Sixth Hokage

Danzo has returned to Konoha with his Root member.

These past few days, Danzo been both happy and unhappy.

With each promotion, his prestige among the Konoha grew daily, even showing a tendency to surpass Tsunade Hokage.

Danzo was pragmatic and didn't waste his reputation. He took the opportunity to win over many ninjas working in various organizations in Konoha.

During the recent Night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre clan, Danzo also seized a considerable number of Sharingan.

Once his subordinates figure out a way to transplant the Sharingan into his right arm, his strength will be able to reach another level.

In addition, he also obtained three children from the Uchiha Clan. Although they were still young, all of them were marked with the Caged Bird Cursed Seal.

Danzo intended to train them as his tools; Uchiha Clan children were quite useful as subordinates. Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha hadn't disappointed him before.

However, he also had his grievances. Before he returned to the village, Tsunade quickly established a new Police Force to fill the vacancies left by the Uchiha Clan.

By the Danzo returned, Tsunade had already assigned all the positions, and the new Police Force was already on duty.

Danzo gained nothing from this incident. There was nothing he could do; he used the Danzo of leaving the village to distance himself from the Uchiha Clan Massacre, and Tsunade's actions were predictable.

But what upset Danzo the most was that Tsunade started suppressing him right after the Uchiha Clan was wiped out.

Tsunade first drastically reduced Root's funding, and then stated that she would clearly define Root's authority.

As per Tsunade's request, Danzo could no longer boss around the heads of large clans, nor could he force those clans to send their younger generations to join Root in the name of the village.

Tsunade is trying to destroy Danzo's foundation.

Faced with Tsunade's relentless pressure, Danzo naturally retaliated with all his might. However, unfortunately, Danzo's influence among the High-ranking officials was now less than Tsunade's.

Danzo suffered setbacks in several meetings.

However, Danzo finally received some good news today.

Danzo was overjoyed upon receiving the intelligence from an Iwa ninja intelligence officer.

"Kakashi Hatake actually attacked his own villager. Tsunade, as the Hokage, not only didn't punish him, but she even protected him."

Danzo gave a cold laugh, a crazy idea rising in his mind.

He said, "Someone, spread this intelligence. I want the whole village to know about it within a day."

"Yes." A Root ninja appeared, took the scroll from Danzo's hand, and quickly left.

The next day, news spread rapidly among the Konoha: Kakashi, the genius of the Hatake Clan, disobeyed the Lord Hokage's orders and killed four of his subordinates.

This bombshell quickly replaced the news of the Uchiha Clan Annihilated as the new topic of discussion.

Whether it's his status as the son of Konoha White Fang or Kakashi's own reputation as a genius, he was destined to be a focal point in Konoha.

Even in the hearts of the Konoha, Kakashi has another identity: the future Sixth Hokage.

But now the tide has turned, and the villagers have begun to question Kakashi's character.

Then, another piece of news came out: Tsunade, the Tsunade, Hokage knew about this. Not only did she not punish Kakashi, she also chose to protect him.

Before the villagers could react, the follow-up to this incident came: someone discovered the identities of the four Anbu killed by Kakashi.

Now, with photographic evidence, many people are convinced that Kakashi committed the murder.

Many people don't believe it either, and they are calling for Kakashi to come out and prove his innocence.

Little did Danzo know, he was just waiting for everyone to force Kakashi to come out and clarify things.

Danzo Kakashi's character well. Since those four people died because of him, he wouldn't shirk responsibility; he would only take the blame upon himself.

However, Tsunade handled the media offensive launched by Danzo very well.

She waited until Danzo had made the most of the controversy before bringing up a new topic.

Hyuga Hiashi led thirty Hyuga Clan Jonin hunt down Orochimaru.

As a result, the Hyuga Clan suffered heavy losses, returning with only about twenty members, most of whom were wounded.

Thanks to Hokage's efforts as Tsunade, this news quickly overshadowed Kakashi's story.

After the Uchiha Clan Annihilated, the Hyuga Clan became the only powerful clan in Konoha, so naturally, matters Hyuga Clan have a gossipy aspect.

