The Uchiha Clan's Sun

Besides, how much can a few children eat?

Minato Namikaze noticed the change in everyone's expressions and knew that the time was right, so he spoke up: "Everyone, I think Elder Uchiha's suggestion is good. This can be considered a win-win situation."

"Besides, even if the orphans in the Konoha Orphanage don't become ninjas when they grow up, they can still contribute to the village in other ways."

"As the largest village in the ninja world, Konoha should naturally possess the spirit of a great village. They are just some children; Konoha can afford to raise them!"

Let's decide on this matter as it is!

"From this day forward, the Konoha Orphanage will officially become a member of Konoha Village and will be managed by the Administrative Department!"

Chapter 323 A Sudden Enlightenment Opens Up a Vast World!

Inside the Hokage's office in the Hokage Building, Uchiha Jin and Namikaze Minato sat facing each other, both with undisguised smiles on their faces.

"How does it feel to become Hokage?"

With so many things to do, it was only then that Uchiha Jin had the opportunity to be alone with Namikaze Minato and discuss some matters.

"Hmm...it's pretty good, but not as much as I expected..."

Minato Namikaze pondered for a long time, but couldn't find a suitable word to describe his feelings at that moment.

Are you happy? Excited? Thrilled?

I am very sure of that.

However, these emotions were not as intense as he had anticipated; instead, he felt a sense of emptiness.

"That's normal. What you can't have always seems more alluring. You only realize how wonderful the process of striving for something is after you've obtained it!"

Uchiha Jin could understand Namikaze Minato's current feelings.

That's how people are; the less they have something, the more they care about it, and once they get it, they don't care as much anymore.

Just like that person's famous saying, "I have no interest in money," only someone who was the richest man could say such a thing.

Try saying those Versailles-like things back when he was begging for investment decades ago.

Minato Namikaze chuckled and shook his head, saying with a touch of melancholy, "When I used to watch the Third Hokage sitting in his office dealing with those mountains of documents, I wondered what the Hokage really represented. Did becoming Hokage mean spending all day in an office reading documents?"

"Now I can understand that feeling."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that each document is only a few pages long. Every word on those pages is related to the interests, safety, future, and even life and death of many people!"

“Each of these documents is of paramount importance!”

"This is the responsibility of being the Hokage!"

Uchiha Jin smiled upon hearing this and said, "That's right. The fact that you realize the weight of the responsibility on your shoulders brings you one step closer to becoming a qualified Hokage!"

"But that's not enough!" Minato Namikaze suddenly stopped smiling and said seriously, "To be honest, what you said at the Jonin meeting today, Jin, gave me a deeper understanding of our cause!"

Uchiha Jin was slightly taken aback and asked, "Oh? Which words?"

Minato Namikaze said seriously, "It was those words he said about merging the Konoha Orphanage and the foster care center! The difference between orphans and heroes' orphans made me realize how naive Jiraiya-sensei's ideas were!"

After a pause, Minato Namikaze said with a sigh, "Master Jiraiya has always firmly believed that people can understand each other. As long as we find a way to make people understand each other, war will be eliminated, and a peaceful world will eventually come."

"But only today did I realize that Jiraiya-sensei's philosophy was completely wrong, utterly wrong!"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Jin became interested and asked, "Why do you say that?"

Minato Namikaze replied, "It is true that people can understand each other, and there is no need to look for a way to make people understand each other, because things are just like that. As long as a person has a normal mind, they will naturally have the ability to put themselves in others' shoes and understand each other."

"Like most people in this meeting room today, don't they know the suffering of the orphans in the Konoha Orphanage? Don't they have any sympathy for the orphans' plight? Don't they feel guilty about what they have done?"

"They know everything! They know everything!"

"But even if they were given another chance, they would still make the same choice!"

"People have varying degrees of closeness and distance. Even if I understand you, it doesn't stop me from killing you because we have different stances!"

"Because if I don't kill you, you'll kill me!"

"If I don't kill you, I can't face my village, and I'll put my wife and children in danger. If you don't kill me, I'll face the same situation!"

"Therefore, mutual understanding cannot resolve the fundamental contradictions!"

"Only by resolving the fundamental contradictions can we usher in true peace!"

As Minato Namikaze spoke, his eyes grew brighter, and his entire demeanor seemed to be elevated.

As the saying goes, "a sudden enlightenment opens up a whole new world," and Minato Namikaze felt that he could see everything with unparalleled clarity, and his beliefs became even stronger.

