Chapter 469
Though keeping up that kind of persona does make certain things easier. At the very least, it gives people a reason to trust you.
Inside a small tavern in Konoha, Kenta stared at Kei and Ayaka with utter confusion.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you two? Why are you both so quiet?"
Ever since they left the Hyūga compound, the atmosphere around them had been terrible.
Both of them wore dark expressions, as though someone owed them money and refused to pay it back.
And the mood hadn't improved at all, even now.
Not only Kenta, but even Kakashi and Obito found it strange.
Weren't these two together just last night—
Cough cough cough.
The moment that thought crossed their minds, Kakashi and Obito both flushed red with embarrassment.
But if Kei and Ayaka-senpai were already that close…
Why were they acting like this now?
Surely nobody had provoked them, right?
Probably not.
Even though Ayaka's standing within the Hyūga clan wasn't especially high—after all, everyone understood what being part of the branch family meant—
Nobody could deny that Kei was clearly backing her.
And with Kei's personality, combined with the authority he wielded, anyone foolish enough to offend them would absolutely have a miserable fate waiting for them.
Kei's hidden service record had already proven more than once that he was not a forgiving man.
In fact, Obito sometimes suspected that Kei's rampage in Kirigakure had not only been because he discovered the Bloody Mist's internal chaos and wanted to take away certain bloodline clans—
But also because he had been avenging Ayaka.
After all, Ao's death was practically proof of that.
A lot of people had attacked Kei back then, and many of them were dangerous shinobi.
None of them ended well.
But Ao's death had been by far the most brutal.
Nothing was left behind.
No trace proving he had ever existed.
His body had been utterly erased—reduced to nothing.
And Ao had specifically ended up isolated against Kei alone, almost as though he had been deliberately forced into that situation.
On top of that, Ao possessed a stolen Byakugan from the Hyūga clan, and according to the mission records, he had once used Ayaka as leverage to force Kei into exchanging Mei Terumi, successfully escaping afterward.
Taken together, Ao's death felt deeply personal.
It was obvious retaliation.
The kind meant to utterly annihilate someone and erase every trace of them from existence.
Of course, Kei himself had no idea people interpreted it that way.
Yes, revenge had played a part.
But the bigger reason was simply that he had leaked too much information during the fight and didn't want any trouble afterward.
Unfortunately, everyone else had misunderstood his actions completely.
"It's nothing," Kei finally replied calmly, fingers interlocked beneath his nose. "Some people just appeared in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Will you shut up already?!"
Before he could finish, Ayaka immediately snapped at him.
Then she turned toward Kenta.
"And you. Why exactly did you drag us out here? If you have something to say, then hurry up and say it."
"Did you eat gunpowder or something?" Kenta raised an eyebrow before looking at Kei with exaggerated sympathy. "Looks like your girlfriend's pretty fierce. Your future's gonna be real comfortable."
"Heh."
Kei rolled his eyes, not even bothering to explain.
At some point, the number of sarcastic troublemakers around him had increased dramatically.
Originally Ayaka had been the only one who liked talking like that.
But after Kei "educated" her a few times, Kenta seemed to discover an entirely new world.
Now Kei himself barely used sarcasm anymore, yet Kenta had apparently inherited the habit completely.
Every now and then he'd casually say something irritating just to annoy people.
Honestly, it was exhausting.
Shaking his head, Kei spoke directly.
"Enough already. What exactly did you invite us here for?"
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
"I seriously doubt someone like you would treat everyone to dinner for no reason. If you really didn't have an agenda, I'd think you were a weasel paying New Year's greetings to a chicken."
"A weasel paying respects to a chicken?" Kenta chuckled. "Then the chicken definitely shouldn't open the door."
He seemed to understand the metaphor well enough.
But after laughing once, his expression quickly turned serious.
"You're planning to make a move on the smaller countries?"
The moment those words fell, Ayaka and Obito—who had both looked confused until now—instantly focused their attention on Kei.
Neither of them had known what this dinner was actually about.
Now it seemed obvious.
