Chapter 488: The Reason for Peace
"...Little Tsuna's boyfriend, huh."
However, after hearing this answer, the shock and relief in Senju Hashirama's voice quickly faded, replaced by gradually spreading negativity.
"Um..." He looked at Naruto cautiously. "The village is still okay, right? It hasn't been mortgaged or anything?"
"...Of course it's fine." Uchiha Satsuki frowned slightly, somewhat confused by this First Hokage's jumping thought process. "Why ask such a question?"
"Because she's my granddaughter." Hashirama scratched his cheek, tone carrying helplessness yet faintly revealing indulgence. "I spoiled her terribly since childhood. She even picked up my gambling habit, and I mean... hahahahaha!"
He paused, recalling something, then laughter erupted without warning. He laughed until bent over, completely oblivious to the atmosphere growing subtle around him.
In the distance, Gengetsu Hozuki's face remained taut, small mustache trembling slightly. Beneath Mu's bandages, his mouth corner seemed to twitch. The Third Raikage remained silent, but his crossed-arm posture visibly tightened.
The present world's strongest ninja. The Pure Land's administrator. An existence from later generations stronger than even the legendary Sage of Six Paths... was a Konoha ninja.
These pieces of information stacked together made these outside village Kages' hearts sink. Anyone learning the afterlife's supreme administrator was from an opposing ninja village couldn't possibly remain indifferent.
However...
Watching that First Hokage laughing and slapping his thigh without any image to maintain, then glancing at that Second Hokage standing aside with a completely numb expression—
The God of Shinobi... doesn't quite match the legends.
Senju Tobirama's brow furrowed enough to pinch a fly dead. He naturally noticed those outside village Kages' subtle expression changes. But what concerned him more was another matter.
Was elder brother too lively?
He clearly remembered Hashirama's final days before death.
The Battle at the Valley of the End, the pain of personally killing his dear friend, self-blame over "Uchiha Madara becoming like that"—back then, Hashirama smiled less and less, fell silent more and more... until reaching that ending of dying from depression.
And now—
He watched Hashirama laugh until tears squeezed from his eye corners, watched him approach again after being coldly rejected by Uchiha Madara as if nothing happened, watched him like that young man from decades ago who hadn't yet become Hokage, filled with curiosity toward every novel thing.
No longer bearing the living world's responsibilities, no longer worrying day and night over the village's survival, no longer facing that rupture's wound that could never heal.
The Senju Hashirama before his eyes was the real Senju Hashirama.
But this wasn't reason to let his elder brother continue derailing negotiations tens of thousands of meters off course.
"Ahem."
A cough neither light nor heavy, carrying clear interrupting intent.
Senju Hashirama was enthusiastically preparing to pursue questions like "what does Jiraiya look like," "is he good to Tsunade," "when do they plan to marry," when he felt his collar yanked by some force.
He turned back, meeting his brother's expressionless face.
"...Tobirama?"
Senju Tobirama ignored him.
He stepped forward half a pace, crimson pupils gazing directly at Uzumaki Naruto in the distance. No excess pleasantries, cutting straight to the core.
"Pure Land's administrator."
"Both elder brother and I have returned to the living world in 'Impure World Reincarnation' form."
"At that time, what we perceived in the Pure Land was absolute void. No sensation, no consciousness, no heaven or earth—nothing at all."
His gaze swept across the distant space transformed into grassland with an artificial sun hanging overhead, the velociraptor guards he'd witnessed earlier moving between Cloud and Rock ninja, finally returning to settle on Naruto.
"But now, all souls are awakening. This heaven and earth, these orders, plus that talking dinosaur—you created all of it."
"Since you possess this level of power... summoning us who've already died, what purpose do you have?"
Naruto had just opened his mouth, not yet producing sound.
"Wait!" An urgent voice cut off his about-to-emerge words.
The speaker was that figure wrapped head to toe in aged bandages—the Second Tsuchikage, Mu.
Those eyes visible through bandage gaps locked straight onto Uzumaki Naruto, pupils churning with complex emotions—wariness, vigilance, and reluctantly acknowledged awe toward the unknown.
