"There was a battle last night. We successfully defeated the ninja from Sunagakure and Amegakure. From here on, the cleanup should face little resistance."
Tsunade spoke casually, though she couldn't help but marvel—it all felt like a dream.
When she had suggested the ambush, she had braced herself for a tough battle. But to her surprise, the operation crushed the Sand Ninja like a tidal wave. Even Hanzo, the so-called Demi-God of the Shinobi World, had fled in disgrace.
After the victory, the Jonin from Konoha all praised her decisiveness and strategy.
But in truth, if Nawaki hadn't temporarily granted Orochimaru access to the radar function, the enemy's hidden sentries wouldn't have been fully eliminated, and Konoha wouldn't have caught Sunagakure so completely off guard.
This battle—at least a third of the credit belonged to Nawaki.
"You've worked hard, Sis," Nawaki said as he looked at Tsunade, guilt swirling in his chest.
Because in the future… she'll only have to work even harder.
"A ninja's life is full of hardships like this. If you whine every time it gets tough, how can you ever become truly strong? Remember, what makes a great ninja isn't just powerful jutsu—it's an unbreakable will."
Tsunade lectured him as she often did, a routine for his sake.
"If I become strong… can I fight alongside you, Sis?" Nawaki asked, eyes shining with hope.
Tsunade couldn't help but chuckle and poked his forehead.
"Only if you become a ninja as strong as the Hokage!"
"Alright!"
With a surge of energy, Nawaki stood tall and pointed proudly to the Konoha forehead protector tied around his brow.
"Listen up, Sis! I'll definitely become the next Hokage of Konoha! I'm the man who'll become Hokage!"
His voice brimmed with confidence and unwavering determination.
This dream wasn't just inherited from the original Nawaki—it also served another purpose.
As the Lord God System had explained earlier, in addition to earning points through contributing jutsu, defeating powerful enemies, or leveling up, there was another, more crucial way:
Conquer or destroy the world.
Nawaki had already decided to make the Naruto world his base of operations. He wasn't insane enough to destroy it. Compared to that, conquering it sounded far more appealing.
And how does one conquer a world?
Simple—unify it. Whoever ascends the throne of power becomes the vessel for the world's destiny. If that person is a Reincarnator, then the world's karmic fortune would be subtly funneled into the Lord God System—thus counting as a successful conquest.
Since Nawaki was the grandson of Senju Hashirama, becoming Hokage and uniting the ninja world felt both poetic and strategic.
And if that didn't work out… then fine—Tsunade can be Hokage, and he'll be the Shadow Hokage, That works too!
Defect from Konoha?
What a joke. It's just a village with barely 100,000 people. In his previous life, some suburban towns had more people than that. Why was everyone fighting so desperately over such a tiny piece of land?
Perspective was everything. Ever since Nawaki realized he had become the Lord God, his vision had already transcended the bounds of any single world.
"Haha, fine. I'll be waiting, future little Lord Hokage."
Tsunade couldn't help but laugh and ruffle Nawaki's hair before standing up.
"I've handed the rest of the work over to Orochimaru. Let's head back to Konoha."
"Drop the 'little'! It sounds so childish!" Nawaki protested loudly, but a trace of melancholy crept into his heart.
Being Nawaki was fine and all, but he was still only twelve. In Tsunade's eyes, he was just a little boy. Even if he had the intent and the will, he simply didn't have the… equipment.
Resigned, Nawaki followed Tsunade as they departed the rear lines, heading back toward Konoha.
The other ninja didn't return with them—though the battle was won, much remained to be done. The clean-up had to continue, and the possibility of a counterattack from Sunagakure or Amegakure couldn't be ignored.
On the way back, taking advantage of Orochimaru and Jiraiya still being occupied, Nawaki quietly added Jiraiya to the Reincarnator roster.
"You're welcome, old perv. This way you won't feel left out," he chuckled to himself, though he didn't issue any missions just yet.
He planned to wait until the start of next month—by then he'd redeem three Reincarnation Talismans and send Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya on missions to other worlds.
Even though the system now had a teleportation feature, the Naruto world was simply too small. With the three of them already among the world's strongest, their sudden appearances elsewhere would definitely cause uproar. Not ideal for long-term stealth missions.
There was another reason, too.
Because Nawaki had ended the war in the Land of Rain prematurely, he wasn't sure if Jiraiya would still meet Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan. Making Jiraiya a Reincarnator first would allow Nawaki to immediately recruit those three if he encountered them.
The criteria for choosing Reincarnators were simple: they had to be either strong or have the potential to become strong. Weaklings who couldn't break their limits wouldn't contribute much to the system.
As for those three? Their potential spoke for itself.
And back in Konoha, there were other promising candidates, like Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.
He couldn't afford to miss this return trip—next month would be the time to gather all the talent for a major mission.
To make it back before sunset, Nawaki ended up being carried by Tsunade for a good portion of the journey, his frustration mounting with every step.
When it came to scale, the world of Naruto wasn't as large as one might think.
In another timeline, Kushina Uzumaki had been kidnapped after graduating from the Academy. Just as she was about to cross the border of the Land of Fire and lose hope, Minato had tracked her down and saved her.
He had found her using strands of red hair she left behind.
Wait a second.
Question: Just how much hair did Kushina have to drop in order to leave a trail from Konoha all the way to the border?
Answer: She used a jutsu to extend her hair unnaturally.
Still, the Kumogakure ninja reached the border in just half a day. Didn't that suggest that the Land of Fire was actually kind of small?
In truth, it was about the same size as the other Great Nations.
No wonder Hashirama and Madara's battle was said to span the entire ninja world—maybe they really did fight from one end to the other.
Granted, that could partly be because high-level shinobi had insane speed. They were practically human stallions at this point.
But still, the Naruto world wasn't bigger than earth—probably no bigger than even modern Japan, Russia, China, and U.S combined.
So, even with all the banter and bickering along the way, by sunset Tsunade and Nawaki had successfully returned to the fabled, bustling village of Konohagakure.