The battle of Kikyo Mountain finally drew to a close. Konoha had successfully repelled the joint offensive of the Four Great Shinobi Villages.
But it had also played every trump card it had. Konoha now had very few secrets left before the Four Great Shinobi Villages.
All sides withdrew to their own countries, but some had yet to rein in their ambitions. Kumogakure was one of them.
During the battle of Kikyo Mountain, they had witnessed the formidable strength of Konoha's various bloodline families, and it had left Kumogakure positively drooling.
After all, Kumogakure had always coveted shinobi with powerful bloodline abilities.
Still, with this battle over, they would not be making any moves for a while.
After the fighting ended, the Third took all the blame in Konoha Square. Letting the enemy reach their doorstep was hardly something to be proud of. Even though they had won the battle to defend their home, someone still needed to shoulder the main responsibility.
And that someone could only be him, the Third. Anyone else would have buckled under that much blame, and he could not pass it off even if he tried.
After apologizing to all of Konoha's villagers, the Third resigned to take responsibility. He announced that he was stepping down as the Third and formally passed the position to the new Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
A new Hokage had emerged, and this Fourth Hokage truly deserved the title. Both the major clans and the ordinary villagers were very pleased with him.
It could be said that Minato had earned everyone's trust.
Everyone except one man, of course: Danzo.
Konoha, Root.
"Damn that Hiruzen Sarutobi! He would rather give the Hokage position to that brat Minato Namikaze, who has no backing whatsoever, than give it to me! Damn him! **Aaargh!