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

"Vote counting complete!"

After an unknown amount of time, the notary's voice pulled Senju Hisa from her reverie back to reality. Looking at Sarutobi Sasuke, who stood in the distance as if mourning his parents, she knew she had lost this time, and lost utterly.

"As expected of the born evil Uchiha, resorting to such underhanded tactics."

No, weren't you the one who started all the dirty tricks?

"Miss Hisana, what should we do now?"

Sarutobi Sasuke was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. Their ninja alliance had poured everything into this election, using all their connections and resources. If they failed, their seemingly unbreakable alliance might crumble.

"It's all the Uchiha people's doing. They garnered votes we hadn't counted."

"Impossible! I've bribed most of the civilian Jonin. Could it be the Hyuga? No way, haven't they always had a bad relationship?"

Sarutobi Sasuke, beginning his debriefing, frowned deeply. For his son's election, he had specifically courted a group of commoner Jonin, promising them abundant resources upon success. Logically, these people shouldn't have defected at the last minute.

"Not Hinata."

Hinata Tenyou, who quietly participated as a runner-up, received the correct number of votes; Senju Hisajin had ruled him out from the start.

"So where did those tickets come from?"

It couldn't possibly be someone resurrecting a Jonin who sacrificed himself before, could it?

"There's a traitor within your ranks, Clan Chief Sarutobi. Someone from within your Ninja Alliance has defected to the enemy."

After eliminating all suspects using the process of elimination, Senju Hisami said to Sarutobi Sasuke with a grave expression,

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Sarutobi Sasuke immediately shook his head upon hearing this. Their ninja alliance had always been an ironclad alliance, having sworn a blood oath a hundred years ago at the beginning of their alliance, vowing never to betray each other.

"It's easy to draw a person or a tiger, but difficult to draw their bones; it's easy to know a person's face, but difficult to know their heart."

Senju Hisana shook her head; she was now certain that there was a traitor within the Ninja Alliance.

It's impossible that someone from the Senju clan has sided with the Uchiha, right?

"Now that things have come to this, what about the previous campaign funds?"

Knowing his son had failed to qualify, Sarutobi Sasuke, recalling the large sum of money he had previously spent, cautiously reminded Senju Hisama...

"The problem lies within your organization."

There's no reason to spit out money that's already been swallowed. Our Senju clan has done our best; our failure to be selected is because your ninja alliance wasn't up to par.

Besides, that money is no longer in her possession.

"That damn curly-haired guy! He must know something!"

The thought of her hard-earned money falling so easily into Uchiha Gin's pocket was enough to make Senju Hisama furious.

"The election results are now announced."

The notary stepped forward, holding the compiled rankings in his hand.

"Lord Izuna! We've got it! We've got it!"

In the area where the Uchiha clan was concentrated, a meticulous Uchiha Jonin, carefully counting the probabilities of the votes, clenched his fists with excitement.

"I told you long ago, this election is just a formality. In the entire Hidden Leaf Village, besides Lord Izuna, who else is qualified to succeed as Hokage?"

"That's right, that's right~"

Hearing the flattery from his clansmen, Uchiha Izuna remained calm and unaffected by the outside information, his somewhat unfocused gaze carrying a faint, inexplicable glint.

"Naruto, huh?"

"Monkey! Didn't you say your dad pulled some strings for you? How could this happen?"

The F6, belonging to the Ninja Clan Alliance, gathered together. Among them, Hiruzen Sarutobi had the worst expression. Danzo, who had only received a few friendship votes, was nagging him incessantly, making him increasingly annoyed.

"I don't know either."

Hiruzen Sarutobi, his face ashen, coldly shook his head. He had been silently counting the votes in his mind. In the first half, his votes were far ahead, but for some reason, Izuna Uchiha suddenly surged in the second half, and his votes began to soar, quickly catching up with him.

The Sarutobi clan has already ordered his Hokage robe. Are they going to give it to Uchiha Izuna as a gift?

"Clan leader, why don't we help the Ninja Alliance? This is a great opportunity to bring down the Uchiha clan."

Among the Jonin of the Hyuga clan, there were also many strange voices. Some Hyuga clan members who were not aware of the situation mustered up their courage and asked Hyuga Tenyo, who was resting with his eyes closed.

It's perfectly normal for him to have doubts. The Hyuga clan's current position is awkward; they're neither high nor low within the village. Because of the Hyuga clan's unique system, it's difficult for them to break free of this predicament on their own, so they urgently need strong allies to help them.

The increasingly powerful ninja alliance was precisely the perfect ally.

