Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up at the portrait of Tobirama Senju hanging in his office and smiled faintly.
He pressed his palms together in a small gesture of respect.
The reason his conversation with Danzo Shimura had gone so smoothly lay in one key move. He had invoked the honor of being Tobirama Senju's disciple as collateral.
Rounded up, that counted as borrowing the Second Hokage's credit.
Still, loans alone were not enough. He had to give Danzo a taste of real benefit and make him feel like he was the one who had gained.
When dealing with internal conflicts, political credibility mattered.
"Those parody videos leaned too heavily on metaphor. Not much real substance."
Hiruzen sorted through what he actually knew.
"First, public opinion about me is sharply divided, but both sides agree on one thing. If I had handled matters better, many tragedies could have been avoided."
"That means there's room to maneuver. Plenty of people can be won over."
"Second, this world seems prone to sudden, overwhelming individual power. Personal strength cannot be neglected."
As he analyzed the situation, he focused on the red-headed document in his mind.
Authority. Diplomacy. Economy. Military. Education.
Aside from refining his combat instincts and blending them fully with this body, those five modules were now the core of his strength.
What concrete help they would provide remained uncertain.
But compared to his condition before he feigned illness and fully digested his inherited memories, the changes were undeniable. The hidden ailments were gone. His body felt stronger. His energy was abundant.
That alone made them worth trusting.
He studied the five modules and chuckled.
This was too familiar.
A stripped-down performance evaluation sheet.
He had to improve every aspect of Konoha. All five fingers had to be strong.
For Hiruzen, this was a blessing.
He now possessed a body capable of scaling mountains and crossing rivers. He was living in a new world.
Working a little harder for the village was hardly a burden.
"Let's see what Danzo left behind."
He carefully opened the scroll.
This was clearly Danzo's attempt to smear Orochimaru. He did not believe it was an honest record.
But smear campaigns often mixed truth with poison. There was still useful information inside.
The old man had adapted quickly to his new identity as a Hokage candidate.
Already tripping up a rival.
In present-day Konoha, most people still believed Orochimaru would inherit the position from Hiruzen. Hiruzen's favoritism toward him had once been obvious.
Yet some at the highest levels had noticed that since the Second Shinobi War, the relationship between the Third Hokage and his beloved disciple had subtly changed.
"Trading with unaffiliated tribes within the Land of Fire for experimental subjects?"
"Iburi Clan. Tsuchigumo Clan…"
"Foreign ninja abducted by Root…"
When Hiruzen saw that some of the subjects were barely more than children, a flicker of discomfort rose in his chest.
He smoked half a pipe before steadying himself.
This was a world where children had fought on battlefields just decades ago. Today's so-called prodigies, teenagers with dozens of kills, were nothing unusual.
It was a true era of chaos.
"Orochimaru is a rare talent. A researcher of the highest caliber. Science and technology are the primary productive forces."
"I need to maximize his talent."
"But it must be supervised. Ninjutsu cannot become a runaway horse."
"If research becomes an excuse to discard all boundaries, public trust and long-term direction collapse. Even if there are short-term gains, the hidden long-term losses are far greater."
Hiruzen fell into thought.
Orochimaru had been his cherished student since childhood. At one point, they had been almost like father and son.
But after Hiruzen became Hokage, his increasingly conservative governing style had clashed with Orochimaru's growing ambitions.
By the end of the Second Shinobi War, Orochimaru had chosen to work more closely with Root under Danzo.
That was a failure, both as Hokage and as teacher.
Fortunately, it was not beyond repair.
According to his memories, there had been no open conflict yet. It was less ideological warfare and more like a stubborn son storming out to start his own venture.
Hiruzen turned his mind toward the broader picture.
The problems before him were tangled and numerous. Weaknesses exposed by the war. Outdated systems. The looming shadow of another conflict.
Internally, financial shortages. Divisions among leadership. Tensions between ninja clans and the Hokage Tower.
"The best approach is to make the cake bigger and use new gains to correct old flaws. But baking the cake itself is the hard part."
The core of being Hokage was simple.
Make the village strong. Make the village rich.
Strength could not be built overnight.
But money? He had ideas.
Konoha's finances relied on funding from the Daimyo's Mansion and mission commissions.
He had once considered taking control of the Daimyo's Mansion by force. After reviewing his memories, he set the idea aside.
High risk. Low return.
The Land of Fire's population numbered in the tens of millions. Ninja might dominate militarily, but they lacked administrative expertise. They could not replace the massive bureaucracy.
If scarce ninja manpower were diverted to tax collection, combat power would drop.
The Land of Fire's tax system was outdated, but without war, ninja might naturally evolve into something like shoguns over generations. Right now, their numbers were too small. A rash move would only drive nobles to flee and give rival villages a pretext for intervention.
Hiruzen sorted the documents before him.
This was the money bag he intended to create for Konoha.
"Taking taxes by force from nobles is hard. Getting them to spend willingly is easy."
"To harvest the rent-seeking class, you sell anxiety, sell health, and add virility as bait."
As long as virility was involved, men would spend unreasonable sums to try.
Longevity. Health. Virility.
Combine the three and launch a product called the Konoha Special All-Cure Pill. It would sweep across the shinobi world.
