~ Every 100 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter! Your votes keep this climbing. Thanks!
A month flew by in the blink of an eye. As agreed, Madara Uchiha made his move.
At first, no one paid it much mind—just a minor border skirmish between two villages. But with Madara fanning the flames, the conflict kept growing. It escalated until the Cloud officially declared total war on the Stone.
The Hidden Cloud, having preserved its strength during the Second Great Shinobi War, had long dreamed of expanding its territory by force. Madara merely tossed a lit match onto the powder keg.
Soon, news of the all-out war between Cloud and Stone reached Konoha.
The Hokage Building, conference room.
Hiruzen Sarutobi called a meeting of Konoha's high council. He intended to discuss the current world situation and formulate the village's next strategic direction.
Of course, the meeting was just a formality. The real decision-maker was him, Hiruzen Sarutobi. In reality, he'd just called everyone to listen to him set the agenda.
Hiruzen's gaze swept slowly across the room. To his left sat four figures of actual power in Konoha: Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, Orochimaru, and Qianyu.
To his right sat the heads of the seven great clans: Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Inuzuka, Hyūga, Aburame, and Uchiha.
To put it bluntly, Konoha's ship was steered by these people.
"Ahem. Since everyone is present, let us begin." Hiruzen tapped his smoking pipe on the table, coughed twice, and launched into his speech. "I'll just make a few brief points."
Half an hour later, Hiruzen finally paused, a hint of reluctance in his stop. He took a sip of tea. Without seeking anyone else's opinion, he delivered his conclusion.
"Therefore, I believe Konoha should remain neutral. We temporarily scale back business dealings with both Lightning and Earth. We take no clear stance. Let the tigers fight it out among themselves."
Having spoken, Hiruzen leaned back and lit his pipe, waiting for the usual chorus of agreement.
Instead, a dissenting voice cut through the silence.
"Teacher Hiruzen, I cannot agree with your assessment. With all due respect, do you not see this as a prime opportunity for Konoha to profit?"
"Hmm?"
Hiruzen's face darkened instantly. He turned, fixing Orochimaru with a dangerous look. Shut up. Now.
Orochimaru pretended not to see. He glanced around the table. "I have already established contact with both the Hidden Mist and the Hidden Sand. I believe we should ally with the Cloud. Together, we crush the Stone and divide its spoils."
"Enough, Orochimaru!"
Hiruzen erupted. His palm slammed onto the table. The aura of supreme authority crashed down on his student. His authority was being openly challenged!
"Lord Third, isn't this meeting precisely the place for free discussion?" Qianyu's calm voice cut in, effortlessly meeting Hiruzen's pressure head-on. "Lord Orochimaru is merely stating his opinion. Why such anger?"
"The two of you… my prized disciples. How very good you are."
Hiruzen's cold eyes swept over Orochimaru and Qianyu. Understanding dawned. He gritted his teeth, his words a venomous "praise."
I raised you both with my own hands. I entrusted you with power. And you, ungrateful wretches, dare conspire against me?
You think a public ambush in this room can shake my position? Fools. Utter fools!
After this meeting, he would strip these ambitious wolves of their authority. Perhaps it was time to promote Minato. That boy was reliable.
"This is not my personal domain," Hiruzen said coolly, regaining his composure. "Everyone is free to speak their mind. Since differing opinions have emerged, let us settle it with a vote. All in favor of my proposal, raise your hand."
Faced with this rebellion from Qianyu and Orochimaru, Hiruzen was utterly confident. He had ruled Konoha for decades. How could two upstarts with no real foundation topple him in a few short months?
The next moment, Hiruzen's triumphant smile froze on his face.
The scene he envisioned—an overwhelming majority supporting him—did not materialize. In the vast conference room, only the heads of the Hyūga, Inuzuka, and Aburame clans raised their hands.
The Hyūga head looked left, then right. After a moment's hesitation, he lowered his hand again!
"You… You all…!"
Hiruzen's eyes bulged with fury. His gaze swept across the attendees. Those it landed on either avoided his eyes or met him with cold indifference. None of the usual respect remained.
