Chapter 116: Death of the Third Hokage

The daimyo took the box off of the guard and opened the lid to reveal its content, causing a shock to run through Sarutobi's system.

Inside was the Third Hokage's last direct blood relative, Asuma Sarutobi.

The fact that the man was presenting the head of his son made it clear by far that he certainly wasn't on Konoha's side.

He suddenly felt dizzy with an overwhelming stress weighing down on him.

"Di-diamyo-san. You, why?"

Hiruzen raised his hand and pointed at the Daimyo trembling, how could everyone suddenly come for his blood at once?"

The Fire Daimyo, looked at him cautiously and with a fancy fan covering half of his face, he said.

"Hiruzen, please don't pretend Konoha has only been getting weaker under you. Even if we have a close relationship, I need a village to protect myself and my wares.

He then added with disdain.

"I need Konoha village to stay in tact for that to happen. If you continued to reign, then this village would surely fall within a decade or two."

Before Hiruzen could reply, the Daimyo then went on while looking around the destroyed village.

"Instead of trying to change your nature, I think it's much more reliable to just change Hokage. No?"

Greed hid in the rich nobles eyes.

What he failed to mention was the incentives offered by the Cloud and the plenty of threats in case he refused to fall in line.

An accurate representation of his thoughts would be, there are no eternal enemies or allies, only eternal benefits.

As such, upon reading the letter, he swiftly had Asuma's head chopped off and decided to the site of the commotion personally.

Without any further delay, the Fire Daimyo elegantly folded his fan and pointed at Hinata standing beside Hachiro.

"I am supporting Hinata Raiden as the Fifth Hokage."

Along with a short pause, an uproar started.

There was no use denying when the daimyo came personally, to announce his stance on the matter.

Now, Hinata had legally become an official candidate for the position and no clan really wanted to get in the way of her backing.

With despair setting in, Hiruzen stood motionlessly still in a daze.

"Impossible..."

He rambled like a madman repeatedly.

"Impossible..."

"Impossible..."

Finally, he realised that everything was futile now. And that thought angered him.

He threw his arms up and prepared to go for a suicide attack.

"You- I'll kill all of you!"

Unfortunately, he was interrupted by someone, a literal spear of lightning pierced him through the heart.

"No u."

The old Hokage's eyes widened in disbelief, he was a kage-level ninja and he died so easily, how?!

Thud!

Along with the Third Hokage's death, fear spread among the Konoha forces.

Tobirama had finished up things with Danzo and listened to some of the discussion of the crowds.

"Fifth Hokage, huh? Even if she is of Hyuga descent, it remains a fact that she stayed in Konoha no longer than three days."

Hashirama walked over to him and noticed the ever prominent frown on his face. He goofily smiled and optimistically replied.

"Cheer up, younger brother. In a way, this will help achieve our dreams."

Tobirama frowned even deeper and looked at him.

"And... what if they decide to train or experiment on children? In a way, we'll also be to blame for letting it go through."

Hashirama waved his hand without a care, and said.

"No use worrying over something that hasn't happened yet."

He went silent for a moment before continuing.

"Anyway, it's not like we can predict the future. Danzo and the monkey brat ended up going against our late wishes, even though you taught them as thoroughly as you could."

Tobirama gave a snort but didn't reply with words.

"Hmph."

He was well aware of the odds that they could change something now, and decided that his idiotic brother may be right for once.

It seemed he was a failure as a teacher and it may be for the best, that his disciples were no longer in this world.

The reanimated bodies of the Senju brothers and the Fourth Hokage began to emit a faint light.

A sign that the Impure world reincarnation technique was about to be lifted and their souls were about to return to the pure world.

Jiariya shouted in frustration.

"Come back here Orochimaru!"

Minato rubbed the top of Naruto's head with a gentle and warm smile.

"Naruto, I'm sorry for forcing you to carry this burden by yourself."

With a serious expression, he said.

"But please know, I am and will always be proud of an amazing son like you."

"Dad..."

Naruto muttered and tried to hide his tears with his arm.

Switching back to his smiley face, the Fourth Hokage placed his hand on his stomach and caused a seal to form.

"Before I leave, here is the other half of the nine tails. You've gotten through the critical period I was worried about, remember the words of your mother. She hoped you could become friends one day like she once tried to do."

Red and ferocious chakra started to diffuse out of his body but was ultimately restrained before it could escape.

Carefully loosening the seal slightly, the Hokage stuffed the remainder of the nine tails chakra inside his son.

He was now a complete jinchuriki.

...

Nearby the corpse of Hiruzen, Sasuke had returned to his base form and asked Izumi. "Was what you said earlier the truth?"

Silently, she put away her weapons and replied, "Yes, don't worry about it anymore."

She continued, "You should try to lead a normal life for what it's worth. I'll try to solve the rest."

"Big sis..."

Sasuke looked at her, not really sure what to say.

The eyes of the female Uchiha squinted, as she said.

"Sasuke, your not going to try and stop me now, are you? Regardless of if he simply massacred everyone under the orders of someone else or not, he still killed them with his own hands. It's a fact that I will not ignore..."

...

...

In the Hokage's office.

Hachiro commented on the interior of the small office.

"This place is quite nice. Whoever designed it must have known what he was doing."

Hinata nodded slowly before replying sadly, "I don't like it."

He asked, "Why not."

She replied, "I just don't."

He thought to himself, "Is this the rebellious phase, I've heard about?"

He tried to think of a solution and said, "I'll get someone to remodel the building."

Looking slightly shy, she softly asked, "Then... can I go home more often..?"

Hachiro's eyes widened, so that's really what's wrong.

He smiled and put her worries to rest. "It's not like you really need to be here yourself, you can just use Shadow clones and if that's too tiring I'll get some people to do the paperwork."

A bright smile bloomed on Hinata's face.