Chapter 140: Hokage Tsunade

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, more than three months had gone by.

The Third Hokage and the many ninja of Konoha, who had been waiting for Minato to return, gradually shifted from anticipation to disappointment, and from disappointment to despair.

Being a ninja is a very dangerous profession; therefore, if contact is lost for more than ten days, one can be declared missing, and after more than a month, it is basically assumed they have either defected or died.

As the Hokage of Konoha, Minato certainly could not have defected, and having not returned for three consecutive months, the final outcome was naturally easy to imagine.

In the Hokage Office, smoke swirled; the Third Hokage, who was currently stabilizing the village and handling affairs, puffed on his pipe, his face showing a hint of exhaustion.

The sound of the door opening rang out, and Tsunade walked in nonchalantly, waving her hand twice to disperse some of the smoke, and said:

"Old man, why did you call for me? Smoke less; how old are you now? I don't want to have to perform emergency aid on you when the time comes."

The Third Hokage was silent for a moment, ignored Tsunade's complaints, sighed, and said:

"Minato has been missing for over three months now..."

Hearing this, Tsunade's expression finally turned serious, her voice heavy:

"Over three months... The Fourth Hokage is a ninja who mastered Space-Time Ninjutsu; it is basically impossible for him to be trapped in a desperate situation. Even from the farthest place, he could return to Konoha within a day..."

"Having not returned for such a long time... I fear the worst has happened!"

Because of this, not only Konoha, but other ninja villages had also basically become convinced of the news of Minato's death.

"But they should also know about my Wood Release by now, right? The power of Wood Release should be enough to suppress their ambitions."

These two ninja villages suffered smaller losses in the last Ninja World War precisely because of the deterrent power of the Yellow Flash and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki combination, which finally ended the war. Now that the Nine-Tails has gone berserk and the Yellow Flash is missing, they naturally have the heart to probe.

Tsunade's expression was calm, showing no signs of annoyance, but she pondered for a moment:

"If he hasn't returned in another three months, then Minato will have been missing for half a year. By then, everyone should be about ready to give up hope."

He hadn't appeared in three months, and especially since Minato was the ninja in the Ninja World with the fastest speed who possessed Space-Time Ninjutsu, it was impossible for him to be too busy to return.

"So, old man, why did you call me here today?"

"Choosing a Hokage so directly doesn't seem right! After all, Minato's life or death hasn't been truly confirmed yet. What if Minato comes back?"

They might not dare to start another Ninja World War, but they are likely just probing, or perhaps wanting to take the opportunity to pressure Konoha to gain some benefits. If Minato were still here, such problems could naturally be easily blocked.

However, the most important thing is that Minato is now long missing and may even have met with misfortune. Even with the Third coming out of retirement to preside over the big picture, it still leaves the people of Konoha in a state of panic, with no leader.

A village's Shadow is naturally extremely eye-catching, especially after the incident of the Nine-Tails attacking Konoha. Logically, the Fourth Hokage should have appeared immediately to soothe the people and maintain vigilance.

"Although the Nine-Tails going berserk didn't cause casualties in Konoha, the commotion was too great and certainly couldn't be hidden. It's no surprise that the other ninja villages have ideas."

The Third Hokage nodded slightly, but still couldn't help but say:

"Even with the existence of Wood Release, the probes from other ninja villages will definitely not be few... especially from the Rock Ninja and Mist Ninja."

"Tsk... troublesome. It seems they have already confirmed the situation of Minato's disappearance."

The Third Hokage tapped his pipe, looked up at Tsunade standing there, and said in a low voice:

"And in the current Konoha, the only one most suitable for the position of Hokage is you, Tsunade!"

Hearing the Third Hokage's arrangements were quite detailed and complete, Tsunade also nodded. She, of course, knew that the Fourth Hokage, Minato, had long since been reduced to ashes and could never return, so she considered herself truly settled as the Fifth Hokage.

Tsunade frowned slightly:

"Now that Minato's situation can no longer be hidden, the most important thing is to first choose another Hokage for Konoha so that we can have the confidence to handle relations with other Great Ninja Villages."

