Chapter 137: Planting a Seed

"But who else in the village is capable of serving as Hokage?"

A ninja from the Nara clan raised his hand, his face etched with confusion as he posed the question. His voice rang out in the quiet meeting room, tinged with urgency and concern. It was a question that mirrored the focus of most of the ninjas present. At this moment, all eyes were fixed on Naruto, waiting for his response.

In the current state of Konoha, it truly seemed that, aside from Naruto, there were no suitable candidates for the position of Hokage. Those with political backing lacked the requisite strength, while those with sufficient strength lacked the political support. This reality had left everyone in a deep dilemma.

"There is someone available," Naruto said calmly. "Lady Tsunade. The granddaughter of the First Hokage and one of the Sannin."

"But the problem is, Lady Tsunade has been wandering abroad and refuses to return to the village!" another ninja interjected, his brow furrowed with worry.

This was indeed a thorny issue, and one that deeply troubled Hiruzen Sarutobi’s right-hand men, such as Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka. They knew well that, besides Naruto, there were only three people in Konoha qualified to be Hokage—the three students of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Legendary Sannin.

Orochimaru had left for the Land of Rice Fields to establish the Dragon Creation Society. Although Konoha had never officially declared him a missing-nin, his posture made it clear he would never return. Furthermore, Orochimaru had previously ordered the Dragon Creation Society to heavily infiltrate Konoha; had it not been for the interruption of the extraterrestrial robot invasion, heaven only knew what they might have done to the village. The Konoha ninjas still harbored resentment toward the organization, and the mere thought of Orochimaru’s actions stirred complex emotions within them.

Then there was the second of the Sannin, Jiraiya. But it was even less likely for him to return for this position. Jiraiya was constantly traveling, purportedly searching for the "Child of Prophecy," but in reality, he was responsible for managing Konoha’s external intelligence network. In terms of capability, seniority, and political resources, Jiraiya was a viable candidate. However, there was no one to replace him as the head of the intelligence network; the loss to Konoha’s external operations should he leave that post was simply unacceptable. Those in the know felt a sense of helplessness and regret regarding Jiraiya’s choices.

That left only the final candidate: Lady Tsunade. By blood, she was the granddaughter of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju; by status, she was a student of the recently deceased Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi; in terms of political support, the people of Konoha were as willing to back her as they were Naruto; and in terms of seniority and ability, she was the world’s foremost medical expert, having rendered distinguished service during the Great Ninja War.

However, the only issue was that before the Great Ninja War had even concluded, Lady Tsunade had left Konoha due to war trauma, wandering the world and refusing to return regardless of the circumstances. No one knew how to bring her back.

"You need not worry about that; I will find a way to bring Lady Tsunade back to the village," Naruto said. "Before then, I will personally manage the postwar reconstruction of Konoha. Afterward, I will bring in the administrative team I have cultivated to assist the two advisors during a transitional period. Once Lady Tsunade takes office, the team will step down."

With that, Naruto closed the discussion on the selection of the new Hokage and turned the meeting toward the reconstruction of Konoha. One problem that surprised Naruto was the severe post-traumatic stress suffered by the village's ninjas. Many of the survivors had witnessed carnage far beyond anything seen in previous wars and had felt firsthand their own helplessness when facing such powerful enemies. Their spirits had suffered an unprecedented blow, shrouded in a heavy gloom.

When this issue was raised, the older generation of ninjas, led by the two advisors, felt a profound sense of powerlessness. They had witnessed the god-like, world-shattering power of the First and Second Hokage, so the consequences of the robot invasion did not seem as catastrophic to them as it did to the others. However, the current backbone of Konoha’s forces had, in some sense, lived through a long period of peace. Aside from the Nine-Tails, they had never faced an enemy so powerful that it induced despair. And even then, the ones who had truly faced the Nine-Tails were not this generation, but the likes of Minato Namikaze.

Naruto had never imagined that ninjas, who lived their lives on the edge of a blade, would suffer from such intense war trauma. He could only coordinate with the medical ninjas to dedicate a portion of their personnel to mental health services. Since the medical staff was severely shorthanded, Naruto consulted with the Yamanaka clan to see if they could provide support, with the costs to be covered by the village’s public funds. Additionally, he provided pensions to the families of the fallen to help them through their hardships.

After settling these trivial matters, Naruto organized the ninjas to draft a detailed reconstruction plan and began fundraising. Through donations and loans, they raised a significant amount of capital to rebuild homes, roads, bridges, and other infrastructure. During this phase, Naruto employed a bit of political strategy. He made the village’s public accounts transparent to the participating ninjas, explaining the origin of every expenditure and income.

In the process, he intentionally signaled a sobering reality: Konoha’s economy was severely constrained by the reliance on mission commissions and funding from the Feudal Lord. Usually, this was barely enough for everyone to scrape by, but when faced with the massive expenses of postwar reconstruction, the funds were woefully inadequate.

Konoha now seemed trapped in a dead end. Reconstruction required huge sums of money. To obtain such wealth, they would seemingly have to wait for the Feudal Lord’s grants or quickly resume mission operations to earn commissions. However, the funding for this year had already been disbursed, making the prospect of getting more through that channel bleak. And to resume missions, they first had to complete the reconstruction. Even if they couldn't finish it entirely, they at least needed to repair the streets and mission offices to a decent standard so that clients would trust that the Konoha ninjas were still capable of completing tasks.

Thus, only two paths remained: either rack their brains to find other sources of revenue, or helplessly bow to the Feudal Lord and compromise by ceding some of the village’s authority in exchange for financial relief.

In fact, unbeknownst to the ninjas, the Feudal Lord had already sent an emissary to quietly approach the two advisors. The Feudal Lord was prepared to provide fifty percent of the funds needed for reconstruction in exchange for Konoha providing three squads of ninjas to serve as his private guard. During their tenure, these ninjas would have to follow all of his commands without question.

The two advisors were conflicted and distressed by this demand. If they accepted, the village’s autonomy would be weakened. The Feudal Lord could easily corrupt these ninjas and then, bypassing Konoha, use them to train his own private military force. Yet, if they refused, the reconstruction would stall, leaving the future of Konoha fraught with uncertainty. They weighed the pros and cons in their hearts, unable to reach a decision.

After presenting the state of the public accounts and highlighting the problem, Naruto remained silent, watching the others quietly. The ninjas present realized the severity of the situation and began to ponder how they might break through this economic impasse and find a more stable path for the future of Konoha.