The nobles would line up to shove money into his pockets, shouting that they wanted more.
He was confident others could not replicate this move.
The legends of Hashirama Senju's self-healing, Tobirama Senju's reputation as an inventor of countless jutsu, and Mito's Yin Seal formed three powerful endorsements.
With Orochimaru and Tsunade refining it, supported by the medicinal knowledge of the Akimichi and Nara clans, and his own visibly rejuvenated body as living proof, no one would care whether it was a secret technique or a pill.
As for actual effects…
A bit of genuine benefit was enough. As long as it did not kill anyone, the placebo effect combined with modest real efficacy would suffice.
"Ideas are easy. Implementation is the hard part."
Step one.
Rebuild a solid teacher-student relationship with Orochimaru.
Hiruzen glanced again at Danzo's blackmail material.
A useful tool.
Sarutobi clan grounds, the Hokage residence.
Hiruzen returned to the spacious, bright estate.
The moment he stepped inside, Biwako Sarutobi approached with attendants to help him remove his hat and ceremonial robe.
The house was spotless.
"Hiruzen, you worked hard today. What would you like for dinner?" Biwako asked softly.
In the past, meals were always ready when he returned. If he came home late, Anbu would deliver food to the Hokage Tower.
Today, however, he had come home unusually early.
In the past, he worked late into the night almost every day, returning exhausted, often unable to finish even a single bowl of rice.
"I invited Orochimaru to dinner at six," Hiruzen said after a moment's thought. "He prefers hot dishes. Make sure there are apples and eggs. The rest is up to you. Warm two pots of sake."
"Thank you for the trouble."
Biwako looked up in surprise at the younger-looking, upright Hokage and smiled shyly.
"What are you saying?"
Her light steps as she left made Hiruzen sigh inwardly.
Easy to please.
More than a wife, Biwako was the steward of the Sarutobi household. She never defied his orders. Every detail of food and clothing was handled with care.
Even matters of the bed were decided at his word.
Feudal ninja clans did have their advantages.
Hiruzen changed into training clothes and headed for the training ground.
Even if his stats had improved, reaction and execution still mattered.
A top-tier account in the hands of a master and a novice produced completely different results.
Training could not be neglected.
On the training field, he swung a steel staff to warm up.
"Senju. Uchiha."
The staff cut through the air with a hum.
He thought while blending instinct and memory.
In his recollections, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha had left an overwhelming impression.
By current standards, Hiruzen was among the strongest in the shinobi world.
But he was not in their league.
Studying history was a way to understand the world.
"Since ancient times, every few decades or century, the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan each produced a revolutionary figure who plunged the shinobi world into war."
The staff spun in his palm.
"Every time, perfectly matched. The Warring States era endured nearly eight hundred years until Madara and Hashirama shook hands and broke the cycle."
Coincidence?
Clan records described both as descendants of sages, but the language bordered on myth.
Was this world destined to revolve around Senju and Uchiha?
Even so, he could not wait for destiny.
Another great war would erupt within a few years. Who knew when another pair would emerge?
Besides, aside from Madara and Hashirama, other so-called revolutionary Senju and Uchiha were impressive but not invincible.
"If a monster appears, Senju is manageable. The Second Hokage dispersed them into Konoha. They stand with the village."
"But Uchiha…"
He grimaced.
What kind of clan was this?
Naturally sensitive, capable of deep love, yet prone to drastic personality shifts after trauma. The Sharingan awakened through emotional reflection, and power often bred arrogance.
It sounded like a hereditary psychological disorder.
Worse, the Uchiha Clan were founding shareholders of Konoha. Militarily invaluable. Politically, constantly stepping on landmines.
Madara had left the village and fought Hashirama, leading to the First Hokage's early death.
Fortunately, most Uchiha had remained loyal.
Later, Setsuna Uchiha had led a hawkish rebellion. Tobirama Senju suppressed it, and the doves rose. During the First Shinobi War, they fought and bled for the village.
Now, under his rule, the hawks were stirring again.
He could not take the easy path and isolate or eliminate the Uchiha Clan wholesale.
His performance metrics were clear.
If he could secure their wholehearted loyalty, Authority would surely rise.
"The strongest fortress is often breached from within."
"If only I could find someone within the Uchiha Clan who could carry out my will."
"Someone who understands the clan deeply, commands authority, and sees my direction."
He sighed.
An ideal.
Sweat flicked from his brow. His body felt alive.
Since arriving in this world, his physique had grown stronger each day. Techniques that once felt blocked now loosened.
In his youth, he had been tall and imposing. When he took the Hokage seat, pressure weighed like a mountain. It wore him down, even shrinking his stature.
The body was a vessel of politics.
True authority transcended appearance, but visible decay harmed prestige.
In a way, the rise of Uchiha hawks had something to do with his former frailty.
"A clan that worships strength?"
He swung the staff hard. A shockwave rippled across the training ground.
Each strike flowed with instinct and memory fused together. Power and control balanced. There was renewed vigor in every movement.
His staff technique blended hardness and softness, mirroring his approach toward the Uchiha Clan.
At that moment, a figure stood at the entrance to the training ground.
Orochimaru watched the familiar yet unfamiliar, fierce silhouette and froze.
This… was the teacher who had invited him to dinner?