I, Naruto Uzumaki, don't need your approval.

Because during the first generation of the Hokage, although the Second Hokage did not serve as Hokage, he did all the duties that a Hokage should have.

However, Jiraiya really had a good method. He used this method to keep Tsunade in the village and prevent her from leaving again. These years of training outside have made this kid grow a lot.

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya with displeasure: "Let's get this straight, not a penny less of my salary."

Jiraiya revealed a smug smile: "I've saved up quite a bit of royalties over the years, let's pay off your gambling debts first."

While they were declining the Hokage position, Jiraiya resolutely accepted it. He then took an unconventional approach, using the promise of paying off his gambling debts and a high salary as bait to hire her to handle government affairs.

He also said that the Hokage should not stay in the office, but should stay with his comrades and go to the battlefield together.

She actually agreed to stay in the village after being half-heartedly persuaded; she was completely out of her mind.

But Jiraiya is right. When the village is in crisis, the Hokage should stay on the front line and protect the village and his comrades with practical actions, instead of hiding in the rear and strategizing.

This is the true Hokage, this is the true Will of Fire that Konoha should possess.

……

That afternoon, the roads that had been blocked off in Konoha Village were reopened.

The Hokage Building issued a notice to all ninjas, stating that Danzo had led his subordinates to defect from Konoha due to the leak of human experiments, and that the Third Hokage had voluntarily relinquished his position as acting Hokage due to inadequate supervision, handing over power to the advisory elders.

The election for the Fifth Hokage will begin soon, with Jiraiya and Tsunade as the candidates.

The announcement immediately sparked widespread discussion among Konoha ninjas, who were very curious about what kind of human experiments Danzo had conducted to be considered a rogue ninja, and what role the Third Hokage played in it.

As for how Jiraiya and Tsunade got the Third Hokage removed from office, not many people care.

These two legendary Sannin were no less prestigious than the Hokage, and as disciples of the Third Hokage, no one cared what kind of conflict had occurred between them.

Only the major ninja clans are considering how to get along with the Fifth Hokage in the future.

Unlike ordinary Jonin, their clans have many Chunin. Even among Chunin, there are completely different types: those with fixed positions and those who go out to take on missions.

Although the former's salary is not high, they do not have to risk their lives to perform tasks.

A few days later, the village held a Jonin Tournament. Jiraiya easily won many votes. He only needed to gain the approval of the Daimyo to wear the straw hat symbolizing the Hokage and become the Fifth Hokage of Konoha.

As the previous Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi cited illness as an excuse to miss the Jonin Tournament.

Unlike when he succeeded the Fourth Hokage, he was actually forced to relinquish the Hokage position and lost control of the Anbu. He could only retire in the Sarutobi clan's territory and watch as the Sarutobi clan's Jonin were kicked out of important departments.

Because of this, many Sarutobi clan ninjas complained to him, but he was helpless to do anything about it.

He did not abdicate normally and therefore could not exert influence over Jiraiya. Jiraiya's move to consolidate power clearly indicated a need for sweeping reforms, and he could not rely on his seniority to interfere with his disciples' choices.

Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed softly and said to the Anbu members beside him, who were nominally there for surveillance, "How's the situation outside? Is Jiraiya's succession as the Fifth Hokage going smoothly?"

After a moment of contemplation, the Anbu member said, "Third Hokage, the Fifth Hokage has successfully taken control of the Hokage Building, and the various ninja clans are very enthusiastic, just like when you led Konoha more than ten years ago."

"More than ten years ago..." Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into reminiscence, and said in a low voice, "Could it be that all these years, what I've done has really been wrong? Have my decisions actually been harming the village?"

Looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who seemed to be questioning his existence, the Anbu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Third Hokage, you are a hero of Konoha and a representative of the Will of Fire, but after the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice, you should not assume the position of Hokage again."

“Once the Hokage becomes indecisive, he is no longer the Hokage who leads the village.”

Chapter 190 The Great Immortal had long since lost his ability to prophesy.

After receiving authorization from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Jiraiya officially became the Fifth Hokage.

After becoming Hokage, Jiraiya was assigned more work than he had imagined. Even though he outsourced his internal affairs to Tsunade, the various high-level commissions and military intelligence made it difficult for Jiraiya to leave the Hokage Building to relax.

