The Election Begins

Looking out the window of Raikage's Office, one sees wisps of clouds drifting and swirling among the mountains. When the clouds are thick, the view stretches out like a "white sea."

The Fourth Raikage was sitting at his desk, looking at the documents on his screen.

Ten minutes have passed since this document was sent in.

The office was quiet; apart from Raikage himself, there was no one else there.

The Kage Guard and secretaries all left the office.

But having only left that office, these people are now standing outside the Raikage's Office, waiting for the young Lord Raikage to vent his anger and sorrow inside.

However, ten minutes passed, and there was still no sound.

"That's enough, let's go in."

"That's what the Kage Guard captain said."

Everyone stared at him, but no one moved.

Left with no other option, the captain had to go up and knock on the door himself.

"Come in!" came the powerful voice of the Fourth Raikage.

It doesn't sound like a big deal.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The Kage Guard captain pushed open the office door, and the group filed in.

The burly Raikage sat there, his face showing no unusual expression.

"Lord Raikage," the Kage Guard captain said, forcing a smile, "Please give your next instructions."

"Next step?" The Fourth Raikage looked at his trusted confidant. "You think you can give birth to Eight-Tails now? Why don't you just give birth to a Nine-Tails?"

The captain of the Kage Guard immediately fell silent.

"Instructions, of course, are still in place." The Fourth Raikage picked up the report that had been on the table for ten minutes. "Killer B is dead, so surveillance of the Ninja World must begin. Once the Eight-Tails is spotted, it must be captured immediately. Also..."

He looked at his head guard.

"Is this Uchiha Shingen Uchiha Clan who captured Yugito Nii? Could he really be related to the Impure World Reincarnation?"

"Yes, many people in Hidden Leaf Village are also paying attention to this matter, but most of them are older people from before, and... they don't really care about the Impure World Reincarnation; they're more concerned about that person's remains."

"The remains..." The Fourth Raikage grinned. "Speaking of which, I remember Orochimaru asked about that too."

"Yes."

"The monster has already ascended to heaven; there's no point in keeping those things. Just give them to him."

"Lord Raikage!" The captain of the Kage Guard subtly voiced his objection, "Orochimaru is an extremely dangerous person. He might have some ulterior motive for instigating this war between us and Leaf Village..."

"Zuo Liang," the Fourth Raikage said in a low voice, "I don't remember you being such a weak person."

Zuo Liang, the captain of the Kage Guard, changed his expression.

The word "weak" is a very harsh term in Kumogakure, indicating that the Fourth Raikage was very dissatisfied with his choice of words.

"I'm sorry, Lord Raikage, I understand."

"No, your mistake is not what you think." The Fourth Raikage stood up and walked to Zuo Liang. "Are you afraid?"

"..." Zuo Liang was silent for a moment, "I will never be afraid."

"Very good, the men of Cloud Village don't make excuses." The Fourth Raikage patted his confidant on the shoulder. "There's nothing to regret. Losing doesn't matter. Although we lost Tailed Beasts, the foundation of the village remains. Give the item to Orochimaru; he will definitely take revenge on Leaf Village in the future. I'm sure of it!"

"And this time?"

"There's nothing we can do if we lose. Our enemies now are Iwagakure and Sand Village. Leaf Village is not an enemy, but a friend."

"Understood, I will be patient."

"Yes, give the order. Also, summon the head of the ANBU to me."

Zuo Liang turned and left.

A short while later, he returned with a man.

"Lord Raikage."

"Saru, how are the Leaf Village ANBU now?" the Fourth Raikage asked.

"Nothing to worry about, Lord Raikage."

"Oh?" The Fourth Raikage thought this was a rare piece of good news in recent times. "Be more specific."

"After the death of Leaf Village's 'Dark Ninja,' the quality of their ANBU has declined significantly."

How long will it take them to recover?

"It will be difficult in the short term. Their Anbu Ninja are capable, but the new commander doesn't have the skill of 'Ninja of Darkness'."

"So, how well do we infiltrate Leaf Village now?"

"I'm sorry, Lord Raikage, you're much worse than before..."

"Huh?" The Fourth Raikage was momentarily confused.

Didn't you just say the opposing players have been replaced with noobs?

"Leaf Village's Konoha Military Police Force are not what they used to be, Lord Raikage. Our people will be detected from a great distance."

"I see, the Byakugan is indeed very powerful..." The Fourth Raikage frowned.

He's wanted the Byakugan bloodline for a long time.

Kumogakure is one of the few... no, the only village that doesn't have any reservations about bloodline ninja clans.

The bloodline ninja clans of Kumogakure live a very comfortable life.

The largest in scale is the "Storm Release" bloodline.

From the time of the First Raikage, Kumogakure has been searching for bloodline limits.

As a "peninsula region" of the continent, most of the population of the Land of Lightning lives in the south, and most of the land is a harsh and cold place. In terms of manpower and resources, the initial conditions were not very good.

The fact that it has developed to the point of being prosperous and abundant today is entirely due to its long-standing commitment to "if we don't have it, we'll go to the mainland to get it."

The same applies to Kumogakure).

Their main focus is on Ninjutsu and bloodline limits.

I'm drooling over the Byakugan, but I'm not so envious of the Sharingan.

The Kumogakure has a particular fondness for Taijutsu and various "light"-based escape techniques, such as lightning, lasers, Kakkō, and light speed. In the Fourth Raikage's plan, the Kumogakure now has no flaws in Taijutsu, escape techniques, Genjutsu, or even the Perfect Jinchuriki technique.

All that's missing is a Byakugan.

The Sharingan is indeed very powerful, but unfortunately, it's completely incompatible with the Ninjutsu system of Kumogakure...

