"That's true, we won, we have the right to do it."
"Thirty percent of the territory in the hot springs, no more, that should be fine."
"What thirty? Let's give them only twenty five."
"And why fifty million? Let's give them forty."
Thinking about losing so little, everyone smiled and celebrated while talking enthusiastically about how little they would give to Kumo. Seeing this scene, Kushina could not help but feel a little strange.
Finally, after discussing for a while, they reached the final figure.
It was decided to give twenty five percent of the hot springs territory and only thirty million ryo.
It may seem like little, but an S rank mission usually pays around one million ryo. Considering its difficulty and how rare they are, it is the equivalent of what a very powerful ninja earns over several years.
And not to mention the money that can be generated from just a quarter of the hot springs territory. In a world like the ninja world, with almost no entertainment and full of wealthy nobles, hot springs are a constant source of passive income.
Everyone was satisfied with those numbers. Compared to what they had to pay at the end of the Second War, this was nothing more than crumbs.
However, while everyone celebrated, Kushina drew the attention of the room.
"Excuse me."
"Yes, Miss Kushina?" Shikaku said, looking at her with respect.
"Ah, this... why are we paying them?" Kushina asked with genuine confusion.
Hearing that, a nearby jonin who wanted to gain her sympathy explained kindly.
"Miss, perhaps you do not know because you did not participate in the Second War. But if we want to end the war without too many losses, we need one of the sides to propose a truce.
Kumo proposed that truce to end the conflict, but in exchange they ask for compensation for their 'losses'.
Of course, we understand that it is a loss for us, but to end the war it is something necessary."
However, Kushina seemed even more confused after hearing the explanation.
"And why does that matter to us?"
"What?" the jonin said, confused.
"They call it a truce, but in reality they just ran away like cowards because they could not win, right? Why would we pay them for that? What are they going to do if we do not pay them, continue the war?" Kushina said with a mocking smile toward Kumo.
"This..." The jonin fell silent at her words, and the rest of the room did not know what to answer either.
"Then, should we...?" Shikaku looked at Hiruzen searching for an answer, but he shook his head.
"Even though we would win the war, and in fact the chances of it breaking out again are less than five percent, people would still die if it happened.
After being in a war you should understand its horror, right? At that moment, who will take responsibility for all those victims just because we did not want to pay a little now?"
"I will" Kushina interrupted. "We will give money to the loser just because there is less than a five percent chance that another war will break out? And one that we would win? What kind of nonsense is that? Besides, what kind of real ninja fears fighting?"
Although Kushina spoke in general, it was clearly a jab at Hiruzen's personality. The rest of the room remained silent, watching this quiet clash of personalities.
"Kushina, I also think we should pay. If by simply paying a little we can avoid future deaths, I think it is worth it" Minato said as he approached her.
"I see." Kushina nodded, understanding his point of view.
But understanding someone else's point of view is not the same as agreeing with it.
When Minato was about to sigh in relief, thinking she had given in, Kushina spoke again.
"Then why do we not vote? Who wants to pay the losers?" Kushina said, guiding the room effortlessly.
Three people raised their hands.
"Then... who says we ignore them?"
Everyone else in the room raised their hand.
"Decided then, we will give them nothing" Kushina said with a smile. "Shikaku, please continue."
"Yes, Miss Kushina."
Shikaku continued, although in reality a vote should not have been held about that, since even if the majority had one opinion, the Hokage's word was still the most important.
Even so, since the room had already decided in Kushina's favor, he chose to stand on her side again.
Of course, it also influenced the fact that he agreed with her way of thinking.
Shikaku was the type of person who thought with a cold mind full of calculations about the gains and losses for all of Konoha. Something like a small possibility that another war might break out, one they would win anyway, did not worry him in the slightest.
After that, Shikaku noticed how everyone unconsciously looked at Kushina every time a decision had to be made, waiting for her opinion. And many times, if she disagreed with the majority, everyone changed their position to stand on her side.
This was something that normally would have annoyed Hiruzen, but not today.
After all...
"Lastly, the Third Hokage would like to announce something" Shikaku said, giving him the floor.
Hiruzen stood in front of everyone and spoke with his aged voice.
"First of all, I would like to thank all of you for supporting me during this time.
However, today I would like to announce my retirement. I am already old and my strength is no longer at its best.
In my place, new talents have emerged in the village who surpass me both in strength and reputation. I believe it is time to hand the leadership to the next generation." Before anyone could be surprised by what his words meant, Hiruzen said it directly. "Today, in addition to everything else, we are here to decide who will be the Fourth Hokage."
