[Please keep sending your power stones]
Compared to Hikaru's earlier proposals, which had only weakened Konoha's clan-based shinobi system to a limited degree, this one was almost an open declaration of war against it.
And he had not phrased it gently.
From now on, the people qualified to attend these meetings would be selected representatives.
Not clan heads.
The meaning was obvious.
The clan model would be completely replaced by the shinobi-rank model.
At that moment, only the clan heads who had always followed Hikaru remained calm. Everyone else was stunned by the news.
The heads of the smaller clans stared at him in disbelief, their eyes filled with confusion.
Even Senju Shōma nearly stood up.
But in the end, he remembered that the person sitting in the Hokage's seat was the true leader of the Senju Clan.
He remembered that he had to trust the man he had chosen with his own hands.
Especially when he noticed that the Hyūga, the Uchiha—aside from Uchiha Fugaku's group—the Inuzuka, the Ino–Shika–Chō clans, and the Aburame all remained seated without the slightest reaction.
Clearly, they either knew something, or they had already found their own benefits within Hikaru's policy.
Thinking of this, Shōma took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He absolutely could not speak.
As a member of the Senju Clan, if he opened his mouth here, it would be a direct blow to Hikaru.
If even his own clan did not trust the Hokage from their family, the consequences would be unimaginable.
And afterward, Hikaru might very well turn his blade toward the clan itself.
Shōma knew very well that Hikaru had never allowed the clan to bind him.
Back then, when Hikaru said he would move against someone from the clan, he had truly done it.
He had not even delayed.
That very night, he had found the person involved and even threatened to kill his entire family.
No matter who faced that kind of style, they would feel powerless.
As for the ordinary jōnin, they were also stunned at first.
Then, disbelief appeared on their faces.
Only they themselves knew how excited they were.
Because this reform was undeniably beneficial to civilian-born shinobi.
The previous reforms had already granted ordinary jōnin like them an unimaginable tilt in resources.
With those resources, their future performance would inevitably improve. They might not even be inferior to some clan shinobi.
Perhaps in overall strength, they still could not compare to shinobi from established clans.
But in terms of numbers, they absolutely would not be fewer than the clan shinobi.
Even clans like the Uchiha and Hyūga would be considered exceptional if they had twenty jōnin.
Adding all the other clans together, the total would likely only be around one hundred and fifty.
But Konoha had more than three hundred jōnin in total.
More than half of them came from civilian backgrounds.
And these clans would never fully unite on certain matters.
Civilian shinobi, however, might truly band together for their own interests.
If that happened, civilian shinobi would gain a considerable voice.
Hikaru's policy had, to a certain extent, placed them on the same starting line as clan shinobi.
This was raising the status of civilian shinobi.
This was weakening the privileges of clan shinobi.
This was narrowing the distance between shinobi and shinobi.
"No wonder he summoned every jōnin still in the village. So the rumors were true. The Fifth Hokage really does intend to reform everything."
"He let us participate because he wants us to have voting rights too. In that case…"
At that moment, the gazes of every civilian-born jōnin burned as they looked at Hikaru.
Because this young new Hokage truly intended to raise the rights of civilian shinobi.
And his method was even more effective than the Third Hokage's.
"Has this man gone mad?"
Beside Sarutobi Hiruzen, a middle-aged man finally could not hold back. He cursed in a low voice.
"Shut up. Don't say unnecessary things."
Hiruzen took a deep breath and snapped back in a low voice.
"And this matter is not without benefit to us."
"Clan Head…"
The middle-aged man looked at Hiruzen in surprise.
"With what he's doing, we…"
"Yes, for the time being, the clan will suffer losses."
Hiruzen interrupted him directly, his voice calm.
"But in the long run, his approach will allow clans to survive longer and go farther.
"Besides, by tilting the resources of the entire village toward jōnin, clans will also gain some improvement. And once jōnin gain greater rights, clans can still fight for more in the future.
"The Fifth is still a Senju. His policy leaves clan shinobi with a faint advantage.
"In the future, clan shinobi will face more competitors. But do not forget—we already possess enough resources.
"From the starting line, we already hold an advantage. As long as we cultivate our people with more care, we can still walk ahead of most others.
"The Fifth wants the village to recover and cultivate more talent. There will surely be reforms for chūnin and genin as well.
"This benefits Konoha. It benefits clan shinobi. It benefits civilian shinobi too.
"We should support it."
At this point, Hiruzen paused.