Fortunately, with the help of the two advisors and elders, Jiraiya was not tied up in the Hokage's office by work.

After dealing with a mountain of official business, Jiraiya and Tsunade began to discuss the village's future reforms, taking the Land of Whirlpools across the sea as a reference, but the specific situation required specific analysis.

Because the Land of Fire is wealthy and Konoha has a large number of ninjas, there is no need for reforms in the economy and education for the time being.

Currently, only the Anbu and Root departments need immediate reform. The former still has a reason to exist, although it is nominally the Anbu's training department, but in reality it has long become Danzo's private army.

The act of secretly collecting war orphans, training them into suicide soldiers, and then making them kill each other completely violates the Will of Fire.

After a moment's thought, Tsunade said, "My opinion is that we can retain some of Root's teaching methods, but we must abandon the training programs that involve killing each other. Anbu ninjas are not tools, but comrades who are responsible for the dark side."

Jiraiya nodded, agreeing with Tsunade's idea.

The Anbu was originally established as a special forces unit to carry out secret activities. It was the dark side of the village. However, the existence of Root has turned the Anbu into an open force, which has seriously lowered the standards of ninjas.

After discussing it, the two issued an order to the secret service to make changes.

As a department directly under the Hokage, the reform of the Anbu proceeded smoothly, and it will soon become a completely new Anbu.

However, Jiraiya and Tsunade did not have a smooth time with other reforms, encountering almost the same problems as the Third Hokage had faced. Not only the ninja clans, but also most of the commoner Jonin opposed the reforms.

Unlike the Third Hokage, Jiraiya also insisted on carrying out reforms despite the pressure.

After formulating a development plan for Konoha for the next few years, Tsunade presented the experimental projects prepared by the Anbu. These projects originated from the Root Laboratory, and some of them were already highly completed.

Jiraiya glanced at the experimental projects, and the one at the top was the Wood Release Experiment Plan.

The Wood Release experiment was conducted more than a decade ago. At that time, apart from Tsunade who felt it was a desecration of the First Hokage, most of the higher-ups supported the Wood Release plan.

If the Wood Release plan succeeds, it will not only enable the mass training of Wood Release bloodline ninjas, but also greatly boost morale.

For this reason, countless ninjas volunteered to participate in the Wood Release project, but not a single one successfully transplanted the Wood Release bloodline limit; they all died tragically in the laboratory, and the project was thus completely banned.

Orochimaru's defection from the village was due to his unauthorized capture of ninjas and civilians within the Land of Fire for experiments, which violated the taboos of Konoha and led to his expulsion from the village.

At this moment, Tsunade said in a low voice, "Jiraiya, I plan to restart the Wood Release experiment."

Jiraiya frowned. He couldn't understand why Tsunade, who had been the most opposed to the Wood Release plan, wanted to restart it.

Tsunade explained with a serious expression: "I started the Wood Release project not for the Wood Release bloodline limit, but for the Wood Release's super regenerative ability. My great-grandfather's cells can clone limbs, allowing those who have committed cruelty to obtain prosthetic bodies."

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief, but still said, "If we're talking about Wood Release research, the village actually has a Wood Release bloodline ninja named Tenzo, who is currently working in the Anbu."

"However, according to Kakashi, Wood Release is a decent bloodline limit, but it's not as strong as one might imagine."

"The First Hokage was able to sweep across the nations because he was powerful, not just because of his Wood Release. You'd better not have too high expectations."

Tsunade snorted coldly: "I never intended to artificially create a bloodline limit."

……

Enjoying the feeling of arguing with Tsunade, Jiraiya left the Hokage's office, intending to go to a room far away from Tsunade and use the Telescope Technique to gather material for his novel.

As soon as he entered the secret room, Jiraiya sensed something and used a summoning technique.

After a puff of white smoke dissipated, Fukasaku and Shima, the two sages, appeared on the floor, then jumped onto the table and stared at Jiraiya, saying, "Little Jiraiya, congratulations on becoming the Fifth Hokage."

"The Hokage position is not for me..."

Just as Jiraiya was about to say something, he suddenly remembered something and looked at the two sages, Fukasaku and Shima.

I've been too busy these past few days to deliver the message to Mount Myōboku. How did Mount Myōboku know that he had become Hokage? And judging from Fukasaku's expression, it seems that he already knew he would become Hokage.

