Tobirama had been feeling a bit strange these days; ever since the decision to allow the Senju to drop their surname was announced, Kana had seemed melancholic all day long.
He always felt a headache regarding his older brother's second daughter, because unlike her older sister, she was not willing to be content with the status quo and had always harbored a desire to become a Ninja.
Her older sister, Misaki, had married the son of the Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools early on, so even if she didn't become a Ninja, no one would say anything. But Kana was different; she had not been betrothed to any noble, and theoretically, she was destined to become a Ninja, only being stopped by Hashirama.
Regarding the arrangements for their children, Tobirama shared the same view as his older brother. He hoped that Misaki and Kana could live peaceful lives, rather than facing dangerous missions as Ninjas, which would also give him a good account to his older brother.
Moreover, Tobirama himself had no children and had dedicated his entire life to the Senju and Konohagakure. Hashirama's children were like his own, so he would be even less likely to agree. Perhaps after he died and lost the command of a strong figure, no one might be able to stop this, but at least before he died, he would absolutely not agree.
Even if Kana might not be very happy, Tobirama could only do this. He just didn't expect that in such a short time, Kana would have moved on.
But soon, he discovered that Kana seemed to have found a new goal, which was why she was no longer fixated on becoming a Ninja. He heard that Kana had dug out all the clan's archives and was reading them one by one.
Tobirama was a bit curious and asked Kana what she intended to do. Kana replied that she wanted to understand the family's past history so she could engage in literary creation in the future.
Upon hearing this, Tobirama breathed a slight sigh of relief. It seemed that Kana had given up the path of a Ninja and turned to literary creation. This kind of phenomenon was common among nobles in the capital. That was good; not as a Ninja, but as an ordinary noble girl.
However, for a child as stubborn as Kana, how could she suddenly change her mind? Tobirama felt there must be a reason, so he investigated the period around Kana's changes, and as a result, he really found it.
After learning that Kana had visited Fūmori Masaki's home, Tobirama felt a mix of amusement and frustration. Shaking his head, he thought, "This kid is truly full of surprises."
Tobirama was curious about how Fūmori Masaki had persuaded Kana, so he summoned Fūmori Masaki and asked him about it.
Fūmori Masaki answered truthfully that the reason Kana was so conflicted was, frankly, because she had a desire to contribute herself but lacked a channel to do so. Therefore, one only needed to give her a place where she could demonstrate her own value.
As it happened, to govern a Ninja Village well, one could not rely solely on force; it required cultural education even more. Tobirama was intelligent and could establish some basic systems, but others might not be able to—
And Kana herself was a young lady who had received a noble education. In terms of cultural level alone, she could leave most of the people in the Village behind by a street, and in some areas, even Tobirama couldn't compare—after all, Tobirama was a Ninja at the end of the day, and some things were not necessary for him to learn—if she were put in charge of the Ninja Village's cultural education, she would certainly be much more suitable than those "rough" Ninjas.
"I see." Tobirama nodded. He knew that cultural education occupied a part of the Ninja Academy textbooks compiled by Fūmori Masaki, and the reasoning was also accepted by Tobirama. It was just that Tobirama had initially intended to let Ninjas do the teaching, but now that he heard this, perhaps it would be better to let Kana do it.
Tobirama did not know that Fūmori Masaki did not just intend for Kana to spread cultural influence within the Ninja Academy; because of her noble status, she could more easily access the noble circles within the capital than anyone else in the Ninja Village, which was the main stage for cultural dissemination.
As Hashirama's daughter, Kana naturally inherited her father's ideals, hoping to ensure peace in the Ninja World. Fūmori Masaki told her that force was hard power, which was tangible, while cultural thought was soft power, which was intangible. Tangible power had been proven effective, but it was not enough; at this time, intangible soft power was needed.
One must know that for a country, cultural thought was an important power no less than military force. Furthermore, what could truly lead a country forward was the power of cultural thought. Without rich cultural thought, a country was just a beast that only knew how to use brute force. The reason humans were human was because they possessed the wisdom of self-restraint, capable of suppressing instinctive wildness.
"War originates in the minds of men, so it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed." Fūmori Masaki had said this to Kana at the time. "Relying on the peace thoughts of one or two people is useless. Only when the majority of the entire Ninja World acknowledges it can peace become the mainstream. Even if one or two ambitious people occasionally appear, they will be powerless to affect the overall situation of the entire Ninja World. Of course, it certainly cannot just be these, but it cannot be without them."
"Then what should I do?" Kana asked humbly for advice.
"Try to collect the classics from the time of the Six Paths Sage," Fūmori Masaki said. "The teachings of the Six Paths Sage contain factors in this regard. Although people today have forgotten them, they can still be reawakened."
Although people did not believe that the Six Paths Sage truly existed, everything he left behind had long since permeated the cultural traditions of the Ninja World, perhaps even without people realizing it themselves. It was like Confucianism in another world; no matter how much some people thought it was dross, its essence had already become a part of people's lives.
What Fūmori Masaki intended to start in the Ninja World was an ideological and cultural liberation movement, using the ancient Shinobi Sect as the source to demonstrate a new cultural movement.
Compared to directly implementing modern political systems, using the Shinobi Sect, which the Ninja World was familiar with, as a transitional stage was undoubtedly suitable and would not encounter very strong resistance that would lead to it being aborted midway—
Of course, this would certainly be an extremely long process, but if one wanted to make people resist autocratic feudal rule and establish a modern civilized society, an ideological and cultural movement that enlightened the people and liberated themselves was essential. It might still lack some conditions, but at least it could start to sprout now.
Moreover, because the national conditions of the Ninja World were different from the birthplace of the Renaissance in another world, to carry out a "Renaissance" here, one certainly could not be as obsessed with the appearance of art as they were. In Fūmori Masaki's view, what needed to be emphasized should be Chakra, and this was precisely the strength of Ninjas. However, it could not be the way Ninjas currently used Chakra, but the Chakra that the Six Paths Sage believed in—Chakra that connected people and benefited the people.
In this way, there would also be fertile ground for the development of civilian Chakra technology, Fūmori Masaki thought silently to himself. Scientific technology established based on the Chakra system would connect the entire world, perhaps realizing the connection between people that the Six Paths Sage envisioned from another perspective.
In short, Kana's matter had passed, and Tobirama brought up another matter. He was going to summon the leaders of the Ninja Villages of other countries to hold the second Five Kage Summit. This time it was mainly at the request of the Daimyo, and at the same time, to ensure future peace, to re-sign treaties, and to establish the order of the Ninja World.
The slogan of righteous war proposed by Fūmori Masaki had already had a certain impact on the mainstream of the Ninja World, and this action of Tobirama would push this influence a step further. Fūmori Masaki was naturally happy to see this, because from now on, if a country wanted to wage war, it would have to consider whether it was justifiable and had a legitimate reason—although there would be cases of concealing conspiracies, at least it was better than before when wars were launched directly at the drop of a hat; there was now a sense of decency.
"The location for the signing is in the Land of Iron, and they allow each leader to bring two guards. I have chosen you and Monkey," Tobirama said.