Izuna * Five Nations

Izuna also got a dish and squatted in the corner eating his rice.

He ate slowly, putting spoonful after spoonful into his mouth, chewing for a long time before swallowing, his eyes darting around, clearly not focused on the food.

He kept turning the small amount of mixed soup and taro in the plate over and over, and he almost tapped the rim of the bowl with his chopsticks until it was coated with a patina.

Uchiha Izuna is 1.74 meters tall and weighs 55 kilograms, making him a handsome young man who is on the lighter side for his height.

As for why he is underweight, it's because he has never liked to eat since he was a child.

Izuna had no particular attachment to food; his appetite was practically nonexistent.

For him, eating three meals a day is like a task that must be completed; once he finishes eating on time, that's it.

Even if it's his favorite dessert, he'll only eat a couple of bites at most when it's placed in front of him, and then he won't bother with anything more.

When on a mission, they would rather eat Military Rations Pill than make a trip to town to buy some food to fill their stomachs.

Izuna was just that kind of person with a very low appetite.

This Izuna... is the same way.

He basically skips breakfast, and when he's busy at lunchtime he forgets, by the time he remembers, it's long past lunchtime, and he's too lazy to eat it.

He can eat a few more bites at dinner, but only if someone is watching him. If no one is watching, he either eats a few bites to get by or simply forgets about eating altogether.

However... he's a bit different from my Izuna. Madara stroked his chin. Although he doesn't eat much solid food, he does eat a lot of snacks.

Three-Colored Dango, Soy Sauce Dango, Taiyaki —he'll devour any sweets that appear before him.

When he gets hungry, he'll find something to eat on his own, and he seems to realize that he hasn't eaten enough, so he'll supplement his diet by eating something else.

The fact that they eat so many sweets without getting any nutrition is even worse than Izuna's previous situation.

My brother's body won't be able to take it if he keeps going like this.

The freckles are a bit of a source of distress for me.

But he didn't say anything in the end. He just took out an Oiled Paper from his pocket and handed it to Izuna.

Those were Soy Sauce Dango he had bought that afternoon in a Commercial District in a neighboring country using his Shadow Clone. They were still warm, with several circles of soy sauce stains on the Oiled Paper.

Izuna's chopsticks stopped in mid-air, his eyes lighting up first.

"Wow!" He put the bowl down on the ground, took the Oiled Paper with both hands, and exclaimed, "Thank you, Brother Ban! You're the best, Brother Ban!"

Ban grunted in response, turned his face away, picked up his bowl, and continued eating, as if nothing had happened.

Izuna picked up a string of Dango, stuffed the first one whole into his mouth, chewed with his cheeks bulging, and his eyes curved into two crescent moons.

After finishing one skewer, he went to get a second one, eating with great gusto, completely erasing his previous look of utter despair.

Ban glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of rice into his mouth, and couldn't help but say, "Drink the soup after you finish the Dango."

"Mmm-hmm." Izuna mumbled through her mouth, which was full of Dango, and it was unclear whether she actually heard what she was saying.

Ban looked at him, shook his head, and said nothing more.

Tobirama has been incredibly busy these past few days.

Although the entire Land of Hot Water was blown away, and the killers mostly stayed put, the fact that people died could not be ignored.

At the Summer Festival, the names of those who died were listed one by one on a piece of paper, in a long string.

Foreign nobles had no relatives or friends here, so if they died, they simply died; no one sought revenge.

But the people of the Land of Hot Water are different.

They complained bitterly about those Ninjas.

These Ninjas not only killed their targets, but also caused considerable harm to civilians along the way in order to evade pursuit or to make their attacks easier.

Stray arrows, aftershocks, and deliberate explosions—all are stained with the blood of Ordinary People.

In the past few days, there have been a few hateful civilians who, clutching kitchen knives or hoes, rush towards the Ninjas with bloodshot eyes.

If you find out who is responsible, then the wronged will be held accountable. If you don't find out, then treat everyone equally and hate all Ninjas except for Izuna and his three companions.

Those Ninjas were like pigs that don't fear boiling water.

They were people who lived by the sword, and they were willing to fight anyone who came seeking revenge. If it weren't for Izuna's disciple, Mokushō, keeping an eye on things, who knows how many more lives would have been lost by now.

The hatred here is manageable. Izuna has made up his mind that all the Ninjas who have fought will be executed after negotiations with other countries are completed.

