To some extent, ninja villages and wealthy capitalists could be considered natural allies.
Once the two forces of a nation—a ninja village holding absolute military power and capitalists wielding vast funds and technology—joined together...
Some people in the Land of Fire would find it very difficult to sleep at night.
Senju Hashirama was indeed terrifying.
But the alliance between the Akatsuki Ninja Village and these wealthy capitalists was equally terrifying.
The only difference was that one used pure violence, while the other concealed its violence, only revealing its sharp fangs at specific moments. Most of the time, it even appeared harmless.
Now, the Akatsuki Ninja Village had further proven its value with a victorious war.
Upon receiving the news of Uchiha Makoto's return to the Akatsuki Ninja Village, several representatives from the allied merchants were already eager to meet with him.
"So that's how it is."
"This truly is a realm of vigorous life and flourishing growth!"
Uchiha Makoto couldn't help but nod, sighing in admiration.
Although he had already guessed the general situation, the development of the Akatsuki Ninja Village during the war had still been faster than he had imagined.
Overall, the post-war future of the Akatsuki Ninja Village was bright and splendid, but the matters Uchiha Makoto needed to handle would inevitably increase day by day.
Right now, Uchiha Makoto was certainly unwilling to spend his time on such work. He would deal with these troublesome matters later. After all, he had just returned from the battlefield, having engaged in the gambles of war and life-or-death struggles, not to mention outwitting that innately evil old demon of the Senju, Tobirama. He had finally returned to the village in triumph.
At such a joyous moment, the fact that he was willing to listen to Kazuma ramble on about work was already quite something.
The hand he was holding, Uzumaki Tsubaki Shizuku's, her every move captivated Uchiha Makoto's heart and soul. After more than four months apart, she had become even more charming, her gaze as gentle as water, constantly fixed on him, even though she hid it well.
Uchiha Makoto could still sense the fear hidden in her eyes... Tsubaki Shizuku had probably been worried about him all this time.
He had to compensate her with concrete actions!
"Kazuma, this is far enough. I have no intention of returning to my Kōkage desk today."
"I'm going to give myself a vacation..."
With the idea of compensation in mind, Uchiha Makoto began his holiday.
After speaking, he led Uzumaki Tsubaki Shizuku towards his large villa.
That was their love nest.
And in a love nest, one should do loving things!
...
Konoha.
Compared to Uchiha Makoto, who was enjoying the pleasures of romance, lost in a world of passion... Senju Tobirama, as Konoha's top workaholic, had just returned to the village and was completely unimpressed by the welcome ceremony held by Senju Hashirama.
Senju Hashirama felt that Tobirama's mission had been full of twists and turns. He hadn't expected the Hidden Cloud Village to send assassins after Uchiha Makoto, but the final result was still good.
Although the Hidden Cloud Village's mistake prevented an unconditional ceasefire between them and the Akatsuki Ninja Village, both sides ultimately maintained restraint, signed a pile of clauses, and withdrew their troops to cease hostilities.
"The ninja world has finally returned to peace."
Senju Hashirama patted Senju Tobirama's shoulder, lamenting how hard-won this peace was, a peace for which he had actually made sacrifices.
"Brother, when will you ever grow up?"
Senju Tobirama was speechless.
His older brother's brain was simply malfunctioning.
How could a ceasefire agreement like this be called a ceasefire?
It was clearly a surrender agreement.
The Hidden Cloud Village had only signed such a disgraceful treaty that forfeited its rights because it was under immense pressure and couldn't continue fighting. Once the Hidden Cloud Village recovered, how could they possibly continue to tolerate such terms and suppress the hatred in their hearts? This war was only the beginning.
Moreover...
The results obtained from this mediation, from deploying the ninja army, did not satisfy Senju Tobirama at all. The greatest spoils of war had still been snatched away by that innately evil Uchiha brat, Makoto.
Of the thirty billion ryo in reparations, Konoha only received two billion, and a portion of that went to the Uchiha clan. Of the many special privilege clauses, only the second one was open to Konoha. All his painstaking efforts this time had only allowed Konoha to gnaw on a bone at the victory table, and the few scraps of meat on it were charity given at the Uzumaki clan's request.
Senju Tobirama didn't linger at the welcome ceremony. This time, he had really just taken the ninja army out for a stroll. A victory ceremony like this was more of a humiliation to him... Uchiha Makoto, next time, I will definitely not let you, an innately evil Uchiha brat, speak so loudly in front of me again!