Not to mention, this matter also involves Orochimaru, an S-rank Rogue Ninja.

Everyone's attention was quickly drawn to the Hyuga Clan and Orochimaru.

Afterwards, Tsunade spread the word that Orochimaru had once tried to break the Caged Bird Seal.

Immediately, the villagers' enthusiasm for the discussion reached a new level.

There are discussions about the Hyuga Main Family and branch family system, and also about Iwa ninja who was taken away by Neji Hyuga.

There was also a discussion about Neji Hyuga and his father Hizashi Hyuga.

Whether Hizashi Hyuga sacrificed himself for his twin brother or was used as a scapegoat by the Main Family, everyone was excited during the discussion.

Compared to the Kakashi Hatake, the familiar "Caged Bird" meme is clearly more popular.

Root the Root base, Danzo was furious upon learning of the sudden shift in public opinion.

Having no other Danzo, Danzo finally turned to the Iwa ninja.

Danzo secretly approached Kajiyamari and offered her the Kajiyamari Nara Clan's Shadow Imitation Jutsu in exchange for her cooperation.

Just then, the negotiations between the Iwa ninja and Konoha, led by Yichen, were about to begin.

In this negotiation, the Iwa ninja sato was still in charge of the Kajiyamari side.

In Konoha, Danzo initially did not participate, but Kajiyamari, who had made an agreement with Danzo, acted very aggressively.

Kajiyamari acted almost unreasonably at the negotiating table, making many excessive demands.

Tsunade naturally disagreed, Kajiyamari even directly threatened war.

Negotiations between the two sides reached a stalemate.

Finally, Danzo volunteered to represent Konoha in negotiations with Kajiyamari.

At the negotiating table, Danzo displayed the aura of someone who could defeat the combined forces of Ikura and Kawakita, directly pressuring Kajiyamari to make continuous concessions.

Throughout the negotiations, Danzo arranged for people to publicize the progress of the negotiations between the two sides every day.

This made the villagers truly feel the sense of security brought by Lord Danzō.

When the peace treaty between Iwa ninja and Konoha was finally officially signed, the entire Konoha was in an uproar, and all the villagers were cheering for Lord Danzō.

"Lord Danzō is amazing! Luckily we have Lord Danzō."

"Yes, if it weren't for Lord Danzō, we don't know how much more territory we would have had to cede this time."

"Yes, thanks to Lord Danzō. The village really does need an older leader."

"That's right, the Lord Hokage is still too young; she looks like a little girl."

So what is the real situation? What was the actual treaty that Danzo and Kajiyamari signed?

In reality, this was still a reparations treaty for Konoha. However, at the beginning, Yichen, from the perspective of Uchiha Sokai Uchiha clan leader, condemned Konoha's immoral behavior.

After all, Konoha slaughtered the entire Uchiha Clan, regardless of age or gender. Such an event is rare even in the entire Ninja World.

Yichen had conquered several ninja villages, but he never deliberately slaughtered the elderly, weak, women, or children.

Kajiyamari demanded that Konoha acknowledge the legitimacy of the Uchiha Clan of Iwagakure and apologize to the Uchiha Clan in the name of Konoha.

This clause was practically useless, but signing it would be a political mistake, and Tsunade absolutely refused to agree to it.

Ultimately Kajiyamari's gradual Danzo to the powerful Danzo all stemmed from this aspect.

As for the other terms, Konoha would pay a certain amount of war reparations. Neither Tsunade nor Danzo made any excuses about this. Konoha had just finished dealing with internal problems and urgently needed time to recover.

Another point is that Konoha relinquished 30% of its share in the Land of Hot Water, which was also transferred to Iwagakure as part of the compensation.

Tsunade thought it was worthwhile to use war reparations to buy time for recuperation.

Since the Root's funding has been reduced, a portion of it can be allocated to Iwagakure.

So although both sides eventually signed a compensation agreement, everyone was very satisfied and no one felt they had been taken advantage of.

The only one Tsunade was upset was not the treaty itself, but Danzo's collusion with the Iwa ninja regarding the peace talks.

