Chapter 16: Taking Turns Being Hokage
Lately, the duels between Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna had become a fixture of village life. The surrounding shinobi and civilians had grown so accustomed to their routine—a small skirmish every three days, a major battle every five—that they no longer showed any sign of panic, calmly going about their business.
"Madara, is it really alright for them to be like this?" Senju Hashirama walked to the window, his gaze fixed on the two clashing figures below. A shadow of worry crossed his usually optimistic face.
Uchiha Madara pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. "Just let them be. They know their limits; they won't actually kill each other. Stelle's wish was for peace. For the village's sake, they will eventually pull themselves together."
The next order of business was the selection of the Hokage, the one who would ultimately be named the Shodai. The four titans of Konoha gathered all the clan heads and elite shinobi for the momentous decision.
The village was founded by the Uchiha and the Senju, so the choice naturally fell between the leaders of these two clans. The other families didn't even dare to dream of such a position.
As the time for the vote arrived, all the clan heads glanced nervously at the two pairs of red eyes seated to the side. One set swirled with the complex pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan, while the other held a piercing, natural crimson. Both stared out at the assembly like tigers watching their prey. A cold sweat broke out on their brows; they suddenly felt that voting for either candidate would be a grave mistake.
If they voted for Senju Hashirama, what if Uchiha Izuna was displeased? What if he decided to make their lives difficult?
And if they voted for Uchiha Madara, what if Senju Tobirama decided to cause them trouble?
To make matters worse, the two founding families were now as close as could be. In the end, if any retribution were to be had, the small clans would be the only ones to suffer. This wasn't a choice; it was a death sentence, no matter which name they spoke.
Argh!
The heads of the smaller clans felt like their scalps were about to split open from the pressure. Why did they have to be faced with such an impossible decision?
Ultimately, after a hushed and frantic discussion, they reached a consensus. Since they couldn't choose, why not simply refuse to? And so, one by one, these shinobi slyly chose to abstain, a decision that made Uchiha Madara so furious he nearly flipped the table.
"You two, show some restraint," Hashirama chided, turning to his brother and Izuna. "Everyone is part of the same village now. Using such iron-fisted methods of suppression will only cause problems down the line."
Uchiha Izuna replied calmly, his voice a stark contrast to the tension in the room. "Brother, in the early stages of building the village, we must apply beneficial policies and perfect the management system as quickly as possible. To do that, we can first suppress dissent with an iron fist, and then soothe them with benefits. What we are doing is not a problem."
Uchiha Madara was left speechless. He decided it wasn't worth the effort to lower himself to his younger brother's level of debate.
"Madara," Hashirama said, turning to him with a bright smile, "since it's come to this, why don't you be the Hokage?"
"You should be the one," Madara countered immediately. "Those two have already demonstrated the extreme end of the hardliners' approach. Everyone is shrinking back like frightened quails. They need you to step forward and soothe their frayed nerves."
"Haha! As expected, in your heart, I'm the most impressive one, Madara! In that case, I'll do it."
Madara shot back without a trace of sentiment. "It's not that you're impressive. It's that you have a face that looks easy to fool and hopelessly airheaded. It makes people let their guard down."
Senju Hashirama took this as a compliment, puffing out his chest with pride. "We've arranged four key positions. Since I've become the Hokage, Madara, you will be the Hokage's Assistant. Izuna and Tobirama will serve as the Advisors."
He beamed, his next words sending a shock through the room. "After I've done it for a few years, we'll switch to Madara. And after Madara is done, we'll switch to Izuna or Tobirama. Everyone will take turns being the Hokage! What do you all think?"
Senju Tobirama couldn't take it anymore. "Do you think being the Hokage is some kind of child's game?" he snapped. "Everyone taking turns..."
Hashirama waved a dismissive hand, his smile unwavering. "Don't worry about those details! Anyway, the four of us are the ones handling everything in the village. It doesn't matter who is officially the Hokage."
