Naruto: From Spy to Hokage

...

Hearing Sawara Kiri's voice, Minato Namikaze was momentarily at a loss for how to respond. Or rather, he wasn't even sure if the person before him was truly the familiar classmate who had graduated in the same year as him.

Whether it was the two headless corpses on the ground, the bloody smell permeating the air, the crater-filled ground, or Sawara Kiri standing there completely unscathed... Every observable detail indicated the dangerous nature of this young man who appeared to be about his age.

Moreover, in Minato's sensory perception, the chakra response emanating from the other party was burning violently like a torch.

After hesitating for a long while, Minato finally jumped down from the rooftop and gradually approached. However, his voice still carried traces of doubt

"You... are Sawara-kun, right?"

In contrast to Minato's cautious approach, Sawara Kiri seemed to have anticipated this, slightly spreading his arms in a non-threatening gesture as he replied gently

"Yes."

"Konoha Chunin, Intelligence Division of the Jonin Unit, Level 2 Officer."

"Sawara Kiri."

Before Minato could ask further questions, he had already stepped back half a pace, making way for the S-rank intelligence storage box and the two corpses on the ground, reminding him

"However, before anything else."

"Please secure the village's important classified information first."

Sawara Kiri gestured toward the distance "In a while, there should be many people arriving."

"As for the rest of the matters, I will report personally to Hokage-sama."

"..."

"Alright."

Upon hearing this, Minato gave him a deep look.

As an ANBU member, he knew well that some matters weren't for everyone to inquire about.

Therefore, even though his curiosity about Sawara Kiri had reached its peak, he forcefully held back without any intention of asking questions.

Then, he quickly searched the bodies of Sen'gao and Gendo, retrieving the mission intelligence about Tsunade's team that they were carrying, and stuffed it into the S-rank storage box that had been forcibly broken open.

In just this brief time, a large contingent of forces had already arrived at the scene, guided by several Hyuga Shinobi.

Uchiha Sayuri and her police force members were the first to leap down from the rooftops, quickly running over.

Only after seeing the two gruesome corpses on the ground did they slightly slow their pace.

However, those two-tomoe Sharingan eyes looked with somewhat wary glances toward Minato, who was holding the S-rank storage box.

Obviously, she had misunderstood the situation.

Just as Uchiha Sayuri was hesitating about whether to take over, being mindful of his ANBU status, her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of Sawara Kiri standing in the corner.

"Kiri?!"

Almost instinctively, Uchiha Sayuri rushed in front of him, unconsciously grabbing his torn sleeve from the fight, gripping his shoulder tightly as she spoke urgently

"Why- why are you here?"

"Are you hurt?!"

Although he had been quick and decisive during the fight, when beheading Sen'gao, the blood spray from him had stained half of Sawara Kiri's clothes red, making him look quite severely injured.

Minato turned his head to look at them, the corner of his eyebrow twitching involuntarily beneath his mask.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

Sawara Kiri waved his hands repeatedly, gently reassuring her "Look, I'm perfectly alright."

After quickly checking him over and confirming that the blood stains were indeed all from others, Uchiha Sayuri finally let out a relieved sigh, though still somewhat frightened, and said in a low voice

"Really..."

"You should just stay at home after curfew, it's so dangerous to be out at this hour..."

"I just happened to run into those people on my way home from work." Sawara Kiri explained quietly.

"Anyway!" Uchiha Sayuri's tone became firm as she glanced at the crowd gradually gathering around them, and decisively said, "You won't have anything to do with this in a while. When you leave, rest in our police force's break room for the night, and go home during the day."

Seemingly afraid that Sawara Kiri wouldn't understand the implications, Miss Sayuri specifically explained "These people committed a major crime tonight, tomorrow the entire village will probably undergo a 'major cleanup.'"

"You've had contact with the criminals, if you get taken away by ANBU and the Interrogation Division during the strict investigation, the Police Force won't be able to intervene... I can't say what those psychos might do to you."

