I was once the village belle, too

While the two were panicking and guessing, Utatane Koharu had already pulled the puddle of water out of the grape.

Inside were countless grape seeds!

'To avoid leaving a trace, did they poison the grape seeds?!'

Kotetsu Hagane was greatly alarmed.

Pat-pat.

As Utatane Koharu, put the grape seeds into the bowl, she breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.

With a faint smile, he said, "Feudal Lord lord, it's done!"

Feudal Lord Ming's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, sank.

He said dejectedly, "Advisor Utatane was very cautious, otherwise I'm afraid I would have been..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw a hint of shyness on Utatane Koharu...?

Open your mouth, ah~

Utatane Koharu, holding a plump grape that had no seeds left, stuffed it into Feudal Lord.

Feudal Lord froze, stunned, as the grape got a centimeter closer to his mouth.

He questioned, "Are these grapes still edible?"

"Ah? Of course! These are seedless grapes, perfectly extracted from the inside using my decades of Medical Ninjutsu experience! Guaranteed to have not a single seed!"

Utatane Koharu, smiled confidently.

Feudal Lord frowned, his mind racing, and suddenly he understood something.

"You... did you peel the grapes for me because of that one thing I complained about?"

"Yes, these grapes were all carefully peeled by me."

A shy blush appeared on Utatane Koharu.

Upon hearing Feudal Lord, Da Ming's eyes widened.

She angrily shouted, "You! You! You! The point of my sentence wasn't peeling grapes! It was the beautiful woman! Do you understand? What are you doing, you old woman, getting in the way?! Do you even consider yourself a beautiful woman?!"

Upon hearing Feudal Lord's outburst, Utatane Koharu crushed the grapes she was holding.

"Back in my day, I was the most beautiful girl in the village! How dare you call me an old woman!"

She had already built up her anger by Tsunade calling her an old woman repeatedly, and when she heard her Feudal Lord call her an old woman again, coupled with the fact that her efforts were not appreciated, she broke down completely.

"Back then! Your 'back then' was decades ago, wasn't it? Don't even think about getting any more funding from me!"

When Kotetsu Hagane, whose brain was completely blank, heard the two arguing, the truth of the matter no longer mattered.

He realized it was his turn to step in!

He quickly pulled Utatane Koharu, out of the VIP room, while apologizing to Daming with Feudal Lord smile.

"Tetsu, don't pull me! I'm going to teach him a lesson!"

'You? Teach a lesson to the Feudal Lord?'

Kotetsu Hagane rolled his eyes at her as he tried to persuade her.

"Alright, alright, Advisor, please spare the Feudal Lord this time."

The only advantage of this VIP room is probably that the soundproofing is much better.

As an ordinary person, Feudal Lord could not hear the two talking outside the door.

The Feudal Lord inside the room was still furious.

"You old hag! If it weren't for Tsunade, I would never again allocate funds to Konoha!"

Without anyone knowing, the entire village of Konoha experienced a financial crisis, all because of a bunch of grapes.

The following day was the day of the Hokage election.

After several days of publicity, everyone in the village knows that the election ceremony for the Fifth Hokage is about to begin.

This is the most important day in the village, a moment that will be recorded in the village's history.

Almost all the villagers stopped what they were doing and came to watch from below the Hokage Building.

Aside from the time when Minato Namikaze died and Hiruzen Sarutobi regained power, the last official election saw the Yellow Flash become the Fourth Hokage.

Thirteen years have passed since that election.

On the Hokage Building, Kotetsu Hagane and Mizuki Izumo had already prepared for the ceremony.

Rows of commoner Jonin and Jonin various clans lined up, each holding a prepared ballot.

There is a huge ballot box at the edge of the roof.

The Feudal Lord, Tsunade, and Jiraiya stood on either side of him.

Jiraiya was just there to make up the numbers, to make the election seem less fake.

But most people actually know that this is just a formality; the Feudal Lord and the advisors have already started having Tsunade handle tasks that should be done by the Hokage.

The main issue is that the village urgently needs a new leader to stabilize public morale.

Jiraiya was unwilling to become Hokage, making Tsunade the second best candidate.

After seeing that almost all the Jonin the important clans had arrived, Utatane Koharu walked to the edge of the rooftop and shouted, "The Hokage election voting begins!"

The moment her voice fell, a murmur of discussion broke out Hokage Building.

"It's finally starting! I've been waiting for half an hour!"

Who will be the Fifth Hokage generation?

"Of course it's Lord Jiraiya!"

"It's clearly Lady Tsunade!"

"Lady Tsunade has a broad mind; she will surely lead Konoha to a bright future!"

"Is your attitude of 'having a big heart' really appropriate?"

Just tell me if it's big or not.

Kanami, who was also in the audience, listened to their conversation and was completely stunned.

Although his strength far surpasses that of Jonin, he is actually still only a Genin.

Therefore, he was not even eligible to vote.

If Hinata hadn't claimed this was the most important historical moment in Konoha and wanted to come and see it, he would have preferred to stay home and sleep.

'Still so focused on formalities, Jiraiya standing there as punishment,'

Kanami shook his head slightly, then took a bite of the glutinous rice ball in his hand.

"Kanami, who do you think will become the Fifth Hokage?" Hinata asked, also munching on a mochi ball.

Asking me this? Isn't that like an open-book exam?

Kanami smiled. "Tsunade, after all, she's the granddaughter of the First Hokage."

Hinata nodded in agreement.

On the rooftop of the Hokage Building, the Jonin went forward one by one to vote in the red ballot box.

After the voting ends, the votes will be tallied, and the one with the most votes will become the Hokage.

After the commoner Jonin finished voting, it was time for the Jonin from each of the major clans to vote.

Of course, members of the Hyuga Clan were among them.

Soon, all the Jonin had completed their votes.

Utatane Koharu, spoke up, "Izumo, let's count the votes."

"Yes."

Mizuki Izumo walked respectfully to the ballot box and began counting the ballots one by one.

The first one says Jiraiya.

Mizuki Izumo knew perfectly well what was going on, so he didn't show any emotion on his face.

He knew this was a trick by their higher-ups, deliberately sending a few Jonin to cast some of their votes for Jiraiya, so that the public could witness the Hokage election instead of it being pre-arranged.

Apart from a few Jiraiya, the rest of the cards all featured Tsunade's name.

But Mizuki Izumo still looked very serious about the cleanup.

Just as he opened the next ticket,

He paused suddenly, wondering if he had misread it.

How could that be?

He closed his eyes and then opened them again.

The ticket still says "Kanami".

"How could his name be on this?!"

Seeing Mizuki Izumo's astonished expression from afar, Hyuga Hiashi's lips curled into a slight smile.