After staying in the Land of Whirlpools for two or three days, Hoshiyomi and the others returned to Konohagakure ahead of the main force, traveling with Akimichi Torifu and Uzumaki Ashina.
The remaining Konoha shinobi had their mission changed—from assisting in defense to escorting and protecting the Uzumaki survivors during their relocation.
Upon returning to the village, the first order of business was a high-level council eting.
This ti, not only Hoshiyomi but also Tsunade and the others were invited to attend, marking their initial step into the village's leadership circle.
Before this, they had only been allowed to take part in jōnin-level etings—mainly warti tactical briefings. The true political decisions of Konoha were handled in separate high council etings, which younger shinobi like them had no access to.
But after their performance in the Land of Whirlpools incident, it was clear that Hoshiyomi and his group had already developed the ability to influence high-level decisions. As such, they were now granted seats at the table.
From this day forward, like it or not, they were part of Konoha's core leadership. And as long as they remained in the village, they could no longer avoid such responsibilities.
The main topic of this eting was, of course, the integration of the Uzumaki clan into Konoha.
Uzumaki Ashina had already prepared well in advance, and as soon as the eting began, he clearly stated the clan's position.
In short: Ashina was willing to surrender all of Uzushio's sealing techniques as an "entry fee" for joining Konoha, in exchange for recognition as full citizens under the protection of the village.
In return, the Uzumaki clan would also promise not to defect or leave Konoha without cause in the future.
Upon hearing this, the council's responses varied and quickly split into four distinct factions. This ti, there were almost no fence-sitters—everyone had a stance.
The Hokage faction, or the "Senju faction," expressed full and unconditional support for the Uzumaki's integration. Hoshiyomi and his group were aligned with this camp.
The opposition, who were highly suspicious. They saw this as a sign of the Senju clan reviving its forr influence, and offered various flimsy or roundabout reasons to reject the Uzumaki's proposal.
The self-preservation faction, made up primarily of the Hyūga clan and other mid-sized families. They possessed their own kekkei genkai and had no need for the Uzumaki's sealing arts. Their only concern was whether this new influx of people would affect their own future interests.
Konoha had allocated land for each clan at the ti of the village's founding. These territories represented the clan's future expansion space. The sudden addition of several thousand Uzumaki posed a threat to that balance.
The small clans, who had neither kekkei genkai nor land to worry about. Most were tiny families with little future growth. Not only were they unthreatened by the Uzumaki's arrival, but many also coveted the sealing techniques—and were happy to support the proposal, partly to spite the larger clans.
The council debated fiercely without reaching any real conclusion—until Hoshiyomi, speaking indirectly through Mito, offered a solution.
As soone aware of Mito's full plan and her designated successor, he was already working to secure benefits for Tsunade and her circle.
On his own, Hoshiyomi might not have co up with anything—but was he truly alone?
Of course not. Behind him stood the accumulated wisdom of 5,000 years of another world's civilization. Drawing on that, Hoshiyomi proposed a straightforward but effective solution to Mito:
The military rit land system—a concept from Chinese history, adapted to suit Konoha's needs.
In essence, the plan still involved expansion, but instead of the Uzumaki seizing land directly, it beca an organized, long-term strategy controlled by the Hokage.
Konoha didn't truly lack land. The forest surrounding the village was vast and undeveloped—enough to last several centuries. The only reason it hadn't been touched was the fear of overdevelopnt or mismanagent.
Mito's proposal changed that.
The new system was simple: every thirty years, the village would expand into a portion of the surrounding land. From this newly claid area:
40% would go to the Uzumaki as settlent territory.
The rest would be distributed by the Hokage based on rit.
Of the remaining 60%:
60% (of that portion) would beco comrcial zones, available for purchase by civilians to build new economic districts.
The final 40% would be allocated to clans based on warti contributions or high-level service to the village.
"rit" could an battlefield achievents, advanced jutsu, or successful completion of dangerous missions—handled on a case-by-case basis.
This approach both guaranteed housing for the Uzumaki (by treating their sealing techniques as military contributions) and gave other clans a hope for future land expansion, easing their anxiety.
Once the plan was proposed, the vast majority of the council accepted it—and the Uzumaki clan's resettlent was resolved peacefully and effectively.
After the eting ended, Hoshiyomi and his team had their usual small gathering. Then everyone went their separate ways—so went on dates, so returned to training, others to research... and so to more dubious pastis like peeping.
In the end, only Hoshiyomi and Tsunade were left at the door. She glanced at him, her thoughts unreadable, then forced out a line:
"Hey... Aunt Rie's still at work. And your place is empty, right? Wanna co over to my place for a bit? Nawaki kept saying he wanted to hang out with you."
Hoshiyomi had been hoping for that.
For one, he genuinely enjoyed this ambiguous relationship with Tsunade. For another, he was also thinking about Kushina Uzumaki and how she was doing now that she'd arrived in Konoha.
Even though his shadow clone had mostly been rushing around delivering intel, it had also spent a good amount of ti with Kushina. She already held him in high regard as the big brother who saved her, and during that day-long journey, they had established the beginning of a real friendship.
Hoshiyomi was even considering whether he should take Kushina and Minato as his students in the future.
After all, they were his favorite couple when he used to watch Naruto. He had no plans to interfere with their relationship—on the contrary, he actually wanted to see how their romance blossod with his own eyes.
As for Jiraiya, well... he still had Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, right? It wasn't like he'd be short on disciples.
Besides, Hoshiyomi didn't think a Minato trained by him would be any worse than one trained by Jiraiya.
Co to think of it, Hoshiyomi had tried to ask around about Nagato back in Uzushio, but found no trace of him.
He wasn't one of those obsessive ani fans who'd rewatched the series twenty tis, so he didn't even know exactly when Nagato was born.
Since he didn't even know whether Nagato was alive yet, he didn't bother worrying too much. Worst case, if they crossed paths later in the Land of Rain, Jiraiya could handle it then.
As these scattered thoughts ran through his head, Hoshiyomi followed Tsunade toward the Senju compound.
Author's Note:
That whole military rit land system—don't take it too seriously. I just threw it in for plot convenience. The protagonist isn't going to beco Hokage, so I won't be diving too deeply into that kind of political system. If it doesn't sound convincing, feel free to just chuckle and move on. I'm definitely not so kind of historical expert.
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