Chapter 168: When Peace Becomes a luxury.

Two Days Later

"Hahahaha!"

"Great! Just great!"

Jiraiya laughed heartily as he looked at Minato.

"Minato, today is really the most auspicious and memorable day!"

He proudly slapped Minato on the back.

Bang!

A fist immediately landed on Jiraiya's head.

"Ouch!"

Jiraiya grabbed his head and turned toward Tsunade with a pained expression.

"What was that for, Tsunade?"

Tsunade was sitting beside the bed, keeping an eye on Kushina, who was still unconscious.

"Kushina needs to rest for a while."

"Why are you shouting like an idiot?"

Her voice was low, but the way she gritted her teeth made her anger obvious.

Jiraiya took one look at her expression and immediately backed down.

"Okay, okay..."

Minato couldn't help but give an awkward smile.

Just a few hours earlier, he had been taking a bath when he suddenly heard a loud crash from inside the house.

Bang!

He rushed out immediately.

"Kushina!"

His heart nearly stopped when he saw her lying unconscious on the floor.

He dropped beside her and tried to wake her.

"Kushina! Wake up!"

But she didn't respond.

Worry quickly turned into panic.

He immediately went looking for Tsunade, who had been with Jiraiya at the time, arguing with him as usual.

"Sister Tsunade..."

Minato rushed toward them, his face filled with worry.

"Kushina..."

Tsunade's expression sharpened the moment she saw him.

"What happened?"

"She collapsed. She's not waking up."

Tsunade followed him immediately.

After examining Kushina, however, the worry on her face slowly disappeared.

A small smile appeared instead.

Minato stared at her anxiously.

"Is she alright?"

Tsunade looked at him for a moment before finally giving him the news that would completely change his day.

"Kushina is pregnant."

Minato froze.

"...What?"

"You heard me."

Tsunade smiled.

"You're going to be a father."

For several seconds, Minato—the newly elected Hokage—simply stood there.

Completely stunned.

Then the words finally sank in.

A smile slowly spread across his face.

He was about to become the Fourth Hokage.

And now...

He was going to become a father as well.

It felt as though every bit of good fortune in the world had landed on his doorstep on the same day.

Jiraiya, who had been standing nearby, was just as excited.

"Hahahaha! Minato, you're going to be a father!"

The two of them immediately began celebrating.

Unfortunately, they celebrated a little too loudly.

Tsunade's patience finally ran out.

"Both of you. Out."

Bang!

Jiraiya and Minato were shoved out of the room.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head.

"...She's still as terrifying as ever."

Minato simply laughed.

For once, he didn't care.

Today was going to be a day he would remember for the rest of his life.

"What are you waiting for?"

Jiraiya looked at Minato, who was still standing there in a daze.

"Tsunade will look after Kushina. You need to get ready for the Hokage ceremony. We don't have much time left."

He tapped Minato on the shoulder, giving him an encouraging look.

Minato blinked.

The reality of the day suddenly came rushing back to him.

"Right... the ceremony."

He straightened himself.

"Yes, Sensei."

Jiraiya nodded.

"Come on. Let's get moving."

The two of them quickly left to prepare for the Hokage inauguration.

Across the village, however, Fugaku was dealing with a very different situation.

"Clan Head."

Shishu stood before him with a troubled expression.

"I quietly approached a few people and asked them to attend the ceremony... but no one is willing to come."

Fugaku remained silent.

He took a slow breath.

Sigh.

"Let it be, Shishu."

He looked at Shishu with a defeated look.

"There is no point forcing them to attend if they don't want to."

His face looked more haggard than it had two days ago.

The events surrounding the election had been weighing heavily on him.

"These past few days haven't been good for us."

Fugaku sighed again.

For the first time, he had begun seriously questioning whether his decisions had been wrong from the very beginning.

His doubts toward Hiruzen and the elders had only grown to the point of no return after everything that had happened.

The more he thought about it, the more it felt as though he had unknowingly walked into a web.

A web created by the Third Hokage.

And he was only now beginning to see the threads around him.

Fugaku slowly raised his eyes toward Shishu.

"Shishu... will you go?"

Shishu smiled.

"Of course."

He didn't hesitate.

"Our relationship with the last Hokage started on the wrong foot. There were too many misunderstandings, and we never managed to properly fix them."

He looked directly at Fugaku.

"We can't make the same mistake with Minato-jonin."

Fugaku remained silent, listening.

"And Clan Head... your relationship with Minato-jonin is already good."

Shishu's smile widened slightly.

"Isn't that exactly what we need?"

Fugaku's eyes shifted.

"We should show him our support."

Shishu's words lingered in his mind.

Fugaku lowered his gaze.

Yes...

Minato is different.

He's not like the elders.

And perhaps he's not like Hiruzen either.

He slowly nodded.

"You're right."

Shishu smiled before turning toward the door.

"I'll see you at the ceremony, Clan Head."

"Hmm."

Shishu left Fugaku's residence.

The door closed behind him.

Silence filled the room.

Fugaku remained seated, his thoughts already turning toward the problem ahead.

The Uchiha were no longer truly one clan.

There were now two sides.

