HSU: Ch. 350

"Masashi, everything is already prepared. Tomorrow, when the villagers vote, even by the most conservative estimate, about sixty percent will vote for you."

The one who said this was Shikaku. He said it with confidence, and for good reason.

Konoha is not an agricultural village. In essence, it is a commercial village, and the vast majority of its residents belong to the commercial population. Although there is agriculture, the annual agricultural output still falls short of complete self-sufficiency. The daimyō's estate includes, in its annual fixed funding for maintaining the village, preferential quotas for purchasing grain through daimyō channels. During wartime, the daimyō's estate must also ensure that Konoha can stably purchase grain at wartime prices to meet its needs. Commerce is Konoha's main source of revenue. The largest share, of course, comes from the ninjas engaged in military mercenary work, that is, the Konoha ninja corps.

Next are the various civilian institutions that serve the ninja village as a military entity. After that come the commercial enterprises affiliated with the ninja clans. These three groups alone account for nearly eighty percent of Konoha's commercial population. The remaining twenty percent consists of villagers who run their own small businesses.

But as everyone knows, after so many years of running businesses, Masashi's reputation in Konoha's commercial circles is exceptionally good. To the point that most villagers engaged in commerce believe that if he becomes Hokage, business will only become easier for everyone. It may not be that absolute, but when seven ninja clans exert their influence together, having the workers in their affiliated industries all vote for Masashi, the spillover effect will be extremely impressive.

Nearly sixty percent, this was the result of Shikaku's analysis. There was nothing difficult about it. As the leader of the jonin corps, mobilizing manpower to achieve wartime objectives was his specialty.

A Hokage election was also a war.

"Let's just go with the flow. I'm fine either way," Masashi said as he gently swirled his wine glass. "Let's eat a bit and stop talking about work."

"This isn't work," Shikaku smiled. "It's something very practical."

"Indeed," Hiashi spoke up. "All of our restaurants, pharmacies, and various other shops add up to several thousand people. If we also bring in those who do business with these shops to vote for you, and assuming the others here are roughly the same, then when you calculate it, sixty percent isn't much at all."

Everyone nodded in agreement. This basic setup had been arranged long ago. The jonin group had also been taken care of. With just the seven families present here, the votes from the jonin would be overwhelmingly one-sided. The key factors in a Hokage election were limited in number.

"As for the daimyō's estate, you should still make a special trip there yourself," Hiashi said. "The Fire Daimyō already has a very good impression of you. If you go in person, he'll be even happier."

"I'll definitely go," Masashi nodded, then suddenly thought of something. "Speaking of which, what exactly is the relationship between the Fire Daimyō and the Hyūga?"

The Hyūga clan's family crest is a flame. And the Fire Daimyō's family crest is quite similar. Broadly speaking, ninja clans are also a kind of nobility, otherwise they wouldn't specifically design family crests. And if two families in the same region have very similar crests, then there must be an unusual relationship between them.

"The Hyūga are not related by blood to the daimyō's family. I can guarantee that," Hiashi shook his head. This kind of speculation had long been a common topic in Konoha. Anyone who had visited the daimyō's estate to pay respects to the Fire Daimyō would have such thoughts, though the Hyūga had never explained it.

But in today's setting, it didn't matter.

"The Hyūga have always been active in the Land of Fire and had more interactions with the daimyō's family in the past. We also contributed during the founding of the Land of Fire. Coupled with the country's name, both sides using flames as family crests is really just a coincidence."

Everyone showed looks of understanding. Whether they truly believed it or not wasn't important. At least for now, everyone said they believed it.

Meanwhile, Masashi had already begun thinking about what kind of gift he should bring when visiting the Fire Daimyō. Or perhaps he could follow the example of the First and Second Hokage back then?

It seemed that the Fire Daimyō had a daughter who was still unmarried. If Itachi were to get married, who knows, maybe he would shift a bit of his interest away from his work.

Looking at everyone at the banquet, already slightly drunk, he suddenly felt that this was a good opportunity to take preventive measures in advance. He had already told Fugaku about the Ōtsutsuki matter. And with the Hyūga clan serving Kaguya, they should already know a thing or two as well.

Whether or not he became Hokage, this was something that the major ninja clans should have a shared understanding about.

