Xia Yan sat in the Hokage's office, gazing lazily at the sunlight outside the window, his expression particularly relaxed.
A Hokage who had reached his level of ease was a rare sight indeed.
Neither Hashirama Senju nor Tobirama Senju, nor even the now thoroughly obedient Hiruzen Sarutobi, had ever enjoyed things as easily as Xia Yan.
They had all served as Hokage with extreme caution, as though treading on thin ice, afraid that a mistake would plunge Konoha into eternal ruin.
Xia Yan's ease and his current circumstances were truly enviable.
In Hashirama Senju's time, Konoha had only just been established, and its founding marked the shinobi's transition from scattered clans to unified villages.
It was no exaggeration to say that the village's establishment had consolidated an entire nation's resources. In essence, they controlled the Land of Fire.
Amid such an enormous transformation, Hashirama Senju and the others had faced immense pressure, because this truly was an entirely new model for them.
One careless mistake could destroy the village they had worked so hard to establish!
By Tobirama Senju's time, Konoha had passed through its difficult founding period and its period of adjustment, but unfortunately, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha were both dead.
After their battle had literally carved out the Valley of the End, these two powerhouses who had held the Shinobi World in check had both, publicly at least, departed this world.
Their deaths had instantly brought Konoha's once unrivaled strength down to roughly the level of the other great shinobi villages.
Though its foundations still allowed Konoha to stand proudly above the Shinobi World, it was a far cry from what it had been.
The circumstances and backdrop of Tobirama Senju's era also meant that he had to proceed cautiously.
On one hand, the village's various internal