The three department heads had clearly already held a private meeting earlier and were now continuing the discussion here.
But why bring them along?
Even though neither fully understood, both chose to remain silent and listen.
Obito understood his own position very clearly.
He was currently the true power operating behind Kirigakure.
If Kei and the others were allowing him to hear this conversation, then the implication was obvious:
They might need Kirigakure's cooperation later.
And Obito had no intention of refusing.
He simply wanted to understand Kei's plans first.
As for Ayaka, she knew Kei had always wanted her to become the next head of Konoha's Medical Division.
Even though there were still countless obstacles in the way—
First, she still hadn't fully escaped the curse of the Caged Bird Seal.
Second, the Medical Division remained under the Third Hokage's influence.
But neither obstacle was insurmountable anymore.
Ayaka was becoming increasingly confident in breaking through the Caged Bird Seal.
Especially since she already knew—
A crack had begun forming within it.
As for the Third Hokage…
That depended on whether he could survive the current political storm.
"More or less," Kei answered calmly.
After glancing at Ayaka and Kenta, he briefly repeated the ideas he had discussed earlier in the meeting before summarizing them cleanly.
"Strictly speaking, this plan benefits them too. Those small countries need development. We provide assistance. In return, we gain substantial long-term benefits ourselves."
"Amazing," Ayaka muttered after listening. "Your methods are as 'brilliant' as ever."
She crossed her arms thoughtfully.
"So basically, you're turning those smaller countries into permanent allied shinobi villages under Konoha's influence?"
She paused briefly before speaking more bluntly.
"Or rather… miniature versions of Konoha. Regional proxies acting on Konoha's behalf."
"Even if it's somewhat bloody and ruthless…" Obito added slowly, "you are giving them the ability to defend themselves. And in a way…"
He hesitated before finishing quietly:
"You're also bringing a certain level of peace."
"Something like that." Kei nodded. "You wouldn't be wrong to see it that way."
Then he gave a faint smile.
"I've never considered myself a good person."
"But I do admit…"
"Maybe this idea really could help them."
"And maybe, in its own way…"
"It really could create peace."
But Kei had never once considered himself a good person.
He was someone who had lived through war.
Someone who had personally fought in it.
He had no need to become some selfless saint for no reason.
And for someone in his position, being labeled a "good person" was hardly an ideal disguise anyway.
All he needed to do was remain himself.
Even if the image people now associated with him was gradually becoming:
Gentle toward his own people. Ruthless toward outsiders.
That, in truth, wasn't far from reality.
As for the "peace" that Obito Uchiha mentioned—
The concept itself was actually very simple.
Once Konoha began supporting those smaller nations and helping them develop enough strength to defend themselves…
And once those nations gradually became Konoha's proxies in a practical sense…
Then yes, it truly would contribute to peace.
Whether a country chose war or not ultimately depended on one thing:
Its interests.
That was true for the great nations, and even more so for the smaller ones.
Especially because the battlefields of the great powers were almost always located on the soil of those weaker countries.
The devastation left behind became, in a pathetic way, a justification for pursuing balance and compensation.
Our country was destroyed during the war, while yours remained untouched.
We don't dare seek revenge against the great nations.
So naturally, we can only take it out on you instead.
It was a despicable mentality.
But it undeniably existed.
Small hidden villages lacked money.
So how were they supposed to recover from the destruction caused by war?
By preying on others.
By robbing neighboring countries to rebuild themselves.
And even if rebuilding wasn't possible—
Dragging others down to the same miserable state as themselves was still a twisted form of "balance."
But once Konoha stepped into the equation, that entire situation would fundamentally change.
Especially in the future.
Once more and more of these proxy nations appeared…
Once they surrounded the Land of Fire and formed a unified alliance of interests…
The military power created by such a coalition would become unimaginable.
Any nation seeking to attack Konoha would first have to ask itself one question:
Could they truly fight an entire alliance centered around Konoha?
To put it more bluntly—
Even if war really broke out, Konoha might not even need to move immediately.
