Systematic Shinobi - Chapter 15.1

For some reason, after he checked Daiki's seal out for him, confirmed that it was done well and sent a message back to the village with his summons for him, Jiraiya pretty much was done with him, didn't even invite him back into the whore house with him.

How rude.

'You're getting too much enjoyment out of this.' Isobu pointed out as he made his way through the gates of the Leaf Village, Tanzaku Gai was only about an hour or so away at top speed for him after all.

'Come on, he's a legendary ninja, don't tell me you didn't get a kick out of dropping our story on him and watching him cycle through different variations of shock.' Daiki retorted.

It truly was the little things that mattered the most in the end.

'Maybe a little, but you should be careful this does not come back to bite you, you've painted quite the picture of yourself after all.' the three tailed Bijuu replied.

Daiki honestly didn't see how. Sure, his excuse story painted him as a very pragmatic person willing to put his life on the line for the village should a threat arise to it and he was in the vicinity no matter how little of a chance he stood…
Actually, when put like that, he saw Isobu's point.

'Well, it's not like they'll ask something absurd of me like laying my life down anytime soon, I'm a Perfect Jinchuuriki, I should be about as valuable to the Leaf as Killer Bee is to Kumo.' Daiki shrugged, honestly, the most annoying thing was probably going to be people hanging over his shoulder or maybe trying to suck up to him to endear him even further to the leaf.

With that thought in mind, he made his way through the village, making his way straight to the Hokage Tower.

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"Daiki-kun, what do you think of being Hokage?" the Sandaime asked.

…Wut?

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Rewinding to less than a half an hour before, Daiki made his way into the office, finding the Sandaime Hokage already waiting for him.

The old man had divested himself of his hat, and had turned his chair around so he could stare out over the village from the window.

"Ah, Daiki-kun," he glanced back over his shoulder, a small smile on his face directed at him as Daiki closed the door to the older mans office behind his back, "Good to see you back, I hear you've had quite the adventure during your last mission."

Daiki idly glanced around the office, but he saw nobody else present and no chakra signatures in the immediate vicinity of the circular office.

"It was quite a trip for sure." he focused on the Hokage and nodded.

Sarutobi chuckled, "I'll bet," he replied, before spinning slowly around in his chair to face Daiki and directing his warm smile at the boy, "Before we get to anything else, I must say this. Thank you my boy, you have done much for the safety of this village during your mission and you deserve the highest praise I can give."

"…I mean you could also promote me to Jonin." Daiki replied, lips quirking up a bit.

The Hokage chuckled again, "Well, I dare say that isn't far off, in fact, I'd like to at least promote you to Chunin this very moment, you deserve that," he replied, "But, the chunin exams are coming up soon as you no doubt remember."

"Yeah?" where was he going with this?

"In pure fighting ability alone, even before your recent…changes, you were quite capable of performing the duties of a chunin," the Sandaime pointed out, "Now though, I suspect even without your new friends power, you have grown quite massively in fighting ability and that presents us with an opportunity."

"In the chunin exams?" Daiki raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed, it's just an idle thought I had while waiting for you to return," Sarutobi threaded his fingers together lightly, and looked him in the eye, "You are of course officially a genin right now, as such, eligible for the exams. And what I mean by this, is you're strong enough to put on a very good show during exams, I dare say, you could dominate the competition, no?"

Oh, he saw what he was getting at, "Maybe, there's a few other genin to look out for, but none I can see that I can't beat." Daiki nodded. The only real problem was Neji, not even Lee. Lee had a crippling weakness to Genjutsu and, well he now had access to a pretty powerful Genjutsu through Isobu.

But there was still roughly a month left before the Chunin Exams, and he could now use much more clones freely and had a bunch of Yagura's techniques ready and waiting for him.

With those, plus the Kiba blades, he wouldn't even need Isobu's chakra to beat the Hyuga.

"I like your confidence my boy," the Sandaime grinned a bit, "Assuming there are no special outliers, I dare say you will win this chunin exams coming up definitively and make quite the splash, that is, if you accept."

"Accept?" Daiki blinked.

"Yes, as I said, I'm of mind to promote you to Chunin here and now," Sarutobi nodded, "But, if you would like to hold off, I will use this Chunin Exams to gauge your ability in full as a shinobi myself, and, should you show the ability required, come the end of the Chunin Exams, you will skip straight past Chunin and become a Jonin."

Daiki blinked.

Before his eyes widened, "Wait, seriously?!" that sounded awesome! Forget toiling away after becoming a Chunin to get the requirements needed to become a Jonin, or at least qualify to be tested as one, if he did this, he would disregard all that annoyance and focus more on his grind.

…Or he could become a Chunin right here and now.

Honestly, objectively, no matter what one he picked, he was just winning here wasn't he?

"I don't have a team for the Chunin Exams." he pointed out. He would have to find two members.

"That, is not an issue either," the Hokage grinned lightly, "I want you to make a splash after all, so if you accept, I will allow you to take part without a team if you so desire, though if you do, I can arrange for some teammates to join you."

