Sarutobi Hiruzen shifted his gaze to the portrait of Senju Tobirama in the office and smiled faintly.
He cupped his hands in respect.
The core reason why the conversation with Shimura Danzō went so smoothly lay in using the reputation of being the "Disciple of Senju Tobirama" as a guarantee.
Rounding it up, it could be considered swiping the Second Hokage's credit score.
However, just taking out a loan wouldn't do; he still had to give Danzō a little sweetness and make him feel like he had actually profited...
For internal conflicts, political credit is very important.
"Those fan-made videos focused on using fire as a metaphor for history, without much serious substance."
Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered his intelligence advantage:
"The intelligence that can be confirmed at present is, first, regarding the evaluation of me. The videos from my previous life showed a polarized trend, but they all believed that if I had done better, many tragedies could have been avoided..."
"This shows that there are many angles from which I can carry out my work, and the majority of people can be won over."
"Second, this world seems to have a problem with mechanical deus ex machina; personal strength must absolutely not be relaxed."
While analyzing the current situation, Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered the five major modules of the red-headed document in his consciousness.
Authority, Diplomacy, Economy, Military, Education...
Aside from the combat consciousness that still needed to be slightly polished and integrated, this was an important source of his strength!
What help it could give was currently uncertain.
But comparing it with the memories he digested while feigning illness, compared to his previous self, not only had his hidden ailments disappeared and his physical body become significantly healthier, but his energy was also extremely abundant...
It was worthy of his trust.
Looking at these five major modules, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled with relief.
This was too familiar to him...
This was a simplified version of a performance appraisal form!
It required him to go all out to improve every aspect of Konoha.
All five aspects must be grasped, and all five fingers must be hard!
But for Sarutobi Hiruzen, this was a blessing.
Possessing a body that could fly into the sky and escape through the earth, and being able to experience life in a new world...
What was wrong with doing some work for the village!
"Let's look at the scroll Danzō left behind first." Sarutobi Hiruzen read through it carefully.
This was obviously the dirty water Shimura Danzō had on Orochimaru; naturally, he didn't think this was a truthful record.
But this dirty water was mixed with the truth, so it still had some reference value.
It could only be said that this old guy had quickly substituted himself into the identity of a Hokage candidate.
He had started to trip up his competitor...
In today's Konoha.
Although the vast majority of people still believed that Orochimaru would succeed Sarutobi Hiruzen's position.
In the past, his partiality towards Orochimaru was very obvious.
But some people at the highest level had already keenly perceived that since the Second Ninja World War, the relationship between the Third Hokage and his beloved disciple seemed to have undergone some changes...
"Using transactional means to exchange for experimental subjects from tribes within the Land of Fire that haven't joined Konoha?"
"The Iburi Clan, the Tsuchigumo Clan..."
"Root abducting ninja from other countries..."
When he saw that the subjects of the experiments included children, Sarutobi Hiruzen instinctively felt discomfort.
After smoking half a pipe of tobacco, he quickly accepted the status quo, reminding himself in his heart:
This is a world where, just a few decades ago, children were slaughtering each other on the battlefield.
The so-called geniuses now, teenagers in their teens, having dozens of human lives on their hands is a common occurrence.
It is a chaotic world through and through.
Moreover, the Second Hokage, whom he just used to swipe credit points, was arguably the grandmaster of human experimentation in the Ninja World.
This was essentially a trolley problem.
To maintain a strategic advantage, in a situation where the flames of war were rising in the Ninja World, other villages might be engaging in similar research. If Konoha stopped, it meant falling behind in the future arms race.
He couldn't gamble the safety of the entire village on the morality of others, especially since there wasn't much morality here to begin with.
"But it must be brought under supervision; ninjutsu cannot be allowed to develop into a runaway wild horse!"
"At the very least, we cannot lay hands on those within the Land of Fire. Even leaving morality aside, this would collapse the village's centripetal force..."
"And Orochimaru is absolutely a precious talent, and a rare research-type at that."
"Science and technology are the primary productive forces."
Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered.
Orochimaru was a disciple he had treasured since childhood; their relationship when he was young could be said to be like father and son.
But as he became Hokage, his extremely conservative governing style gradually came into conflict with the grown-up Orochimaru.
So much so that after the Second Ninja World War.
Orochimaru was actually more willing to go to Root, which acted more roughly and unrestrainedly, to work under Shimura Danzō!
This was undoubtedly a failure of his as a Hokage and a teacher.
But fortunately, there was still room for salvation.
Judging from memory, he and Orochimaru had not yet had an open conflict. Rather than a disagreement in political views, it was more like a son acting out of spite and leaving home to start a business...
Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered the future direction.
