"I have been thinking about this for a long time, but it is time for me to pass the mantle on to the next generation. I will retire and I nominate Seishin to be the fifth Hokage." Hiruzen said.
Murmurs sounded out throughout the room. But no one really disagreed with the decision.
"If anyone has a legitimate reason to disagree, please say so now or I will take your silence as agreement." Hiruzen said.
Silence, no one said a thing.
"Very well, I shall inform the Daimyo and we will start preparations for the ceremony." Hiruzen said.
__________
A couple of weeks pass and the day of the ceremony is here.
After a long and winded speech from the Third Hokage, he finally said. "And now, I would like to officially introduce you to the fifth Hokage. Seishin Hoshizora!"
Seishin then walked up in his Hokage cloak and hat and waved to the audience as they cheered.
Seishin took a step forward, his voice heard clearly across the crowd.
"Thank you… truly, thank you, everyone. Standing here today, I feel the weight of your trust, and I will not take it lightly. For too long, our village has stood still—safe, yes, but stagnant. We have survived, but we have not grown. And today, that changes.
I promise you this: I will use every ounce of my strength, every ounce of my will, to make life better for every person who calls this village home. No child will be left without opportunity. No family will be left without protection. No voice will go unheard.
We are not weak. We are not small. We are a village built on hard work, resilience, and unity. Together, we will rebuild, innovate, and rise higher than ever before. We will create a future where prosperity is shared, where strength is earned through cooperation, and where our home stands as a symbol of hope to the world beyond our walls.
Let today mark the beginning of a new era—an era of progress, of courage, and of unshakable resolve. Together, we will make this village stronger than it has ever been before."
Cheers erupted from the crowd, as Seishin left to start working.
The first thing he did was reform the administration system. He created new rules and regulations for how things should be done. That way, the village is more efficient at handling matters and the Hokage doesn't have to do everything himself.
He also raised the graduation age for the academy and made sure that students learn more advanced jutsu before they graduate. Things like advanced chakra control, nature and shape transformation among others. With this new system, graduates from the academy should be at Chunin level when they graduate.
Ninja ranks will now be a measure of someone's experience with the physical and mental capabilities being a secondary consideration when someone is up for a promotion.
New paths are also created and taught in the academy. Medical Jutsu, administration, leadership, research etc.
These reforms will take years to take effect, so Seishin focused on doing something else in the meantime to speed things up.
"Any word from squads we sent out?" Seishin asked.
"Yes sir, they said that they refuse to return." The Anbu member said.
"Sigh, call over Jiraiya and Naruto for me." Seishin said.
A few minutes later, they both were standing in front of him.
"What can I do for you Hokage-sama?" Jiraiya said.
"I need you to take Naruto with you and bring Tsunade back to the village. Drag her back if you have to. If you fail this mission, then I will have no choice but to declare her a traitor and a rogue ninja and will bring her back myself. Do you understand?" Seishin said.
"Yes sir," Jiraiya said seriously.
"Good, take Naruto with you and train him. Teach him Rasengan and Sage mode if you have time." Seishin said.
"Really? Is that wise? He's still too young." Jiraiya said.
"I don't want him to use the Nine Tails chakra every time he fights someone stronger than him. It would be good if he has his own strength to fall back on. Maybe he can learn to use the Nine Tails chakra in the future, but right now he needs something to take him to the next level." Seishin said.
"Fine, I'll take the brat with me." Jiraiya said.
"Hey, who're you calling a brat! You wanna fight, old man?!" Naruto said.
"Let's just go and bring back my teammate." Jiraiya said.
Both of them left together, bickering along the way to bring Tsunade to the Village.
"Send word to Orochimaru, tell him I'll be willing to support his research and pardon his past actions if he comes back to the village. It will be in secret, no one will know of his existence. With an entire village at his back, he should be able to accomplish much more. We can negotiate further once he arrives. And if he doesn't, then I'll send my mother to drag him back."
The Anbu member shuddered and left.
Seishin sighed as he continued to work.
He slowly wrote reforms that he will implement slowly over time.
