Chapter 219 (Patreon)

A grand ideal had a way of drawing remarkable people toward it.

Every living being wished for a better life. The difference was that some were content to dream about it, while others stepped forward and tried to make that dream real.

Hashirama and Tobirama Senju had always belonged to the latter group.

Since childhood, the two brothers had been determined to end the chaos and cruelty of the Warring States Period and usher in a new age—the era of hidden villages.

They had devoted themselves to that dream, paying for it with years of struggle and countless sacrifices. In the end, they succeeded.

Yet the age they created was not nearly as beautiful as they had imagined, especially in Hashirama's case.

While Hashirama was alive, the peace he cherished truly did exist. But that peace had rested almost entirely upon his shoulders, which meant it had always carried an expiration date: the end of Hashirama's life.

The moment he died, the ambitious men lurking throughout the hidden villages and nations tore apart that fragile peace and bared their fangs.

War descended upon the world once more. Worse still, the conflicts between entire hidden villages were larger and far more destructive than the clan wars of the previous age.

Tobirama, who had died near the end of the First Shinobi World War, understood that truth more keenly than most.

Now, after being temporarily restored through the Edo Tensei, he had learned from Hashirama of Kizaru's plan for the next age—a plan that would overturn the existing system of shinobi and hidden villages and reshape the world itself.

After hearing the broad outline, Tobirama was certain of one thing: the future Kizaru envisioned was more advanced than the hidden-village system they had created, and it had the potential to preserve peace for far longer.

But there was one essential condition.

Kizaru could not die young as Hashirama had. He needed to live long enough for those shaped by the old order to pass away and for children born under the new system to grow into adulthood, accepting the unified nation as their home.

“Kizaru is only fourteen this year. He has plenty of time,” Tobirama murmured.

Hashirama blinked at the sudden remark. “Plenty of time for what?”

“To stabilize the new age after unification,” Tobirama explained, giving his brother a faintly exasperated look.

The source of that exasperation had not changed. If Hashirama had not died so young, Konoha's position would have been far stronger, and Tobirama himself might never have been forced into a battle that cost him his life.

“Hahaha! You don't have to worry about that.” Hashirama grinned. “Kizaru is going to live for a very long time.”

The longevity granted by Kizaru's senjutsu was another reason Hashirama had so much confidence in his plan.

Hashirama now understood that the peace of the early hidden-village era had endured only as long as he had. But if Kizaru could live for thousands of years, like the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest, then the peace he established might also last for thousands of years.

“How long are we talking about?” Tobirama asked.

“At least as long as the Slug Sage.”

Tobirama stared at him in disbelief. “How is that possible?”

“Hahaha! I knew you'd make that face!” Hashirama pointed at his younger brother, delighted to have finally caught him off guard.

“Explain.”

“You can't sense any chakra from Kizaru, can you?”

“No, I can't.”

“That's because he came into contact with senjutsu and abandoned the shinobi system of chakra training. He chose to follow the path of natural energy instead. In the same way that shinobi maintain chakra within their bodies, Kizaru constantly stores an enormous amount of natural energy inside himself.

“That natural energy continually nourishes his body and extends his lifespan. In time, he may become like the sages of the three great sage regions—capable of living for a very, very long time.”

As Hashirama explained, the shock on Tobirama's face gradually gave way to genuine delight.

For the first time, he could truly see how the peace created by Kizaru might endure.

The longer Kizaru lived, the more stable the nation he established would become. So long as the children born into that nation were raised under a shared system and taught to see it as their home, it would take no more than two generations for the people to fully integrate and develop a powerful sense of national identity.

This time, it truly could work.

As long as nothing happened to Kizaru himself, his grand plan had every chance of becoming reality—and surviving long after its creation.

Tobirama looked at his brother, excitement flashing in his eyes. His hands tightened into fists before slowly relaxing again.

He forced himself to calm down. Excitement would only cloud his judgment, and he needed a clear head if he was going to consider the matter properly.

Tobirama approved of Kizaru's plan. He did not yet know Kizaru well enough to judge the young Hokage's character for himself, but Hashirama and Tsunade both trusted him. For the time being, that was enough.

If neither the man nor the plan presented a problem, then Tobirama's next question was obvious: how could he take part, and what could he do to help this unprecedented young shinobi realize his vision?

When it came to the world beyond Konoha, Tobirama lacked too much current information to formulate a proper course of action. Aside from helping defeat Uchiha Madara, there was little he could contribute immediately.

Within the village, however—particularly where the education of Hiruzen, Koharu, Homura, and the others was concerned—he could still be of some use.

“Elder Brother, how did Kizaru handle the mistakes Monkey and the others made?”

