Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

Although Tobirama Senju was reluctant to admit it, the fact that Madara Uchiha was one of Konoha's top combat forces was still right in front of him.

Especially for tasks like capturing tailed beasts, aside from Hashirama Senju who possessed Wood Release, only Madara Uchiha could accomplish it alone.

In this situation, the Hokage himself certainly cannot take action in person again. The assassination attempt on his elder brother when he returned from the Land of Wind is still fresh in his mind, and Tobirama Senju feels cold sweat every time he thinks about it.

Therefore, he now has to come up with a reason to trick Madara Uchiha into leaving the village to find Kurama and bring him back to guard the village.

Thinking of this, a red glint flashed in Tobirama Senju's eyes, and he spoke seemingly unintentionally but actually deliberately.

"I never imagined the Nine-Tails' power was so terrifying! Big brother, you must never do such dangerous things again!"

Hashirama Senju, who had just finished lying, was taken aback upon hearing this, wondering why his younger brother kept bringing it up. However, not wanting to undermine Madara Uchiha's confidence, he quickly nodded in agreement.

"Of course, the Nine-Tails is too dangerous!"

Madara Uchiha, who was standing to the side with his ears perked up, seemed to have found a breakthrough, his eyes filled with even more contemplation. Having been suppressed by Hashirama Senju his entire life, he appeared to have finally found a way out.

The thought of himself controlling the Nine-Tails to beat up the wooden doll that was Hari's hot mom made Madara Uchiha burst out laughing.

Hehe~

"Hey, what are you laughing at? What's the good news?"

"Forehead"

Upon being discovered, Madara Uchiha's expression tightened, fearing his secret intentions would be exposed. In that critical moment, he suddenly caught sight of Tobirama Senju, who was smiling mockingly to the side. His eyes lit up, and he immediately straightened his back, his face showing worry yet a smile playing on his lips, and said…

"Hey~ it's not exactly good news, it's just that Izuna kid."

"Hmph! Trouble again? I told you, that guy's never been a good kid."

Tobirama Senju listened to only half of what I was saying before he immediately started to mock me. He and Izuna Uchiha were natural enemies, and whenever they met, they were bound to have a war of words.

"Mada, don't be angry. If your brother goes astray, just correct him in time. There's no need to hit or scold him."

When the topic of younger brothers came up, Hashirama Senju perked up. Many years ago, he and Madara Uchiha had compared the lengths of their younger brothers by a stream.

The unit of measurement is neither root nor strip.

Tobirama Senju and Izuna Uchiha, who have been close rivals for many years, are equally matched in their battle records. Tobirama Senju is more sinister than still water, while Izuna Uchiha is invincible throughout.

However, after the founding of Konoha, Uchiha Izuna clearly focused on clan affairs, while Senju Tobirama took the opportunity to infiltrate Konoha's political circle, which can be considered a slight advantage.

Therefore, Hashirama Senju's expression carried a hint of smugness, after all, his younger brother was more outstanding.

"Sigh~ It's not a big deal, it's just that Izuna has started dating recently, so it won't be long before I'm an uncle~"

Madara Uchiha deliberately raised his voice, but his eyes were fixed on Tobirama Senju, who was secretly laughing to himself.

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, Tobirama Senju was shocked. They were about the same age, yet that spiky-haired guy had secretly gotten a girlfriend. Wouldn't that make things very awkward for him?

"Ah! This!"

Hashirama Senju, who had been smug, was immediately speechless, his triumphant expression freezing on his face. He had thought he could make fun of Mada and put his younger brother down, but he never expected to become the clown himself.

After a long pause, he finally managed to squeeze out a stiff sentence.

"That's wonderful, congratulations!"

"There's nothing I can do. My younger brother isn't very good at anything. His only advantage is that he's easy for me to take care of, unlike some people who are still single at an advanced age and don't care at all about the continuation of the family line."

Um... I feel like I've also inflicted AOE damage on myself, hurting the enemy a thousand while also losing eight thousand of my own.

Feeling uneasy, Tobirama Senju put on his usual stern expression and said in a cold voice,

"Don't talk about things unrelated to work during work hours."