One was the merchant Uchiha.

They cared little about Konoha beyond what the village could offer their businesses. Their priority was profit, trade, and protecting their economic interests.

The other was his side—the Shinobi Uchiha.

They were still part of Konoha's military structure and depended on the village for their everyday lives.

That meant Fugaku couldn't afford to ruin his relationship with the new Hokage.

Minato truly was different from Hiruzen and the elders, and this could become an opportunity for the Uchiha.

But only if he handled it carefully.

Fugaku looked toward the window.

The relationship between the Uchiha and the new Hokage must be different this time.

I cannot afford another mistake.

Meanwhile, preparations for the Hokage inauguration were already underway.

Konoha was preparing to welcome its new Hokage.

But beneath the celebration, the village was carrying something far heavier.

The Uchiha's internal division.

And the wounds left behind by the election were nowhere near healed.

"A dog's tail can never be straight."

Raizen leaned back slightly as he listened to one of his former comrades from the Fugaku branch.

"Did he really think every clan member was like him?"

His expression turned mocking.

"Getting kicked around and then crawling back to beg for another chance?"

The information was simple enough. Shishu had been quietly asking clan members what they thought about attending the Hokage inauguration.

Grand Elder Setsuna and Toyama listened in silence.

Despite the division within the Uchiha, contact between the two sides had never completely disappeared.

That was intentional.

Both factions still maintained connections with members on the other side, allowing them to understand how people were living on the other side and, more importantly, which side's idea was best for the Uchiha.

The split wasn't only about separating the clan.

It was also a quiet battle for its people.

Each side wanted more Uchiha to see their way of thinking and eventually choose their side.

Toyama leaned back.

"Looking at Fugaku's attitude, it won't be long before more of them come around to our side."

He glanced toward Setsuna.

"Happy now, Grandpa?"

Setsuna said nothing.

He simply continued drinking his tea, a faint smile resting on his face.

Toyama understood the reason.

There were many things he had wanted to do after the division of the clan, but Setsuna and the other elders had prevented him from going too far.

Toyama had once planned to move Uchiha families out of Konoha in one shot toward the Fire Capital.

From there, he could create multiple escape routes.

If Konoha ever decided to turn completely against the Uchiha, not all uchich get affected.

At the same time, those settlements could gradually become stronger and give the Uchiha another layer of protection.

The elders had agreed with the idea in principle.

But when it came to actually abandoning their own people, they couldn't do it.

It didn't matter whether those people stood with the merchants' faction or Fugaku's.

They were still Uchiha.

For that reason, Toyama had eventually settled for a smaller plan.

The ordinary Uchiha who could not become shinobi would be moved out quietly.

One to five families at a time, as getting stock from the Capital.

Without attracting much attention.

It wasn't enough for what he had originally wanted.

But it was better than doing nothing.

Raizen broke the silence.

"But Minato becoming Hokage, won't that change our situation?"

Both Toyama and Setsuna looked toward him.

Setsuna slowly placed his teacup down.

"No."

His voice was calm.

"It won't."

The words landed heavily.

"Those people will never willingly allow power to slip from their hands."

Raizen's expression hardened.

Toyama nodded.

"And that's exactly why we can't relax."

His voice had become colder.

"We have to keep them restless."

Setsuna looked at him.

Toyama continued.

"If we give them enough peace, they'll eventually return to their usual methods."

The logic was simple.

As long as Konoha had problems coming from different directions, its leaders would have less time to focus all their attention on the Uchiha.

Toyama had no intention of giving them that opportunity.

"If they want to pressure us..."

His eyes narrowed.

"...then we'll give them something else to worry about."

Silence filled the room.

Toyama leaned back.

"They want peace?"

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Then they should have thought about that before making enemies everywhere."

His smile disappeared.

"As long as they keep trying to corner the Uchiha..."

Toyama's eyes hardened.

"I'll make sure they never have enough peace to do it."

Minato becoming Hokage would give Konoha's power game a new direction.

But no one knew how much Minato would truly understand about the game being played around him.

Would he learn to control it...

Or would the game eventually consume him?

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Author's Note

And with this chapter, Part One of Uchiha: Rise of the Golden Hawk comes to an end.

Part Two will continue in a new fanfic: Uchiha: The Strike of Hawks.

The story will begin roughly one week before the Nine-Tails attack, and the consequences of everything that happened throughout Part One will start becoming much more important.

Toyama hasn't created a perfect situation for the Uchiha.

But he has built something strong enough to give them options, protection, and a foundation to work from.

Now we get to see what happens when that foundation is actually tested.

There will also be some changes to Toyama's Gold Exchange power.

I'll be honest—I don't think I explained and showed the cheat properly or to its full potential in Part One. That's something I agree with myself, and I want to handle it better in Part Two rather than simply continuing with the same system.

So expect some adjustments and clearer use of the power as the story progresses.

For now, I hope you enjoyed Uchiha: Rise of the Golden Hawk.

Right now, P@treon chapters are available up to.

Uchiha: When the Hawks Strike [Chapter Seven: The Night of the Nine-Tails]

P@treon - Hear_tteeth [18 +]

Thank you for the support and patience.