Chapter 576: Ultimately, Still Lost to Capital

"Vote counting complete!"

It was unknown how much time had passed when the notary's voice pulled Senju Toka, who had fallen into deep thought, back to reality. Looking at Sarutobi Sasuke in the distance, who looked as if he had lost his parents, she knew she had lost this time, and lost thoroughly.

"As expected of the naturally evil Uchiha, to actually pull off such backroom dealings."

Wait, wasn't it you who started pulling little tricks in the first place?

"Miss Toka, what should we do now?"

Sarutobi Sasuke was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. For this election, their Ninja Clan Alliance had poured in all their efforts, exhausting their connections and financial resources. If it ended in failure, the seemingly indestructible alliance might fall apart as a result.

"It's all the Uchiha people playing tricks; they managed to pull in votes we didn't account for."

"Impossible! I bribed more than half of the civilian jonin. Could it be the Hyuga? No, that shouldn't be; hasn't their relationship always been rather poor?"

Sarutobi Sasuke, who had begun to review the situation, furrowed his brows tightly. For his son's election, he had specifically courted a group of civilian jonin, promising them abundant resources once the deed was done. Logically, these people shouldn't have defected at the last minute.

"It's not the Hyuga."

Hyuga Tenyo, who had been silently running in the race, had no issues with the number of votes he received. Senju Toka had ruled out his suspicion from the very beginning.

"Then where did those votes come from?"

It couldn't possibly be that someone used the Impure World Reincarnation to bring back jonin who had sacrificed themselves, could it?

"There is a mole. Clan Leader Sarutobi, someone inside your Ninja Clan Alliance has defected."

After using the process of elimination to filter out all suspicious individuals, Senju Toka said to Sarutobi Sasuke with a grave expression.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Upon hearing this, Sarutobi Sasuke shook his head violently. Their Ninja Clan Alliance had always been an iron-clad unit; they had sworn a blood oath never to betray each other when they formed the alliance a hundred years ago.

"It is easy to draw a tiger's skin, but hard to draw its bones; you can know a person's face, but not their heart."

Senju Toka shook her head. She was now certain that there was a traitor within the Ninja Clan Alliance.

It couldn't possibly be that someone within their own Senju clan had defected to the Uchiha, could it?

"Since things have reached this point, then the previous campaign funds..."

Knowing his son had lost the election, Sarutobi Sasuke recalled the large sum of funds he had shelled out and cautiously reminded Senju Toka.

"It is your internal side that had the problem."

There was no such thing as spitting out money that had already been swallowed. Their Senju clan had done their best; the loss was because the Ninja Clan Alliance itself was incompetent.

Besides, that money was no longer in her hands now.

"That detestable curly-hair! He must know some inside information!"

At the thought of the banknotes that hadn't even warmed up in his hands falling so easily into the pocket of Uchiha Gin, it would be a lie to say Senju Toka wasn't angry.

"Now announcing the election results."

The notary stepped forward, holding the already tallied rankings in his hand.

"Lord Izuna! We've got it! We've got it!"

In the area where the Uchiha clan was gathered, a Uchiha jonin who had been carefully tallying the votes clenched his fists with an excited face.

"I said it early on, this kind of election is just going through the motions. In the entire Konoha, besides Lord Izuna, who else is qualified to succeed as Hokage?"

"Exactly, exactly~"

Listening to the flattery of his clansmen, Uchiha Izuna appeared calm and indifferent, not affected in the slightest by the outside information. Within his somewhat unfocused gaze, there was a faint, inexplicable look.

"Hokage, huh..."

"Monkey! Didn't you say your dad had pulled strings for you? How could it end up like this?"

The F6 belonging to the Ninja Clan Alliance gathered together. Among them, Sarutobi Hiruzen had the sourest expression. Danzo, who had only received a few friendship votes, was chattering incessantly in his ear, making him feel agitated and confused.

"I don't know either."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, with a livid face, shook his head coldly. He had been silently counting the votes in his heart. During the first half, his vote count had been far in the lead, but for some reason, Uchiha Izuna suddenly exerted force in the second half, and his vote count began to soar, quickly catching up to him.

The Sarutobi clan had already had his Hokage robe custom-made; were they supposed to give it to Uchiha Izuna as a gift now?

"Clan Leader, why didn't we help the Ninja Clan Alliance? This was a great opportunity to topple the Uchiha."

Among the Hyuga clan's jonin, there were also many discordant voices. Some Hyuga clansmen who didn't understand the situation gathered the courage to ask Hyuga Tenyo, who was resting with his eyes closed.

It was normal for him to have questions. The Hyuga clan's current status was very awkward; they were in a position within the village where they were neither high nor low. And because of the Hyuga clan's special system, it was difficult for them to break the deadlock on their own, so they were in urgent need of powerful allies to help them.