To be honest, if he weren't afraid that those countries wouldn't acknowledge it, he would have liked to kill them directly, just like Tobirama and the Hiroyama Family.

They were spared to put pressure on neighboring countries and, incidentally, to squeeze out as much of their remaining value as possible.

Even if those people wanted to ransom him, he wouldn't agree.

If the evidence is irrefutable, he killed the person on the spot, and those countries probably wouldn't have any objections.

The troublesome ones are those foreign nobles who have died.

He laid so much groundwork beforehand, adding Barriers to the venue and secretly contacting foreign nobles to have them spend money to create even stronger Barrier Ninjutsu in their stands.

In the end, none of them were used.

The Summer Festival went awry right from the start, turning into a chaotic mess thanks to these unpredictable individuals, and some of the foreign nobles ended up dying.

Their deaths here are a signal, a signal to start a war.

If a nobleman from our own country dies on the territory of your Land of Hot Water, can we then say that your Land of Hot Water has some kind of grievance against us?

Moreover, it was truly the Land of Hot Water' own doing that led to their downfall. Even if they shifted the blame to the Evil God and the assassins, the Land of Hot Water could not escape responsibility.

If it weren't for the storm that Izuna created that night, which was visible across most of the land, the Land of Hot Water would have truly paid the price this time.

Either they had to use the Land of Whirlpools as a shield, or they had to destroy the Land of Hot Springs on the spot. From then on, the Land of Hot Water, a place teeming with all sorts of people, truly became Colony of the Five Great Nations.

With Konoha now having a significant advantage, the Five Great Nations are hesitant to take action.

The Land of Hot Water Tsuchigumo Clan has arrived, and with the support of the Fury, their local Merchants have even signed an agreement with the Land of Whirlpools.

Once this alliance stabilizes in a few days, it will be difficult for the Five Great Nations to take action again.

The fact that the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Whirlpools are inactive doesn't mean the matter is over.

Izuna has made such a big fuss these past few days that even the Four Nations, despite their wariness, have discovered something.

None of Konoha's four top fighters are in the Land of Fire.

Even if Tobirama's Flying Thunder God could teleport people back anytime, anywhere.

But this Summer Festival incident also confirmed Tobirama's previous concerns.

No matter how powerful they are, it's only individual strength.

Ninjas are creatures who appear and disappear without a trace. Once a battle begins, a few of them can sweep away thousands of troops, but that doesn't mean they can protect those who are Strength behind them.

There's no such thing as a thief who can guard against thieves for a thousand days.

There will always be casualties, and there will always be moments of negligence.

None of them wanted anything to go wrong.

As the head of the Military Police Force responsible for troop deployment, Tobirama has been revising the defense plans these past few days, fearing that some people might try to harm Konoha at this time.

However, he couldn't go back directly yet, as that would reveal his weakness and make people think that Konoha was afraid.

So he would send a Shadow Clone to work at the construction site every day.

Oh, and while you're at it, check if there are any Runes Tablet among these stones that you might find.

Tobirama touched the Runes Pillar he had just repaired, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.

Today was a good day; I managed to collect one of the stone pillars.

He had previously secretly arrested a Cultist and interrogated him about his plans for the Summer Festival.

The believer was initially defiant, but Tobirama didn't hold back and after a few rounds, he confessed everything.

They have quite a few methods, and the Sacrificial Formation is one of them.

Tobirama was very interested in this kind of thing.

His current research on Impure World Reincarnation involves the soul, which is something between this world and the other world.

Having a ready-made Jashin Cult Formation right in front of him, even if it's just a broken fragment, is far better than trying to create one behind closed doors.

After finding out how the formation was set up, he immediately began searching for fragments of the stone pillars.

Fortunately, Izuna didn't throw everything into the sea; most of the fragments were still scattered around the venue, and could be found if you searched around.

Every day after finishing his Tobirama, Tobirama would walk around the Ruins, picking out stones that looked like Runes fragments and carrying them back piece by piece.

Today he brought the last fragment back to his Office in Konoha and fitted it into the gap in the stone pillar.

Perfectly fitted.

He touched the newly repaired Runes Pillar and smiled with satisfaction.

Today was a good day; I managed to collect one of the stone pillars.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Lujing walked in with the documents in her hand, and paused for a moment when she saw the assembled stone pillar on the table.

