I'm the Hokage!

Naoki shrugged and said, "This is only our guess. You have to understand, when Uchiha Madara left back then, he took quite a few ancient books and secret techniques with him. Maybe one of them contains a way to control the Nine-Tails."

Uchiha Yashiro fell silent and shook his head.

"Ah." He sighed and patted Naoki on the shoulder. "I've got more than thirty years on you, but my mind isn't half as nimble."

Naoki hurriedly tried to downplay the compliment.

"I only looked after you before because your father asked me to. But truth be told, we've always been rather distant, uncle and nephew. I never expected someone so young to have such insight. I suppose I was blind to your abilities."

"Naoki, I'm planning to promote you to a mid-level section chief in the next couple of days. Tell me, where would you like to go?"

Naoki blinked but said nothing.

"Don't worry. I'm not abusing my power for personal gain. This is Fugaku's idea too."

"Uh... won't this make it seem like the position was handpicked for me?"

The sun gradually rose, and the morning light streamed through the windows into the Hokage's office.

The Third Hokage sat alone in his office, drawing on his pipe one puff at a time. His expression was unusually calm, as if last night's turmoil in Konoha had never happened.

Before long, footsteps sounded outside, and the three Hokage Advisors arrived together.

As soon as he entered, Danzo hurriedly sat down across from the Third Hokage and said, "Monkey, I told you long ago that the Uchiha Clan were no good! I'd say they're definitely involved in the Nine-Tails rampage!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at Danzo but didn't respond. He quietly drew on his pipe.

Certain he had plenty of reasons to back him up, Danzo saw the other man's silence and couldn't help adding, "Those people are a scourge on the village, a bunch of parasites! It's a good thing we didn't send them to support the battlefield. Otherwise, they'd have used the Nine-Tails to cause even more trouble!"

Losing both his wife of many years and his political successor, Namikaze Minato, had already left Sarutobi Hiruzen in low spirits. Danzo's incessant ranting made the anger in his heart begin to boil over.

He slammed his palm on the wooden table and said sarcastically, "How do you know they didn't go? Do you even know that those 'scourges' and 'parasites' you keep talking about went too? And what about your Root? Why didn't I see any of them on the battlefield? Where did they all go? Why didn't they go and help?"

Danzo had been about to keep criticizing the Uchiha Clan, hoping to use the four of them gathered together to lay out a plan. He never expected the other man to suddenly turn his accusations on him, and he was momentarily at a loss for words.

But over the years, he'd used most of his wits against his old partner. His eyes shifted, and he quickly came up with an excuse.

"Root was on standby at the base. But Minato didn't give us any orders, and you didn't issue any instructions either, so..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at his old partner. He knew the man always put himself before others. Besides, there was no point arguing over this, and he couldn't very well punish him for it. So he simply suppressed his anger and ignored him.

Seeing the two men glaring at each other with dark expressions, Mitokado Homura feared they might start arguing and let something important slip. He quickly stepped in to smooth things over and change the subject.

"Let's set aside the Uchiha Clan's disobedience and unauthorized deployment for now. We can discuss it at the meeting later. The most urgent matter is choosing a Hokage. The sky can't go a day without the sun, a country can't go a day without its daimyo, and Konoha can't go a day without a Hokage. Minato is dead. Who will take over the position?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen clenched his pipe between his teeth and said gravely, "I've made my decision. The village has too much on its plate right now, so we won't choose a successor for the time being. I'll take over."

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura both said they had no objections. Danzo wanted to become Hokage more than anything, but he still had enough sense not to oppose the decision.

Seeing that the matter had been settled for now, Danzo returned to the previous topic.

"Then can we talk about the Uchiha Clan now?"

"I heard the Sharingan with three tomoe appeared in the Nine-Tails' eyes?" Danzo asked, looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"That's right," Mitokado Homura said, nodding from his seat.

"I told you long ago that the Uchiha were up to no good! Monkey, if you'd listened to me, maybe the Nine-Tails rampage wouldn't have happened at all!"

"But it's not too late. The Military Police Force is still recuperating. We can use this as an excuse to take them down. It'll be easy, and we'll have a reason for doing it..."

Danzo went on at length, while Sarutobi Hiruzen let his words go in one ear and out the other. In fact, he was planning to win the Uchiha Clan over for the time being.

In the previous war, he had united with the Uchiha to strengthen Konoha and win the Shinobi World War. Now, he still had the same idea.

Two of Konoha's strongest fighters, Namikaze Minato and his wife, had died at once. That was a huge blow to the village, but it wasn't all. Even worse were Konoha's casualties. It wasn't until the approximate casualty figures were tallied that morning that he realized the losses caused by the Nine-Tails' rampage far exceeded the damage from the Shinobi World War, which had only just ended.

And a report about Orochimaru that Anbu had just delivered made it even less possible for him to move against the Uchiha Clan.

The village was already beginning to teeter on the brink of disaster. It could hardly afford internal conflict, and he would absolutely never agree to Danzo wiping out the Uchiha.

"Enough, Danzo. Stop trying to squeeze a drop of piss out of every toad you catch. The Uchiha Clan did disobey my orders last night, but what they did benefited the village. If I punish them over something so trivial, the people will lose heart."

Being rebuffed twice by his usually mild-mannered old partner was too much for Danzo. He simply began making threats.

"Monkey, you'll regret indulging the Uchiha Clan one day!"

"Shut up! I'm the Hokage!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen slammed his palm on the wooden table. It shattered on impact. Then, fuming, he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

Only the three of them remained in the room. When everyone fell silent, Utatane Koharu said slowly, "Danzo, you shouldn't have pressured him so aggressively."

"Last night, he lost his wife and his political successor. He even lost the Jinchūriki he'd had high hopes for over the years, one who had already become a capable fighter.

In a single night, he lost so much... He's not young anymore. He devoted his whole life to the village, only to see it end up like this in his later years. Of course he's angry.

And you wouldn't listen to reason. You had to bring up something else.

Tell me, how could he not blow up?"

Danzo sneered and said, "He devoted his whole life to the village. Was I any less devoted?"

"Just because he worked in the sunlight while I was buried underground, does that mean I have to be more considerate of his feelings?"

"What kind of logic is that?!"

Danzo glanced at the two of them, swept his sleeve aside, and strode out.