I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 386 What's harder than doing favors for your boss is doing favors for your boss's children.

"Tatsuma, it doesn't seem like you're particularly busy here."

The most annoying thing about any project is the leader's inspection, especially when the leader says that your workload is not full after visiting your work. Tatsuma was speechless as he looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi who came to inspect.

If it weren't for saving face, he would have directly asked, "Can you understand this, old man?" The four brightly lit organ "skeletons" under construction in the laboratory, along with the added ingredients in the cells, were placed to the side, but Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't see anything strange about them.

As someone currently on the probationary period for promotion, Tatsuma could only say, "I'm almost done with work here, Hokage-sama. Do you have any other plans?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "The Anbu will be recruiting a batch of new members soon. All the squad leaders are busy running for department head, so I have delegated the authority to recruit new members to a lower level."

Of course, not every squad leader has the authority to recruit new members; each team has only one squad leader with this authority.

Chenma understood immediately: the three squad leaders were competing for the position of minister, and the squad leaders of the four groups in each squad were also running for the position of squad leader. Of course, not all twelve squad leaders were eligible to run.

Clearly, Chenma is one of them, or rather, among the four squad leaders in his unit, he is the only one qualified to take the position, and this is an indication that authority is being delegated.

Recruiting new members sounds like a lot of trouble, but Tatsuma, seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's expectant look, understood and asked, "It's a lot of trouble for the Hokage to come all this way. The quality of this year's new recruits should be quite good, right?"

The recruitment of new members for the Dark Division consists of two parts. The first is the transfer from the Root. The Root cultivates new people every year, and the most outstanding ones will become candidates for official members of the Dark Division and the Root.

The rest will be placed on the activation list or become unofficial members. Although they also carry out missions with the Dark Side and Root, they do not enjoy the same privileges and treatment. To put it bluntly, FJ.

The second source of talent for recruitment is from various combat teams or functional teams and departments. In other words, they follow the conventional ninja promotion route, but because of their outstanding performance, they are valued by the Anbu and invited to join.

Tatsuma's squad, including himself and the four of them, all entered through the second method, which is why Hatake Sakumo wanted to entrust Tatsuma with the heavy responsibility of the Anbu "fighting" against Root.

The recruitment that Hiruzen Sarutobi mentioned was clearly the second type. Seeing that Tatsuma had indeed asked the right question, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "Yes, there are some good prospects."

My son and his two teammates all have the potential to become members of the Dark Guard. It would be most suitable for you to assess them. After all, others might underestimate my magnanimity and be overly lenient with my son.

I will also hand over all authority to assess them to you, and I will not interfere in the process. You only need to assess them fairly and impartially, without worrying about me.

"What a tough job!" Hiruzen Sarutobi made it sound nice, but if Tatsuma really eliminated them, he didn't believe Hiruzen Sarutobi would have a good time.

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi also said that he could not be lenient, which means that Tatsuma must find a way to give those people enough skills to join the Anbu, but also not give anyone a chance to find fault with them.

Tatsuma's smile faded slightly as he said, "Hokage-sama, Shinnosuke is only thirteen years old. Isn't it a bit too early for him to join the Anbu?"

"It's getting late. Although my son's talent is far inferior to yours and Minato's, this child has his own ambitions. In the years since graduation, he has been preparing to enter the Anbu. If it weren't for my difficulty in making a decision, perhaps he could have entered much sooner."

The words, a blend of humility and pride, made Tatsuma narrow his eyes and echo, "The selection of worthy individuals should not be based on kinship; Lord Hokage need not worry too much."

"You understand me well. I'll leave this matter to you. I'll have Shikaku send over the information later, and then it's entirely up to you to make the decision."

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled. Although he didn't want to accept, Tatsuma nodded. He still needed to rely on a powerful figure, and there were many things he couldn't simply refuse to do.

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to leave after finishing his business, Tatsuma raised an eyebrow and said, "Hokage-sama."

"Hmm? Is there anything else you're worried about?"

Stopping in his tracks, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Tatsuma with a puzzled expression. Tatsuma stepped forward, lowered his voice slightly, and said, "Hokage-sama, there are some things that shouldn't be said by a junior like me."

However, when I visited Lord Danzo, he was quite saddened that you had not personally visited him. Since you have come to the Wood Release laboratory, why don't you take some time to visit Lord Danzo as well?

Although your friendship is so deep that it certainly won't be strained by such a small matter, you and Lord Danzo must also cherish the carefree days of your time together. Why not take this opportunity to reminisce about your youthful days as classmates?

Upon hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a moment, then smiled and nodded, saying, "You're very thoughtful, child. These past years, I've been so busy with official duties that I've rarely had time to have heart-to-heart talks with old friends. It's indeed time to go see him."

Tatsuma wore an innocent smile. Since Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo were both causing him trouble, it was only natural for him to cause them trouble in return.

