Chapter 67: Starting Today, I'm the Hokage
A notification chimed in Stelle's mind, confirming a surge of emotional value from Black Zetsu. She smirked. Her plan had worked perfectly.
Madara's eyes were the linchpin, the key to awakening the Rinnegan and the essential catalyst for the Fourth Great Ninja War. Now that Madara had willingly stepped away from that path, the war would naturally fall to her to initiate. The grand conflict she had been so eagerly anticipating would be a production of her own making.
Starting today, she had a new identity: the final boss of the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Still, Stelle wasn't entirely comfortable just handing the eyes over to Black Zetsu without a few safeguards. Without Uchiha Madara's direct involvement, what if that shadowy creature bungled the research and ruined the only pair of Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan she had? The risk was too great.
To be safe, Stelle had donned her "Mie" persona one last time to stage a dramatic scene. She prepared a temporary, makeshift laboratory and created two clones. One would play the part of Mie's corpse, while the other would serve as a failed "experimental subject." She then scrawled a series of complex, utterly nonsensical sealing formulas across the walls—patterns that neither she nor anyone else could possibly decipher. The moment Black Zetsu appeared, she would trigger a dazzling display of special effects, simulating a devouring formation and infusing the clone-corpse with a sliver of her own chakra to cement its authenticity.
She had originally intended to subtly guide Black Zetsu to "discover" the scene, but as luck would have it, he had stumbled right into it on his own.
'He must be ecstatic right now,' she mused. The body he'd found was a piece she had split from herself—arguably the most improved and perfect vessel in this world. With Madara's Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan implanted, awakening the Rinnegan was only a matter of time.
At that very moment, Konoha was holding a funeral for Senju Tobirama.
To be honest, funerals in the village had become a bit too frequent lately. The collective grief had settled into a kind of numbness, a state where tears no longer came easily. The atmosphere was simply oppressive, a heavy blanket of sorrow smothering the village.
The procession made its way to the cemetery, arriving before a row of familiar tombstones. The empty plot on the right, the one Senju Tobirama had once pointed out, had indeed been reserved for himself. Now, his own freshly carved headstone stood in its place. Stelle wondered if he had ever mentioned his final wish to Hiruzen Sarutobi, but it hardly mattered now. He was buried here, as he'd intended.
The five people who once laughed and played freely by the Naka River were now lined up neatly together, their stories etched in stone.
As the Hokage-in-waiting, Stelle naturally stood at the center of the mourners, a position of solemn duty. Behind her stood her six-person guard team, the new generation of Konoha's high-level leadership already taking shape around her.
Senju Tobirama's death in the Land of Lightning had dealt a staggering blow to Konoha's morale. Fortunately, the emergence of "Senju Stelle" had served as a powerful counterweight. The fact that she had single-handedly eliminated the Kage of the other four great nations acted as a stabilizing force, a bulwark against despair. With such a pillar of strength to rally behind, the village felt a collective sense of relief. Consequently, the ninja clans who might have harbored their own hidden agendas settled down completely, not daring to make a move.
As if on cue, a light drizzle began to fall from the overcast sky, a common companion to funerals.
Stelle offered no inspiring speeches. She wasn't in the mood, and besides, her mere presence was the greatest inspiration the village could ask for.
As the crowd slowly dispersed, she remained, a solitary figure standing in the curtain of rain. The legends of Konoha's founding generation had finally come to a full stop, leaving behind only four silent tombstones.
Lost in thought, she didn't notice the rain over her head had suddenly vanished. Stelle looked up to see an umbrella held steadily above her. It was Uchiha Kagami. He stood there in silence, his posture that of a steadfast guardian.
The two of them stood in the rain for a long time, the only sound the soft patter of water on the umbrella. Finally, she turned to him.
"Kagami," she said, her voice clear and steady. "Become the leader of the Uchiha Clan."
"Okay," Uchiha Kagami replied without a flicker of hesitation.
He had never been a man of great ambition. After returning alive from the Land of Lightning, only two beliefs remained seared into his heart: protect the village, and protect Stelle. If she wanted him to be the clan head, he would do it. It was that simple.
After the funeral came the preparations for Stelle's inauguration as Hokage.
