Watching the father and daughter, Kawaki Aoba smiled and stepped through the doorway.
As Aoba entered, a younger Kabuto Yakushi, who had been waiting nearby, ran over excitedly.
"Brother Aoba, so many guests have come to our house these past few days! They're all saying you're going to run for Fourth Hokage. Is that true?"
Hearing this, Aoba first glanced at Yuhi Kurenai, then smiled and gently patted Kabuto's head.
"There is a Hokage election today, but I won't be the one chosen."
Because the Fourth Hokage had already been decided.
Namikaze Minato had long been selected as the Hokage-in-waiting. Whether it was Aoba or anyone else on the ballot, they were merely formality—part of the political stage.
Still, even being a "formality" was significant to Kawaki Aoba. Today was the day he would officially step into the core political circle of Konohagakure.
Kurenai-sensei likely saw it the same way—why else would he have received so many guests recently?
"Even if you can't become the Fourth Hokage, today is still important. Come on, hurry up and change."
"Alright."
In the midst of their conversation, Kurenai led Aoba into the house.
Watching the two disappear inside, Yuhi Shinku (Kurenai's father, canonically a Konoha Jonin) let out a long sigh, lamenting how daughters are always drawn away when they grow up.
Turning his gaze back to Kabuto, the bitterness in his heart softened somewhat.
He had been personally teaching and caring for Kabuto recently. The boy's talent was impressive, though still within the bounds of typical genius—unlike Aoba's downright abnormal aptitude.
This gave him a genuine sense of what it meant to be a teacher.
Despite knowing he couldn't win, Aoba was completely relaxed. As a result, everyone around him was in good spirits.
---
Meanwhile, in another part of the village, the atmosphere inside Namikaze Minato's home was far more solemn.
Just like Shinku had prepared Aoba, Uzumaki Kushina was helping tidy up Minato's ceremonial attire.
"Minato... I know how you feel. But today is too important to carry such a heavy heart. If Obito and Rin knew, they wouldn't want you to take the Hokage position while burdened with guilt."
Kushina's demeanor had been especially gentle these past few days—uncharacteristically so, given her usual fiery temper.
"Maybe… maybe there's a different way to look at it. The fact that we haven't found them… maybe it's not bad news? If they had been captured, we would have heard something by now. Maybe they're just resting and recovering somewhere."
Her words sounded hollow—even she didn't believe them. But they were all she had to comfort him.
Minato had been searching non-stop for his two missing students—Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara—ever since their disappearance on a mission. If Kushina hadn't been held back by her pregnancy and status, she would have gone with him.
"…Yeah. I know," Minato finally said, squeezing Kushina's hand.
"Let's go. It's almost time. Everyone's waiting—Kakashi too."
The couple left their home hand in hand.
---
Elsewhere, the third candidate for Hokage was also being rushed to attend the Jonin council vote.
"Sensei, today is the big day! What are you still doing in the lab?" Mitarashi Anko, still a young but brash chunin, stormed into the underground facility.
Orochimaru, pale and emotionless, glanced up from his scrolls.
"Where are the new clothes I prepared for you?! Hurry up and put them on!" Anko shoved the garments into his arms.
Without complaint, Orochimaru took the clothes and changed swiftly.
He then formed several hand seals and summoned two shadow clones.
"My experiment is at a critical phase. These clones will maintain the lab while I'm away."
Anko slapped her forehead. "Seriously?! You're running for Hokage. Can't you at least pretend to care? This is bigger than your experiments!"
Orochimaru's snake-like pupils glinted briefly.
"The election is a façade. This experiment holds far more promise than the title of Hokage."
"Yeah, yeah. You're brilliant, I get it. But if you win, you'll have all the resources you want! Now let's go, or we'll be late!"
Anko dragged him toward the surface.
She failed to notice Orochimaru's chilling lack of enthusiasm.
---
At the same time, Kawaki Aoba was mobilizing his own network from the shadows.
The pillars of ninja power—nurturing talent, manipulating public perception, and economic control—were all fiercely guarded institutions. Yet Aoba sought influence in all of them.
These were soft powers. In the ninja world, force still reigned supreme.
That's why Aoba placed the greatest value on the military unit under his direct command.
"Aokera, did you finish the personnel list?"
Aokera bowed respectfully and handed over a scroll.
The list contained the names of all shinobi loyal to Aoba, many of whom had fought beside him at Kikyō Pass, one of the key battlefields during the Third Shinobi World War.
Each was marked by loyalty—and blood.
Aoba opened the scroll and reviewed the numbers:
1 Elite Jonin
5 Jonin
13 Special Jonin
52 Elite Chunin
456 Chunin
324 Genin
A total of 851 ninja. Oddly, there were more Chunin than Genin—a reflection of the brutal attrition from their days of isolation and bloodshed in the Land of Wind.
