This year, beneath Konoha’s Memorial Monument, the dead were not the only ones being remembered.
A young member of the Uchiha Clan had come of age.
Shisui was cheerful and gentle by nature, and possessed one of the Uchiha Clan’s rather unusual features—a distinctive "dango nose."
To demonstrate how seriously he took the memorial ceremony, he had put on his most formal attire.
He wore a dark, high-collared short-sleeved shirt with triangular armor plates, matching pants, and leg wrappings. The Uchiha clan crest was emblazoned on the back of his shirt, and a short sword was strapped to his back.
He considered himself both a member of Konoha and a representative of the Uchiha Clan.
Although he had not had time to return home since the moment he entered Konoha, that was because his schedule had been packed from beginning to end. Not a single item on it was unimportant.
These matters were important to him.
They were equally important to the Uchiha.
Shisui understood what this entire series of events represented.
Orochimaru had gone through it.
Tsunade had gone through it.
Sakumo Hatake had gone through it.
Minato Namikaze had gone through it as well.
Going through this process meant earning the qualifications to compete for the position of Hokage.
In Shisui’s heart, becoming Hokage was the way to change the Uchiha’s awkward position within Konoha.
And now, everything was presenting him with the perfect opportunity.
As long as he became Hokage, the relationship between the Uchiha and Konoha would no longer be so tense.
Shisui believed he could do it.
Although he was young, he had returned to the village bearing the record of defeating the Mist shinobi Jōnin Ao and the achievement of rescuing Konoha’s frontline forces from disaster.
If Minato Namikaze could do it, why couldn’t he?
Shisui clenched his fist and glanced toward Minato, who had arrived with his wife and was currently looking him over from a distance.
Their eyes met in midair before quickly turning away.
Neither of them wanted to interact too much and risk creating any unnecessary misunderstandings.
"Shisui, we’re here!"
On an occasion as solemn as this, Obito Uchiha came running and jumping excitedly toward Shisui, waving his hand as he ran.
Obito’s appearance was completely at odds with the solemn atmosphere around him.
There was nothing he could do about it.
He had heard that the Uchiha were about to produce a Hokage, and he was so happy that he was practically beside himself.
He was even happier than if he himself had become Hokage.
Behind Obito were two or three descendants of Uchiha Kyō’s branch.
More numerous, however, were the orphans who had once followed Uchiha Kei.
Led by Uchiha Shōmei, they had also come to participate in today’s ceremony.
Behind them came Uchiha Hikan and Uchiha Setsuna, leading more than a hundred Uchiha.
Young and old alike were present, but every single one of them was a shinobi.
Without saying a word, they took their positions behind Shisui Uchiha.
Their presence created an imposing force that seemed to rival Minato’s side.
Seeing this, Shisui inexplicably became more confident.
He affectionately put an arm around Obito and looked toward Minato’s group.
Around Minato, the candidate, there were only a handful of Chūnin: Genma Shiranui, Raido Namiashi, Aoba Yamashiro, Hayate Gekkō, Iwashi Tatami, Kōsu Tetsu, and Izumo Kamizuki.
Compared with the more than a hundred Uchiha supporting Shisui, they amounted to little more than a handful.
Feeling Shisui’s gaze, Minato returned it.
This child, who is so much younger than me, is showing far too much edge.
In truth, Shisui’s nature remained gentle.
Even in battle, he usually stopped once he had gained the upper hand and rarely injured others.
But when facing an opponent of overwhelming strength, his blood could sometimes run hot enough that he gave everything he had.
Just as Shisui was preparing to step forward and greet Minato, making his intentions clear and establishing that their competition would not harm their friendship, Obito spoke first.
The moment Obito broke free of Shisui’s arm, he waved both hands and shouted toward Minato.
"Rin! Sensei Minato! I’m over here!"
In an atmosphere like this, with Obito acting like this, the words on Shisui’s lips died before he could say them.
The atmosphere between Shisui and Minato became even more awkward.
Just as the two were wondering how to break the tension—
Orochimaru arrived.
The legendary Orochimaru, whose battle achievements were numerous, was followed by more than a thousand people.
These were shinobi whom Orochimaru had taken onto the battlefield and then safely brought back to Konoha.
Now, quite naturally, they chose to walk alongside him.