"I have something very important that I need to talk to you about first."

His expression was so serious that it sobered everyone up a little.

"This matter, Hiashi should already know about it from Kaguya-hime," Masashi said, testing the waters first.

Hiashi's expression immediately changed. He looked even more serious than Masashi. Judging by that reaction alone, Kaguya must have done quite a bit of badmouthing.

"Are you talking about the Ōtsutsuki clan?" Hiashi asked.

Masashi nodded.

Fugaku also put down his wine cup. When Masashi had spoken to him about this before, he had been rather unconcerned. It wasn't exactly arrogance, rather, he simply didn't believe that there was any force capable of shaking the current Konoha.

The present-day Uchiha clan, if deployed directly, could wipe out a minor ninja village without suffering losses that would damage its foundation. More importantly, what Masashi had described was only a hypothesis. After all, who were the examples he cited? Ancient figures! From prehistoric times! Was this a joke?

Yet now Masashi brought up the topic again in such a setting. He was puzzled, but he also became more cautious.

"The Ōtsutsuki clan?" Inoichi spoke up. Among the Ino-Shika-Chō trio, he was responsible for intelligence. As the head of the Yamanaka clan, his main office post was in the Interrogation Department, digging around in people's minds. But he had never heard of any Ōtsutsuki clan.

Anyone bold enough to call themselves a "clan" would have to operate across the continent in an organized way. It was impossible for them to be completely unknown, at the very least, they would appear in the intelligence archives of an organization at Konoha's level.

"Yes. This clan isn't very well-known now, but many families that share blood ties with them are quite famous," Masashi began to explain to those present. "Taking Konoha as an example: the Senju, our Uchiha clan, the Hyūga clan, and the Uzumaki clan all qualify. Over in Kiri, the Kaguya clan does as well. And of course, the Ōtsutsuki clan has one extremely famous individual, someone we now call the Sage of Six Paths."

Everyone present, aside from Fugaku, who had already heard this once before, and Hiashi, who had long been influenced by Kaguya, failed to react at first. Mainly because the Sage of Six Paths was just too wildly out of place compared to everything else.

"The Sage of Six Paths?" Shikaku felt that either he was drunk, or Masashi was joking with him.

"Yes. I'm not joking," Masashi said as he looked at the people in front of him. Every one of them had the same expression: Are you messing with us?

You could say this group was just unlucky, they happened to run straight into a moment of huge upheaval.

Let it be said again: he hadn't watched Boruto. But Boruto wasn't exactly an obscure work either, so at least he knew this much, within Boruto, the shinobi world showed two major characteristics.

First, everyone generally got weaker. After Naruto and Sasuke brought peace to the shinobi world, chakra technology experienced another concentrated explosion. The emergence of large amounts of ninjutsu equipment turned being a ninja into a matter of gear-checking. Most ninjas had very poor personal abilities, and even Naruto and Sasuke, who had been absurdly strong during the Fourth Great Ninja War, ended up getting nerfed.

Second, the Ōtsutsuki clan started appearing in batches.

Those Ōtsutsuki who had been lying low for who knows how many years popped up one after another, throwing away ninja tactics that had lasted for thousands of years as if they were trash, showing up with the overwhelming force of a one-punch superhero.

"I'm saying all this so everyone can prepare themselves mentally," Masashi said. "The days ahead won't be peaceful. Whether or not I become Hokage, I will find those Ōtsutsuki and kill them one by one. If they don't die, we all will."

Everyone finally understood, he was laying out his "governing platform." Killing the Ōtsutsuki would be the top priority of the Fifth Hokage's era. Although they didn't know exactly what kind of threat the Ōtsutsuki were, with Masashi having spoken this far, they had no reason not to support him.

Killing people, after all.

If ninjas don't kill people, what kind of ninjas are they?

"Even though I don't know why you value the Ōtsutsuki clan so highly..." Shikaku forced himself to push the words "Sage of Six Paths" out of his mind. "If you say kill, then we'll kill. We'll all cooperate with you."

The others nodded one after another in agreement.

Fugaku looked at the serious expression on Masashi's face and knew this guy was determined to dig out the Ōtsutsuki from whatever corner they were hiding in and kill them.

What else could he say?