"Over 800 shinobi… not bad. But the number of Jonin is too low. Even counting Special Jonin, it's still far from enough…"
Aoba rubbed his temples, a faint headache forming.
As for those jōnin who initially voted for him—supporting him in a vote was one thing, but becoming his subordinates was another matter entirely. These two concepts should not be confused, and this distinction had to be made clear.
"Lord Aoba, it's all because your subordinates are incompetent," Qingke and the others said, lowering their heads in shame.
"This is not your fault. I've seen your efforts. Lacking strength isn't a sin," Kawaki Aoba replied, waving his hand to dismiss their guilt.
After a moment of thought, an idea struck him.
Since his personal strength was limited, and his talent had its ceiling, he would have to rely on external tools to compensate. Just like Biwa Jūzō—without the Kubikiribōchō, it would be hard to say whether he truly possessed elite jōnin strength. But with it, he could still exchange a couple of blows against even Madara Uchiha's wood clone before dying.
While Aoba couldn't mass-produce legendary weapons, he could create specialized magical tools through Shenji Bailian.
Shenji Bailian could refine prosthetics that moved like natural limbs—and naturally, it could also produce small-scale protective artifacts. These could even function as rewards: contribute more, earn stronger artifacts.
Crafting low-grade magical tools only required time, something Aoba could spare by using shadow clones.
However, this only addressed the gap in mid-tier strength. The real issue was the lack of high-level power above the jōnin tier.
Recruiting other jōnin from the village? That idea was dismissed by Aoba immediately.
Every jōnin in the village was tightly watched. Those from the clans held loyalties bound to their family interests. Their allegiances were not so easily swayed.
As for civilian ninjas—compared to Aoba, their allegiance would more naturally gravitate toward Minato Namikaze, the current Hokage. Minato, a civilian-turned-Hokage, represented a dream that many aspired to. Even if Aoba offered better material benefits, he couldn't compete with the allure of Hokage prestige.
It was a headache.
But he had a potential solution: Shenji Bailian.
With his current mastery, Aoba could craft high-level puppets equivalent to jōnin combat power. The catch? They needed to be refined by his real body, and the process was time-consuming.
Preliminary estimates suggested that, even with ample materials, each puppet would take seven to eight days to complete.
Spending over a week to make a single jōnin-level puppet? Aoba felt reluctant.
If others knew he found this wasteful, they'd cough up blood in rage. But it wasn't arrogance—he simply no longer saw ordinary jōnin as threats. To him, they were beings he could crush with one or two moves.
Yet no matter how strong he was, he was still only one man.
Sigh… it seems this is the only way forward. What a burdensome fate I carry, he thought, resigning himself to the reality.
He had considered passing on Shenji Bailian to trusted individuals, to ease his workload. But none of his inner circle showed any talent for refining tools.
Just as Aoba sighed in frustration, his future father-in-law, Yuhi Shinku, stepped out of the room holding an account ledger.
He brought bad news.
"What? We're out of money? But I allocated a full billion ryō! How did we burn through it so fast?" Aoba was stunned.
It was hard to believe the funds he'd spent years accumulating were already gone. Though much of it came from intelligence deals and "redistributing" wealth from corrupt nobles, it hadn't been easy to acquire.
Yuhi Shinku frowned, clearly displeased. He waved the ledger.
"The new ninja academy—100 million. Untouchable. It's a pillar of your reform plan."
"The newspaper agency to guide public sentiment—another 120 million. That's crucial to your long-term plan to influence not just the village, but eventually the Land of Fire and beyond."
"Your various 'entrepreneurial' projects—cutting corners everywhere, and still needing 600 million to function."
"Then there's your private army—the elite loyal only to you. Their pay is double what they earned before. Your own words, by the way."
Shinku closed the ledger with a snap.
"So, tell me, is one billion ryō really that much?"
His tone was tinged with exasperation. If he had his way, he would've halved those side projects long ago. But Aoba had been adamant. Now that the money was gone, how would he handle it?
Aoba scratched his head. Then, with a flash of inspiration, he asked, "Then… we should still barely have enough to function, right? The funding gap isn't that wide?"
Shinku narrowed his eyes. "And what about the future? Are you confident these ventures will generate enough income in time?"
Aoba: "…"
He was speechless. Completely defeated by his father-in-law's logic.
He still had a life to live. And without steady income, no matter how ambitious his expansion, it would eventually collapse.
But where could he find new funds?
And not just a little—he needed a massive injection of capital to expand into a true powerhouse.
So, where could he find that kind of money?
The Sarutobi clan compound.
Kawaki Aoba arrived under escort, heading straight for the Third Hokage's residence.
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