Chapter 19: Everything is Perfectly Arranged

Absurd!

Utterly, ridiculously absurd!

The atmosphere at the voting site was so eerie it sent shivers down one's spine. The representatives of the various clans remained silent, watching the four brothers standing together in stillness.

The scene could only be described as surreal.

Even Chu Yang broke out in goosebumps, terrified that his sudden impulse to stir the pot might backfire spectacularly.

Fortunately, however, the development of events did not deviate far from the trajectory of fate; it merely shifted slightly.

Aside from Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, only a small portion of the people cast their votes for Madara Uchiha.

Those people had been pre-arranged by Tobirama Senju.

Everything was going according to plan.

Madara Uchiha was somewhat disappointed with the result. He knew his prestige among the citizens of Konoha could not compare to Hashirama Senju's, but he hadn't expected the gap to be so vast.

Ultimately, however, he chose to accept it calmly; even Izuna Uchiha had no objections.

"Madara..." Hashirama Senju looked at his friend with eyes full of apology.

He seemed to feel guilty about becoming Hokage.

Sensing Hashirama's sincere gaze, Madara Uchiha sighed and said, "Hashirama, this was the choice of everyone, including myself. You don't need to feel guilty."

"I chose you because I believe you can achieve our ideal."

Having said this much, Hashirama Senju no longer demurred. Gratefully accepting his friend's entrustment, he was surrounded by the crowd and announced himself as the First Hokage of Konoha Village.

While many clan representatives and citizens stepped forward to offer their congratulations, Izuna Uchiha slowly walked to Tobirama Senju's side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

"I can now understand why my brother could become friends with him," Izuna Uchiha said sincerely. "He... the Hokage-sama truly possesses a unique personal charisma. I hope Konoha Village will continue to prosper under his leadership."

Tobirama Senju nodded. "My brother will not disappoint anyone. You can rest assured."

Suddenly, Izuna Uchiha made a move that caught Tobirama Senju completely off guard.

He reached out his hand toward Tobirama Senju and smiled

"Let us get reacquainted. The Uchiha Clan, Izuna Uchiha."

Tobirama Senju froze for a moment, then gave him a deep look before extending his hand. "The Senju Clan, Tobirama Senju."

As the representatives of the warring factions of their respective clans, this handshake between the two was even more eye-catching than the handshake between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha on the other side.

Standing outside the crowd, Chu Yang watched this scene with great interest, only to suddenly feel a confirming gaze from Tobirama Senju.

The look meant: "Kid, your schemes and tricks are actually quite useful."

Chu Yang: "..."

Because of Chu Yang's instigation, the development trajectory of Konoha Village had become slightly different from the original plot.

Furthermore, the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan entered an unprecedented historical honeymoon period of development.

As days passed, major events occurred in Konoha, one after another, enough to influence the entire village's development.

The first matter: under the leadership of Tobirama Senju, the Anbu was officially established in Konoha!

Originally, everyone assumed Tobirama Senju would naturally become the head of the Anbu, but no one expected him to yield this vital position to Izuna Uchiha.

Tobirama Senju, instead, took a secondary role and became the Hokage's Assistant!

Everyone believed that Tobirama Senju had made a sacrifice, and the Uchiha Clan thought so as well.

It seemed only Chu Yang knew Tobirama Senju's true intention.

First and foremost, the primary mission of the Anbu organization was to protect the Hokage's safety in the shadows; only secondarily was it an assassination and special tactical unit responsible for sniping key enemy figures.

Reconnaissance and preventing foreign invasion during special periods were the lowest priority duties.

Protecting the Hokage was the utmost priority.

Setting aside everything else, entrusting Hashirama Senju's safety to Izuna Uchiha was already an expression of Tobirama Senju's trust in the Uchiha Clan.

This could greatly earn the goodwill of the Uchiha clansmen and even Izuna Uchiha himself.

There was no doubt about it.

Was there a risk in this decision?

Of course there was.

However, the risk was within a manageable range, because Izuna Uchiha's strength was insufficient to threaten Hashirama Senju; even if he defected, he could not harm Hashirama.

Tobirama Senju had already taken this into account.

Then, following Chu Yang's suggestion, Tobirama Senju planned to plant a special squad within the Anbu to secretly monitor the entire organization's actions.

This would become the "Root" later established by Danzo Shimura.

Based on these two points, Tobirama Senju yielded the position of Anbu leader to Izuna Uchiha. Of course, he would have other subsequent arrangements to ensure nothing went wrong.

What Chu Yang truly found brilliant was the position of Hokage's Assistant.

Between the Hokage's Assistant and the Anbu leader, who held more power?

Most people would choose the Anbu leader!

Isn't a Hokage's Assistant just someone who runs errands for the Hokage? What power could they possibly have?

But one must not forget that given Hashirama Senju's personality, he would certainly entrust all major and minor affairs to his brother, Tobirama.

And Tobirama Senju would become the actual wielder of the Hokage's power.

Everyone thought Tobirama Senju had sacrificed his deserved power for the peace and stable development of the village, but in reality, he hadn't lost a shred of power; he had simply hidden it.

Madara Uchiha might notice something was amiss, but he would never overthink it, because the highly prestigious Anbu was already in his brother Izuna's hands.

Moreover, he knew Hashirama Senju very well and knew that the latter could not handle those headache-inducing official duties and would certainly delegate power to his younger brother.

Once the Anbu issue was resolved, the second matter was the establishment of the Police Force.

Also due to the Anbu, Tobirama Senju handed over half of the Police Force's power to the Hyuga Clan.

As a major clan second only to the Senju and Uchiha, the Hyuga Clan had the weight and the reason to take a slice of the power cake.

The Police Force, which should have been controlled solely by the Uchiha Clan, now had a force that could act as a counterbalance to them.

Even so, the Uchiha Clan still did not lose out.

And Tobirama Senju took the opportunity to win over the hearts of the Hyuga Clan.

With this arrangement, the Uchiha Clan gained many benefits, but as the Clan Head, Madara Uchiha only obtained the status of a Senior Advisor, with no actual practical benefits.

The terrifying part was that no one thought there was a problem!

There wasn't even any dissent within the Uchiha Clan itself.

Aside from these two major events, the third matter was the one with long-term significance for the development of Konoha Village.

The establishment of the Konoha Ninja Academy!

To provide a place for children ravaged by war to grow up healthily, to train them, and to give them the ability to protect themselves—this was the shared wish of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

Tobirama Senju, who was skilled at teaching ninjutsu to the youth, was also elected by everyone as the academy's first principal.

And Chu Yang, as the First Hokage's and Tobirama Senju's personal disciple, became the academy's very first teacher.

(End of Chapter)