After waving goodbye, Hiruzen Sarutobi left, but instead of leaving the Wood Release laboratory immediately, he called out to a bewildered Root member and asked him to take him to visit Danzo.

As for whether Hiruzen Sarutobi will be able to see through Danzo's feigned injury, and whether the two will develop a rift because of it, that's none of Tatsuma's business. He regained his cheerful mood and continued to do his work.

Once the internal organ stent is in place, the subsequent cultivation work only requires occasional check-ins, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, so Chenma's statement that he is almost done with his work is not an attempt to flatter or fawn.

A little later, Shikaku came to deliver the documents, but his usually listless face now had a hint of liveliness on it. He asked with a gossipy look, "Did you offend the Third Hokage today? He didn't look too happy when he got back."

"No, I'm one of Konoha's top ten hard-working individuals, how could I possibly anger the Third Hokage?"

Tatsuma rolled his eyes, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them had secretly learned both of the Hyuga clan's treasures.

Shikaku looked incredulous and said, "There's no reason. Who else could make him angry, and only make him sulk?"

Don't forget

As he spoke, Tatsuma, sitting in his chair, pointed downwards. Shikaku, watching his gesture, asked, "A man's hidden ailment in middle age?"

"What I mean is 'below,' not the man's genitals, but the dark root underground. Of course, your understanding is pretty much the same."

Shikaku suddenly realized and said, "It's that person? That makes more sense, but what did he do?"

"Why has the Wood Release laboratory been reopened?"

"That person's old wound."

"No injuries."

"Understood."

The advantage of chatting with smart people is that you don't need to repeat yourself at length. As long as you get to the key words, they can fill in most of the truth in their minds, and the rest are just some insignificant details.

However, after the conversation ended, Shikaku didn't leave. Instead, he found a chair, sat down, and looked around at the equipment in the lab. Tatsuma asked, "Aren't you going back?"

"It's rare for me to get out of work, and I only have a little over an hour left before I get off work. It would be too much trouble to rush back."

Shikaku shook his head, looked at Tatsuma who had also stopped working and was in a slacking-off state like him, and said, "You're not going to get away with this mission easily."

"There's no other way. How about I recommend Shinnosuke to be the Hokage's bodyguard?"

Tatsuma stretched, then picked up the documents Shikaku had brought and began to look through them. Upon hearing this, Shikaku nodded and said, "That's a good idea. It just so happens that I don't want to continue serving anymore, so I'll take this opportunity to retire!"

"You can forget about retiring anytime soon, but I do have a suitable position for you coming up soon."

"Not suitable."

Before even hearing it, Shikaku rejected it outright. What good position could someone like Tatsuma, a workaholic, possibly have? Didn't you see that Inoichi, who works in the analysis class, was also dragged into becoming a workaholic candidate by Tatsuma?

"Really, since you'll definitely be joining the staff anyway, why don't you come and be my administrative assistant for a while? I'm about to become a squad leader, and I'll have a lot of administrative work to handle."

Tatsuma continued to persuade him, but Shikaku remained unmoved. He glanced at the incubation chamber and said, "Four sets of materials, four different parameter settings. Something's not right with you, Tatsuma."

"Can you understand it?"

Raising an eyebrow, Tatsuma showed little fear. Although Shikaku was much more perceptive than Hiruzen Sarutobi, knowledge involving cross-disciplinary fields could not be ignored by intelligence alone.

"I'm not so bad that I can't even understand numbers. Those two..." Lu Jiu pointed and said, "They have the same parameters as the project design you submitted. You're definitely up to something with the other two."

"Shikaku, just wait for the Third Hokage to receive my letter of recommendation. You're so smart and quick-witted, I don't trust you to follow anyone else."

Tatsuma grinned wickedly, and Shikaku said somewhat aggrievedly, "I didn't stop you from causing trouble. We're classmates, there's no need to mess with me, right? Why don't you mess with Inoichi more often? He's used to it anyway. Or Choza would be fine too."

"As expected of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, who are as close as family."

Tatsuma expressed his deepest respect for the friendship between the three families. Shikaku looked at Tatsuma, unsure whether he was serious about writing a letter of recommendation for Hiruzen Sarutobi, and could only sigh:

"I apologize for being so talkative, but you have to understand me. I can't speak for eight hours of sleep every day, and I can't speak for more than ten hours of work. You were a Konoha guard before, so you should understand me even better."

"Orochimaru and Root are working on a 'shut-up' cursed seal. If you have nothing better to do, go and be their test subject."

Tatsuma rolled his eyes again, and Shikaku narrowed his eyes, saying, "Root is still causing trouble, huh? I thought it was a second time."

Shikaku finally remembered to shut up, but Tatsuma turned around and looked directly at him, asking, "Picking your teeth?"

"Um."

(End of this chapter)