Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 140 Naruto Tsunade

Time passed day by day, and more than three months went by in the blink of an eye.

The Third Hokage, who had been waiting for Minato Namikaze's return, and many Konoha ninjas gradually went from anticipation to disappointment, and then from disappointment to despair.

Being a ninja is an extremely dangerous profession. Therefore, if someone is out of contact for more than ten days, they can be considered missing. If it is more than a month, they are basically either a defector or dead.

As the Hokage of Konoha, Minato Namikaze could not possibly defect, and since he did not return for three consecutive months, the final outcome was predictable.

Inside the Hokage's office in Konoha, smoke filled the air. The Third Hokage, who was temporarily stabilizing the village and handling affairs, was puffing on his pipe, a look of exhaustion on his face.

The door opened, and Tsunade strode in, fanning herself a couple of times to dissipate some of the smoke, before speaking:

"Old man, what do you want from me? Smoke less. How old are you? I don't want to have to do first aid for you later."

The Third Hokage remained silent for a moment, ignoring Tsunade's complaints, and sighed, saying:

"Shuimen has been missing for over three months..."

Upon hearing this, Tsunade's expression finally turned serious, and her voice became grave:

"More than three months... The Fourth Hokage is a ninja who has mastered space-time ninjutsu, so it's practically impossible for him to be trapped in a desperate situation. Even if he's in a very far place, he can return to Konoha within a day..."

"He hasn't returned for so long... I'm afraid he's probably in grave danger!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes, a look of weariness and pain appearing on his old face. He opened them a moment later:

"During this period, the three ninja villages of Kumogakure, Kirigakure, and Iwagakure have all been very active, seemingly harboring some new ideas about Konoha..."

Tsunade frowned slightly:

"Although the Nine-Tails' rampage did not cause any casualties in Konoha, the commotion was too great to be concealed. It is not surprising that the other ninja villages had designs on it."

"But they probably already know about my Wood Release, right? The power of Wood Release should be enough to suppress their ambitions."

The Third Hokage nodded slightly, but still couldn't help but speak:

"Even with the existence of Wood Release, there will definitely be probing from other ninja villages... especially Kirigakure and Iwagakure."

The two ninja villages suffered relatively few losses in the last Shinobi World War, entirely due to the deterrent power of the Yellow Flash and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki combination, which ultimately brought the war to a halt. Now that the Nine-Tails has gone berserk and the Yellow Flash has disappeared, they naturally have the intention to test the waters.

They might not dare to start another ninja world war; they might just be testing the waters, or perhaps they want to take the opportunity to pressure Konoha and gain some benefits. If Minato Namikaze were still alive, he could easily have dealt with this problem.

Most importantly, Minato Namikaze has long since disappeared and may even have met with some misfortune. Even with the Third Hokage emerging to take charge, the people of Konoha are still filled with unease and leaderlessness.

"Tsk...troublesome. It seems they've confirmed Minato's disappearance."

"Old man, what do you want from me today?"

The Fourth Hokage is already a figure of great interest, especially after the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha. Logically, the Fourth Hokage should have appeared immediately to reassure the people and maintain vigilance.

They haven't appeared for three months, especially Minato Namikaze, who possesses space-time ninjutsu and is the fastest ninja in the ninja world. It's impossible that he's unable to be in two places at once.

Therefore, not only Konoha Village, but other ninja villages have also basically confirmed the news of Minato Namikaze's death.

"Now that Minato's affair can no longer be kept secret, the most important thing is to elect another Hokage for Konoha. Only then can we have the confidence to handle relations with other major ninja villages."

The Third Hokage tapped his pipe, looked up at Tsunade standing there, and said in a low voice:

"And right now in Konoha, the most suitable person for the Hokage position is none other than Tsunade!"

Tsunade's expression remained calm, showing no sign of annoyance. Instead, she pondered for a moment:

"It's not a good idea to choose the Hokage so directly! After all, Minato's fate isn't entirely certain yet. What if he comes back?"

The Third Hokage seemed to have considered this issue long ago. Seeing that Tsunade did not object to him succeeding as Hokage, he breathed a sigh of relief and then spoke:

"I'll let you serve as acting Hokage for three months... If Minato hasn't returned after another three months, you'll directly inherit the position of Fifth Hokage!"

