Chapter 46: A New Era and a Promised Reward
The events in the Land of Rain did not become common knowledge within Konoha, nor did word of the conflict spread to the other great nations. While Konoha had not formally signed peace treaties with all parties, the scale of hostilities continued to shrink rather than expand.
A fragile peace had settled over the shinobi world.
Time flowed onward. A month later, the election for Konoha's Fourth Hokage commenced as scheduled.
The process was neither overly complex nor particularly grand. The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, delivered a public address in the village, formally announcing his retirement and presenting the candidates for his successor. This was followed by the jonin's voting ceremony, which was largely a formality given the predetermined outcome.
No unexpected incidents occurred. Everything proceeded with smooth, almost anticlimactic, efficiency.
After the jonin cast their votes, the "Yellow Flash," Namikaze Minato, defeated Orochimaru by an overwhelming margin, becoming the Fourth Hokage-designate of Konoha.
Finally, with the formal consent of the Fire Daimyo, Sarutobi Hiruzen officially stepped down. In the latter half of Konoha Year 50, Namikaze Minato was inaugurated as the Fourth Hokage.
Following a grand celebration and speech in the village square, Minato Namikaze formally assumed leadership of the most powerful shinobi village in the world, ascending to the pinnacle of authority.
Upon taking office, Hokage Minato immediately moved to establish his own personal guard and a new Anbu cadre. Most of the Third Hokage's existing Anbu remained under Hiruzen's direct command for the time being; power had not been fully transferred. Forming a new Anbu from the ground up was no simple task—recruitment, vetting, and specialized training could not be accomplished overnight.
Inside the Hokage's office, Namikaze Minato sat in the imposing chair, staring blankly at the mountainous pile of documents on the desk. After a long while, he shook his head and sighed softly.
Governing Konoha is nothing like I imagined.
"There are... too many constraints," he thought, running a hand through his bright hair, which seemed to have lost some of its usual luster. He had just finished a heated debate with Konoha's council of elders.
His initial proposal had been to integrate members of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans into his newly formed Anbu, building a core team from diverse, powerful talents. To his shock, all four elders—Mitokado Homura, Shimura Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and even his predecessor, Sarutobi Hiruzen—had voiced strenuous, unequivocal opposition. Their attitudes were rigid, their emotions running high.
One of them had even uttered the phrase, "The Uchiha are an inherently cursed clan."
For a moment, Minato had been genuinely frightened by the venom in those words.
How can veterans who contributed so much to the village's prosperity hold such deep-seated prejudice...?
He felt a surge of righteous indignation, mixed with a pang of personal grievance.
"Enough. This matter cannot be forced. For now, I should fulfill my existing promises first." With this thought, Minato rapped his knuckles firmly on the desk.
A masked Anbu operative materialized instantly, kneeling before him.
"Go to the Uchiha district," Minato ordered. "Request that Jonin Uchiha Akira report to the Hokage's office."
"Yes, Lord Hokage." The Anbu vanished as silently as he had appeared.
Half an hour later, Uchiha Akira entered the office, finding Minato immersed in paperwork.
"Hokage-sama," Akira greeted.
Hearing the voice, Minato looked up and offered a warm, if slightly weary, smile. He pulled a large, ornate scroll from a desk drawer. "The Scroll of Seals. As promised, you may select any two techniques from within."
"Review the contents. Once you have made your choices, inform me, and I will release the security seals." Minato pushed the scroll across the polished surface of the desk.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Akira recalled the agreement made in the war's aftermath. He took the scroll and unrolled it on a nearby table, beginning his perusal.
While the promise had slipped his mind amidst recent events, Akira already had a clear idea of what he sought. As the power ceiling of the shinobi world continued to rise, only a few categories would remain consistently relevant in high-tier combat: advanced taijutsu, Sage techniques, fuinjutsu, space-time ninjutsu, and a handful of unique, specialized arts.
His selections would naturally focus on these areas.
As a shinobi with a standard skillset, the Eight Gates were immensely powerful but unsuitable for his physiology and style, so he immediately ruled out those forbidden taijutsu.
With pure taijutsu options limited, Akira continued his search.
"'Super Strength'?" His eyes paused on an entry detailing a chakra-enhanced strength technique attributed to the Senju clan.
"In a way, this qualifies as a taijutsu augmentation..." Akira read the description of the "Mystical Palm" or "Strength of a Hundred" technique, and an idea began to form.
The principle involved precise chakra control, gathering chakra at a specific point on the body and releasing it in a devastating, concentrated burst. The power scaled with both the amount of chakra and the precision of its control. A master like Tsunade didn't just hit hard; each strike was a localized detonation of raw chakra power, letting her contend with massive summons bare-handed.
This 'super strength' technique could retain significant utility even as the power scale escalates, he concluded. He mentally earmarked this chakra-force technique as a potential choice.
"Flying Thunder God Technique..." Akira gave a slight nod as he found the legendary space-time ninjutsu. The shelf-life of such techniques was incredibly long, seemingly immune to power creep. From the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, to the era of Boruto Uzumaki, space-time ninjutsu never lost its pivotal value.
While he now possessed the Kamui ability of the Mangekyo Sharingan, theoretically making the Flying Thunder God redundant, this Mangekyo was not his own original, nor was it the Eternal Mangekyo. He could not be certain it would remain accessible if his ocular powers were ever sealed or compromised. Therefore, the Flying Thunder God Technique also went on his shortlist.
"Yin Seal? No..." After a brief glance at the description of this powerful S-rank technique that stored vast chakra reserves, Akira moved on. As an Uchiha, he was not lacking in chakra reserves. Since his arrival in this world, he had never been pushed to the point of exhaustion. For standard engagements, his natural chakra was more than sufficient.
"Spiritual Transformation Technique!" Akira's eyes lingered on this entry, a nod of approval following. This was another technique he had hoped to find.
An immensely powerful and difficult S-rank ninjutsu of unknown origin, since Konoha's founding, only one shinobi—Kato Dan—was recorded as having mastered it. The technique allowed the user to separate their spirit from their physical body, transforming into a pure spiritual entity. In this form, one could attack an enemy's spirit directly, achieving instant kills. Beyond offensive use, it also granted unlimited, long-range sensory capabilities. Regardless of distance or prior knowledge of a target's location, the spiritual form could instantly sense and travel to them, even to donate chakra.
The applications described extended far beyond these, encompassing various arts related to spirit and soul manipulation. In essence, while in the spiritual state, this technique offered functionalities similar to the Flying Thunder God, but with broader, more comprehensive utility.
(End of Chapter)
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