His gaze shifted toward Hikaru, who sat at the head of the hall, and he sighed softly.
"And our Fifth Hokage is absolutely ruthless.
"He killed eight thousand Kumo shinobi without hesitation. The Fourth Raikage is still missing, and there is a high chance he is dead.
"And do not forget—when he acted inside Konoha, he never showed mercy either.
"Also, do you know why he kept me by his side?"
"I… I don't know…"
The middle-aged man was truly frightened by Hiruzen's words.
He had never imagined there were so many layers hidden within Hikaru's policy.
But those layers were not the important part.
What truly frightened him was Hiruzen's statement about Hikaru's ruthlessness.
"He kept me beside him to kill the heart before killing the body."
Hiruzen closed his eyes in pain.
His voice sounded utterly powerless.
"He said that my presence would keep him vigilant. I do not believe such words.
"He kept me around because he wants me to raise the butcher's blade against those who oppose him…"
"Those people who once followed me…"
…
The destructive impact of Hikaru's policy was obvious.
The first meeting of Hikaru's tenure as Hokage lasted until nightfall before it finally came to an end.
After Hikaru introduced his policy, the voices of opposition were extremely loud.
Many members of smaller clans opposed it outright.
They knew very well that their opposition would likely make this new Hokage take notice of them.
They also knew this might make their future days exceedingly difficult.
But they still had to try to oppose it.
Because if they did not oppose it now, they would truly have no good days ahead.
Hikaru had no favorable impression of people with such short-sightedness.
And they were not wrong about one thing.
Hikaru had indeed already marked them.
These people were not necessarily members of Sarutobi Hiruzen's old interest groups.
After all, not every small clan had the qualifications to follow Hiruzen.
For example, clans like the Kurama Clan.
One had to admit that they had once been extremely powerful.
After all, they could use genjutsu to control a person's five senses.
That kind of ability was something even the Uchiha might not necessarily achieve.
The Kurama Clan had once been grandmasters of genjutsu.
But their current state truly made one feel how merciless time could be.
They no longer possessed their former strength, nor that proud ability.
Therefore, during Hiruzen's administration, they had not truly qualified to follow him.
And now, Hikaru did not necessarily value them either.
Since he did not value them, he naturally had no intention of communicating with them.
Their clan head was clearly not someone with much foresight either.
Thus, for the sake of their own interests, they chose to oppose Hikaru.
That genuinely irritated Hikaru.
Even if it had been within expectations, it still displeased him.
Aside from clans like the Kurama, there were also Hiruzen's former interest groups.
They had completely abandoned any illusions about Hikaru, the Fifth Hokage.
Their method was direct and simple.
Total opposition.
In their eyes, Hikaru had already stripped away their authority.
Now he wanted to strip away the family achievements they had spent years building.
This was absolutely not something they could accept.
This was absolutely not something they could tolerate.
It was no different from taking their lives.
Because of this, Hikaru encountered the greatest trouble he had faced since becoming Hokage.
And it had happened on his very first day in office.
In the end, his choice was to let everyone present vote, using the final count to decide whether the bill would pass and be implemented.
He had to admit, this vote was rather dangerous.
Many civilian jōnin chose to abstain under pressure.
It was not that they were unwilling to fight for their own interests.
Rather, the strength and dominance of clan shinobi over the long history of the shinobi world had left a memory carved deep into their bones.
It was almost like Hikaru's previous life, when someone passed by their old school with a cigarette in their mouth, only to see a teacher and instinctively throw the cigarette away.
When these civilian jōnin faced opposition from clan shinobi, sometimes it was truly difficult for them to summon the courage to resist.
Especially when those people had once been part of Konoha's upper ranks.
Hikaru was indeed somewhat helpless about this.
And while feeling helpless, he became even more determined to cross names off the "list."
Since they had made him unhappy, he would make them even more unhappy.
After all, the most important thing for a family was to stay neat and complete.
Fortunately, there were still some civilian jōnin willing to resist.
And Hikaru also had the support of Konoha's core clan forces.
What truly made Hikaru take notice was the Sarutobi Clan.
They collectively chose to support him.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, that old man, is actually rather interesting."
With their support, along with the votes from a portion of the jōnin, Hikaru's proposal finally passed by a narrow margin.
Looking back on it now, Hikaru still felt somewhat emotional.