Wasn't the whole thing about the Leaf being big on teamwork and the like? Though, not that he couldn't see the Hokage's point here either. Everyone else would be in a team, so if one guy easily rushed through what took everyone else three men squads to do, it would make Konoha look even better and more competent.

And the Hokage could pull some sneaky sneaky tactics for the exams here, specifically because the next Chunin Exams, were being held here in Konoha.

"…It's too good not to accept," Daiki said finally, "Let me ask something though." he added, brows furrowing, something felt a little off.

"Ask away Daiki-kun." the old man replied.

"There are quite a few requirements to being a Jonin, two of the main ones being proficient in at least two elements of ninjutsu and of course being strong enough for the position," Daiki listed, before adding; "But Jonin are squad commanders as well, they need to be capable leaders, how will I go about proving that if I go solo?"

"Well, the Chunin Exams are more for measuring your tactical ability and general fighting ability, you can't move beyond Genin without either, and Chunin's themselves lead genin to gain experience for becoming Jonin and squad commander," the Sandaime mused, "But, exceptions can be made for those that truly excel in other paths, one of our strongest Jonin for instance, has no ability in elemental jutsu at all."

Oh…oh!

He was talking about Gai. And actually, Neji never showed any elemental ninjutsu ability and he was a jonin after the time skip as well.

"Beyond that, it's a chance I wish to reward you with for your efforts," the Hokage mused, "Learning to lead, can always come later, though a part of this does pertain to your mission to the Waterfall Village, Kakashi gave quite glowing report on you and your leadership during that debacle impressing him."

Daiki blinked…

Leadership?

He didn't really lead that time though, not much at least. He directed Sakura for sure and was the main combatant, and Sasuke had deferred to him a few times during combat, but that was it.

And he didn't think Kakashi actually thought that high of him. Guess that cunt wasn't as big a prick as he liked to pretend he was.

"Alright, I'll accept," Daiki shrugged, he had nothing stopping him from doing so with what the older man told him. Being a Jonin meant not only could he do higher paying missions, but he also had a higher status than anyone not of the Jonin rank and meant less people could order him around, "And I'll do it solo, that'll make it seem more impressive."

Sarutobi nodded, "Good, good, I'll look forward to your participation then." he replied.

And then silence.

Daiki expected the man to bring up, well, everything. But the man just stared at Daiki, smiling warmly at him.

"Em…" he trailed off for a moment before coughing, "Don't you want to y'know…bring up everything else?"

The Sandaime's smile didn't change, he didn't even blink, "No, I think I know all I need to," he said simply, "Jiraiya-kun was quite thorough in what was planned by our enemies, your part in things and what you gained from your brave actions."

"…You don't want to ask about anything? The Bijuu, the Kiba blades? None of it?" Daiki was utterly lost.

Why didn't he want to ask? And it wasn't like he told Jiraiya the full abilities his new eyes had and the like either.

"Hmm, well now that you bring it up, there is one thing I'd like to ask you." Sarutobi hummed lightly.

"What?" Daiki blurted out and asked.

The man chuckled lightly, before staring him straight in the eye, "Daiki-kun, what do you think of being Hokage?" the Sandaime asked.

…Wut?

"I'm sorry…what?" Daiki gaped at the man, "I think my ears might be blocked a bit or something, because it sounded like you just asked me if I wanted to be Hokage?"

Sarutobi chuckled, "Not quite," he shook his head, "I was just idly thinking to myself you see, that, your potential is not small and I considered the possibility that you may take over for me sometime in the future."

Oh, that was what meant. That made more sense…

But still.

Him, Hokage? He'd never even considered it before.

"I consider only the possibility my boy," Sarutobi cut in before his thoughts could rapidly diverge in all different directions, "Your potential is not small, with your ethic of training and talent, even without the Sanbi, I could see you reaching the level of Kakashi one day, perhaps beyond. And with the Sanbi itself backing you, you will definitely have the strength needed, alongside that, your loyalty to the village itself cannot be called into question, you are a true bearer of the Will of Fire…"

"And you think I'd be a good Hokage?" Daiki asked him, disbelieving. Nevermind a team, he barely had anyone that qualified as a friend. How the hell would he look after an entire shinobi village?

"The potential is there for sure," The Sandaime continued smiling at him, "A few years from now at most, and you will be well qualified for the seat, especially with a little help along the way."

Daiki honestly didn't know how to respond to all this to be honest.

"…Can I get back to you?" he said, awkwardly.

Sarutobi chuckled, "There's no rush right now," he replied gently, "Take your time to think it over, I bring this up only because we have a severe lack of candidates now, but think you could step up to the plate in the near future if you so desire."

"Right…" Daiki nodded in daze.

The old man thankfully dismissed him from there, dropping no other bombs on him and let him leave.

'What was that about not asking anything absurd of you?' Isobu asked with a snort as soon as he left the office behind.

He couldn't even bring up the desire to snipe back at the turtle Bijuu.

…He needed to throw himself into the grind and clear his mind.