I alone am an army!

"Lord Hokage, things have settled down internally. Let me give you a general report.

The other clans in the village haven't been affected much. The Sarutobi, Shimura, Mitokado, and Utatane clans have all been dealt with appropriately, and the few groups that resisted have been dealt with as well.

There haven't been many problems among the other ninja or villagers. Everyone has been fairly calm, but... the Uchiha reported that Uchiha Itachi has gone missing!"

Shisui Uchiha reported the latest developments.

Bai Ye's coup had caused no major upheaval within the village.

That was largely because Bai Ye had handled the preparations so well.

Before he moved against Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, he had laid all the groundwork.

He had also resolved the aftermath flawlessly.

His promise to wipe the slate clean had left everyone else without an excuse to object.

Aside from a few die-hard Root loyalists, the other ninja had barely been affected.

But Shisui had been unable to find Uchiha Itachi in the village. By all rights, Uchiha Itachi should have returned with him.

The coup had happened immediately after their return, so the Third probably hadn't had time to assign Uchiha Itachi a mission.

That left him puzzled.

He had immediately gone with Uchiha Fugaku to inspect Uchiha Itachi's room, and they had reached a conclusion: Uchiha Itachi seemed to have defected?!

Quite a few belongings had been taken from Uchiha Itachi's room.

That was practically confirmation that he had left the village.

Uchiha Itachi had never gotten along with Bai Ye.

So, to Shisui Uchiha, this seemed like a perfectly natural development?!

"Him?! You don't need to worry about that for now. Look for him first. Once we have some news, we'll decide whether to declare him a Rogue Ninja."

"Yes!"

Shisui breathed a sigh of relief at Bai Ye's words.

He had been afraid that Bai Ye would immediately label Uchiha Itachi a Rogue Ninja upon hearing the news.

For now, at least, he was only considered missing.

Once Shisui found Uchiha Itachi, he would make sure to persuade him to return.

No matter where Uchiha Itachi was!!!

Yet he still felt uneasy. The fact that Uchiha Itachi had chosen to leave now likely meant he had no intention of returning.

If that was the case, Itachi probably wouldn't be able to escape being branded a Rogue Ninja. Still, there was a chance.

"Oh, and Shisui, gather information on the ninja outside the village, then recall them."

Bai Ye spoke slowly.

Actually, even without gathering information, he already knew who was still out there.

Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Asuma.

Just those three. Almost everyone else was already a Rogue Ninja, and apart from Jiraiya, the other two had fixed locations.

Tsunade was in Tanzaku Town, while Asuma served among the Twelve Guardian Ninja at the Land of Fire Daimyo's side.

Shisui froze at Bai Ye's words and asked in confusion, "Recall them?! That... probably won't be easy..."

Those three really would be difficult to deal with!

Shisui understood that perfectly. Take Asuma Sarutobi, for example: Bai Ye had killed his father, and now he wanted him to return.

Wouldn't Asuma worry that he would be next if he came back?!

Then there were Tsunade and Jiraiya.

Those two were formidable figures who might not even listen to Hiruzen Sarutobi, let alone Bai Ye.

Besides, Bai Ye had killed their teacher.

That certainly complicated matters.

So, although Shisui didn't want to discourage Bai Ye, he couldn't help feeling that this might not work.

Bai Ye, however, thought nothing of Shisui's concerns. "Send people to contact them first. If they refuse, I'll handle it personally!"

"..."

He would handle it personally again...

Shisui's mouth twitched. He was fairly sure he had heard that before.

The last time Bai Ye had acted personally, he had pulled the Uchiha out of the mire.

There was nothing wrong with what Bai Ye said, but hearing it always gave Shisui the impression that he was showing off.

"All right, I'll get going."

Shisui nodded, then took his leave.

He had quite a lot on his plate now, too.

Not long after Shisui left, Bai Ye went back to dealing with the documents on his desk.

Looking at them, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

He needed to find someone to handle these for him.

This many documents?!

Damn it!!!

Why did a Hokage have so much to do?!

And most importantly, he still had to go back and handle Uchiha affairs afterward.

In other words, he wasn't just burdened with the Hokage's duties. The affairs of the Uchiha Clan rested on his shoulders, too.

The Uchiha Clan might have appeared to be free of the threat to its survival.

But Bai Ye didn't dare relax!

More importantly, there was the reputation they had worked so hard to salvage.

If he didn't keep an eye on them, they would probably ruin it again in no time.

So Bai Ye couldn't let his guard down when it came to the Uchiha, either.

As a result, he was either handling official business or on his way to handle it.

On top of that, he had to clean up all the messes Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo had made over the years.

That gave Bai Ye an idea.

If he followed Naruto's example, wouldn't he work himself to death?

Everything would end up on his desk.

Bai Ye rubbed his chin, then settled on an idea.

He summoned Hyuga Hiashi, Shikaku Nara, and the heads of the other Ninja Clans.

When Bai Ye summoned them, they were all rather bewildered.

He had suddenly called them over to discuss something important?!

"I want to establish an Elders Council. Of course, unlike the old Elders Council, the members of this one will have decision-making authority. From now on, the Hokage won't be the only person making decisions for the village.

Naturally, the Hokage will still have the final say, but must ensure that the decision won't harm Konoha.

Some responsibilities will then be delegated to the Elders Council. That way, every clan and ordinary ninja can benefit, rather than the benefits being restricted to one clan or a handful of clans!"

Bai Ye laid out his idea directly.

Once he did, everyone present immediately grew restless.

Wait a second?!

You're actually going to share your power?!

They had originally assumed Bai Ye had summoned them because he wasn't familiar with many village affairs yet and needed their cooperation.

