A Bomb Arrives in Peaceful Konoha

Early spring, Konoha Year 53.

Konoha and Kumogakure signed an alliance agreement, and Kumogakure compensated Konoha.

Upon receiving this news, Ōnoki decisively abandoned all strategic points within the Land of Lightning and retreated his army.

During this time, Kumogakure did not intercept the retreating Iwagakure forces; they began to clean up the mess within the Land of Lightning.

Iwagakure Village's invasion had affected one-fifth of the Land of Lightning's territory, causing its economy to plummet by 20%. The Land of Lightning Daimyo's budget was also cut by 10%. Additionally, Kumogakure had to pay Konoha a war compensation fee and Sunagakure a troopcondolences fee.

The biggest beneficiary was undoubtedly Iwagakure Village, which plundered a large amount of wealth and resources within the Land of Lightning.

After this war ended, Konoha did not remain peaceful for long.

The Uchiha's public support for Kushina's bid for Hokage caused a major headache for the Hokage faction.

They also wanted to nominate Jiraiya or Tsunade for Hokage, the only problem being that neither of them would return to the village, and both refused to be the next Hokage.

This infuriated Sarutobi Hiruzen so much that he even skipped a meal (he didn't eat supper).

At the same time, families in the village who were truly willing to support Kushina as the next Hokage slowly began to emerge.

Some smaller families who were not doing well in Konoha chose to support Kushina.

Kushina slowly began to replace Minato's previous representation in Konoha.

However, unlike the sunny and cheerful civilian ninja representative Minato Namikaze, Kushina was the infamous representative of a declining Ninja Clan, Kushina Uzumaki.

Many of Konoha's smaller families were indeed at risk of decline, and the appearance of Kushina Uzumaki made their eyes light up.

She was also from a declining Ninja Clan, yet Kushina Uzumaki had risen up. She was powerful. Although her reputation in Konoha was not good, her reputation in other Ninja Villages wasn't good either.

Having an infamous person as a teammate is always better than having them as an enemy!

Kushina Uzumaki, who was at the Uchiha Clan Residence, was very troubled.

More and more ninjas were paying attention to Kushina.

Gradually, more people began to address Kushina as "Lady Kushina."

Adding "Lady" after a name is already a respectful title. This meant that after a war in which she had not earned any merit, Kushina had miraculously become Lady Kushina.

Anju had not expected things to develop so quickly. Anju had never considered having Kushina contend for the position of Hokage.

Looking at the current situation, if he worked harder, he might actually be able to push Kushina into the position of Hokage.

The Third Hokage was too conservative. In this war, Konoha could have completely cooperated with Iwagakure and divided up the vast amount of wealth from the towns in the Land of Lightning, just like Iwagakure, and gotten their mouths full of oil.

However, the Third Hokage chose to cooperate with Kumogakure, which greatly reduced the benefits Konoha received.

Of course, Anju also knew that the Third Hokage's considerations were likely for his own benefit.

He was old and didn't have enough achievements to support his continued tenure. If the Uchiha or Kushina's achievements increased, it would be very disadvantageous for him.

Therefore, why not end this war, which was not in his plan, as soon as possible and immediately obtain the deserved war dividends?

His biggest headache now was the lack of a successor. He should retire, but there was no one suitable to take over.

He now only hoped that Jiraiya would return to take over.

"Danzo, don't provoke the Uchiha Clan for now. Let's stabilize Konoha first, then plan slowly."

Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his pipe, his gaze calmly fixed on his old comrade, Danzo Shimura.

"Hiruzen, the Uchiha Clan produced Shisui. What if another genius emerges? We can't be soft-hearted!"

"Danzo, the Uchiha are currently allied with Kushina Uzumaki. On the surface, the Uchiha support Kushina, and secretly, they are already contacting other Ninja Clans.

If we target the Uchiha now, it will completely sever our connection with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. We cannot afford to completely lose the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's approval."

"Hiruzen! Kushina Uzumaki is drifting further away from us. She's too close to the Uchiha Clan; we must be wary!"

"Danzo, Naruto is still in Konoha."

Hearing the Third Hokage say this, Danzo fell silent.

Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, is not just a Jinchuriki; he also serves to restrain Kushina.

For example, when the Third Hokage previously wanted Kushina to go to the front lines, he directly used Naruto as a threat.

Afterward, Sarutobi Hiruzen acted as if he was smoothing things over, which indeed disgusted Kushina, but it also forced her to consider Naruto and not act recklessly.

In Konoha, how could one completely disregard the authority of the Third Hokage?

This also led Kushina to accept the Uchiha's proposal for her to run for Hokage.

Originally, Kushina had not considered the option of becoming Hokage at all.

Uchiha Clan Residence.

Uchiha Fugaku's house.

Kushina Uzumaki was once again sitting opposite Uchiha Fugaku.

This time, they were likely discussing how to remove the Third Hokage from power.

Since Kushina accepted Uchiha Fugaku's suggestion to run for Hokage, they had discussed removing the Third Hokage several times.

However, Uchiha Fugaku currently had no good way to achieve this goal.

Kushina needed prestige, which required more high-level missions or war achievements, but Konoha was very peaceful at the moment.

There were simply no opportunities for Kushina.

Even high-level missions were no longer assigned to Kushina because of the rift between her and the Third Hokage.

A good tool cannot turn on its master. Currently, Kushina was a tool biting back at the Third Hokage, so how could the Third Hokage dare to give high-level missions to Kushina?

"Lady Kushina, Konoha has been too peaceful lately. Even disputes between the Military Police Force and civilians have significantly decreased."

Uchiha Fugaku was very unhappy. He had wanted to use the Uchiha Clan's achievements in the war to persuade the ordinary civilians that the Uchiha had also shed blood for Konoha.

But no civilians were causing trouble for the Military Police Force at all.

At this moment, Anju, who was in Kushina's Sealing Space, spoke up: "Kushina, persuade Fugaku to have other Ninja Clans in Konoha also send people to join the Konoha Military Police Force."

Kushina said with some distress, "Clan Head Fugaku, I have a suggestion. I wonder if you would agree?"

In Kushina's opinion, the possibility of this suggestion being realized was low, because the Uchiha had always controlled the Military Police Force. Now, with just a word, she was asking the Uchiha to give up the Military Police Force, which seemed a bit far-fetched.

"Lady Kushina, please speak."

"I hope the Uchiha Military Police Force will accept ninjas from other Konoha ninja clans."

"...!!!"

Uchiha Fugaku looked at Kushina Uzumaki with a shocked expression.

Kushina Uzumaki also looked at Uchiha Fugaku somewhat awkwardly. She felt her suggestion was too foolish. How could Anju come up with such a suggestion?

"Lady Kushina! You are simply a genius! Since Konoha is peaceful, let's make Konoha less peaceful!"

"But, the Military Police Force?"

"What does the Military Police Force matter? As long as it helps you rise, the Uchiha can give up the Military Police Force!"

A day later, the entire Konoha was shaken because the Uchiha Clan decided to follow Kushina Uzumaki's suggestion and add ninjas from other ninja clans to the Konoha Military Police Force.

This greatly increased the goodwill of the other ninja clans in Konoha towards Kushina Uzumaki!

The Konoha Military Police Force! That was Konoha's civil service, an iron rice bowl. It had always been controlled by the Uchiha, and other ninja clans couldn't interfere. Now, Kushina Uzumaki suggested that the Uchiha give up the large cake of the Military Police Force, and the Uchiha actually agreed.

This made Kushina Uzumaki's reputation in Konoha even more prominent.

And the selection of personnel for the Konoha Military Police Force was also proceeding with great fanfare.