Hashirama Senju quickly nodded in agreement, afraid that his younger brother would be so jealous that he would grind his teeth in anger.

Seeing Tobirama Senju's sour face, Madara Uchiha knew when to stop. After all, he was a straightforward and authoritative ninja, so he didn't continue with his sarcastic remarks and instead went back to dealing with the mountain of documents.

For a moment, the only sound in the quiet office was the rustling of pages turning.

After a long while, Madara Uchiha suddenly raised his head, looked at Hashirama Senju on the Hokage throne, frowned, and asked,

"Hassi hot mom, without our help, when would you ever finish your day's work?"

While processing the documents, Madara Uchiha found that the submitted government affairs were so miscellaneous and confusing that they were giving him a headache. One document was a report on the completion rate of a mission, and the next was an application requesting the village to distribute breeding pigs. The overly disjointed content almost made his brain go blank.

This situation is quite common, which is why Madara Uchiha asked this question.

The lack of clear categorization and prioritization of government affairs has significantly reduced the efficiency of the Hokage's work.

"Without your help, I probably would have only been able to complete less than a third of it."

When asked about the issue, Hashirama Senju scratched his head. He had actually noticed the problem, but there were just too many documents being submitted every day, and he simply didn't have time to categorize them. Moreover, as the Hokage, he had to be meticulous in every detail. Even something as simple as repairing a toilet at the edge of the village required him to think things through repeatedly before making a decision.

Instead of discussing this kind of issue, we should use our time to get to work.

Having long been accustomed to this pace, Tobirama Senju raised his head with a displeased expression. As the undisputed fastest man in Konoha, he handled political affairs faster than Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha combined.

Moreover, he has a solution to this problem, but it's not perfect yet.

"I don't think this can go on. For example, this plan on border defense deployment is definitely one of Konoha's most confidential intelligence. It's just being blatantly mixed with the genin's mission list. What if there's a mistake and it causes a disaster?"

Madara Uchiha always cared deeply for Konoha; he did not want this village, which he and Hashirama Senju had co-founded, to suffer any harm.

"There aren't that many oversights."

Even though Madara Uchiha's words made sense, Tobirama Senju still retorted with a cold face. Madara had previously mocked him for being single, and he would remember that grudge for the rest of his life.

"you!"

Unexpectedly, Tobirama Senju not only didn't appreciate his good intentions, but also gave him a look that said, "You're being nosy," which made Madara Uchiha's fists itch.

"Alright, Tobirama, Madara is right!"

As usual, it was time to mediate. Hashirama Senju reluctantly stood up to smooth things over, then looked at Madara Uchiha's angry face and said somewhat awkwardly,

"I understand what you mean, but now I have to oversee all kinds of matters, big and small, whether it's people's livelihood or military affairs. That's the duty of the Hokage~"

Hashirama Senju was deeply moved to know that Madara Uchiha was worried about him overtraining, but he couldn't think of a better solution for the time being.

"Sigh~ Hot mom Haxi, you're just too responsible. It'll be exhausting."

Madara Uchiha could only shake his head and sigh at Hashirama Senju's explanation.

"Brother, I've come up with a solution, but it's not detailed yet. I'll present it to you once it's perfected."

Seeing his elder brother exchanging glances with Madara Uchiha, Tobirama Senju was immediately enraged and stood up, saying...

"Bang Bang Bang~"

Just then, a familiar knocking sounded on the door. The three people present raised their eyebrows, sensing that the visitor was up to no good.

"Please come in~"

"Hashirama Senju said loudly."

"Crunch~"

A curly-haired Uchiha Gin, looking quite unhappy, peeked out from under the door.

"Isn't this Brother Yin? What brings you here?"

Upon seeing that the visitor was Uchiha Gin, Senju Hashirama quickly came down and greeted him warmly.

"Hmph~"

Uchiha Gin was furious. Konoha's development had clearly gotten on track, and he had heard the news of the completion of Konoha Prison a few days ago. The curly-haired man was overjoyed and waited at home for several days, but he didn't see the letter of appointment or even a job offer.