Very clearly, Miss Sayuri had made up her mind to protect him before the interrogation procedures began.

Hearing Uchiha Sayuri speak this way, even though Sawara Kiri was actually an undercover spy, he couldn't help but feel soften his expression.

However, he still let out a helpless sigh and politely declined

"Sorry, Sayuri."

"In a while, I might need to see Hokage-sama."

"Eh?"

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Minato stood quietly holding the box.

In just a short while, several figures wearing black uniforms landed beside him.

The person at the front was different from the surrounding ANBU, not wearing a mask and dressed in casual clothes, with only his silver hair gleaming faintly in the moonlight, a short sword at his waist, and wearing a short-sleeved garment on his shoulders.

He merely glanced at the corpses on the ground and recognized that both were killed by extremely fast Taijutsu and a close-range Ninjutsu with tremendous explosive power.

When he turned to look at Minato, his gaze couldn't help but carry a hint of approval.

"Minato-kun, is this a newly developed jutsu?"

"This strike between the chest and abdomen actually completely broke through the Earth Style defense, directly shattering the torso."

"It's truly remarkable destructive power."

"Even I would have to be careful against such an attack."

Hearing such praise from the person before him, Minato's face beneath his mask couldn't help but show some embarrassment, and he quickly corrected in a low voice

"Sakumo-sama."

"These two spies weren't killed by me."

"It was that person."

Sakumo Hatake was startled upon hearing this and turned his head to look in the direction Minato was pointing.

Then, he saw the young man half-covered in blood stains meet his gaze with those azure eyes.

Seemingly noticing the surprise in his eyes, the other party nodded to him gently.

An unfamiliar face.

"Who is this...?"

Sakumo Hatake was also confused.

A young person with such capability at this age, by rights, he shouldn't have never seen them before.

It was then that Minato got to the main point, saying seriously "Regarding this matter, I need to inform you of everything I witnessed, and subsequently report it to Hokage-sama as soon as possible."

"Please keep this confidential for now."

Hearing him say this, Sakumo Hatake's expression also immediately turned solemn.

...

One hour later, at the Hokage Tower.

The Hokage Tower, which had been turned into rubbles by large-scale ninjutsu not long ago, had been completely repaired in a very short time through the combined efforts of many Earth Release Shinobi.

However, the miscellaneous items in the Hokage's office could only be temporarily cleared out.

At this time, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been urgently awakened from his sleep, was sitting at a newly moved desk downstairs, flanked by Hokage Advisor Danzo Shimura and his most talented disciple, Orochimaru.

On the desk before him was a shinobi file recording all of Sawara Kiri's experiences and grades from childhood to adulthood, which had obviously been reviewed several times.

Standing before them were four people: Sakumo Hatake, Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Sayuri, and Sawara Kiri.

Minato Namikaze was giving a brief and precise report on the cause and effect of this incident.

Although he had just been awakened, the current Hiruzen Sarutobi was not yet the old and decrepit self he would become twenty years later.

Whether in official duties or combat, he still had sufficient energy.

At least until now, his title as the 'The Professor' remained well-deserved.

Soon.

After listening to the complete reports from both ANBU and the Police Force, Hiruzen Sarutobi turned his head to look at Sawara Kiri, who was standing on the far right with a very low presence, and couldn't help but show some surprise on his face.

However, he didn't make any hasty judgments based on these few clues, but instead spoke in a generous tone

"Sawara-kun."

"Even though we see each other every day in the Hokage Tower, I have failed as Hokage for not discovering a talent like you for so long."

"Now that you have rendered great service to the village, appropriate rewards will certainly not be lacking."

"However, before that..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone suddenly changed, and as he mobilized his massive chakra, even his gaze carried extremely heavy pressure.

For a moment, the entire room seemed to be trembling subtly.

Only his voice remained as calm as usual

"In such a critical time of war.."

"Why did you hide your strength?"

...