Speaking of Rinnegan ability, he awakened a third-ish ability—the ability to open portals and travel to them. So now, his base was in an entirely new dimension, only accessible via his Rinnegan.

Hm. He liked those eyes of his. They were quite powerful.

Now, he just needed to master each path. He didn't need extra bodies—he could access all six paths in his human form.

He was going to have fun with the Human Path. With it, he could rip out souls. Heheh. With seals, he could make a weapon that literally ripped people's souls out.

Well, once he mastered all of the elements, he would be fine. Then he'd go to Kumo, destroy it, steal their Sage of Six Paths weapon, and do the same thing to Kiri and Suna. While sure, he already had their Bijū, he still needed to keep up appearances.

Meanwhile, in Konoha.

Hiruzen wasn't having the best of days. Actually, Hiruzen hadn't had a good day in a while.

Aizen Sōsuke had gone through the liberty—and I do mean everything—of posting all of Danzo's dirty laundry.

The bastard somehow got access to the Root mission logs... and posted that shit everywhere. Which had the slight side effect of making a bunch of nations realize that Root was, in fact, the reason behind a good chunk of their current mess.

So yeah—Konoha wasn't doing too well.

Oh, and in one of those notes, there was something about selling the secrets of the Hyūga Clan to someone.

Didn't specify who, though.

So anyway—Kumo had access to it. There's no way anything bad happens because of that.

Hiruzen currently felt tired.

Not from war.

But from humiliation.

The room buzzed.

Not with conversation—but with murmurs.

Words like:

"Subkage."

"Cover-ups."

"Danzo's leash."

"Hashirama arm... Sharingan eye... what the hell?"

Even some of the civilian representatives wouldn't meet his eyes.

The public had lost confidence. The Fire Daimyō had sent a polite, but very firm letter. The term "graceful retirement" was suggested—heavily.

So, Hiruzen stood before the council, resigned.

"For the sake of the village, and the Will of Fire... I hereby step down as the Third Hokage."

He bowed.

No one clapped.

Not out of malice—

But out of awkward silence.

Like when someone gets caught in the bathroom with their pants down and you all pretend it didn't happen.

Anyway, finding someone to become the Fourth Hokage was... hard.

Jiraiya didn't want to do it.

Orochimaru was well in jail.

Tsunade wasn't in the mood...

Seijuro didnt want to become one, since in his word, he would be Nawaki Shadow Hokage.

Which left—

Sakumo Hatake.

He saluted calmly.

"I never asked for this title. But I'll accept it. Not for recognition... but because the village needs repair."

Some of the council looked skeptical.

But the shinobi ranks?

They stood up—as one.

Even Tsunade, arms crossed, gave a reluctant nod.

The new Hokage turned to face the public window, staring at the village below.

It looked peaceful.

But he knew better.

Behind every building was a scandal.

A corpse.

A hidden scroll.

"Our image is damaged," Sakumo said later, during his first address. "And we're surrounded by those waiting to strike. So we fix it."

He raised a single hand.

"Effective immediately—Danzo Shimura's entire Root organization is dismantled. All assets seized. All illegal jutsu and research documented, and either destroyed or sealed. The corruption stops now."

No fanfare.

No smile.

Just resolve.

{I know this seem repetitive but when Sakumo say it, and since he is a new hokage without the bottom image and the elders are weak, it hold more weight, hope you get it}

Scene: International Reaction

Kumo:

Ay, grinning. "Hmph. At least he's got a spine. Let's see if he acts like it."

Suna:

The Third Kazekage: "Hm. The White Fang... we'll tread carefully. He doesn't play games."

Kiri:

No word. But the Mist began pulling back their spies.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

Iwa:

Onoki just stared at the communique in silence.

He didn't laugh.

He didn't mock.

Just nodded.

"The Fang's back. Konoha's going to bite harder this time."

Back in Konoha: Private Office

Sakumo stood at the Hokage's desk. It was freshly scrubbed—no rumors, no smut, no ghost of Danzo lurking in the shadows.

He sighed and looked at the piles of reports:

"Rebuild Uchiha relations."

"Audit ANBU command."

"Public confidence restoration plan."

He flipped through another file. Author unknown.

'Danzo x Hiruzen – Volume 3'

He chucked it into the fireplace.

It didn't burn fast enough.

"Time to fix this damn village."

Matter of fact—it didn't burn at all.

A light seal glowed brightly.

He should've expected this.

That bastard made his shit fire-proof.

Not just fire-resistant.

That shit just could not burn.

Sakumo had expected as much. This book was a goddamn curse.

He frowned a bit. Well, now that he was Hokage, this meant... he wouldn't have much time with his Inuzuka wife. He groaned a bit.

Oh well. He was sure he could manage—for the most part at least. He should be able to do it, give or take.

He'd still have some days off. He could manage... until someone good enough stepped up to replace him.

Speaking of which—now that he'd stepped down as ANBU Commander, someone needed to replace him.

His gaze landed on Seijuro Kurama's file.

A 100% success rate on all of his missions.

Having completed so many missions with zero failures.

Plus, he recently learned Sage Mode.

This was more than enough to qualify him.

Good.

He had the replacement.

A/N Shit almost felt like everything going way to perfectly, guess that what happen when Seijuro plan for shit.