Inside the Hokage Building, crowds surged like a tide. Even those who rarely showed their faces in public had all appeared.
Yesterday, Hikaru just dusted off his hands and walked away, but the others couldn't afford to stay uninvolved.
With tens of thousands outside the village needing to be dealt with, every department in Konoha was stretched to the limit.
Even so, the people handling the situation were all smiling.
After all, they were the victors—and this was a victory unlike any before.
After enjoying a hearty breakfast, Hikaru strolled into the Hokage's office with a relaxed air.
The atmosphere inside was unusually busy. Tobirama Senju and Uchiha Izuna were buried in towering piles of documents, fully absorbed in their work.
Their eyes betrayed a hint of fatigue, but their hands didn't stop moving, rapidly sorting through paperwork and handling one emergency after another.
As Hikaru's gaze swept across the office, he noticed Mito Uzumaki at a desk to the side, also busily working through official duties.
Her face looked somewhat worn, with faint dark circles under her eyes—clear signs of a sleepless night.
This sight genuinely surprised Hikaru. In his mind, Mito Uzumaki had always been the type to slack off whenever she could.
But he quickly understood why.
Although Mito usually came off as laid-back, she was dependable when it truly mattered.
This incident concerned the future direction of the entire shinobi world—of course she'd take it seriously.
As for Madara and Hashirama, as long as they weren't holding everyone back, that was enough. They'd already been kicked out to go keep an eye on the Four Kage.
Meanwhile, in another room, Ōnoki was quietly having a mental breakdown under Madara's watch.
Hikaru's arrival naturally caught everyone's attention.
Mito paused her heavy workload, stretched her tired body slightly, and turned to Hikaru with a serious expression. "So, what are your plans next?"
Hikaru immediately understood what she was referring to. After a brief moment of thought, he replied:
"Next, we keep the leadership from each village here in Konoha. Our people will go take over their villages."
"As for those so-called nobles, we'll follow the usual method—if they're guilty, they die. If not, we let them go."
Tobirama frowned slightly upon hearing Hikaru's plan. Clearly, he still had reservations.
He knew all too well how deeply entrenched the old traditions were in the shinobi world. This would be a major roadblock in Hikaru's path to unification.
He looked up, sharp-eyed, and asked with a note of skepticism: "That's it? Just like that?"
Hikaru shrugged nonchalantly, replying with ease:
"You're overthinking it. Human desire is endless."
"Once people understand how to live with dignity, they'll choose that path themselves."
"As for the stubborn, conservative nobles—once they lose absolute power, even the commoners will be able to overthrow them on their own."
"So instead of worrying about resistance, you should be thinking about how you're going to handle administrative duties when the territory expands and you can't keep up."
Tobirama involuntarily glanced at the stacks of paperwork surrounding him.
And when he realized this was only a small fraction of what lay ahead, he experienced, for the first time, the urge to slack off.
Beside him, Izuna was already numb.
He had just recently recruited a few competent aides within the Uchiha clan to take over some of his workload.
But before their training was even complete, a flood of new tasks had already come crashing in.
Mito, after hearing Hikaru's analysis, nodded thoughtfully.
She recalled how the Land of Fire had fared in recent years after purging its nobility.
The commoners, once freed from exploitation, had begun wholeheartedly embracing the new system once they saw hope for a better life.
Because of that, she believed every word Hikaru said. The so-called resistance wouldn't hold up in the face of overwhelming popular support.
Just then, the door to the office was pushed open, and Uchiha Madara stepped inside.
His gaze swept across the room, finally settling on Hikaru.
There was a flash of hesitation on Madara's face, but he still spoke up: "Hikaru, I have a question."
Hikaru met his eyes calmly and gave a slight nod. "Go ahead."
Madara's voice was deep and firm: "Why bother reviving all those people? Wouldn't it be easier to just eliminate the Allied Shinobi Forces altogether?"
Everyone turned to look at Madara.
That temper of his was really something.
Hikaru smiled faintly, his tone calm as he explained:
"The reason we didn't kill them is actually simple. After unifying the shinobi world, we'll need a massive base of personnel to manage the enormous system we've created. Shinobi may not be highly educated, but their abilities and potential far exceed that of ordinary civilians."
"We've already decided to discard the noble class. If we also abandon so many shinobi, then who's going to handle all the tedious work in the future? You? Or are you planning to use Shadow Clones to manage everything?"
Madara was instantly speechless.
As Izuna's older brother, he knew exactly how exhausted Izuna was every day.
Fighting? No problem. But paperwork in an office? That was no joke.
Everyone else in the room wore the same "ah, makes sense" expression and nodded in understanding.
Well, it's Hikaru after all. Makes sense if it's to slack off a bit.
The mood grew a little awkward, a strange atmosphere hanging in the air.
Even Hikaru felt a little embarrassed. He scratched his nose and chuckled dryly: "Uh… don't look at me like that. I'm doing this for all our sakes!"
At that, the room erupted into laughter.
Meanwhile…
The news of the Four Great Ninja Villages surrendering without a fight, the revival of the dead, and the fall of the Moon spread like wildfire across the nations.
Each of these earth-shattering events was tied directly to the Fifth Hokage of Konoha—Uchiha Hikaru.
When the other villages received confirmation of their defeat—and learned that the dead had actually returned to life—their will to resist crumbled instantly.
They chose submission, allowing Konoha to smoothly assimilate them into the new order.
But those nobles who had long clung to the pinnacle of power couldn't accept the change.
They fell into a panic like never before, like grains of sand swept away by the tide, desperately searching for something—anything—to cling to.
They looked to rogue ninja, bounty hunters, even samurai as possible allies.
Unfortunately for them, those who lived by the blade weren't fools.
Even Kakuzu, known for his greed, chose to take the money and walk away the moment he heard he'd have to face Konoha.
Their departure crushed what little hope the nobles had left.
Out of options, the nobles finally turned to the very civilians they had once scorned and oppressed, trying to sway them with sweet words and false promises.
But Konoha had long anticipated this move.
They didn't need to take extreme action. They simply showed the people what life was like for civilians in the Land of Fire—prosperous, free, and safe.
With just that one step, the nobles' plots fell apart without resistance. The people's faith and illusions about them evaporated completely.