I, who just wanted to be lazy, was forced to become the Hokage.

Chapter 478 The Journey to the Temple of Fire!

The precedent set by the Loulan expedition is there for all to see.

Even if Nara Shikaku was somewhat resentful about the Fourth Hokage wanting to leave the village again to live a carefree life.

But after experiencing so much, you become numb to it all.

Moreover, even the Third Hokage couldn't stop his Fourth Hokage from going out, so what more could Nara Shikaku, the "Executive Vice Hokage," say?

After taking several deep breaths, Nara Shikaku managed to calm himself down and slowly asked.

"Whom does the Fourth Hokage plan to take with him to the Fire Temple this time? Is it the same team composition as before?"

This team refers to the one led by Nara Rinkazu, with Tsunade, Minato Namikaze, and Shisui Uchiha as assistants.

"This time, I've decided to act alone."

Nara Rinka waved his hand and said seriously.

"The abbot of the Fire Temple, Chukaku, had previously extended an invitation to me, and now I have a reason to go to the Fire Temple."

Nara Rangsuke has now mastered two types of "Sage Mode," one from Mount Myōboku and the other from Shikkotsu Forest.

【Sage Mode - Mount Myoboku】Primarily draws on natural energy from the atmosphere and the earth, but has strong side effects of physical transformation.

【Immortal Mode - Wet Bone Forest】 Absorbs natural energy from the ocean and atmosphere, and its alienation effect is relatively weak.

Nara Rinkazu's goal has always been clear—to develop a normalized Sage Mode specifically for humans, based on the Sage Mode data from the three sacred sites.

The Temple of Fire possesses a special lineage known as "Talent of the Immortal Clan," and also boasts unique immortal techniques such as [Welcome - Thousand Hand Kill], [Vajra Fist], [Arhat Fist], [Immortal Clan Breathing Technique], and [Immortal Clan Guiding Technique].

The Fire Temple's "Sage Techniques" do not involve the creation of Sage Chakra; they simply manipulate external natural energy.

Regardless of the extent to which this type of immortal technique enhances one's own strength, it clearly does not come with the side effect of causing physical mutations in cultivators!

Well, shaving your head doesn't count...

From the perspective of "no obvious side effects", the sage technique inheritance of the Fire Temple is still quite valuable.

Nara Rangsuke is really looking forward to this trip to the Fire Temple and hopes that Master Chukaku will bring him some surprises.

"Fourth Hokage, you want to act alone again..."

Nara Shikaku let out a long sigh.

When Nara went to Loulan last time, he originally said he wanted to act alone, but was eventually "persuaded" by Hiruzen Sarutobi to change his mind.

Unexpectedly, Nara Rinka still wants to go solo this time when visiting the Fire Temple...

So be it.

The Temple of Fire is not comparable to Loulan.

The Fire Temple, located in the heart of the Land of Fire, is not far from Konoha.

In particular, Nara Rinkachi has mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique, so traveling from Konoha to the Fire Temple is just a matter of a "thought".

Nara Shikaku thought about it and decided not to cause trouble for himself.

But when he calmed down, Nara Rinka took the initiative to explain a few things.

"I went to the Fire Temple to obtain more information about the cultivation of 'Sage Arts'."

"The number of ninjas in the village who know about the existence of 'Sage Techniques' is extremely small."

"Those who successfully cultivate immortal arts are even fewer in number."

"Taking a bunch of clueless people to the Fire Temple will only cause me unnecessary trouble."

After hearing these words, Nara Shikaku's mind started working quickly.

As far as he knew, the only ninja in the village who had successfully mastered Sage Mode was probably Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin.

As for the other two...

Orochimaru left Konoha some time ago and his whereabouts are unknown.

The village has not yet devised any specific countermeasures against this elusive Sannin.

Tsunade... probably didn't practice Sage Mode, right?

Nara Shikaku quickly made a decision in his mind.

So if the clan leader goes to the Fire Temple and wants to bring people along, he can only bring Jiraiya or Minato Namikaze.

Ok……

Nara Shikaku subconsciously dismissed the idea.

Although we are all ninjas from Konoha.

However, it is clear that Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze were closer to the Third Hokage.

Nara Rangsei also has its own core supporters.

Nara Shikaku doesn't want to give away benefits to another group of people unless it's absolutely necessary.

Speaking of which...

After the clan head became Hokage, he "shared" Wood Release with the Senju clan and Boil Release with the Akimichi clan (and the Yamanaka clan).

We haven't received any particularly significant benefits yet...

Although the Nara ninjas basically didn't care about these things...

Instead of studying and practicing escape techniques and bloodline limits, wouldn't it be better to focus on developing your own shadow techniques and raising deer properly?

Moreover.

The unsealed ninjutsu developed by our clan leader is really useful!

Nara Shikaku pulled his wandering thoughts back to reality.

He didn't say anything more, but simply bowed to Nara Rinka.

"I see."

After saying this, Nara Shikaku turned to leave to deal with the new political task the Hokage had given him.

About the Hokage's journey to the Fire Temple...

Nara Shikaku had given up on offering any advice.

I just hope that when the Hokage goes to the Fire Temple this time, he won't encounter a series of earth-shattering events like he did when he went to Loulan last time.

They fought a rogue ninja from Sunagakure and somehow managed to create a humanoid puppet of the Third Kazekage!

That's not all; he just casually went out for a stroll and ended up bringing back a "time traveler," who was also a "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki"!

This experience is truly unbelievable...

"Wait a minute, Brother Shikaku, there's one more thing."

Nara Rinka wanted to wave goodbye to Nara Shikaku, but then he suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Has the village recently received any quests or missions related to the Fire Temple or Kyoto?"

"Um?"

Nara Shikaku stopped and, after thinking for a moment, replied.

There are no specific missions to the Fire Temple, but there are frequent missions between the village and Kyoto.

"Now that the war is over, we are receiving employment requests from Kyoto almost every day."

"OK."

Nara Rinka took out a specially made kunai from his ninja tool bag. The handle of the kunai was branded with the four large characters "Shadow Blade".

"Arrange for a small team to go to Kyoto and deliver this kunai to the Temple of Fire along the way, under the guise of a C-rank mission."

"If this approach doesn't work, then we'll assign a small team to handle this C-level mission."

"Brother Shikaku, please write another letter to Master Chukaku, telling him that I will be visiting the Fire Temple in a few days."

C-rank missions are missions issued upon personal request and do not involve any combat.

Nara Shikaku's lips twitched as he accepted the Shadow Blade handed to him by the Fourth Hokage.

Don't think he's never seen the yellow flash of the Flying Thunder God Technique before!

The fourth generation of adults has truly reached a new level of "energy conservation"...

Now Nara Shikaku is willing to believe the Fourth Hokage's earlier statement that "it wasn't a publicly funded trip."

No travel is ever a "whoosh," "whoosh," "whoosh" experience!

(End of this chapter)