"If he doesn't return in another three months, then Minato will have been missing for half a year. By then, everyone should probably give up hope."

Hearing that the Third Hokage's arrangements were quite detailed and perfect, Tsunade nodded. Of course, she knew that the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had long been reduced to ashes and could never return, so she was truly secure in her position as the Fifth Hokage.

Although Tsunade herself didn't have much of an obsession with becoming Hokage, it was a task directly assigned to her by Uchiha Touya, so Tsunade naturally wanted to become Hokage.

"In that case, let's do it your way, old man!"

"Alright, I'll give the orders in a couple of days. First, we'll prepare for the nomination and the Jonin vote. There aren't many ninjas in Konoha who can compete with you these days, so this is probably just a formality."

"Once all of this is done, you can go to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire to get your appointment letter. The whole process will take about a week."

"Is there anything I need to prepare?"

"It's nothing serious. Konoha is relatively peaceful right now. The main problem is the Uchiha clan."

"When Minato took Obito Uchiha as his student, it brought a lot of stability to the Uchiha clan... It's a pity, actually Obito was a good kid, he really had the potential to become Hokage."

Almost all the Hokage throughout history have come from the same lineage, and many people even refer to the Hokage as the master-disciple lineage. Being able to become a Hokage's apprentice is one of the important conditions for becoming Hokage.

Of course, this should actually be said the other way around. After a ninja demonstrates the potential to become a Kage-level ninja, the ninjas in the Hokage lineage often take him on as a disciple out of a desire to win him over. This is why there are so many geniuses in the Hokage lineage.

Just as it's not Tsinghua and Peking University that cultivate geniuses and top students, but rather that all the geniuses and top students get into Tsinghua and Peking University, the Hokage's lineage, which gathers the essence of the entire ninja village, naturally produces many geniuses.

Obito Uchiha's talent was fully unleashed after he awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, allowing him to progress rapidly in a short period of time. Even without the Kamui Mangekyou Sharingan, he was already approaching the threshold of Kage level.

Most importantly, Obito Uchiha was completely different from ordinary Uchiha; he was a boy who was completely nurtured by the Will of Fire!

In this situation, Obito Uchiha might actually have a slight chance of becoming Hokage—of course, firstly, Kakashi would not want to become Hokage, and secondly, there couldn't be any ninja from the Hokage lineage whose strength was not much different from Obito's.

The possibility is very small, but for the Uchiha clan, this is already a huge step forward. And even if Obito Uchiha can't become Hokage, he can theoretically become a high-ranking member of Konoha.

Even if Obito Uchiha were to align himself more closely with the Hokage lineage, he was still a member of the Uchiha clan, which was a huge step forward for the Uchiha clan.

However, with Minato Namikaze's silent disappearance, the Uchiha clan's hopes naturally vanished. Minato Namikaze's time as Hokage was too short; he didn't cultivate enough trusted confidants, nor did he leave a significant impact.

As a result, the label of Hokage lineage on Obito Uchiha was naturally weakened, and it could even be said to have had a negative effect.

If Minato Namikaze had died ten years later, Kakashi and Obito would definitely have been qualified to be on the list of Hokage successors. Even if they didn't become Hokage, they would have become the backbone of the Hokage lineage and high-ranking members of Konoha.

As for now... it will be at least another ten years before Tsunade retires, and after that, Obito Uchiha will probably have already been excluded from the core of Konoha.

After listening to the Third Hokage's words, Tsunade stroked her chin and sighed:

"There's nothing we can do about that... Speaking of which, isn't the real core factor behind the instability of the Uchiha clan the mess you and that guy Danzo Shimura made?"

Upon hearing this, the Third Hokage's face darkened, and he took a drag of his cigarette.

"Speaking of which, the policy of guarding against the Uchiha was left behind by the Second Hokage, Tsunade, your great-great-grandfather!"

"It was through Tobirama-sensei's extensive research on the Sharingan that he concluded the Uchiha clan's mental state was extremely unstable and required vigilance!"

So Tsunade had nothing to say, and could only sigh in the end:

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it... I don't want to take on another Uchiha as a disciple!"