Seemingly guessing what Jiraiya was thinking, Shima patted Fukasaku's head: "Old man, aren't you going to apologize to little Jiraiya?"

Fukasaku scratched his head and said, "Little Jiraiya, actually I knew a year ago that you would become Hokage. The Great Toad Sage told me his prophecy, but I was considering whether to tell you."

"Did the Great Sage know a year ago that I would become Hokage?"

Jiraiya's eyes were filled with shock, but he quickly felt a sense of dread and didn't know what to say.

For more than 20 years, he has believed in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy, believing that a prophetic child will truly appear in the ninja world, and that under the child's leadership, the ninja world will eventually achieve lasting peace.

But repeated failures told him that even the prophesied child could die.

After meeting Naruto, Naruto rejected his teachings, which changed his mind and led him to believe that there was no such thing as a prophetic child in the ninja world. The Great Sage's original intention was that everyone had the hope of becoming a prophetic child.

The Great Toad Sage's prophecy was to tell the ninjas not to give up on the prophesied child, and not to give up hope.

But when he accepted reality and refused to run away, becoming the ninja world that the Fifth Hokage wanted to change, Fukasaku told him that the Great Toad Sage knew he would become Hokage a year or even earlier.

This gave him a sense of destiny, as if a giant hand was manipulating his fate.

What Jiraiya found even stranger was that if he hadn't become Hokage and hadn't made up his mind to stop running away, he would have taken all of this for granted.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Jiraiya regained his former carefree demeanor and said with a smile, "Master Fukasaku, does the Great Sage have any other prophecies?"

Fukasaku shook his head: "After predicting that you would become Hokage, the Great Sage has made no other prophecies."

Chapter 191 A Dog Without a Home

After Danzo was forced to defect and the Third Hokage voluntarily relinquished his position, the village welcomed a new Hokage.

As one of the instigators, Kakashi naturally reaped considerable benefits, being invited by Jiraiya to become the new head of the Anbu. If he worked hard for more than ten years, becoming a candidate for Hokage would be a piece of cake.

But after achieving his goal, Kakashi did not find happiness; instead, he fell into endless emptiness.

He opposed the Third Hokage and Danzo, and supported Jiraiya to become Hokage. Besides avenging his father, another reason was that he couldn't stand the lifeless atmosphere in the village.

After Jiraiya becomes Hokage, will he really be able to change this negative atmosphere?

Kakashi himself wasn't entirely sure, and Jiraiya's treatment of the Third Hokage was far too lenient. Could so many years of indulgence and incompetence be erased simply by stepping down?

With a soft sigh, Kakashi lay down on the tatami mat, watching the fan above him spin and spin.

After resting for a few more days, he planned to apply to lead a team to hunt down Danzo and the remaining members of Root. If Danzo, who possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan, were to lie low in the Land of Fire, he would be a threat that could not be ignored by the village.

As for the agreement made with the Third Hokage a few months ago, those ninja graduates were sent back by him under the pretext of being unqualified. They were told to go back to the ninja academy for a few more years before becoming ninjas.

After an unknown amount of time, Kakashi got up from the tatami mat, went to the desk, and picked up paper and pen.

……

Within the territory of the land of rivers.

After several days of arduous travel, Danzo and a dozen Root members arrived at their base in the Land of Rivers. Once inside the base, which was located deep underground, Danzo finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

Even before Jiraiya and Tsunade returned, he had warned the Third Hokage to be careful of his two students.

Tsunade's visits to the Ninja Academy and Konoha Hospital, and Jiraiya's visits to the ninja clans, practically screamed "coup d'état" on their foreheads; anyone with a little thought could see it.

However, Hiruzen Sarutobi surprisingly gave up resisting, voluntarily relinquishing the position of Hokage and handing over power to Jiraiya and Tsunade.

That's not all; Tsunade even led a large number of ninjas to surround the Root base.

If he hadn't made preparations to evacuate in advance, he might have already been captured by Jiraiya and Tsunade. Even if he were captured, he wouldn't necessarily die, but he would completely lose control of Root, which was something he was unwilling to accept.

After much deliberation, he brought the Roots to the Land of Rivers, ready to make a comeback at any time.

However, with his current manpower, it is obviously impossible to shake the Dark Division. In fact, with insufficient funds, he can hardly support his existing subordinates.