Some came from civilian families.
Some came from minor shinobi clans.
Some even came from prominent clans.
But they shared one thing in common.
They had all benefited from Orochimaru’s favor.
Orochimaru himself walked at the front without calling anyone together.
These people had originally come to attend the memorial ceremony before the monument.
Yet, almost naturally, they had gathered behind Orochimaru.
Every member of this procession had fought alongside Lord Orochimaru on different battlefields, shedding blood together.
And now they shared a common goal:
To push Lord Orochimaru into an even higher position.
Whether Orochimaru himself wanted it or not was irrelevant.
The only person who seemed out of place in the entire group was Anko, who was walking beside Orochimaru.
The little girl was sulking.
After recently being put through Orochimaru’s training, Anko had gained at least some ability to protect herself, but she was still unhappy.
"I hate having a teacher!"
He had played with and tampered with her body without even asking her permission.
It was practically no different from—
Well, the little girl still had enough status to get away with being willful.
Aside from Orochimaru himself, nobody dared blame her for being childish.
Orochimaru’s arrival finally broke the awkward tension between Minato and Shisui.
Compared with Orochimaru’s accomplishments and following, their current achievements were insignificant.
Faced with Orochimaru, Shisui reined in his sharpness.
Minato, too, became more cautious.
At this point, nobody dared to regard what had originally been a simple memorial ceremony as something simple anymore.
The sequential arrival of these three factions had transformed what should have been an ordinary gathering into something with sharply defined sides.
As more shinobi arrived, everyone was terrified of taking the wrong position.
Although the three leaders had made no explicit moves, the atmosphere had become so tense that the clan heads began to suspect that one careless word could trigger an all-out clash.
And the clueless Obito was on the verge of becoming the spark that set everything off.
Everyone understood that when a long-simmering conflict suddenly exploded, it was usually because some idiot had been used as someone else’s weapon.
And there happened to be an idiot standing right there.
Everyone’s hearts tightened.
Everyone fell silent and stood at attention.
They sincerely prayed before the Memorial Monument, hoping that their fallen comrades would protect them.
Please, don’t let us end up with another group of casualties in front of the Memorial Monument today.
Competition between factions had never been something that could be altered by individual will.
The atmosphere was not relieved until Tsunade arrived.
Tsunade came staggering into the ceremony, thoroughly drunk, accompanied by Shizune and her little pig, Tonton.
Shizune was mortified.
On such an important day, she had literally dragged her own boss out of a bar.
She was terrified that a drunken Tsunade would embarrass herself in front of everyone.
And judging by her current condition, embarrassment was only a matter of time.
Yet Tsunade, arriving with one person and one pig, somehow possessed an aura powerful enough to suppress even Orochimaru.
In the hearts of the people of Konoha, there was no one present whose claim to the position was more legitimate than hers.
Tsunade looked at Orochimaru, Minato, and Shisui.
She froze for a second.
Then she burst out laughing.
"Ahahahaha! The old, middle-aged, and young generations of Konoha’s Hokage successors are all here! What a grand occasion! How about accompanying your big sister for a fun game of Pai Gow? I’ll be the dealer!"
With a single sentence, the tension in the air plummeted.
Nobody dared to dismiss the words of a drunken Tsunade as mere drunken nonsense.
Shisui and Minato looked around and then at each other.
Only then did they realize it.
Apparently, once there were too many candidates for something, none of them was particularly valuable.
An indescribable feeling arose in both their hearts.
Just as everyone was adjusting their state of mind, the Third Hokage arrived with Jiraiya.
Seeing everything before him, Hiruzen was very satisfied.
This was exactly the situation he wanted.
Konoha could not allow one faction to become overwhelmingly dominant.
A village where the various factions competed with one another was the kind of healthy village that everyone could accept.
Konoha was like a great ship.
Everyone aboard had their own place.
It didn’t matter how they got along with one another, as long as they understood one thing:
They could never allow Konoha’s ship to sink.
The Hokage was merely the helmsman of that ship.
His responsibility was simply to determine where the ship was headed.
Therefore, Uchiha Kei, who had already become overwhelmingly dominant, had to be eliminated.
Because Kei no longer wanted the ship.
He wanted to take the open road instead.
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