That afternoon, Uchiha Yuan was, as usual, handling administrative work at the Police Department. Recently, reforms in the Third Division had started to show results. Delegating the authority of the Police Department to various clans brought one clear benefit:
The Police Department was no longer equated with the Uchiha clan. There was no longer a single target for public dissatisfaction. Unlike in the past, when "Police Department" equaled "Uchiha," criticizing the Police Department was basically criticizing the Uchiha.
That was also why the Aburame and Ino–Shika–Chō clans hesitated—joining the Police Department now meant, in a sense, helping the Uchiha absorb political heat.
After all, the Uchiha had an awful reputation in Konoha. Getting involved with them was walking a political tightrope—dangerous for anyone.
Truth be told, the power of the Police Department was attractive, but no one wanted to die for it.
If it weren't for Shibi Aburame's repeated urging—and for Yamanaka Kagetsu, a close associate of Uchiha Yuan—there was no way the Ino–Shika–Chō trio would've joined.
"Knock knock~" The sound of knocking interrupted Uchiha Yuan's workflow.
Activating his Mind's Eye, he immediately sensed who it was.
He got up and opened the door. Standing outside was none other than Namikaze Minato.
"Minato-senpai, what brings you here?" Uchiha Yuan asked while ushering him in.
"Yuan, you probably know why I'm here, right?" Minato replied.
Yuan smiled—he certainly did.
The Fourth Hokage election had reached a critical moment, with Minato and Orochimaru neck and neck in votes.
Who would become Hokage now depended on how the remaining great clans voted.
Last night, Minato had already met with Uchiha Fugaku. They had a good relationship, and Fugaku was personally hoping Minato would become Hokage.
However, the Uchiha clan wasn't a dictatorship. From Fugaku, Minato had learned more about the internal state of the Uchiha.
The clan was deeply divided between the Hawk and Dove factions, with no unified stance.
According to Fugaku, Yuan belonged to the Dove faction.
And now that Yuan was a Police Division Commander and part of the clan's leadership, his opinion carried weight.
So Minato came to see him, hoping to secure the Dove faction's support.
Yuan was fully aware of Minato's purpose. Since Minato was so candid, Yuan didn't beat around the bush either:
"Minato-senpai, to be honest, I personally hope you become the next Hokage. But I can't represent the entire Uchiha—I need a reason to convince the others."
"I understand. There's no such thing as a free lunch. Since taking over the Third Division, you've been committed to Police Department reform. I believe you genuinely want to change the Uchiha.
If I become Hokage, I'll do my best to ease the tension between the village leadership and the Uchiha, and help normalize the relationship."
"That's not enough," Yuan said bluntly.
"Then what do you want?" Minato asked.
"I want a promise."
"A promise? What kind of promise?"
"When the time is right, I hope you'll support someone from the Uchiha clan as the next Hokage."
Minato hesitated. He was someone who valued his promises, and the Hokage position was no small matter.
Seeing this, Yuan added, "Don't worry—I said when the time is right. That means when the village majority accepts and acknowledges someone from the Uchiha as a valid candidate. I just hope you'll help when that time comes."
Minato thought for a long time, then nodded in agreement.
With that promise secured, Yuan went to find Uchiha Icarus—currently the de facto leader of the Dove faction.
They talked for over an hour, and Yuan eventually convinced him to support Minato.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Fugaku was lobbying the Hawk faction.
The Hawks weren't particularly loyal to either candidate. As long as a Uchiha wasn't becoming Hokage, it didn't matter who did.
Under Fugaku's persuasion, the Hawks agreed that Minato—being a civilian ninja with no political roots—was a better choice than Orochimaru.
With that, the Uchiha clan reached internal consensus.
Elsewhere, the Hyuga clan was also deliberating who to support.
Logically, since Hyuga Asana was Orochimaru's student, the clan should've backed him.
But Asana belonged to the branch family, and the Hyuga main family had no desire to see a branch member become a Hokage's disciple.
Being the "grand-student" of the Hokage had already elevated Asana's standing to near-main-family levels. If she officially became the Hokage's student, wouldn't she surpass the main house?
Thus, most of the main family opposed Orochimaru's rise.
Adding to that, the Hyuga clan head, Hyuga Hiashi, was Minato's peer and had fought alongside him for many years.
Naturally, Hiashi favored Minato.
Outside of Uchiha and Hyuga, Konoha's largest clan—the Sarutobi—had been ordered by Hiruzen to remain neutral.
After all, the Third Hokage had publicly taken a hands-off stance.
Soon, it was the final day of voting. Minato and Orochimaru were still neck and neck.
At that moment, both Hyuga and Uchiha announced full support for Minato.
With all of their votes going to Minato, he surged ahead and won the election.
When the results came out, Danzo was dumbfounded.
He had invested a huge amount of manpower and resources to support Orochimaru—only to lose.
"Uchiha, Hyuga! You'll pay for this!" Danzo roared, blaming them for Orochimaru's defeat.
A few days later, Hiruzen officially announced that Minato would become the Fourth Hokage, with the inauguration ceremony set for one month later.
From then on, Minato would shadow the Third Hokage to learn governance.
A month later, the ceremony took place, and Minato formally took over from Hiruzen as the Fourth Hokage.
With Minato's rise, a new chapter of Konoha's history began.
However, the elders of Konoha didn't really respect the 20-something Hokage. In their eyes, youth was a liability.
(To Be Continued...)