Only I can make Konoha Village great again.

In the end, Orochimaru never gave his teacher a promise.

He simply waved his hand, summoning two Uchiha ninjas who then took the dejected Hiruzen Sarutobi away.

Thus, the four great clans that had risen to prominence in Konoha Village over the past two decades all declined along with the defeat of the Konoha F4.

Orochimaru did not execute his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, but instead confined him to the old Sarutobi clan territory.

The Sarutobi clan was purged by Orochimaru.

Any Konoha ninja who changed their surname and joined Sarutobi had to either change back to their original surname and become a commoner ninja in Konoha, or they would be expelled from the village and become a homeless wandering ninja.

Yamanaka Hatsukyu coldly dispatched Root ninjas to lure these ninjas who had betrayed Konoha to the Land of Water, where they were then surrounded and killed by Kirigakure ninjas.

Leave no one alive!

Orochimaru was fully aware of this and did not think that Yamanaka Chukyu was cruel; he only felt that he was wasting resources.

"These are all top-quality offerings and experimental subjects, how could they be wasted?"

"Foolish Orochimaru-sensei, you are now the Fifth Hokage, not a Konoha Jonin under your teacher's protection. You have to take responsibility!"

"You have no right to act recklessly!"

"...Can I give up the title of Fifth Hokage?"

"Heh, if you give up, then who will take the stage?"

"Of course it's you, Shanzhong Chujiu!"

"Pah! There's no such thing as a 15-year-old in the world!"

"You foolish Orochimaru-sensei, just stay and be the Fifth Hokage for at least five years!"

"You bastard, you unfilial disciple!!"

Don't be fooled by Yamanaka Hatsukyu's ability to silence Orochimaru; in reality, Orochimaru is the more skilled one. He inadvertently abandoned his duties as Hokage and went off to conduct his own experiments.

In the vast village of Konoha, Orochimaru's secret laboratories are everywhere, and even when Yamanaka Hatsukyu opens the Heart-Severing Boundary, it's not so easy to find.

Because Orochimaru's flesh and blood clones are everywhere, and his sources of emotion are also numerous, just checking them once would exhaust Yamanaka Hatsukyu.

After much back and forth, Shan Zhongchujiu had no choice but to compromise.

Orochimaru still got the freedom he wanted, and could immerse himself in experiments at any time without having to worry about his work as Hokage.

Konoha Village has a complex administrative system: schools, science and technology, defense, economy, taxation, land reclamation, pensions, mission scheduling, and other tasks are all handled by Yamanaka Hatsukyu.

By the time Konoha reached year 50, all the Konoha ninjas knew that Yamanaka Hatsukyu was the true Hokage, and the Fifth Hokage Orochimaru was merely his research director.

The Konoha ninja all responded: It doesn't matter!

Lord Yamanaka Chujiu did a fantastic job! We all like it very much and admire him greatly!

In fact, at first no one believed that Shan Zhong Chu Jiu was 15 years old, which was too young.

After the Sarutobi, Utatane, Mitomon, and Shimura clans were purged, the clan leaders all believed that Orochimaru would continue to use his iron-fisted methods to reform the village affairs, thoroughly eliminate dissidents, and thus reconstruct the order of Konoha.

Unexpectedly, the newly appointed Fifth Hokage abandoned politics to pursue research, handing over the entire Konoha Village to his student, Yamanaka Hatsukyu.

After a sigh of relief, many veteran Konoha ninjas immediately began to underestimate him, believing that Yamanaka Hatsugu was young and inexperienced and would inevitably be unable to control the complex situation in Konoha.

Before long, he will be at a loss and will have no choice but to seek help from various ninja clans.

Then, everyone's good days will arrive.

So the various ninja clans secretly watched and passively cooperated, wanting to see this "acting Hokage" make a fool of himself.

However, Shan Zhongchujiu remained as steady as Mount Tai, calmly and methodically dealing with all troubles and governing with a prudent style.

Importantly, Shan Zhongchujiu was not fighting alone.

He is the younger brother of Yamanaka Inoichi, and the Ino-Shika-Cho clan is his natural supporter.

The head of the Aburame clan, Aburame Shiki, admired Yamanaka Hatsukyu so much that he devoted himself to becoming his disciple, without even needing Orochimaru as a stepping stone.

Yamanaka Hatsukyu was also the benefactor of the Hyuga branch family, the savior of Hyuga Hizashi, and the elder brother of Uchiha Itachi, the new head of the Uchiha clan.

The Hyuga and Uchiha clans alone have 55 Jonin.

With the addition of the Ino-Shika-Cho-Mushi clan, Yamanaka Hatsukyu directly commands the support of 80 Jonin, a considerable proportion among Konoha's 322 Jonin.

At the beginning of his reign, Shan Zhongchu Jiu did not rush to carry out sweeping reforms, but instead consolidated his power, stabilized public sentiment, and eliminated disorder.

First, we must thoroughly examine the financial revenue and expenditure of Konoha Village and investigate all the funds that have been seized by the four major clans and intercepted and deducted by the Daimyo Prefecture over the years.

He forcefully reclaimed all of Konoha Village's funds, including mission rewards, war subsidies, and supplies, nearly causing the village's coffers to explode.

After getting the money, Yamanaka Chukyu turned his back on everyone and thoroughly investigated Konoha Village, eliminating the ninjas who were affiliated with the daimyo and secretly colluded with external forces.

He then distributed the money to lower-ranking ninjas, civilian ninjas, and ninja families, winning the support of civilian ninjas.

After stabilizing public sentiment, Yamanaka Chukyu bypassed the original Hokage administration system and, based on the Uchiha clan's security department, continuously expanded the department's authority and improved security regulations.

In just a few months, he started from scratch and rebuilt a management system for Konoha Village.

The original functional units, such as the Mission Department, Intelligence Department, Torture Department, and Sealing Squad, were all taken over by the Security Department, turning the Hokage Building into an abandoned retirement home.

Once the regime was firmly in control, Shan Zhongchu initiated a reform to standardize the political system.

He established a daily work log, a weekly high-level meeting system, and a monthly village affairs disclosure system, making all of Konoha Village's financial revenue and expenditure, personnel transfers, and defense deployments public.

By leveraging the opinions of villagers and ninjas, they can prevent corruption such as backroom deals and the unauthorized transfer of power.

He never personally liaised with the various clans, ninja squads, or village departments, but insisted on using the security department's system to allocate manpower and mediate conflicts.

The cold, hard system completely changed the gentle demeanor of the Third Hokage's era, making the Konoha ninjas feel quite uncomfortable.

But they soon discovered that the cold, hard system also eliminated the ninja clan's advantage of personal connections and resolved the problem of unclear responsibilities.

Soon, the security system gained a reputation for its clear system of rewards and punishments and its fair handling of affairs.

Thus, in just three short months, Yamanaka Chukyu, without much direct involvement, streamlined the work in Konoha Village and stabilized the situation.

The ninja clans that had initially held a wait-and-see attitude and doubted Yamanaka Hatsukyu's abilities were now completely convinced and actively obeyed the "Acting Hokage's" orders.

Once the administrative work was on track, Shan Zhongchu Jiu finally had some spare time and quietly summoned the eight squad leaders of the "Rising Sun" organization.

Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, Haruhisa Kazamatsuri, Shoichi Yano, Mitsuki, Takayuki Aoki, Hidetoshi Kurama, Anko Mitarashi.

He smiled and said, "Gentlemen, the sun is about to rise."