If he had not changed the Uchiha Clan back when he was in the ANBU, drawn in the core clans, and demonstrated his strength during the war with Kumogakure—
if he had not remembered to share the cake with them and had Shikaku warn them in advance—
getting this much support would have been incredibly difficult.
As for the Sarutobi Clan's support, Hikaru had not understood it at first.
But soon, he felt it was not that surprising.
After all, the Sarutobi Clan still had Sarutobi Hiruzen, that old fox.
Because of age, many of Hiruzen's decisions had become restrained.
His ideas also clashed heavily with Hikaru's, especially regarding many of Konoha's policies.
But one could not deny that his political sensitivity was still extremely sharp.
Perhaps because he had now thoroughly lost and no longer carried as much burden, he could finally think clearly about the purpose behind Hikaru's policy.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that he would see something.
Hikaru had never underestimated Hiruzen's methods.
After all, he had once been the brilliant Professor, the Shinobi Hero of his era.
"I originally kept him around just to disgust him. I didn't expect him to help me instead. Sarutobi Hiruzen really is…"
Thinking of Hiruzen's actions, Hikaru found it rather amusing.
But no matter what, he would remember this.
Everything that had happened today would remain fresh in his mind.
Regardless, this was a good beginning.
On this foundation, Hikaru could slowly advance what he wanted to do.
Even though none of it would be easy, the most difficult part had already been handled.
"What remains is the promotion and reform of the welfare systems for chūnin and genin, as well as the final structure of the full council."
Hikaru thought silently.
But soon, his gaze turned cold.
"During this process, some things must also be dealt with. I'll use this period to clean up those people."
Since he had decided to cross names off the list, Hikaru would not delay.
Nor would he give them any chance to prepare.
Only after Konoha stabilized could he do some of the things he wanted to do.
Those things were not related to the village.
They were related to himself.
Related to his Jōgan.
Ever since Hyūga Hiashi had stirred his thoughts about the Tenseigan, Hikaru had truly begun thinking about those eyes.
Or rather, he had begun wondering whether he could gain benefits from them and improve his own eyes.
…
Hikaru did know some information about the Tenseigan.
After all, he had witnessed Naruto and Hinata's love story, and naturally also witnessed that super dōjutsu comparable to the Rinnegan.
However, there were two problems that troubled him.
The first was the location of that damned teleportation array.
The Tenseigan was on the moon.
Hikaru naturally knew this.
After all, after Ōtsutsuki Hamura and his elder brother, the Sage of Six Paths, sealed their mother together, Hamura had chosen to remain on the moon.
In truth, the current Hyūga Clan had very likely descended from the moon.
Hikaru had even made some unreliable guesses before.
Based on Kaguya's power and inheritance, Ōtsutsuki Hamura had inherited a more complete portion.
Therefore, Hamura's descendants were essentially closer to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
In other words, the Hyūga Clan might actually be the most orthodox inheritors.
Kaguya possessed the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku.
Perhaps for her, these were simply basic powers, without so many complicated names.
As the most orthodox descendants, the Hyūga should theoretically possess those powers as well.
Unfortunately, they seemed to have only the Byakugan.
The power of Shikotsumyaku had been obtained by another clan—
the clan driven out to the Land of Water by Uchiha Madara.
Of course, they had another name.
The Kaguya Clan.
Sometimes, Hikaru wondered whether the Hyūga who had lived on the moon a hundred years ago had been unable to endure the civil war between the main family and branch family, and had simply fled down to Earth.
Then, as time passed, the two bloodlines that should originally have been united separated into the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku.
This idea was actually somewhat plausible.
But without evidence to support it, Hikaru could only speculate.
Speculation or not, Hikaru now held the final bloodline of Shikotsumyaku in his hands.
Even if that brat had never once been useful so far, and none of the bones he gave Hikaru had produced a seed, at least he still had future potential.
Unfortunately, while that brat had future potential, his clan no longer existed.
Hikaru naturally had no way to search for related records.
Even if such records existed, they had likely long since been taken by Obito and Black Zetsu.
As for the Hyūga Clan, Hikaru had even less hope.
They had already completely forgotten about the Tenseigan.
Hyūga Hiashi had even come to him to ask about it.
That made Hikaru even less inclined to believe the Hyūga Clan still knew anything.
Of course, Hikaru could find a way to search the Hyūga Clan's archive.
But leaving aside the enormous workload, if he left any traces behind, it would be difficult to explain.
After thinking it over, Hikaru ultimately chose to give up.
