That afternoon, Uchiha En was handling official business at the Police Force as usual.
Recently, the reforms of the Third Squad have begun to show initial success, yielding a clear benefit by decentralizing the Police Force's authority to various clans.
The Police Force was no longer solely dictated by the Uchiha Clan. People venting their dissatisfaction no longer had a single fixed target, unlike before when the Uchiha Clan was synonymous with the Police Force, making criticizing the Police Force equivalent to criticizing the Uchiha Clan.
This was also the main reason the Aburame Clan and the Ino-Shika-Cho Three Clans hesitated at the time.
Joining the Police Force now was, in a sense, helping the Uchiha Clan draw fire.
Furthermore, the Uchiha Clan had an extremely poor reputation in Konoha. Anyone wading into this murky situation risked bringing disaster upon themselves.
To be honest, the authority of the Police Force was tempting, but no matter how tempting, you had to be alive to wield it!
If it weren't for Shibi Aburame's repeated requests, coupled with Kagetsu Yamanaka—who was extremely close to Uchiha En—being an insider, the Ino-Shika-Cho Three Clans would definitely not have sent anyone to join the Police Force.
"Knock, knock~" A knock on the door outside the office interrupted Uchiha En's work rhythm.
Uchiha En activated his Minds Eye and immediately knew who the visitor was.
He got up and opened the door. Standing outside was Minato Namikaze.
"Minato-senpai, what brings you here?" Uchiha En asked while inviting Minato Namikaze inside.
"En, you should know why I'm here, right?" Minato Namikaze countered.
Uchiha En smiled; he certainly did know.
Currently, the election for the Fourth Hokage had reached a critical juncture, with the votes for Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru being essentially tied.
Who would become the Hokage depended on which candidate the remaining major clans chose.
Last night, Minato Namikaze had already visited Uchiha Fugaku. Uchiha Fugaku and Minato Namikaze had a good relationship, and he hoped Minato Namikaze would become the Hokage.
However, the Uchiha Clan was not solely dictated by Uchiha Fugaku. Minato Namikaze learned some information about the Uchiha Clan from Uchiha Fugaku.
The internal division within the Uchiha Clan was very severe, and the opinions between the hawk faction and the dove faction were not unified.
According to Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha En should be a member of the dove faction.
Moreover, Uchiha En had now become a Squad Leader in the Police Force, counting as a high-ranking member of the Uchiha Clan, holding a certain status within the clan.
That was why Minato Namikaze came seeking him, hoping to use Uchiha En to communicate with the Uchiha Clan's dove faction and persuade them to support his bid for Hokage.
Uchiha En naturally understood Minato Namikaze's purpose. Since Minato Namikaze had been so straightforward, he didn't hide anything either: "Minato-senpai, honestly, I personally hope you become the new Hokage, but I alone cannot represent the Uchiha. I need a reason to persuade others."
"I understand. There's no free lunch in this world. En, since you became the Captain of the Third Squad of the Police Force, you have been dedicated to reforming the Police Force. I believe you genuinely want to change the Uchiha Clan.
After I become Hokage, I will do my best to help alleviate the concerns the Village elders have regarding the Uchiha Clan, putting the relationship between the Village and the Uchiha Clan back on track."
"That condition is not enough!" Uchiha En stated directly.
"Then, En, what do you want?"
"I want a promise."
"A promise? What kind of promise?" Minato Namikaze asked.
"When the time is right, I hope you, Minato-senpai, can support a member of our Uchiha Clan to become the next Hokage."
Minato Namikaze hesitated upon hearing this. He was someone who took promises very seriously, and the position of Hokage was of great importance. Minato Namikaze was momentarily unsure whether he should agree.
Seeing his reaction, Uchiha En added, "Minato-senpai, please rest assured. When I say the time is right, I mean when the majority of the Village can accept and approve of a member of the Uchiha Clan becoming Hokage. When that time comes, I ask that you lend me a hand."
After a long period of contemplation, Minato Namikaze nodded in agreement.
After securing Minato Namikaze's promise, Uchiha En went to find Uchiha Hane, who was undoubtedly the spokesperson for the dove faction now.
Uchiha En talked with Uchiha Hane for over an hour, finally persuading Uchiha Hane to support Minato Namikaze.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Fugaku was also working on the Uchiha Clan's hawk faction.
The hawk faction itself had no particular preference; as long as the Hokage wasn't a member of the Uchiha Clan, anyone else was fine.
But under Uchiha Fugaku's lobbying, the Uchiha Clan's hawk faction also felt that Minato Namikaze, a civilian with no strong backing, was a more suitable candidate for the Hokage position than Orochimaru.
With this, the Uchiha Clan reached a unified opinion.
On the other side, the Hyuga Clan was also debating who to support for Hokage.
Logically, since Asana was Orochimaru's disciple, the Hyuga Clan should fully support Orochimaru.
However, Asana was a member of the Branch Family, and the Hyuga Main Family did not want to see Asana become the Hokage's disciple.
Being the Hokage's student's student already granted Asana—a Branch Family member—rights almost equal to those of the Main Family. If she became the Hokage's direct disciple, wouldn't Asana's status within the clan surpass the Main Family?
Therefore, most members of the Hyuga Main Family opposed Orochimaru becoming Hokage.
Furthermore, the current Clan Head of the Hyuga Clan, Hiashi Hyuga, was roughly the same age as Minato Namikaze, and the two had fought side-by-side on the battlefield for many years.
Thus, Hiashi Hyuga also leaned towards choosing Minato Namikaze to become Hokage.
Aside from the Hyuga and Uchiha, the Sarutobi Clan, the largest clan in Konoha, was forbidden from supporting anyone under the strict orders of Hiruzen Sarutobi.
In any case, the Third Hokage publicly maintained an attitude of neutrality, refusing to help either side.
Soon, the final day of voting arrived, and the vote counts for Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru remained very close.
Right at that moment, Hyuga and Uchiha En simultaneously declared their stance, and the two major clans cast all their votes for Minato Namikaze.
Minato Namikaze immediately took a significant lead over Orochimaru and was successfully elected Fourth Hokage.
As soon as the election results came out, Danzo was stunned.
Danzo had expended massive amounts of manpower and resources to support Orochimaru in this election, only to fail in the end.
"Uchiha! Hyuga! I will definitely make you pay!" Danzo blamed the failure of Orochimaru's candidacy entirely on the Uchiha and Hyuga.
A few days later, the Third Hokage publicly announced that Minato Namikaze would succeed him as the Fourth Hokage, scheduling the inauguration ceremony for one month later.
Starting immediately, Minato Namikaze would begin learning how to handle state affairs under the Third Hokage.
One month later, Minato Namikaze officially held his inauguration ceremony, taking over the responsibilities of the Fourth Hokage from the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
With Minato Namikaze's ascension, the history of Konoha turned a new page.
However, the elders of Konoha Village were not very fond of Minato Namikaze, a young man barely in his twenties. In their eyes, being too young was not a good thing.
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