The selection of the Third Hokage had finally come to an end, and the news of Haru's overwhelming victory instantly swept across all of Konoha.
According to the gossip passed around by the people who had been there to watch, Mito-sama had been beaten into a swollen pig's head by Haru, and in the end she had to cover her face with a cloth before returning to the Senju district.
Naturally, the Senju Clan immediately issued a statement about that rumor.
Slander. Pure slander.
Anyone caught spreading it would be invited to sit down with the Anbu for a little while.
Mito-sama had only stepped aside voluntarily so as not to block the younger generation.
In the end, she had merely suffered a narrow defeat to Haru.
The Senju Clan directly mobilized its clan members and spread that version of events throughout Konoha's streets and alleys. They still wanted to cover up something so humiliating.
But that story was quickly drowned out by the much bigger news that Haru was about to become the Third Hokage.
The Hokage line had always been monopolized by the Senju in the past.
Now things were different.
The momentum had shifted.
The Uchiha Clan was about to take the initiative in Konoha.
The large and small ninja clans of Konoha had always been experts at reading the wind. Whoever won between the Uchiha and the Senju was the one they would support.
For a time, the entrance to the Uchiha compound was nearly trampled flat. One clan after another came seeking to attach themselves to the rising tide.
Haru naturally welcomed it.
If those ninja clans wanted to be protected by the Uchiha in the future, then surely they were not going to come empty-handed.
Every envelope they brought was thick.
If the gift was too small, Haru would not even meet them.
This was how social dealings worked.
The clans were thoroughly familiar with that game.
Of course, Haru only met most of the smaller clan heads so they could become vaguely familiar with each other. Whether he would actually make use of them later was another matter entirely.
He might not remember everyone who came.
But he would definitely remember the ones who did not.
The ones Haru paid real attention to were the bloodline clans and the secret technique clans.
Takuya arrived in especially high spirits, bringing gifts to pay a formal visit to Haru. The Uchiha and Hyuga were still in their honeymoon period. Now that Haru had defeated Mito and claimed the Hokage seat, the Hyuga, as his allies, were naturally looking at a very rewarding future.
What caught Haru's attention, however, was that Takuya had also brought along a young girl from the main family named Asuka, only twelve years old.
After exchanging pleasantries with Takuya, Haru listened as Takuya enthusiastically introduced her.
She wore a yellow kimono and carried herself with excellent manners. Though she still had the traces of childhood about her, she already showed a maturity beyond her age. Her appearance was naturally first-rate, and she resembled Hanabi a little, though she looked more steady and composed.
Takuya praised her to the skies, calling her the finest young girl of the Hyuga main family.
His thinking was simple.
Haru had already stepped into the top tier of the shinobi world. Once he took control of Konoha, he would likely remain in power for decades. For the sake of the clan's future, what was one girl?
Yes, it might cause their bloodline to flow outward, but that was not the real issue.
Takuya's gaze was set far into the future.
If things went smoothly and Haru and Asuka truly got together and had a son or daughter, then the result of Uchiha blood mixed with Hyuga blood would be obvious. The child would definitely be a genius among geniuses.
As Haru's child, that offspring might even become the future Fourth Hokage.
And if that child carried both Uchiha and Hyuga blood, then rounding things up a bit, wouldn't that practically mean the Hyuga had produced a Hokage too?
Compared to the possible gains from such an investment, the supposed danger of letting the bloodline flow outward seemed minor.
So why not do it?
What the Hyuga pursued was clan prosperity and continuation. Later on, they would even push the clan head's own younger brother out to die. They liked to act lofty, but in truth, their backbone had never been all that firm.
If something like that had happened to the Uchiha, they would probably have fought Kumogakure to the bitter end.
So this is matchmaking?
Haru looked at Takuya's enthusiastic sales-pitch expression and had to admit that even he, for all his lack of moral restraint, had not expected Takuya to be this bold.
To actually bring out a twelve-year-old girl like this...
Still, Asuka herself did not seem unhappy.
Konoha had only existed for twenty years, and the customs of the Warring States Era still lingered. Once a girl had come of age, she was already seen as someone who could bear children.
The high death rate of ninja was common knowledge, after all.
But Haru had not sunk so low that he would make a move on a twelve-year-old girl. He had no intention of stepping into that kind of trouble, so he only gave a vague answer and brushed the matter aside.
When Takuya saw Haru was not interested, he let the subject drop.
Today was only the first meeting, after all.
There would be plenty of chances later.
...
After spending the whole day meeting one person after another, the Uchiha celebration finally began.
That night, at Naka Shrine, every single Uchiha clansman was present. Even the ordinary clansmen who had never awakened the Sharingan had come.
Fireworks exploded wildly above the stage, lighting the night sky until it looked like broad daylight.
Once the fireworks were over, Haru was dragged off by the clan elders to pay respects to the ancestors.
The elders stood before the ancestral tablets with tears in their eyes, crying openly while praising Haru without stopping.
The hope of the Uchiha Clan.
The strongest Hokage in Konoha's history.
And so on.
Basically, anything that sounded good was thrown at him.
Ever since Konoha was founded, the Uchiha had been suppressed by the Senju for twenty years. At last, the day had come for them to hold their heads high.
The stream of praise made even Haru feel a little embarrassed.
They were practically trying to stick Hiruzen's title on him already.
He was not that narcissistic yet.
If he fought Hashirama right now, there was still a good chance he would end up like the Nine-Tails, grabbed in one giant hand and crushed flat.
After paying respects to the ancestors, it was naturally time for a grand banquet.
Haru was dragged off to drink with everyone.
On a day this joyful, he naturally was not about to spoil the mood.
But no matter how strong one man was, two fists could not beat four hands. However much Haru could drink, he still could not withstand every clan member coming around in turn to toast him.
In the end, Manji was the one who dragged him back home.
While the Uchiha celebrated under blazing lights, the Senju were sunk in gloom and put their lights out early.
The Hokage seat, which had already passed through two generations, had been snatched away by the Uchiha.
That was a humiliation beyond words.
In the Senju district, inside an underground chamber, all kinds of experimental equipment and stacks of research materials had been left in place.
This had once been Tobirama's laboratory.
Toma dug out a sealed set of experiment records from the very bottom.
"Clan Head, are we really going to restart the cell experiment?"
Tobirama-sama had personally ordered that experiment stopped back then.
Every volunteer from the clan who had participated in it had died without exception.
Toli's face was full of fear.
He was one of Toma's trusted followers and had gone to war alongside him the whole time.
Toli was a few years older than Toma, and he had seen the condition of the test subjects with his own eyes. It had been horrific, beyond description. Each of them had suffered until they no longer looked human. At the time, the younger Toli had been so frightened that he had nightmares for days afterward.
"The Uchiha have already climbed over the Senju's heads."
"I need greater power if I am going to reclaim the Hokage seat in the future."
Hatred burned on Toma's face.
The mocking look Haru had given him earlier had shattered his composure completely.
"What about Mito-sama..."
"Keep your mouth shut around Mother. I'll handle that when the time comes."
Toma waved a hand, clearly unwilling to discuss the matter any further.
(End of Chapter)
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