The Will of Fire

Tsunade, radiating the air of a queen, stood at the podium and began sizing up her classmates.

Every child who met her eyes lowered their head under her domineering gaze.

When she looked at Shiraishi Yoshijo, however, he was distracted.

As expected, she was flat-chested. How had they gotten so big later? It made no sense. What a mystery of the Naruto world.

But Tsunade was only six this year. Wasn't it normal for her to have no breasts?

So was he the abnormal one?

When he came to, Tsunade had already sat down beside him and reached out with a grabby hand.

"Senju Tsunade. I hope we get along."

"Shiraishi Yoshijo. I hope we get along."

After the brief exchange, Shiraishi Yoshijo became distracted again.

This time, his mind wasn't wandering into anything lewd. Instead, he began seriously considering his future.

As a contemporary of the Sannin, should he try to get on good terms with them?

If he wanted to get by within Konoha's system, building good relationships would be essential.

After all, they would become pillars of Konoha one day. With them as his backers, it would be hard not to thrive.

But that brought plenty of problems of its own.

For one thing, the Sannin were all disciples of the Third Hokage.

Getting along with them would mean joining the Hokage faction. Any success he achieved would inevitably come with obligations.

There was no such thing as getting all the benefits without putting in any effort. He understood that well.

Konoha was at peace for now, but he knew it wouldn't last.

The Second and Third Shinobi World Wars would both be meat grinders.

When the time came, he'd have to charge into battle for the Third Hokage. He wasn't confident he'd survive the battlefield. In fact, he didn't even want to go.

With the advantage of knowing what was coming, becoming strong wouldn't be difficult.

But then what?

Would he spend years fighting on the battlefield for the so-called Will of Fire, until the Shinobi World War was over?

What a joke. Even a general could die in battle.

He knew himself. He didn't have any Will of Fire. In fact, he couldn't care less about it.

In his eyes, if Infinite Tsukuyomi was the ultimate illusion, then the Will of Fire was an illusion on an even higher level.

"Hey, buddy, wanna grab a drink after work?"

"There's something I need to tell you. I got drunk yesterday and accidentally killed your parents."

"What? You bastard! I'll never forgive you! For the Land of Fire, for the Will of Fire, I'll destroy you!"

"Actually, I have the Will of Fire too. I just got drunk yesterday."

"You have the Will of Fire too?"

"I've dreamed of becoming Hokage since I was a kid. I just got drunk yesterday."

"Since you have the Will of Fire too, if you sincerely apologize, I might consider forgiving you."

"I'm sorry. I swear I'll never drink again. I hope you can forgive me."

"You really won't drink again?"

"Really!"

"All right. In the light of the Will of Fire, I forgive you."

Don't think this is just a joke. Naruto's actions were even more unbelievable.

Nagato destroyed Konoha, but Naruto talked him to death with his unbeatable words.

Nagato then used Rinne Tensei no Jutsu on Konoha, which was what made Naruto a hero of the village.

What if Nagato didn't know Rinne Tensei no Jutsu?

Naruto had been prepared to make peace with Nagato. If he'd let Nagato go, he'd surely have ended up in Konoha's black cells, spending the rest of his life behind bars.

And there was no need to even bring up Obito and Naruto. Naruto ended up saving Obito, too. It completely overturned his worldview.

There was another unlucky kid, Uchiha Itachi.

He was a genius at using illusions, yet he ended up hypnotized by the Will of Fire.

He killed his father and mother, then slaughtered his entire clan. What a piece of work.

Thinking about it, Shiraishi Yoshijo's mouth twitched. He silently called it sick, and even began looking at Tsunade differently.

He was an ordinary person. Maybe he wouldn't be ordinary in the future, but even if he became the strongest in the world, he didn't think he could pull off that kind of sainthood.

To be safe, and to be absolutely sure, Shiraishi Yoshijo decided to keep his distance from the Sannin.

"Um, Tsunade, I don't think you're suited to sit here."

The moment he said it, Shiraishi Yoshijo knew he was in trouble.

Sure enough, when Tsunade heard him, the muscles in her face began to twitch. Her fists clenched with a loud crack.

The next second, Shiraishi Yoshijo grabbed his things and hurriedly bolted.

Confirmed: this was a woman he couldn't afford to mess with.

He found another seat and felt delighted, convinced he'd finally escaped the Will of Fire and was just one step away from the finale.

He hadn't even enjoyed himself for a minute when the classroom door opened again, and Orochimaru walked in dressed in white.

Honestly, Orochimaru was quite cute as a child, and only a little less handsome than he was.

Shiraishi Yoshijo was still congratulating himself when Orochimaru walked straight over, sat beside him, and reached out with a grabby hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Orochimaru. I know you're a shinobi of the Shide Clan. I'm very interested in your clan's Secret Technique. I hope we get along."

He'd already set his sights on the clan's Secret Technique?

With an expressionless face, Shiraishi Yoshijo began gathering his things, ready to find another seat. Just then, the homeroom teacher walked in.

He was a fierce-looking, middle-aged man who didn't seem easy to talk to.

Shiraishi Yoshijo hesitated about changing seats, then reluctantly reached out and shook Orochimaru's hand. "Shiraishi Yoshijo. No need to go out of your way for me."

Go out of your way? I'm afraid you'll go out of your way to put me on an operating table. That was what Shiraishi Yoshijo was thinking.

He felt like he and the Sannin were fated to clash. Every one of them had latched onto him, and he couldn't get away.

"You're a boy?" Orochimaru looked quite surprised, his expression almost adorable.

