After finishing his remarks, Homura Mitokado raised a hand and pressed it lightly against the microphone, then turned toward Namikaze Minato and Shimura Danzō.
"Do either of you have anything you'd like to say?"
Danzō's single eye swept coldly across the crowd below before he spoke.
"No need. Let's proceed directly to the vote."
He knew very well that the outcome of this election was not determined by the chūnin, genin, or the ordinary villagers gathered below. The real decision rested in the hands of the jōnin with voting rights, and those people would not change their stance because of a few pleasant speeches.
More importantly, nearly every voting jōnin already knew exactly what kind of person Shimura Danzō was. A few words would never alter their impression of him.
Minato, on the other hand, had a far more approachable public image. He was the type who could easily move people with his words.
Precisely because of that, Danzō chose to refuse the chance to speak, cutting off any possibility of unexpected developments.
"I don't need to speak either," Minato said.
Originally, Minato had planned to say a few words. But since Danzō had already declined, insisting on speaking now would feel somewhat inappropriate.
Besides, today's election ceremony was largely a formality. Ending it sooner would be fine as well, so Minato chose not to push the matter.
"Then we'll begin the voting," Homura announced.
He stepped aside and stood next to the ballot box.
Uchiha Ren stepped forward first, while the heads of Konoha's various ninja clans lined up behind him in an orderly fashion.
To save time—and also due to an unwritten rule—the Jōnin confidence votes belonging to clan members were usually cast by their clan head. As for ordinary jōnin stationed at the borders or currently on missions, their trust votes were cast collectively by Shikaku Nara , the captain of the jōnin commander group.
Of course, ordinary jōnin who didn't wish to queue up at the Hokage Tower could also voluntarily entrust their votes to Shikaku Nara to cast on their behalf.
In reality, this so-called "voluntary" system left plenty of room for manipulation.
However, since this was the first Hokage election in Konoha's history, and the event had been organized rather hastily, neither Hiruzen Sarutobi nor Shimura Danzō had tampered with this aspect.
That's right—this truly was the first Hokage election ever held in Konoha.
The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju , had risen to the position by overwhelming public support. His only real rival, Madara Uchiha , had been provoked by Tobirama Senju and ultimately chose to withdraw. As a result, Hashirama assumed the position directly.
The situation of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju , was even more special.
While Hashirama was Hokage, most governmental affairs had already been handled by Tobirama. In many ways, Hashirama functioned more like a symbolic leader, while Tobirama was the one truly running the village.
Therefore, when Hashirama died, Tobirama smoothly succeeded him as Hokage. Aside from some dissatisfaction within the Uchiha clan, the transition happened without any election at all.
As for the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi…
Heh.
He had been personally appointed by that "inherently evil white-haired" Tobirama Senju . If he had gone through an election, people wouldn't say that his position was illegitimate.
Because of this, the jōnin of Konoha were extremely interested in this unprecedented Hokage election. Anyone who wasn't occupied with critical duties had basically come to witness it in person.
In total, several hundred people participated in the voting, and the process took nearly half an hour to complete.
Next came the vote counting.
"This matter is of great importance. Unrelated personnel should step down. From here on, ANBU will handle security."
Danzō suddenly spoke, glancing toward the smaller clan heads who remained on the Hokage Tower rooftop after casting their votes.
Most ordinary jōnin had already left after voting—after all, the rooftop of the Hokage Tower simply couldn't accommodate that many people.
"Elder Shimura, that's not in accordance with the rules," Hiruzen said immediately. "The vote counting must be witnessed by everyone."
Earlier, several Sarutobi clan members serving in the ANBU had passed information to him. Something about the situation felt wrong, and Hiruzen instinctively objected.
Before the election began, he had already received word that Danzō had secretly replaced the ANBU guards with Root operatives.
Although Hiruzen still didn't know what Danzō was planning, there was no way he would allow everything to proceed according to Danzō's arrangements.
Whatever Danzō wanted to do—
Hiruzen intended to stop it.
Danzō replied calmly,
"Clan Head Sarutobi, you misunderstand. I'm not asking everyone to leave. It's simply that such a small rooftop gathering so many people could easily lead to an accident."
Hiruzen frowned slightly. For a moment, he couldn't quite grasp Danzō's true intentions.
At that moment, Uchiha Ren suddenly spoke.
"Clan Head Sarutobi, Elder Shimura's concerns aren't unreasonable. Perhaps we should allow some people to leave first. The most important thing right now is to reveal the election results as soon as possible."
"As for fairness… Elder Homura can simply announce the votes one by one into the microphone. Everyone can verify them."
As he spoke, Ren gave Hiruzen a quick glance.
Ren knew Danzō wanted to clear the area in preparation for something that might happen shortly, so he casually lent him a hand.
As for that glance toward Hiruzen…
Well, his eyes were just a bit dry. He merely blinked.
What signal?
Hiruzen pondered for a moment before finally saying,
"Very well. Let's proceed that way."
Truthfully, Hiruzen didn't want to agree. But one sentence from Ren had convinced him:
They needed to confirm the election results as quickly as possible and firmly establish Minato as Hokage.
Once Hiruzen gave his approval, Homura Mitokado and Utane Koharu naturally raised no further objections. They immediately arranged for most of the crowd to leave the Hokage Tower.
Soon, the once-crowded rooftop became much quieter.
Aside from the two candidates—Namikaze Minato and Shimura Danzō—only about a dozen people remained.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane , Uchiha Ren, Hiashi Hyūga , and the clan heads of several major families, including the current generation of Ino–Shika–Chō.
As for Jiraiya and Orochimaru, neither enjoyed such formal occasions. From the very beginning they hadn't appeared, likely hiding somewhere nearby while quietly observing the events.
"Ahem… We will now begin counting the votes."
Homura stepped to the edge of the rooftop again. After clearing his throat twice to attract everyone's attention, he reached into the ballot box and pulled out the first ballot.
"Namikaze Minato — one vote."
He displayed the ballot to both Minato and Danzō before announcing the name loudly.
After confirming that no one raised objections, Homura placed the ballot into a separate box prepared in advance.
These ballots would be archived for future inspection, so they had to be stored carefully.
"Namikaze Minato — two votes!"
"Namikaze Minato — three votes!"
…
"Namikaze Minato — one hundred and thirty-six votes!"
"Shimura Danzō — one vote!"
As Homura drew out ballot after ballot, the expressions on everyone's faces gradually became strange.
Meanwhile—
Danzō's face had completely darkened.
The gap was simply too enormous.
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