The odds of Sakura becoming the next Hokage were getting uncomfortably high.
Jiraiya obviously didn't want the job; despite his recent and unexplainable change of heart, everyone still hated and feared Orochimaru; and despite their skill and intellect, Shikaku and Kakashi were not true Kage‑level shinobi. With those names eliminated, and having helped Naruto defeat Pain and kept the Nine‑Tails from rampaging across what remained of the village, then by process of elimination, wouldn't Sakura be the obvious choice for the Sixth Hokage position?
The problem was that with Tsunade's death still fresh in her mind, Sakura simply did not feel ready to become the next Hokage. After all, she was only three weeks away from her seventeenth birthday. How could the village's seasoned shinobi be expected to listen to a teenage girl? Just look at what had happened to Gaara: when he tried to oppose his village's elders, they launched a coup and tried to extract his Tailed Beast, and now he was dead.
"Next is the Konoha Council's nominee," Homura went on. "Orochimaru… if you would care to enlighten us as to why you have chosen to return to the village so suddenly, and to put yourself forward in this race, I am sure it would go some way towards assuaging the council's concerns regarding your loyalties."
Lady Tsunade hadn't retracted her disavowal of Danzō before her untimely death, so the head councillor remained wanted by Konoha as a missing-nin; and with Utatane Koharu still unaccounted for, Mitokado Homura was, for the time being, the only one left to represent the Konoha Council.
In Sakura's opinion, Jiraiya was still the council's favoured candidate for Hokage, so she could only suppose that Homura had put forward Orochimaru's name in order to force Jiraiya to take things seriously… after all, it would be nothing short of calamitous if someone as utterly unprincipled as Orochimaru were to seize power.
Orochimaru stepped up to the podium.
"Booo!" yelled Anko.
"After careful consideration, I have decided my talents would be better suited elsewhere than a leadership position," said Orochimaru coolly. "I hereby withdraw my candidature."
A shocked silence fell over the auditorium.
"Y-y-you!" stammered Homura. "This isn't what we discussed!"
Jiraiya sniggered.
Unbeknownst to the councillor, he had secretly shared a heart-to-heart talk with his old friend Orochimaru just before the bombs fell. He knew what his old friend really wanted: funding. That's why Orochimaru had founded the Hidden Sound Village, after all: performing experiments was expensive… and the village was just a means to an end.
In return for Orochimaru declining the offer of becoming the Sixth Hokage, Jiraiya had secretly pledged to fund his old friend's research with his own vast fortune— amassed through countless S-ranked missions and the sale of his best-selling book series— provided Orochimaru kept himself on the straight and narrow… thereby sparing himself from being outmanoeuvred by the Konoha Council, losing his liberty, and finding himself cornered into the Hokage's chair.
"Well, if you can turn down the appointment…" said Kakashi, raising his hand, "then I withdraw as well."
"As do I," said Shikaku swiftly. "I'm honoured to have been considered, but I believe my talents would be better directed towards guiding the next Hokage, just as I personally advised Lady Tsunade and Lord Sarutobi as Jōnin Commander in the past."
Shikaku was a commander, a tactician, and a strategist. His duty was to realise the Hokage's vision and offer counsel, not to dictate policy. Though a capable shinobi, his greatest value lay in being stationed well away from the front lines, directing the Leaf's forces with an eye on the broader picture… and no one understood that better than he did.
"Who better than the Fifth's own disciple to take her place?" Jiraiya asked lightly. "Sakura is a splendid Jōnin of the Leaf, highly proficient in all five chakra transformations. She can weave genjutsu strong enough to subdue the Nine-Tails, and she's every bit as formidable as Tsunade was in her prime… not to mention that she already knows her way around the Hokage's office, and she's rather easy on the eyes, besides having saved the village twice already."
Sakura goggled at Jiraiya. Why was he, her supposed rival in this Hokage race, glazing her!?
"It seems I've no choice but to decline the nomination," Jiraiya said with a sigh of mock dejection, shaking his head. "I'm simply no match for Tsunade's disciple… the plainly superior candidate."
"Then, I also…" Sakura began.
"Well, it seems there's no need to drag this on any longer," Homura said with a weary sigh. "As all the other candidates have withdrawn their candidacies, Manyū Sakura shall be our next Hokage… she may be young, but at least she'll have the wisdom of the first four Hokage to guide her."
Somehow, Sakura had found herself made the Sixth Hokage by default, without needing to utter so much as a word in her own favour. The burden of Hokageship was heavy indeed, and it was little wonder the other nominees had taken flight…
"This is preposterous! What sort of farce is this?" Tobirama hissed under his breath, as the hall before him burst into cheers and applause. "Since when has the title of Hokage fallen so low that even an Uchiha might dare to aspire to it? Monkey, how could you let this happen!?"
"How is any of this my fault, sensei?" Hiruzen said helplessly. "The Uchiha clan died out during my tenure— how could I possibly imagine this would ever happen!?"
Hashirama and Minato joined in on the applause, smiling broadly.
"That's my son's girlfriend, you know!" Minato was proudly telling anyone on stage who cared to listen. "The Sixth Hokage is my son's girlfriend!"
Meanwhile, Sakura remained in a daze. Seeing everyone clamouring before her felt like a dream… or a nightmare, more like. She was beginning to develop a serious case of stage fright…
"Go on," Minato said softly, giving her a light push in the back. "They're waiting to hear from you."
Minato's touch jolted Sakura out of her trance. She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a thankful nod, before stepping up to the podium. The applause and the cheers gradually died down, and she took a deep breath, clutching the First Hokage's necklace to her bosom for comfort.
"When I graduated from the Academy, I never dreamt I'd one day be nominated for the position of Hokage, let alone actually become the Sixth Hokage," Sakura began. "I'd always imagined it would be my friend Naruto who'd take the title of Seventh… but even so, I'm deeply honoured."
The Jōnin present gazed at her, broad smiles on their faces.
"Pain may have destroyed the village the former Hokage built, but so long as its people endure, the Hidden Leaf will live wherever we gather," Sakura continued. Her tone hardened. "That being said… no matter how much I'd like to tell you that now is the time for rebuilding, the truth is that our troubles are only just beginning."
Happy smiles faded away, and anxious murmurs began rippling through the crowd.
"Lady Tsunade was already dead, even before Pain attacked," Sakura went on. "The truth is that Danzō schemed to have the other four Kage murder her during the Gokage summit. The four great villages have united… the Fourth Shinobi World War has already been declared against the Hidden Leaf Village."
"What!?"
For many of the Jōnin, it was the first they'd heard of this. Most had assumed Tsunade had died in the initial bombardment, but this was a thousand times worse. They turned to the other Hokage candidates, hoping it was some joke in poor taste, yet not one of them looked remotely surprised.
They had all known already. That was why the elections had been so abruptly abridged!