"When you put it like that, I guess I do sound pretty amazing, huh? Seriously though, if I had never run into another Uzumaki, we wouldn't be sitting here today. I'm willing to bet good money there would only be ruins here still."
She swirled her tea around for a moment, then continued.
"But between you and me, I probably wouldn't be as good a leader here if I hadn't gotten as much advice and help with all the boring, detailed work as I did. Especially in the beginning when there wasn't much money and I had to find people willing to cut deals for one thing or another. Even then, we still working on paying back a loan to Konoha. We probably will be until I'm 55 unless we can get more income from more missions. But it's good that you can recognize that being a leader--especially for a large village--is hard. You'll have shadows and people doubting you over your shoulder or behind your back. With the way things are going, I'm worried it'll get harder. Not just here, but Konoha too. Maybe within the other hidden villages as well."
She paused again to sip her tea, and her memory floated back to Danzo, the heavily scarred old shinobi and former head of the disbanded ROOT. She had disliked him at best from their first meeting and had been pleased when he agreed that ROOT was no longer needed under her husband's leadership. But if things carried on with more misinformation driving up the number of dead or missing shinobi... No. Surely it wouldn't come to that. He wouldn't dare. Would he? She shook her head once to push it from her thoughts.
"Here's to hoping things settle down sooner rather than later. For now, the best thing you can do right now is stay confident in your goal and aim to be the best damn ninja you can be. Impress your superiors and the village council will eventually take notice. If you can get their attention, you'll probably catch the Daimyo's eye too. They're the ones who decide who the next Hokage is if the current one steps down or can't do the job for whatever reason. Since you've gotten Obito's attention, you've already got a leg up on any competition in your age range. He'll be able to suggest you if he steps down and you're a jounin. At least, that's how I think it goes. That's how Minato said it ran when he was stepping down and suggesting Obito three years ago. ...Wow, has it really been that long?"
sob... she wouldn't shut up i'm sorry
She swirled her tea around for a moment, then continued.
"But between you and me, I probably wouldn't be as good a leader here if I hadn't gotten as much advice and help with all the boring, detailed work as I did. Especially in the beginning when there wasn't much money and I had to find people willing to cut deals for one thing or another. Even then, we still working on paying back a loan to Konoha. We probably will be until I'm 55 unless we can get more income from more missions. But it's good that you can recognize that being a leader--especially for a large village--is hard. You'll have shadows and people doubting you over your shoulder or behind your back. With the way things are going, I'm worried it'll get harder. Not just here, but Konoha too. Maybe within the other hidden villages as well."
She paused again to sip her tea, and her memory floated back to Danzo, the heavily scarred old shinobi and former head of the disbanded ROOT. She had disliked him at best from their first meeting and had been pleased when he agreed that ROOT was no longer needed under her husband's leadership. But if things carried on with more misinformation driving up the number of dead or missing shinobi... No. Surely it wouldn't come to that. He wouldn't dare. Would he? She shook her head once to push it from her thoughts.
"Here's to hoping things settle down sooner rather than later. For now, the best thing you can do right now is stay confident in your goal and aim to be the best damn ninja you can be. Impress your superiors and the village council will eventually take notice. If you can get their attention, you'll probably catch the Daimyo's eye too. They're the ones who decide who the next Hokage is if the current one steps down or can't do the job for whatever reason. Since you've gotten Obito's attention, you've already got a leg up on any competition in your age range. He'll be able to suggest you if he steps down and you're a jounin. At least, that's how I think it goes. That's how Minato said it ran when he was stepping down and suggesting Obito three years ago. ...Wow, has it really been that long?"