The second generation Hokage, Uchiha Madara, returned to Konoha Village. After more than two months of negotiations, he reached a package cooperation agreement with the priestess of the Demon Country.

The two sides redefined the borders of the Ghost Kingdom, giving up part of the land in the east and obtaining part of the land from the Earth Kingdom in the north and the Bear Kingdom in the south.

In general, Konoha Village obtained more land, and it was better quality fertile land.

As compensation, the Demon Kingdom can maintain its independent political power and receive full support from Konoha Village when the monster disaster breaks out.

The shrine maidens and the priests did not care about the large tracts of land being taken away.

As a theocratic regime centered on a shaman, these charlatans have extremely poor ruling abilities. They are simply unable to effectively rule the Ghost Kingdom, and the stability of the Ghost Kingdom can only be maintained through the custom of faith.

What's more, Uchiha Madara promised not to change the beliefs of his believers, nor to prohibit the priestesses from entering Konoha to preach.

For the charlatans, they have not suffered any loss at all. Instead, they have expanded the scope of spreading their beliefs. They are actually making a huge profit.

In short, a transaction in which both parties feel they have made a profit will not have any twists and turns.

But the Second Hokage, Uchiha Madara, had such a terrifying reputation that how could ordinary shrine maidens and priests dare to let him meet the shrine maidens?

So during the two months of negotiation, the miko and the priests were just wasting time on words for the first 58 days. After confirming through this meaningless wasting time that Uchiha Madara would not hurt anyone casually, they felt at ease to let the miko come forward to discuss the main issue with Madara.

The miko Kaiyuki is already very old, with obvious wrinkles on her face and gray hair, but her strength and courage are worthy of a leader of a country, and she is not at all inferior to Uchiha Madara.

What's rare is that Uchiha Madara also respects her very much. He negotiates patiently with the miko in a soft voice about the specific conditions. He explains patiently throughout the process and makes the advantages for both parties clear.

The negotiations went smoothly. The detailed terms were finalized in one day, the detailed boundaries were finalized in one day, and finally the treaty was signed in ten minutes.

With the signing of the border treaty between the Demon Kingdom and Konoha, the unified regime of Konoha has solved all border issues. If nothing unexpected happens, war will not break out for a long time.

The moment the signing was completed, Uchiha Madara suddenly felt very satisfied. He truly brought peace to the ninja world and his dream came true.

After returning to Konoha Village, Uchiha Madara saw Senju Hashirama and the time traveler Hashirama, and his first words were: "I brought peace to the ninja world, and my dream came true."

Without waiting for the two Hashirama to congratulate him, he spoke again: "I want to step down as Hokage and let the Third Hokage take the stage of history."

Senju Hashirama's smile froze on his face: "Ah?"

The time traveler, Hashirama, was stunned for half a second, and then he understood what Uchiha Madara meant from the prompt of the [System]: "It's great that you can figure it out, but isn't it a little too early? Isn't it a little too hasty to let a young person shoulder such a heavy responsibility so quickly?"

Uchiha Madara laughed and said, "Not early at all. When we became clan leaders, were we already very old?"

“Isn’t experience the key?”

"With enough experience, a 20-year-old can take charge of Konoha, but without enough experience, even a 50-year-old can be an incompetent waste."

The time traveler Hashirama nodded repeatedly: "You are right, Madara, you are really amazing."

Senju Hashirama scratched his hair with both hands: "Wait, you two wait!"

"Explain it to me, I don't understand what you are saying!"

Uchiha Madara was ecstatic in his heart, but he sighed deliberately on his face and said in a condescending manner: "Hashirama, you are more reliable when you grow up. You are too childish now."

The time traveler Hashirama looked at his own [system] prompt, wiped his sweat guiltily, and took the initiative to explain half-concealedly: "Now that the big thing has been completed, peace has come to the ninja world, so Madara wants to change the Hokage for the second time and set rules for the succession of the Hokage in the future."

Senju Hashirama was even more confused after hearing this: "No, please explain clearly! What does peace in the ninja world have to do with the Hokage? Why do we have to change the Hokage?"

