Uchiha Madara had indeed made extraordinary contributions to the establishment of Konoha Village, and it could even be argued that the village's founding would have been completely impossible without his involvement and support.
Whether Konoha could have been successfully established with only Senju Hashirama's efforts remained a significant question that deserved serious consideration.
However, for well-documented and politically sensitive reasons, very few people except the older generation of shinobi and experienced jonin actually knew about Uchiha Madara's crucial contributions during those foundational years.
At best, most people now regarded Uchiha Madara merely as a legendary figure and a dangerous villain who had once brought tremendous losses and suffering to Konoha Village. His negative reputation was deliberately emphasized to highlight the wisdom and righteousness of Senju Hashirama by contrast.
This approach wasn't entirely wrong from a political perspective. After all, Uchiha Madara had ultimately rebelled against the village and abandoned his responsibilities, and he had engaged in that catastrophic final battle with Senju Hashirama at the Valley of the End.
The First Hokage Senju Hashirama was recognized as the absolute leader of Konoha and was universally respected for his integrity and moral character. Given this foundation, the image of Uchiha Madara, who had positioned himself as hostile to Senju Hashirama, could easily be imagined and manipulated.
However, up to this point, Konoha had only deleted the historical accounts of Uchiha Madara's significant contributions to the village's establishment, and had rarely added any deliberately inflammatory or false details to his story.
Now that Konoha was undertaking a comprehensive recompilation of its textbooks and educational materials, the complex issue of how to handle Uchiha Madara's legacy had come to the forefront, and this was a decision that only Tsunade had the authority to make.
Of course, if she preferred not to take personal responsibility for such a controversial decision, she could push the matter to the advisory council for a formal vote, which would effectively remove the burden from her shoulders alone.
"Uchiha Madara's case is actually relatively straightforward to handle," Naraku pointed out thoughtfully. "The real question is what should be done about the Uchiha clan's current status?"
"In Konoha Village, the Uchiha clan has been effectively destroyed and eliminated."
"The Third Hokage deliberately chose not to label Uchiha Sasuke as a missing-nin or traitor. Was this because he believed Sasuke might return to the village someday?"
Shihouin Naraku's probing questions were causing Tsunade increasingly severe headaches as she considered the political implications.
"This is really becoming troublesome," she admitted with frustration. "Let's just bring all of these issues up for discussion at the upcoming meeting."
Suddenly, Tsunade's beautiful eyes lit up with inspiration. "That's the solution! Naraku, I want you to instruct the people working under you to accelerate the discussions about teaching materials and educational systems. After the initial draft is finalized, we'll work together to resolve all these sensitive issues during the advisory meeting."
"That sounds like a reasonable approach," Naraku agreed. "I'm confident that the two senior advisors will be quite eager to get involved in such important decisions."
As high-level advisors to Konoha, their primary responsibility was to assist the Hokage in governing the village effectively.
If the Hokage were to take complete control of every decision and policy, the power and influence of the advisory council would be significantly diminished.
Therefore, if the advisors wanted to maintain their status and political power, they needed to participate actively in meetings that could determine Konoha's future strategic direction.
If they failed to involve themselves in such crucial decisions, it would indicate that their authority had not yet reached Konoha's true decision-making level.
The meeting would be arranged soon...
Several days later, Shihouin Naraku had received the comprehensive collection of opinions regarding the revision of rules, regulations, and teaching materials from Deputy Minister Harada Shiramizu.
"Excellent work," Naraku praised genuinely. "Many of these comments are truly enlightening and valuable. Harada, thank you for your dedicated efforts."
"Thank you for your guidance and cultivation, Lord Naraku!" Harada replied with deep respect.
After Harada Shiramizu departed with obvious satisfaction, Naraku gathered the important documents and made his way to the Hokage's office, prepared to participate in the crucial advisory meeting.
A total of five people would participate in Konoha's high-level policy meeting!
As the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade would naturally be in attendance to lead the discussion.
Shihouin Naraku, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura would participate as official advisors to the Hokage!
Additionally, there would be a meeting facilitator to help guide the proceedings!
Nara Shikaku would serve in this capacity!
During the meeting, all five participants could express their opinions freely and present their own perspectives on the matters that required official determination.