Seeing the Third Hokage's expression, he immediately knew what the Third Hokage wanted to say and blocked his request in advance.

So the Third Hokage could only manage a wry smile:

"Are you really unwilling? Actually, there is indeed a promising talent in the Uchiha clan, a descendant of Uchiha Kagami."

"Uncle Jing? He's a descendant of his lineage... Then why don't you just take him in, old man? Uncle Jing is your classmate, shouldn't you take care of your old classmate's descendant?"

Uchiha Kagami was a disciple of Senju Tobirama and a fellow student of the Third Hokage. Tsunade was quite familiar with him when she was young, but he died young. When Tsunade was about ten years old, there was no news of this Uchiha.

Speaking of the Uchiha clan, they are unlucky. Occasionally, a ninja who aligns himself with the Hokage faction appears and has the hope of entering the upper echelons of Konoha, but problems always arise. It is unknown whether there is a mastermind behind it or if it is just the cruel twist of fate.

After hearing Tsunade's words, the Third Hokage gave a wry smile and said:

"The Uchiha clan doesn't really like me, the Third Hokage..."

"Alright, alright, I'll find a way to solve the Uchiha clan problem. At worst, I'll find a female disciple to take on!"

"Well……"

The Third Hokage opened his mouth, but then thought that Tsunade was, after all, a woman, and it was indeed a bit taboo for her to take on male disciples, so he ultimately remained silent.

After some discussion, the Third Hokage acted swiftly, convening a Jonin meeting the next day and electing Tsunade as Hokage.

In reality, there aren't many people in Konoha right now who can compete with Tsunade for the Hokage position. The troublemaker Danzo was killed by Hiyori long ago, Orochimaru defected, and Jiraiya left the village. Who else is left in the village?

Aside from the aging Third Hokage, the only remaining Kage-level ninja in Konoha are Fugaku Uchiha, who has been hiding his true strength, and Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Kushina goes without saying. Only three months had passed since the Nine-Tails went berserk. Unless a Jonin in Konoha had a memory like a goldfish, there was no way they would choose such a bombshell as Hokage.

As for Fugaku Uchiha, firstly, he had always concealed his true strength, only displaying the power of a near-Kage; secondly, as the head of the Uchiha clan, other ninja clans and commoner ninjas did not want such a powerful clan head to be Hokage.

Not to mention that Tsunade still used Wood Release ninjutsu when the Nine-Tails went berserk. Wood Release has a very special meaning in Konoha. Combined with Tsunade's identity as a descendant of the Senju clan, she was destined for greatness in terms of both righteousness and strength.

After the Third Hokage was nominated, there was no voting or selection of other candidates; all the Jonin simply raised their hands in agreement for Tsunade to become Hokage.

After that, one had to go to the daimyo's residence to report. Of course, this was just a formality, and the daimyo of the Land of Fire could not possibly object, because objection would have no effect.

The Hokage is only theoretically a subordinate of the Daimyo. If they were to truly turn against each other, Konoha would certainly not be the one to be afraid. Moreover, Tsunade's reputation among ordinary people is much greater than her reputation among ninjas.

She is the world's number one divine physician; no matter how powerful or wealthy a person is, they would absolutely not dare to offend a doctor of this caliber.

Therefore, Tsunade became Hokage at an incredibly fast pace, almost within a week.

He's currently only holding the title of acting Hokage, but with almost all Konoha ninjas now feeling that Minato Namikaze is unlikely to return, he's practically indistinguishable from the official Hokage.

Three months later, Tsunade had almost taken over and organized the power of the previous Hokage—in fact, Minato Namikaze didn't have much personal power at his disposal.

After all, Minato Namikaze was too young, unlike the Sannin who had cultivated their influence throughout Konoha for decades and had gathered a group of forces under their command.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, due to the existence of the Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato Namikaze was not the kind of person who sat in command, and he had very few subordinates and comrades.

This time, the Fourth Shinobi World War lasted even longer, which resulted in Minato Namikaze inheriting the position of Hokage for a shorter period of time, less than a year.

Without any foundation, Minato Namikaze was already overwhelmed with work just sorting out the situation in Konoha after the war, so he naturally didn't have much time to develop his own private power.

(End of this chapter)