“Most of those things happened before Kizaru became Hokage,” Hashirama answered honestly. “It would be difficult for him to drag up old matters now. Hiruzen is his teacher, Danzō is his uncle, and Koharu and Homura are both his elders.”

“Then how have they treated him since he became Hokage?”

From Tobirama's perspective, the reforms envisioned by such a young leader were unlikely to receive wholehearted support from the older generation. They might even obstruct him from behind the scenes.

“Monkey and Danzō have been very cooperative,” Hashirama said. “Koharu and Homura are the ones who still interfere with him from time to time.”

“I understand.” Tobirama nodded, already deciding how he would deal with his former students.

In his view, Hiruzen and Danzō had most likely interfered with Kizaru as well. Their relationship with the young Hokage was simply closer, making Kizaru reluctant to complain about them to Hashirama.

These four disappointing students of his clearly required another lesson.

“How long will it be before Hiruzen and the others return?” Tobirama asked.

“Soon, I think. I wasn't paying much attention. Hahaha...” Hashirama's laughter grew sheepish near the end.

Tobirama sighed. He had long since grown accustomed to his brother's inability to focus on important details.

He would ask Kizaru himself. It would also give him an opportunity to discuss the young Hokage's reform plan in greater depth.

“I'm going out.” Tobirama rose to his feet.

Hashirama stood as well. “Where are you going?”

“To speak with Kizaru.”

“Your return is still being kept secret. If you walk into the Hokage Building now, you'll only invite suspicion,” Hashirama reminded him. “Stay here. I'll have Nawaki go to the Hokage Building and invite Kizaru over for dinner tonight.”

Tobirama considered the suggestion, then nodded.

At seven that evening, Kizaru arrived at the Senju clan's main residence with Nawaki, just as promised.

The conversation at the dinner table lasted for quite some time. Tobirama raised question after question, and Kizaru answered every one of them, his lazy drawl remaining unchanged even when they discussed matters capable of overturning the entire shinobi world.

It was the first time Tsunade and Nawaki had heard the full scope of Kizaru's plan. Both listened with great interest and asked plenty of questions of their own.

Nawaki, who had long been dissatisfied with several of Konoha's senior officials—as well as the nobles and wealthy merchants of the Land of Fire—supported the plan with almost alarming enthusiasm.

Watching his future brother-in-law grow more excited by the minute, Kizaru began to suspect that if he announced the start of the revolution that night, Nawaki might sneak out of the village before dawn and attempt to assassinate Koharu and Homura himself.

“Oooh... calm down, Nawaki,” Kizaru said, drawing out the words in his customary manner. “If you say such frightening things in public, people might misunderstand you.”

He had no desire to see Nawaki lose his temper later and either shout something dangerous in front of the wrong people or act on one of his more radical impulses.

Compared to her brother's excitement, the older and more mature Tsunade remained considerably calmer. As Kizaru spoke with her two grandfathers, she quietly considered whether the plan was truly feasible and what consequences it might bring.

When the opportunity arose, she began asking the questions that concerned her most.

“After unification, what prevents the shinobi clans from becoming a new nobility?” Tsunade asked. “Where do you draw the line between ordinary merchants and the wealthy merchants you intend to restrain? And will every noble be treated the same way? If the purge is too broad, innocent people could be swept up alongside the guilty.”

Each question went directly to the heart of the matter.

Kizaru answered them without hesitation.

The noble class itself had to be abolished. On that point, he would not compromise. Individual nobles, however, could not all be judged alike. Each person would be investigated and placed on trial, with the sentence determined by the crimes they had actually committed.

As for commerce, Kizaru's current plan was to place industries essential to the people's livelihood under the village's control. Other chambers of commerce would be assessed according to their size and conduct. Any business that had established a monopoly would be broken apart, while its owners and shareholders would be investigated individually. Those found guilty would be punished; those with clean records could be retained and brought into the new system.

Tsunade, Hashirama, and Tobirama all approved of that answer.

Their greatest concern had been that Kizaru might choose an indiscriminate purge and drown the new age in blood before it had even begun.

During the same meal, Kizaru also presented his proposed solution to corruption within the new administration.

The first measure was a system of regular internal audits. The second was to bring in toads from Mount Myōboku as external supervisors. The toads possessed intelligence comparable to that of humans, but their values and desires differed enough that they would be less susceptible to human loyalties and temptations.

Of course, Kizaru had no intention of underestimating humanity's talent for bribery—or its remarkable ability to corrupt whatever it came into contact with. The toads assigned to the work would therefore be rotated at regular intervals.

He was also considering cooperation with the other two great sage regions and bringing their inhabitants into the supervisory system.

The cold, detached snakes of Ryūchi Cave and the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest, who could divide its body into countless smaller forms, were both promising candidates. Of the two, Kizaru was especially interested in the Slug Sage.