The problems before him were manifold: the weakness in combat power exposed by the Second War, the outdated system, the shadow of the next war;
Internal financial shortages, division among the high-level officials, and the conflict between the ninja clans and the Hokage Building.
"The best way is to make the cake bigger, using the distribution of new benefits to correct old abuses—but making the cake itself is difficult."
Sarutobi Hiruzen knew clearly that the core of being Hokage was to make the village "able to fight and have money."
Being able to fight was not the work of a single day.
But he already had ideas for "getting money."
Konoha's finances relied on appropriations from the Daimyō's Manor and mission remunerations.
He had once thought of using force to take over the Daimyō's Manor, but after digesting the memories, he temporarily shelved it.
High risk, low return.
The Land of Fire had a population of ten million. Although ninja had the advantage in force, they lacked administrative management capabilities and could not replace millions of bureaucrats.
And letting the already scarce ninja bear the burden of tax collection would damage combat power even more.
Moreover, the tax laws of the Land of Fire were outdated. If there were no war, after a few generations, ninja could naturally hold power like a Shogun, but now the ninja population was too small. Acting rashly would only force the nobles to flee and give enemy villages an excuse to send troops.
Sarutobi Hiruzen organized the documents in his hand.
This was the "money bag" he prepared for Konoha.
"It's hard to rob taxes from the pockets of nobles, but it's easy to make them spend money voluntarily."
"To harvest the rentier class, one must sell anxiety, sell health, and add aphrodisiac effects as an eye-catching gimmick."
As long as it involved aphrodisiacs, men were always willing to pay money beyond common sense to try it.
Longevity, health, aphrodisiac—combining the three to create a "Konoha Special Ten-Complete Tonic Pill," that would absolutely be a flagship product sweeping the Ninja World.
Why worry that these nobles wouldn't scramble to take out their silver, stuffing money into his pocket while shouting, "Lord Hokage, I want more"?
Sarutobi Hiruzen was confident others couldn't learn this move.
With the stories of Hashirama's seal-less self-healing, the reputation of Tobirama's ninjutsu inventions, and Mito's Yin Seal—three top-tier IPs for endorsement;
Orochimaru, and Tsunade, the number one medical ninja in the Ninja World, for real-time debugging; Akimichi and Nara clan pharmacy books for reference;
Plus him, a living advertisement who had become younger—who cared if it was a cheat or a tonic pill?
As for the actual efficacy...
As long as it was somewhat effective and didn't kill anyone, the placebo effect plus stuffing in a little bit of the real thing would be enough!
"There are many ideas, but implementing them with feet on the ground is the hardest part..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed with emotion in his heart.
This first step.
Was to re-establish a solid teacher-student relationship with Orochimaru!
Sarutobi Hiruzen shifted his gaze to Shimura Danzō's blackmail material.
This was an important prop.
Sarutobi Clan Land, Hokage Residence.
Sarutobi Hiruzen returned to the spacious and bright mansion.
As soon as he got home, Sarutobi Biwako brought servants to remove his bamboo hat and Hokage robe.
With a glance, he saw the home was swept spotless.
"Husband, you worked hard today. What would you like to eat tonight?"
Sarutobi Biwako said softly: "I can have it ready for you within a quarter of an hour."
Usually, when he returned home, a hot meal was already prepared. If he returned late, he would have the Anbu deliver it to the Hokage Building.
It was just that today he got off work unprecedentedly early, so she hadn't prepared it yet.
In the past, Sarutobi Hiruzen worked overtime until late at night almost every day. When he came home, he was too exhausted to have an appetite, often unable to finish even a bowl of rice.
"Tonight, I asked Orochimaru to come to the house for dinner. It's set for six o'clock..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen mused: "He likes to eat hot food. There must be apples and eggs; the rest is up to you. Heat two pots of sake."
"Thank you for your trouble."
Sarutobi Biwako looked up in surprise, gazing at the Hokage who looked a few years younger and had an upright posture, and smiled slightly shyly: "What are you saying!"
Her brisk figure as she left made Sarutobi Hiruzen feel a bit emotional.
So easy to coax!
Rather than a wife, it was better to say Sarutobi Biwako was the "general manager" of the entire Hiruzen household. She never disobeyed his orders, and handled clothing, food, and daily life with detail and thoughtfulness everywhere.
Even matters of the bed were decided by Sarutobi Hiruzen's word...
It could only be said that this feudal ninja clan indeed had its merits!
Sarutobi Hiruzen paced to the rear house, changed into training clothes, and went to the training grounds.
Although his stats had gone up, on-the-spot reaction and operation also accounted for a large part of strength.
A top-tier account could produce vastly different results in the hands of an expert versus a rookie.
Cultivation could not be neglected for a moment.
On the training ground.