"I hope this decision wasn't made rashly," he said. "If you're certain, then you must wipe them out completely. Leave not a single one."

"My intelligence is extremely accurate. We cannot coexist with the Ōtsutsuki, because their goal is to recreate the mythical Ten-Tails and use it to seize everyone's chakra," Masashi said. "For us ninjas, what does it mean to lose chakra?"

"The Ten-Tails..." Fugaku fell into deep thought.

He was considering one thing: if the enemy's scale was truly this grand, then relying on Konoha alone probably wouldn't be enough.

Of course, that was assuming they really could recreate that mythical thing known as the "Ten-Tails."

"Tell us your plan," he said.

"The first step is to gather all nine tailed beasts together and protect them centrally, because the tailed beasts all originate from the Ten-Tails," Masashi said plainly, no longer hiding anything.

If he became Hokage, this would definitely be the first thing he'd do.

He hadn't been in a hurry to gather them before for two reasons. First, he had still been viewing Kaguya through an old lens, thinking that as long as Madara didn't succeed, there was no need to rush the collection of the tailed beasts. Second, after obtaining the Rinnegan, he had gained methods to restrain the Gedo Statue. But now that was no longer an option. The opponent was no longer Madara, but members of Kaguya's own clan, antisocial elements who had personally planted the chakra tree in the world of Naruto back in the day.

Madara wasn't even the enemy anymore. He was merely world-weary, not a world-destroyer. The Ōtsutsuki would be his enemies as well. Given his temperament, once he learned the truth, anger aside, the next thing he would do would be to kill every Ōtsutsuki he could lay eyes on.

Naruto and Sasuke hadn't "powered up" yet, but he wouldn't underestimate Hagoromo. He was also very curious whether, with his current abilities, and combining the power of Kaguya and Madara, he could directly kill an Ōtsutsuki.

As for Naruto and Sasuke, they were still growing. It was just a matter of when they would suddenly erupt and come into full bloom.

"Collect the tailed beasts?" Everyone was shocked. Compared to the fact that the tailed beasts originated from the Ten-Tails, they were even more stunned by the idea of collecting the tailed beasts all over again.

"This runs completely counter to the strategy set down by the First Hokage," Shikaku felt this would be troublesome.

Back then, Konoha hadn't given them away, they had sold them, and at very high prices.

"It's fine. The First and Second Hokage haven't left yet, so this matter will also be reported to them. And I'm really not joking, once I find even one of them, the entire shinobi world will understand how serious this is."

"So how exactly do you plan to collect them? For jinchūriki who already belong to villages, their villages will explode," someone said.

"We can make it clear to them by convening a Five Kage Summit," Masashi laid out his plan. "As for jinchūriki who've left their villages, in principle we invite them to Konoha. If they refuse, we forcibly capture them."

"That's very forceful," Shikaku felt the plan reeked of haste. "That doesn't really seem like your style."

"We simply don't have the time to waste arguing with them," Masashi admitted frankly. "If we don't make a move, Madara will."

"Madara's enemy is also the Ōtsutsuki?" Shikaku's head was spinning, he didn't understand how Madara had entered the picture again.

The Ōtsutsuki, he knew nothing about them.

Madara, he had grown up listening to stories about him. A ferocious man who could declare war on Konoha all by himself.

"Just wait until the Ōtsutsuki appear. At this stage, his goals will align with theirs, collecting chakra."

"You're the head of ANBU. Gathering intelligence is your job, so I won't doubt you," Shikaku said, spreading his hands. "Then in this plan, what can we actually do?"

"Honestly, not much on the combat side," Masashi said, also spreading his hands. "This isn't meant to belittle your clans, but the Ōtsutsuki clan all possess Yin-Yang Release. The vast majority of ninjutsu in this world simply doesn't work on them."

This piece of intelligence struck those present as somewhat absurd. Even more absurd was the implication that, if it were true, they really wouldn't be able to help much in battle. If it weren't for the fact that Masashi had never spoken recklessly before, to be honest, they wouldn't have believed a single word about the Ōtsutsuki. Because it sounded like listening to a fairy tale.

"You will believe it," he could only say that much.

Today was just about giving these people a warning. Once he truly found Isshiki, everything would be solidly proven. And if he wanted to bring Madara back to Konoha, this was also the only opportunity.