"Koharu! Homura! Even you two…?!"
His gaze finally landed on his two old friends. His face twisted with disbelief. He had considered that Qianyu might have bought a few votes. But he never imagined his lifelong comrades would betray him.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado lowered their heads, silent. They had no answer.
Koharu's son was not a shinobi. He ran a middling business in the Land of Fire. Qianyu, with a wave of his hand, had directed most of Konoha's procurement contracts his way.
Ever since her demotion, Mitokado Tsuki had languished at home, forgotten by Hiruzen. Qianyu, holding no grudges, had reinstated her and placed her in charge of Root's entire medical division—a position of immense importance.
They had stood by Hiruzen's side for decades. And yet, Hiruzen had guarded his power jealously, never once offering their families a significant benefit.
This young man, Qianyu, was different. In mere months of holding power, he had given them what decades of loyalty to Hiruzen had failed to secure.
"Lord Third," Qianyu said with a faint smile, looking at the man who seemed to have aged decades in an instant. "You're old. Let us handle the future of Konoha."
"You… I…"
Hiruzen trembled from head to toe. His lips quivered as he looked around the room, clinging to one last shred of delusion. Still, no hands rose. The silence was deafening.
Following Hiruzen, they had fought every war. But the rewards? Nonexistent. Handed away by Hiruzen as "goodwill gestures" to defeated enemies.
They had always "supported" the Hokage's decisions. But did they truly have no resentment? Of course they did.
They had simply lacked a suitable figure to rally behind—someone strong enough to stand against Hiruzen Sarutobi. Now, that person had arrived.
Clatter.
Hiruzen's hands shook violently. His pipe fell to the floor. He stood, pointing a trembling finger at the assembly.
"Fine! Fine! Let's see how you explain this to the Daimyo! You are going to ruin Konoha!"
"No, Lord Third." Qianyu shook his head, his smile unwavering. "The Daimyo has already given his consent. He said you are old, and perhaps Konoha should consider a new Hokage. That's what Uncle Sakumo told me personally."
Thud!
Hiruzen staggered as if struck by lightning. He crashed into the chair behind him, losing his balance and crumpling to the floor.
"My… my title…"
His limbs turned to ice. His own disciples had bared their fangs. They had taken everything from him!
Perhaps Lord Third… no, perhaps the Third really is old. Perhaps a younger Hokage would be better.
Even the heads of the Inuzuka, Hyūga, and Aburame clans—who had initially supported Hiruzen—couldn't help but think it. They looked at the shattered man on the floor, then at the confident, composed Qianyu.
Konoha was about to change.
"Teacher Hiruzen," Orochimaru said, glancing at the broken figure on the floor. A faint sigh escaped him. "You haven't set foot on the battlefield in a long time. This time, please take command on the Stone front. Perhaps you can still leave with a respectable legacy."
He remembered the Shinobi Monarch who once dominated the battlefield, who shouldered Konoha's banner in times of crisis, who struck fear into countless enemies. How had he become… this?
"Now," Qianyu stood up. He strode past Hiruzen and took the seat at the head of the table. His smile swept the room. "Let's continue the meeting. I'll outline my plans for Konoha's future."
He paused.
"Any objections?"
"None!" Fugaku Uchiha exclaimed, eyes blazing with fervor. "Let's begin, Brother Qianyu! We've been waiting for this!"
"None."
"Please proceed."
Watching Qianyu sit calmly in the seat of power, commanding the room with ease, a strange light gleamed in Orochimaru's eyes.
Ah. This is the Qianyu worthy of leading my Konoha.
He had long seen the rot setting in under Hiruzen's rule. He had even considered orchestrating a war against Konoha himself—a Konoha Crush plan to burn it all down and rebuild from the ashes.
But now, it seemed that wouldn't be necessary.
For Konoha was about to welcome a new Hokage.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!
This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
Full story available now
Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
Join my Patreon community today!
p a t r e o n .com/BingeInk
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━