Uchiha Madara seemed to have a headache when he saw Senju Hashirama's appearance. He covered his forehead with his hand and sighed, "Because Konoha unified the ninja world, released the nine tailed beasts, and destroyed all the medium-sized ninja villages, there is no one in the ninja world who can challenge Konoha Village."

"That is to say, Konoha Village has enough power to protect the continuation of peace, unless... Konoha Village itself is in turmoil."

Uchiha Madara said with a very serious expression: "The person most likely to have problems in Konoha Village is the person who holds the greatest power in Konoha Village - the Hokage."

"The time when the Hokage is most likely to have problems is when the power is transferred between two generations of Hokage."

"If we cannot establish unshakable rules for the succession of Hokage, there will definitely be fierce internal fighting over the competition for Hokage in the future..."

The time traveler Hashirama sighed and said, "In the worst case scenario, it may develop into a civil war in Konoha Village."

Uchiha Madara also sighed: "Konoha Village unified the ninja world, and Konoha's civil war is the war of the ninja world."

"We have worked hard for nearly 30 years and finally eliminated the source of the war, but this has also invisibly concentrated the possibility of the outbreak of war within Konoha Village."

"Therefore, we must make plans for the succession of Hokage and establish unshakable rules."

The time traveler Hashirama nodded and said, "This rule is to protect peace and prevent civil war in Konoha Village, so sacrifices must be made."

"I would rather endure the most outstanding ninja ascending to the position of Hokage and then abdicating and replacing him before he can serve for ten years, than let him be corrupted by power and eventually become the biggest scourge of Konoha Village."

Of course, the person that came to his mind was Sarutobi Hiruzen. This monkey was still a disciple of Senju Tobirama, and a warm-hearted middle-aged jonin. There was no sign of his later decadent and corrupt appearance.

But Tobirama personally went to the future and saw what kind of corrupt old politician the Third Hokage in the original history eventually became.

The corrupt old politician Sarutobi Hiruzen is no longer the Hokage. His first concern is whether his power is threatened, and secondly how the Sarutobi family can continue to have power.

The corrupt Third Generation Hokage will naturally gather like-minded people. Danzo Shimura, Koharu Utatane, and En Mito Kado, who share the same bad taste, form the most disgusting Third Generation Hokage group.

In this group, Danzo Shimura is the worst. He does evil without restraint and forces the young elites of Konoha Village to have no place to stay in the village.

The young Kage-level ninjas headed by Hatake Shigesaku either died in internal strife or ran away because they could not bear the darkness, or even had to leave in the name of traitorous ninja.

However, this group is extremely cowardly to the outside world, especially when facing the rogue Fourth Raikage, they retreat step by step. As long as the core interests of the four people are not affected, they can sacrifice innocent Konoha ninjas without hesitation.

It is even euphemistically called: For Konoha, this is the spirit of fire.

Under the perverse rule of the corrupt Third Hokage group, Konoha Village was almost on the brink of destruction.

And more than once.

If it weren't for the two children of destiny who suddenly appeared, and the Fourth Ninja World War had not seen the oppression of the Ninja World by powerful enemies, forcing them to unite and face the outside world, I'm afraid the result of the war would have been that the Hidden Cloud Village would have become the strongest ninja village.

The ending of Konoha Village is self-evident. Even if the Lion King who ruled the prairie abdicated, blood would be shed, not to mention the strongest handover in the ninja world.

The only ending for Konoha Village will inevitably be rivers of blood, and the entire Fire Country will be torn apart and become food for the four major ninja villages.

Even weaklings like the Sand Village and the Mist Village would never retreat a single step. Even if their heads were broken, they would still desperately tear apart the corpses of Konoha, because that was such a thick layer of fat.

But if you really want to say that Sarutobi Hiruzen is not good, you really can't say that.

At least in the current Konoha Village, you really can't find a better ninja than him.

This doesn't mean that among the Konoha ninjas under the age of thirty, Sarutobi Hiruzen is the strongest.

In terms of strength alone, there are three stronger young ninjas in the Uchiha clan. They fought bravely in the unification war and eventually awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, becoming the strongest among the Kage-level ninjas.

Although the Senju clan changed its name on a large scale, new powerful ninjas also emerged.

