Chapter 116: Mismatched Expertise

Tsunade quickly finished her meal. Hearing her grandpa say words she didn't understand, she asked, "Grandpa, Grandpa, what is a Hokage?"

Hashirama saw that his little granddaughter was quite interested in the Hokage and began to explain. "The Hokage is the leader of the village, a guiding light, and the strongest, most recognized ninja in the entire village. Grandpa is the Hokage now, but in two days, Second Grandpa will take over and become the new Hokage."

Tsunade tilted her little head and pouted, asking Hashirama, "Then why isn't Grandpa being Hokage anymore? Are you being lazy?"

Hashirama laughed heartily, amused by Tsunade. "Grandpa isn't being Hokage anymore so I can spend more time with Tsunade." He then asked, "Tsunade, do you want to be Hokage someday?"

Little Tsunade thought very seriously for a moment, then finally shook her head. "No, Tsunade doesn't want to be Hokage."

Hashirama was a bit surprised. Normally, children would be very eager to become Hokage. "Can you tell Grandpa why?"

Tsunade adjusted her sitting posture, straightened her clothes, and then very seriously said, "It's too tiring."

Everyone was waiting to hear what profound statement Tsunade might make that surpassed her age, but it turned out they had thought too much. Everyone was struck dumb by Tsunade's words. Just because she was afraid of being tired, she didn't want to be Hokage? This reason was too flimsy!

However, Hashirama didn't mind. Firstly, Tsunade was still young and couldn't make the most accurate judgments about things. Even if she truly didn't want to be Hokage in the future, it wouldn't matter; the village would still have ninja capable of leading everyone forward. After all, it wasn't only members of the Senju clan who could become Hokage.

After eating and drinking their fill, everyone started chatting leisurely, while Mito took Tsunade out for two laps around the compound. When they returned, Mito took Tsunade for an afternoon nap. Children needed more rest; being too tired wasn't conducive to growing.

"Alright, alright, stop nagging! I'll go to the office tomorrow!"

"Hmph, Elder Brother, you'd better be!"

Both of them were well past their prime, but when they bickered, they were like old children. Torifū sat there, unsure whose side to take, so he simply watched the show.

But generally, Hashirama gained nothing from these squabbles, always getting utterly exasperated by Tobirama. But there was nothing he could do; after all, he was his own younger brother. Even though Tobirama wasn't married and had no children, and hadn't contributed a single bit to the clan's propagation, Hashirama couldn't just strike him down. He could only choose to endure in silence. Hashirama felt as if he was, in the end, bearing all the burdens himself.

But in reality, although Hashirama had been Hokage for so many years, Tobirama had done just as much work, if not more. Many things Hashirama couldn't figure out were resolved single-handedly by Tobirama. Hashirama understood this, which was precisely why he didn't argue with Tobirama; after all, he wasn't in the right.

After Torifū stayed at Hashirama's place for a while longer, it was almost time for the afternoon nap. Without further disturbing them, Torifū chose to go home and rest. The entire Konoha was joyful now. The Nidaime Hokage's inauguration ceremony was in two days, and the villagers had spontaneously decorated the shops along the streets to be more festive. After all, this was a very important day.

However, Torifū chose to take a shortcut home, mainly to save time. If he walked along the main street, he would have to greet almost every passerby, and his throat would probably be dry by the time he got home.

"Torifū, you're back. I thought you wouldn't be back until evening."

Snowflake was sunbathing in the yard, utterly content. She lifted her head to look at Torifū when he returned, then lay back down.

"There really wasn't anything to do today. I just mooched a meal at Sensei's house and came back."

"Then just stay home. It's so comfortable sunbathing in the yard."

Torifū pursed his lips. "I'll pass. You just lie there by yourself."

Snowflake mumbled something about him not knowing how to enjoy himself, then ignored Torifū. Torifū, for his part, enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Returning to his room, he lay on the bed and let his body relax. Then Torifū started daydreaming. He still had nearly 200,000 Peace Points, and he didn't know what to do with them. His current strength didn't need to be increased for now; it was more than enough. So, the main thing to consider should be improving his quality of life.

He flipped through the system store for a long time. There were indeed items to improve the quality of life, but most of them were blueprints. This was quite difficult for him. How could Torifū, by himself, build the things on the blueprints? Furthermore, the current technological level of the entire Ninja World was still quite primitive; only some basic electrical appliances could be used, and even those were only for wealthy families. In other words, there were very few legitimate personnel who could research technology. If there were no people, where would he even begin to build?

After so many years in the Ninja World, he hadn't seen any substantial technological progress in the Ninja World. The most impressive researcher Torifū knew in Konoha Village was only Orochimaru. But he was a biologist, researching how to achieve immortality; his expertise was completely mismatched!

But Torifū suddenly had a change of heart. Orochimaru wanted to research immortality because of the deaths of his parents and his apprentice. But with him around, Orochimaru wouldn't suffer such a tragic fate. So, could he guide Orochimaru's talent and turn him into a technology researcher?

Even so, this would be a long-term mission, not something that could be achieved in a short time. He couldn't force a three-year-old boy to look at blueprints and build him an air conditioner or a computer now, could he?

However, Torifū wasn't in a hurry about this. He could afford to wait a few years; after all, he was only nine years old now.

Torifū lay on the bed, haphazardly thinking about unrelated things. Unbeknownst to him, he drifted off to sleep, and when he woke up, it was already the next day!

Torifū suddenly sat up from bed, looking at the clothes he still had on. He could hardly believe that his afternoon nap had lasted until the next morning.

Aokumo and Ryūfū were guarding Torifū's bedside. Torifū had been sleeping since they returned last night. If they hadn't been able to sense that Torifū was fine, they would have thought he was dead.

Torifū stroked the heads of the two divine cranes, then gathered his thoughts. He still remembered the random thoughts he had before falling asleep yesterday, though some parts were a bit hazy. It was normal to not remember clearly when he was half-asleep then.

He got out of bed and splashed some water on his face, feeling much more refreshed. He thought it might be because his body knew he had training today and had replenished his energy. Although it was a bit of a stretch.