Under these circumstances, he could not obtain a ticket to the moon through historical records.
Without a way to get there, all his thoughts were useless.
Aside from that, another important factor also made Hikaru frown.
He did not know how many of those fake Ōtsutsuki on the moon were still alive.
In the original story, only Ōtsutsuki Toneri remained alive.
But how many years later was that?
In Hikaru's memory, Naruto was around eighteen by then.
Otherwise, he would not have been marrying Hinata.
Fifteen or sixteen years later, only Toneri remained on the moon.
But now?
How many were still alive?
Hikaru truly did not know.
Without accurate intelligence, even he felt a little uncertain.
His strength had increased tremendously again.
After all, he now possessed Yin–Yang Release.
But the problem was that the other side had a "planet-killing cannon."
Once that giant Tenseigan was activated, the destruction it could cause was unimaginable.
After all, Ōtsutsuki Toneri had once cut the moon.
The true power of that giant Tenseigan was something Hikaru could not estimate.
But no matter what, its power definitely would not be weaker than Toneri's own pair of eyes.
Hikaru had the Jōgan, yes.
But it was still in its earliest stage, with only forty percent development.
Using that to fight a Tenseigan that had likely completed three fetal movements?
Even if the giant Tenseigan was not flexible, Hikaru felt he might still be blasted into slag.
When these two problems combined, Hikaru truly felt his scalp tingle.
However, as someone who had mastered Flying Thunder God, he did not think he would have no room to maneuver if he actually went up there.
At worst, he could leave his mark at the teleportation entrance.
If something went wrong, he could immediately escape back to the entrance through Flying Thunder God.
That way, Hikaru could still get away.
It was just that if he wanted to go up and cause trouble again afterward, he would likely have to wait a very, very long time.
"Looks like I can't rush this matter for now. But I should prepare a plan first. I also need the ANBU to search as much as possible for similar teleportation arrays."
Hikaru wanted to act directly, but reality did not allow him to do so.
Still, having thought it through was already a good thing.
A vague idea and a concrete plan of action were completely different.
Besides, Hikaru had now thought of something else.
If he truly went to the moon, that meant he could unleash his full power in the truest sense.
"Wood Release, Yin–Yang Release, senjutsu, Tenseigan Chakra Mode… If I can use all these powers, then the result really is hard to say."
Hikaru rubbed his chin.
He suddenly realized that going to the moon might not be a bad thing.
Because up until now, he had never used all of his power at once.
He had always been very careful about keeping his identities separate.
That was a good thing, but also a bad thing.
The good part was that his identity would not be exposed easily.
The bad part was equally obvious.
He was not accustomed to unleashing all of his power at once.
If he found a way to the moon, he could truly attempt something he had never dared to attempt in the shinobi world.
"When I put it that way, it really is something to look forward to…"
Hikaru narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then he raised his head, looking at the faint moon hidden in the sky.
After a long while, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
…
Inside the Hokage's office, Hikaru was reading the report in his hand.
These files came from the ANBU.
They were important matters Kakashi had suggested selecting, especially information about Kumogakure.
Nearly half a month had passed since the previous jōnin reform meeting ended.
The integration and transfer of departments had caused some problems.
For example, disputes over authority, positions, and personnel transfers had caused many people to lose their jobs.
Most of these people came from clans that had opposed Hikaru.
Now that they were gathering together in opposition, they did indeed cause some trouble.
Fortunately, under the coordination of the ANBU and the Police Department, those people either quieted down or were simply thrown into Konoha's prison.
It took a full week for Konoha to complete all integrations.
Then it took another week before everything began to operate again in a preliminary manner.
He had to admit, such large-scale transfers would indeed be troublesome without cooperation.
Fortunately, Konoha still had enough reserve talent.
In the past, Sarutobi Hiruzen had made the administrative structure a headache in order to hold power.
But he had not neglected talent cultivation.
Therefore, even after Hikaru transferred so many people away from their posts, he did not need to worry about Konoha collapsing.
However, this round had almost drained Konoha's talent reserves.
Now, the problem Hikaru had to face was cultivating new talent.
In that case, Hikaru felt the chūnin and genin reforms had to follow up as well.
But even if they followed up, he still had to observe the effects of the jōnin reform first.
Of course, he also had to finish dealing with certain matters first.
And certain people had to be dealt with properly.
"Saya, ask Minister Shikaku and the Third to come here."
Hikaru looked at the report in his hand.
