Chapter 41: War!
Senju Morin had long anticipated Cloud Village's arrival.
In fact, as early as his Hokage inauguration ceremony, he had already prepared for this moment—without hesitation defining the Second Hokage's death as nothing less than a despicable conspiracy orchestrated by Cloud Village.
His objective was simple: to further stigmatize Cloud Village and lay the groundwork for future war through political narrative.
That said, in a Konoha increasingly inclined toward peace, Morin could not afford to be the one who openly ignited a new conflict or unilaterally shattered the fragile postwar calm. Doing so would alienate many shinobi who loathed war, as well as vast numbers of ordinary villagers.
Allowing Cloud Village to make the first move—and then responding with measured force—was the far wiser course.
Morin understood his opponent well.
The Third Raikage was by no means a simple man, but at this stage in his life, still young in both age and reign, he faced many of the same difficulties Morin himself had encountered upon assuming power.
More importantly, Morin's intervention had radically altered the political landscape.
He had directly deprived the Third Raikage of the righteous justification and prestige that would have come from personally executing the traitor Gold—avenging the Second Raikage in the process.
Morin's removal of both Gold and Silver's bodies had left the Third Raikage in a prolonged state of anxiety and frustration.
Until Cloud's spies embedded in Konoha finally transmitted confirmation, the Raikage had been unable to ascertain the brothers' fate. For a long time, he lived under constant fear that the two traitors might still be alive, colluding with internal factions and preparing to ignite yet another rebellion.
Worse still, deprived of both moral legitimacy and tangible success, the Third Raikage had failed on all fronts:
Gold and Silver vanished.
The Six Paths Treasures were lost.
Justice for the former Raikage went unfulfilled.
Objectively speaking, much of this was not truly his fault.
But there was an old saying for such situations—
Whoever holds power bears responsibility.
As the newly appointed Raikage, you failed to avenge your predecessor.
You failed to eliminate traitors.
You failed to recover your village's greatest treasures.
In a word—incompetence.
If you could accomplish none of these things, then one question naturally followed:
On what grounds did you deserve to be Raikage at all?
Given that Cloud Village had only recently endured a catastrophe on the scale of an armed coup and an assassination attempt on its leader, it was clear that the village was nowhere near as unified as it would be decades later.
After all, every hidden village was an amalgamation of powerful clans.
So why was it that, twenty years in the future, Konoha would be infamous for endless internal strife—while Cloud Village would somehow emerge as a model of unity?
That notion, Morin knew, was nothing more than a comforting illusion.
After all, wasn't it precisely because those two "kind-hearted souls," Gold and Silver, had taken the initiative to launch a coup that all the opposition factions within Cloud Village were forced into the open—only to be swept away in one decisive purge by the Raikage's faction?
And wasn't it also because the successor, the Third Raikage, happened to be an outrageously powerful monster who, step by step in the years to come, would grow into the undisputed strongest Raikage in history?
Naturally, this also meant that the Third Raikage's ascension had never been a smooth, uncontested inheritance.
In the span of a little over half a month, he had likely only just managed to barely stabilize his newly acquired position—but the tensions, resentment, and contradictions festering within Cloud Village must already have been on the verge of eruption.
At this moment, the Third Raikage was sitting atop a powder keg.
And in order to divert internal pressure and consolidate his fragile authority, he had only one viable choice—
To reignite a war.
Whether Konoha buckled under the threat and offered economic compensation to the Land of Lightning, or returned one or two of the Six Paths Treasures, the Third Raikage's prestige would instantly soar.
This, too, was a familiar Cloud Village specialty—
War blackmail.
But Senju Morin had no intention of indulging Cloud Village's habits.
So what if it came to war?
Konoha had indeed lost the Second Hokage, but Cloud Village had lost far more—its Second Raikage, Gold and Silver, and most of their elite force.
If Cloud truly believed it could defeat Konoha now, it was welcome to try.
Thus, right in front of Rando, Morin did not yield a single step. He flatly rejected every one of Cloud Village's demands.
Not only that—he hurled back three even harsher conditions, and left the Cloud envoy with words that struck like steel:
"Konoha does indeed yearn for peace—but the Second Hokage taught us with his life that peace is never obtained through begging or compromise."
"It is won through battle. Through blood. Through unyielding struggle."
"If the Raikage does not desire peace—then Konoha will grant him war."
"Now take my terms, and get out of Konoha."
"Hokage—y-you—" Yotsuki Rando's face turned livid as he tried to speak again.
But the moment Morin's words fell, several ANBU operatives—led by Hatake Shūichi and Senju Yoru—appeared instantly around the Cloud delegation, hands already gripping their weapons.
Under the icy gazes of ANBU, and the seething fury of Konoha's shinobi and villagers alike, Rando knew that saying even one more word would lead to consequences he could not bear.
He could only glare viciously at Morin, swallow everything he wanted to say, and retreat in disgrace—escorted by the Hokage's ANBU—his heart filled with shock and rage.
He had never imagined that Konoha's new Hokage would be even more hardline, even more bellicose than Cloud Village itself.
Massive reparations.
A public apology to the entire shinobi world.
Formal recognition that the Six Paths Treasures now belonged to Konoha.
Rando understood all too well—
Let alone all three conditions, any single one of them was utterly unacceptable to the Third Raikage and to Cloud Village as a whole.
Cloud Village had no choice now.
Even if it wanted peace, war was inevitable.
If the Third Raikage dared agree to such terms, Cloud Village would erupt into another armed coup the very next day.
To Cloud's shinobi, peace bought by selling out the village's interests was never called peace.
It was called—
Surrender.
...
Once the Cloud delegation had completely disappeared, a faint smile returned to Morin's face as he stood at the edge of the platform, facing the vast crowd below.
"The buzzing flies are gone," he announced calmly.
"Now—let the alliance celebration continue!"
Before tens of thousands of eyes, Morin struck the massive scroll beside him. With a flash of chakra, three legendary ninja tools appeared.
Morin reached out first, grasping the broad-bladed sword and the softly glowing golden rope, raising them high.
"These are relics once wielded by the Sage of Six Paths himself—the Seven-Star Sword and the Golden Binding Rope!"
Empowered by chakra, his voice boomed like a great bell, echoing across the sky.
"From this day forth, they belong to Konohagakure!"
A tidal wave of cheers erupted, the roar nearly lifting the plaza itself.
Then Morin solemnly lifted the crimson gourd, turning toward Uzumaki Chizawa and the shinobi of Uzushio before sweeping his gaze across the entire assembly.
"Konohagakure and Uzushiogakure have stood as allies for twenty years—our bond as firm as stone!"
"Today, I, Senju Morin, follow the example of First Hokage Senju Hashirama—offering this Crimson Gourd of the Six Paths as a bride-price, to join the Senju and Uzumaki by blood!"
"Together, we shall resist all enemies. Together, we shall safeguard peace!"