Everyone was dumbfounded.
Hashirama...
He was the God of Shinobi.
The founder of Konoha.
The man universally recognized by all shinobi as standing at the very pinnacle.
His Wood Release, his Sage Art, his accomplishments, his legacy...
They had been passed down through generations of shinobi and revered by countless people.
And now...
This young man had called their First Hokage a fucking idiot and a lunatic right in front of Konoha's shinobi.
He had called Hashirama the root cause of everything.
The faces of Konoha's shinobi flushed crimson.
Some clenched their fists. Others bit their lips. A few wanted to speak up and argue...
Yet they discovered that they had nothing to say.
Teizawa's words were vicious.
His insult was almost unbearable to hear.
But what frightened them even more...
Was that they actually believed he had a point.
The one-nation, one-village system had indeed brought the chaos of the Warring States Period to an end.
But it had also planted the seeds of even greater wars.
The First, Second, and Third Great Ninja Wars.
Far more people had died in those conflicts than in the clan battles of the Warring States Period.
That was an undeniable fact.
Nagato's expression grew solemn.
The more Teizawa spoke, the more sense he made.
This was no longer a lecture delivered by the leader of a Great Nation looking down on everyone else.
These were the words of someone who had genuinely considered the future of the ninja world.
Nagato had never met anyone like him.
"The solution you mentioned..."
Nagato's voice sounded strained.
He had never begged anyone for anything.
Yet now, his tone carried something dangerously close to a plea.
Teizawa swept his gaze across everyone present.
There was mockery in his eyes, along with helplessness and the arrogance of someone looking down upon a swarm of ants.
"Has no one in your ninja world ever considered unification?"
Unification?
That single word exploded like a bomb in everyone's mind.
Unify the ninja world...
Turn the Five Great Nations into a single country.
Merge every hidden village into one.
Transform every shinobi into a member of the same military.
No national borders.
No wars.
No more endless hatred and slaughter.
Nagato's pupils contracted sharply.
He seemed ready to object, only to discover that he could not find the words.
Konan's expression changed as well.
Sheets of paper swirled around her, but she had completely forgotten to attack.
Kakashi stopped in his tracks, his eye filled with shock.
Yugito clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug deep into her palms.
Darui's usual laziness vanished.
Akatsuchi's silence was broken.
Everyone stared at Teizawa with complicated expressions.
He was insane...
He had to be insane.
That was what everyone present thought.
So why did this madman's ravings sound so reasonable?
Unification.
The word crashed into Nagato's heart like a colossal boulder, stirring up towering waves.
His pupils trembled violently. His lips quivered, and he forced the words out from deep within his throat.
"That's impossible..."
His body shook violently atop the mechanical apparatus.
The tubes constricted around him. His face flushed crimson, and his chest heaved.
"The Five Great Nations dominate the ninja world, while countless smaller nations are scattered between them. Their interests and influence are tangled together beyond measure."
"No one has ever unified the ninja world because it simply isn't possible. Too many people would die. Far too many!"
Teizawa sneered, his expression filled with derision.
"Have you ever counted how many people have died in wars since the Warring States Period?"
Nagato was left speechless.
Of course he had never counted.
There was no way he possibly could.
But the number would undoubtedly be suffocatingly high.
During the Warring States Period, shinobi clans had slaughtered one another.
Every generation had lived beneath the shadow of blades and bloodshed.
No one could calculate how many had died.
Then came the era of the hidden villages.
The First Great Ninja War, the Second, and the Third...
Every conflict had left mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Countless people had died on the battlefield, during missions, or as victims of plots and schemes.
"If Hashirama hadn't established that ridiculous one-nation, one-village system back then, and had instead seized the opportunity to unify every nation in one fell swoop..."
Teizawa's voice was as cold and sharp as a blade.
"None of this goddamn mess would exist today."
"You need to understand something. Hashirama was fully capable of doing it."
"He had the strength, the prestige, and the ability. But he chose not to."
"He chose the stupidest possible path. He carried the wars of the Warring States Period into the era of the hidden villages, allowed them to continue until today, and passed them down to war orphans like you."
Nagato's face went from red to white, then from white to ashen.
His mouth opened and closed again and again.
Yet he could not utter a single word.
"Hundreds of years of conflict have claimed countless lives across the ninja world. Unification might cause people to die for several years, perhaps even a decade or more. But in exchange, it could bring decades or even a century of peace..."
Teizawa's voice echoed through the rain, every word crashing into the hearts of those present.
"Isn't that the truth?"
Everyone fell silent.
Kakashi lowered his eye. Guy clenched his fists. Darui gritted his teeth. Yugito's expression became unreadable. Danzo bowed his head...
No one could refute him because it was true.
Centuries of conflict.
Countless deaths.
War after war.
Families shattered beyond number.
If several years of bloodshed could purchase decades of peace...
Would it be worth it?
No one could answer.
The truth behind that question was far too cruel and far too real.
Nagato stood frozen, his expression changing drastically.
"Is that really how it is?"
He murmured to himself, looking as if all the strength had been drained from his body.
The light within his Rinnegan dimmed.
They resembled two lamps on the verge of going out.
The boundless arrogance he had displayed before was nowhere to be seen.
Konan stood beside him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
She wanted to say something, but no words came.
Tears gathered in her eyes.
In the end, they did not fall.
She thought of Yahiko.
She thought of all the companions they had lost to war.
She thought of the days when the Great Nations had treated them like mere pawns.
If the ninja world had been unified back then, would Yahiko still be alive?
If those wars had never happened, would they have been spared from becoming orphans?
If Hashirama had truly unified the ninja world...
Would the Akatsuki never have come into existence?
Would there have been no Danzo?
The rain washed over everything.
The rubble, the bloodstains, the shattered puppets, and the collapsed buildings.
It also seemed to wash over the obsessions and delusions buried within their hearts.
Nagato lowered his head and remained silent for a long time.
So long that Konan thought he would never speak again.
So long that Kakashi and the others thought the battle might resume.
Then Nagato raised his head and looked at Teizawa.
"You..." His voice was hoarse and exhausted. "What is it you truly want?"
Teizawa looked back at him, his deep eyes utterly calm.
"I already told you. I want peace. Real peace, not a false peace maintained through fear, and not a temporary peace purchased through deterrence."
He paused.
"That's why I won't allow you to collect the tailed beasts or carry out that ridiculous deterrence plan of yours."
"And even if I did nothing, your plan was doomed to fail from the very beginning."
(End of Chapter)
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