Chapter 282: The Daimyō
In the end, Minato agreed to become Tonari's Captain of the Guard Squad.
As for the other members of the squad, they still needed to be carefully selected.
For now, despite holding the title of Captain of the Guard, Minato was essentially a one-man team.
Originally, Tonari had debated whether to assign Minato as the Captain of the Guard or the Head of the ANBU. However, in the end, he decided that the Guard Captain role suited Minato better.
From Tonari's perspective, he would rather have no overwhelmingly powerful figures within the ANBU than allow someone beyond his control to exist within it.
Both the ANBU and Root needed to be organizations he could fully command.
What did it mean to have full control?
It meant they needed to function like Root currently did—completely loyal, without independent influences.
The ANBU still had too many members from various Konoha clans, which brought additional influences and potential issues. Tonari planned to appoint a couple of powerful individuals from Root to oversee the ANBU.
While he didn't intend to turn the ANBU into another Root, he at least needed it to be far more reliable than it was now.
Thus, the Captain of the Guard position was the best fit for Minato.
In a crisis, Minato could use his Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport Tonari to safety instantly.
After celebrating Minato's safe return from the battlefield, Minato and Kushina left to enjoy their time together.
Meanwhile, Tonari and Lingxiang returned to the cat shelter, which had been closed for some time.
Over the past few days, the shelter had been thoroughly cleaned and was ready to reopen.
Now that Tonari was the Hokage, the shelter's business was bound to thrive even more.
But what excited Tonari the most was that the Summoning Beast Scroll had finally been retrieved by his feline allies.
As a bonus, they had also secured a massive white battle-cat named Nekomata.
This Nekomata was quite unique—its tail split at the end, making it appear as though it had two tails, though in reality, it did not.
It was the largest cat Tonari had ever seen, apart from the Two-Tails (Matatabi). When fully enlarged, it could even rival the Two-Tails in size.
It was extremely fast, capable of freely adjusting its size, and proficient in chakra usage, including some special ninjutsu.
In a direct battle, it could match an elite jōnin, making it a formidable opponent.
Had it not been for the fact that his feline allies could wield Tailed Beast chakra, they might not have been able to subdue it.
In addition to Nekomata, the shelter now housed an entire fortress of ninja cats—hundreds of them, all proficient in chakra and capable of human speech.
Though their personalities were a bit unruly, they still formed a considerable force. With the "proper guidance" from his feline allies, Tonari believed they could be reformed.
Tonari and Lingxiang arrived at a forest outside Konoha.
There, waiting for him, were his chakra-infused feline companions and the massive white battle-cat, Nekomata, who obediently lay on the ground, pretending to be meek and docile.
Tonari spread out the enormous summoning contract scroll and began inspecting it from the very first entry.
As expected, Nekomata's name was on it—though it was not the first cat to sign the contract.
"Heh… This scroll has recorded quite a few cats, but…" Tonari smirked. "Let's start fresh."
With that, he erased all previous entries from the contract scroll.
Nekomata immediately felt uneasy. It could clearly sense that its connection to its subordinates had been severed.
Tonari then signed his name in the first slot, replacing the original Uchiha clan member who once owned the contract.
A peculiar sensation filled his mind—similar to the time he signed his name in the Ryūchi Cave scroll.
However, this time, the feeling was much stronger—almost as if he had gained full authority over the contract.
"Alright, your turn," Tonari muttered.
A small, blue-black cat appeared on his shoulder—his most prideful feline companion.
The moment this cat emerged, Nekomata visibly trembled, pressing its head against the ground in submission.
The stronger the cat, the more it could feel the overwhelming presence of Matatabi (the Two-Tails).
Despite being a proud little thing, the result was the same.
After Tonari, the blue-black cat left its imprint in the top contract slot.
One by one, his other feline allies followed suit, each signing their names.
Finally, it was Nekomata's turn.
With that, the contract scroll had been successfully reset and structured under Tonari's absolute authority.
From here on, the goal was to gradually expand the variety and number of cats listed in the contract.
As long as one member of a species had signed, their descendants could also be summoned.
"Alright, Blue, I'll leave the rest to you. Make sure all these ninja cats earn their place—no more bad habits," Tonari instructed.
"Understood," the blue-black cat replied.
As a final step, Lingxiang signed the contract as well, becoming the first official summoner under Tonari's cat summoning contract.
This meant that she could summon any cat on the scroll except for Matatabi.
With the combined power of his feline allies and Nekomata, Lingxiang would gain an elite jōnin-level battle companion—a massive advantage in battle.
Now that his intelligence network merged his original spy network with the ninja cat network, Tonari's ability to gather information had significantly increased.
Yet, there was still much work to be done.
For instance, the ninja cat village needed a proper settlement.
Tonari had already chosen a location: a remote coastal region in northern Tanokuni (Land of Rice Fields).
It was far from prying eyes, could sustain itself with abundant food sources from the sea, and, most importantly, was already under Tonari's jurisdiction.
Building a powerful summoning beast faction was a long process.
Expanding the contract was only the first step. The real challenge was ensuring that his ninja cats could wield Senjutsu (Sage Chakra), much like the toads of Mount Myōboku, the snakes of Ryūchi Cave, and the slugs of Shikkotsu Forest.
Fortunately, Tonari had an advantage—his feline companions already carried Tailed Beast chakra, a form of natural energy.
If he could teach the others to harness it, they could truly establish a summoning faction that rivaled the three legendary summoning clans.
But achieving that would take years, if not decades.
Summoned by the Daimyō
After settling the summoning contract affairs, Tonari enjoyed a brief period of peace.
With the wars against Sunagakure and Iwagakure over, most of Konoha's deployed shinobi had returned home, making the village more lively than ever.
The bustling streets were once again packed with people.
After experiencing the hardships of war, everyone cherished the peace all the more.
With the increase in population, new missions also surged, fueling Konoha's rapid recovery.
As Hokage, Tonari had his hands full with administrative duties.
Thankfully, his Shadow Clones handled most of the paperwork, and he also recruited Nara Shikaku under the guise of "training," though in reality, it was just to lighten his workload.
Shikaku was tasked with handling D-rank and C-rank missions, which were both numerous and tedious. Meanwhile, Tonari only managed the S-rank, A-rank, and B-rank missions, which were far fewer in comparison.
With Shikaku working tirelessly, Tonari had more freedom to focus on secret experiments in the lab beneath the cat shelter—trying to enhance his body with Hashirama's cells to prepare for wielding his Rinnegan.
However, his peaceful days didn't last long.
Word had reached the Daimyō of the Land of Fire that Konoha had a new Hokage—one who had earned great renown in the war.
Realizing that he had never even met this new Hokage, the Daimyō summoned Tonari to the capital for an official audience.
Understanding the political importance of this, Tonari agreed.
With Root's Ryōma and Terai accompanying him, he set off for the Land of Fire's capital—a place he had never visited before.
He was curious to see what kind of person the Daimyō truly was.
To be continued…
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