special jōnin–level physical attributes, and with tens of thousands of shadows at his disposal, he could never run out of them.

Strictly speaking, Link alone could match the entire Konoha Village's efficiency in handling missions, or even its productive capacity. Once the number of shadow-forms rose to a certain level, they far surpassed regular shinobi.

One might say that in this era, chūnin and genin hardly held any purpose anymore if his shadows truly went all out.

Yet considering that if he alone took over everything, that would leave the other ninjas unemployed, sparking even worse troubles, he opted to let his shadow-forms serve as backups alongside the subordinates. Over time, the shadows could end up 'supporting everyone.'

"Sigh…"

He took one more look at the thick intelligence files, then picked one up, grimacing.

"Shikamaru!" Link called out, tossing the file over.

Sitting next to him with a drained look, Shikamaru caught it, giving Link a dead-fish stare without speaking a single word. Only after a long moment did he breathe a heavy sigh, hang his head, and start working.

Dear lord, who would understand the pain of being a fourteen-year-old Hokage aide? Who truly gets it?

"Shikamaru," Link asked earnestly, "are you sure you don't want to be Hokage?"

Because those two advisors had run off, Link had no option but to beg his own teacher, Nara Shikaku, to come help out, and in the end… Shikaku sent him his son.

Now, after the ninja clans had sent many people to join the Shinobi Alliance—since once power extended to encompass the entire world, high-level personnel wouldn't worry about lifespan or life-and-death issues—the clans weren't getting oppressed so severely. And because the new education system was far from producing enough managers to shore up the Shinobi Alliance, they had to rely on clan geniuses like Shikamaru.

The plan by his world's Tobirama was to rebuild the Third World while also constructing the new education system in the Second World. They would set up one large ninja academy for the entire shinobi world, greatly extending the time spent in school, splitting it into elementary, junior-high, high-school, and university…

Cough… That entire blueprint was provided in full by Link; how much would actually be adopted or scrapped would depend on real conditions. Step by step, they'd have plenty of time to figure it out.

That was why Shikaku was so preoccupied he simply couldn't sit around in the Hokage's office. He'd shoved Shikamaru here, leaving him no choice.

Shikamaru lifted his eyes from the files, looking resigned. "I think Naruto's the one more interested in that."

Naruto, huh.

Link scratched his cheek. Recently, that kid's been re-energized, hearing that a future version of himself had brought peace to the entire world. It must've gotten him fired up.

He'd learned to muster Four-War–era Nine-Tails Chakra Mode at just fourteen, apparently trying to reconcile with the Nine-Tails. He showed a lot of passion. Naturally, the main issue was: if they thrust Naruto into the managerial side of the Shinobi Alliance, that wouldn't end well; so for now, aside from his training, he had no official duties.

Still, as far as power went, Naruto was pretty strong. His mind might be another matter, but the Shinobi Alliance had no immediate role for him. So all he's been doing is training.

He'd make a decent pick for the squad I'm forming for going to alternate worlds…

Link's fingers drummed the tabletop in a steady rhythm. If the main world wouldn't see war anytime soon, it was time to settle the "Asuma's Death Arc" timeline, or it would roll into the Fourth War, and that'd be a bigger mess.

Doing it all alone might be too much, so he indeed needed a team. As for who to bring? Utakata and Sasuke were definitely free—neither had joined the Shinobi Alliance—both carefree.

Then Naruto, who had power. Karin, maybe, decent power… Also, Sakura from this world—why not? She barely made the cut, but well, I can always send more shadow-forms to protect her, he joked inwardly.

Yes, a "Remade Team 7!"

[He pictures "Team 7 Reassembled" and is enthusiastic, pondering who pairs up with whom…]

"Sixth Hokage-sama!" Shikamaru's voice, heavier, pulled him back. Shikamaru had already finished scanning through several reports.

Link, snapping back, looked at him. "Huh?"

Shikamaru let out a long breath, pushing a file across the desk. "Take a look."

Link saw all the potential ramifications and solutions summarized neatly. "Nicely done, Shikamaru." Once again, he couldn't help but praise him. He'd probably done so dozens of times since yesterday morning.

This kid is just too handy. With him around, I can get through these mountains of paperwork in half an hour, whereas on my own it'd have taken all morning. If there's something I'm not sure about, I'd have to ask some Kage who's away in another world. That's how big a difference it makes.

[Resolved to have Shikamaru become Hokage someday]

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and slumped onto the desk, gazing at the sky through the window, while the clack of Link's stamping and approval of documents echoed in the room. Then he sighed once more, deeply.

God, living like this… It's absolutely not what I wanted at all.

~~~

Patreon(.)com/Bleam

— This Fanfic is Completed in Patreon!