"...Truly unexpected." He paused. "Later-generation Konoha actually produced a powerhouse of this caliber."
Even an existence surpassing the Sage of Six Paths.
Mu stared at Naruto, asking the question all outside village Kages most cared about at this moment: "Then in the present world—do other ninja villages still exist?"
The air froze for an instant.
This wasn't an ordinary question. This was testing the absolute power holder, inquiring whether "peace's" facade concealed annexation and enslavement.
Every Kage present had fought with everything during life to protect their villages. They understood better than anyone—when power disparity grew insurmountable, existence itself became a luxury requiring permission.
Naruto looked at Mu, eyes holding no evasion, no offense at being challenged.
"Yes, they all exist."
"I haven't done such things—using force to coerce, launching wars, forcibly making other villages submit to Konoha... That kind of submission would probably only be superficial anyway. Hearts can't truly be won through intimidation."
Mu fell silent momentarily, as if chewing on these words' weight. Then he spoke again, voice even lower than before:
"Then... in the wars you experienced, what price did other ninja villages pay?"
This wasn't accusation but an old man who'd experienced countless slaughters and witnessed too many village rises and falls, testing a future he couldn't personally verify—using the cruelest yet most realistic measure.
"Wars between ninja villages?"
Naruto felt slightly puzzled by this question's premise. "In my era, such things didn't happen."
"What—?!"
Mu's voice rarely showed cracks. And not just Mu.
Gengetsu Hozuki's mirror snapped shut with a "crack." The Third Raikage's mountain-rock-like immovable form imperceptibly leaned forward slightly. Even Uchiha Madara who'd been listening with cold detachment turned his Rinnegan toward Naruto.
"No wars?!"
Senju Hashirama practically jumped. He rushed before Naruto in three strides, eyes shining, face written with incredible excitement and urgency.
"Really? You truly achieved it?!"
He clenched his fists. As the person who'd personally ended Warring States chaos and established the ninja village system, what Hashirama left behind wasn't "peace," only a fragile ceasefire that temporarily contained endless warfare within containers called "ninja villages."
He'd never truly resolved war. He understood he couldn't truly accomplish it, so he only postponed it, throwing the problem to later generations.
And now, he heard someone say—"no wars."
"How did you do it?! What method? Negotiations? Treaties? Or—"
"I hid my identity."
Naruto's answer came calmly. "Used an organization leader's identity to threaten the entire shinobi world."
"...Threaten?" Hashirama's smile froze at his mouth corner.
"Yes." Naruto nodded. "Whichever ninja village made small moves—like trying to provoke border friction or secretly expanding military beyond the red line—I would appear outside their village."
"Then demonstrate... power capable of instantly destroying a country."
"..." Senju Hashirama's smile completely solidified.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but only meaningless breath sounds emerged from his throat. Those eyes just moments ago filled with anticipation and relief now held only bewilderment and daze.
The hall sank into bizarre silence.
Gengetsu Hozuki and Mu exchanged a glance. That look held no fear of intimidation—they were already dead, fear was the living's privilege. Now they only felt absurd understanding.
So that's it. Not through understanding, not through dialogue.
It was through "can't win."
The Third Raikage remained silent. But his body taut as a bowstring imperceptibly relaxed several degrees the instant he heard "threaten."
...Not massacre.
He thought of himself. Fighting ten thousand enemies alone, dying from exhaustion. He'd never regretted covering his subordinates' retreat, but he clearly knew—that kind of "sacrifice" was the weak's helplessness against the strong, flesh and blood futilely resisting the wheel's flood.
Yet this young man before him said:
"I didn't kill anyone. After reaching this point, other villages all became quite obedient."
"After my first action, basically couldn't see border friction anymore."
"..."
Uchiha Madara averted his gaze.
Just seconds ago, when Mu questioned "whether other ninja villages still existed," what flashed through his heart was disdain—he thought this blond brat was just another Hashirama, naive, idealistic, believing smiles and sincerity could fill the chasm carved in blood between nations.
Turns out, he used this method... Interesting.
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