However, the fact that Arata claimed to have saved three hundred thousand disaster victims all by himself once again shocked Sarutobi Hiruzen deeply. He had never imagined that Arata could achieve something on that scale.
Given that Arata had used Kamui from the very beginning, Hiruzen had already guessed that Arata must have relied on that ability to rescue so many people.
And Arata's speed had long been publicly acknowledged as the fastest in the entire shinobi world.
With speed like that, combined with such a terrifying space–time ninjutsu, rescuing that many civilians would indeed not be difficult at all.
At this point, Hiruzen no longer felt any desire to win Sakumo back.
As someone who had watched Sakumo grow up from childhood, Hiruzen understood him extremely well.
Though Sakumo appeared to be a cold-faced god of slaughter, that was only toward enemies. When it came to comrades on the same side, Hatake Sakumo was famously warm-hearted.
This was likely connected to the annihilation of his clan in his early years—ever since childhood, he had yearned for comrades and for recognition from others.
A person like that, once he truly heard of Arata's deeds, would probably defect before long.
After all, every single thing Arata had done aligned perfectly with Sakumo's values.
Because of Sakumo's excessive compassion, Hiruzen had actually lectured him many times in the past. Who would have thought that the more he tried to restrain him, the worse it became—producing the opposite effect instead.
Watching the last trump card under his command drift farther and farther away, how could Hiruzen's expression possibly look good?
At this moment, he was extremely grateful that the two advisors he had chosen—Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu—were skilled at reading the wind. More importantly, he still held leverage over them, so they did not dare defect lightly.
As for his old brother-in-arms Danzō, he shared the same temperament—looking down on Arata from the very beginning. Otherwise, if even these people were poached by Arata, Hiruzen's position as Hokage would truly become hollow in name only.
As for the great clans of the Land of Fire? Those people had long wished for Hiruzen's death. If not for Hiruzen desperately preserving his strength during this war, the Sarutobi clan might already have been exterminated.
Information on many Sarutobi clan shinobi had inexplicably leaked, and the daimyō's residence had been attacked multiple times. All of this showed that within the Land of Fire, aside from Arata, there were plenty of others who coveted his life.
Some even wished to wipe out the entire Sarutobi clan.
Because of this, Hiruzen dared not make a single misstep. Even if he had to commit every kind of atrocity, he had to preserve his position as Hokage. If he lost the Hokage's seat at such a critical moment, the Sarutobi clan would be utterly destroyed!
...
The scene returned to the gates of Konoha.
Arata then briefly explained to Sakumo the process of his rescue operations.
By now, Sakumo was already so shocked that he could barely contain himself.
If everything Arata said was true, then Arata's strength had truly reached a level that even Sakumo himself could only look up to—a realm he might never reach in his entire lifetime.
Especially Arata's terrifying speed.
Originally, Sakumo had relied on being slightly older and on years of intense taijutsu training to compete with Arata in terms of speed.
But now it was clear—their speeds were no longer on the same level at all.
Even the Third Raikage, who had once suppressed Sakumo, had lost to Arata in speed.
The fact that Arata could traverse a disaster zone with a diameter of over ten kilometers in such a short time further proved that his speed had reached an inhuman realm—perhaps even rivaling space–time ninjutsu itself.
At this moment, Arata suddenly added,
"Come to think of it… this was partly my fault. After all, that tsunami was caused by my battle…"
As he spoke, Arata scratched his head awkwardly. He hadn't originally planned to say this, but since the conversation had reached this point, he didn't want to hide it.
What's more, he had always intended to recruit Hatake Sakumo. Revealing a bit more of his strength now would only make Sakumo regard him more highly.
After all, that tsunami had exceeded two thousand meters in height—something that nature itself could hardly produce. Such power was completely unheard of to Sakumo.
Hearing this, Sakumo immediately recalled that Hiruzen had previously mentioned that the tsunami was caused by a battle between two peerless powerhouses.
And Hiruzen had said at the time that anyone capable of producing such an effect must be at least at the late super-Kage level, if not at the very peak of the super-Kage realm.
There had only been two people in history whose battle had produced similar aftershocks.
Sakumo knew them extremely well—and had always regarded one of them as a benchmark he wished to surpass. Unfortunately, the gap between them was far too great; he wasn't even qualified to be compared to that person.
That's right.
The battle that caused such waves back then was the famous Battle of the Valley of the End.
And the two combatants were Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.
Sakumo harbored deep hatred toward the Senju clan, because Senju Tobirama had once led the Senju in a bloody purge against the Hatake clan, wiping out the entire family—leaving Sakumo as the sole survivor.
It was only because Hiruzen had spoken up at the time that his life was spared. Otherwise, Sakumo would not have followed Hiruzen's orders so obediently over the years, all in repayment of that life-saving debt.
Yet while he hated Senju Tobirama, Sakumo still deeply respected Senju Hashirama—the man who founded Konoha, was famed for his benevolence, and whose strength had reached the peak of the super-Kage realm.
But now Arata was saying that the tsunami was related to him.
Didn't that mean that Arata's strength was no longer merely at the super-Kage level?
After realizing this possibility, Hatake Sakumo stammered in disbelief,
"Y-You… you're saying… your strength… has reached the peak of the super-Kage realm?!"
That level of battle could only belong to the peak of the super-Kage realm—no lower realm could possibly produce such an outcome. And Arata had emerged from that battle completely unscathed. Without peak super-Kage strength, that would have been utterly impossible.
Seeing Sakumo so stunned was understandable.
After all, the words "peak super-Kage" carried enormous weight. In all of history, only Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama had ever reached that realm.
The First Kage of the Five Great Nations mostly possessed early super-Kage-level strength, but compared to Hashirama and Madara at their peak, they were an entire realm behind.
Otherwise, why do you think Hashirama was universally acknowledged by all nations as the God of Shinobi?
And why was the cold-blooded Uchiha Madara known as the Asura of the Shinobi World?
It was precisely because those two had accomplished feats never seen before—and almost never to be seen again.
Arata knew this was difficult to accept all at once, so he didn't explain further. He simply patted Sakumo on the shoulder and said,
"When we get the chance, let's spar sometime. I'll let you see my full strength then."