Ten Years (Please Follow and Vote!)

Ten years.

That was a long time.

During that time, many things happened in the Shinobi World.

After the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, led the Anbu back to Konoha, no one knew what Tobirama Senju discussed with him, but Hashirama immediately made his first major move.

Capturing the tailed beasts.

There were nine tailed beasts in the Shinobi World.

Aside from the One-Tail captured by the Hidden Sand Village and the Nine-Tails sealed inside Mito Uzumaki, Hashirama Senju captured all the remaining tailed beasts.

Before long.

The First Five Kage Summit was convened.

Hashirama Senju sold the tailed beasts to the major shinobi villages of the Shinobi World at reasonable prices, ostensibly to ensure a balance of power among them.

When Shirou Emiya happened to encounter Hashirama Senju during his travels, he also learned from Hashirama why the tailed beasts had been distributed.

"This was Tobirama's idea."

"Konoha's strength alone might not be enough to stop Madara."

"Now that the Nine-Tails is sealed inside Mito, Madara may set his sights on the power of the other tailed beasts. So Tobirama proposed distributing them to other villages, letting everyone protect the tailed beasts together. Konoha has no way to keep all of them either..."

After all...

The tailed beasts possessed immensely powerful strength.

Even if just one tailed beast went berserk, if Konoha's higher-ups failed to react in time, it could inflict severe losses on Konoha.

As it happened.

During this operation to capture the tailed beasts, Tobirama Senju also discovered that the other tailed beasts were far inferior to the strongest Nine-Tails. There was no need to worry that villages possessing tailed beasts might someday use them to contend against Konoha's Nine-Tails.

Of course.

The tailed beasts were not the true focus.

Tobirama Senju's real intention was simply to use this opportunity to drag the other shinobi villages into the mess.

Aside from Konoha, no other shinobi village dared provoke Madara Uchiha. Even if Madara Uchiha destroyed Konoha in the future, none of the other villages would come to its aid.

But...

What if it was to protect their tailed beasts?

The Nine-Tails was sealed inside Mito Uzumaki, making it impossible for Madara Uchiha to borrow its power again. Madara Uchiha might not have the confidence to confront Hashirama Senju.

If Madara Uchiha wanted to fight Hashirama Senju, he would certainly find a way to obtain the other tailed beasts in the Shinobi World. When that happened, he would inevitably come into conflict with the shinobi villages that possessed them.

That way, the major shinobi villages of the Shinobi World would naturally unite to confront the threat of Madara Uchiha.

Tobirama Senju's methods were quite insidious.

After Konoha obtained the power of the Nine-Tails, the other villages could not simply watch the gap between themselves and Konoha grow ever wider. They would inevitably covet the power of the tailed beasts.

Since ancient times...

Humanity had never given up on seizing the power of the tailed beasts.

That was because tailed beasts represented endless Chakra and devastating methods of attack. Their explosive combat power was enough to rival an entire army of shinobi!

Tobirama Senju had never expected help from the other shinobi villages. He merely took the opportunity to make the other villages of the Shinobi World fall into the same trap.

One of Madara Uchiha's eyes was still blind. To deal with Hashirama Senju's pursuit, and unable to obtain the Nine-Tails, he would most likely infiltrate another shinobi village and control a tailed beast. That would create hatred between Madara Uchiha and the other villages...

Judging from the result...

Tobirama Senju's plan was highly effective.

The first village to suffer because of a tailed beast was the Hidden Cloud Village.

At the First Five Kage Summit, the wealthy First Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village lavishly purchased two tailed beasts at once: the Two Tails and the Eight Tails.

Likewise.

This also brought disaster upon the Hidden Cloud Village.

While Madara Uchiha was being hunted by Hashirama Senju, he had lost the ocular power of one eye. His strength was temporarily insufficient to confront Hashirama Senju, so he controlled the Hidden Cloud Village's Eight Tails to escape, even bringing Konoha and the Hidden Cloud Village into a closer relationship.

Unfortunately...

That did not solve anything.

Madara Uchiha had no choice but to continue hiding from Hashirama Senju throughout the Shinobi World.

Hashirama Senju had no choice but to continue pursuing Madara Uchiha throughout the Shinobi World.

While Shirou Emiya traveled with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, they would even occasionally encounter Madara Uchiha, followed closely by the pursuing Hashirama Senju.

"Long time no see, Lord Shirou."

Madara Uchiha could only offer a greeting. There was not the slightest tension on his face despite being hunted. Even as he left, a mocking smile hung at the corner of his mouth. "But I should be going. Hashirama is about to catch up again..."