Had he sat beside him because he thought he was a girl?

How naive!

Shiraishi Yoshijo shot Orochimaru an annoyed glance, then lay face-down on his desk, utterly resigned.

He'd just escaped the Will of Fire, only to catch the eye of a freak. What rotten luck.

The homeroom teacher rapped on the blackboard twice and introduced himself. "I'm Ikeda Kawano. Starting today, I'll be your homeroom teacher. First, welcome to the academy. Now, let's begin roll call."

During roll call, he unexpectedly heard a familiar name: Hiruko.

Once the tedious roll call was over, Kawano began handing out textbooks.

Shiraishi Yoshijo flipped through his. They were full of basic information about Chakra, along with material on history and culture.

Next came the tedious enrollment paperwork. The busy day passed quickly.

After school, Shiraishi Yoshijo rubbed his eyes and yawned as he walked out of the academy.

He'd been so bored that he'd spent the whole day asleep at his desk, and he was still tired.

When he got home, Shiraishi Eizawa was sitting in the courtyard, soaking tea and smelling strongly of alcohol. He waved Shiraishi Yoshijo over when he saw him.

"How's school?"

"Pretty boring."

"It was your choice, so don't complain. I actually thought the Anbu training class was a better fit, but you seem to have a real aversion to the Anbu. Can you tell me why?"

Why? Of course it was because of Danzo.

Shiraishi Yoshijo rolled his eyes and decided to be honest. "Danzo's a bad person. He's up to no good."

Shiraishi Eizawa poured him a cup of tea. After a moment of silence, he said, "I met Danzo today. We came to blows."

He'd gotten into a fight with Danzo and still made it back alive?

Shiraishi Yoshijo spat out all the tea he'd been drinking. He stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you out of your mind? I don't know what position Danzo holds right now, but he's surely a high-ranking figure in the village. Your ninja qualifications have already been revoked, and you still dared to fight him?"

Shiraishi Eizawa smiled. "Konoha is made up of one ninja clan after another, and we're one of them. Even the Hokage can't order the clans around. He's only a representative of the interests of clans like ours."

"Danzo isn't even Hokage. Why shouldn't I fight him?"

Listen to that. He didn't even take the Hokage seriously, let alone Danzo.

What made him think he could pull that off? His status as a clan member?

Hey, there are only two of us left. If you keep stirring up trouble like this, will I even live to adulthood?

You're drunk enough to talk like that. Are you sure your brain's still working?

Shiraishi Yoshijo looked at him as if he were an idiot. Shiraishi Eizawa, infuriated by his stare, raised a hand and flicked him hard on the forehead. "You know nothing about our clan."

After a moment, Shiraishi Eizawa said helplessly, "It's time you learned a few things. Otherwise, you really will keep thinking our clan doesn't matter."

"During the Warring States era, there were more than a hundred ninja clans of all sizes in the Land of Fire. The strongest were the Uchiha and the Senju."

"The strength of those two clans lay in the power of their leaders: First Senju Hashirama and Asura of the Ninja World, Uchiha Madara."

"Their strength was beyond the common sense of ordinary shinobi. It was as if gods had returned to the world."

Shiraishi Eizawa's eyes lit up as he spoke of the two men.

"I once saw them fight. You could call it world-shattering. Every other shinobi was like a firefly before them, not daring to stand against them."

It was clear that Shiraishi Eizawa greatly admired the two.

Shiraishi Yoshijo curled his lip. Since he knew the story, he knew there'd be two Konoha Genin with cheats who'd be even stronger than those two in the future.

The strongest Ninjutsu in the Shinobi World was Naruto's Talk no Jutsu: "My enemy is my friend, and my best friend is my greatest enemy."

Sasuke's cheat was apparently still underfunded, so he simply gave in. The two of them lived happily ever after.

A remarkably realistic story.

"But they died. Both of them. The Uchiha no longer had Uchiha Madara, and the Senju no longer had Senju Hashirama. So who was the strongest ninja clan in the Land of Fire?"

Shiraishi Eizawa pointed at himself. "Us. Do you know how powerful the Shide Clan was at its peak?"

"Our clan alone accounted for more than a fifth of Konoha's active Jonin. If you included the inactive ones and the Jonin who depended on our clan, then even the Senju and the Uchiha together couldn't have beaten us without their powerful leaders."

The Shide Clan had been that powerful?

Shiraishi Yoshijo wasn't convinced. He tilted his head, trying to recall the clansmen he'd known. They did seem to have been quite numerous.

But that was the past. What mattered most was the present.

A clan with only two people left shouldn't be acting like some great power. There was no point boasting about past glories. The more you bragged, the faster you died.

"Unfortunately, after Senju Hashirama died, your grandfather didn't become Hokage. Otherwise..."

"Wait!" Shiraishi Yoshijo thought he'd heard something unbelievable. "Are you saying Grandfather competed with the Second Hokage for the Hokage Position?"

That was a lot to take in. Shiraishi Yoshijo was a little stunned. No wonder the Shide Clan had declined so quickly. The root of it had been right there.

"In terms of strength and popularity, your grandfather was no worse than the Second Hokage. Why shouldn't he have competed?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo had no words.

The Second Hokage Tobirama Senju was a ruthless character.

There was no need to mention his arsenal of forbidden techniques. The key was his ruthless, decisive political tactics.

Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama were like light and shadow. Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō, the pair who worked together, were leagues behind them.

And those two still managed to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan.

Shiraishi Yoshijo just couldn't understand why people would throw away their lives when they could have lived just fine.

Tobirama Senju was a stronger version of Danzo!