I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 627: New employees need sales script training; top salespeople have the right to improvise.

"How's everything going in the Land of Hot Springs?"

In a conference room in the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi asked upon seeing Tatsuma appear.

Although we had already obtained information from San De, this was often the case. Not to mention getting information through other people, sometimes we would ask in public and then ask again in private.

Tatsuma nodded, walked to the seat reserved for him, and said, "It went smoothly. The Cloud Ninja forces suffered heavy casualties and were unable to change the fate of the Third Raikage."

"Sigh~"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. When he learned of the Third Raikage's decision, he was somewhat dazed, as if he had returned to that night when his teacher had resolutely chosen to leave him behind to cut off the road.

Seeing Tatsuma sit down, Shikamaru handed him a document and said, "Fourth Boss, these are two contingency plans we prepared in advance. Please take a look and see if you need to adjust the direction."

Tatsuma gently pulled the document closer to himself, but didn't open it. He placed his right hand on the document and tapped rhythmically with his four fingers (excluding his thumb), then said:

"No need to look at it, just send the letter directly. Send two copies, one to Sunagakure Village to congratulate Yekura on becoming the Fourth Kazekage, and the other to Kumogakure Village to express condolences for the Third Raikage and to show support for Aiko to succeed her father as the Fourth Raikage."

"?!"

There weren't many people in the meeting room, but they all looked at Tatsuma with suspicion. Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly gave Shikamaru a wink, and Shikamaru also looked at Tatsuma and said:

"However, Fourth Hokage, news of the duel between Pakura and Rasa in Sunagakure has just arrived and there is still no result. And in Kumogakure, the fate of the Third Raikage is still unclear."

If we send this letter now, and if Yekura fails to succeed as she wishes, or if the Third Raikage does not die in the Land of Earth, then Konoha will face immeasurable attacks from public opinion.

Moreover, even if things develop as you predict, sending the letter too early is also...

Even Shikamaru was at a loss for words to describe Tatsuma's behavior. Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in agreement, as he also disapproved of it.

Diplomatic letters must be accurate. It is better to be slightly delayed than to make a mistake. This is not like a statement from a corporation that can be easily withdrawn with a bow.

Akimichi Torifu paused for a second before reaching for his snacks, but after a second of hesitation, he still reached into the bag, grabbed a handful, and stuffed them into his mouth. He couldn't control Tatsuma; let him do whatever he wanted.

As for Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the two kept exchanging glances, but neither of them wanted to speak up to dissuade Tatsuma. As for Yamanaka Ochū, he was only responsible for relaying the message; the rest was none of his business.

Chenma waved his hand and said, "Let's just go with it. If we don't have enough anger, maybe one or two 'players' will back down and quit the game while everyone's at a truce."

Lu Yuan twitched the corner of his mouth, wanting to say that Chenma's idea was wrong. He could be so arrogant on his own, but from the perspective of the ninja village, he shouldn't be like that.

He looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, hoping that Hiruzen could help dissuade him, but Hiruzen closed his eyes, leaned back, and removed his hands from the table, placing them on his crossed legs.

Lu Yuan understood now. The third generation wouldn't approve, but they wouldn't oppose it either. Whoever carried it out would be responsible for it. Lu Yuan sighed inwardly, looked at Yamanaka Eiji, and said:

"Ying Zhong."

"I have no problem with this side," Yamanaka Eiji said quickly. "Just give me the contents of the diplomatic letter, and I can send it to Sunagakure and Kumogakure immediately."

"I wanted you to write it for me!"

Lu Yuan roared inwardly, "What a pity, Shan Zhongying is also an old fox. After years of hard work, the non-stick coating on his body has become thicker and thicker."

Why did her son go out on a mission at this time? Wouldn't it have been better to let Shikaku write it? After all, Shikaku is young, and his mistakes could be forgiven.

But as someone who is about to retire, he is genuinely afraid of ruining his reputation in his later years!

Chenma noticed Shika's resistance and helplessness, and said, "Not only the diplomatic letter, but also the private congratulatory and condolence letters from the Third Hokage and me."

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened his eyes wide, his eyeballs almost popping out, staring at Tatsuma in horror. What did this kid mean? Was he trying to drag him into this mess?!

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could react, Shikamaru stood up and walked towards the door, saying, "Okay, Fourth Hokage, I'll make the arrangements right away. If there's any other work, just have someone relay it to me."

After saying that, he dashed out of the conference room. Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Lu Yuan's retreating figure, his beard trembling with anger. Whenever he assigned this guy to field missions, he would either get injured or sick somewhere.

How come today, her Body Flicker Technique is no less than that of the Third Hokage?! With such agile legs, how could she be someone who can't go out on field missions?!

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to say something, Tatsuma looked at Yamanaka Ochū and asked, "Ochū-senpai, how are things going with Minato?"

Yamanaka Ochū glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi discreetly, his mind racing with countless calculations before he resolutely followed Tatsuma's lead and said:

"Just before you returned, Minato had already contacted Jonin Yomaki Mimura, but the situation on Yomaki's side is not good, so Minato went to provide support. As for his team, there is no further news yet."

