Inside the Hokage's Office.
The Hokage's advisors, Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and Danzo Shimura, sat on the sofa. Jiraiya leaned against the window, his face filled with helplessness.
"Now that Hiruzen has sacrificed himself, Cloud Village and Rock Village are eyeing the Land of Fire like tigers. They may very well use Hiruzen's death to test Konoha.
"We also need a Hokage to immediately deal with Sand Village's crime of destroying Konoha and begin resisting the probing of other ninja villages.
"Within Konoha, no one is more suitable than you, Jiraiya!" Koharu Utatane said gravely.
The death of their old friend Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally saddened these old companions deeply, but Konoha still needed a ninja with both prestige and strength to shoulder its burden.
In the present Konoha, only Jiraiya met the requirements of both strength and prestige. There was no other choice, so Koharu Utatane proposed that Jiraiya become the Fifth Hokage.
"That's right, Jiraiya. You're the only suitable one in Konoha right now." Homura Mitokado nodded heavily. Only by becoming the Fifth Hokage could Jiraiya keep Konoha stable.
Danzo Shimura cast a veiled, gloomy glance at the Hokage's seat behind the desk. He was in a foul mood, but he knew that he would never be able to sit in that position.
Forget Jiraiya—if he took that seat, Neji Hyuga would probably beat him to death on the spot.
There really was no other choice for that position.
He... was too strong.
Danzo Shimura said nothing. He merely glanced at Jiraiya by the window, his expression blank.
Jiraiya swept his gaze over Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and Danzo Shimura. He shook his head and was about to speak when the door to the Hokage's Office was pushed open directly.
"You're all here. Perfect." Neji Hyuga walked into the