***
The Hokage will continue to be the head of state and military commander.
But a formal advisory council will be established to present intelligence, debate options, warn of consequences and record dissent. It will be made up of the Head of Intelligence, Head of Medical Corps, Head of Research, Head of Anbu, Civilian Representatives, Clan Representatives and Legal Advisors.
This advisory council does not offer any power that hasn't been given already, it will just be a fancy name for the meetings held almost every day to inform the Hokage of what's happening in the village. More sensitive information will sometimes be withheld from select members of the advisory council.
The Academy will raise its graduation age to 14-16 years old. Even though they would be physically Chunin or maybe even Jonin, their rank would still be Genin and they are not allowed to take lethal missions before they rank up to Chunin.
The structure of shinobi will change to create a proper chain of command to improve communication and increase the efficiency of orders given during missions.
The curriculum of the Academy will be greatly improved to cover advanced chakra control, shape and nature transformation, and figuring out what chakra nature each student has. Also, the Academy will offer a wider variety of ninjutsu, genjutsu, bukijutsu, kenjutsu, taijutsu and medical ninjutsu techniques.
The Academy will require that every student master water walking, body flicker, at least five basic ninjutsu techniques, master shuriken and kunai handling, basic taijutsu, basic medical ninjutsu, and dealing with genjutsu. The Academy will now offer more free time for self study to go on your own and figure out what you like outside of what the Academy expects from you and learn that with the supervision of more experienced ninja.
There would also be mandatory psychological evaluations. Everyone on the team will know basic first aid and while someone will be more specialized in Medical Ninjutsu. Trauma counseling would also be a standard after tough missions.
All clans will provide members to join the police force. A police reform will be put in place to standardize police response and clarify what they can and can't do. Civilians will be allowed to join the force after going through a 6 month police course in the Academy. A temporary wing in the ninja academy will be used to teach this course until a proper police academy gets built. All members of the force must be 18 years or up. Combat ability will not be taken into account when giving out promotions and raises, but a mandatory fitness and mental health check will take place every 6 months.
A firefighting course will also be taught at the academy and a fire station will be built in the village. If the need for firefighters increases, the village will allocate more funding to expand it.
Many new topics and subjects will be taught at the academy, so either it will expand, or the village will allocate funds to build many specialized schools to teach those topics. Such as doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters, engineering, construction, technology, science, fuinjutsu etc.
The Hyuga clan will no longer administer the caged bird seal and look for alternatives that every member of the clan will get. They will work with the R&D department of the village and the seal experts to create and administer a new seal that has minimal to no physical marking and only destroys the eyes when the person dies or the seal detects that someone is trying to take out the eyes.
Also, the village will diversify its economy. The village now relies heavily on funding from the Daimyo to fund itself. The village will invest in infrastructure, medical ninjutsu, education and technology.
The village will modernize the grid and charge people for utilities. It will also invest in companies that work in technology such as TV's, appliances generators etc.
This way the village will generate its own income and will not have to rely on the Daimyo financially. Although this comes with the downside of angering the Daimyo, several gifts will have to be sent to him along with an official explanation.
The village sees no reason to step on the Daimyo's toes anytime soon until it is sure that no outside interference will occur.
***
I stretched a little bit as I finished writing out my plans. I then got to work on the paperwork, hours rolled by as I went through all of the paperwork until the ANBU member I sent to get Orochimaru came back.
"Hokage-sama. I found Orochimaru. He was intrigued by your proposal and told me to bring this snake to you." The ANBU member said and took out a small white snake from his pouch.
"Oh? Let me see." Seishin said as he brought his hand out and took the little snake.
"Hey little guy. You're so cute." Seishin said as he petted the snake.
Suddenly the snake changed expression and spoke. "Can you stop playing around with my snake and tell me what you want?"
"Orochimaru? You can possess the snake? That's really cool, when did you develop this jutsu?" Seishin asked.
"I'll tell you once you gain my trust. Is what your lackey said really true?" Orochimaru asked.
