I Will Run for Election · A Gathering Response

Toji Zenin truly did not want to become Hokage—

But he had no choice. Everyone was urging him to do it.

His wife, Chiri, urged him, and he refused; the staff at the Hokage Building urged him, and he still refused; the Konoha villagers gathered outside his door and shouted for him to run—this time, Toji could no longer refuse.

He did not want it, but they insisted on giving it to him.

Declining three times before accepting was a traditional Chinese virtue.

Toji might have had plenty of bad habits, but what he hated most was forgetting his roots!

So he could not forget the teachings of his ancestors.

Let the shuriken fly a little longer. Now that the shuriken had struck at the sensitive, fragile hearts of the Konoha villagers, it was time to make his move!

If not now, then when?

Toji changed into a haori, slowly descended the stairs, and headed straight for the entrance of the Hokage Building.

Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar faces beyond the Anbu cordon, Toji felt a touch of emotion rise within him.

Sixteen years had passed in the blink of an eye.

Sixteen years had passed since he first arrived and then announced his "candidacy" for Hokage. They had turned him from a sturdy, handsome eighteen-year-old young man into the sturdy old fellow he was now—who still looked eighteen.

Though he was actually past thirty, his appearance showed no sign of age, while the villagers had also become much "younger."

Only, their youth came a generation later.

Many of their elders, who had been born during the Warring States Period, had already died.

The old-timers from the Warring States Period, including Tobirama and Hashirama, remembered him as an elder. From this day onward, however, Konoha's new generation would know