This happened in the year the unbreakable Ninja Empire was first founded.
That year, Naruto and Sasuke had just been born, Tsunade and Mei Terumi were not yet pregnant, and Iwagakure had yet to finish rebuilding after Madara's rampage.
The end of the year had come around again, and the empire's emperor, Uchiha Mai, sat in his office dealing with the government business that had piled up.
Construction of the imperial palace was complete. Though nowhere near the size of the Forbidden City—at most, it was comparable to a presidential residence like the White House—it had more than enough room to house dozens or even a hundred people and still set aside several rooms as offices.
According to the customs of ancient China and modern Blue Star, a nation's top leader generally worked where he lived.
But Uchiha Mai had no intention of honoring that tradition. He did not want to mix work with his private life. The completed palace would be reserved for his family.
For work, a few alterations to the old Hokage Office would do. Its floor-to-ceiling windows offered an excellent view of Kage Rock.
The major ninja villages had merged, and the empire had been established. By rights, a "feudal remnant" of the old era like Kage Rock ought to have been demolished.
But Uchiha Mai showed the previous Hokage great respect and left Kage Rock standing. His power had already reached transcendent heights; nothing could threaten his rule over the empire.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others returned the favor. Before Uchiha Mai's formal coronation as emperor of the Ninja Empire, they held a ceremony inaugurating him as Konoha's Fifth Hokage.
In other words, Uchiha Mai had unified the Ninja World as Konoha's Fifth Hokage and Kirigakure's Fifth Mizukage.
Naturally, his face also had to be