With nothing better to do, Kyusei simply returned home and began organizing the sealing technique knowledge in his mind.
These were the final legacy left to him by Uzumaki Mito.
They contained the accumulated essence of the Uzumaki clan over several hundred years—research results refined through dozens of generations.
If these materials were ever leaked, they would be enough to trigger a frenzy among all major factions.
And it was precisely because of these materials that the Uzumaki clan had ultimately been destroyed.
Not to mention anything else—just the ability to seal tailed beasts alone was already more than enough.
Right now, Sarutobi Hiruzen was clearly keeping him off the battlefield, intending to use him as a trump card.
If Kyusei entered the battlefield early, he could certainly gain an overwhelming advantage in a short time—but he would also immediately become the focus of the three-nation alliance.
After all, the Uzumaki clan's secrets had already leaked.
And to counter him, tailed beasts would inevitably be deployed.
At present, the opposing side had likewise refrained from sending out jinchūriki—clearly as a precaution against him.
Not just jinchūriki.
The three Kage themselves hadn't appeared on the battlefield either.
Even the A–B combo, the explosive corps, none of them had shown up.
The Sand Village's puppet forces were only lightly deployed under Ebizō.
Chiyo herself was still in Sunagakure.
Everyone was restraining themselves.
No one wanted to let the war explode all at once.
If Kyusei stepped onto the battlefield now, he would inevitably face multiple jinchūriki at once.
And at this point, it was very likely that the Four-Tails, Five-Tails, and Eight-Tails had already become perfect jinchūriki.
Kumogakure possessed the True Waterfall—meaning the Two-Tails was probably perfect as well.
Then there was Shukaku of the Sand Village, and the Seven-Tails of Takigakure, whose status was still unclear.
In short, the moment he entered the war, he would be facing at least four tailed beasts.
Kyusei himself wasn't particularly worried about that.
In the original story, half of Kurama could fight five or six tailed beasts at once.
Now that he was a perfect jinchūriki of the entire Nine-Tails, there was no reason he couldn't handle them.
At this stage, the only people in the shinobi world who truly made Kyusei wary were Ōnoki of the Two Scales and the still-unknown Nagato.
Ōnoki was nearly seventy years old and could still power up to vaporize twenty-five Susanoo with a single Dust Release.
Let alone now, when he was only in his fifties and just beginning to decline.
And then there was Uzumaki Nagato…
Kyusei sighed, put down the pen in his hand, and stretched as he looked at the sealing technique scrolls spread across the table.
At that moment, some noise outside the window caught his attention.
Outside, hundreds—if not thousands—of shinobi were marching forward with convoys of military supplies, all heading toward Konoha's main gate.
Kyusei frowned slightly.
This confused him.
Weren't the Wind, Earth, and Lightning nations already being handled?
Why were more troops still heading out?
After sensing for a moment, Kyusei discovered that the one leading them was Shimura Danzō.
He recalled Sarutobi Hiruzen's words from three days earlier.
Had Hanzo of the Salamander also moved against Konoha?
So Danzō was heading out to deal with Hanzo now.
Kyusei silently observed a three-second moment of mourning for Danzō.
Counting the Rain Village, Konoha now had four enemies.
Among them, Rain didn't have the numbers of the other nations—
But they had Uzumaki Nagato.
Yahiko had just died not long ago; Nagato was probably already completely unhinged.
Sending Danzō over now…
That was like walking into the bathroom with a lantern—looking for death.
Kyusei didn't bother paying further attention to Danzō's departure and shut down his Kagura Mind's Eye.
Just as he was about to continue organizing his materials, an untimely sigh sounded.
It came from Senju Hashirama within the necklace.
"Uncle Hashirama, why did you suddenly pop up?"
Kyusei asked casually while copying data.
Hashirama didn't understand what "pop up" meant, nor did he care to.
"Why can't wars ever truly end?"
Hashirama's figure appeared beside Kyusei as he looked out the window at the shinobi heading toward the battlefield, his voice heavy with melancholy.
"They could have ended."
Kyusei replied without looking up.
"…Huh?"
"When?"
Hashirama froze, then urgently asked.
Kyusei glanced at him.
"When you were alive."
"If you and Uchiha Madara had joined forces back then, unifying the Five Great Nations wouldn't have been difficult."
"It might not have guaranteed eternal peace—but maintaining peace for two or three hundred years would have been possible."
Kyusei couldn't help but think of the feudal dynasties from his previous life—most of them lasted around two or three centuries.
Hashirama's expression grew solemn.
Another Tobirama, then?
This suggestion—Tobirama had once made it as well.
And Hashirama had rejected it.
In his view, doing so would only create greater hatred.
Hatred begets hatred, leading to endless war.
Hashirama felt compelled to correct this dangerous line of thinking.
The boy before him had already gained the Nine-Tails' recognition and possessed power capable of reshaping the world.
Every choice he made could alter history itself.
After all, this sudden war could, in many ways, be traced back to this very boy.
"Force cannot bring about peace."
"It only creates hatred and endless war."
"If you hold such beliefs, then they are fundamentally wrong."
Kyusei set down his pen and looked at the man before him.
Black hair flowing like a waterfall.
Crimson armor.
A powerful, sturdy build.
Senju Hashirama—the man known as the one who pacified the era of chaos.
But Kyusei didn't believe Hashirama had truly ended any chaos.
Vision determines scope.
Having lived in a world shaped by multiple unified empires, how could Kyusei see the current shinobi world as anything but chaotic?
Five great nations.
Dozens of minor ones.
And this was considered "peace"?
The founding of Konoha hadn't ended war—it had escalated it.
What were once small conflicts between clans had evolved into full-scale wars between nations.
The scale of warfare expanded dramatically—so much so that Sarutobi Hiruzen was forced to send children barely a few years old onto the battlefield.
That alone ran completely counter to Hashirama's ideals.
Kyusei looked calmly at the idealist before him.
He acknowledged that Hashirama was a great man.
But still—
Perspective defined limits.
Kyusei wasn't looking down on Hashirama.
He himself was merely standing on the shoulders of giants.
"Instead of chasing an illusory eternal peace…"
"Why not start with a hundred years of peace first?"
Kyusei sighed softly as he continued.
"Meals are eaten one bite at a time. Roads are walked one step at a time."
"Looking at the history of the shinobi world, even decades of peace are a luxury."
"Uncle Hashirama—don't be so idealistic."
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