Filled with resentment, Senju Tobirama immediately returned to his post.
In the Hokage's office, Senju Tobirama sat in the Hokage's chair, which he hadn't occupied for some time, and let out a deep sigh.
There was a reason he returned to work so quickly. It wasn't just because he wanted to continue making Konoha stronger to suppress Uchiha Makoto; his recent tasks were also arduous.
Not only did he have to research forbidden jutsu targeting the Uchiha clan... ahem... targeting Konoha's enemies.
These high-difficulty forbidden jutsu were not only time-consuming and labor-intensive but also expensive.
Furthermore, Senju Tobirama had to jointly develop new sealing jutsu with the Uzumaki clan to open up new sources of revenue.
This matter was urgent!
Researching forbidden jutsu required experimental funds... As the technical contributor, Konoha was the main force. It was only reasonable for him to take a portion of the profits from this new business venture as research funding!
And then there was the large pile of documents before him.
These were not current documents that Konoha needed to process.
Rather, they were documents processed by the Hokage's office staff he had arranged during his absence. He planned to review all the work documents from his time away from Konoha from beginning to end.
To ensure that in his absence, everything in Konoha remained under his control.
And then...
While listening to a work report from an Anbu ninja, Senju Tobirama learned of the assassination attempt on his brother, Senju Hashirama.
It was simply appalling!
As expected, Senju Tobirama flew into a rage.
"Damn it!"
"This is outrageous."
Senju Tobirama slammed his palm heavily on the Hokage's office desk.
Of course, he wasn't worried that his brother, Senju Hashirama, would be in any mortal danger from an assassin's attack, because Tobirama had absolute confidence in his brother's strength.
In this ninja world, the ninja who could kill his brother had not yet been born, and the number of ninja who could even injure his brother could be counted on one hand... Uchiha Madara could be considered one, and... well... there probably weren't any others.
There was only one reason that truly enraged Senju Tobirama—someone was openly slapping Konoha in the face.
In recent years, his brother had been low-key as Hokage, Uchiha Madara was being suppressed by his brother, and Konoha had always followed his brother's philosophy since its founding: be kind to others, and for the sake of peace, endure what can be endured. Konoha was very powerful, yet it acted as if it had no worldly ambitions.
Senju Tobirama hadn't had much of an opinion before.
But the Akatsuki Ninja Village's war made him fully realize the importance of projecting military strength. It was clear that the various ninja villages only knew that Konoha was strong, but they had no idea that Konoha possessed the power to flatten the entire ninja world with military force alone.
Who was the big brother among the ninja villages?
Senju Tobirama felt it was necessary to prove Konoha's status in the ninja world.
Now, the esteemed Hokage of Konoha was assassinated right at his doorstep. Such a thing actually happened right under Konoha's nose?
What did this mean?
Konoha lacked the deterrence it should have!
Did they really think Konoha couldn't wield its blade anymore?
If this wasn't dealt with severely, how would Konoha's face and dignity be maintained?
"Speak! Where is the assassin!"
"Which blind ninja village sent this fool!"
"Has this matter been thoroughly investigated!"
Senju Tobirama immediately fired off a series of questions at the Anbu ninja before him. He had to get to the bottom of this!
No matter which ninja village, no matter which ninja, they had to pay the price.
"Lord Tobirama, after the assassin was captured by Lord Hokage, he was imprisoned in the Anbu headquarters by the Anbu ninja who arrived shortly after. But before we could begin his interrogation, we only identified him as a Takigakure ninja from the village emblem on his headband. Then, Lord Hokage returned and called a halt to the interrogation."
"For the sake of the greater picture of peace in the ninja world, Lord Hokage decided not to pursue the matter and even released the assassin from Anbu custody."
"He also told us not to spread the word... but I felt it was necessary to inform you, Lord Tobirama..."
Senju Tobirama's intimidating presence was overwhelming as he spoke.
The Anbu ninja's voice trembled as he answered, his voice growing quieter and quieter.
Logically, the Hokage's orders were something they, as Anbu ninja, could never disobey.
However, although the Hokage had issued a gag order on this matter, the person before him was Konoha's de facto leader, Lord Tobirama, the Hokage's younger brother, the actual administrator of Konoha, and their direct superior in the Anbu.
If this matter were to be exposed later, and Lord Tobirama found out that the Anbu had been hiding such important news from him, the consequences would be...
The issue of loyalty is always a core issue.
And power is always only accountable to the source of its power.
"Damn it!!"
"Brother, is he an idiot?"