And the increasingly influential Ninja Clan Alliance happened to be a perfect ally.

"Go to the wall-facing room and reflect for three months after we return."

Hyuga Tenyo didn't even bother to open his eyes. A single, flat sentence decided the fate of this loose-lipped clansman.

"... Yes."

The Hyuga clansman who had just offered his advice turned pale, but as a member of the branch family, he had no way to resist the order of the main family.

Truly a bunch of brainless pigs.

Topple the Uchiha?

A lean camel is still bigger than a horse. Although Uchiha Izuna was not as strong as Uchiha Madara, his strength was still unfathomable.

Hyuga Tenyo slowly opened his pure white eyes, his gaze falling unobtrusively on the distracted Uchiha Izuna in the distance.

Under the perspective of his Byakugan, Uchiha Izuna was emitting thick, substantive chakra as if it were endless. The cold power leaking from his eyes also made Hyuga Tenyo feel terrified.

Monsters, the Uchiha are all monsters.

"The person ranked first in votes is, Uchiha Izuna."

"Yay!"

"Meeting! We must have a meeting!"

"Lord Izuna, why aren't you smiling? Is it because you're too excited?"

As the results were released, a burst of intense cheers erupted among the Uchiha jonin, forming a sharp contrast with the devastated members of the Ninja Clan Alliance.

"Damn it!"

Looking at the triumphant Uchiha clan, Senju Toka gritted her teeth. She had gone to great pains for this election.

To ensure Sarutobi Hiruzen's succession, she had gone so far as to change the election method to a voting system. Unfortunately, she was one move short; the Ninja Clan Alliance, which she thought wouldn't hold her back, had problems, causing the plan to fall short of success.

"Second place, Sarutobi Hiruzen. It's a pity, the young clan leader Sarutobi was only a few votes short."

The notary shook his head with regret. The two people's vote counts were actually very close; Konoha's leadership had almost changed hands.

"Third place..."

The rest were all runners-up with no influence, and their vote counts were pitifully low.

Soon, the news that Uchiha Izuna had the most votes spread out. The crowds waiting anxiously outside had different expressions on their faces after learning the final result.

"Danzo-sama ultimately lost to capital."

The young man from the Shimura clan who had placed the first bet had a livid face. Although he had been mentally prepared, he still couldn't let it go after hearing the news of Uchiha Izuna's victory.

"Sigh~ My pocket money for this month has gone down the drain again."

In the crowd, a few half-grown brats gathered together. One of them, a white-haired kid with spiky hair, touched his empty purse, his face full of frustration.

"Jiraiya, I told you to bet on Uchiha Izuna from the start, but you just wouldn't believe me."

Hatake Sakumo, who was calculating how much he had earned this time, had an expression of "I'm disappointed in you."

This betting pool was clearly a money-giving game; anyone with a bit of rationality would have bet on the hot favorite, Uchiha Izuna.

"Hmph! I call this 'all-in'. Do you understand 'all-in'? All-in is an art!"

Jiraiya, who had lost everything, retorted indignantly. What was the point of betting on 1 to 0.8 odds? He liked the excitement!

Hatake Sakumo rolled his eyes and pointed to the photo of a blond young man at the very end of Uchiha Gin's display board.

"Then at least go all-in on someone normal. Who goes all-in on a newly promoted jonin whose name no one has even heard of?"

"He had the highest odds, okay? And no one says a civilian can't be Hokage."

Jiraiya still argued stubbornly, his gaze following where Hatake Sakumo pointed, landing on the information of the blond jonin he had bet on blindly.

Namikaze, huh...

He stared at it for a long time, as if trying to brand it into his mind.

"Tsunade, who did you bet on?"

Hatake Sakumo, who had happily finished calculating how much money he had earned, turned to ask the silent Tsunade. When they placed their bets earlier, to avoid attracting Uchiha Gin's attention, they had all mixed into the crowd in twos and threes and placed their bets during the chaos.

He and Jiraiya were in a group, so he didn't know who Tsunade had bet on.

"Wuwuwu, my grandmother told me to go all-in on Uchiha Izuna and definitely not to bet on Sarutobi Hiruzen. I thought she was saying the opposite at the time..."

Tsunade, who had gone all-in with all her New Year's money, was now heartbroken.

She had almost followed Senju Toka to the Hokage building to watch the voting scene, but when she arrived at the entrance and saw Uchiha Gin setting up the betting pool, she couldn't move her feet because she was itching to participate.

After some pestering, she successfully broke free from her grandmother's constraints, met up with her friends outside, and participated in the election betting.

Just as she was saying goodbye to Senju Toka, the other party learned of her intention and gave her a special instruction.

