Chapter 357 Hokage? Just a Mascot

While the master was still feeling guilty and ashamed, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally finished counting the votes.

"Orochimaru, 51 votes in total.

Uchiha Mai, 256 votes in total.

Minato Namikaze, 258 votes in total."

Although Konoha only had 200 jonin, there were various organizations and large and small families that were either prosperous or declining, and the final total votes exceeded 200.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Minato Namikaze with a smile on his face and said with a smile: "Let us congratulate Minato Namikaze for being successfully elected as the fourth Hokage!"

Quack, quack.

After that, Sarutobi Hiruzen took the initiative to stand up and applaud.

"Pa pa pa pa...!"

For a moment, thunderous applause rang out in the conference hall, and people stood up one after another, casting a blessing look at Minato who was still feeling guilty for his poor behavior.

The conference hall was filled with a happy atmosphere, and those who were in the Hokage department and supported Minato were full of joy, and finally won this key game that was related to the next few decades.

Danzo was in a good mood. Although the Orochimaru he supported became a minor role, fortunately Uchiha Mai was not elected, and it was Minato who finally took the position.

Minato was gentle and not strong enough, and he respected his teacher and was very easy to control. He was much better than Uchiha Mai.

Fugaku, Tsunade, Hatake Sakumo and others also stood up to applaud the master. Although they smiled, it could be seen that they were more or less reluctant.

Uchiha Mai lost to Namikaze Minato by two votes.

The efforts and expectations of so many people, the long-cherished wish of a family was shattered today.

On the contrary, Uchiha Mai, the person involved, had no trace of reluctance in his smile, as if he didn't care about losing the election at all and sincerely congratulated the master.

He showed his gentlemanly demeanor.

The master walked up to the podium and stood shoulder to shoulder with Sarutobi Hiruzen. Seeing Uchiha Mai's demeanor and smile, he felt even more guilty. What a noble person he was.

About a minute later, the applause stopped.

Sarutobi Hiruzen waved his hand to signal everyone to sit down, then patted Minato on the shoulder and announced to everyone: "The inauguration ceremony of the Fourth Hokage will be held in two days.

I believe Minato will live up to everyone's expectations and lead Konoha to a new peak. After all, he is the little sun loved by everyone."

Sarutobi Hiruzen handed the microphone to Master Men.

Minato took the microphone, twitched the corner of his mouth, and then said shyly: "I am very honored to be successfully elected as the Fourth Hokage.

This is my first time to be a Hokage and I have no experience. I just hope that everyone can bear with me, and the seniors can guide me, a junior student."

After that, Master Men stuffed the microphone back to Sarutobi Hiruzen, feeling really guilty.

There was another round of thunderous applause.

After the applause subsided, Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at everyone again, raised the microphone and said: "Next, I have another thing to announce."

Another thing?

Everyone was stunned. Given the current atmosphere and situation, the election of the Fourth Hokage is the most important thing, right? What can't be put off until later?

The news that can be announced together with Minato's election must be of similar importance.

"Although Minato was successfully elected as the Fourth Hokage and won the election?

But we can also see that in this election, there are candidates who have shown popularity, strength, ability and potential that are not inferior to Minato.

That's right, I'm talking about Uchiha Mai."

Uchiha Mai has been smiling, and when he feels the eyes of everyone, he just waves his hand. As the first male solo in the ninja world, he has experienced big scenes.

Orochimaru's expression is normal, and he still has a Sima face. I knew it couldn't be me.

Sarutobi Hiruzen continued, "Since he appeared out of nowhere a few years ago, Uchiha Mai has made many military achievements.

He completely wiped out the vanguard reconnaissance unit of the Hidden Cloud Village, severely damaged four Jinchūriki, fought against the Third Tsuchikage Ohnoki, and killed the demigod Hanzo.

Afterwards, he single-handedly conquered the Hidden Mist Village and killed the Third Kazekage, who was at the peak of his power, becoming the brightest star in the Third Shinobi World War.

The Hidden Sand Village, the Hidden Rock Village, and the Hidden Cloud Village saw clearly that they could not defeat Konoha with Uchiha Mai, so they retreated at the same time.

It can be said that because of Mai's appearance, the Third Shinobi World War ended two years earlier. Konoha was able to thwart the conspiracy of those ambitious people, and Mai should take half of the credit."

The people in the conference hall came to their senses.

Is this going to be a double Hokage? But Konoha has never had such a rule.

Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his voice a little: "In recognition of the achievements of Uchiha Mai, the senior ninja, in the Third Ninja World War, I declare.

Appoint Uchiha Mai as the candidate for Hokage and the advisor of the Hokage. He is the only candidate for the future Fifth Hokage!"

Candidate for Hokage?

Everyone thought about it for a moment and understood what this position was. Although Konoha did not have this position before, the Hidden Cloud Village did, so it could be used as a reference.

Generally speaking, there are at least two people competing for the Kage, namely the candidate for Hokage and the candidate for Kazekage.

The popularity and strength of the candidates will not differ too much. Only when one party completely suppresses the other party can the winner be determined, such as Rasa and Yekura of the Hidden Sand Village.

It is also possible that the winner can only be determined when the new Kage is selected, such as Minato and Orochimaru in the original plot.

But generally speaking, even the candidates with higher rankings are only more popular. If they do not get the support and arrangement of the Kage, they have no actual power.

Candidates are different.

For example, the Raikage candidate prince Ai of the Hidden Cloud Village is the appointed fourth Raikage, with power beyond all the elders, second only to his father, the Third Raikage.

The candidate is a specific position, not the candidate.

This is equivalent to appointing Uchiha Mai as the prince of Konoha.

Tsunade, Hatake Sakumo and other ninjas who support Uchiha Mai were overjoyed. They thought that their campaign failed and their journey ended here, but they didn't expect to have an unexpected gain.

The Hokage candidate and Hokage advisor, the prince and prime minister, are not bad.

Fugaku's smile is somewhat intriguing. He looks at Uchiha Mai from time to time, thinking in his heart.

No wonder Mai has been so calm and voted for Minato. He should have reached a py deal with Sarutobi Hiruzen long ago.

Those Hokage ninjas also applauded Uchiha Mai and did not stand up to question the legitimacy of Sarutobi Hiruzen's appointment.

First of all, today is just an election. Minato can only become a real Hokage after consulting with the Daimyo and holding the Hokage inauguration ceremony two days later.

Besides, after Minato takes office, will Sarutobi Hiruzen's words no longer work?

It is possible that in the future, if the Hidden Cloud Village invades Konoha again, Minato will have to ask Sarutobi Hiruzen for his opinion on whether to send troops.

On the other hand, Uchiha Mai's assistant to the Hokage will also help Konoha's long-term stability. At least he will not take away half of Konoha's people to create a new Konoha.

"It's boring."

Danzo, who was sitting at the back of the hall, stood up and left the conference hall with a cold face, without giving Uchiha Mai any face.

Damn, I didn't stop him after all, and this kid climbed over my head.

Orochimaru's dark golden pupils flickered, although he was disappointed because he failed in the election and his votes were only a fraction of the other two.

But he didn't have any resentment towards Minato or Uchiha Mai.

Minato has enough strength, unlimited potential, good image and good temperament. There is no problem in being elected as Hokage. Orochimaru is very convinced.

Uchiha Mai is even more so. He and Orochimaru are half-brothers of different generations. Orochimaru is also convinced that he was elected as the candidate for Hokage.

Although he was dissatisfied with Sarutobi Hiruzen for throwing all the resources at Minato, it was just because he thought he was no worse than Minato.

"It seems that all the energy can be invested in scientific research."

Orochimaru murmured, stood up and looked at Uchiha Mai and Namikaze Minato, nodded slightly to congratulate, and then quietly left the conference hall.

The carnival lasted until late, and no one slept tonight.

The next day, Namikaze Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique and took Sarutobi Hiruzen to the capital of the Land of Fire. He successfully met the daimyo and got the official certification of the daimyo.

On the third day, Konoha held a grand ceremony for the inauguration of the Hokage. Minato Namikaze wore the extremely cool long Hokage robe, looking very handsome.

The top leader was only in his early twenties, and Konoha seemed to have entered a new era. The machine was full of vitality, at least it looked like that.

Uchiha Mai stayed at home to cultivate her small universe.

Cricket Hokage is just an assistant and consultant to the Hokage. It is better not to steal the limelight from the Hokage at this time.

After taking office as the fourth Hokage, Minato couldn't wait to get into work, forgetting to eat and sleep all day, hoping to lead Konoha into a new era with his own efforts.

It was only after adapting for a while that Minato found that the Hokage was not what he imagined.