There was, in truth, only one slug throughout Shikkotsu Forest. Every slug summoned by a contracted shinobi was merely a fragment separated from that vast body.

If the Slug Sage agreed to cooperate and oversee Konoha's administrative system, Kizaru believed it could root out nearly ninety-nine percent of all corruption.

Everyone at the table admired the audacity and originality of the proposal, but they also saw two major obstacles.

First, the sages of the three great sage regions rarely allowed themselves to become deeply tied to human organizations. Second, many of Konoha's shinobi—and especially its shinobi clans—might refuse to accept supervision from nonhuman beings.

Kizaru readily admitted that the proposal was still being refined. He would find a way to negotiate with the sages of the three great sage regions. As for opposition within Konoha, he was not particularly concerned. He was confident that he could persuade anyone who objected.

And if persuasion somehow proved insufficient, Kizaru trusted his uncle Danzō to quietly remove the objection—or the person raising it—before the plan ever reached implementation.

Naturally, he kept that last thought to himself.

Neither Hashirama nor Tsunade was likely to appreciate Danzō's particular way of assisting the village.

After dinner, Tobirama asked to speak with Kizaru alone before the young Hokage left.

His purpose was simple. He wanted to know how much influence his former students still held over Kizaru and whether any of them were obstructing the village's progress.

Kizaru gave him much the same answer he had given Hashirama. He praised and defended his elders while, with remarkable precision, drawing Tobirama's attention to every mistake Koharu and Homura had made and every flaw in the way they exercised authority.

By the end of the conversation, Tobirama had reached his decision.

“Once Monkey, Koharu, and Homura return, I will speak to them privately,” he promised. “I'll deal with the two advisers who have been obstructing you and make them step away from the village's administration of their own accord.”

The private conversation ended to the satisfaction of both sides.

Kizaru bade farewell to the two former Hokage, Tsunade, and Nawaki before leaving the Senju compound with a smile.

News had already arrived from the Western Front. His teacher and the two advisers would soon return in triumph.

Kizaru was very much looking forward to seeing Tobirama discipline his former students.

The following day, at Konoha's camp on the Western Front of the Land of Fire, Hiruzen Sarutobi received the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, and the Third Raikage.

After taking a full day to consider Konoha's proposal, both Kage agreed to travel to Konoha and attend a Five Kage Summit to discuss how Uchiha Madara should be dealt with.

Unlike the younger generation of shinobi, Ōnoki and the Third Raikage had lived through the age when Madara's name cast a shadow across the newly established hidden villages.

Ōnoki, in particular, had witnessed Madara's power firsthand. As a young shinobi, he had stood beside his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage Mū, only for Madara to humiliate them both with overwhelming ease.

To men of their generation, the name Uchiha Madara still carried a suffocating weight. Merely hearing that he had returned was enough to awaken fear they had carried for decades.

Hiruzen was pleased that Kumogakure and Iwagakure had chosen to cooperate. On his honor as the Third Hokage, he promised that Konoha would ensure the safety of both Kage and receive them with the respect their positions deserved.

Once the arrangements for the summit had been settled, Ōnoki turned to the matter that concerned him most.

“Third Hokage, how much does Konoha truly know about Uchiha Madara?”

“Madara stole the power of the First Hokage, making him even more dangerous than he was in the past,” Hiruzen answered gravely. “His only clear weakness is time. He is already extremely old, and his body may no longer be capable of sustaining a prolonged battle.”

Following Kizaru's instructions, Hiruzen did everything he could to magnify the threat Madara posed.

Ōnoki's expression tightened. “Then if we intend to defeat him, we must gather every force available, attack him in rotations, and exhaust his strength through attrition.”

Hiruzen smiled and nodded, openly approving of the Tsuchikage's cautious judgment.

The Third Raikage folded his arms across his chest. “What about your disciple? Is Kizaru certain he can handle Uchiha Madara?”

“They have already clashed once,” Hiruzen replied. “Madara chose not to turn it into a battle to the death. After exchanging several blows, he withdrew.”

It was not quite a lie, but neither was it the complete truth.

Hiruzen did not know why Kizaru wished to conceal the fact that he had defeated Madara. Even so, his trust in his disciple was enough for him to follow Kizaru's instructions without question.

“With Kizaru among us, our chances of defeating Uchiha Madara will be much greater,” Ōnoki said. “Third Hokage, you have raised an extraordinary disciple.”

Under ordinary circumstances, Ōnoki would have regarded a shinobi like Kizaru with envy and deep suspicion. He might even have searched for an opportunity to eliminate such a threat before the young man could grow any stronger.

At that moment, however, Ōnoki wanted Kizaru to be as powerful as possible.

The stronger Kizaru was, the greater their chances of surviving the coming battle against the monster named Uchiha Madara.