Tsunade was not a suitable candidate for Hokage, and as for Jiraiya's temperament...
Hiruzen didn't even dare to imagine what would happen if Jiraiya became Hokage. He wondered if Konoha would even survive.
During the era of the First Hokage, many gambling dens were established in Konoha. Fortunately, the Second Hokage shut down these establishments that corrupted the village's discipline.
This forced Tsunade to wander outside the village during peacetime...
If Jiraiya were to become Hokage, wouldn't Konoha turn into... cough, well, Jiraiya wasn't cut out to be Hokage either.
Back then, Hiruzen had always leaned toward passing the Hokage position to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was calm, strict, rational, and incredibly powerful, with the backing of two equally strong comrades.
Although he was a civilian Ninja, as long as Hiruzen willed it, and with Orochimaru's own qualifications, becoming Hokage wouldn't have been difficult.
Unfortunately, there was another exceptionally talented Ninja at the time, Hatake Sakumo.
With just one man and one sword, he had nearly wiped out the main combat forces of Sunagakure.
Even the son and daughter-in-law of Chiyo, the wife of the First Kazekage and a Sunagakure's elder, had fallen to Sakumo's blade.
But as the winds of fate shifted, Sakumo took his own life under the pressure of public opinion. Later, Jiraiya took on a disciple named Namikaze Minato.
Who would go on to become the Fourth Hokage... Then, after Orochimaru's defection, Tsunade and Jiraiya also began wandering the world, and Konoha's talent pool dwindled rapidly.
---
Whenever Hiruzen reminisced about that period of history, he couldn't help but feel a wave of emotions.
During that time, Konoha was almost as prosperous as it had been when the village was first founded!
No… in terms of prestige, the early days of Konoha couldn't even compare to that era.
It was almost laughable. Whenever Hiruzen revisited the history of the village's founding... and saw how even someone as powerful as the First Hokage had bowed to the other Kage during the first Five Kage Summit.
Hiruzen would feel both angry and amused.
He also had come to understand one thing:
It was necessary to bare fangs and claws toward other villages...
For example, after the Second Ninja World War, the Sannin and the White Fang from Konoha became famous.
And as the leader of Konoha, Hiruzen was even recognized as the strongest Hokage in history.
…
"There's one more thing, Kakashi."
Kakashi turned around helplessly again, "Hokage-sama, what else is there?"
Hiruzen's face was kind as he spoke, "Kakashi, who do you think in the current Konoha is fit to take on the role of the Godaime Hokage?"
Kakashi was shocked when he heard this.
But after he thought about it, Hiruzen is getting old, so it was indeed time to consider the next Hokage.
However, Kakashi clearly had little interest in the matter, or perhaps he didn't want to offend anyone, so he simply replied, "I don't know."
Hiruzen sighed, as if recalling something, "Your father, Sakumo, was an exceptionally talented Ninja. The choice he made between the mission and his comrades... he wasn't wrong."
"If he were still alive, I think he would have likely become the Yondaime Hokage."
Kakashi remained silent, his head lowered.
Hiruzen continued, "Kakashi, although I don't know if that mysterious masked man truly existed during the night of the Nine-Tails Attack..."
"But since the passing of Yondaime Hokage, Konoha's talent has been gradually declining."
"The village needs a fresh influx of talent, and your mission is one of the most crucial. I hope you can put more effort into this area and nurture new branches for Konoha."
"Yes... Sandaime-sama!"
Kakashi was a smart man. He could read between the lines of Hiruzen Sarutobi's words...
But deep down, he wasn't entirely sure.
He had entertained this speculation before.
Since the time of the Second Hokage, the Hokage had always been chosen from among the disciples of the previous Hokage.
The Third was the student of the Second, the Fourth was the student of the Third's disciple...
And now, the only remaining disciple of the Fourth was Kakashi himself.
'Did Sandaime-sama mean that... he wanted me to train a train a successor capable of becoming the Godaime Hokage?'
'Or...'
"Sandaime-sama, I will do my best."
After saying this, Kakashi left.
He had initially considered showing Hiruzen his Sharingan, the one that had evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan.
But after some thought, Kakashi decided against it.
'These things are better kept to as few people as possible.'
Kakashi felt it wasn't the right time yet. While he didn't want to deliberately hide his eye, he also didn't see the need to bring it up unnecessarily.
After reporting the important matters, Kakashi returned to Yuto's shop and stayed until nightfall before heading home.
Because... he had unexpectedly found a real-life opponent.
---
After Kakashi left, Hiruzen immediately returned to handling official duties.
However, today, as he faced the tedious paperwork, his mind kept drifting to the flashy Ninjutsu and ultimate Jutsu he had seen in the game.
After finishing a particularly important task, Hiruzen couldn't resist pulling out the phone and, following Kakashi's earlier instructions, began playing around with it.
After rewatching the storyline a few times, Hiruzen suddenly noticed a section called [Arena], which took up a significant portion of the screen.
Unable to resist his curiosity, Hiruzen tapped on it.
And then, it got out of control!
After losing the first two matches, Hiruzen quickly grasped the essentials.
By the third match, he completely dominated his opponent, achieving a flawless victory!
The next few matches were all clean sweeps!
Just as Hiruzen's enthusiasm began to wane, the matchmaking time suddenly increased.
Previously, matches had started almost instantly, but this time, he had to wait a full thirty seconds!
Hiruzen was beginning to wonder if the phone had malfunctioned when the match finally started.
Assuming it was nothing unusual, Hiruzen proceeded with the match.
However, this time, the Ninja on the opposite side... seemed a bit strange.
Seeing the opponent's first ninja, Hiruzen was shocked.
"Hatake Kakashi? So Kakashi can also be a playable character? I see..."
Hiruzen started the match with [Academy Naruto], using the paint splash technique as the opening.
Kakashi, on the other hand, didn't think much of it and started by summoning his Ninja Dogs.
Based on their expectations...
If it were an AI, they would always move forward at the start.
In that case, both Naruto's paint and Kakashi's dogs should have been able to hit the opponent...
Kakashi didn't overthink it and quickly followed up with a Raikiri rush.
He successfully landed the first hit.
The opponent also quickly used substitution and countered with a skill.
'This kind of playstyle didn't seem like something an AI would do…'
At this point, Kakashi suddenly realized something was off...
He glanced at the opponent's name.
[Enma]
Hiruzen, too, belatedly sensed something strange and checked the opponent's information in the top-left corner.
The Ninja is Hatake Kakashi, and where the game nickname was displayed, it read...
[White Fang]