"Okay, how's it going with Sakumo-senpai?"

Those whom Tatsuma used to address as "sama" (adult) have now mostly become his seniors, because no one is qualified to be his "sama" anymore except for Hiruzen Sarutobi and Orochimaru.

Although Orochimaru could be considered Tatsuma's subordinate, the two had a master-disciple relationship. Tatsuma would either call him "teacher" or always call him "master," which inadvertently made Orochimaru and Hiruzen Sarutobi equals.

Sakumo Hatake naturally became a "senior," since the Guard Team was also a functional department of Konoha, and the ultimate supervisor was the Hokage.

After a moment's recollection, Yamanaka said, "Sakumo has already discovered the whereabouts of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and has begun tracking them. If the time is right, he will take action."

Once a ninja's status in the ninja village reaches a certain level, they have considerable autonomy in their actions, and Hatake Sakumo was clearly one of them.

The village can assign him tasks with clear steps, but they usually choose to trust his abilities, give him only one goal, and let him do his own thing.

Tatsuma nodded and said, "If we can make contact, we'll ask Sakumo-senpai to collect as many ninja swords as possible. Although ninja swords aren't very useful to Konoha, people like Kirigakure won't give up the symbolic significance of ninja swords."

In terms of their function alone, perhaps one or two of the seven ninja swords are extremely powerful, but the symbolic meaning of putting all seven together far outweighs their practical significance.

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen are famous, but the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are actually more important. They were the wielders and were also very powerful ninjas themselves. It was through their combined efforts that the legend of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was created.

These seven ninja swords, along with the "Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist," have become a symbol of Kirigakure. If they were lost, Kirigakure would do everything in its power to retrieve them once they knew their whereabouts.

If Konoha can obtain these seven ninja swords, or even a portion of them, then Kirigakure will definitely reclaim them, and Konoha can use this as leverage to gain benefits from Kirigakure.

They could even gain benefits far exceeding the actual value of the ninja sword.

Yamanaka Ochū, understanding Tatsuma's meaning, nodded and said, "I will try my best to convey this idea to Sakumo."

Tatsuma nodded, then, as if remembering something, said, "By the way, there was a problem with the intelligence before. The Three-Tails was not secretly transported to the Land of Fire, but appeared on the battlefield of the Land of Hot Springs."

Of course, it's possible that Kirigakure sent the Six-Tails to this battlefield. Also, Kirigakure possesses summoning contracts for tailed beasts, potentially allowing them to move flexibly between different battlefields.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned and said, "Summoning a tailed beast, that's not something an ordinary ninja can do."

Tatsuma nodded and said, "That's right. The amount of chakra required to summon a tailed beast is beyond what ordinary ninjas can possess. We'll have Hyuga do some more investigation and be wary of those Mist Ninjas with massive amounts of chakra."

"Okay, I'll relay that message to the battlefield."

"Are there any other topics?"

Tatsuma glanced at Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, who were exchanging glances and winking, their eyes stinging. The two instinctively shook their heads. Actually, they also had some questions they wanted to ask, but they didn't dare.

Although they hadn't tried it, they always felt that if they brought up some trivial matters and asked Tatsuma for his opinion, he would fire them on the spot and replace them with someone who dared to make decisions directly.

Seeing the two shake their heads, Tatsuma looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hiruzen Sarutobi had a troubled expression on his face, clearly still angry about being dragged into this mess by Tatsuma. When he saw Tatsuma looking at him, he simply turned his face away.

Tatsuma felt somewhat apologetic, but what could he do? Hiruzen Sarutobi was still the village's Hokage. And no matter how certain he was to become the Fourth Hokage, he hadn't actually taken office yet, so he would definitely have to rely on Hiruzen Sarutobi's name when necessary.

Finally, Tatsuma's gaze fell on Akimichi Torifu. Akimichi Torifu was stunned for a moment, then handed the bag of snacks in his hand towards Tatsuma.

Tatsuma's expression became indescribable, but he still reached out and grabbed a handful of nuts. Under Akimichi Torifu's distressed gaze, he withdrew his hand, popped a few nuts into his mouth, and said:

"If there are no other topics, let's adjourn the meeting. Senior Ying Zhong, please pass on what needs to be conveyed and then coordinate with Senior Lu Yuan."

"Yes, Fourth Generation."

After Yamanaka finished speaking, Tatsuma stood up and said, "By the way, inform the Daimyo Prefecture that I will come over to settle the bill at any time."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression softened somewhat. What Tatsuma meant by settling accounts was going to the daimyo to collect the remaining payment for the first phase of the war funds, as well as the advance payment for the second phase of the war.

The Daimyo's previous opinion was to let the Fourth Hokage take over, so Tatsuma's statement was undoubtedly an indication that he was ready to take office.

This kid has finally had his fill of fun.

Hiruzen Sarutobi just wanted to step down as soon as possible to avoid tarnishing his reputation in his later years.

(End of this chapter)