Chapter 68: The Will of the Pot Endures More Vividly Than the Will of Fire

Snap!

A loud crash followed as the door to the Hokage’s office was violently kicked open from outside.

The sign on the doorframe reading “No Violence Allowed” clattered to the floor, as if denouncing the intruder’s audacity.

Yet, since the death of his lifelong rival, Danzō.

This month’s number of times the Hokage’s office door was smashed was even lower than the lowest record during the Third Hokage’s tenure.

The first to enter was Jiraiya, radiating fury.

Behind him came Tsunade, calm and composed.

Then followed the juvenile Huang Yuan and his secretary sidekick.

Their arrival shattered the office’s former tranquility.

“Rojie, what is going on?”

Jiraiya saw Rojie seated on the Hokage’s throne, clad in the Hokage’s robe and wearing the Hokage’s hat.

He slammed his fist on the desk, sending papers flying everywhere.

On his way here, Jiraiya had already inquired everywhere—he learned that the Fifth Hokage had been replaced by Rojie.

He had also heard rumors of Rojie’s achievements during this time.

Fulfilling the Third Hokage’s final order, crushing Danzō’s conspiracy, ascending as the Fifth Hokage, rebuilding the Konoha Police Force…

Each and every one of these deeds left Jiraiya stunned.

Jiraiya never imagined that in just one month away from the village, such a radical transformation had occurred.

More shocking still, no one had informed him during this entire period.

He had been cut off from the village.

At that moment, Rojie slowly lifted his head, his face emerging gradually from beneath the shadow of his hat, bearing three parts authority, three parts disdain, and four parts irritation.

“Jiraiya, Itachi’ve become too reckless.”

“Itachi won’t even address me as the Fifth Hokage.”

Jiraiya took a deep breath, forcing down his anger, and demanded:

“Who put Itachi in this position?”

“Mizuho Monen and Tōnin Koshun?”

“The Hyūga clan?”

“Or perhaps…”

Jiraiya paused, his gaze locking onto the silent figure beside him—Naruto Uzumaki.

“The Pig, Deer, Butterfly trio?”

Named, Shikamaru Nara leaned back, feeling as if a massive black pot had just crashed onto his head.

Dammit, he’d become Danzō.

Of course—the end of a Hokage’s assistant is always to carry the Hokage’s blame!

Being Deputy Hokage isn’t for nothing.

Danzō, senpai, I understand now!

In the Pure Land, Danzō was frantically liking the post.

The Will of the Pot is far more enduring than the Will of Fire.

To Jiraiya, Rojie, though powerful and resolute in thought,

had even been mentioned by the Third Hokage as someone who, like Minato Namikaze, could be entrusted with Konoha’s future.

But Rojie was far too young.

His smooth rise to the position of Fifth Hokage must have been orchestrated behind the scenes by someone manipulating events.

Rojie was a puppet!

A puppet controlled by others!

Jiraiya felt heartbroken.

Was the corrupt Konoha elite about to destroy the precious legacy left by his teacher?

Jiraiya looked at Rojie and spoke with solemn gravity:

“Rojie, speak freely—no matter who’s pulling strings behind this, I’ll help Itachi.”

Tsunade had been away from the village for a long time.

She knew nothing of what had happened in Konoha over these years.

Now, hearing Jiraiya’s words, she immediately sensed something amiss.

Tsunade frowned deeply, instinctively crossing her arms, making her chest even more prominent.

In her view, Rojie becoming the Fifth Hokage was surely the work of Mizuho Monen and Tōnin Koshun, those two old bastards.

All that talk about proposing her as Fifth Hokage was a lie.

If those two old fools could ever agree to propose her, even the Seven Brothers of the Gourd could become Kazekage.

To spite her, to annoy her, they’d pushed this brat into the Hokage seat.

Konoha’s elite remained as dark and rotten as ever.

Though not as dark as Tsunade’s wallet after a gambling loss.

But they’d gambled the entire village’s future just to sabotage her.

How could this be so childish?

What did they think the Hokage, the Will of Fire, and the village’s future were?

Material for the sequel to “Icha Icha Paradise”?

The more Tsunade thought about it, the angrier she became, her eyes blazing with fury.

Shizune had been young when she left the village and knew little of the elite’s affairs.

Her only memory was that after the high-level meeting before her departure, Lady Tsunade had smashed the meeting table into Konoha’s most expensive jigsaw puzzle.

Now, facing this tense standoff, Shizune could make no sense of it and simply stood quietly behind Tsunade.

Naruto, watching Rojie seated on the Hokage’s throne in his Hokage robe, immediately grew displeased.

He shouted at the top of his lungs:

“Rojie, how did Itachi become Hokage?”

“I haven’t even become Hokage yet!”

Though Naruto currently had no girlfriend, he inexplicably felt a deep sense of betrayal.

The Hokage position he had long dreamed of had been snatched away by someone else.

And it was his classmate!

This plotline was wrong!

Where was the promised underdog’s rise to Hokage?

At this moment, Naruto still didn’t realize that in the future, he might not even become the Seventh Hokage—let alone the Eighth, which would also be stolen from him.

Unfortunately, no one in the room paid any attention to Naruto’s shouting.

Rojie felt the gazes upon him—some questioning, some furious, some confused.

He simply leaned back slightly, adjusting into a more comfortable position.

Why isn’t the Hokage chair as comfortable as a gaming chair?

Bad review!

Then Rojie began to think.

Am I a puppet?

Puppet masters in Suna use chakra threads to control puppets—what would be needed to control me?

Probably golden big waves.

At that moment, the unnamed golden big wave standing before him sneezed.

Rojie mused—no one had brought him anything at night.

So, he probably wasn’t a puppet.

Then, Rojie spoke slowly and calmly:

“The Third Hokage.”

Here, he paused deliberately, then continued:

“I became the Fifth Hokage by the Third Hokage’s final decree and the people’s support.”

“I am no one’s puppet.”

“I am the Fifth Hokage of Konoha!”

Jiraiya immediately retorted:

“That’s impossible! The old man never told me this!”

He couldn’t believe that such a crucial matter would be kept from him by the Third Hokage.

Even if the Third Hokage had died unexpectedly, he would have informed him beforehand.

Rojie glanced at him.

“Jiraiya, Itachi’re too arrogant.”

“Who sealed the One-Tail that rampaged through Konoha?”

“Who eliminated the mastermind behind Danzō?”

Who oversaw the village’s reconstruction after the war?

Not Itachi, Jiraiya.

I, the Fifth Hokage!

Luo Jie tapped the table, his gaze fixed squarely on Jiraiya.

The villagers’ eyes are sharp.

Do Itachi dare question the people’s choice?

(End of Chapter)