Just as Uchiha Chizumi developed Radiance Release, a kekkei tōta the shinobi world had never seen before, he also noticed that his Water Covenant had become even more efficient at conversion.
"So the Police Force over in Kirigakure has already started taking shape?"
Chizumi knew that the Water Covenant reflected the progress of justice and order in the Land of Water.
And now that the Water Covenant was growing stronger, that meant the Land of Water was likely developing according to the vision he had laid out.
He didn't know exactly what was happening over there, but Tsunade, at this moment, was feeling a little dazed.
After witnessing both Uchiha Chizumi's power and the Tenseigan the day before, Tsunade had certainly been shocked—but since she still wasn't Hokage yet, it hadn't reached the point of keeping her awake at night.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, on the other hand, had apparently spent the entire night brooding in the Hokage building.
So when Tsunade opened her door the next morning, the first thing she saw was Hiruzen, who had clearly been waiting outside for who knew how long.
"Old man?"
Tsunade looked at him in confusion, not understanding why her teacher had come to see her personally.
"Get ready. It's time for you to take over as Hokage."
Hiruzen looked at Tsunade and didn't answer immediately. After a moment of silence, he simply said that.
"Wh-what?"
Even though Tsunade had long since prepared herself to take on the Hokage's position, being told first thing in the morning by the Third to just go ahead and assume the post still left her stunned.
"Starting today, Tsunade, you'll be the Hokage."
"You've always admired Uchiha Chizumi's justice, haven't you? You've always thought this old man was incompetent, haven't you?"
"Well then, I'm handing the Hokage's seat to you as of today. Let this old man see how you do it."
Hiruzen spoke slowly, his gaze unwavering.
After thinking all night, he had reached a conclusion.
There was really no point in clinging to the Hokage's position anymore.
"Don't we still need the jōnin vote…?"
Behind Tsunade, Shizune—who had come out with her—couldn't help blurting that out.
Had everything she learned at the Ninja Academy been fake?
If she remembered correctly, the Hokage was supposed to be chosen through a jōnin vote and then formally recognized by the Fire Daimyo, right?
So why did it sound like, when it came to Hiruzen Sarutobi, all he had to do was say Tsunade would be Hokage, and that was that?
"Did Koharu's death finally break your spirit, old man?"
Tsunade looked at Hiruzen thoughtfully. She already knew the truth behind Koharu Utatane's death.
This time, Uchiha Chizumi hadn't targeted Koharu at all. It could only be said that Koharu had been profoundly unlucky—she just so happened to run into the Hyūga clan while they were in the middle of stirring up trouble, and ended up dying for no clear reason at all.
"I'll stay on as a Hokage advisor to support you. Or rather, to tell you how I handled being Hokage."
"Whether you listen or not—that's up to you."
"As for those Root ninja, if you don't like them, I'll find a way to reintegrate them into Konoha."
Hiruzen continued.
If handing the Hokage's seat to Tsunade was his way of preserving some dignity and accepting the inevitable, then the position of Hokage advisor was the one thing he still wanted to secure from her.
Granted, Konoha's Hokage advisors had been dying at a pretty alarming rate lately—but there was still Homura Mitokado left, wasn't there?
In the end, Hiruzen really did care deeply about Konoha. Even if he was passing the Hokage's position to Tsunade, he still wanted to remain close enough to watch—to see how she handled things before he could truly feel at ease.
"The Hokage advisor position?"
"No problem, no problem. Honestly, I don't like dealing with all those tiny day-to-day matters anyway."
"I was actually planning to dump all that kind of trivial work on Shizune after I became Hokage, so if you're willing to take it on, old man, that's even better!"
Tsunade laughed openly, while behind her, Shizune just blankly pointed at herself.
She had the vague feeling that she'd either missed something… or just narrowly avoided disaster.
That was only because Shizune had never seen what the Hokage's daily routine was really like. If she had, she would've been thanking Hiruzen from the bottom of her heart for taking that burden off her shoulders.
Because even though Konoha was "just" a village, the amount of daily work was staggering.
The Hokage was the person who had to deal with everything—even a missing cat in the village.
While Hiruzen was formally handing the Hokage's position over to Tsunade, somewhere else, Hinata and Hanabi were only just waking up at the place where Neji had temporarily settled them.
But this morning, Hinata wasn't braiding Hanabi's hair the way she usually did. Instead, she sat there blankly, staring out the window.
For some reason, her heart felt hollow.
She had spent the entire night tormented by one nightmare after another. She couldn't quite remember what they had been about, but she knew without question that they had not been good dreams.
"Hinata…"
Just as Hinata was sitting there, confused about where this awful feeling was coming from, Neji knocked on the door.
"Brother Neji… does this mean we can go back now?"
The moment she saw him, Hinata's eyes didn't go to the sapphire Tenseigan floating behind him.
Instead, she immediately grabbed at his sleeve and asked in a flustered, anxious voice.
She didn't know why—but the moment she saw Neji, the unease in her heart only deepened.
It was as if something terrible really had already happened.
"If that's what you want, Hinata, then yes—we can go back to the Hyūga estate."
Looking at Hinata, Neji couldn't keep the ache out of his eyes.
At this point, the whole shinobi world practically treated "siblings with a complex" as common knowledge.
Neji had at least tried to stay restrained about it before, but now that the Caged Bird Seal had been lifted from him and he had taken on Hiashi's will, the way he looked at Hinata now was pure elder-brother devotion.
"Then… what about Father?"
"Will Father be coming back with us too?"
Hinata looked at Neji with pleading eyes.
She truly wanted things to go back to how they had been before.
If they really could go back, she promised she would try harder—just the way Father had always wanted. She would become stronger. She would eat less. She would never make Father scold her again.
"Hinata… let's talk outside."
Neji closed his eyes and avoided looking at hers.
His hand trembled slightly.
After a moment, he opened his eyes again.
There was no way to hide what had happened to the Hyūga clan forever. And rather than letting Hinata hear about the clan's fate from someone else, Neji would rather be the one to tell her himself.
At the same time, though, Neji also made a silent vow in his heart.
Even if only for Hinata's sake, he had to become stronger—strong enough to protect Konoha, strong enough to face the Ōtsutsuki on the moon by himself.
"…All right."
Hinata looked at Neji, then turned back once to glance at Hanabi, who still understood nothing.
Slowly, the light in her eyes dimmed.
~~~
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