While Uchiha Chizumi was still moving from city to city across the Land of Water, news from the Water Capital inevitably began spreading throughout the entire shinobi world.
"So this time Chizumi used… Wood Release."
Inside the Hokage building in Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the intelligence report an Anbu ninja had just delivered. The exhaustion in his eyes was impossible to hide.
"Orochimaru has already been confirmed dead at Uchiha Chizumi's hands."
"Hiruzen, maybe that brat Uchiha Chizumi got Wood Release from Orochimaru!"
Homura Mitokado looked at Hiruzen, who sat in the Hokage's seat smoking one pipe after another, and couldn't help reminding him.
Ever since Uchiha Chizumi first showed Wood Release, Hiruzen and the others had suspected it came from Orochimaru, especially since Chizumi had never really bothered to hide it.
"No. Chizumi already had Wood Release before he ever came into contact with Orochimaru."
"For someone like him, it's possible to combine water and earth nature transformations to create Wood Release."
"What I didn't expect… was that his Wood Release would grow this quickly."
"He used Wood Release to kill all the nobles in the Water Capital, along with the daimyo…"
At this point, Hiruzen was no longer particularly shocked by the strange things happening around Uchiha Chizumi. What he was really thinking about now was the same thing Genji was thinking about.
The Fourth Great Ninja War might really be about to begin.
And if that war was going to be fought to kill Uchiha Chizumi, could Konoha truly stay out of it?
"Chizumi moved a little too fast…"
"If he had slowed down, things might not have become this tense."
Hiruzen let out a soft sigh. Absolute Justice—yes, Absolute Justice sounded good. Hiruzen could see the changes in Konoha too. Whether they were merchants or ninja clans, everyone had to restrain themselves under Absolute Justice.
But the number of people who could not tolerate Absolute Justice was simply too great. The nobles and daimyo of the Five Great Nations, and even the nobles and daimyo of the smaller countries, would never tolerate one man using the name of justice to come after them.
"Should I disperse all the Root ninja?"
Homura hadn't come just to talk about Chizumi's Wood Release. Wood Release was important—within Konoha, it was practically the symbol of legitimacy.
But in the face of a world war, even Wood Release no longer seemed that important.
And of course, Homura had her own motives in suggesting the Root move out. Technically, she should still have been in prison, and the Root forces she had taken over should have been there too. It was only because Chizumi had left, and because Tsunade's attention was focused entirely on the Hokage election, that she had gotten the chance to step back out.
"Send Root out."
"Especially to keep watch on the borders of the Earth, Lightning, and Wind Countries."
Hiruzen nodded. His Anbu were no longer fully under his control, while Root—despite the cursed seals planted on them—had ironically become the force he could still command.
"A great ninja war…"
Hiruzen let out another soft sigh. Suddenly, he felt that if another great ninja war really broke out, it might not necessarily be a bad thing. At the very least, it might force Uchiha Chizumi and Tsunade to realize the flaws in Absolute Justice.
If Chizumi's version of Absolute Justice weren't so extreme, then handing Konoha over to Tsunade might not actually be a bad outcome.
"Perhaps this war… will be where I make my exit."
Hiruzen's gaze grew distant. As long as Chizumi could become less extreme, and as long as Tsunade could come to understand that Absolute Justice needed limits, Hiruzen was still willing to die for that.
He was tired. His two sons had died one after another. His student Orochimaru was dead. Even his daughter-in-law had secretly been in contact with Kumogakure from the Land of Lightning. So many upheavals had worn him down, day by day.
But Hiruzen truly did not dare let go. Even if people accused him of clinging to power, he still didn't dare step aside.
He was genuinely afraid that an extreme form of Absolute Justice would drag all of Konoha into ruin. In his mind, as long as he was still here, he could at least restrain Chizumi's Absolute Justice a little.
…
The Land of Rain.
"The great ninja war is going to break out!"
"Uchiha Chizumi is a complete lunatic. He doesn't think about the consequences at all."
Konan frowned as she read the report in her hand.
She truly hated war. It was because of the Second Great Ninja War that she, Nagato, and Yahiko had become orphans in the first place. If not for Jiraiya, they might have died long ago somewhere nameless.
"But for us, a great ninja war would be a good opportunity."
"The jinchūriki, who were previously being protected so carefully, will gradually start appearing on the battlefield."
Nagato was silent for a moment before speaking softly to reassure her.
In that same Land of Rain, Obito was currently staring at White Zetsu, while Black Zetsu continued wailing miserably. Obito had realized that a great ninja war might help his plans—but he had no idea how to actually put those plans into motion.
Usually, Black Zetsu handled things like this. But Black Zetsu was basically crippled now, and Obito no longer knew what to do.
"How about… we just move with the Akatsuki?"
"And the war hasn't even started yet, right?"
"If it really comes down to it, we can just improvise when the time comes?"
After staring at Obito for a while, White Zetsu finally managed to squeeze out an idea of his own. Obito felt like it was a pretty sloppy plan, but then again… it wasn't like he had a better option.
…
At the same time, in Kumogakure.
"The daimyo's residence has already sent six or seven orders in a row, demanding that Kumogakure eliminate Uchiha Chizumi at all costs."
The Fourth Raikage stood in his office, while Killer B, Samui, and the other elite Cloud jōnin gathered around him. As the situation in the Land of Water continued to escalate, this was already the fourth time the Raikage had summoned them here.
"What about the Earth and Wind Countries?"
"Are their ninja showing signs of mobilizing?"
Samui looked at the Fourth Raikage, clearly not in favor of Kumogakure being the first to start another great ninja war.
"The pressure on Earth and Wind won't be any lighter than ours. No—actually, Wind might have it easier. After all, the Wind Daimyo barely gives Sunagakure any funding at all. Suna only follows the Wind Daimyo's orders in name."
"But the pressure on Earth will definitely be even greater than what we're facing in Lightning."
The Fourth Raikage and Samui were thinking along the same lines. If another great ninja war was truly unavoidable, Kumogakure could fight as a major force—but ideally, they did not want to be the one to officially ignite it.
"A Uchiha ninja from Konoha… how does it feel like they're getting crazier and crazier…"
Killer B couldn't help muttering about Uchiha Chizumi. He had fought Uchiha ninja on the battlefield before, and while he had already thought they were all kind of messed up in the head, that guy called Uchiha Chizumi seemed especially far gone.