The Uzumaki clan, which had just been incorporated into the Konoha Village, also had powerful Sealed ninjas emerging who were even able to completely crush Sarutobi Hiruzen.

If the scope of screening is further expanded, there are also outstanding and powerful ninjas among the former Sand Village, Kumo Village, and Iwa Village ninjas that were merged.

However, Hashirama Senju became the first Hokage and Uchiha Madara became the second Hokage. In order for the Hokage inheritance to proceed in an orderly manner in the future, the third Hokage must not come from these two ninja clans.

It would take at least two generations of Hokage before we could consider it.

The ninjas from the three major ninja villages were once the most powerful, but they still bear the imprint of their former ninja villages in their hearts. Both they themselves and the ninjas from Konoha Village inevitably have some psychological problems.

Although the four major countries existed for only ten years, ordinary people were still unfamiliar with the concept of a country and had not experienced any major disasters or fought bravely and united under the national flag, so they had no patriotism to speak of.

But the four major ninja villages are different. In the past ten years, the ninjas have broken the restrictions of their families to form teams and continuously carry out dangerous missions. They really have the concept of a ninja village.

It is said that men's friendship needs a foundation and a strong relationship requires experience, such as: serving in the army together, going to school together, sharing the spoils together and doing that together.

Not to mention that when these ninjas were experiencing life-and-death crises, it was likely the Konoha ninjas who tested their feelings. The two sides might even have seen blood and had a life-and-death feud with each other.

At least before this generation dies and the next generation of ninjas become the main force of the ninja village, there is no possibility for the ninjas from the three major ninja villages to become Hokage.

The Uzumaki clan is actually at a greater disadvantage.

These sealing maniacs are not only from outside the village, but also relatives of the first Hokage. However, they are so aloof that they only joined Konoha Village at the last minute, which makes them very unpopular with the original Konoha ninjas.

Moreover, the ninja world is already at peace, and there is no way to use the reason of wartime selection to convince everyone to accept Uchiha Madara as the second generation Hokage and choose a truly powerful ninja.

There was no fatal threat, and the ninjas could not ignore their psychological discomfort.

After comprehensive consideration, the Third Hokage had a very small range of choices and could only choose from the ninjas when Konoha Village was first established.

Within this narrow range, taking into account comprehensive strength, interpersonal relationships, mentality, sense of responsibility, reputation and other conditions, Sarutobi Hiruzen is indeed the best ninja.

In other words, Sarutobi Hiruzen is truly the best candidate for the Third Hokage, no doubt about it.

Mito Kado En is petty-minded. Although he is better than Shimura Danzo, he lacks basic sense of responsibility and tends to retreat when faced with difficulties. He is totally unsuitable to be the Hokage.

No, no, no.

Akimichi Norifuze is a member of the Ino-Shika-cho clan. He is accustomed to following the advice of the Nara clan and accepting the decisions of the Yamanaka clan. This habit is a fatal flaw.

If Akimichi Torifu becomes the Third Hokage, the question will arise as to who is the real Hokage.

Moreover, the next ten years will be a time when Konoha Village will be undergoing reforms. Akimichi Torikyu's character is too stable, even conservative, and he is not suitable for the drastic changes in the next ten years.

Uchiha Kagami, he is a member of the Uchiha clan. It is really a pity, but there is nothing we can do.

As for Danzo Shimura, he is the material for being a captain of a ninja team. If his status is higher and he has more ninjas under him, he will immediately become inflated and forget his own reason.

The biggest problem of this ninja is his unstable mentality and his thoughts tend to go to extremes. This shortcoming is nothing for a ninja. Walking on the edge of a knife and licking blood for a living, extreme thoughts are not absolutely a bad thing.

But for the leader of a large regime like Konoha Village, unstable thinking and proneness to extremes are fatal flaws, enough to veto all his possibilities.

The time traveler Hashirama took stock of Tobirama Senju's disciples one by one and clearly pointed out that the most suitable third-generation Hokage was Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Senju Hashirama scratched his head and said, "Is there really no suitable candidate? I remember there are many ninja clans in Konoha Village."