Because of the significant differences in personal interests and political agendas, it was actually quite difficult to reach consensus on many important issues.
This had been the case even when the Third Hokage had been in control of Konoha Village. Due to the various complex and intertwined interests at stake, everyone had argued fiercely over different issues countless times throughout the years.
During that previous era, the primary troublemaker at these meetings had been Shimura Danzo!
Shimura Danzo had sometimes become so arrogant and confrontational that he wouldn't even show proper respect to the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen. Usually in such situations, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura would attempt to act as peacemakers and mediators.
However, more often than not, Sarutobi Hiruzen would rely on his authority as Hokage to force Shimura Danzo to back down and submit to his decisions.
Consequently, the relationship between the two men had grown worse and worse over time, constantly teetering on the verge of a complete breakdown.
Shimura Danzo couldn't tolerate Sarutobi Hiruzen forcing him to concede every time simply because of his status as the Third Hokage.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had been even more dissatisfied with Shimura Danzo's growing ambition and increasing desire for power, so it had been entirely foreseeable that the two would eventually have a serious falling out.
Now, during Tsunade's tenure as the Fifth Hokage, the political dynamics had changed significantly.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had essentially taken over Shimura Danzo's former role as opposition figures, often interfering with Tsunade's decisions and causing her to nearly explode with frustration on several occasions.
As for Shihouin Naraku, he had also assumed Shimura Danzo's position in the power structure, but represented an enhanced and far more powerful version!
Shimura Danzo had dreamed of becoming Hokage throughout his entire life. He had originally possessed a genuine chance to experience this achievement, but in this timeline, Danzo had died long ago, and it had been Naraku who had personally eliminated him.
Now Naraku had been officially designated as the next Hokage. If Danzo could somehow know about this development, he would undoubtedly be consumed with envy and jealousy.
Furthermore, Naraku currently possessed far more power and status than Shimura Danzo had ever achieved.
Most importantly, as the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade trusted him completely. Not only was she happy to witness Naraku's growing power and prestige, but she was actively encouraging it, practically wishing that Naraku would become Hokage immediately.
Such unwavering support from a superior was exactly what Shimura Danzo had dreamed of but had never been able to achieve.
Since he possessed several layers of political advantages and buffs, Naraku was naturally more aggressive and assertive than Danzo had ever dared to be.
Of course, the primary targets of his assertiveness were Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura. These two elderly advisors sometimes represented too many entrenched interests, causing them to frequently oppose suggestions made by either Tsunade or Naraku.
If it had been only Tsunade facing them, it would have been extremely troublesome for her to strongly oppose the opinions of the two senior advisors.
While it wasn't impossible to use the authority of the Hokage position to force decisions once or twice, she couldn't rely on such heavy-handed tactics consistently.
Therefore, Tsunade genuinely needed a powerful ally in these political battles, and Naraku fulfilled that role perfectly!
As for Nara Shikaku, he rarely joined in the heated arguments and confrontations.
Most of the time, Shikaku was more skilled at defusing tension between parties with opposing viewpoints, then persuading everyone to compromise and take a step back so that important business could move forward smoothly.
The development of this particular meeting followed a pattern similar to previous sessions.
"Absolutely not," Utatane Koharu declared firmly. "It was the Second Hokage who personally ordered that no one in the village should be allowed to discuss matters concerning Uchiha Madara."
"That's exactly right," Mitokado Homura agreed. "It would be unwise to disobey the direct orders of the Second Hokage."
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura directly vetoed Tsunade's proposal to add more historical accounts about Uchiha Madara to the new educational materials!
"Wait just a moment," Naraku interjected firmly. "The Second Hokage did indeed issue such an order, but the deletion of textbook and educational content was never part of his original directive!"
As someone who had consistently harbored deep suspicion and distrust toward Uchiha Madara, it was completely natural for Senju Tobirama to issue orders prohibiting casual discussion about his former rival.
However, Senju Tobirama had nonetheless acknowledged Uchiha Madara's legitimate achievements during the village's founding period, and he had even regarded enlightened members of the Uchiha clan with genuine respect and favor.
Otherwise, Uchiha Kagami would never have been personally cultivated and trained by the Second Hokage himself!
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