Ten years. This was a long time. During this period, many things happened in the ninja world.
After Hashirama returned to Konoha, he immediately made his first big move: capturing the Tailed Beasts. There were nine Tailed Beasts in the world.
Besides the One-Tail, which was captured by the Sand Village, and the Nine-Tails, sealed within Mito in Konoha, all the others were captured by Hashirama. Soon, the first Five Kage Summit was held.
Hashirama sold the Tailed Beasts to the major ninja villages at a suitable price, nominally to ensure a balance of power among them.
When Shirou happened to meet Hashirama during his travels, he got the answer as to why. "This was Tobirama's idea," Hashirama had said.
"Konoha's power alone may not be enough to stop Madara. Now that Mito has the Nine-Tails, he might target the other Tailed Beasts. So Tobirama proposed distributing them, letting everyone protect them together."
Besides, the power of the other Tailed Beasts was far from being able to contend with the Nine-Tails. He didn't have to worry that the villages could use them against Konoha.
Of course, the Tailed Beasts were not the real point. Tobirama's real idea was just to drag the other ninja villages into the water. Besides Konoha, no other village dared to provoke Madara.
But what about protecting their Tailed Beasts?
If Madara wanted to confront Hashirama, he would definitely try to obtain the other Tailed Beasts. In this way, the major ninja villages would naturally unite to counter him. Tobirama's methods were quite insidious.
Since ancient times, humans had never given up on seizing the power of the Tailed Beasts. Tobirama just used this opportunity to let the other villages fall into the same trap.
Judging from the results, his idea was quite effective. The first to suffer was the Cloud Village. At the summit, the First Raikage bought two Tailed Beasts, the Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails. This also brought disaster to his village.
When Madara was being pursued by Hashirama, he controlled the Cloud's Eight-Tails to escape. Unfortunately, this didn't solve any problems. Madara had to continue hiding, and Hashirama had to continue pursuing him.
As Shirou traveled with Hiruzen and Danzo, they would even often encounter the two.
"Long time no see, Lord Emiya," Madara would say, without a trace of tension on his face. He even had a mocking smile. "But I have to go first. That fellow Hashirama is about to catch up."
As soon as he left, Hashirama would arrive. "I have to go track down Madara." He wouldn't even have time to chat, only leaving a few words of encouragement.
"Monkey, Danzo, you two have grown up. You are finally about to shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting Konoha." Hashirama's mood was heavy. He knew his lifespan was approaching its limit. The road ahead might be difficult, but the future of Konoha had to be entrusted to the young people.
Ten years. For Shirou, he was already used to this kind of journey. For Hiruzen and Danzo, ten years was enough for them to grow from boys into young men.
They experienced many stories.
For example, Kakuzu. After he returned to Takigakure, he killed all the high-ranking ninjas, stole the village's treasure, the Earth Grudge Fear, and forced Takigakure to seek refuge with Konoha. Later, he was wanted as an S-rank rogue ninja.
And then later, Shirou and the others heard news about Kakuzu from Hashirama, but his recent situation was a bit absurd. Hashirama had received a message from Tobirama to kill Kakuzu while tracking Madara, to establish Konoha's image of valuing its allies.
In the end, when Hashirama met him, he saw that Kakuzu was actually working as an assassin to earn money. Hashirama captured him with a single move, only to hear that his last wish was to donate his money to an orphanage.
Hashirama discovered he was working hard to donate to an orphanage and had been helping some poor elderly people. He chose to let him go, and even donated a little himself. This was beyond absurd.
"I don't quite believe that a man like that betrayed his village for so-called power," Hashirama couldn't help but sigh at the complexity of a ninja like Kakuzu. "That man fights without any regard for his own life, and uses the money earned from killing to help the weak. It makes me feel a bit ashamed of myself."
"You're saying... Kakuzu is donating money?" Shirou was a bit confused by the change. "Well, even in the ancient era, people who were willing to care for the weak deserved respect."
"Yes," Hashirama thought of the many stories he encountered during his travels. "Even in some small countries, there are many praiseworthy young people. The ninja world is small, but it is also filled with too many excellent people."
"Indeed," Shirou's gaze was very sharp. He always seemed to be able to see the excellent side of humanity.
For example, the current Land of Rain.
While passing through, they met a young Amegakure ninja named Hanzo who came to ask for help. His swordsmanship was very strong, so much so that he could beat Danzo until he couldn't lift his head.
But Hanzo's strongest point was his poison. Because a poisonous salamander's poison sac had been forcibly transplanted into his body, he could also use this terrifying poison gas. Even his breath was poisonous. Due to the torment of the poison, he had to wear a mask and faced the danger of being poisoned to death at any time.
Unfortunately, Hanzo's request was a bit too outrageous. He hoped Shirou could let him continue to use the power of the poison without being threatened by the poison sac.
"I can only help you take out the poison sac," Shirou was very confident in this difficult surgery, but he couldn't change human genes yet.
"Then I won't be able to use the power of poison gas in the future?" Hanzo was somewhat unable to part with this power that tormented him. He knew how strong it was, enough to guarantee his strength was invincible in the Land of Rain.
"Your swordsmanship is already very strong," Hiruzen sincerely praised him. "Even when we traveled with Lord Emiya in the Land of Iron, which is famous for its swordsmanship, we didn't meet anyone with stronger swordsmanship than you."
"Hmph," Danzo was dissatisfied, but he had to admit his own mastery was inferior to Hanzo's. "Perhaps besides Lord Emiya, it's indeed hard to find someone with more superb swordsmanship than you."
This was a great discovery of theirs. Originally, they thought Shirou's only great power was the cursed seal. But when they encountered trouble in the Land of Iron, someone suspected Danzo of assassinating a samurai. As a result, he ended up in a sword duel and was defeated. Ultimately, it was Shirou who stepped in and took action.
Holding a scabbard, he dueled with the general of the Land of Iron. When the general raised his sword to thrust, Shirou casually extended the scabbard and caught the sword in it, easily taking his opponent's blade.
"Don't mention those unhappy things," Shirou frowned, seeming very unhappy about what happened in the Land of Iron.
Hanzo, who had originally wanted to challenge Shirou, could only give up. He ultimately decided to forgo the surgery. He left, a man born in a small country with his own ambitions.
"This guy's strength might be even stronger than mine," Hiruzen watched him leave, his expression becoming exceptionally serious.
"Hmph, I only lost to him in a sword fight," Danzo's mouth was as stubborn as ever. "If I could use chakra and ninjutsu, I could definitely use Lord Emiya's cursed seal to defeat him."
"Danzo, you always like to fight," Shirou couldn't help but sigh. "The power of the cursed seal I passed on to you is not for you to fight with people. I just hope you can use it to protect your companions and the important things in your heart."
Danzo frowned and looked at his arm. He had told a lie to deceive Shirou into giving him the power of the cursed seal. But he had finally mastered it. Was he not supposed to use it to fight?
"Sooner or later, you will understand," Shirou shook his head and said no more.
"Lord Emiya," Hiruzen quickly asked, "are we going back to Konoha tomorrow?"
"Yes," Shirou nodded, looking up at the overcast sky of the Land of Rain. "I haven't heard any news of Hashirama being active in the ninja world recently. I'm worried his time is almost up. After ten years of not finding any trace of the God Tree remnants, perhaps it's time to use another treatment method."