She had originally thought a simple ceremony would suffice; there was no need for such grandeur. When Uchiha Madara was Hokage, she had handled most of the paperwork. When Senju Tobirama was Acting Hokage, she had also handled most of the paperwork. Now that she was officially taking the position, nothing would really change. She was just continuing her old job.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others vehemently disagreed. They argued that with the continuous deaths of Konoha's high-level officials, a grand celebration was needed to lift everyone's spirits from the pervasive gloom.
Stelle let them have their way. After all, she wasn't the one who had to do all the busywork.
Still, she couldn't help but feel a little pitiful. It was as if she were born for a life of toil. Even Senju Tobirama had only been as busy as a spinning top when Senju Hashirama was Hokage. She, on the other hand, had been swamped with work since the Second Hokage's era. Now that she was taking the position herself, she was being tied down completely.
For a moment, Stelle wasn't sure if taking the lead was a good thing or a bad thing.
'Ah, forget it.' Since she was already bound to Konoha, she couldn't just go offline for no reason. She might as well work a bit harder. Besides, the Sannin had already graduated from the academy; it was high time they started providing her with some quality emotional value.
She clapped her hands together, and with two soft puffs of smoke, a pair of Shadow Clones appeared beside her. After a great deal of effort, her skill to create three special, independent Shadow Clones had finally finished upgrading. Although her main body was now anchored in Konoha, having three autonomous clones stirring up trouble across the world would yield far more interesting results.
One was already assigned to farm mood points from Black Zetsu. She decided to let the other two develop freely.
"Go on," she said, addressing the two new clones. "As qualified extensions of myself, you should learn to earn emotional value on your own instead of letting me do all the hard work."
The clone on the left had a gentler disposition. "The world is so big, I want to go and see it. Bye-bye, Main Body." It waved cheerfully before vanishing.
The one on the right, however, had a distinctly nasty personality. It crossed its arms with a smug grin. "You really messed up, didn't you, Main Body? Has the script been failing lately? Haha, you're no good. Guess you'll have to see what I can do."
"Just get lost!" Stelle shooed it away with a sour expression, and it disappeared with a final, mocking chuckle.
Before the inauguration ceremony could even be planned, Stelle found herself in a heated argument with everyone about which generation of Hokage she would be.
"What do you mean, Third Hokage?" Hiruzen Sarutobi protested, his brow furrowed. "Tobirama-sensei is the Third. I should be the Fourth."
As students of Senju Tobirama, Hiruzen and his teammates naturally saw no issue with their late master being officially recognized as the Third Hokage.
"But Tobirama-sensei never held an inauguration ceremony," Danzō countered. "It was planned for after he returned from signing the peace treaty. Since that was never completed, logically..."
Before he could finish, Stelle cut him off. "Who says you don't count as Hokage without a ceremony? Ever heard of a posthumous title? We'll just posthumously appoint Tobirama-sensei as the Third Hokage."
"But... in such a short time, we've jumped all the way to the Fourth Hokage," Hiruzen argued, his expression troubled. "The other great nations are still on their Second. Changing generations so quickly has a significant impact. It makes our administration look unstable and... very short..." He trailed off, catching himself before he could say the word 'short-lived'.
Though still young, Hiruzen had already picked up the habit of smoking. He had just taken out a pipe when a sharp glance from Stelle made him hastily put it away.
'His considerations are quite complete,'Stelle thought,'and it is indeed something that needs to be considered... my foot.'
Was she the type to listen to reason? Obviously not.
"It's settled," she declared, her tone leaving no room for debate. "If anyone has a problem with it, let them come talk to me directly. I will persuade them with the power of my fists."
Fine. Since the future Hokage-sama had spoken, what else could they do but obey?
Over at the Hokage Rock, craftsmen had already begun working overtime. Since Senju Tobirama was now officially the Third, they had to carve his statue as well. The workload was massive. To finish the project ahead of schedule, Konoha brought in a large team of sculptors who filled the air with the clinking and clanking of hammers on stone from dawn till dusk.
The village couldn't wait to carve Stelle's face up there for the entire world to see.
Look closely, the unspoken message would read. This is our current Hokage. She's amazing—she killed the Kage of your four nations all by herself. Isn't that badass? Come and get us if you've got the guts.
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