Many thoughts raced through the Fourth Raikage's mind, but they all ultimately pointed in the same direction.

I'm going to roll my Byakugan! I'm going to do it!

"Are they still urging us to sign the contract back in Konoha?"

"They were asking last month, but not this month."

Is there any further activity from Iwagakure?

"Yes, they are active, but we still can't determine who their target is. We can demonstrate our strength to show that the village still has sufficient power."

"No!" The Fourth Raikage waved his hand, interrupting the ANBU chief, "We must show weakness!"

He knew his father's killer all too well.

That old codger has a grudge against Leaf Village... no, against the Uchiha Clan!

"Furthermore, secretly spread the reputation of the Uchiha Clan, focusing on promoting the White Ghost and the Body Flicker Technique!"

"Lord Raikage, I don't understand."

"Just do as I say!" The Fourth Raikage issued the order forcefully, then pointed at a young woman in the secretarial team, "You, write down what I say."

"Yes, Lord Raikage." The young girl was very capable. Her skin color was the same as the Raikage Clan, also brown, and she had short silver hair.

"Arrange a meeting with the Kazekage for me to discuss the matter of concluding a friendship treaty between Cloud Village and Sand Village."

Chapter Nine: The Election Begins

The movements of the Kumogakure have attracted the attention of some people.

But this does not include the Leaf Village.

Leaf Village's ANBU has always been diligent in its intelligence work, especially the original members of "Root." Almost all of them were promoted after returning to the ANBU —they had no choice but to be promoted; they were the only ones who knew how to do that.

The one suffering the most is the head of the ANBU. His comfortable days are gone forever. He even had the idea of asking the Third to come out of retirement and let Shimura Danzō by Edo Tensei to resume Impure World Reincarnation old ways.

But this idea can only remain a thought.

So this head of the ANBU could only continue to develop his own ideas, lest he be manipulated by the head of the ANBU of Cloud Village again.

He still has plenty of time to hone his skills, because no one in Hidden Leaf Village will criticize him now.

Nobody has the time.

The election for Hokage's assistant has begun, and this is what the Konoha Ninja are most concerned about right now.

The villagers are also very concerned, as such a large-scale melon-eating event might only happen once in a lifetime, and each one is one of the few remaining opportunities.

Several nominated candidates have officially appeared and come into the view of the people of Leaf Village.

There are four nominees: the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, the advisor elder Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura.

The people they nominated were quite interesting; some were expected, while others were truly unexpected.

The Third nominated Nara Shikaku, the current Jonin Council leader, which was no surprise to anyone.

The Fourth Hokage nominated Police Force Commissioner Uchiha Fugaku, which everyone was prepared for and didn't take seriously.

After all, the Uchiha Clan has even received Hokage nominations, but each time they only received nominations.

The person nominated by Utatane Koharu is quite interesting; it's Shimura Feilian, the nominal head of the Shimura Clan.

The reason for using the term "nominal" is that the Shimura Clan has essentially disintegrated from its original status as a ninja clan and has become a family-based ninja, which means they are now part of the commoner ninja community.

Finally, it was Mitokado Homura who nominated Sarutobi Clan Sarutobi Saizo.

Sarutobi Saizo was the strongest member of the Sarutobi Clan besides Sarutobi Hiruzen. He possessed formidable Taijutsu and was proficient in Fire Release, Lightning Release, and Earth Release. He was also quite skilled in Medical Ninjutsu and had been a member of the Jonin Council since the time of the Third.

These four people are the candidates to assist the Hokage.

Shimura Feilian, this veteran Jonin, had a very good attitude; he was neither arrogant nor impatient, and always had a smile on his face.

Sarutobi Saizo brimming with confidence.

Nara Shikaku is quite popular, and the Jonin of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans never even considered switching sides.

To paraphrase Akimichi Clan, if someone were to attack Sarutobi Clan, they'd be the first to step in, but when it comes to voting, sorry, they can't ignore their best friend's feelings.

Yamanaka Clan remarked, "Did the Ino-Shika-Cho just complain for nothing? Did they know that the Jonin of the three clans had a feast last night?"

Just as Sarutobi Saizo didn't expect the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans to vote for him at the beginning, Nara Shikaku didn't expect the Jonin of the Sarutobi Clan to give him special treatment as class representative.

It will take a long time to win over the other side's votes.

As for Uchiha Fugaku, he carefully observed his opponents. Among the Jonin Council, he had no foundation and only had Uchiha Shingen. In this respect, he was even inferior to Shimura Feilian.

Shimura Danzō a terrible reputation, but the Shimura Clan did not; in fact, they had a good reputation.

During his lifetime, "Shinobi Darkness" always kept a clear line between himself and his family. From the beginning, there was no other person with the Shimura Clan in the "Root" family, so the Shimura Clan was not tainted by his sins.

But this is just the beginning. Next, the four candidates will need to give speeches in the village, explaining their governing philosophies to the villagers. They will have ample time to engage in strategic maneuvering.

This is also part of the election process, where all candidates can fully utilize their abilities to garner votes, which is an essential skill for Hokage's assistant.

Assisting the Hokage in exercising power isn't just about chatting in an office. What kind of Hokage- assistant are you if you can't interact with villagers and various ninja clans?

The villagers don't vote, but the candidates' behavior when facing the villagers will be the basis for the civilian ninjas' votes.

The timeframe is one month.

The first round of voting will take place one month later.

To fully test whether the Hokage's assistants have the ability to turn the tide in adversity or remain calm in the face of favorable situations, a second round of voting will be held one month after the first round.

And that's the final result.