Three months had passed since Jiraiya became the Fifth Hokage.
With the joint efforts of Jiraiya and Tsunade, the villagers had gradually adapted to the leadership of the Fifth Hokage. After all, the Fifth more or less continued the ruling policies of the Third.
Except for the restoration of the garrison, most departments had not changed much.
The reason for restoring the garrison was simple. As Hokage, Jiraiya also needed to cultivate his own direct forces to strengthen his influence.
Although the Hokage is the leader of the village, the village itself is a combination of various interest groups, and the Hokage is merely the leader of the strongest faction. If he wants to implement reforms, he will inevitably touch the interests of many parties.
Jiraiya didn't like these twists and turns—he just wanted to be a warrior fighting on the front lines.
But Tsunade, who handled internal affairs, didn't think that way. They needed a force of their own to carry out drastic reforms within Konoha.
Rubbing her sore shoulders, Tsunade looked out at the lush leaves beyond the window to ease her fatigue.
Then she glanced at Jiraiya, who had been dragged back by Shizune, and said helplessly, "Jiraiya, you're the Fifth Hokage of the village. Can you put in at least a little effort into your work? Where the hell do you run off to every day?"
Jiraiya scratched his head and said, "Tsunade, you owe too much money. I'm trying to write a book to pay off your debts."
Tsunade looked slightly embarrassed and quickly changed the subject. "Jiraiya, I think it's necessary to explain the current situation in the village and the challenges we're about to face…"
Simply put, after Tsunade became his assistant, the elder advisors Koharu and Homura had basically retreated to the background.
The factions with real influence in the village were now the major ninja clans: the Ino–Shika–Chō alliance, the Hyūga clan, and the Sarutobi clan. Among them, the Ino–Shika–Chō had clearly expressed support for the current Hokage and were actively assisting.
The Hyūga clan strictly maintained neutrality and never competed for key positions, which was quite reassuring.
At present, the only internal problems in Konoha were the remnants of Root, and the Sarutobi clan's jōnin deeply embedded in ANBU and other important departments—especially the latter, which had practically become one of the biggest obstacles to reform.
Hearing this, Jiraiya looked troubled. He could send ANBU to eliminate the remnants of Root, but he felt somewhat powerless when it came to the Sarutobi clan's jōnin holding key positions.
Although he and Tsunade had launched what was essentially a coup, the Third Hokage had voluntarily relinquished his position.
After minimizing internal conflict in Konoha as much as possible, they were now left dealing with the "big tail" of the Sarutobi clan. As long as the Third Hokage was still alive, they couldn't openly act against them.
The most critical factor was still the Third Hokage's attitude.
Sighing softly, Jiraiya finally understood the situation Minato had faced back then. Even though he had effectively placed his teacher under house arrest, the man had once been the Third Hokage, and his influence over Konoha was immense.
"Understood. I'll visit the old man in a few days…"
Tsunade nodded slightly, then took out letters from Amegakure and Uzushio Village and handed them to Jiraiya.
Opening them, Jiraiya skimmed through the contents. They contained congratulations on his appointment as Hokage, along with requests to strengthen cooperation and exchanges.
After reading, Jiraiya said with some emotion, "I didn't expect the ones secretly ruling Amegakure to be the three students I once took in during my time in the Land of Rain. Life really is unpredictable."
Tsunade frowned. "Jiraiya, you're not actually planning to support them, are you?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "Of course not. Now that I'm Hokage, I have to prioritize Konoha's interests. Besides being my students, they're also the leaders of Amegakure—they have their own interests to consider."
"That's good…"
Tsunade relaxed slightly, then asked, "By the way, how's the pursuit of the Root remnants going? Those stubborn idiots loyal to Danzō have even shown up near the Daimyō's castle. They might threaten his safety."
Jiraiya seemed to think of something and said, "Tsunade, can we use this opportunity to control the daimyō? As far as I know, Uzushio Village already answers directly to the people."
"Take it one step at a time. The ninjas in the village won't agree to us targeting the nobility so easily."
Tsunade was clearly hesitant about taking action against the daimyō. On one hand, the daimyō's authority in the Land of Fire was deeply entrenched. On the other, the current daimyō had ties to the Senju clan, making direct pressure difficult.
Jiraiya nodded. He didn't have much talent for governing a ninja village anyway.
He would have to rely on Tsunade's experience. What he could do was maintain a relatively fair environment and prevent incidents like the Kumogakure mission and the Uchiha night from happening again.
After discussing internal matters, Tsunade brought up the external pressure Konoha was facing.
Kumogakure and Iwagakure were Konoha's old enemies, having fought large-scale wars against them in the past. Fortunately, the rise of Amegakure and Uzushio Village helped share some of the burden. Sunagakure, meanwhile, was a formal ally.
In the short term, Konoha didn't need to worry about external pressure. But in the long run, that might not hold true.
They needed to prepare defensive plans and build a stronger response force, always ready for a potential joint assault from other nations.
After hearing this, Jiraiya fell into deep thought. Even though the end of the war with Kumogakure had given all nations valuable time to recover, everyone was clearly preparing for the next conflict.
There was no such thing as true peace in the ninja world.
Leaving the Hokage building quietly, Jiraiya began to understand some of the Third Hokage's past decisions.
The Third's compromise with Kumogakure had objectively prevented further war, and his tacit approval of Danzō's actions against the Uchiha had prevented internal chaos—but it had also planted seeds of distrust among the major clans.
After all, clans like the Hyūga and Uchiha had long been suppressed, while the Sarutobi clan had never faced such treatment.
This imbalance inevitably bred dissatisfaction, which was why none of the major clans openly opposed Jiraiya and Tsunade's coup.
But more than anything, Jiraiya worried about whether he would one day become as indecisive as his teacher.
Using the Will of Fire as an excuse to suppress others and serve personal interests… that would completely betray the purpose of being Hokage—to protect one's comrades.
With a deep sigh, Jiraiya took out a note from his pocket and tore it to pieces.
The note had come from a spy hidden in the village. It contained Orochimaru's contact information—deliberately sent by Orochimaru himself.
Back when they were Sannin, Orochimaru had always avoided him.
But now, not long after Jiraiya became Hokage, Orochimaru had taken the initiative to reach out… wanting to make a deal.
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