Around a week after Fujin restarted his high-intensity training, numerous important people in Konoha received a notice from Hiruzen.
Inoichi read the notice and wondered, 'The Quarterly Council meeting won't happen for another couple of months. Why did Lord Hokage call for a council meeting all of a sudden?'
The same thought ran through the minds of all but one of the remaining clan leaders, elders and civilian council members.
A couple of hours later, everyone from the Konoha council arrived in the council room and took their seats. Quite a few of them were surprised to see that even Danzo was present for the meeting.
The council room had 15 people. They included the 7 Clan Leaders, that is, Hyuga Hiashi, Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza, Aburame Shibi, Inuzuka Tsume and the Senju clan leader. In addition, there were the three elders, Shimura Danzo, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu. Finally, there were 5 civilians who looked after the policies for normal civilians in Konoha and helped the Hokage in issues such as Finance, Trade and other non-ninja matters.
A couple of minutes after everyone arrived, Hiruzen stepped into the room and took his seat.
Homura asked, "Why did you call for a council meeting suddenly? Did something unexpected happen?"
Though Konoha was currently enjoying peace, the situation in the ninja world was very volatile. Especially in the Land of Water, where two factions were engaged in a civil war. Since nothing strange had happened in Konoha, that was their best guess.
However, Hiruzen shook his head and said, "Nothing important took place recently. Well, other than a new ninja being appointed as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist by the Mizukage faction. Anyway, this meeting isn't for that purpose. I have summoned you all here to discuss expanding the council."
Hiruzen's words surprised everyone. Homura asked, "What do you mean?"
Hiruzen said, "When the village was formed, all the ninjas in the village belonged to clans. However, ever since the First Great Ninja War, we began training civilians to become ninjas.
The three great wars inflicted heavy damage to our clans, to the extent that some of the clans are no longer considered clans and have lost their seat in the council. On the other hand, the number of civilian ninjas is continuously increasing. After this year of graduates, their number has exceeded 50% of the total forces. In the future, it will continue increasing."
Hearing Hiruzen's words, everyone went quiet. The Clan Leaders knew about the state of their clans. The Great Wars were like a grinding machine that killed their promising ninjas. So, despite the long peacetime, their numbers were a far cry as compared to their peaks.
Hiruzen continued, "Due to the circumstances, I propose adding a seat in the council to represent Civilian ninjas, or rather, ninjas who aren't part of any clans."
Most of the Clan Leaders sighed internally.
Hiashi thought, 'So it's finally time to do this…'
Tsume thought, 'Creating seats for civilian ninjas will cut into our authority.'
Shibi thought, 'Unfortunately, even though our authority will get reduced, this step is inevitable.'
Inoichi thought, 'Though right now there isn't much demand for this, with time, many will start demanding this. They might even demand more seats to represent their large population.'
Choza thought, 'Besides, even at the top level, the civilian ninjas have been dominating. At the end of the 3rd Great Ninja War, almost half of our rank S ninjas were from a civilian background. Considering that Lord Hokage and Danzo had retired, that number rose to 60%. Even right now, of the three most promising upcoming ninjas, two have civilian backgrounds and one is from a clan that no longer has a seat on the council.'
As Inoichi had thought, one of the civilians on the council asked, "Lord Hokage, since their population is so high, why don't we create more seats to represent them?"
Hiruzen immediately answered, "Let us start with one and understand what complications happen. If it is beneficial for the village, then an expansion can be considered in the future."
The council member nodded and didn't say anything else. Koharu frowned and said, "There are many problems with your proposal. The biggest one is about how a clan functions. In a clan, the clan leader thinks about the welfare of all his clan members.
However, the same won't work with civilians. They only look after their family and some friends. So despite having more than 50% ninjas, anyone sitting in this seat will only represent a minuscule fraction of the ninjas."
Koharu's points were valid. She immediately got support from some of the clan leaders who put forth similar points in front of Hiruzen. For them, this represented a barricade. Once this barricade was breached, in the future, their power in the council would keep diminishing.
On the other hand, the civilian council members saw it as an opportunity to expand their influence in the village and gain more opportunities for them. Though they were apprehensive about opposing the strong clan leaders, with Hiruzen's support and encouragement, they defended Hiruzen's idea and kept listing the benefits of such a move.
The entire group kept debating for over 2 hours until they had nothing more to add. Hiruzen said, "Since the opinion is split, we will have a vote to decide this. Everyone will have 2 minutes to make a decision."
As soon as it was announced, everyone exchanged glances. Shikaku looked at Inoichi and Choza and nodded. At the same time, Hiruzen glanced at the 5 civilians before glancing at Shibi, Tsume, Hiashi and the Senju clan leader, hoping that they would support him as well. Meanwhile, Danzo looked at one of the 5 Civilians. The Civilian council member became nervous on noticing Danzo glaring at him.
Finally, Hiruzen asked, "All those in favor, raise your hands."
Immediately, Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza and 4 of the 5 Civilians raised their hands.
Hiruzen looked at the civilian who didn't raise his hand and was displeased. He wondered, 'He isn't under any influence. Since when did Danzo dig his claws into him? Sigh, I will need to make a move here. And later on, I will have to replace this guy as well.'
Since there were only 7 votes in favor as opposed to the 8 he wanted, Hiruzen raised his own arm to support his proposal.
A frown appeared on Danzo's and the remaining two Elder's faces. However, they quickly realized, 'With the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clans supporting them, the result would be obvious. Hiruzen must have already convinced Shukaku.'
Hiruzen nodded and said, "All those who are against, raise your hands."
Danzo, Koharu, Homura, Hiashi, Tsuma and 1 Civilian council member raised their arms.
Hiruzen nodded and announced, "8 in favor, 6 against it and 2 abstained. From now on, there will be a new seat on the council to represent ninjas not a part of any clans."
Hiruzen thought, 'It's good that those two abstained. Though even if they hadn't, the vote would have only been a tie. I could have still pushed it through by using my second vote. Unfortunately, that would have damaged my relationship with the clan leaders.'
Luckily for Hiruzen, he didn't have to face that. Since the results were clear, no one argued. The Senju Clan leader asked, "What about the clans who have lost their seat at the table due to the losses they took? The White Fang's son is a genius just like him."
Hiruzen answered, "The Hatake clan was badly hit in the previous war. So was the Kurama clan. I gave them 5 years to increase the number of their ninjas to beyond 100, but both failed. Once they hit the minimum requirement, they will be reinstated into the council. Hopefully their clans not being in the council will spur them to raise their youngsters more passionately.
As for the Uchiha clan, Sasuke is still too young and the remaining kids are still in the academy. So, they have no ninja among our ranks currently. Considering the tragedy they faced, they might require a couple of generations to reach the minimum number. But considering their case, Sasuke will get a seat on the council once he gets promoted to Jounin.
The clan leaders nodded satisfactorily. As long as a new war didn't happen, the Hatake clan and the Kurama clans could regain their seats. Sasuke just needed time as well. Considering his father and brother, everyone believed that he would need less than 6 years to reach the Jounin rank after graduating. So the number of seats held by Clan ninjas would increase further.
And, if a new war did start, then a seat on the council would be the least of their worries.
Finally, for the first time since the meeting started, Danzo opened his mouth. And the question he asked was what everyone was thinking about. He asked, "Who do you have in mind for this seat?"
Everyone's eyes immediately turned towards Hiruzen. Since he had put forth this proposal, it was obvious that he would have someone in his mind.