Looking at Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Jin smiled with satisfaction and said, "Yes, it's just like a ninja accepting a mission."

"We were assigned an escort mission, while the enemy village was assigned an assassination mission. If the mission fails, not only will we not receive the reward, but we will also be punished."

"So even if we both know there's no animosity between us, and we're both just carrying out a mission, so what? We still have to carry out the mission, right?"

Minato Namikaze continued, "Therefore, the only way to eliminate the fundamental conflict to the greatest extent possible is through unification! We must unify everyone's stance, have the higher-ups establish order, confine the fundamental conflict to a certain scope, and then resolve the conflict through institutional means, much like the existence of the Inquisition!"

“That’s right,” Uchiha Jin nodded, “This is what we need to do next!”

Minato Namikaze's eyes shone like stars as he said, "According to our previous plan, when I become Hokage, it will also be the time to enter the second stage of acceleration. What we need to do next is to take control of Konoha Village's power as soon as possible."

After a pause, Minato Namikaze pondered for a moment before saying, "Only when you, Jin, take control of the Anbu and the Konoha Police Department completes its reforms will I be able to establish myself in this position."

"Judging from the current situation, as long as the Third Generation doesn't interfere, we can complete this arrangement in at most half a month."

"But just now we received news from Konoha Hospital that the Third Hokage and the others have woken up, and they may already know about our relationship."

"Given their character, they would never sit idly by and wait to be killed!"

"So we have to find a way to stall them!"

Minato Namikaze's concerns were not unfounded.

The reason why today's Jonin meeting went so smoothly is because the three old guys, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado, were not present. Their subordinates were leaderless and could only obey orders.

Now that Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others have woken up, it won't be so easy for King Uchiha and Minato Namikaze to do anything anymore!

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it!" Uchiha Jin said calmly, "Now that they're awake, we can just find them something to do!"

"In order to legitimately assume the position of Hokage after a successful coup, Shimura Danzo prepared a great deal of evidence against Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado!"

"Just releasing this evidence will be enough to give them a headache for a while!"

Chapter 324 Funds!

Danzo Shimura had told King Uchiha before the coup began that he was preparing evidence against Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado.

After the coup, Shimura Danzo fell into the hands of the Konoha Police Department, which also seized all the Root bases. Uchiha Jin easily obtained the evidence that Shimura Danzo had prepared for Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado.

Minato Namikaze asked with some surprise, "Didn't you say before that those pieces of evidence weren't suitable to be brought out at this time? Why are you bringing them out now?"

Uchiha Jin had also mentioned those pieces of evidence to Namikaze Minato, but after discussing it, the two felt that now was not the right time to use those pieces of evidence to bring down Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others.

Among the evidence collected by Shimura Danzo was how Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado used their power to transfer village funds into the hands of the Sarutobi, Utatane, and Mitokado clans.

For example, the "transferring dormitory group" maliciously inflates prices, the "Mitomon group" sells inferior goods as superior ones, and sells expired goods bought at low prices to the village at several times the normal price, etc.

There are also stories about how Hiruzen Sarutobi eliminated people who threatened his position under various pretexts in order to better control the village.

For example, sending powerful elite ninjas of the Senju clan to carry out missions that would result in certain death, sending talented children of the Senju clan to conduct human experiments, setting a trap for Sakumo Hatake, and causing Sakumo Hatake's death, etc.

That's right, among the evidence collected by Shimura Danzo, Hatake Sakumo was killed by Sarutobi Hiruzen!

After all, in the previous decades, Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, as well as Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, had always stood on the same side despite their ideological differences.

They actually did many things together!

Although Shimura Danzo personally handled Sakumo Hatake's affairs, they could not have been done so meticulously and smoothly without Hiruzen Sarutobi's permission.

Since the evidence was prepared for Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura naturally wanted to absolve himself of responsibility and shift all the blame onto Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado.

However, Danzo Shimura no longer needs this evidence.

Uchiha Jin shrugged and said, "There's no other way. If we want to start our plan as soon as possible, we first need to make sure that you take over a stable Konoha."

"Although Shimura Danzo had been operating in Konoha for decades, his ruthlessness had kept his power in a delicate state of being independent of Konoha."

"So we don't have much to worry about when we take action against him."

"But Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado are different."

"Their influence extends throughout Konoha Village, and they have their cronies in every department within the village."

"It's hard to say whether presenting this evidence will bring them down under these circumstances, but it will definitely drive them to desperation and force them to openly confront us and fight us head-on."