But Tsunade was at an age where she overthought things. Recalling the brainwashing remarks her late second grandfather usually made, and after some self-imagination, she directly went all-in on the opposite, successfully burying her New Year's money.

"Wuwuwu, it's just as Second Grandfather said, the naturally evil Uchiha, give me back my New Year's money!"

"Uh... Tsunade, your grandmother even gave you the answer, and you still managed to choose wrong. You really can't blame the Uchiha for this."

Hatake Sakumo scratched his head helplessly upon hearing Tsunade's words. As the only beneficiary among them, he felt he had an obligation to speak up for the Uchiha.

"Wuwuwu, Uchiha, give me back my hard-earned money~"

"Orochimaru, why have you been silent? Did you also lose until you became a vegetable?"

Jiraiya was thinking about how to comfort Tsunade, who was in a much more miserable state than him, when he noticed that Orochimaru, who usually talked quite a bit, was as quiet as a girl, so he asked curiously.

"A small profit, a small profit."

Orochimaru, holding a betting receipt in his hand, half-squinted his eyes, but from the corners of his mouth that he couldn't stop from rising, it could be seen that this guy had earned quite a bit this time.

"It's a good thing I used my pocket money to buy Mixue Bingcheng."

Of course, not everyone placed a bet. Kato Dan took a cautious sip of the small sweet drink in his hand; as the oldest child among them, his thinking was relatively more mature.

Although he had not yet officially become a ninja, he had always held himself to the standards of a ninja, and he would absolutely never touch anything related to gambling.

"It's a good thing I don't have any pocket money."

Might Duy also did not place a bet, though simply because of his family's limited circumstances.

"Jiraiya, Jiraiya."

Suddenly, a soft voice sounded in Jiraiya's ear. He immediately turned his head in confusion, looking at the short and thin childhood friend following closely behind him.

"Hiruko, what is it?"

"If you don't have any pocket money, just spend mine."

Looking at the tall children around him, the timid Hiruko gathered his courage and handed over his slightly worn wallet.

"Hey! How could I spend your money!"

Jiraiya immediately shook his head like a rattle. He knew Hiruko's situation all too well; if he took the other's money, he would be worse than a beast.

"Huh? You really are looking down on me, aren't you?"

Seeing his good intentions rejected, the somewhat paranoid Hiruko's small face turned deathly pale in an instant, and a layer of mist immediately welled up in his watery eyes.

Looking at his teary-eyed childhood friend, Jiraiya felt a massive headache. This Hiruko was good in every way—fragrant and soft, a hundred times gentler than that female tyrannosaurus Tsunade—it was just that his personality was too fragile.

"No, no, don't overthink it. How about this, consider it a loan from you, and I'll pay you back when I get my pocket money next month."

He had no choice but to go along with the other, reaching out to take the wallet and pulling out a few small-denomination bills to tuck into his own pocket. Only then did Hiruko break into a smile through his tears, his pale little face regaining a bit of color.

"Wow! Generous friendship between men, this is youth!"

Might Duy witnessed the interaction between the two, and the flame called youth immediately ignited in his large eyes beneath his thick brows, after which he turned his burning gaze toward Sakumo Hatake on the side.

"Sakumo-kun, please lend me some pocket money too!"

"No."

Since the news of the election had been disclosed, Uchiha Gin's betting pool had also entered the settlement phase. There were actually quite a few people who bet on the little cousin, but they were mostly small amounts.

As for those who thought they possessed inside information, they all chose to place large bets, and in one wave, they were sent right back to square one.

"Money come~ money come~ money come~"

After finishing the exchange of the prize money, Uchiha Gin counted the extra tens of billions that had appeared out of thin air, the smile on his face only growing wider.

"Heh, you idiot Bai Mao, you think you're the one running the game, little knowing you're the one being played."

Silently tossing the money he had swindled into his storage bag, Uchiha Gin put away the sign behind him and slipped away into the secret base next to the Hokage Building.

"Gin, you're swindling people again."

Uchiha Hikari, who had witnessed Uchiha Gin's entire operation from upstairs, couldn't help but roll her eyes at the curly-haired boy with the cunning grin.

"Hikari, remember, if you aren't greedy, you won't get swindled."

Greed is the original sin.

If that Bai Mao hadn't harbored greed, how could he have lost everything and become a total loser?

Now he really has no choice but to go out and work for a living~

"That's not right, this isn't scientific."

On the other side, the usually active Senju Itama was now terrifyingly quiet, her beautiful brows tightly furrowed as if there were an unsolvable knot in her heart.

She had secretly gone home to find out before; her family had already reached an unspeakable agreement with the Ninja Clan Alliance, so there was no reason for them to lose this election, right?

"Curly-haired baboon, you must know something, right?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, I can only say, there is a traitor among you."