"This is?"

Tobirama moved the stone pillar aside to make room on the table. "Oh, nothing. What's wrong?"

Lujing placed a document on the table and pushed it towards him. "A message has arrived from the Four Nations, requesting a meeting between the Five Kage."

Tobirama the document to the secretary, glanced at it, and asked, "Where is the location?"

"The Land of Iron."

In the Land of Iron, Tobirama leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers twice on the table.

What a great place. It's known as a neutral zone, never getting involved in the Five Kingdoms War, and doesn't even employ Ninjas, relying entirely on Samurai to maintain order. Meeting there would leave no room for argument.

"It seems they're getting impatient." Tobirama closed the document. "They want to probe the Land of Fire's intentions and see what Konoha's true stance is."

Very well. Since they want to investigate, then let them investigate.

However, this matter needs to be discussed with Izuna first. He's in charge of diplomatic matters.

"I'll keep this document for now." Tobirama folded the paper and put it in the drawer. "I'll go talk to Izuna later."

Tobirama put the documents away, got up, and left the Office.

He followed the Flying Thunder God's mark and flashed to the edge of the Temporary Camp in the Land of Hot Water.

It was getting dark, and the workers on the construction site were walking back in twos and threes, covered in mud and sweat, but with happy smiles on their faces.

He looked around and found Izuna in the open space behind the shed.

Izuna sat on a Taiseki, holding half a skewer of unfinished Soy Sauce Dango in his hand, his cheeks slightly puffed out.

Ban sat next to him, holding a bowl of soup, watching him finish the last bit of food.

Big Brother... Tobirama sensed his surroundings and realized they were nearby, probably engaged in construction work.

Recently, his Big Brother seems to have taken a liking to building houses. He used to forcibly twist wood into the shapes he wanted, and now he's even started studying mortise and tenon joints.

... I just hope he doesn't actually become a craftsman.

Tobirama walked towards Izuna and Madara, and stood opposite them.

"The Four Nations have sent a letter," he said. "They want to hold Five Kage Summit, and the location should be the Land of Iron."

Izuna paused in chewing the Dango, then looked up at him. "The Five Kage Summit?"

"Hmm." Tobirama pulled the document from his sleeve and handed it over. "It's a joint document from Four Nations, discussing the Summer Festival and the subsequent situation."

Izuna took the document, glanced at it, and after ignoring the flowery language, he chuckled.

"Looks like they're getting desperate."

Tobirama nodded.

Ban put down his bowl beside him. "What do they want to talk about?"

"On the surface, we're discussing the aftermath of the Summer Festival," Izuna said. "Quite a few nobles died on their territory this time, but they don't dare provoke us."

Ban snorted, "Coward."

"Don't say that. If I were one of those nobles, I'd be sitting on pins and needles too." Izuna folded the document and placed it on his lap. "Time to show off your muscles. It's time for the new broom sweeps clean."

Just then, the name Mokushō appeared out of thin air, "Izuna!"

"What's wrong? Why did you call me all of a sudden?" Izuna mumbled, stuffing the last half of the Dango into his mouth.

Mokushō stood before him, his tone unusually serious. "Hashirama and I just discovered something. The Jade Purifying Bottle contains a Tailed Beast, and Three-Tails at that."

"Oh, I already knew about the Tailed Beasts. Didn't Bishamonten mention them before?" Izuna continued chewing, and after two seconds, he suddenly realized.

"Ah! That's right!" He slapped his thigh, "We haven't captured the Tailed Beasts yet!"

Tobirama was taken aback by his reaction. "What does this have to do with capturing the Tailed Beasts? Wait, didn't you say you wanted to make friends with the Tailed Beasts?"

"This is very important!" Izuna stood up and waved his hand. "Let's go, let them handle things on their own in the Land of Hot Water. Let's go find the Tailed Beasts!"

Tobirama raised his hand and pressed down on his shoulder, pulling him back to his original position. "Wait. Are you just going to leave like this? Why do you think the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Whirlpools are still able to coexist peacefully here?"

Izuna was pushed back down, sat on the rock for a moment, and then understood.

"Hiss..." He stroked his chin. "You're right, I won't feel at ease until all these scourges are killed."

Tobirama sensed something was amiss in those words and frowned. "What scourge? Who do you want to kill?"

