Strength, prestige…
And that sincere, innocent heart that longed to bring peace to the shinobi world.
Senju Hashirama had countless virtues, and Senju Tobirama understood every one of them.
Even if his big brother’s mind wasn’t always quite right, there was absolutely no problem with him serving as the leader of the village.
As his younger brother, Senju Tobirama would make up for his big brother’s shortcomings when it came to brains!
“But…
I still think Madara is more suitable than me.”
Faced with Senju Tobirama’s wholehearted support, Senju Hashirama pondered for a moment before once again deciding that Uchiha Madara was better suited to become the village’s leader.
The reasons were complicated.
It wasn’t merely because Senju Hashirama felt that he wasn’t good at administration.
Part of it was because Hashirama felt that Uchiha Madara had sacrificed too much in order to bring the Senju and Uchiha clans together and make peace…
He and the Senju clan owed Madara far too much!
And Tobirama, you do too!
You owe Uchiha Madara far too much as well!
Senju Hashirama wanted to use this opportunity to make it up to Uchiha Madara.
Madara, I’ve seen everything you’ve sacrificed.
You have never betrayed me, so I will never betray you either!
So, whether judged by reason or emotion…
Madara had every qualification to become the village’s leader.
That was what Senju Hashirama thought.
In an instant!
Compromise…
Helplessness…
And the frustration of hating someone for failing to live up to expectations…
All kinds of emotions flooded Senju Tobirama’s heart.
No matter how many brilliant strategies he possessed or how great his schemes were, enough to conquer the shinobi world, he now felt utterly frustrated.
Because his big brother had already surrendered!
Senju Hashirama wasn’t cooperating with him.
He was actually dragging him down!
“Madara, Madara, Madara…
that’s all you ever think about!”
“What exactly is so great about that inherently troublesome Uchiha Madara?!”
“I should’ve just…”
Regretting it right now!
Senju Tobirama muttered bitterly to himself in his head before reluctantly facing reality.
Uchiha Madara absolutely could not become the village’s leader!
“Big Brother, I’m not going to argue with you right now!”
“In any case, I don’t agree to letting Uchiha Madara become the village’s leader.”
“Forget it…
let’s decide who the village’s leader will be through a vote.”
There was no other choice!
Senju Tobirama could only reluctantly come up with a compromise.
Since his big brother refused to cooperate, the only option was to use a vote to push him into the position of village leader.
“Alright.”
Senju Hashirama nodded.
Since Tobirama had already put it that way, if he kept insisting, his younger brother would really become angry.
Besides, Hashirama felt that this method was fair.
He believed that with Madara’s abilities, Madara would certainly win everyone’s support and smoothly become the village’s leader.
“Then it’s decided!”
Senju Tobirama let out a long sigh of relief.
Big Brother, you’ve finally agreed to listen to me!
Let me, your little brother, personally help you ascend to the position of village leader!
…..
That night.
Senju Tobirama didn’t sleep.
He spent the entire night thinking about how to ensure that his big brother would win the village leadership position with a high number of votes.
First of all, Senju Tobirama felt that it was necessary to make Big Brother—and everyone else in the village—believe that Senju Hashirama was more suitable than Uchiha Madara to become the village’s leader.
For this reason…
Before holding the democratic vote to select the village’s leader, Senju Tobirama decided to conduct a survey within the village.
As for the Senju clan members, Senju Tobirama wasn’t worried.
Senju Hashirama enjoyed extremely high prestige within the clan.
If the village leader were chosen by vote, the Senju clan would definitely support Big Brother!
The most important group was the Uchiha clan.
Although Senju Hashirama’s strength and bearing had already won over some Uchiha clan members, there was still a large faction within the Uchiha clan that supported Uchiha Madara.
They were the crucial factor!
And to be safe…
Senju Tobirama decided to find a way to manipulate the survey results.
But how should he manipulate them?
Directly falsifying the survey results was obviously unacceptable!
That method was too crude and wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny.
It would be exposed far too easily.
Senju Tobirama immediately discarded that idea.
After much intense contemplation, a brilliant idea suddenly occurred to him.
The next day…
Senju Tobirama sent a graceful and gentle young woman wearing black stockings and fishnet stockings into the Uchiha clan’s ranks to conduct the survey.
The woman carried a questionnaire and approached various Uchiha clan members.
Woman: “Mr.
Uchiha, are you worried that the number of shinobi without missions will increase?”
Uchiha XXX: “Of course!
If shinobi can’t get missions, they might start robbing ordinary people to make a living.
That would harm innocent civilians!”
