Sunagakure was about to go to war

Flames blazed all around.

The two stood in a clearing their battle had blasted bare, an occasional twitch flickering across Ling Tian's face.

Only after Dai's breathing had settled did he say, "Senior, we should leave."

He looked at the handiwork they had left behind as though it were nothing unusual.

This was the Shinobi World, after all. Trees disappeared during fights, and fires broke out during fights. It was perfectly normal.

A raging fire was no problem. Let it burn long enough, and rain would come.

The real issue was that if they stayed any longer, someone would come.

Dai said nothing. A moment later, however, he fixed Ling Tian with a solemn look. "Before we leave, I want to know what you think of our Hokage."

Ling Tian paused at the question, his expression complicated. "The three Hokage, huh..."

Dai nodded, listening attentively.

"To me, only the Second was fit for the job."

Ling Tian continued, "The First had strength that eclipsed the entire Shinobi World. Unfortunately, he wasn't too bright. Put another way, he was too selfish."

Seeing Dai's expression change, Ling Tian added, "He could have united the Shinobi World and spared it any more wars, but he didn't. His so-called sense of responsibility never came from the belief that greater power meant greater responsibility."

"He only cared about the ideal in his heart. And what was that ideal? Nothing but a childish, immature notion."

Ling Tian scoffed. "If Madara had become Hokage back then, perhaps the wars between the great shinobi villages would have ended long ago. In that case, neither the First nor the Second Shinobi World War would have happened."

In Ling Tian's eyes, the First Hokage was a powerful ruler who was as childish as a three-year-old.

He had no brains, yet insisted on taking charge and making everyone follow his ideas. A complete fucking idiot.

Couldn't he just fight on the front lines and leave the important decisions to Tobirama?

Hashirama would tell you no, because his ideal had yet to be realized.

And what was that ideal?

Protecting the civilians of one village and keeping them safe from war?

In that case, weren't all the people fighting you enemies?

With Susanoo-Clad Kurama, he could clearly have brought about an age of peace in just three days.

Instead, he went around discussing ideals and handing out tailed beasts.

A three-year-old built a dirt fort and adored his creation. Then a one-year-old wanted to take it for himself. The older child could have sent him bawling with a single punch, but instead, he spoke kindly to him and shared his treats.

If that were all there was to the story, Ling Tian would have called the child considerate.

But the Leaf Village wasn't a dirt fort a child could casually pile together.

Nor had it ever been the First's private property.

At least half the clans had been brought into the fold through Madara's efforts.

Even if you ignored Madara's opinion, shouldn't you at least have asked those clans what they thought?

Instead, he never considered anyone else's feelings. He simply slapped the table and made the decision himself.

That was why Ling Tian called him selfish.

The First had persuaded Madara with his ideal of peace, only to turn around and pull a stunt like that.

By the time Madara saw through him and wanted to crush the chaos himself, no one was willing to follow him.

Not even his own clansmen!

Pathetic!

That was Ling Tian's assessment of the two men.

After hearing all this, Dai did not interrupt. He was still waiting for the rest.

Something feels off, but why does it sound so reasonable...

"In my eyes, the Second was fit for the job. At the very least, he deserved to hear me call him Lord Hokage..."

Mid-sentence, they sensed movement in the distance and vanished on the spot.

In the distance.

Three shinobi wearing Leaf Village Forehead Protectors and Jonin Vests had sensed the disturbance and were rushing over.

Fortunately, Dai and Ling Tian's battle had already ended. Otherwise, being so close, the three might have been scared to death. This place wasn't far from the Leaf Village.

For powerful shinobi, it was only a few dozen minutes away. Even though the battle had ended, the waves of heat blowing toward them from afar had the three jonin worried before they even reached the battlefield.

A while later.

When they reached the battlefield and saw the scene before them, they all sucked in a cold breath.

The sensor shinobi closed his eyes and began searching.

As for the other two...

"What kind of destructive power is this? Who on earth was fighting here?"

"They probably weren't from the village. Aside from Lord Hokage, we don't have any Fire Style shinobi capable of something this terrifying."

"You're forgetting someone."

"You mean the Uchiha?"

The man shook his head sharply as he asked. "It couldn't have been them. The Uchiha can't leave the village without the Third's approval. Besides, they don't have any shinobi this powerful right now."

It was hard to blame them. The scene before them was simply too shocking.

Everything within a hundred-meter radius had been cleared away. The ground had caved in, the surrounding trees lay toppled every which way, and fierce flames roared.

They couldn't have managed even a hundredth of this destruction.

Soon, the sensor shinobi opened his eyes. "No one's here. They've probably already left."

The other two nodded.

"Let's investigate!"

With that, the three split up and began searching.

The closer they looked, the more frightened they became.

Not only had the ground in the central hundred-meter area sunk deeply, but they could still feel a scorching heat just standing on it.

And the very center had sunk more than ten meters below the outer edge.

Those flames weren't from an ordinary Fire Style technique either. Their temperature was absurdly high.

By the time the three regrouped to share their findings, their faces had gone somewhat pale.

"They didn't leave any bloodstains, or anything that could identify them."

"There were two combatants, but it doesn't seem like they fought for very long."

"Only two techniques were used. One was an extremely hot Fire Style technique, possibly a fire-nature kekkei genkai. The other is unknown, though it may have been nothing but taijutsu."

The three exchanged looks.

That was all they had discovered. How were they supposed to report this to the Hokage?

One suspected Fire Style kekkei genkai user and one apparent taijutsu user, both on par with the Sannin, had ended their fight in a single exchange and gone somewhere else to discuss their ideals and their lives?

"Let's go. We'll report exactly what we found."

The three left with heavy hearts.

In the past, their boss, White Fang, would at most have punished them by making them train harder, and the Third would have had little grounds to blame them. But now...

They didn't know that Acting Anbu fellow!

At the same time.

The Hokage Building.

There were rather a lot of shinobi visiting today.

The Third held his Tobacco Pipe, smoke swirling around his mouth.

Below him, the Three Advisors sat to one side, with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru seated farther down.

Jiraiya's student, Minato, stood behind him.

Tsunade's lover, Dan, was also beside her.

Of the Sannin, only Orochimaru was alone.

On the other side, Fugaku Uchiha sat comfortably in the highest seat.

Below him sat the current clan leader of the Hyuga Clan.

Don't ask his name. It wasn't known yet.

Only after them came the leaders of the other shinobi clans.

They included the Ino-Shika-Cho, the Inuzuka, and the Aburame clan leaders, among others...

The Third took a puff and said, "What do you all think of the message from Sunagakure?"