Chapter 237: Acting Hokage

Tonbo returned to Konoha almost a month after his departure and reported the completion of the Snow Country mission.

Koharu and Homura summoned him before he could leave the Hokage Tower.

"As you can see, the village suffered heavy losses," Koharu said. "The Third Hokage died during the battle."

Tonbo was not surprised. He had prepared for Orochimaru's attack before leaving. The proxy certificate linked to Tōsei had been activated, which told him his father had needed its power and that the family plan had worked. Ayame and the children were alive.

For everyone else, Tonbo could only mourn.

"What happened to Kakashi and the others?"

"Kakashi is in the hospital," Koharu replied. "After the main invasion, Uchiha Itachi and the rogue Mist shinobi Kisame entered Konoha. Kakashi helped repel them and has not awakened from Itachi's genjutsu."

Tonbo set the Snow report on the desk. "That is terrible news. If you have no other orders, I want to see my family."

"There is another matter," Homura said.

Hiruzen's death had left the Hokage seat empty. The village first asked Jiraiya to succeed him, but Jiraiya refused and insisted he was unsuitable. He had taken Naruto to find Tsunade and persuade her to become the Fifth Hokage.

Konoha could not leave the office vacant during the search. Reconstruction, missions, and defense all required a recognized commander.

"We and Fire Country's senior officials recognize your ability," Koharu said. "You will act as Hokage until Tsunade returns."

The words struck Tonbo harder than any news from Snow.

He looked toward Hiruzen's empty chair as if someone might reveal the appointment to be a joke. No one did. The elders had already informed the department heads, sounded out the clan representatives, and obtained acceptance from the capital. They had built the decision around him before he entered the room.

Since when did he qualify to become Hokage? The office usually passed through a chain of masters and students. Tonbo was a common-born shinobi who had become unusually strong, and he had not even shown the village how strong.

"You two can manage the political work," he said. "There is no need for an Acting Hokage."

He tried every practical objection. The village knew the elders. Shikaku understood administration better. Several senior jōnin possessed longer command records. Announcing an obscure temporary leader after an invasion could create more uncertainty rather than less.

Koharu answered each one. The elders could advise but lacked the battlefield authority expected of the office. Shikaku's value as coordinator would be wasted if he also had to serve as public commander. The senior jōnin Tonbo named were injured, deployed, or unacceptable to enough factions that choosing one would begin a different crisis.

Homura raised his voice. "This is not merely about the vacancy. You need to learn the Hokage's duties. Once you have enough experience, you can succeed Tsunade in turn. We are training you."

The proposal became worse with every sentence.

Tonbo did not want the paperwork, the factions, or the destiny attached to the hat. He would rather stay home with his family. Every Hokage seemed cursed. Hashirama's death remained unclear. Tobirama died in battle. Hiruzen was killed by his own student. Minato died during the Nine-Tails attack. Tsunade would lose Jiraiya. Danzō's half-step into the office would end in vengeance. Kakashi would never marry, and Naruto's reign would scarcely be gentler.

The pattern looked less like honor than a collection of misfortunes stacked beneath a ceremonial hat. Tonbo had survived by understanding stories before they reached him. Volunteering to stand where every disaster eventually arrived felt like abandoning that advantage on purpose.

Even Shikamaru's future as the Eighth looked difficult.

"Konoha is in crisis," Koharu said. "Do you intend to avoid your responsibility now? Is that worthy of the Will of Fire?"

Tonbo rubbed his head. He had not invoked the Will of Fire in a long time, and the elders had turned it against him first.

"Fine. I will serve temporarily, but I am not suited to be Hokage. Shikaku must help me."

He emphasized *temporarily*. He would hold the village together until Tsunade returned, hand her every seal and report, and escape before anyone converted necessity into succession. The elders could call it training if that helped them accept the arrangement. Tonbo considered it emergency labor with a fixed end.

"We, Shikaku, and the senior staff will all assist," Koharu said. "Konoha needs your strength."

Tonbo had agreed, but he refused to begin before going home.