At first, he thought that Hashirama had forgotten because he was busy, but as many of his old colleagues returned to work one after another, his heart sank day by day. Finally, after hearing that the first batch of criminals had entered Konoha Prison, Uchiha Gin went completely mad.

Early this morning, Uchiha Gin stormed to the Hokage Building, determined to get an explanation for himself. He had done so much for Konoha, yet he couldn't even get a job as a jailer.

He's going to confront Hashirama Senju today and ask him directly whether it was intentional or accidental.

Along the way, the guards at the Hokage Building kept their distance from Uchiha Gin, whose face was extremely sour, and dared not approach him as usual, for fear of getting into trouble.

"Big cousin, I've rested enough and I'm ready to go to work!"

Thinking that the displeased-looking Uchiha Gin had come to take him home to rest, Uchiha Madara quickly got up to explain.

"It's none of your business. If you love working, you can work your whole life."

Uchiha Gin ignored his anxious older cousin and instead focused his gaze on the innocent-looking Senju brothers, gritting his teeth as he accused them.

"Konoha Prison is repaired!"

"Oh yeah, I even went to the ribbon-cutting ceremony a few days ago."

Not understanding what Uchiha Gin meant, Senju Hashirama subconsciously nodded in reply.

"Alright, alright, I thought you didn't know about this."

Uchiha Gin laughed in anger, his black, dead-fish eyes staring at Senju Hashirama, flames faintly emanating from them.

"ha?"

"What about your promise?"

"what!"

Reminded by Ginichi Uchiha, Hashirama Senju suddenly realized that he had indeed promised Ginichi that he would arrange for him to work at the prison.

However, because Uchiha Gin had made outstanding contributions to the issue of the tailed beasts, Senju Hashirama had not yet figured out how to reward this great contributor. If he rashly assigned him to prison as a jailer, wouldn't people who didn't know the truth think that he, as the Hokage, was taking credit for others' work and slandering loyal officials?

"Brother Yin, don't be in a hurry."

Thinking of this, Hashirama Senju repeatedly comforted him.

"Urgent! Urgent! How can I not be anxious!"

It's been too peaceful lately, and I can't find anyone to farm Heart Steel anymore. Those guys from the Ninja Alliance see me all acting all friendly and amicable, so they can't activate Heart Steel at all. Besides, Uchiha Ginka is carrying a Konoha headband in his pocket right now, so he can't exactly bully civilians, can he?

Missing a day of work means missing one more time to play the game, and Uchiha Gin felt like he was losing his shirt.

"You curly-haired guy, I've been too busy lately, I don't have time to deal with your trivial matters."

Seeing that Uchiha Gin was so disrespectful to his elder brother, Senju Tobirama immediately spoke up, giving him an explanation.

"Busy? With the way you guys work, how can you not be busy!"

Sure enough, these guys completely forgot what they promised. Uchiha Gin was so angry he almost opened his eyes. He unleashed a Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion to teach the white-haired guy a lesson. Looking at the mountain of documents piled on the three people's desks, he sneered disdainfully.

"Oh? You mean there's something wrong with how we're doing our work?"

Upon hearing Uchiha Gin's words, Tobirama Senju, unusually, did not retort. Instead, he asked with interest, "..."

"Isn't it obvious?"

Uchiha Gin didn't keep her in suspense. She stepped forward, picked up a document from the table, rolled her eyes after seeing the filename, and then waved the document around, saying in a strange tone,

"What business is it of yours, Hokage, to interfere in other people's affairs, like sows breeding?"

"Well, isn't this also a matter of people's livelihood?"

Hashirama Senju scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. He had already approved many documents like this, and given the importance of the matter, it was indeed unnecessary for him, the Hokage, to handle it.

"He's not very bright, why are you joining this madman in his clamor?"

Ignoring the embarrassed Hashirama Senju, Gin Uchiha turned his gaze to Tobirama Senju, who stood to the side with his arms crossed. This white-haired man was usually full of cunning, but why was he becoming increasingly dull-witted when it came to doing things?

