Chapter 55: Madara: Hashirama, I Was Right All Along!

Mito Uzumaki returned to the Senju estate with Hikaru Uchiha and Nonō Yakushi in tow.

Along the way, Nonō couldn't take her eyes off Mito Uzumaki.

That look—Hikaru recognized it instantly. It was the same starry-eyed gaze he'd seen countless times from idol fanatics back in the day.

Nonō had clearly made Mito her personal hero.

Mito herself was having a hard time with it. Sure, people had looked up to her before, but rarely this... directly.

So the moment they were back at the estate, she made an excuse about having something urgent to take care of and promptly took her leave.

Hikaru didn't find Nonō's behavior strange at all.

After all, Mito had saved her from the jaws of death.

And considering her performance during the meeting, it would've been weirder if Nonō hadn't acted like that.

What Hikaru hadn't noticed, however, was that Nonō kept sneaking glances at him whenever he wasn't looking.

And sometimes, after watching him for a while, her cheeks would flush red without her realizing it.

Mito Uzumaki might have been the key figure who resolved the crisis—but in Nonō's heart, Hikaru was the shining prince.

He was the first to sense something was wrong with her, and he'd shielded her from being silenced.

Those actions etched themselves deep into her heart.

Cliché as it was, the "hero saving the damsel" move really did work.

Tsunade had arrived by now as well. She looked at the two of them with furrowed brows, feeling that something was definitely off.

Meanwhile, far away in the Land of Iron—

In a massive underground cavern, a lone figure sat silently in deep thought.

"Boss Madara! Boss Madara! You won't believe what just happened in Konoha!"

Madara Uchiha opened his eyes. A faint flash of the Rinnegan shimmered in his gaze before fading.

Clearly, he hadn't fully awakened the divine eye just yet.

He turned to the approaching Zetsu with an emotionless expression.

"What happened in Konoha?"

Zetsu ran up to him, practically shouting in excitement.

"The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, is dead! I saw his corpse with my own eyes!"

Madara's eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise.

To him, Hiruzen was just a slightly bigger ant than most.

But in the current shinobi world, the number of people capable of killing him could be counted on one hand.

"Who killed him? How did he die?"

Zetsu tilted his head and let out an airheaded-sounding, "Ah... I don't know. I just saw his corpse."

Even Madara looked a little exasperated at that.

He rubbed his temples and muttered,

"Tell me everything you know."

Sensing Madara's growing impatience, Zetsu obediently spilled all the details.

This particular Zetsu had been assigned to monitor Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Since Mito Uzumaki had attended the meeting today, Zetsu hadn't dared to follow too closely.

All it saw was Hiruzen entering the building—and then, not long after, being carried out by two people.

By the time Zetsu caught a good look at him, Hiruzen was already dead.

Madara sighed after listening.

He had been the one who told Zetsu to avoid Mito.

He knew all too well just how terrifying her sensory skills were.

She was, in his opinion, the strongest in that field.

That's why he'd ordered Zetsu to stay out of her range—to avoid being detected.

'Forget it. The plan hasn't officially started yet. The Rinnegan still needs more time.'

With that thought, Madara tuned out Zetsu's endless chatter and closed his eyes once more.

To him, the only thing that mattered now was the Eye of the Moon Plan.

And to execute that plan, the Rinnegan was an absolute necessity.

Without it, the Moon's Eye couldn't be activated.

And he hadn't finished cultivating his Rinnegan yet.

Unless something truly earth-shattering happened in the shinobi world, nothing else held any weight in his mind.

'Hashirama… I'll prove it—I was right all along!'

Time flowed like water. A blink later, nearly a month had passed since Hiruzen Sarutobi's death.

Eventually, news of the Third's passing leaked out.

Just as Mito had predicted, the village went through a brief period of instability after the revelation.

The sudden death of the Hokage shook the hearts of the villagers.

But under Mito Uzumaki's leadership, that anxiety never took root.

On the front lines, the other four nations… surprisingly fell silent.

Almost in unison, they stopped fighting and sent out feelers for peace.

Mito's reputation was far more effective than Hiruzen's ever was.

Even if she didn't flaunt her strength, just being the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails was enough to inspire dread.

Their own sealing techniques couldn't compare to the Uzumaki Clan's, which meant their jinchūriki could only be used as one-shot weapons.

But now, with both Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju long dead, who was left that could stop a Tailed Beast Bomb from the Nine-Tails?

No one wanted to push Konoha into a corner.

Because if Mito Uzumaki was really forced onto the battlefield, and let loose even a few attacks, they simply wouldn't survive it.

The daimyō had already approved Mito's appointment as the Fourth Hokage and had arrived in Konoha today.

Atop the Hokage building, Mito Uzumaki stood proudly in the ceremonial robes, the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" emblazoned on the cloak flapping in the wind behind her.

She stepped to the edge of the platform, looking down at the gathered villagers. Taking a deep breath, she shouted:

"From this day forward, I, Mito Uzumaki, shall lead you as the Fourth Hokage!"

The moment her voice rang out, cheers erupted across the square below.

Hikaru, standing to the side, couldn't help muttering to himself:

'And to think… just a few days ago, this same person was at home sighing about not wanting to go to work every day.'

He glanced at Chinatsu beside Mito, eyes full of gratitude.

During Mito's interim term as acting Hokage, she had originally wanted Hikaru to take on some responsibilities.

After everything that had happened, Mito had come to recognize Hikaru's talents.

And in her mind, talent should never go to waste—no matter how young.

She'd even been planning to start grooming him for the Hokage position.

But Hikaru was Hikaru.

He excelled at avoiding work. Asking him to be someone else's support pillar? Might as well ask him to die.

Thankfully, Chinatsu stepped in.

Up until then, Hikaru had only known that Chinatsu was a capable shinobi.

He hadn't realized she was even better as an assistant.

All the paperwork Mito had tried to skip—Chinatsu handled perfectly.

Thanks to the duo, the Hokage's desk was cleared out on time every day.

This, more than anything, made Mito drop her plan to drag Hikaru into the job.

She'd spared him from a grim fate.

'Chinatsu, I am forever in your debt. Someday, I'll make you the Hokage's assistant too!'