Although they were surprised at first, as experienced ninjas they quickly understood his intention.
Something to explain is that, in reality, there had never been a formal method for choosing the Hokage.
The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, founded Konoha and naturally became its leader. Later he handed the leadership to his younger brother, and given his power no one dared to oppose him even if they disagreed.
Lastly, the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, gave the title to Hiruzen on his deathbed after being ambushed.
Even so, since all the important decisions of the village were made by vote in jonin meetings, Hiruzen decided to use that same system to choose his successor.
Anyone could propose a candidate, as long as they did not propose themselves, and then the rest would vote.
As expected, only one person was proposed, by Shikaku no less, and everyone else voted unanimously.
Although not everyone agreed, everyone knew how dangerous it would be to have the next Hokage as an enemy.
Thus, in a surprisingly anticlimactic way, Kushina fulfilled her childhood dream and was chosen as Hokage.
---
"Ah, how fun this is" Kushina said with boredom while looking out the window at the village.
"Lady Hokage, it has already been three months since you became Hokage, is it not time for you to get used to it?" Shikaku asked beside her.
"I am already used to it. Better tell me why you came" Kushina complained.
"Yes. Officially, all repairs and compensations related to the war have been completed."
"That must have taken a while. It must have been a disaster after the compensations from the Second War" Kushina said.
If a six month war caused so many problems in unrelated areas, she could only imagine how many had been caused by the Second Great Ninja War, which lasted for years.
"In fact, there are still areas that remain destroyed from that time" Shikaku sighed while remembering the bureaucratic disaster caused by the previous war. He was not even the Hokage's advisor at the time, and even so the storm reached him.
"So, what now?"
"You decide that. You are the Hokage."
"Right, I am the Hokage" Kushina remembered with a bit of embarrassment.
Looking through the window she saw lively people walking through the village. Even though the war had only lasted six months, it had still caused many problems. One of the most serious was the lack of powerful ninjas in the village during that time, which caused a drop in security and an increase in crime, something that took three months to return to normal.
This was not only the fault of civilians, but also of the weaker ninjas who were not sent to the war. After all, no matter how weak a ninja is, they are still stronger than the strongest normal person in a direct fight.
Thinking about this, Kushina already knew what to do, but it was not something she could say out loud.
"Leave for now, I have a few things to do."
"Yes."
Shikaku nodded and immediately left.
"It should not be long now, right?" Kushina asked the air.
[It is the perfect moment. If it were me, this would be the moment I would start]
"And it turns out it really is you" Kushina said with an ironic laugh.
---
At the same time, in a house with ancient but luxurious architecture that made 95 percent of the village houses look ridiculous, the residence of the head of the Sarutobi clan, Hiruzen was quietly fishing in a pond in the courtyard.
However, behind him there were three people arguing at the same time, which was starting to give him a headache.
"Hiruzen, that brat does not take us into account at all. She ignores our words and does not care about our position as advisors to the Hokage" said Utatane Koharu.
"That is right. She is monopolizing the power to do whatever she wants with the village" added Homura Mitokado.
"And what do you want me to do? I am no longer Hokage and I have no authority" Hiruzen replied without taking them seriously while casting the hook into the water.
"Hiruzen, you need to take this seriously. The Hokage must work together with others for the good of the village. As for Kushina, she simply ignores anyone who does not share her vision" added Danzo.
"Danzo, the fact that you are still alive and that Root still exists already surprises me. Why do you want to look for trouble on purpose?"
Danzo almost choked at those words, but he quickly recovered. If there is something unmatched in the ninja world, it is Danzo's shamelessness, so he changed the narrative instantly.
"Hiruzen, you forget who Kushina is. She is a member of Tasogare. We must expose her and remove her from her position."
"And give it to who? To you?
Kushina is not a Tasogare infiltrator in Konoha. She is a ninja of Konoha who joined Tasogare. Whatever Tasogare's objective is, it is clear that it is not to destroy Konoha. With their strength, they would have already done it if they wanted to. Besides, there is no rule in Konoha that forbids joining organizations."
Hiruzen smiled mockingly.
Now that he was retired, he had two sources of entertainment.
The first was fishing.
The second, and the one he liked the most, was watching the suffering of his former "friends".
______________________________________
Hey, I just published the first chapters of a new fic: To Love Ru: Chaos.
If you're interested or want to support me, go read it and leave some Power Stones.
But it's literally the complete opposite of this series, so I recommend reading the 'Before You Read' section to see if you'll like it.
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)