As an administrative machine composed of multiple departments, Konoha has always had good cooperation between multiple departments, which had been well coordinated during the third generation.

The administrative department, the education department, the torture department, the dark department, the hollow department... each department has a set of established rules of conduct.

There are not many things that the Hokage can intervene in. Most of the time, he is just a mascot.

Namikaze Minato wanted to reform and make a career, but he found that with his vision, Konoha had almost no language to change, at least not in a short time.

And those places that can be reformed are not really big problems, at least they can be tolerated. But once the reform is successful or not, a certain aspect of Konoha will be paralyzed for a long time.

And in some major events, the Hokage needs to make a decision after considering the opinions of the Hokage assistants, consultants, and leaders of various departments.

Some annoying Hokage assistants will unscrupulously intervene in Konoha's political affairs according to their ideas, completely disregarding Minato's identity as a Hokage.

That's right, it's Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitomon En.

The three of us didn't even give face to Hiruzen, so how could we give face to you, a weak and junior Hokage?

Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't interfere in Konoha's political affairs. Except for holding a part of the power of the Anbu, he let Namikaze Minato play by himself most of the time.

Only when he thinks that some of Namikaze Minato's policies and actions will cause Konoha to suffer losses, will he go to Minato to talk.

Minato, who is weaker in character and feels that he is inexperienced, will subconsciously choose to give in, change and amend the policies, and follow Sarutobi Hiruzen's instructions.

It seems that there is no problem. As an elder, Sarutobi Hiruzen imparts some life experience to the younger generation and improves Minato's posture level, which is reasonable.

But Minato just feels a little uncomfortable.

It seems that Konoha is the same with or without him, and it seems that Konoha during the fourth generation period is no different from Konoha during the third generation period.

Only Uchiha Mai, the candidate for Hokage and Hokage advisor, is the one that Minato likes the most.

Because Uchiha Mai will ask Minato for his opinion on everything, and actively contact people from Kirigakure and Sand Village, organizing large and small meetings every few days.

For example, [East (Konoha) Water West (Sand Village) Transfer], [Three-Nation Joint Exercise], [Kirigakure Merchant Summit], [Kirigakure Merchant Summit]...

Big and small meetings, all kinds of things for Master Men to do, because it is related to the establishment of diplomatic relations between different ninja villages, so each meeting is very important and needs to be discussed repeatedly.

In addition to large and small meetings, Uchiha Mai also arranged many activities for Master Men, such as [Pension for Families of Konoha's Fallen Ninjas], [War and Peace Speech], [Speech on the Importance of Protecting the Ninja World Environment]...

Master Men is like a spinning top, being whipped by Uchiha Mai to fly.

But Master Men feels very fulfilled and proud. He believes that the various meetings he held, the various occasions he attended, and the various speeches he gave have truly changed the ninja world and Konoha.

At least it's better than working in the Hokage's office and being scolded by those Hokage advisors.

Fugaku asked Uchiha Mai why he arranged so many meetings, activities and speeches for the Hokage.

Uchiha Mai's answer was: "Nonsense.

Only by sending the Hokage to participate in various meetings, activities and speeches, can I, as the Hokage candidate, advisor and leader of the real power department, better manage Konoha."

What Uchiha Mai did was actually no different from Danzo, Mito Kado En, Utatane Koharu and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

It's just that Sarutobi Hiruzen is gentler than the first three, and Uchiha Mai is gentler than Sarutobi Hiruzen.

For example, the cooperation between Kirigakure and Konoha in business was a meeting attended by the master of the sect and it took half a month to sign the agreement.

But when it comes to implementation, it's still Uchiha Mai who did it.

After a decree is issued, there will always be various troubles and various modifications need to be made according to the actual situation.

Everyone wants to take over the power of Konoha and let the Hokage act according to their own ideas, but Uchiha Mai's way of doing things is more clever.

He divided a matter into the planning stage, the negotiation stage, and the execution stage, so that the master wasted a lot of time and energy on the first two, especially the first stage.

In fact, the first two stages are unnecessary. No matter whether the master goes to the meeting or not, no matter how detailed the master discusses the agreement, Uchiha Mai will do it.

It gave the master a huge sense of participation and satisfied his vanity and sense of responsibility. When it comes to Konoha, multiple ninja villages, and even the entire ninja world, no one will be careless.

In fact, the most important and inconspicuous execution stage has always been in the hands of Uchiha Mai.

Hokage? Just a mascot.

July watch and Ferrari ruined my night