"These troublesome Ninjas and Bishamonten, and the Cultist orchestrated it all," Izuna replied matter-of-factly.

Tobirama paused for a moment, then asked, "You're going to kill them?"

Izuna looked at him strangely. "Of course we have to kill them. What's the point of keeping them alive? For the New Year?"

"Then why did you go through all that trouble to keep them here in the first place?"

Izuna shrugged. "Of course, we should make them go through the proper channels for trial."

Everyone was stunned by these words.

Hashirama, who had just arrived, overheard this and paused in his tracks. "The proper way means..."

"It's a Military Court," Izuna said.

Hashirama looked puzzled, and Madara frowned as well.

Madara knew beforehand that Izuna sometimes used concepts that didn't exist in their world, so he reminded him, "Izuna, we don't understand what you're talking about. Why don't you explain?"

Izuna looked at their three bewildered faces, scratched the back of his head, and thought, "Oh right, this is still the Warring States Period."

The concept of a court is impossible in this era.

He cleared his throat and organized his thoughts.

"It's about collecting evidence, like physical evidence and witness testimonies, and then sentencing these people according to the law."

"Is it the old-fashioned way the government does? Does that even work?"

"What, aren't Ninjas human?" Izuna tilted his head to look at him. "Crimes should be punished. So what if they're paid to do it? Murder is murder, and if they're caught, they should be punished. And the punishment should be announced in front of everyone, only then..."

Before he could finish speaking, Hashirama's eyes suddenly lit up, and he clapped his hands. "I understand! Izuna!"

Izuna was bewildered by his sudden outburst. "What do you understand?"

"That's brilliant!" Hashirama's tone was filled with the excitement of sudden realization. "This breaks the chain of hatred!"

"Oh, how did this get linked to a chain of hatred?"

Ban realized what was going on. "That's a great method!"

Izuna looked completely bewildered. "Madara-nii, what are you doing here too...?"

Tobirama stood to the side with his arms crossed, his Dead-Fish Eyes: "Please think about this. We've all had blood on our hands. If we're put to Military Court, none of us will escape. Besides, aren't all Ninja jobs dirty? If this goes down the line, we'll all starve."

Hashirama's excitement faded slightly. "But it has to be done, and it's a good thing. Tobirama, didn't you say before that as long as strict rules are established and followed, unnecessary conflicts can be avoided?"

"I was young then, and what I said was too naive," Tobirama said calmly. "As long as we're still doing missions and killing, it's impossible to strictly abide by the rules. Big Brother, you wouldn't have gone to such lengths to establish Konoha, because you know that only by standing on the same side can conflict be avoided as much as possible."

Hashirama opened his mouth. "That's true..."

"Moreover, trials require absolute power and credibility to be carried out," Tobirama. "Right now, none of the five nations submit to the others, and without a consensus, the trial cannot proceed."

Izuna chimed in from the side, "Unless it's in their favor."

Upon hearing this, all three of them were stunned.

Izuna looked at them. "Isn't this group just trying to mess with us Ninjas? Let's give them that chance."

Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "But what if they use this to their advantage..."

"Even nobles can go to court, can't they?"

Tobirama paused for a moment, then said, "If they want to pursue what happened before—"

"Past events are past grievances," Madara began. "From now on, we'll establish... Military Court."

Hashirama agreement. "That's right!"

Tobirama realized what was happening.

With Madara and Hashirama, the initiative will always be in their hands. If they want, they can use the "formal" channel of the court to remove any obstacle in their path.

This power is too great, too terrifying.

However, this was a clear way to keep the Ninjas in check, and even with the risk of their lives being controlled by the Ninjas, the nobles could not refuse this proposal.

From the moment Izuna proposed this concept, it was bound to come true.

Tobirama gave a wry smile, "Haha, I hope we won't abuse our power for personal gain in the future."

Izuna stroked his chin. "That is indeed a problem..." He patted Tobirama on the shoulder. "So, this problem is left to you, Tobirama!"

Tobirama was stunned. "Me?"

"Yes!" Izuna said confidently, "I believe you can think of a way!"

"This... you... I..."

Madara nodded beside him. "Yes, I believe you."

Tobirama exploded. "Madara Uchiha, you son of a bitch—"

Hashirama patted his other shoulder. "I believe in you, Tobirama!"

"Shut up, Big Brother!"