The Third Hokage seemed to have thought about this problem long ago. Seeing that Tsunade did not oppose succeeding as Hokage, his expression relaxed, and he continued:

"Let you be the Acting Hokage for three months first... If Minato hasn't returned in another three months, you will directly inherit the position of Fifth Hokage!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen closed his eyes, his old face showing a hint of exhaustion and pain, before opening them a moment later:

"During this period, the Cloud Ninja, Mist Ninja, and Rock Ninja villages have all been very active, seemingly having some ideas about Konoha again..."

Although Tsunade herself had no obsession with the position of Hokage, this was a task directly assigned to her by Uchiha Feiyu, so Tsunade herself was naturally very eager to become Hokage.

"Since that's the case, then let's do it according to your method, old man!"

"Alright then, in two days I will give the orders to prepare for nominations and start the Jonin vote. There aren't many ninja in Konoha now who can compete with you, so this will probably just be a formality."

"After all this is completed, you can go to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire to get the letter of appointment. The whole process will take about a week or more."

"Is there anything I need to prepare?"

"Not really. The current Konoha is relatively stable; the main problem is the Uchiha."

"Back then, Minato took Obito as his disciple, which did make the Uchiha Clan much more stable... It's a pity; actually, that child Obito was also quite good and truly had the potential to become Hokage."

The successive Hokage almost all came from the same lineage; many even called the Hokage a lineage of master and disciple. Being able to take a Hokage as a master is one of the important conditions for becoming Hokage.

Of course, in reality, this should be said the other way around: after showing the potential of a Shadow-level ninja, the ninja of the Hokage lineage often take them as disciples out of a desire to win them over. This is why geniuses emerge one after another in the Hokage master-disciple lineage.

Just like it's not that Tsinghua or Peking University cultivate genius top students, but that genius top students all get into Tsinghua or Peking University, having gathered the essence of the entire ninja village, the Hokage's master-disciple lineage naturally produces geniuses in droves.

Uchiha Obito's talent was fully unearthed after Awakening the Mangekyo, and he made rapid progress in a short time. Even without the Kamui Mangekyo, he had already approached the boundary of Shadow-level.

Most importantly, Uchiha Obito was completely different from ordinary Uchiha; he was a youth who grew up entirely nurtured by the Will of Fire!

In this situation, Uchiha Obito really did have a tiny possibility of becoming Hokage—of course, first, Kakashi would have to be unwilling to become Hokage, and second, there couldn't be any ninja of the Hokage lineage whose strength was not much different from Uchiha Obito's.

The possibility was very small, but for the Uchiha Clan, this was already a huge improvement. And even if Uchiha Obito couldn't become Hokage, theoretically he could become a member of the Konoha High Command.

No matter how much Uchiha Obito leaned toward the Hokage lineage, he was still a member of the Uchiha Clan after all. For the Uchiha Clan, this was already a huge improvement.

It's just that with Minato's silent disappearance, the hope of the Uchiha Clan naturally vanished. Minato's time as Hokage was simply too short; he hadn't cultivated enough trusted aides, nor had he left a deep enough influence.

Because of this, the label of the Hokage lineage on Uchiha Obito naturally weakened quite a bit, and one could even say it had the opposite effect.

If Minato had died ten years later, then Kakashi and Obito would definitely have been qualified to enter the list of Hokage successors. Even if they didn't become Hokage, they would have become the backbone of the Hokage lineage and members of the Konoha High Command.

Now, though... by the time Tsunade steps down, at least another ten-plus years will have passed, and after ten-plus years, Uchiha Obito would likely have long been excluded from the core of Konoha.

After listening to the Third Hokage, Tsunade rubbed her chin and sighed:

"There's no help for that... Speaking of which, isn't the real core factor for the instability of the Uchiha the evil deeds committed by you and that guy Shimura Danzo, old man?"

Hearing this, the Third Hokage's face darkened, and he took a puff of his pipe:

"Come to think of it, guarding against the Uchiha was a policy left behind by the Second Hokage, who is also your grand-uncle, Tsunade!"

"It was precisely through a series of studies on the Sharingan by Master Tobirama that the conclusion was reached that the Uchiha Clan's spirit is extremely unstable and must be guarded against!"

Tsunade had nothing more to say, and in the end, she could only sigh:

"There's nothing to be done about that... I don't want to take on another Uchiha as a disciple!"

Seeing the expression on the Third Hokage's face, she immediately knew what he wanted to say and blocked his request in advance.

