Jiraiya managed a strained smile and said to the two, "Don't rush. I'll go request missions suited to your level from The Third."
The situation had spiraled beyond his expectations, and he needed to consult with The Third and talk things over.
Inside the Hokage's office, thick smoke filled the room, giving it an ethereal, cloud-cloaked atmosphere.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat before his crystal ball, fixated on the images within as he fell into silence.
He had intended to observe how the Nine-Tails jinchuriki interacted with her teammates during missions, but instead, he witnessed Satori Hyuga's outrageous antics.
Could a normal person even think of something like this?
He'd gone through three pouches of tobacco, still unable to believe missions could be completed like this.
At first, when Satori hired others to complete D-Rank Missions in his place, he chose to look the other way.
After all, he was part of the Hyuga Main House, a disciple of Orochimaru—granting him some special treatment wasn't unreasonable, especially since it wasn't coming out of his own pocket.
And he believed Jiraiya would stop him.
But even after Jiraiya put an end to it, Satori found yet another clever trick.
He actually used stray cats and dogs as substitute mission targets—as long as the original owners didn't recognize them, the mission was marked as complete.
This was absurd.
His instincts as a ninja screamed that this was wrong—ninja were meant to risk their lives to complete missions.
Yet Satori was risking his neck—not for the mission, but to exploit every loophole he could find.
How could these two things possibly be the same?
Well then, the results shocked him—he realized most people couldn't tell the difference.
This finally made Hiruzen question his own judgment.
Hardworking ninja barely earned enough to survive, while Satori, the rule-breaker, completed over ten missions in one afternoon.
That well-behaved image of Satori Hyuga instantly shifted in his mind. From being seen as a genius of the Hyuga Main House, he'd become a clever troublemaker with a knack for loopholes.
Still, Sarutobi couldn't approve of such behavior.
If word spread about these loopholes, it would definitely affect other ninjas' motivation to complete missions seriously.
Before long, instead of striving to complete missions properly, ninjas would start looking for shortcuts. If this continued, would clients dare assign missions to ninjas at all?
It seemed like he'd have to tighten the rules at the Mission Hall once again.
"This is truly headache-inducing," muttered the Hokage.
Hiruzen began doubting whether putting Satori Hyuga, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina together had been a mistake.
Minato was a nearly perfect ninja by every standard.
From his character and abilities to his talent and looks—he excelled in every aspect, which earned great admiration from Sarutobi.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have grouped him with Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and Satori.
As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina also came from Whirlpool Country, carrying the bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan. She was naturally outgoing and straightforward, without a scheming bone in her body.
And Satori, as a member of the Main House, was courteous and considerate, renowned for his intelligence and trained under Orochimaru.
For these reasons, Sarutobi had carefully considered and confidently placed the trio together.
Yet now, he worried Satori might influence the other two earnest youths.
Satori Hyūga appeared more obedient and less disruptive than the students fighting for dominance at the Ninja Academy, yet when he acted, he caused quite a stir.
Just then, someone knocked on the office door, and Jiraiya casually pushed his way in from outside.
Upon entering the smoke-filled room, he immediately strode over to the window and opened it.
Once the smoke cleared, Jiraiya pulled up a chair and sat across from Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk.
"Old man, Orochimaru sure knows how to pick apprentices. This kid Satori is full of tricks—he's even sneakier than Orochimaru himself, exploiting mission loopholes. He managed to complete over twenty D-ranked missions in a single day."
"Now my squad has already surpassed others in completed missions and qualifies for C-ranked ones. Should we approve it?"
He tossed the problem to Hiruzen and leaned back, laid-back and carefree.
That was just who Jiraiya was—indifferent toward management or power. Otherwise, he wouldn't spend his time wandering across the ninja world writing novels.
Hiruzen thought for a moment before saying, "Let them count as completed."
Since there had been no precedent for this, Hiruzen couldn't simply invalidate all those missions.
Even more importantly, he worried about whether Satori's tactics would rub off on Kushina and Minato Namikaze.
As real ninjas, if they were corrupted by Satori and started obsessing over shortcuts instead of seriously completing missions, that would never be acceptable.
Furthermore, invalidating previous missions would force the three to team up again to complete new ones.
Hiruzen had already decided to separate them and limit their interactions, especially keeping Satori away from joint missions altogether.
A Main House member from the Hyūga Clan shouldn't need to participate in such petty tasks anyway. Better off staying home.
"Jiraiya," Hiruzen continued, "I'll assign you a B-ranked mission. You take Kushina and Minato Namikaze with you. As for Satori Hyūga, since he's part of the Hyūga Main House, there's no need for him to go."
"I'll handle the explanation with the Hyūga Clan and Orochimaru personally."
On hearing this, Jiraiya immediately let out a sigh of relief.
"Good! That little pest Satori can just stay home and avoid causing any more trouble."
"If he came along, I'd worry whether the mission could proceed normally at all."
Jiraiya found Satori extremely frustrating because of his unpredictable tactics but couldn't really say anything against him.
After all, Satori hadn't broken any rules, and he did finish every mission successfully.
Meanwhile, Satori remained unaware that he'd already been removed from the team by both Hiruzen and Jiraiya.
Not that he would care even if he knew.
To him, ninja missions were nothing more than a way to make money, and he already had sufficient means to earn without needing such trivial income.
His main reason for becoming a ninja was to obtain devastating destruction capabilities and the gift of immortality.
Missions? Not worth doing—even for a dog.
This mindset originated from his past life. Missions felt like game quests—completing them earned rewards of cash and experience.
In reality, though, client-commissioned missions were more trouble than they were worth, offering barely any payment in return.
When Satori heard the news from his clan, he too let out a sigh of relief.
Earning Jiraiya's recognition and learning Sage Mode alongside him was already a tremendous achievement.
As for later missions and traveling outside Konoha, Satori Hyūga felt it didn't really matter either outcome.
He had already obtained the most valuable thing—now he just needed to wait and accompany Jiraiya to Mount Myoboku.
Following Naruto Uzumaki's path of growth, all Satori needed was patience. He simply had to wait until Jiraiya brought Minato Namikaze to Mount Myoboku.
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