"Alright."
After saying that, Uchiha Ren stretched lazily and strolled out of the meeting hall.
Only after his footsteps faded did the remaining Uchiha elders finally exhale.
"Whew…!"
"That Ren… is terrifying."
"Since when did taijutsu specialists become this scary? That pressure felt like it could make heaven and earth kneel."
"…."
A few of them were sweating—cold sweat, the kind you get after staring at something you can't possibly control.
It wasn't just the strength.
It was the control.
That suffocating pressure had been focused like a blade—only hitting the ones who deserved it, without rattling a single table or chair.
Fugaku rubbed his brow and sighed.
"A taijutsu Elite Jōnin… he's opened a path our clan has never walked before."
He looked around the room, voice heavy.
"You all saw it. Even without ninjutsu… even without showing his Sharingan… Ren is still strong."
"So… we'll keep one eye open and one eye closed."
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
Ren's existence had smashed every plan Fugaku had laid out. At this point, all Fugaku could do was clean up the mess and keep the clan from tearing itself apart.
One by one, the remaining elders nodded.
"I agree."
"Sharingan or not, he's still Uchiha."
"Fine. Let it be."
They weren't like the hardliners who'd just been knocked out—those fanatics with a near-religious obsession with ocular power.
Reality was simple:
Ren was a Uchiha Elite Jōnin.
That fact didn't change just because they didn't like how he got there.
"Good."
Fugaku nodded, then glanced at the unconscious pile on the floor, a headache building.
"Someone call people in. Carry them out."
"…What a disgrace."
"Yes, Clan Head."
In the end, the clan meeting ended in the most humiliating way possible—quietly.
And what happened inside was "handled" the Uchiha way:
Buried.
No one wanted the village to learn that a chunk of the clan's leadership had been flattened by Ren's mere presence. That wasn't just embarrassing—it would turn into a village-wide joke.
So within the Uchiha, a strange phenomenon appeared:
The radical members suddenly stopped loudly complaining about Ren"not practicing ninjutsu."
They still hated it.
They just… didn't dare say it.
Just like that, an invisible storm was smothered before it could ignite.
Ren, for his part, enjoyed the peace.
He didn't say anything.
He simply returned to his routine:
Train. Sign in. Clock in at the Konoha Military Police Force. Repeat.
Everything stayed calm.
For about half a month.
Then Namikaze Minato returned from the frontlines—and Konoha erupted again.
Because Minato came back with results that hit like thunder:
He had negotiated and finalized ceasefire agreements with Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
And in those agreements, the other villages made concessions—effectively acknowledging Konoha as the leading village of the shinobi world.
For the people of Konoha, it meant one thing:
The Third Great Ninja War was truly over.
And Konoha had won.
The village's confidence and morale shot through the roof overnight.
Minato's prestige soared to its peak—so high it even began to eclipse the Third Hokage's presence in the public eye.
The Hokage Selection
At the top floor of the Hokage Tower, a high-level meeting was convened.
The village elders and key clan heads were called in—Hyūga, Uchiha, Nara, and others—to vote on the Fourth Hokage.
The candidates were:
OrochimaruNamikaze Minato
The vote ended with no suspense.
Orochimaru lost by a crushing margin.
In fact, he received only one vote—
Danzō's.
When the Third Hokage announced the result, Orochimaru's expression was… strangely calm.
"I lost, Sensei."
He shook his head and walked out without another word.
He understood.
Whatever thin strand of teacher-student sentiment remained between him and Hiruzen had been cut clean.
From here on, he would chase his own "ideal" with his own hands.
Hiruzen watched Orochimaru's back, face unreadable—only a quiet sigh hidden behind it.
Orochimaru's seniority and achievements were more than enough to qualify.
But Orochimaru was not someone you could easily control.
So even if Orochimaru was his student—
Hiruzen could still discard him without hesitation.
Minato was different.
A civilian-born shinobi with no clan backing, widely loved, easy to place on the throne—
and easier to manage.
That was precisely why the road had been cleared for him.
Danzō, face dark as storm clouds, rose as well.
"I'm leaving."
And he left the room.
A Celebration… and a Shadow
Namikaze Minato was officially chosen as the Fourth Hokage.
When the news spread, Konoha celebrated like a festival had been declared.
But few people noticed something far more telling:
The Third Hokage did not leave the Hokage Tower.
Instead, citing Minato's "lack of administrative experience," Hiruzen remained—publicly framed as "assisting" the new Hokage.
Whether it was truly assistance…
or a leash disguised as guidance—
only the people at the top knew.
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