In particular, after Danzo signed the peace treaty, he gave a speech to the entire village, setting aside her as Hokage.

At the end of his speech, Danzo abruptly changed the subject and, in his capacity as Konoha High-ranking officials, publicly acknowledged Kakashi's crimes.

Danzo, leveraging the prestige gained from the peace talks, once again forcefully shifted public opinion towards Kakashi.

Furthermore, Danzo, in his capacity as Advisor Elder, ordered Kakashi to step forward and clarify his situation.

This put Kakashi in a desperate situation.

Upon hearing this, Kakashi told Tsunade that it was his fault, that he was willing to admit his mistake, and that he was willing to accept the village's punishment.

However, Tsunade directly rebuked him. Danzo's intentions were not simply to deal with Kakashi; Danzo wanted to use the Kakashi incident to impeach her as the Hokage who had protected criminals.

If Kakashi confesses to his crimes, it would be tantamount to declaring that Hokage, Tsunade, was indeed protecting criminals.

The only possible outcome is that Kakashi and Tsunade are both finished.

Tsunade was essentially driven to the brink by Danzo.

Even Yichen didn't expect that the Kakashi incident would become the biggest crisis in Tsunade's political career.

Now that Kajiyamari and the others have been released from house arrest, Kajiyamari immediately relayed the chaos in Konoha back to Iwagakure.

Yichen immediately declared that he would do everything in his power to support Danzo's rise to power.

But how could Yichen support Danzo while he was in Iwagakure? After much thought, Yichen finally came up with a plan.

Yichen published a bi- Bi-Monthly Report, specifically written for the Konoha.

This newspaper wasn't even distributed in Iwagakure. Yichen sent it directly to Konoha through intelligence ninjas.

In this Iwa Village Bi-Monthly Report, Yichen admitted that Ikura and Kawakita had been defeated by Danzo in this operation.

He also publicly stated that among the other Five Great Ninja Villages, Danzo was the only strong person who could rival him, Kekkei Tōta.

Because Danzo mastered the First Hokage's Wood Release, and the power of Wood Release made even Yichen say he had no confidence in defeating Danzo.

This is the first step: to let the Konoha know that Danzo's strength is something even his enemy Iwa ninja, acknowledges.

At the same time, Yichen had someone embellish the story, writing how he single-handedly suppressed the Hokage, Kazekage, and Raikage in Konoha.

The newspaper also reported that many Konoha Anbu and powerful clan ninja witnessed the battle.

At first, the Konoha didn't believe it, but they still believed in Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin, for her strength.

However, since this incident is true, quite a few Konoha Anbu and ninja from major clans did witness it.

Although they were given a gag order, they could only tacitly agree to the news when villagers questioned them.

Well, this has completely thrown Konoha into an uproar. Even with Tsunade and the other two Kage working together, they were no match for a single Tsuchikage. How can anyone feel safe now?

As for claims about elemental weaknesses and the fact that even the Tsuchikage couldn't defeat Tsunade in a one-on-one fight, the Konoha expressed their disbelief.

At this moment, Danzo took the opportunity to incite the Konoha, urging them to ask Tsunade to personally intervene and clarify the incident of the Tsuchikage fighting three opponents alone.

As long as the Hokage personally denies the matter, the villagers say they still trust Hokage.

But who is Tsunade? How could she possibly lie and deny something like that?

This was naturally within Danzo's expectations; Tsunade's personality was her greatest weakness.

Then Danzo staged another farce: Danzo had his men impersonate villagers and suggested that he also step forward to explain the situation of fighting two people at once.

After all, there were rumors that Danzo the fight by defeating two opponents at once.

Then Danzo stepped forward at the villagers' request and vividly recounted to the entire village how he had easily defeated the combined forces of Ikura and Kawakita.

How to force the Iwa ninja to ultimately only dare to attack the Sunagakure ninja.

Finally, Danzo also subtly mentioned that Tsunade deliberately cut off his Root funding out of jealousy.

After comparing the two, the villagers now believed in Lord Danzō.