"I already have a solution."

"After being directly confronted by Uchiha Gin's powerful attack, Tobirama Senju immediately retorted."

"Oh? Then tell me your solution."

Let's give this white-haired guy a chance and hear what he has to say.

"Phew~ I plan to establish an elders council under the Hokage, with detailed responsibilities and decentralized management of various matters."

Good heavens, so you were the one who set up the elders council, just to assign jobs to your wicked disciples, right?

Upon hearing the word "elder," Uchiha Gin's mind went blank; the reputation of the Konoha F4 was terrifying indeed.

"Hold on! I just want to ask, does your Senju clan have any elders?"

Uchiha Gin immediately launched his attack with zero frames, interrupting Senju Tobirama's words.

"Of course I do."

"Most large families have a few elders," Tobirama Senju replied, seemingly puzzled.

"So what kind of existence do you think elders are?"

This question left Tobirama Senju speechless. He subconsciously recalled his elders and realized that those guys would often pop up to seek attention, and usually, relying on their seniority and prestige, they would boss the clan leader around.

When Hashirama Senju first took over as clan leader, he suffered a lot of hardship from the elders. It was only because of the elders' advanced age that the two brothers held back. Now, thinking back on it, Tobirama Senju's knuckles itch.

"Hmph~ Isn't it annoying? Not only do you not help much, but you also cause trouble from time to time. When it's time to take action, you're accused of being too reckless; when it's time to back down, you're accused of being too cautious. Basically, you're always going against me, aren't you?"

Uchiha Gin's words struck a chord with Senju Tobirama. All the elders he encountered were like this, two-faced and hypocritical, making it impossible for them to achieve anything significant.

"That's an elder from a family with the same bloodline. If a complete stranger were to take on the role of elder, you wouldn't even know your Hokage position had been sold."

"Indeed, it was my oversight."

After Uchiha Gin's words, Tobirama Senju, unusually, did not argue, but instead lowered his head to ponder the possibility of the matter.

What this curly-haired guy said makes some sense. Although the elder system can share the Hokage's work, in the long run, it is inevitable that dissent will arise. Once it accumulates to a certain extent, the elders may break away from the Hokage's control and take over the Hokage's power.

"In that case, what good ideas do you have?"

Seeing that Uchiha Gin spoke eloquently, Senju Tobirama decided to humbly ask the curly-haired man for advice.

"ha?"

Uchiha Gin, who had only been joking around, couldn't help but scratch his curly hair as he looked at Senju Tobirama's slightly respectful expression. Gin was truly a master of empty talk!

"Big cousin, if you really have any good ideas, please share them!"

Seeing Gin's strange expression, Madara Uchiha assumed his older cousin was unwilling to answer because he disliked Tobirama Senju. Concerned for Konoha, he quickly spoke up to persuade him.

"Yes, Brother Yin, please help me out!"

Hashirama Senju also joined in, hoping that Gin Uchiha could help him solve his problem. After all, three heads are better than one, and maybe his method could help him solve the problem at hand.

"Forehead"

Stared at by three pairs of expectant eyes, Uchiha Gin found himself in a dilemma. Just as he hesitated, Senju Tobirama slowly spoke.

"If your method is helpful, the appointment letter for Konoha Prison can be issued today."

"Wrapped!"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Gin seemed to be injected with adrenaline, his brain racing. Even if it was just for the sake of the jailer's position, he had to come up with a solution for these guys.

"."

So, Uchiha Gin began pacing back and forth in the office, his gaze shifting between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he stopped in his tracks.

"I have a plan, but I don't know if I should tell you."

Having already prepared his speech, Uchiha Gin looked at the three people before him and slowly spoke.

"Brother Yin, don't feel guilty, just speak freely."

Hashirama Senju nodded, reassuring Gin Uchiha to speak freely.

"Then I'll tell you!"

"Stop dawdling! Are you even a man?"

Impatient with the wait, Tobirama Senju couldn't help but grumble.

"Hmph! Whether I'm a man or not, everyone knows."