Who could have imagined that he intended to hand some of his authority over to them?!

"How exactly would this be implemented?! Wouldn't it cause unnecessary trouble? There are bound to be disagreements between the two sides!"

Shikaku Nara asked.

He suspected Bai Ye merely had a rough idea and hadn't even worked out how to put it into practice.

What about the details?!

What if he couldn't take back the authority once he handed it over?!

How would they decide who was right and who was wrong?!

What would happen if the two sides disagreed?!

Had Bai Ye not considered all these problems?!

"As for the details, I was thinking of delegating less important matters. For example, missions below A rank could be handled by the Elders Council. Missions of A rank and above,

along with more important matters, such as war or major policy changes, could be handled by the Hokage.

If there's a disagreement, the Hokage's office doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the people. Naturally, we should listen to public opinion.

That's why I think this reform is imperative. We can't leave every decision to the Hokage. Everyone has the right to participate!"

After Bai Ye finished, everyone present had just one thought.

Why did this Uchiha seem to have a broader vision than the previous Hokage?!

What had Hiruzen Sarutobi been like?

Anyone who disobeyed would be suppressed. To keep Konoha under his control, he had even been willing to attack people from his own village.

"In that case, how do you intend to select the members of the Elders Council?!"

If Bai Ye really intended to do this, how would they choose the members?

"Each clan can send one representative, and civilian ninja will have three seats?"

"We can discuss it gradually afterward. There's no need to settle this in such a hurry. The main issue facing the village right now is how to handle our relationship with the Land of Fire!"

Hyuga Hiashi spoke up.

In his view, there was no need to rush this decision.

That was something they could deal with later. Right now, however, there was a problem they had to resolve.

Their relationship with the Land of Fire.

"Also, according to our scouts' reports, the other ninja villages are starting to stir. That doesn't seem like good news for us, does it?!"

Inoichi Yamanaka added.

For Konoha, the most pressing concerns were the Land of Fire and the other villages.

They didn't need to worry too much about Sunagakure or Kirigakure for the time being.

After all, the war between Sunagakure and Kirigakure hadn't completely ended, and minor clashes were still ongoing.

Neither had the attention to spare for Konoha.

But Kumogakure and Iwagakure were different.

Iwagakure's stance was ambiguous, and an attack remained possible.

Kumogakure wasn't hiding its intentions at all. It had already prepared to act and gathered its ninja, looking ready to go to war with Konoha.

Many of them believed Kumogakure was mainly doing this to extract concessions from Konoha.

They had been through this many times before.

Of course, there was another possibility: if Kumogakure believed it could actually defeat Konoha, it might truly start a war.

Although Kumogakure had suffered substantial losses during the Third Shinobi World War, the Fourth Raikage A had since taken power, and the village had two perfect Jinchuriki.

Kumogakure's strength was therefore terrifying. Comparatively speaking, it hadn't weakened much at all.

Konoha was another matter.

Given the Land of Fire's current attitude, it might not even support Konoha going to war.

That was hardly good news.

If this wasn't resolved, Bai Ye could soon lose his position over it.

"I'll head to the Land of Fire tomorrow. As for Kumogakure, if they want to go to war with us, I'll go to the battlefield!"

"They have perfect Jinchuriki, two of them, plus the Fourth Raikage A... you may have to face three Kage-level opponents!"

Shikaku Nara's eyes flickered, and he continued, "If we can bring Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade back, Kumogakure definitely won't dare start a war!"

In his view, having Bai Ye face the Two-Tails, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, and Kumogakure's A alone

would put him under tremendous pressure.

But if they brought Tsunade and Jiraiya back,

it would be a different story.

Kumogakure might not even dare go to war.

If the Sannin had still been in the village back then, Kumogakure would never have dared act that way.

"I've already sent people to do that. But even if they don't return, I don't think this is beyond me. I'm enough to deal with Kumogakure."

He had Perfect Susanoo, a sage body, and eternal eyes. Right now, his power was simply off the charts.

If Kumogakure dared attack, he could crush it outright.

"Can you really do it?! If so, we won't need to rush some of our earlier plans!"

Shikaku fixed Bai Ye with an intense gaze.

He had personally witnessed Bai Ye's last battle. Against Hiruzen Sarutobi, that Susanoo had needed only one strike to kill him.

It might have been because Hiruzen Sarutobi had given up resisting.

But if Bai Ye could keep using that mountain-sized Susanoo, perhaps he really did stand a chance against two Tailed Beasts?!

Besides, there had been people who changed the course of a war single-handedly before.

Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had done it, as had Minato Namikaze during the Third Shinobi World War.

Shikaku hadn't lived through Hashirama Senju and Madara's era.

But he had lived through Minato Namikaze's, so he knew just how much a powerful ninja could influence a war.

"I can."

"Then that's settled. We'll deal with the village's internal affairs first and leave the Land of Fire Daimyo to you. If Kumogakure starts a war, it would be best to bring Lady Tsunade and Lord Jiraiya back. If we can't, we can still build our plans around you!"

Shikaku promptly laid out their course of action.

Since Bai Ye was that confident, there was no need to worry so much.

Their plans going forward would be straightforward.

That was the beauty of stats!

The next day.

When Bai Ye set out for the Land of Fire, Shisui Uchiha and Hyuga Hiashi accompanied him as his guards.

The latter had volunteered to go.

Although Bai Ye did not need guards, Shikaku had pointed out that every previous Hokage had had them, so Bai Ye ultimately said nothing more.

Of course, Hyuga Hiashi had come along of his own accord.

He had something to discuss with Bai Ye.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Fire.

After learning that Bai Ye was coming, the Daimyo thought, Once Bai Ye arrives, I must put him in his place!