The time traveler Hashirama shook his head and said, "The young ninjas from other clans in Konoha Village have not yet emerged. Only Tobirama's six disciples are the most outstanding, so the Third Hokage can only be chosen from among them."

He said to Uchiha Madara with regret: "It's a pity that neither you nor I accepted any disciples, otherwise we could have brought out a few more children to choose from."

Uchiha Madara sighed and said, "You are right. This is a problem we left behind in the past, but the screening range is too small."

"Now we can only let Sarutobi Hiruzen become the Third Hokage."

"Then the question is clear. How can we make good use of Sarutobi Hiruzen without being trapped by his flaws?"

The time traveler Hashirama raised a finger and said, "It's very simple. Set a limit of ten years for the position of Hokage."

"Ten years is enough time for a Hokage to stabilize his power and then complete a lot of work."

"Ten years can prevent a Hokage's influence from expanding too much and becoming a scourge that cannot be eliminated in Konoha Village."

"Ten years is more likely to prevent a Hokage's heart from being corrupted by power and becoming a slave to power, harming others and themselves."

Uchiha Madara's eyes lit up: "Great, great, it's a perfect plan!"

Senju Hashirama finally understood what his future self said and clapped his hands in praise, "I understand. Rotating every ten years is indeed the best way."

In Konoha Village, anything decided by the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and the time traveler in a small meeting of the three giants is a major event that cannot be changed.

Any major event that could determine the future of Konoha Village would be put to a vote at the Jonin Council, the nominally highest power meeting, only after they had made a decision.

No jonin would be stupid enough to vote against it, so the jonin council is just a rubber stamp and a mere decoration.

Of course, this is only temporary. After all, the strength of these three giants is too strong, their identities are too special, and their prestige is ridiculously high, completely beyond the level of Kage-level ninja.

When the 789 senior ninjas of Konoha Village heard the names of these three people, they could not help but stand at attention and salute, with no thought of resistance at all. This led to the situation of self-humiliation into a stamp.

In fact, the power of the Jonin Council is extremely great. As long as the Jonins work together, they can form a powerful clamp on the Hokage and make the Hokage's intentions abort.

Because of the participation of the time traveler Hashirama, the influence of the [system] gradually permeated and had a fundamental impact on the power structure of the Hokage.

The role of Hokage has changed from the familiar Third Hokage, who combined the positions of head of state, supreme military leader, affairs officer, and political officer, to a true head of state and supreme military leader, who can no longer directly intervene in specific work.

This is not just the influence of the [system]. More importantly, as Konoha unified the ninja world, there are countless matters that need to be dealt with.

Not to mention anything else, the acceptance, release, supervision and feedback of C-level tasks amount to more than 6,000 times a day. If he handles it like the Third Hokage, he has to handle four per second, which he cannot do even if he is exhausted.

Moreover, this transformation is not abrupt, because the Konoha Village in this time and space did not experience the period of the Second Hokage under Tobirama Senju, nor did it experience the rule of the Third Hokage.

The first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, was the kind of leader who didn't care about anything. When he was Hokage, all the specific affairs were handled by Tobirama Senju.

The second generation Hokage of this time and space is Uchiha Madara, who is also a ninja who is impatient with specific affairs, and still leaves the government affairs to Tobirama Senju.

Until Senju Tobirama was overwhelmed by the increasing workload and had to accept the system's plan through the time traveler Hashirama and established a government agency called "Hokage Government Auxiliary Shogunate".

With the establishment of the Hokage Shogunate, it quickly took over the work of Tobirama Senju, freeing up this most outstanding expert in ninjutsu research.

At the same time, a new tradition of Hokage's working style was formed in Konoha Village, that is, the Hokage is only responsible for Konoha's major policies and war planning.

In other words, the Hokage is not responsible for specific battles and government executions, but will be held accountable for all battle and government failures.

This also laid a solid foundation for Konoha Village to regularly replace the Hokage, and the plan to ensure the term limit of the Hokage position was successfully convinced by the jonin and passed the vote of the jonin meeting.

Then, the plan of the Second Hokage Uchiha Madara to designate Sarutobi Hiruzen as the candidate for the Third Hokage was also passed amid the uproar.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was already at the Jonin Conference, was dumbfounded and became the only one to abstain from voting.