"After returning home, he should go to the meditation room to reflect on his mistakes for three months."

Hyuga Tenyo didn't even bother to open his eyes; with a single, casual remark, he sealed the fate of this talkative clansman.

".yes."

The Hyuga clansman who had just spoken out turned pale, but as a member of the branch family, he had no way to disobey the main family's orders.

What a bunch of brainless idiots!

To defeat the Uchiha?

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; although Uchiha Izuna wasn't as powerful as Uchiha Madara, his strength was still unfathomable.

Hyuga Tenyo slowly opened his pure white eyes, his gaze subtly falling on the absent-minded Uchiha Izuna in the distance.

From his Byakugan's perspective, Uchiha Izuna exuded a dense, almost tangible chakra, seemingly inexhaustible, and the chilling power emanating from his eyes terrified Hyuga Tenyo.

Monsters, the Uchiha clan are all monsters.

"The one with the most votes is Uchiha Izuna."

"Yay!"

"A meeting! A meeting is necessary!"

"Lord Izuna, why aren't you smiling? Are you too excited?"

As the results were announced, a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupted among the Jonin of the Uchiha clan, a stark contrast to the grim-faced members of the Shinobi Alliance.

"hateful!"

Seeing the Uchiha clan members beaming with pride, Senju Hisa's teeth clenched in fury. She had gone to great lengths for this election.

In order to ensure Hiruzen Sarutobi's succession, they went so far as to change the election method to a ballot system. Unfortunately, this was a miscalculation. The ninja alliance, which they thought wouldn't be a hindrance, ran into problems, causing the plan to fail at the last minute.

"Second place, Hiruzen Sarutobi. It's a pity that the young clan leader Sarutobi was only a few votes behind."

The notary shook his head regretfully. The two votes were actually very close, and the throne of Konoha was almost lost.

Third place

The rest were all runners-up with little influence and pitifully few votes.

Soon, news of Uchiha Izuna receiving the most votes spread. The anxious crowd waiting outside reacted with a variety of expressions upon learning the final result.

"Lord Danzo ultimately succumbed to capital."

The young man named Shimura, who placed the first bet, had a livid face. Although he had been mentally prepared, he still couldn't shake off the shock of hearing that Uchiha Izuna had won.

"Sigh~ My allowance for this month has gone down the drain again."

In the crowd, a few teenagers huddled together. One of them, a white-haired brat with spiky hair, touched his empty pocket, his face full of frustration.

"Jiraiya, I told you from the beginning to be on top of Uchiha Izuna, but you just wouldn't believe me."

Sakumo Hatake, calculating how much he had earned from this round, wore an expression of exasperation at his son's lack of ambition.

This betting odds are clearly a money-giving scheme; anyone with a modicum of rationality would bet on the overwhelmingly popular Uchiha Izuna.

"Hmph! I call this 'All-in,' do you even know what 'All-in' means? It's an art!"

Jiraiya, who had lost everything, retorted indignantly, "What's the point of betting on 1 to 0.8? I just love the thrill!"

Hatake Sakumo rolled his eyes and pointed to a photo of a blond young man at the very end of the Uchiha Gin display board.

"Then at least go all in on something normal. Who would go all in on a newly promoted Jonin whose name they've never even heard of?"

"He has the highest odds, okay? Nobody says a commoner can't become Hokage."

Jiraiya stubbornly continued to refute, his gaze following Sakumo Hatake's pointing finger to the information of the blond Jonin he had randomly assigned.

It's the wind.

He stared at it intently for a long time, as if trying to imprint it in his mind.

"Tsunade, who did you pin?"

Sakumo Hatake, pleased with himself after calculating how much money he had earned, turned to Tsunade, who had remained silent, and asked how they had secretly placed their bets in small groups amidst the chaos, so as not to attract Gin Uchiha's attention.

He was in a group with Jiraiya, so he didn't know which person Tsunade had bet on.

"Waaaaah, my grandma told me to go all in on Uchiha Izuna and never bet on Sarutobi Hiruzen. I thought she was being sarcastic."

Tsunade, who had spent all her New Year's money, was now heartbroken.

She had almost followed Senju Momoka to the Hokage Building to observe the voting, but just before entering, she saw Uchiha Gin setting up betting odds, and her itching desire made her unable to move.

After much pleading and cajoling, she successfully broke free from her grandmother's control, reunited with her friends outside, and then participated in the election betting.

Just as she was saying goodbye to Senju Momoka, the other party learned of her departure and gave her a special piece of advice.