Lord Danzō himself admitted that he did indeed defeat the Iwa ninja in a two-on-one fight. However, Lady Tsunade dared not deny that she couldn't defeat them even when fighting three against one.

Isn't it obvious who's right and who's wrong? Everyone's smart enough to make their own judgment.

Then, gradually, a voice emerged.

"Lady Tsunade abdicates, Lord Danzō ascends!"

Tsunade now knows exactly how White Fang was driven to suicide by the villagers.

The villagers, as if egging them on, joined the ranks of those forcing Tsunade to step down.

They probably just felt a sense of accomplishment in impeaching a shadow.

More and more villagers took to the streets chanting "Tsunade step down."

Perhaps she shouldn't have become Hokage in the first place; that position is destined for someone with a strong heart.

For example, Yichen shamelessly boasted in the Iwa Village Bi-Monthly Report that he could suppress four ninja villages single-handedly, just like Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage of Konoha.

For example, Hiruzen Sarutobi was able to accept being called the strongest Hokage without any qualms.

For example, Danzo was able to explain in detail how he defeated Ikura and Kawakita.

A ninja with a weak heart will pay a price, let alone become a Kage, or even threaten the Kage's position.

For example: White Fang!

Finally, a few days later, Tsunade announced: she was officially abdicating.

Tsunade ultimately chose to compromise with Danzo, her only request being that Danzo personally clear Kakashi's name.

Tsunade chose to sacrifice her own political life to save Kakashi's.

Danzo eventually achieved his goal of becoming the Sixth Hokage.

Unlike the Acting Hokage in the original story, Danzo is the official Hokage this time. He is the legitimate Sixth Hokage, trusted by the villagers, recognized by the Daimyo, and approved by the Jonin!

For the first time Danzo sat openly on the Hokage's throne and declared domineeringly, "The Ninja World has finally entered my era!"

Danzo, who had just taken the Hokage position, was determined to reform the system and began to drastically reform the series of bad practices of the previous three Hokage.

The original Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, left Konoha with Shizune on the very day she stepped down Hokage position.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have come back in the first place," Tsunade said to Kakashi, who had come to see her off.

After saying that, Tsunade left without looking back.

Konoha has lost another Kage Level.

Moreover, given his personality, even if Konoha suffers a catastrophic disaster in the future, he probably won't come back.

Compared to the chaotic situation encountered during negotiations with Konoha, the negotiations between Iwa ninja and Sunagakure went much more smoothly.

Rasa had no power to resist Yichen's unreasonable demands.

First, they ceded a small portion of the Land of Wind to Iwagakure and Akatsuki Organization respectively.

It should be noted that this agreement only applies to Iwagakure and Sunagakure, and has nothing to do with the Land of Earth or the Land of Wind.

Although the Northern Land of Wind was occupied by Iwagakure, it still politically belonged to the Daimyo of the Land of Wind.

It's just that militarily, it was taken over by Iwagakure and Akatsuki Organization.

However, Iwagakure and Akatsuki Organization receive a sum of money from the Daimyo of the Land of Wind every year, money that should have been paid to Sunagakure.

The territories of the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth remained unchanged.

On the contrary, because Iwagakure took over a portion of the Land of Land of Wind, the cooperation Land of Wind and Earth became even closer.

It was precisely because of this that the Daimyo of the Land of Wind did not have the idea of supporting Rasa. On the contrary, because Rasa controlled a smaller territory, the Daimyo of the Land of Wind provided less military funding.

Besides the change in territory, Yichen also demanded that Rasa pay him gold sand, which Rasa reluctantly agreed to.

Iwagakure), Tsuchikage's Office.

Yichen and others celebrated this great diplomatic victory.

Holding the two contracts, Yichen said, "I really didn't expect that a mere Uchiha Clan Massacre would have such a good effect."

"It's a pity that Kakashi didn't defect, but Tsunade's departure was more effective than Kakashi's defection."

"Tsunade is too thin-skinned; she's not suited to be Hokage."

Ōnoki and the others nodded, their gazes toward Yichen incredibly strange.