Madara Uchiha had barely left.

When Hashirama Senju arrived right after him.

"I'm going to continue tracking Madara."

Hashirama Senju, who had rushed over, did not dare linger to chat with them. He had to seize every chance to capture Madara Uchiha, and could only spare a few words of encouragement for the younger generation.

"Monkey, Danzo."

"You two have grown up as well..."

Whenever Hashirama Senju saw Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, both of whom had grown noticeably taller since their last meeting, he would praise their growth.

"You'll finally have to shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting Konoha..."

Hashirama Senju patted their shoulders, his mood heavy and suppressed. He knew his lifespan was slowly nearing its end.

The road ahead might be difficult.

Yet Konoha's future had no choice but to be entrusted to the young.

Ten years.

It truly was a sufficiently long time.

For Shirou Emiya, he had long since grown accustomed to such travels.

For Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, ten years had been enough for them to grow from often-confused boys into young men who understood the ways of the world.

They experienced many stories.

For instance, Kakuzu, whom they had once encountered.

It was said that after Kakuzu returned to the Waterfall Village, he killed all its high-ranking shinobi, stole the Waterfall Village's treasure, Earth Grudge Fear, and forced the Waterfall Village to seek Konoha's protection. They emptied their coffers to purchase a tailed beast from Konoha to guarantee their military strength.

Later...

Kakuzu was listed as an S-Rank Missing-nin by the Waterfall Village.

Later still...

Shirou Emiya and the others heard news of Kakuzu from the First Hokage. However, Kakuzu's current situation was rather absurd.

The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, received word from his younger brother Tobirama Senju. Tobirama asked him to kill Kakuzu, the Waterfall Village's S-Rank Missing-nin, while pursuing Madara Uchiha, thereby establishing Konoha's image as a village that valued its allies and attracting other villages to ally with Konoha.

As a result, when Hashirama Senju encountered Kakuzu, he found him working as an assassin to earn money.

Hashirama Senju captured Kakuzu in a single move, only to hear that Kakuzu's dying wish was for his money to be donated to an Orphanage.

Hashirama Senju discovered that Kakuzu worked so hard to earn money because he wanted to donate it to orphanages, and that he had always been aiding impoverished elderly people. He chose to spare Kakuzu, and even donated a little himself alongside him.

This...

This was absurd on another level...

"I don't really believe a man like that betrayed his village for so-called power..."

Hashirama Senju could not help sighing over the complexity of shinobi like Kakuzu. "That man had no regard for his own life in battle, yet he used the money earned by risking his life to kill people to help the weak. It even made me feel ashamed of myself..."

"You're saying... Kakuzu has been making donations?"

Shirou Emiya was somewhat bewildered by Kakuzu's change. He could only sigh as well. "Fine. Even in the Ancient Era, people willing to care for the weak were worthy of respect..."

"Yes..."

"I originally thought pursuing Madara would be a difficult journey."

"Yet in order to track Madara's whereabouts, I met many people along the road and heard many interesting stories."

Hashirama Senju recalled the many stories from his travels and spoke with admiration. "Even in some small countries, there are many young people worthy of praise."

"The Shinobi World is small."

"Yet it holds so many outstanding people."

Shirou Emiya's gaze was exceptionally sharp, as though he could always see humanity's finest side.

For example.

The present-day Rain Country.

When Shirou Emiya was leading Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo back to Konoha through the Rain Country, they encountered a young Hidden Rain shinobi who had come to seek help, hoping Shirou Emiya could relieve his suffering.

This young Hidden Rain shinobi was named Hanzo. His swordsmanship was extremely formidable, enough to leave Shimura Danzo, who considered himself skilled with a sword, unable to hold his head high throughout the journey.

However...

Hanzo's most formidable weapon was poison.

Because a poisonous Salamander Poison Sac had been forcibly transplanted into his body when he was young, Hanzo could use horrifying salamander poison gas in battle. Even his breath carried poison.

Likewise.

Tormented by the poison, Hanzo had no choice but to wear a mask. At any moment, he also faced the danger that the poison sac inside him might rupture and poison him to death.

That was precisely why Hanzo sought help.

Unfortunately...

Hanzo's request was somewhat too outrageous.

This young shinobi hoped Shirou Emiya could allow him to continue using the power of poison while ensuring that the Salamander Poison Sac inside him would not threaten his life.

"I can only help you remove the poison sac."

