Konoha's Hokage Election

For a moment as significant as the Hokage election, no matter how busy the front lines were, the jonin had to be rotated back to cast their votes.

During non-special periods, electing a Hokage required recommendations from the upper echelons, combined with the vote counts from jonin, chunin, genin, and the villagers to determine the winner.

Looking at the vote counts alone, Orochimaru was destined to lose.

Therefore, he forcibly shifted the competition mode to one based on whose influence was greater, making the vote count only a small factor in who could become Hokage.

Minato had been heavy-hearted ever since he returned from the Country of Roran.

The Nine-Tails Incident was suspected to be man-made!

The Nine-Tails' childbirth was a top-secret matter within the village, known only to the upper echelons; among the Konoha leadership, those with direct conflicts of interest with him—the truth could only be...

In the Hokage office, Hiruzen Sarutobi asked Minato if he was resolute in his determination to become Hokage.

He was genuinely afraid that after paving the way for Minato, the latter would yield to Orochimaru out of a desire to preserve friendship within the village.

Minato had long since steeled his resolve, slowly closing his eyes, "Resolute."

Orochimaru.

You can hurt me! But you must never hurt my family! My Kushina.

Disaster should not befall one's family!!

Why would you hurt Kushina?

Hearing from Yamato, who came from the future, that the Fourth Hokage and the Fourth Hokage's Wife both died in battle on the night of the Nine-Tails, Minato's heart had turned cold at that very moment.

If Naruto was his child...

Then the experiences Naruto had endured all these years...

Orochimaru!!!

Upon hearing about the Hokage election, Zhengyi handed the army over to Hayakawa Rin, Kurosaki Ren, and Tsukishima Yoru before rushing toward Konoha.

He even brought back thirty jonin and seventy chunin just in case.

He had assumed that Hiruzen Sarutobi was getting desperate and was preparing to have Minato clash with Orochimaru right then and there.

He hadn't expected...

Konoha was flooded with propaganda declaring the candidates for Hokage to be Jiraiya and Orochimaru.

This made things difficult!

Inside Danzo's Root base.

The three of them were silent.

Their anticipated enemy had been Minato Namikaze, but they had never considered Jiraiya.

"What do we do now?" Danzo felt the situation was extremely thorny.

Jiraiya was a man who disregarded minor courtesies but upheld great righteousness; his base and supporters were not lacking in the slightest, and even Homura and Koharu were both very satisfied with him, which made things very difficult.

Originally, in the competition between Minato and Orochimaru, those two had maintained a neutral stance.

Now, both of them had joined Jiraiya's camp.

Zhengyi had a massive headache; in the face of absolute power, any schemes or plots were useless.

Beyond the local forces of Konoha.

Jiraiya also had the full support of Mount Myoboku.

As for Orochimaru's teacher's Ryūchi Cave—a bunch of opportunistic, foul snakes—how much profit would have to be traded to win their support?

What Zhengyi lacked now was time; given enough time, he had plenty of ways to make Orochimaru win.

But the opposition had done something quite strategic: instead of campaigning for Minato, they had first helped Jiraiya secure his position.

"We'll take it one step at a time, Teacher Orochimaru."

Since Zhengyi said as much, Orochimaru knew that this time was dangerous.

However, they had long since planned that if they failed the Hokage election, they would defect and establish their own ninja village.

He would invent technology to strengthen the village! Zhengyi would helm the village's development and earn him experimental funding, and a dozen years later, they would return to take revenge on Konoha—all of this had been discussed in secret, behind Danzo's back.

If Danzo were willing to run away with them, they could even reserve a high position for him!

But Danzo was a stubborn man who only wanted to be the Hokage of Konoha; it was impossible for him to leave with them.

It was just as well that he wasn't following them.

They were only worried that just as the village began to develop and attract talent, Danzo would ruin it all.

Danzo was filled with worry, thinking Minato was so young...

Yet he noticed that Orochimaru and Zhengyi didn't seem anxious at all.

Could it be that the two of them had a proper plan?

In that case, he wouldn't be anxious either.

The day of the Hokage election arrived.

Jiraiya was forced onto the stage like a duck being driven to the water to face Orochimaru.

Inside the Jonin conference room.

The agenda for the day was the position of the Fourth Hokage.

Jiraiya never imagined that one day, he and Orochimaru would reach such a point.

"Orochimaru." He had a thousand words in his heart he wanted to say to him.

But Orochimaru felt nothing but contempt for Jiraiya; he was just like their teacher, Hiruzen, hesitant and indecisive, wanting this and wanting that, yet ending up with nothing in the end.

"Sigh." Jiraiya opened his mouth, but ultimately chose silence.

The Child of Prophecy mentioned by the Great Toad Sage who would bring peace to the ninja world was clearly not Orochimaru.

"I nominate Jiraiya for the Hokage election." X3

The Hokage and the two advisors in the village looked at one another, stood up, and cast their nomination for Jiraiya.

"I nominate Orochimaru for the Hokage election."

After the three of them sat down, the last remaining advisor, Danzo, stood up, appearing isolated and weak.

From the very beginning, Orochimaru had lost the initiative.

The number of ninjas supporting Jiraiya was countless.

Shikaku Nara put away his final worries and let out a heavy breath; if things went smoothly, Jiraiya would become Hokage today, and they could usher Orochimaru out of the office and then focus their efforts on supporting Minato.

His plan was indeed correct; having Jiraiya run for Hokage had caught Orochimaru's faction completely off guard.

He stole a glance at the expressions of unwillingness and helplessness on the faces of those in Orochimaru's camp.

Everyone believed Jiraiya's victory was secure.

After Jiraiya muddled through a year or two, he would hand the position of Hokage over to Minato Namikaze, leaving Orochimaru completely cut off from the Hokage seat and kicked out of the political center for good.

"I also believe Lord Jiraiya would make a fine Hokage!"

"The taxes in the village have been too high lately, leaving us unable to breathe; Lord Jiraiya will surely consider our plight more."

The crowd voiced their support for Jiraiya one after another.

Those who supported Orochimaru dared not make a sound.

Could it be that he would have to defect?

But as it happened, Jiraiya was in the mood to be humble. "Well, well, I appreciate everyone's high regard, but what merit or virtue do I, Jiraiya, possess? Aside from a decent face, I feel that my personality isn't exactly suited for being Hokage."

"You all should find someone more virtuous to fill the position of Hokage."

"Ask me to be Hokage? I feel I wouldn't do a good job in that seat."

His words were from the bottom of his heart.

He truly did not want to be Hokage; he was only prepared to grit his teeth and do it for two years for Minato's sake.

Given his personality, he couldn't bring himself to shamelessly claim the Hokage title.

Therefore, in Jiraiya's vision, the Third Hokage, his student Minato, and the village high-ups would soon beg and plead with him, and only after he declined a few times would he agree to take the position.

Furthermore!

He did not wish to become a puppet for the higher-ups.

If they were the ones begging him to be Hokage, rather than him wanting it himself, then if they tried to go against his policies later, they would have to deal with the consequences.

Jiraiya still had some wits about him.

Even if he only served as Hokage for a year or two, he intended to hand over the full authority of the office completely and intact to Minato.

Hiruzen chuckled; this little rascal was still as clever as he was when he was a child.

In that case, he would play along with Jiraiya's wishes and lead Koharu and the others in begging him.