After thinking for a moment, he spoke to Saya beside him.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Saya smiled and walked out directly.
After entering the Hokage's office, Hikaru had quickly copied the ANBU's model over.
He had also officially upgraded the Secretariat into the Secretariat Department.
However, this Secretariat Department temporarily did not belong to the eight main departments.
For now, Hikaru placed it under the Hokage's Office, and it would not maintain excessive contact with outside departments.
Still, Hikaru believed this Secretariat Department would sooner or later become the ninth major department.
After all, the responsibilities of these secretaries were enormous.
In truth, Hikaru had originally wanted to bring this department out directly.
But after thinking it over, he felt others could not yet understand it, so he left it aside for now.
There was also another important issue before him.
The Secretariat needed a lot of talent.
Some of the people Hikaru had caused to lose their jobs could be re-employed.
Some needed adjustment based on their actual circumstances.
And some should simply prepare to leave neatly with their families.
Aside from the Secretariat Department, Hikaru was also considering formally establishing a Logistics Department.
He was even planning to create a Taxation Department.
At present, logistics still fell under Hikaru's own authority.
In other words, logistics was completely held in the Hokage's hands.
But Hikaru knew very clearly how important logistics was.
In his previous life, when his homeland fought the United States, it had suffered greatly due to logistics.
Of course, that could not be helped at the time.
After all, the country had been poor, and its technology was lacking.
But the Konoha Hikaru now controlled did not have that problem.
At least in this world, the concept of air superiority was not very developed.
Hikaru could absolutely find a way to improve logistics properly.
Having participated in the war between Konoha and Kumogakure, he was not satisfied with Konoha's current logistical coordination.
However, he also knew this matter had to be handled slowly.
At present, logistics was under Hikaru's leadership and required coordination between the Political Affairs Department and the Finance Department.
After all, inventory was the Finance Department's concern, while distribution was the Political Affairs Department's issue.
This made things extremely troublesome.
Creating an independent Logistics Department would absolutely solve these problems.
But if he did that, power would inevitably be dispersed.
Hikaru did not mind that, but he also had to consider how those people he had just given ministerial positions to would think.
Besides, Hikaru currently did not have enough talent to take charge of this matter.
So this still needed careful thought.
The Taxation Department was the same.
And compared to logistics, taxation was even more troublesome because it would heavily affect the daimyō's interests again.
Hikaru treated the daimyō like a pig to be slaughtered.
But once he interfered with taxation, it would be equivalent to stripping away the daimyō's last remaining shred of face.
Konoha now controlled military, political, diplomatic, and half of economic authority.
With the emergence of newspapers, it was foreseeable that cultural authority would eventually fall completely into Hikaru's hands as well.
Once Hikaru moved against taxation, it would mean he was also taking over the full economic function.
At that point, the daimyō would have only a title left.
Hikaru did not fear the daimyō.
In fact, he had never taken the daimyō seriously.
But for now, he did not want to strike too hard at him.
The road had to be walked step by step.
Meals had to be eaten one bite at a time.
Hikaru's jōnin reform was already an enormous step.
The fact that he had not torn himself apart was due to his good handling of the matter—and because he was ruthless enough when needed.
Of course, it was also because Hikaru needed more jōnin support.
If he had been a little older, he could have competed with Minato Namikaze for the Fourth Hokage position.
Then, during his time as Fourth Hokage, he could have started reforms from the genin level and slowly advanced them up to jōnin.
But Hikaru could not do that.
That was why he had acted directly and struck at the jōnin first.
This step was truly risky.
But it was also truly valuable.
However, because he had skipped the stage of accumulating talent, Hikaru now had to face the problem of cultivating talent himself.
Without enough talent, how could he support continued action?
"Sigh. There really is a pile of mess waiting for me to clean up."
Hikaru rubbed his brow.
At that moment, Nara Shikaku and Sarutobi Hiruzen walked in together.
Hikaru quickly adjusted his mood and lightly gestured for both of them to sit.
Once they had both sat down, one looking puzzled and the other respectful, Hikaru took out a list and signaled to Saya that she could begin recording.
Recording the Hokage's words and actions was one of Hikaru's small innovations.
Of course, if something involved secrets that were too deep, Hikaru could still destroy the record.
"I called both of you here because there is an important matter to handle.
"Third, this is for you."
As he spoke, Hikaru handed the list to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Then he slowly said,
"Look through the names here. For the ones I marked, find a suitable time and opportunity to deal with them."
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