Shirou Emiya was confident in handling such a difficult and dangerous operation, but he was not yet capable of altering the human body's genes.

Although removing a poison sac transplanted into the respiratory system was extremely troublesome, and a single mistake could rupture it and poison both doctor and patient to death, Shirou Emiya's medical skill was so superb that he could ensure he would not make an error.

"Then I won't be able to use poison gas anymore?"

The young Hanzo was reluctant to part with the power that tormented him. He knew how powerful salamander poison gas was, enough to ensure that he would be invincible in the Rain Country.

"Your swordsmanship is already very strong."

The young Sarutobi Hiruzen sincerely praised Hanzo's swordsmanship. "Even when we traveled with Lord Shirou through the Land of Iron, which is renowned for swordsmanship, we never encountered anyone with swordsmanship superior to yours."

"Hmph..."

The young Danzo was somewhat dissatisfied with Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, but he had to admit that his accomplishments in swordsmanship were inferior to Hanzo's. "Perhaps aside from Lord Shirou, there truly isn't anyone in the Shinobi World with more superb swordsmanship than you..."

This was one of their major discoveries.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo had originally believed that Shirou Emiya's only great power was the Curse Mark. However, during their travels in the Land of Iron, they ran into trouble when someone suspected Shimura Danzo of assassinating a samurai there.

The Land of Iron.

It was the country of samurai.

The Land of Iron was also a neutral country recognized by the Shinobi World.

For Konoha's reputation, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo decided to handle the trouble according to the Land of Iron's customs. Danzo would duel a samurai of the Land of Iron in swordsmanship, but Shimura Danzo was defeated by a young samurai.

In the end...

Shirou Emiya took action personally.

Shirou Emiya held a scabbard as he dueled the general of the Land of Iron.

When the general of the Land of Iron raised his Samurai Sword to thrust, Shirou Emiya casually extended the scabbard in his hand and sheathed the general's sword in it, effortlessly disarming his opponent!

This general of the Land of Iron was completely convinced by Shirou Emiya's swordsmanship. Although the samurai of the Land of Iron suspected Shimura Danzo of killing a samurai, the general decided to let Shirou Emiya and the others leave.

"Don't bring up those unpleasant matters..."

Shirou Emiya frowned, seemingly displeased by what had happened to them in the Land of Iron.

"..."

Hanzo, who had originally wanted to challenge Shirou Emiya, could only abandon the idea. In the end, he chose to forgo the operation to remove the poison sac.

If even Shimura Danzo believed his strength was not among the best, then Hanzo felt his power was still insufficient to protect his country. At the very least, the poison sac within him could ensure that, at a critical moment, he could perish together with enemies invading his country.

Hanzo left.

He was a man born in a small country, yet still possessed great ambitions.

"That guy might even be stronger than me."

The young Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Hanzo's departing back, his expression growing especially serious. "I didn't expect someone like him to appear in a small country like the Rain Country. His combat experience is extremely rich, and his Chakra is also very strong..."

"..."

The young Danzo immediately felt far less humiliated over losing to Hanzo, though his mouth remained as stubborn as ever.

"Hmph, I only lost to him in swordsmanship. If I could use Chakra and ninjutsu, I would definitely be able to use Lord Shirou's Curse Mark to defeat him..."

"Danzo."

"You always like to fight."

Shirou Emiya could not help sighing, seeming regretful that he could not change Danzo's way of thinking. "I gave you the power of the Curse Mark not for you to fight others with it. I only hoped you would use it to protect your companions and the things important in your heart."

"..."

The young Danzo frowned at his arm.

During their travels, when they repeatedly encountered shinobi from other countries trying to assassinate them, Shimura Danzo had lied in order to deceive Shirou Emiya into giving him the power of the Curse Mark.

But...

He had only just managed to master the Curse Mark...

Could it be that he was not supposed to use the Curse Mark's power in battle, and merely use its markings as decoration?

"One day, you will understand."

"The Curse Mark I gave you was not meant for battle."

Shirou Emiya shook his head and said no more, merely gathering up his medical record scrolls.

"Lord Shirou."

The young Sarutobi Hiruzen sensed that something was wrong and quickly asked about the important matter. "Are we returning to Konoha tomorrow?"

"Mm."

"It's time to return to Konoha."

Shirou Emiya nodded, raising his head to look at the cloud-covered sky of the Rain Country. This nation was forever shrouded in dark clouds.

"I haven't heard any news of Hashirama being active in the Shinobi World lately. I'm worried his time is almost up..."