The Third Hokage could only offer a bitter smile:

"Are you really unwilling? Actually, there is indeed a good seedling within the Uchiha Clan; he is a descendant of Uchiha Kagami."

"Uncle Kagami? So he's a descendant of that lineage... Then why don't you just take him on yourself, old man? Uncle Kagami was your classmate; shouldn't you take care of an old classmate's descendant?"

Uchiha Kagami was a disciple of Senju Tobirama and also a fellow student of the Third Hokage. Tsunade had been relatively familiar with him when she was young, but he died early; by the time Tsunade was around ten years old, there was already no news of this Uchiha.

Come to think of it, the Uchiha Clan was also unlucky. Every so often, a ninja would appear who leaned toward the Hokage faction and had hopes of entering the Konoha High Command, but there would always be some kind of problem—it was hard to tell if there was a mastermind behind the scenes or if it was just a cruel twist of fate.

Hearing Tsunade's words, the Third Hokage gave a bitter smile and spoke:

"The Uchiha Clan doesn't exactly hold me, the Third Hokage, in high regard..."

"Alright, alright, I'll find a way to solve the Uchiha Clan's problem. At worst, I'll just find a female disciple to take on!"

"Uh..."

The Third Hokage opened his mouth, but thinking that Tsunade was a woman after all, and that there were indeed some taboos regarding taking on male disciples, he ultimately said nothing.

After some discussion, the Third Hokage acted with lightning speed; the very next day, he convened a Jonin meeting and nominated Tsunade to become Hokage.

In reality, there was no one in Konoha now who could compete with Tsunade for the position of Hokage. The troublemaker Danzō had long since been killed by Feiyu, Orochimaru had defected, and Jiraiya had left the village—who else was left in the village?

Aside from the elderly Third Hokage, the only remaining Shadow-level powerhouses in Konoha were Uchiha Fugaku, who had always kept his strength hidden, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina.

There was no need to even mention Kushina; it had only been three months since the Nine-Tails went on a rampage. Unless the Jonin of Konoha had the memory of a goldfish, there was no way they would choose such a ticking time bomb to be Hokage.

As for Uchiha Fugaku, firstly, he had always hidden his strength, appearing to have only Quasi-Kage level power, and secondly, as the head of the Uchiha, the other ninja clans and civilian ninja did not want to see the head of such a large clan become Hokage.

Not to mention that when the Nine-Tails went on a rampage, Tsunade had displayed Wood Release ninjutsu. One must know that Wood Release had an extremely special significance in Konoha. Combined with Tsunade's own identity as the last descendant of the Senju Clan, she could be said to be destined for the position, both in terms of righteousness and strength.

After the Third Hokage's nomination, there wasn't even a vote, nor were any other competitors selected; all the Jonin raised their hands in agreement for Tsunade to become Hokage.

Afterward, it was time to go to the Daimyo Mansion to report it. Of course, this was just a formality; the Daimyo of the Land of Fire could not possibly object, because objecting would have no effect anyway.

The Hokage was only theoretically a subordinate of the Daimyo; if they really had a falling out, it certainly wouldn't be Konoha that was afraid, not to mention that Tsunade's fame among ordinary people was significantly greater than her fame among ninja.

She was the world's number one medical expert, and no dignitary would ever dare to offend a doctor of that caliber.

Thus, the speed at which Tsunade became Hokage was incredibly fast; in less than a week, she was already wearing the Hokage hat.

For now, she only held the title of Acting Hokage, but with almost all Konoha ninja feeling that Namikaze Minato could not possibly return, it was no different from being the official Hokage.

Three months passed after that, and Tsunade had more or less inherited and sorted out the forces of the previous Hokage—in reality, Namikaze Minato did not have much in the way of private power.

After all, Namikaze Minato was too young; unlike the Legendary Sannin, who had spent decades cultivating deep roots throughout Konoha and had each gathered a faction of their own.

During the Ninja World War, because of the Flying Thunder God Technique, Namikaze Minato was not the type to sit back and command, and he had very few subordinates or comrades-in-arms.

And this time, the Ninja World War dragged on for even longer, which led to Namikaze Minato having an even shorter time as Hokage—less than a year in total.

Without any foundation, Namikaze Minato was already exhausted just from sorting out the post-war situation in Konoha, so naturally, he hadn't really developed any private forces of his own.

(End of chapter)