Year 20 of Konoha.
In a dense forest, a group of people were resting there, all of them breathing heavily. It was obvious they had just finished a fierce battle not long ago.
Tobirama looked at his disciples. Every one of them was in a miserable state. Their clothes were torn to shreds, and several of them were wounded.
Wise all his life, only to make one stupid mistake at the worst possible time. He had actually been ambushed at the negotiation table right after the end of the Shinobi World War.
And that damned Raikage, how exactly did he manage his subordinates? His own men were about to stage a coup and he did not know a thing?
No matter how hard it was to manage subordinates, could they really be harder to deal with than that pack of hereditary lunatics called the Uchiha? Hadn't he still beaten them into submission?
What a bunch of barbaric idiots. Not a brain among them.
But cursing the Raikage was useless now. After all, he had already been killed by those two traitors, Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Tobirama felt the chakra inside his body. He still had a bit more than half left. With his Flying Thunder God Technique, returning to the village alone would not be a problem.
But there was still this whole group of burdens.
Considering the current situation, it was time to make a decision.
Tobirama closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
Should he save himself, or save his disciples?
"In this situation, if we want to escape, one person has to lure away Kinkaku and Ginkaku's elite force. But the outcome for that person..."
Tobirama's face was grave, and he did not finish the sentence.
Because the result was obvious.
There was only one path ahead.
Death.
The moment his words fell, silence followed. No one spoke, because no one wanted to die.
A few seconds later, Hiruzen spoke in a resolute voice.
"I'll go!"
Tobirama looked at Hiruzen. Beneath his stern expression, the corner of his mouth curved slightly.
At that moment, Danzo reacted as if his fur had exploded. That brief hesitation earlier had already revealed the gap between him and Hiruzen.
"I am the Hokage. Of course I should be the bait. All of you are young inheritors of the Will of Fire who will protect the village in the future."
Tobirama's words stirred up the crowd. Everyone immediately tried to stop him. If Tobirama traded his life for theirs, then their lives would be far too precious.
Danzo in particular had stopped trembling completely. His hands and feet no longer shook as he stepped forward, insisting on becoming the bait in Tobirama's place.
But there was no time to let Danzo perform now.
A few sharp words from Tobirama instantly suppressed him. Then he turned to Hiruzen and said,
"Monkey, protect those who admire the village and place their trust in you. Then nurture them into people who can carry the next era."
"Starting tomorrow, you will be the Hokage."
"Monkey, Konoha is in your hands."
...
At that moment, in Konoha.
The Uchiha Clan District.
Inside a room, a young boy had his hands pressed together while muttering under his breath.
"Buddha, Guanyin, Jade Emperor, Jesus..."
"It's time to show your power. Please let this one pull gold in a single draw."
"Today is a good day. Second Hokage Tobirama and the Raikage are negotiating, and if nothing unexpected happens, he should already be dead as hell. On a day this festive, if I'm drawing from the lottery, don't give me white again."
Haru stared at the giant wheel before him, hoping this month's draw would finally surprise him.
As a transmigrator, this roulette wheel was the trump card Haru relied on to survive in the dangerous world of Naruto.
Aside from the beginner gift pack at the start, which had given him three temporary Mangekyo Sharingan experience cards, each lasting one day, everything else came from the lottery wheel.
There was one fixed draw every month, and completing missions issued by the wheel could also earn him additional draw chances.
The prize pool of the wheel was incredibly varied. Based on more than ten years of personal testing, Haru had divided it into five categories: white, green, red, orange, and gold.
White corresponded to everyday items, things like clothes, shoes, stools, milk, and the like.
Green corresponded to ninja tools, such as kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and similar items.
Red represented ninjutsu. Every kind imaginable was included, from forbidden techniques all the way down to ordinary Shadow Clones.
Orange represented bloodline limits, such as the Byakugan, Wood Release, Ice Release, Magnet Release, Lava Release, and more.
As for gold, that pool contained the absolute top-tier treasures of the Naruto world: Mangekyo Sharingan, Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, Sage Body, Perfect Sage Mode, Chakra Fruit...
After sixteen years in this world, Haru's draws had spent most of their time bouncing between white and green. Pulling red already felt like celebrating New Year. He had only gotten orange once.
As for gold, he did not even dare dream about it.
"Ding. Welcome, host, to the lottery draw!"
Haru pressed the draw button. A crisp mechanical voice rang out as the massive roulette wheel lit up. The pointer spun wildly across more than a thousand spaces. White occupied the overwhelming majority. Green was mixed in between the white sections. Red appeared only as scattered dots. Orange was extremely rare. And gold took up only one or two tiny spaces. If one did not look carefully, they were easy to miss.
"Gold. Give me gold."
"Give me gold already!!!"
Haru's eyes turned red as his three-tomoe Sharingan locked onto the spinning pointer. His hands clenched into fists so hard that his fingers turned pale.
"Damn it, green!"
"Three explosive tags."
Haru let out a sigh.
Just as expected. Either white or green.
Still, explosive tags were explosive tags. Even a single one was pretty expensive, so selling them for money was not bad either. Haru comforted himself that way.
If he wanted gold, then relying on luck was hopeless. Haru knew very well that he was not one of those blessed lucky monsters.
In the end, people still had to rely on themselves.
Haru opened the mission interface issued by the wheel. There, one long-term mission had been displayed ever since the day he officially became a ninja.
Mission: Become Konoha's Hokage.
Reward: One gold-tier lottery draw.
And right now, this was the best chance to complete that long-term mission.
Born during Tobirama's time as Hokage, becoming Hokage through normal means was basically impossible.
Become Tobirama's disciple, earn Tobirama's approval, and then be personally appointed as Hokage by him?
Please.
He was an Uchiha.
The clan crest on his clothes and the tomoe in his eyes were enough to make Tobirama remember that old bastard Madara.
Madara had been completely insane.
Every single Uchiha who awakened the Sharingan had issues.
Haru included.
From childhood, all he had practiced were techniques meant for killing people.
He had graduated at six, become a ninja, and gone out on missions. He picked up a kunai and cut people down with frightening ease.
How could that not leave some psychological damage?
And once someone awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, it was like breaking out of a cocoon and becoming an even greater lunatic. If an Uchiha really became Hokage, who knew when one of them might suddenly slap their head and come up with some "brilliant" idea that would drag Konoha onto a road of no return.
If someone went to Tobirama and told him that the Uchiha were planning an earth-shattering project to save the world and maintain peace in the shinobi world, and that they had developed an unprecedented ninjutsu that would hang every ninja in the world from trees so they could all have beautiful dreams, thereby creating unmatched peace...
Then Tobirama would definitely take that claim seriously and immediately investigate the Uchiha down to their roots.
Because the Uchiha really might do something like that.
After all, they were all crazy.
(End of Chapter)
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