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The team assembled for the second time. This time, there were no delays—four people set off directly for the Hokage's office.

"Hmm? Why is Danzo here too..." Akio frowned slightly as he sensed not just Hiruzen, but Danzo inside as well.

"Elder Akio, you're here," Hiruzen greeted him at the entrance. "Are you… here to take another mission?"

Akio nodded and glanced inside. "What are you discussing in there?"

Hiruzen hesitated for a moment. "According to our intelligence, the Hidden Cloud has just appointed the Fourth Raikage."

Akio paused, but he wasn't too surprised. Ever since that battle ten years ago, the Hidden Cloud had kept a low profile. They had even gone without a Raikage, placing the village under the care of the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki. Ten years later, it seemed they were finally ready to return to the world stage.

"A's son… He must be grown by now. What, just over twenty?" Akio muttered, feeling a bit awkward. Both father and son were named A...

Seeing Hiruzen's hesitant expression, Akio chuckled. "Don't pretend. You're not worried about me going—you're hoping I'll go, aren't you?"

Hiruzen gave an embarrassed laugh. "No, no, of course not."

From inside the room, Danzo walked over.

Akio glared at him. "What, are you blocking the door now? Not letting us in?"

Danzo silently turned and walked away.

Hiruzen gave a helpless sigh. "Please, come in."

Akio led the three children inside and then said with a smile, "Don't expect me to go to the Land of Lightning. They've been receiving supplies steadily for the past ten years. As long as they continue that, the stronger they become, the better."

"Elder Akio, we're just worried that if the Hidden Cloud regains its military strength, they won't be content to—"

Akio waved his hand, cutting Hiruzen off.

"It's fine. They wouldn't dare."

"I'm not going to the Hidden Cloud for now. If I show up, they might have to start looking for a Fifth Raikage right after."

Akio recalled the temper of the Fourth Raikage from his past life and decided it was best not to go.

"I'm here to take a mission with my team. It's September now—don't give me that 'no missions because the national holiday is coming' nonsense."

"National holiday?" Hiruzen looked baffled. Clearly, he had no idea what Akio was talking about.

"Never mind. Just give us a mission. Can't you see the kids are raring to go?"

Hiruzen hesitated, clearly wanting to say, "Not really," but he kept it to himself.

He picked up a few mission scrolls, glanced at them, looked at Akio again, then reluctantly placed one on the table.

Akio's face darkened. What was that supposed to mean?

Using a gravitational pull, the mission scroll floated over to him.

"A procurement mission?" Akio was stunned.

Hiruzen nodded. "This mission isn't really suited for you. It takes a long time, and there's almost no combat involved."

"Why do I feel like you deliberately showed me this scroll?" Akio narrowed his eyes. Procurement missions like this were usually handled directly, not posted on the mission board.

Putting on his best Detective Conan impression, Akio said, "This scroll lists a large purchase of iron and rare metals. You're trying to tell me that all the ninja villages are entering wartime preparations, and Konoha is spending heavily to stock up on metal."

"Next, you're supposed to start crying about funding and beg me to sell explosive tags from the Uzumaki clan at a discount—preferably not selling them to any other village either, since they could soon become Konoha's enemies."

Hiruzen's face stiffened as he exchanged glances with Danzo.

Akio gave himself an imaginary round of applause—twelve claps for his brilliance. He turned around to see the kids' reactions.

Just as expected, Nagato and Konan were staring at him in awe, which warmed Akio's heart.

But then...

"Kushina, what's with that look like you're just now realizing who I am?"

"N-no, Great-Grandpa. I was just… amazed by your deduction."

After a long pause, Hiruzen gave a wry smile. "Elder Akio, you're overthinking. We've already purchased enough explosive tags."

"This procurement mission only exists because it's such a long-term task that we couldn't find anyone suitable, so we had to post it."

Akio gave him a skeptical look and grabbed a scroll from Hiruzen's hand at random.

After glancing at it, Akio's smile turned faintly amused.

"What a coincidence—another procurement mission?" This one was for medicinal herbs.

Akio flipped through several more. Aside from one escort mission, they were all procurement jobs, covering a wide range of materials—and all conveniently ranked as A-rank.

Danzo walked over. "Elder Akio, we just happened to need these supplies, and you just happened to come to take a mission."

Compared to Hiruzen, Danzo clearly had thicker skin.

Akio laughed. "No problem. We'll take a procurement mission. Hand over the money."

Now even Danzo's face twitched. He wasn't exactly confident in trusting Akio with this kind of mission.

Hiruzen quickly added, "Elder Akio, these places are far away, and there's almost no danger involved."

"It's fine. A change of scenery will be good for the kids. Training all the time isn't healthy."

Akio browsed through the missions. "Let's go with this one—medicinal herb procurement from Red Isle in the south. I've never been there."

"And since it's overseas, you'd usually need a boat. But I'll just fly us there," Akio said, stretching out his hand expectantly. "So come on, fork over the money."

After a moment, Hiruzen sighed. "I'll go get it. Are you sure you want to take this mission?"

Akio looked at the three children. All of them seemed intrigued, so he nodded.

"No need to fight all the time. It's good for them to broaden their horizons."

"Let's go with this mission."

Hiruzen hesitated again. "Do you even recognize the herbs you're supposed to collect? Mandrake, Vitality Ginseng, Living Salamander, Giant Vines…"

Akio's expression turned grim. He didn't know any of those. With medical ninjutsu, he'd never had to rely on herbs.

"I do, sensei," Konan spoke up from behind. "Lady Tsunade taught me about them. Some are used for soldier pills, others are for antidotes…"

Akio grinned—Hiruzen was now out of excuses.

Sure enough, Hiruzen's face darkened as he pulled out two silver certificates and a map from his desk drawer.

"This should be enough. There are some minor nation ninja who sell herbs on the island, but there are also many wild ones. This map—" Hiruzen paused mid-sentence, realizing something.

The idea that Akio would buy anything with that money? Even he didn't believe that.

Akio waved it off. "Don't worry. I'll definitely bring back enough herbs."

With that, he turned and led the three children away. "Let's go, time for a vacation."

He clearly wasn't taking the mission seriously—just treating it as a special training trip.

Once the group had walked far enough, Hiruzen let out a breath and exchanged glances with Danzo.

"This might actually work. With Elder Akio around, we should get even the trickier supplies back."

Danzo shook his head. "I'm more worried that Elder Akio will bring most of the herbs back to the Land of Whirlpools. If I'd known, I would've listed more materials on the scrolls."-

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