"You!" the white-haired man shouted.

"Alright, cousin, stop keeping me in suspense."

"Ahem. Right now, is the only high-ranking official in Konoha the Hokage, and the rest are you two who are neither fully qualified nor legitimate Hokage candidates?"

"I'll set aside my grudge against the white-haired guy for now," Uchiha Gin said, looking at the three of them. He coughed twice and then asked...

"That's true." Hashirama Senju nodded.

Tobirama and Madara were only helping out voluntarily. The title of "Hokage candidate" was just something they used to refer to themselves; they had no real power in Konoha and were only there to make it easier for them to work for the Hokage.

"Actually, there's no rule that a village can only have one leader, right?"

"hehe."

Everyone expected Uchiha Gin to have some brilliant ideas, but instead he just uttered a huge, disappointing remark. Tobirama Senju looked utterly dejected.

"Tobirama, let Gin-nii finish speaking first. Gin-nii, you can continue."

"As the leader of Konoha, the Hokage should be considered the village chief, right?"

"That's right." The three nodded in unison.

"Although the affairs of the village are complicated, if we divide them into types, there are actually only two points."

Looking at the piles of documents in the office, Uchiha Gin held up two fingers.

"People's livelihood and military affairs."

Hashirama Senju and the other two exchanged glances, pondered for a moment, and then nodded.

"Among them, people's livelihood mainly involves issues related to the development of Konoha and the ideological education of ninjas, while military affairs are responsible for internal security and stability and external war and strategy."

"Even if the Hokage has a lot of energy, he can't take care of all the problems. So my idea is to just set up another position outside of the Hokage to oversee one of the two: civil affairs or military affairs."

"Such a division of power will lead to factional infighting, which will only make things more chaotic."

Tobirama Senju immediately saw the drawback and shook his head in denial.

"If what you say is true, with one side in charge of people's livelihood and development and the other side in charge of military and security, then the side in charge of military affairs will definitely be more powerful. At that time, as long as he gives an order, Konoha will be his for the taking."

"Don't be so pessimistic. Minsheng controls the finances and the material foundation of the ninjas' lives. As long as the mission commissioning business is still handled by Minsheng, the military side will never be able to cause any trouble, unless everyone defectes to the ninjas."

Indeed, receiving payment through mission assignments has been the primary means of survival for ninjas since ancient times. As long as the military controls the channels and authority for issuing missions, the ninjas on the military side will not have any disloyalty.

Unless you possess inexhaustible wealth and unparalleled strength, being a rogue ninja isn't an easy job.

"Moreover, as the party in charge of people's livelihood, we can establish our own army by implementing an elite selection system. Let's call it the Dark Army, to deal with certain emergencies."

With the Imperial Guards here, who dares to act recklessly?

"While this provides some security, if the two sides remain at odds, it won't be conducive to the village's development!"

Tobirama Senju, who was vaguely tempted, still felt a slight unease.

"As long as we optimize resource allocation and allocate resources rationally to people's livelihood and military affairs to achieve the best effect for both, we can promote the relationship between military and people's livelihood from a zero-sum game to harmonious coexistence."

Uchiha Gin nodded upon hearing this, then put two fingers together, the meaning of which was obvious.

"Hmm, that makes some sense. So, do you think the Hokage should be in charge of military affairs or civilian life?"

After listening to Uchiha Gin's explanation, Tobirama Senju pondered for a moment and then raised his own question.

"It depends on the Hokage's personality and skills. If the Hokage is kind and benevolent, then he will definitely be better at managing people's livelihood. But if the Hokage is a decisive and ruthless person, then military affairs will be his happy home."

"I think I can manage people's livelihoods~"

Hashirama Senju, who had been listening for a while, quickly stood up with a smile and volunteered, since he didn't like war.

"Shut up! Sit down first, and wait until I've finished asking your questions!"

Tobirama Senju smacked his older brother on the head in exasperation, scolding him with a look of disappointment, then turned to Gin Uchiha and asked,

"So, besides the Hokage, what should the other position be called?"

"How's the village party secretary?" (End of Chapter)