And just like that, Senju Hashirama became the Shodai Hokage of Konoha.
At the grand inauguration ceremony, Uchiha Madara led his clansmen to watch from the crowd below. However, neither of the two newly appointed Advisors showed up.
It wasn't that they didn't want to come. At that very moment, both were lying in separate hospital beds, wrapped from head to toe in so many bandages that they resembled mummies.
That's right. They had fought again last night, and this time, they had fought harder than ever before. By the end of it, both men were left with only a single, ragged breath in their lungs. If a spy had snuck in at that moment and given each of them a single stab, neither would have had the strength to defend themselves. They would have been sent straight to the afterlife.
As thunderous applause erupted from outside the window, both of them turned their bandaged heads in its direction.
A moment later, Senju Tobirama spoke, his voice muffled by the gauze. "That's enough, Izuna. Let's leave it at that."
He struggled to his feet, using a cane for support, and limped to the window. Gazing out at the newly formed Konoha, his tone became firmer than ever before. "The village has been built, and there are still many, many things that need our attention. Big Brother and the others need us. Together, we will build this village to be even more prosperous and peaceful."
He paused, his grip tightening on the cane. "And as for the person who controlled you and indirectly caused Stelle's death... I will keep investigating until I find him and kill him."
...
In a bustling restaurant in the Land of Lightning, Stelle was taking stock of her recent earnings. Seeing the final, massive wave of mood values generated by Uchiha Izuna and Senju Tobirama, she felt a deep sense of satisfaction. She had become wealthy in one fell swoop.
She could understand why Izuna generated so many points. At his core, he was a gentle person; otherwise, his dream wouldn't have been to simply protect the Uchiha clan.
It was Tobirama's contribution that surprised her. Accidentally killing a close clan sister was indeed hard to accept, but for someone as emotionally stable as him, how could he remain so unsettled for so long?
The amount of mood value he provided recently was substantial. Even though she had been 'dead'for a while, he would still occasionally burst out with a contribution of five or ten thousand points. She remembered when he was besieged by the Hagoromo Clan and she had risked her life to save him. The mood values he gave then were only a few tens of thousands, and he was back to his usual stoic self the very next day. This man, whose emotional stability was so terrifying it nearly drove her crazy, was actually showing such a strong, lingering reaction.'Forget it,'she thought with a mental shrug.'They'll forget me soon enough anyway.' After all, she was a variable who never existed in the original story. Uchiha Izuna hadn't even lived to see the village's founding, but now they were all alive and well, with clear goals and a direction for the future. At most, when they were busy, they might occasionally reminisce about the companion who once fought alongside them for peace.
As for the mood values, including those farmed from daily life, that last wave from the four founders and Black Zetsu had directly netted her several hundred thousand points—a huge profit. The key was that there were only so many people to farm in the Warring States Period, and it was always the same few. Being able to squeeze this much out of them was already her limit.
[Name: Stelle]
[Gender: Female]
[Total Mood Value Loan/Repayment: 1,111,111,111,000 / 3,652,500]
[Remaining Mood Values: 1,186,635]
[Today's Loan: 1,000/1,000, deducted.]
[Level: You possess the most improved body and a brain unmatched at creating ninjutsu. Though you are one in ten thousand, you are still a little piece of trash who is about to croak. Work hard to pay off your debt.]
[Lifespan: 3 years.]
Seeing the description in the level section, Stelle's face immediately darkened.
[What the heck? I clearly exchanged for more lifespan, okay? I still have three years left! How can you say I'm about to croak?]
And she had saved up a respectable pile of mood values, which were life itself. One thousand points could be exchanged for one day of life.
[Host, please don't be angry. This was the originally generated script. I can change the settings, and the next time the Host sees it, it won't be like this.] The system conscientiously began to reflect on its error.
Stelle looked at the mood value column again and sighed. With so much debt, the road ahead was long and arduous.
Today was another day of missing the Fourth Great Ninja War.
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