"He is the Hokage of Konoha, representing the dignity of Konoha!"
"How could he make such an outrageous decision, to be lenient with his own assassin and not pursue any responsibility?"
"And what is Takigakure? Just a small ninja village from a small country! They actually had the guts to send an assassin to kill the Hokage of Konoha. Was it... that the leadership of this small village collectively lost their minds to do something so stupid, or is there a major ninja village pulling the strings from behind? Shouldn't these things be investigated immediately, followed by retaliation?"
Hearing the Anbu ninja's reply, Senju Tobirama was so angered by Senju Hashirama's decision that his head spun. Although it wasn't surprising for his brother to do something like this, he was still furious.
His brother was the Hokage of Konoha!
He represented Konoha's dignity, Konoha's face!
The Hokage was assassinated, yet the assassin was able to walk away unscathed, and Konoha didn't even pursue the village behind him. If word of this got out, what deterrence would Konoha have left in the ninja world?
The conspiratorial and cynical Senju Tobirama also felt that this matter was full of suspicion.
Just a small ninja village from a small country!
They actually had the guts to send an assassin to kill the Hokage of Konoha?
Was it their own initiative?
Or was someone else pulling the strings?
Was it the Akatsuki Ninja Village and the Uchiha clan again?
That's not very likely.
Uchiha Makoto and the Uchiha clan were not unaware of his brother's strength. Why would they send an assassin to kill his brother? It would be a different story if Uchiha Madara were the assassin.
"This... this... Lord Tobirama..."
"Please calm down."
The Anbu ninja naturally found this matter outrageous as well. Lord Hashirama was the Hokage of Konoha, yet he was targeted by an assassin from a small-fry village like Takigakure. Although Lord Hokage was powerful and wasn't even scratched during the assassination attempt, such a heinous act of assassinating a village leader must be dealt with severely, no matter what.
Konoha's dignity must not be provoked!
Otherwise, in the future, any nobody might not take Konoha seriously.
This matter must be pursued to the end!
The Kōkage of the Akatsuki Ninja Village had originally planned for an unconditional ceasefire with the Hidden Cloud Village. Wasn't it because of the assassination attempt that he changed his mind and decided to fight them to the end? Ultimately, the Hidden Cloud Village backed down and signed a pile of defeat clauses.
By all rights, Konoha should follow the example of the Akatsuki's Kōkage and bring judgment upon Takigakure. It would be best if they could also make Takigakure sign a pile of defeat clauses. Konoha possessed great power, yet it had always been so meek in the ninja world. Even he, an Anbu ninja, couldn't stand it anymore... He wished Konoha could be more like the Akatsuki Ninja Village!
However, although the Anbu ninja thought this way, he only said words to calm Senju Tobirama down.
Senju Tobirama himself could curse his brother, of course; after all, he was Konoha's shadow leader and Senju Hashirama's younger brother. Tobirama could even point at Hashirama's nose while working and scold him into a depressive state.
But he was just a lowly Anbu ninja. He couldn't question the Hokage's decisions... even if such a decision was indeed idiotic.
If he chimed in rashly... what if he ended up on the receiving end of an "Emperor Release" jutsu in the future?
For a moment, Senju Tobirama was there cursing his brother for being an idiot, while the Anbu ninja was anxious... he couldn't persuade Lord Tobirama, and in this situation, the best choice was to flee as soon as possible.
"Go find my brother for me. He actually hid this from me. I must teach him a lesson!"
"This... Lord Tobirama... Hiss... Should I go?"
The Anbu ninja's head was throbbing. He had just told Lord Tobirama the news that Lord Hokage had specifically ordered to be kept secret, and now Lord Tobirama was immediately going to confront Lord Hokage.
This was deliberately putting him on the spot.
"What are you afraid of... I'm not afraid, so just go. Brother won't give you any trouble."
"And regarding this matter, you did very well. From now on, you are to report all of my brother's orders to me. Consider this a completed A-rank mission!"
Senju Tobirama naturally understood the Anbu ninja's concerns.
But how could he sell out an Anbu ninja loyal to him? If he did that, who would follow him in the future?
He must be rewarded!
"Yes, Lord Tobirama!"
"Everything for Konoha, for loyalty!"
The Anbu ninja's face immediately lit up with joy. The reward for an A-rank mission was not a small sum of money.
"Go, hurry up and call my brother here."
"I must have a good talk with him this time!"
"Konoha must make the leader of Takigakure kneel before Konoha's flag and apologize!"
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