Woman: “Are you worried that the rate of young children from the clan being sent to the battlefield will increase?”
Uchiha XXX: “Yes.
I don’t want the clan’s children to go to war.
They deserve a better future!”
Woman: “Do you think shinobi are becoming increasingly undisciplined?”
Uchiha XXX: “Without a doubt.
The brutality of war has caused many shinobi to lose their discipline.”
Woman: “Do you think young people welcome authority and leadership?”
Uchiha XXX: “Of course!”
Woman: “Then you think they will embrace challenges, right?”
Uchiha XXX: “Yes!”
Woman: “If Senju Hashirama became the village’s leader, would you support him?”
Uchiha XXX: “Uh…
I suppose I would…”
Woman: “Thank you for supporting our survey.
Please sign your name here.”
….
After a busy day…
The young woman had collected enough completed questionnaires to report back to Senju Tobirama’s office.
Inside the office.
Senju Tobirama looked at the questionnaires spread across his desk.
He eagerly picked them up and read through them from beginning to end.
The results were exactly as Senju Tobirama had anticipated.
Support for his big brother becoming the village’s leader had already exceeded half.
It had even reached eighty percent.
All that remained was to hand the survey results to Big Brother.
Of course, he had to remove all the irrelevant questions at the beginning and leave only the final one!
Normally, a trustworthy, conscientious, and ethical researcher would never do something like this…
But everything was for the sake of the village!
If that was the reason…
Senju Tobirama could accept bending his principles just a little!
In an excellent mood, Senju Tobirama even did something highly unusual and opened a bottle of alcohol for himself.
As a qualified shinobi, he normally didn’t drink.
But today was an exception. Get faster updates on g.com.
He had to celebrate this hard-won survey report.
“Big Brother, I’ve been racking my brains for your sake!”
The next morning.
Early in the morning…
Senju Tobirama eagerly got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the office that his big brother, Senju Hashirama, had just built using Wood Release.
The moment he stepped inside…
He saw a man with black, nonconformist-style hair.
At the same time…
That man noticed Senju Tobirama.
“Tch.
That inherently troublesome Uchiha Madara / Senju Tobirama!”
“What an annoying presence…”
“Why is he here bothering my Big Brother / Hashirama again?!”
However, Senju Tobirama knew that Senju Hashirama was hopelessly biased.
His heart had already been stolen by that inherently troublesome Uchiha Madara.
So…
Tobirama could only keep those words to himself.
Naturally, Uchiha Madara was thinking the same thing.
For Hashirama’s sake, I’ll put up with Senju Tobirama for now!
The two merely exchanged deadpan glances.
Neither showed the slightest friendliness toward the other.
Then Senju Tobirama walked straight over to Senju Hashirama.
“Big Brother, these are the results of the questionnaires I’ve collected over the past few days…
Take a look.”
“Questionnaires?”
Senju Hashirama spoke with confusion as he reached out and took a stack of papers from Senju Tobirama.
Then…
He began reading.
As expected…
Uchiha Madara also leaned over to take a look.
If it was something Hashirama was going to read, then even if it were a piece of toilet paper, Madara would have to take a look and see what it was all about.
At the top of the page was a line of enormous black characters:
[Survey Report on Senju Hashirama Becoming the Village’s Leader!]
The title made Senju Tobirama’s intentions perfectly obvious.
But when Uchiha Madara suddenly joined them…
Senju Tobirama wasn’t nervous in the slightest!
Every answer had come directly from the mouths of Uchiha clan members.
And to increase the credibility of the survey, Senju Tobirama had specifically instructed the woman responsible for the “survey” to make absolutely sure that every Uchiha clan member signed their name on the questionnaire.
It was practically foolproof!!
And now that this inherently troublesome Uchiha Madarahappened to be here…
Perfect.
Let him witness Senju Tobirama’s methods!
Your own clan members have been forcibly represented by me.
This is the secret of statistics that I’ve come to understand!
The village leader’s seat belongs to Big Brother!
Uchiha Madara, regret it!
Curse your fate for not being blessed with a brilliant brain!
At the thought of this…
A confident, satisfied smile appeared on Senju Tobirama’s face.
He was already looking forward to seeing Uchiha Madara’s reaction to the survey results.
Surely Madara would lose his composure and show his frustration !
“Agree…”
“Yes!”
“I think so!”
Senju Hashirama flipped through the questionnaires one after another.
The results surprised him immensely.
“Am I really this popular?!”
“It’s understandable that the Senju clan members support me, but I never expected that the overwhelming majority of the Uchiha clan members would support me too!”
And as for Uchiha Madara’s thoughts…