Those smaller nations would already form layers upon layers of buffers around it.
No matter which great nation attempted an invasion, breaking through those defenses would never be easy.
And while they struggled, Konoha would have all the time it needed to fully mobilize its own forces.
In fact, if it truly wanted to, Konoha could even let those smaller nations wear the enemy down first before entering the battlefield afterward.
Of course—
That approach would lose people's trust.
And someone like Minato Namikaze would obviously never choose such a method.
"Your plan really does sound effective," Kenta said quietly after a long pause.
His gaze grew unusually deep.
"But I've always wondered something…"
He looked directly at Kei.
"Do you… have even bigger ambitions than this?"
"Bigger ambitions?"
Kei looked slightly surprised.
But after thinking for a moment, he immediately understood what Kenta was really asking.
"You mean… the entire shinobi world?"
"Exactly." Kenta nodded.
"You know my family history. You also know my clan produced two Hokage."
"And one of them…"
He hesitated briefly.
"…once opposed this exact kind of thinking."
"So you believe he was right?" Kei interrupted before Kenta could finish.
Kenta's meaning had already been perfectly clear.
And Kei had finally realized why Kenta insisted on gathering everyone tonight in the first place.
At its core—
This conversation was still about Hashirama Senju.
Back then, the conflict between Hashirama and Madara Uchiha had certainly been influenced by Tobirama Senju manipulating things behind the scenes.
But fundamentally, the real issue had always been their completely different philosophies regarding peace.
Hashirama believed that once every nation established its own hidden village and stability spread across the world, peace would naturally follow.
And by distributing the tailed beasts equally—
By ensuring every village possessed a strategic deterrent—
Fear itself would prevent future wars.
But Madara clearly disagreed.
He believed true peace could only exist after the entire shinobi world had been completely unified beneath a single authority.
Because as long as multiple villages existed, friction would never disappear.
Small-scale conflicts would continue endlessly.
Villages would constantly spy on one another.
Each would secretly probe the others' strengths and weaknesses.
And internal contradictions within every village would inevitably breed darkness.
The annihilation of the Uchiha Clan by Itachi Uchiha was the perfect example of that darkness—
A tragedy born from both internal and external pressures intertwining together.
If villages never had to fear threats from outside powers, then Konoha would never have viewed the Uchiha clan as such a dangerous risk in the first place.
And if the village itself had been large enough—
The Uchiha would never have even considered a coup.
Because the moment they acted, the entire village would have crushed them instantly.
At that point, political struggles would remain confined within rules and institutions.
There would be no need for massacres.
No need for military extermination.
Hashirama only realized these truths after his death.
Madara, however, had already understood them long ago.
Unfortunately, he failed to convince Hashirama.
Of course, he had also been subtly manipulated by Black Zetsu the entire time.
That was probably what ultimately pushed him toward his final battle with Hashirama.
A battle intended to test the depth of Hashirama's convictions.
And in the end—
Hashirama truly tried to kill him.
That final betrayal completely shattered Madara's remaining faith in humanity.
Which was why he ultimately abandoned reality itself and chose to pursue peace through illusion instead.
At least—
That was Kei's interpretation of history.
But judging from Hashirama's words in the future, along with Madara and Black Zetsu's actions…
He truly didn't think he was wrong.
"I… don't think I'm qualified to judge any of that," Kenta sighed helplessly.
"These ideas are already far beyond anything I can fully understand."
"I honestly don't know whether the First Hokage was right or wrong."
"He had his reasoning."
"And you have your conclusions."
"But this kind of expansion…"
"I understand your concerns." Kei leaned slightly backward in his chair before smiling faintly.
"And you're definitely not the only one worried about it."
"Minato and the others haven't fully made up their minds either."
"But we still have time. There's no need to rush."
Then his gaze sharpened slightly.
"Still… I think eventually they'll agree to at least try."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"In a way, we should be grateful."
"We aren't Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha."
"We don't need to settle our differences through battle."
He rested his chin lightly against his hand.
"So why not quietly watch and see where this path leads instead?"