"Yes, it's true. I can't really publicize it because of all of the atrocities you committed. But, your worth far outweighs the risk of bringing you back. I'll essentially give you whatever you want, even bodies to experiment on. But they will only be really bad people or prisoners from here and other countries. You'll need to be completely transparent about what you are doing as well. My bottom line is really low, so long as you stay away from innocents and the people of this country."
"So, you're essentially giving me a blank cheque?" Orochimaru asked.
"Basically, yeah." Seishin said.
"Huh." Orochimaru said. "This is new."
"What do you say?" Seishin asked.
"Will you really send your mom if I say no?" Orochimaru asked.
"Yeah, it messes with the village's reputation to have you running around doing whatever you want." Seishin said.
"..." There was no reply on Orochimaru's end for a bit.
Until he said, "Okay, let me pack up my stuff and I'll come over tomorrow."
"Great, I'll meet you next to the entrance of the ROOT headquarters. Don't go through the village." Seishin said. Then the snake went back to normal as it disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.
__________
The next morning
__________
I arrived at the entrance of the ROOT headquarters at 11am. When I arrived, I saw Orochimaru standing there alone.
"Where's your assistant?" I asked.
"He left, he's not very attached to me. So when he heard that I was coming back to the village, he ran away." Orochimaru said.
"That's unfortunate. It's fine, I'll get to him eventually." Seishin said.
"It is unfortunate, he was good help. Anyway, it's a pleasure to finally meet you on good terms." Orochimaru said.
"Please, the pleasure is all mine. You're one of the legendary Sannin." Seishin said.
"That's ancient history." Orochimaru said.
"Getting to the matter at hand. I would like to make you the Head of Research for the village. You'll continue with your research, and you will get - essentially - a blank cheque. In exchange, you will work on projects that can make the village money and/or protect it." Seishin said.
"You're honest, I like that." Orochimaru said.
"I don't like beating around the bush." Seishin said.
"It's refreshing. Will I be working alone?" Orochimaru asked.
"No, I already reorganized the employees working in the village. You will start with 100 people under your command. 10 of them are experienced and respected researchers, 50 of them are interns and just extra help you can use to get your stuff and accomplish mundane tasks, and the rest are guards." Seishin said.
"Fantastic." Orochimaru said as his tongue slithered out of his mouth for a moment.
"The Research facility will take over ROOTs previous headquarters. You and the rest of the researchers will live here and your freedom will be greatly inhibited. If you want to leave, you will need approval and will be under constant watch at all times during your outing. This is because the research done in this facility will sometimes be incredibly sensitive and can't get out." Seishin said.
"Oh, I understand. It's not that big of a deal." Orochimaru said.
"Great, I'll leave you to introduce yourself to your employees. I have other work to attend to. Expect some ideas for you to research by the end of the day." Seishin said as he left.
As I was working, I came up with ideas on things to work on. Improvements to technologies such as computers, telecommunications, medicine, construction, transportation, ninjutsu, and specialized chakra technologies.
***
CRACK!
The table broke into pieces as an Elder of the Hyuga clan slammed his fist onto it.
"Who does that fool think he is?!" The elder screamed.
"Careful now, you're talking about the Hokage." Hiashi Hyuga said.
"I don't give a damn! That bastard thinks he can do whatever he wants just because he became the Hokage? These are traditions that have protected us for centuries!" The elder said.
"He gave proper alternatives, and the caged bird seal has held back the clan rather than protected it. The main family uses it to enslave the branch family instead of protecting them." Hiashi said.
"Watch your tongue boy! I will not have you or anyone tarnish our traditions for some fantasy! Fuinjutsu is a rare and extremely complicated subject. Without that seal, your clan would not have stood united for so long! I shall visit this so-called Hokage and give him a piece of my mind!" The elder said, as he stormed out of the meeting room.
Hiashi looked around the room at the other elders and said, "Do the rest of you agree with him?"
"Yes, we do. Elder Hayo is extremely passionate about this subject. But he's made our opinions clear." Another elder said.
"Very well, I can't wait to see how the Hokage reacts to this blatant disregard for his authority." Hiashi said.