Yichen, thick-skinned as ever, pretended not to see it and said to himself, "Now that Danzo has taken over, let's call Kajiyamari back."

"Create an environment where Danzo can comfortably engage in internal strife, and don't let our presence in Konoha deter him."

"For now, don't put any pressure on Danzo. Put aside the strategy we devised to suppress Konoha for the time being."

"During this time, we can focus on development. By the way, Danzo —well, he should be called Hokage now—was recently..."

"Hokage gave us a lot of good stuff recently, let's take a look. Kawakita, have you seen that Konoha Style Swordsmanship? What do you think?"

"Are there any improvements needed? Can we promote this directly in the village?"

Upon hearing Yichen mention the Konoha Style Swordsmanship, Kawakita immediately perked up. He said, "This Hokage was probably in a really bad situation back then, but he was still very trustworthy during that collaboration."

"This Konoha Style Swordsmanship is very comprehensive, from the basics to advanced techniques, and it has been a great help to me."

As he spoke, Kawakita took out the scroll. "I've written some notes on this scroll to help everyone learn swordsmanship quickly, but it's not finished yet."

"I haven't learned some of the more advanced sword techniques inside yet."

Kawakita's swordsmanship is self-taught, but he managed to reach the Kage Level by luck, thanks to the guidance of many masters.

However, compared to White Fang, Hanzo, Mifune, Killer B, and others, they are far inferior in both theoretical foundation and background.

Therefore, Kawakita found it difficult not only to advance further, but even to learn S-rank swordsmanship.

After reading this complete Konoha Style Swordsmanship, Kawakita connected all the various sword techniques and theories he had mastered.

Many things that I previously only knew the "what" of but not the "why" of, suddenly became clear.

Upon hearing this, Yichen sized up Kawakita and sensed that Kawakita's aura was slightly different from before, but it shouldn't have reached the point of a qualitative change.

Yichen said, "Let's compile a basic version first and then promote it."

"You can study the more advanced techniques carefully first, there's no rush. Anyway, there are no other sword masters in the village besides you."

"Oh, and most importantly, we need to compile a set of basic exercises suitable for the Ninja Academy students."

"You can figure out how to write it yourself. If you really don't know how, just think back to how many detours you took when you were a child, and think about how to prevent today's children from taking those detours."

Kawakita nodded. After listening to Yichen's words, he had already begun to think about how to compile a swordsmanship textbook for the Ninja Academy.

Yichen then looked at Ming and said, "Senior Mei, have the Barrier Team study the method for making large Storage Scroll as soon as possible."

"These are strategic items; the more the better. Didn't the Hokage give us a few finished products? We can dismantle them for research if necessary."

Ming nodded and said, "Don't worry, I already arranged for the Barrier Team to research it. It's just that this thing is very technically advanced and can't be researched in a short time."

Yichen nodded and made no further requests.

As for the last two things Danzo gave: the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Secret Technique and the Nara Clan's Shadow-style Secret Technique, Yichen had other plans for them.

Yichen handed over the Mind Secret Technique to Katsuya and Natsuki. Researching these things would take time.

There are currently no suitable researchers in Iwagakure can study Shadow-style Secret Technique, Yichen plans to take a look himself first.

Yichen felt that this special Yin Release would be of great use in future research on Black Zetsu's body.

Afterwards, the group discussed how to spend the two sums of money they had obtained from Konoha and Sunagakure.

Especially the pile of gold dust that Rasa gave him; whenever this was mentioned, Ming couldn't stop smiling.

The only thing that everyone found difficult to handle was the 30% share of the Land of Hot Water that they had retrieved from Konoha.

The Iwagakure is short-handed in the short term and does not have the energy to take over the Land of Hot Water in the same way it took over the Land of Land of Wind.

This matter can only be put on hold for now. Only after this year's graduates graduate early will there be enough ninjas to establish a branch in the Land of Hot Water.

After the meeting ended and everyone left, Yichen pondered how to deal with Danzo now that he had finally helped him rise to Danzo.

However, Yichen's thoughts were interrupted by a small matter.