"Senju, Uchiha..." Sarutobi Hiruzen silently recited these two surnames in his heart, swinging the staff to warm up. The body of the staff broke through the air, making the air hum.
He was thinking while integrating his combat instincts.
In his memory, the two legendary ninja, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, gave him a huge shock.
In terms of the current Ninja World, Sarutobi Hiruzen should be a first-rate expert...
But he was not on the same level as those two.
Reviewing history is a good way to understand the world.
"Since ancient times, every few decades to a hundred years, the Uchiha and Senju would each produce an epoch-making ninja, leading the entire Ninja World into war..."
The steel staff spun in his palm, creating a slight whistling sound.
"It just so happens that they appeared in neat opposition every time, fixing the Warring States pattern for nearly eight hundred years. It wasn't until Madara and Hashirama broke precedent and shook hands in peace that the deadlock was finally broken."
"Is it a coincidence?"
The Sarutobi clan records stated that the Senju and Uchiha were descendants of the Sage in ancient times, but the lines were filled with mythological vagueness.
Could the protagonists of this world be 'Senju' and 'Uchiha'?
But so what?
The problem facing Sarutobi Hiruzen was not something that could be solved by waiting for a 'heaven-sent saint.'
It was visible to the naked eye that the Ninja World War would break out within a few years. Who knew when the Uchiha and Senju would pop out another pair?
Moreover, apart from the pair of Madara and Hashirama, the other 'epoch-making Senju and Uchiha' recorded in history did not all appear as invincible as these two.
The intensity in the records could only be described as outstanding, but not to the point of making people despair.
"If a god really appeared, the Senju would be easy to talk to. The Second Hokage scattered the clansmen and integrated them into Konoha, so they are on the village's side after all."
"But what about the Uchiha?"
Thinking of the Uchiha Clan, Sarutobi Hiruzen had a headache.
Exaggerated, oh, there is such a setting for a ninja clan?
Born with sensitive minds and deep love in their hearts, but after suffering a blow, their temperament easily changes drastically. Reflected through the soul into the eyes as the Sharingan, they become arrogant while immersed in power...
It sounded extremely troublesome, like having a history of some terrible genetic mental illness.
What was even trickier was that although the Uchiha Clan was an original shareholder of Konoha and their combat power had great value for the united front, politically they always stepped on landmines and touched bottom lines.
First, Uchiha Madara left the village inexplicably and fought to the death with Hashirama, causing the First Hokage to pass away early.
Fortunately, the clansmen did not rise up with Madara and all stayed in Konoha.
Then in the era of the Second, Uchiha Setsuna launched a Hawk faction rebellion. After being suppressed by Senju Tobirama, the Dove faction looked up and fought bloody battles for the village in the First Ninja World War, which counted as paying a blood tax.
But now that it was his turn to govern, the Hawk faction was stirring again.
Although the Uchiha Clan was difficult to handle, as the Hokage, he absolutely could not use a one-size-fits-all approach for convenience, roughly isolating or even eliminating the Uchiha Clan...
The performance appraisal was right there.
If he could make the Uchiha Clan generate complete centripetal force towards Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen believed his performance score would definitely increase a lot...
" The strongest fortresses are often breached from within..."
"If I could find someone within the Uchiha Clan who can implement my will, that would be great."
"But it's difficult. This person needs to understand the Uchiha well enough, have the strength to subdue everyone, and also understand my line of thinking..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed with emotion, feeling that his thoughts were a bit too idealistic, and focused on his martial arts practice.
He shook off the sweat beads on his forehead, feeling comfortable all over.
Since transmigrating, this body had become stronger day by day. The comprehension of ninjutsu that had been stuck before was also loosening up, waiting for him to verify one by one.
When he was young, he was a man with a tall and straight figure, but the position of Hokage was suddenly added to him, and the pressure was like a mountain—not only did it exhaust his mind and spirit, but even his height and body shape shrank visibly.
The body is the carrier of politics. Although true authority should transcend superficial appearance and be built on achievements...
Abnormal aging was obviously detrimental to prestige.
In a sense, the rise of the Uchiha Hawk faction also had a certain relationship with his previous aging image.
"A clan that worships power?" Sarutobi Hiruzen swung the steel staff violently. Air waves exploded, and sand and stones flew within the training ground.
Between the rise and fall of the staff momentum.
Move insights and battlefield experience gradually condensed into one. Between sudden contraction and release, every strike revealed a harmony between heart and hand, and even more, a newborn vigor like a dragon and tiger.
The staff technique, combining hardness and softness, also seemed to correspond to Sarutobi Hiruzen's line of thinking in preparing to deal with the Uchiha Clan.
And at this moment.
Orochimaru stood at the entrance of the training ground, looking at this familiar yet strange fierce figure, and was stunned.
This... was the teacher who called him to come for a meal?!