However, Tsunade was at an age where she overthought things. Recalling the brainwashing-like remarks of her late master, after some internal speculation, she went all in against the grain, successfully losing her New Year's money.

"Waaaaah, just as my second grandfather said, the Uchiha are inherently evil! Give me back my New Year's money!"

"Tsunade, your grandma already gave you the answers, how could you still choose the wrong one? You really can't blame the Uchiha clan for this."

Hearing Tsunade's words, Hatake Sakumo scratched his head helplessly. As the only beneficiary among them, he felt obligated to speak up for the Uchiha clan.

"Waaaaah, Uchiha, give me back my hard-earned money!"

"Orochimaru, why are you so quiet? Have you become a Muggle too?"

Jiraiya was trying to figure out how to comfort Tsunade, who was in a much worse situation than him, when he noticed that Orochimaru, who was usually quite talkative, was unusually quiet, like a girl. Curious, he asked him...

"A small profit, a small profit."

Orochimaru, holding a betting slip in his hand, squinted, but the barely suppressed upturn of his lips revealed that this kid had made a fortune this time.

"Luckily, I used my allowance to buy Honey Ice Cream."

Of course, not everyone placed a bet. Kato Dan, still feeling a bit shaken, took a sip of the small bottle of sweet drink in his hand. As the oldest among them, his thinking was relatively more mature.

Although he has not officially become a ninja yet, he has always held himself to the standards of a ninja and will never touch anything related to gambling.

"Luckily, I don't have any pocket money."

Matt Day also didn't place a bet, but simply because of limited family resources.

"Jiraiya, Jiraiya."

Suddenly, a soft voice rang in Jiraiya's ears. He immediately turned his head in confusion, looking at his short and thin childhood friend who was following closely behind him.

"Hiruko, what's wrong?"

"If you don't have any pocket money, then use mine."

Looking at the tall children around him, the timid Hiruko mustered his courage and handed over his slightly worn wallet.

"Hey! How could I possibly spend your money!"

Jiraiya immediately shook his head vigorously. He knew Hiruko's situation all too well; if he took her money, he would be worse than an animal.

"Huh? So you really are looking down on me, aren't you?"

Seeing that her good intentions had been rejected, the somewhat stubborn Hiruko's face turned deathly pale, and her watery eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Seeing his tearful childhood friend, Jiraiya instantly felt a headache coming on. This Hiruko was good in every way—sweet and soft, a hundred times gentler than Tsunade, that female tyrant—except for her overly fragile personality.

"No, no, don't overthink it. How about this, consider it a loan from me, and I'll pay you back when I get my allowance next month."

He had no choice but to comply, taking the wallet from the other person and pulling out a few small-denomination bills, stuffing them into his pocket. Only then did Beiruk stop crying and smile, his pale face regaining some color.

Wow! Such generous friendship between men, this is youth!

Might Guy witnessed the exchange between the two, and a flame of youth immediately ignited in his large eyes beneath his thick eyebrows. He then turned his burning gaze to Sakumo Hatake beside him.

"Sakumo-kun, could you lend me some pocket money too?"

"don't want."

With the election news already released, Gin Uchiha's betting odds have entered settlement mode. While a fair number of people bet on his younger cousin, the amounts were mostly small.

Those who thought they had inside information chose to place large bets, only to lose everything in one fell swoop.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!"

After redeeming the prize money, Gin Uchiha counted the hundreds of billions that had appeared out of nowhere, his smile only growing wider.

"Heh, you little white-haired bastard, you think you're in control, but little do you know you're the one being manipulated."

After silently tossing the money he'd swindled back into his storage backpack, Uchiha Gin tucked away the sign behind him and dashed back to his secret base next to the Hokage Building.

"Ah Yin, you've tricked people again."

Having witnessed Uchiha Gin's entire operation from upstairs, Uchiha Hikaru couldn't help but roll her eyes at the slyly grinning curly-haired man.

"Xiao Guang, remember this: if you're not greedy, you won't get scammed."

Greed is the original sin.

If that white-haired guy hadn't been greedy, how could he have lost everything in one go and become a complete idiot?

This guy really can only work with young models!

"No, that's not scientifically sound."

Meanwhile, on the other side, the usually lively Senju Itama was eerily quiet, her beautiful eyes tightly furrowed, as if she had an unresolved knot in her heart.

She had secretly gone home to find out that her family had reached a secret agreement with the Ninja Clan Alliance. There was no reason for them to lose this election.

"Curly-haired baboon, you must know something, right?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, all I can say is that there's a traitor among you." (End of Chapter)