After he disappeared, Koharu sighed. "Another capable slacker."

Homura shared her frustration. Since Minato's death, Konoha had failed to produce a successor they could accept without hesitation. Every qualified shinobi had an impossible temperament, a strange habit, or no interest in the position. That was why Hiruzen had remained for so many years and why the village now had to summon one of the older sannin.

Tonbo put the office out of his thoughts. He had his hair cut, restored his appearance after the journey, and bought a bouquet of lilacs for Ayame.

He chose the flowers before approaching the damaged residential streets. The journey had filled his clothes with salt and cold, and he wanted the first image his family saw to be the man who had come home rather than the shinobi who had spent a month crossing battlefields.

The smile he carried home vanished at the gate.

His house looked like patched clothing. Boards covered damaged walls, mismatched tiles filled holes in the roof, and fresh mortar crossed the stone. Several neighboring homes had suffered the same treatment while Konoha's limited repair crews moved from one urgent structure to another.

"Dad is home!"

Tenyu and Maki rushed outside and wrapped themselves around him. Ayame followed a moment later.

Tonbo handed her the flowers. "What happened here?"

"Shinobi fought through the neighborhood," she said. "The house was caught between them."

Their family had money. Ayame cared far more that everyone survived.

"They destroyed my toys," Tenyu said furiously. "When I grow up, I will beat them all."

"The house can be repaired," Tonbo said. "What matters is that no one was hurt."

Their faces showed no lingering terror. That eased a fear he had carried throughout the return voyage. The children were still too young for the genjutsu training Tonbo intended to use against panic and mental attacks.

He checked them with his senses while they spoke, confirming their breathing, chakra flow, and the absence of hidden wounds. Ayame was tired, Tenyu's hands carried small cuts from clearing debris, and Maki had a bruise at one knee. Those ordinary injuries were the most welcome evidence Tonbo had received since reaching the gate.

Tōsei emerged from inside with his chest raised.

"Of course no one was hurt. I was here."

He had returned to battle during the invasion, killed Sand shinobi, and escorted residents to safety with the power stored in Tonbo's proxy certificate.

"With you protecting them, they could only be safe," Tonbo said.

His father accepted the praise happily. "Now that you are home, I will tell you everything I did. First, give me two more of those certificates. They are exceptionally useful."

Tōsei immediately began describing the enemies he had killed, the civilians he had escorted, and how easily old instincts returned once the certificate filled the gaps in his strength. Every gesture grew larger than the one before. The missing arm did nothing to reduce the satisfaction with which he relived the battle.

"Each costs more than ten million ryō in chakra metal. They are not cabbages."

The market price rose and fell, but chakra metal was never cheap.

When Tonbo told the family about his temporary appointment, the children's eyes widened.

"Dad is going to be Hokage?"

"Acting Hokage, until the Fifth arrives. I will be busy, so I may have much less time to teach you ninjutsu."

Tenyu and Maki nearly jumped with excitement. Their father was Hokage. Konohamaru could boast only that his grandfather had held the title, while they had become the Hokage's own children.

In their imagination, the temporary appointment already transformed their rank at the Academy. They could walk into class as the son and daughter of the village leader. Every past argument with Konohamaru now seemed ready for a decisive answer.

Then they remembered why Konohamaru's grandfather no longer held it.

They decided not to provoke him yet. Once he recovered, however, their new advantage would remain available. Even their schemes had limits.

Tonbo recognized the look they exchanged and knew they were already planning how to show off.

After spending time with his family, he carried a basket of apples to Konoha Hospital.

Kakashi lay unconscious beneath the treatment seals.

Itachi's genjutsu had left no dramatic wound for Tonbo to examine from the doorway. Kakashi breathed steadily, yet his mind had collapsed under an experience compressed into the Mangekyō's altered time. Medical staff could sustain his body while the damage remained beyond their ordinary methods.

"You cannot eat these yet," Tonbo said, placing the basket beside the bed. "I can at least examine you."

He formed one seal. Fine nerves emerged from his hand, spread over Kakashi's body, and penetrated toward the damage hidden inside.