Playing As Gojo Satoru in Naruto

Come on, Hatake Satoru was the guy secretly pulling the strings in Kirigakure of the Land of Water.

Money? Not a problem.

Getting a job? No way—he was never getting a job, not in this lifetime.

And he had no interest in getting tangled up with Konohagakure's messy politics.

Just look at those two old men—

manipulating Itachi and Shisui, acting soft on outsiders but going all out on their own people.

No way was he stepping into that mess.

"Ah—just pretend you never saw me fight, okay? I won't let anything slip!"

"Besides, I've got side gigs that make me money anyway. I'll think about getting a job if I ever feel like it~"

"I've only just gotten back, and you're already trying to push me out to work.

You might be a good ninja, but you're not a very good brother."

Satoru pouted a little, clearly unhappy.

"Ah… well, that's not what I meant."

"If you really don't want to, then I won't tell Lord Hokage."

Kakashi got completely thrown off by Satoru's "family first" act

and had no choice but to sigh and put the report on hold.

To be honest, he'd already been hesitating—

because if he rushed to report it, who knew what the higher-ups might do?

They might just dissect his brother to see what made him tick.

Kakashi had always put the village first,

but this was family.

If there was ever a time to be selfish, it was now.

Besides, Satoru was a free man. Forcing him into the system didn't feel right.

As long as Satoru didn't do anything crazy, it was better to just keep his presence quiet for now.

…

The next morning.

"Isn't it too early for a mission? Didn't they just become genin yesterday?"

Satoru was brushing his teeth while Kakashi had already packed up and was standing at the door.

"Yeah, the Daimyo's cat ran off.

It's a rush job, so we've got to head out early."

Kakashi stood at the door, lifted his shoes, and mumbled, "I'm heading out," before closing the door behind him.

Hatake Satoru spit out the mouthwash and felt a little emotional.

It really wasn't wartime anymore—missions these days were as simple as catching a cat.

Man, Kakashi of the Sharingan—he'd always been a genius, growing up on the battlefield and going through countless bloody fights.

Now he's taking three kids out to catch a cat. That sounds pretty ridiculous.

Looks like after he left, Konoha really ended up short on people. No wonder Kakashi tried to rope him in as soon as he got back.

"But it can't be helped—being a ninja is fine, I just don't want to work for Konoha."

Hatake Satoru stretched lazily by the window.

Before coming back to Konoha, he had sent Kimimaro, as a Genin, back to the Hidden Mist Village.

Even though Kimimaro was at least Jonin level now after training with him, it was still better to go through the formal process.

Being a ninja is easier when you're still a student.

Once you've got blood on your hands and become a worker, there's really no turning back.

"Ah—! Ah—!"

While Satoru was enjoying the view by the window, a crow flew by, flapping wildly and calling out loudly.

Its feathers were shiny and smooth, and its eyes sharp—not bad. Shisui's crow-raising hobby seemed to be going pretty well.

Over the past few years, with help from Biwa Juzo, things had gone smoothly, and Satoru hadn't received any major bad news.

For more important matters, they still sent him letters, which he either responded to or simply read and moved on.

Of course, sometimes they sent him dumb stuff too.

Shisui probably raised a lot of crows—enough to fly letters often. Satoru usually treated those letters like bedtime reading.

Then he'd read them without replying.

"Let's see what it is this time~"

Maybe Biwa Juzo wanted to quit. Maybe those two idiots were being unreliable again and wanted to take the Executioner's Blade and become rogue ninjas.

Or maybe Shisui was saying they couldn't handle the Three-Tails and needed backup, so he sent this letter.

Satoru casually smoothed the crow's feathers and pulled out the letter underneath.

After the Land of Water grew stronger thanks to the Hidden Mist Village, nearby island nations also developed, and sea trade started booming.

A guy named Gato, who already had some money, used this chance to become a world-class rich man.

But while he acted like he was running sea trade, behind the scenes he was smuggling illegal goods and making a fortune.

Lately, Gato must've felt like he had enough money, so he hired gangs and violent groups to completely take over shipping around the Land of Waves.

He even forcefully stopped the building of a bridge, cutting off connections between the Land of Waves and the Land of Fire, while also blocking off the Land of Water.

The Land of Waves was a small country to begin with. Most of its growth depended on the Land of Water.

Now, thanks to Gato, the Land of Waves has no people or money left.

If they want to finish building the bridge, their only real option is to ask Konoha for help.

"P.S.: We noticed something off with Gato before, so we already sent two people in undercover."

"One is Momochi Zabuza from the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and the other is Haku, who uses secret techniques."

"Right now, the two of them are in the Land of Waves, gathering intel on Gato and looking into his assets."

"Once Gato is dealt with, we'll try to recover as much of his money as possible."

At the end of the letter, there was a smiley face drawn by Hozuki Mangetsu, so the letter probably came from him.

If they could really recover that kind of money from a world-class tycoon like Gato, it would be a big deal.

Zabuza and Haku hadn't taken action yet—probably because of the asset problem.

I mean, come on—those two killing someone like Gato should be as easy as slicing vegetables.

Hatake Satoru rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the letter, quickly going through different plans in his head.

"With the two of them, Gato should be no problem. But besides that… there's one more thing…"

Hatake Satoru stuffed the letter back into the envelope and gave the crow a pat to send it off.

Well, doing this kind of cat-and-mouse stuff all the time probably gets boring. Naruto and the others will likely get tired of these laid-back days soon.

Once the Mizukage gets this matter sorted out, Naruto's team should be past this awkward phase of doing D-rank missions.

After sending the letter, Hatake Satoru went out to walk around the village.

He didn't have a job anyway, just a free-roaming guy with nothing much to do. After being gone for so many years, there probably weren't many people left who still recognized him.

Back when he left the Hidden Leaf, the village was still caught in the tense atmosphere of the Uchiha clan's upcoming coup.

Now, after all these years, the place looked peaceful and full of life. It seemed like the Uchiha clan had been completely forgotten.

Looks like Kotoamatsukami really did work well back then.

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