Soon after, the voting for the next Hokage officially began.
In the large Conference Room, Sarutobi Ryo, now a Jonin Commander, started to manage the process.
He watched the Jonin cast their votes, acting as the supervisor.
The ballot box was there for anonymous voting.
The person with the most votes would be the winner.
One by one, the Jonin stepped up to vote.
Sarutobi Ryo stood and watched as the four top leaders of Konoha sat at the head of the table.
Hatake Sakumo looked very serious, showing how important the Hokage Election was to him.
He knew that to control his own future, he needed to be the leader of the village.
Only then could he truly feel at peace.
Sarutobi Ryo watched each Jonin, some familiar and some not, his face changing with his thoughts.
They all had their own reasons for voting.
Some supported Namikaze Minato.
Some supported Orochimaru.
But most of them supported Hatake Sakumo.
After the long voting was over, Sarutobi Ryo brought the ballot box to the four leaders.
Then, in front of everyone, he began to read out the names as Nara Shikaku kept count.
The four leaders and all the Jonin had very sharp eyes, so there was no chance of cheating.
Because of this, the transparent voting ended quickly.
Finally…
Hatake Sakumo won by a lot, beating the others and becoming the Fourth Hokage.
When Namikaze Minato heard the results, his eyes went dim.
He was shocked by what had happened.
He thought he should have been the Fourth Hokage.
If things had gone as they should have, according to the Great Toad Sage's prediction…
But things had changed because of someone.
Who could it be?
Namikaze Minato had thought it was Sarutobi Ryo, or maybe Hatake Sakumo.
But the world was complicated.
Small actions by each person could change everything.
So, Namikaze Minato wasn't completely sure who had started it all.
"Congratulations, Honorable Fourth Hokage," Sarutobi Ryo said, congratulating Hatake Sakumo in front of everyone after the votes were counted twice.
Clapping and congratulations filled the room.
Some were happy, and some were sad.
Orochimaru just shrugged. He was a bit disappointed but not surprised.
Since he was a child, he had heard about the great things the Konoha White Fang had done.
From his early success to his fame that shook the ninja world…
Even though he, Jiraiya, and Tsunade were known as the Sannin, they could never take away Hatake Sakumo's reputation.
This showed his great strength.
Orochimaru accepted his defeat and wanted to learn from it and become better than Sakumo.
He wouldn't become evil and go down a dark path just because he lost to Namikaze Minato, like in the original story.
Now that Hatake Sakumo was the Fourth Hokage, Orochimaru thought about separating from Danzo and ending their connection.
When the new Hokage starts, things will change.
He had to make sure no one discovered his secrets.
Jiraiya patted Namikaze Minato on the shoulder, saying, "Minato, you're still young, don't give up…"
Jiraiya smiled, not embarrassed that his student had lost.
He knew that Hatake Sakumo was a tough opponent.
"Teacher Jiraiya…" Namikaze Minato looked sad.
He was upset about losing, but…
He was even more worried about when Naruto would be born.
In this world, the Hokage Election was much earlier than before…
Kushina was due to have Naruto in just a few months.
He needed to get closer to Kushina in those few months.
But now that he wasn't the Hokage, what would happen?
"Teacher Jiraiya, you voted for Sakumo Sensei, right?" Kushina asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
She felt Minato's loss as if it were her own.
But she wasn't as discouraged as Namikaze Minato.
Hatake Sakumo was just too strong.
"Haha…" Jiraiya scratched his head, not denying it.
He cared about Konoha more than anything and voted for who he thought was best.
He had voted for Hatake Sakumo because he was the most suitable.
"Minato, you didn't win this time, but there's always next time…" Jiraiya said, patting his student's shoulder.
He thought the Fifth Hokage competition would be the real challenge.
Orochimaru and Tsunade might also be his opponents then.
But things would be different by then.
The young Golden Flash would grow up and become even stronger.
Time will tell.
"Yeah," Namikaze Minato said, looking at Sarutobi Ryo, who was congratulating Hatake Sakumo.
Everyone looked so happy, and it made him feel worse. Naruto …
"Senior Sakumo, congratulations… I should call you Honorable Fourth Hokage now," Tsunade said, congratulating Hatake Sakumo without showing any sadness.
She thought it was better to have Hatake Sakumo as Hokage than those annoying pests, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura!
"Thank you, everyone," Hatake Sakumo said, smiling as he accepted everyone's congratulations.
Sarutobi Ryo looked at Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
The leaders looked okay.
Some were frowning, but they weren't too upset.
Having Hatake Sakumo as Hokage was acceptable to them too.
Konoha was in a dangerous situation.
It needed someone strong to lead it.
Before the Third Shinobi World War, other countries were confident, and Konoha's leaders thought Hatake Sakumo was a problem.
But when the war started, everyone realized things were not so simple.
The Third Shinobi World War was the worst war ever.
Everyone lost, and no one won.
Countries wasted resources and lost many people.
It was a nightmare.
Because of this, Utatane Koharu and the others changed their minds.
They went from thinking "we can't let Hatake Sakumo die" to "we need Hatake Sakumo to be the Hokage."
Sarutobi Ryo was relieved.
Hatake Sakumo becoming the Fourth Hokage had stopped a tragedy and changed history.
With Hatake Sakumo leading, Konoha would get stronger and face enemies like Iwagakure.
Hatake Sakumo's power would also keep allies like Sunagakure and Amegakure from causing trouble.
If Namikaze Minato was the Hokage, things would be different.
The title of Golden Flash was for beating weaker enemies.
But which Kage-level ninja couldn't do that?
Sarutobi Ryo could use his Magnet Release to fight for days, killing many enemies.
Kage-level experts all had ways to deal with many enemies.
But in a fight between experts…
Some people were much better than others.
Hatake Sakumo cut off Ai's arm with one strike.
Namikaze Minato couldn't do that, even after fighting him many times.
He was still young.
That was both good and bad.
He was at a disadvantage because Sakumo had more experience.
It was nothing to be ashamed of.
Namikaze Minato was more suited to compete for the Fifth Hokage.
Sarutobi Ryo believed that.
*
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[T/N:
Final Total Power Stone Collection : 243 PS
Goal : Reach +50 Total PS = +2 Bonus Chapters next day! 🚀
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]