"Although we are not afraid to fight them and we will definitely win, no matter what, doing this will undoubtedly cause huge losses to the village!"

"But you've taken over a dilapidated village. Just getting it to recover and rebuild will probably take a long time, let alone moving forward with our plans."

"So let's take it slow, like boiling a frog in lukewarm water. First, seize power, clip their wings, and then make the final decision when the time is right!"

After a pause, Uchiha Jin explained, "As for why I'm using this evidence again now... hehe, although we can't throw all of this evidence out at once, we can selectively take out some of it!"

"For example, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado abused their positions for personal gain and misappropriated village property."

"This matter can be either a big deal or a small deal."

"We just need to release a few questionable transactions, and then we can wait for them to prove their innocence!"

"Although some things are obvious at a glance, they make the accounts look very good, and it's impossible to find out the truth in a short time."

"If we have the Ministry of Supervision keep a close eye on things and control the pace, that will be enough to give them a major headache!"

Minato Namikaze pondered for a moment upon hearing this, then spoke again: "What about the Third Hokage? Although the Sarutobi clan was involved in instigating it, the Third Hokage 'knew' nothing about it from beginning to end."

"This matter can stall Elder Utatane, it can stall Elder Mitomon, but it can't stall the Third Hokage!"

Uchiha Jin shook his head and said, "As long as we can hold off Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, pushing them too hard might backfire."

"Besides, Hiruzen Sarutobi is currently just the Minister of Education and the class leader of the mission team. His role is far less significant than that of Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado!"

Minato Namikaze thought for a moment and said, "Alright, let's leave it at that for now!"

After a pause, Minato Namikaze suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, right, there's one more thing. The situation in the finance department is more serious than we thought!"

"Those parasites are going too far! They're going to eat the entire Hidden Leaf Village dry!"

"No wonder the Third Hokage was so eager to end the war before; it turns out the village simply didn't have the resources to continue fighting!"

Minato Namikaze's eyes blazed with fury as he said in a deep voice, "The Finance Department still has two billion taels, and you have three billion taels. It seems like a lot, but after distributing the pensions, subsidies, and mission rewards, there's practically nothing left!"

"Without money, many of our plans will have to be put on hold!"

Uchiha Jin took a deep breath. Although he was also angry, he still reassured her, "It's alright. I've already asked Gato's shipping company to raise 5 billion ryo. Don't worry about the money!"

"Orochimaru's research department has already made some progress. The 5 billion taels of silver is enough for them to set up several production lines and produce a large number of weapons."

"So our main problem now is to take control of the village as soon as possible!"

Minato Namikaze breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, then asked with some curiosity, "There have been results? Is it that hot weapon you mentioned before?"

Uchiha Jin smiled and said, "Orochimaru and his group are much smarter than I thought. This achievement is not just about firearms; it will definitely give you a surprise!"

Minato Namikaze, upon hearing this, was also very excited and said, "Is that so? Then I'll wait and see!"

Then, Uchiha Jin and Namikaze Minato discussed other matters in detail until night fell, when Uzumaki Kushina, who had been waiting impatiently at home, came to find them, ending their conversation.

Meanwhile, the late-night conversation between Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado, who had just regained consciousness, had only just begun!

Chapter 325 How can this be allowed! (Two chapters combined)

Konoha Hospital, Special Care Ward.

"This Jonin meeting is being personally chaired by the newly appointed Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze..."

"Before the Jonin meeting officially began, Minato Namikaze, the younger sister of the Ninja, produced two appointment letters, establishing the positions of Konoha Elders for Uchiha Jin and Hyuga Hiashi."

At this point, Mitomonjiro of Konoha's logistics department glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose face was gloomy, and hesitated whether to continue.

Not long ago, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu both woke up. After a brief conversation with them, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that the most urgent task was to figure out the current situation in Konoha.

However, since Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two were all unable to move around easily, and Koharu Utatane was even on oxygen, Hiruzen Sarutobi had Asuma Sarutobi summon Mitomon Jiro to report the situation to them in person.

After that, Hiruzen Sarutobi drove away the dissatisfied Asuma Sarutobi, and the four of them held a closed-door meeting.

"Are you sure it was Minato Namikaze who actively pushed for Uchiha Jin and Hyuga Hiashi to become Konoha elders, and not Uchiha Jin and Hyuga Hiashi themselves who brought it up?"