Chapter 152: The Rising Sun

In the end, Orochimaru did not give his teacher a promise.

He simply waved his hand, summoned two Uchiha ninja, and had the decadent Sarutobi Hiruzen taken away.

With this, the four great families that had risen in Konohagakure over the past twenty years fell into decline alongside the collapse of the Konoha F4.

Orochimaru did not execute his teacher Sarutobi Hiruzen, but merely placed him under house arrest in the old Sarutobi Clan compound.

And the Sarutobi Clan was subjected to a purge by Orochimaru.

Any Konoha ninja who had changed their surname to join the Sarutobi were either forced to revert to their original surnames and return to being commoner ninja of Konohagakure, or were directly expelled from the village to become helpless wandering ninja.

Yamanaka Chujiu sneered as he dispatched Root ninja to lure these ninja who had abandoned Konohagakure to the Land of Water, where they were surrounded and killed by Mist Ninja.

Not a single one was left!

Orochimaru was well aware of this and did not find Yamanaka Chujiu cruel; he only felt that he was wasting resources.

"These are all prime sacrifices and test subjects, so why waste them?"

"Foolish Teacher Orochimaru, you are the Fifth Hokage now, not a Konoha Jonin protected by a teacher; you have responsibilities!"

"You have no right to act recklessly!"

"……Can I give up the title of Fifth Hokage?"

"Heh, give it up? Then who would take the stage?"

"Of course, you, Yamanaka Chujiu!"

"Pah, where in the world is there a 15-year-old Kage?"

"Foolish Teacher Orochimaru, honestly serve as the Fifth Hokage for me, at least for five years before you say anything!"

"Bastard, you rebellious disciple!!"

Do not think that Yamanaka Chujiu could leave Orochimaru speechless; in reality, Orochimaru was still the more skilled one, and at the slightest carelessness, he would drop his Hokage work and slip away to conduct his experiments.

In the vast Konohagakure, Orochimaru's secret laboratories were everywhere, and even with Yamanaka Chujiu activating the Mind Severing Realm, they were not easy to find.

Because Orochimaru's Flesh Clones were everywhere, and his emotional sources were also in the thousands; merely checking them once could exhaust Yamanaka Chujiu to the point of collapse.

After some back and forth, Yamanaka Chujiu could only compromise.

Orochimaru still obtained the freedom he wanted, able to immerse himself in experiments at any time without needing to consider the work of the Hokage.

The administrative affairs of Konohagakure were complex: school, technology, defense, economy, taxation, land reclamation, pensions, mission scheduling, and other tasks were all shouldered by Yamanaka Chujiu.

By the year 50 of Konoha, all Konoha ninja knew that Yamanaka Chujiu was the true Hokage, and the Fifth Hokage Orochimaru was merely his head of research.

Regarding this, the Konoha ninja all expressed: It doesn't matter!

Lord Yamanaka Chujiu is doing a great job; we all like him and are very convinced!

In fact, at the beginning, no one believed in Yamanaka Chujiu; at 15 years old, he was simply too young.

When the Sarutobi Clan, Utatane Clan, Mitokado Clan, and Shimura Clan were purged, the heads of each ninja clan all thought that Orochimaru would continue to use iron-fisted methods to reorganize village affairs, thoroughly purge dissidents, and thereby restructure the order of Konoha.

Never did they expect that this newly promoted Fifth Hokage would directly abandon politics for research, handing over the entire vast Konohagakure to his student Yamanaka Chujiu.

Many veteran Konoha ninja, after breathing a sigh of relief, immediately felt contempt, believing that Yamanaka Chujiu was young and lacked seniority, and would inevitably find it difficult to control the intricate situation in Konoha.

It would not be long before he was at a loss and forced to seek help from the various ninja clans.

By then, everyone's good days would arrive.

Thus, the major ninja clans watched from the shadows and cooperated passively, wanting to see the joke of this "Acting Hokage."

But Yamanaka Chujiu was as steady as Mount Tai, calmly and composedly dealing with all troubles, governing with a steady style.

What is important is that Yamanaka Chujiu was not fighting alone.

He was the younger brother of Yamanaka Inoichi, and the Ino-Shika-Cho clans were his natural supporters.

The head of the Aburame Clan, Aburame Shibi, admired Yamanaka Chujiu to the point of prostration and wholeheartedly joined his camp, not even needing Orochimaru as a transition.

Yamanaka Chujiu was also a benefactor to the Hyuga Branch Family, a lifesaver to Hyuga Hizashi, and even more so the big brother of the new Uchiha Clan head, Itachi Uchiha.

Just the Hyuga and Uchiha clans alone had 55 Jonin.

Added to the Ino-Shika-Cho-Aburame clans, Yamanaka Chujiu directly held the support of 80 Jonin, a considerable proportion of Konoha's 322 Jonin.

At the beginning of his rule, Yamanaka Chujiu did not rush into drastic reforms, but instead stabilized the foundation, settled people's hearts, and cleared away chaos.

First, he sorted out the financial revenue and expenditure of Konohagakure, thoroughly investigating various funds that had been embezzled by the four great families for years and intercepted or withheld layer by layer by the Daimyo's office.

This included mission bounties, war subsidies, and material supplies, all of which he recovered through forceful means, making Konohagakure's treasury nearly explode.

After getting the money, Yamanaka Chujiu turned his back on everyone, thoroughly purging Konohagakure and clearing out ninja who were attached to the Daimyo and secretly colluding with external forces.

Then he distributed the money to low-level ninja, commoner ninja, and the families of ninja, winning the support of the commoner ninja.

After stabilizing the people's hearts, Yamanaka Chujiu bypassed the original Hokage administrative system, using the Uchiha Clan's Military Police Force as a foundation to continuously expand the authority of the Military Police Force and perfect the security regulations.

In just a few months, he had set up a new stove and rebuilt a management system for Konohagakure.

The original functional units like the Mission Department, Intelligence Department, Interrogation Department, and Sealing Squad were all taken over by the Military Police Force, turning the Hokage Building into an abandoned retirement home.

When political power was firmly grasped, Yamanaka Chujiu initiated the standardization reform of the political system.

He established a daily work ledger, a weekly high-level meeting system, and a monthly village affairs disclosure system, making Konohagakure's financial revenue and expenditure, personnel transfers, and defense deployments all public.

With the help of public opinion from villagers and ninja, he prevented corrupt behaviors such as backroom deals and the private granting of power.

He never personally interfaced with the major families, ninja squads, or village departments, insisting on using the Military Police Force's institutional system to dispatch personnel and reconcile conflicts.

The cold, icy system completely changed the gentle appearance of the Third Hokage's era, making the Konoha ninja feel quite uncomfortable.

But they soon discovered that the cold system also eliminated the human-favor advantages of the ninja clans and solved the problem of ambiguous power and responsibility.

Soon, the Military Police Force system gained a reputation for clear rewards and punishments and fair handling of affairs.

By this point, in just a short three months, Yamanaka Chujiu, without having to show his face much, had straightened out the work of Konohagakure and stabilized the situation in Konohagakure.

The ninja clans that had originally held a wait-and-see attitude and doubted Yamanaka Chujiu's abilities were all thoroughly convinced and actively and voluntarily obeyed the orders of the "Acting Hokage."

When administrative work got on the right track, Yamanaka Chujiu finally had some spare time and quietly summoned the eight squad leaders of the "Rising Sun" organization.

Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, Kazamatsuri Harume, Yano Shoichi, Mitsuki, Aoki Takayuki, Kurama Hidechi, and Mitarashi Anko.

He smiled and said, "Everyone, the rising sun may now ascend."