"We're allowed to have opinions. And if we keep advancing we'll have to make calls like this ourselves someday; it's good to think ahead of time what those should be."

Chihiro looks like she doesn't quite know what to do with this.

He shrugs. "I plan to make jounin someday. Naruto wants to be Hokage, and I think has a good chance. We'll probably be stuck advising him if he does."

"...Why?"

"Why jounin, or why believe Naruto?"

"The latter."

"He's charismatic. People who actually talk to him like him, and becoming Hokage is as much about popularity as power or sensibility. The choice is made by the previous Hokage, traditionally, and confirmed by the daimyo and the jounin. The current Hokage likes him. For fit - Naruto's good at reading people, and seeing through lies. He's confident but not overly arrogant. He's fairly selfless. He cares about everyone he meets, and mostly evaluates people on personality, not for shallow reasons. He seems on track to become powerful, though I'd rather have a Hokage who's good at politics than one who's good at punching. He's good at identifying places things could work better. He's good at evaluating advice. Politically, he's not tied to any specific clan, but Uzumaki is an old, respected name - the benefits of a famous clan without the baggage." A pause. "He's also still a kid and therefore kind of an idiot, but - I think once he matures a bit he'll be better."

"And why would we be his advisors?"

"The Third and Fourth both invited their genin teammates, as far as I know. Naruto also likes us, and tends to value personal relationships highly."

"...Oh."

"It's a long way off. But, it's good to build solid foundations." He leans back, rubbing at his eyes.

"Foundations are important," Chihiro agrees.

"Mhm." He's tired and not going to bother asking if she has more questions.

The night passes. The next day, Tazuna goes back to the bridge and Chihiro goes with him again.

Sasuke spends the day training.

Naruto spends the day trying to be friends.

"Should you not be spending more effort to be alert for incoming threats?"

"Got my clones taking turns watching, and it's hard to be super alert all the time."

"Vigilance is a necessary skill for a shinobi."

"Yeah, but... If Kakashi-sensei thought there'd be sneaky people he would've come with, 'cause even injured he's better at spotting people that us. And other than boats it's hard to sneak up, and I got clones watching for that. So probably any problems are gonna be like non-shinobi thugs coming up the bridge, probably openly 'cause Gatou's the type of ass who likes intimidating people with big shows, and then it's good for us to be kind of obviously here and dangerous and not worried to make them think twice. Us being not worried also makes the workers feel better, and them quitting is a problem - I've got a few clones helping like carry stuff and show off like walking up walls so they'll feel protected but not like we're scary."

"That is not within the scope of our mission."

"Makes the mission easier and faster though. If the bridge doesn't get built we'll be here a while and Gatou will have time to hire more goons."

"I had not considered that."

"I like people, so, it's not a hard thing for me to think about, and figuring out what everyone does when is fun." 

"Why is 'fun' relevant?"