The Decision

After realizing that he was Konoha's biggest tumor, Shiraishi Yoshijo felt awful.

No wonder he had always felt out of place in Konoha. His very existence was a threat to the village.

Shiraishi Yoshijo had a million things he wanted to say, but he didn't know who to say them to.

Never mind. He'd say them to the silence.

Shiraishi Yoshijo slowly pushed Takemoto Shuichi along. Takemoto Shuichi wasn't in a hurry; some things needed time to think over.

After thinking for a while, Shiraishi Yoshijo hesitated before asking, "Grandpa Shuichi, do you mean I should take the clan and defect?"

Takemoto Shuichi turned back to look at him, expressionless.

"Why should we be the ones to run?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo scratched his head.

He couldn't figure out what Takemoto Shuichi meant.

Takemoto Shuichi suddenly reached out and grabbed him by the ear, scolding, "You little brat, can't you show a little backbone? All you ever do is run, run, run. Are you a rat that lives in a hole?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo still didn't dare dodge. Even as Takemoto Shuichi berated him with his ear in a vice grip, he didn't dare fight back. The old man didn't have much time left, after all.

"Ow, ow! Grandpa Shuichi, let go! There are so many people on the street—have a little mercy on my dignity!"

Takemoto Shuichi smacked him hard on the head. "You brat, listen to me. Running before the fighting even starts is a disgrace to our ancestors."

"Don't forget: your grandfather, your parents, your uncle, and all the clan members who died in battle are buried here. And you want to take their descendants and run off without a second thought?"

"What, you're just going to leave our ancestors here and abandon them?"

"I'll be buried here someday, too. So you're planning to take everyone who'd burn paper for me away before I'm even dead?"

"You're worse than an animal."

Takemoto Shuichi flew into a rage and cursed Shiraishi Yoshijo until he was thoroughly chewed out.

Shiraishi Yoshijo stood beside him, glancing left and right before picking at his ears.

Once Takemoto Shuichi had calmed down, Shiraishi Yoshijo pushed him along again.

"Grandpa Shuichi, what exactly do you mean? What do you want me to do?"

"Fight for it first."

"Fight for what?"

"The Hokage position."

Shiraishi Yoshijo asked, "What's the point of winning that thing?"

Takemoto Shuichi replied, "Once you win it, you can kill them openly and without fear."

"Kill who?"

"Don't you want revenge? Then kill whoever you want dead."

Shiraishi Yoshijo felt like the old man was pulling his leg.

After a moment, he asked, "What if I can't win?"

Takemoto Shuichi replied impatiently, "Then run! Pack everything up, bundle everyone together, and take them all with you."

Shiraishi Yoshijo fell silent.

"Didn't you just scold me for turning my back on our ancestors?"

"You brat, listen to me. You're our last chance. If you can't win, then get out of here as fast as you can. Better to betray our ancestors than let our bloodline die out."

Shiraishi Yoshijo was speechless again.

The old man's ideas were so far ahead of his time that he could barely keep up.

"Even if I win the position, I can't just kill whoever I want. Otherwise, why would I still be alive?"

"You really are stupid. Once you win the Hokage position, make sure you control the next Hokage. Then keep at it, generation after generation. Sooner or later, those people will all die without descendants."

This old man was ruthless.

"If I fight for it, a lot of people will die."

"Will nobody die if you don't fight?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo understood.

Even if he didn't fight for it, Danzo wouldn't leave him alone.

And if he tried to take the entire clan out of Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't allow it either.

First, fight for it. If he lost, run. If he couldn't run, then fight.

What a blunt, brutal way of thinking.

As expected, none of those old monsters who'd survived from the Warring States era to the present were simple characters.

If Shiraishi Yoshijo didn't know how things would unfold in the future, he might really have gone along with the old man's plan.

Unfortunately, he knew exactly how much it would cost to fight for the Hokage position.

The Second Shinobi World War would begin in the next few years, if all went as expected. Strange rumors about the Land of Rain had been spreading through Konoha more and more lately.

If he wanted to fight for the Hokage position, he'd have to earn merit and a reputation on the battlefield.

That was exactly the trap Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo had laid for him.

Ever since Konoha entered the Second Shinobi World War, the fighting had barely stopped.

The Third Shinobi World War would begin just a few years after the second one ended. It would take at least twenty years for the third war to finally conclude.

How many people would die in those twenty years?

Even if he and the clans behind him all died, it still wouldn't be enough.

The Hokage position was like a carrot dangled in front of a donkey: always in sight, but never within reach.

If that was how things stood, he might as well take his clan and leave Konoha.

But Shiraishi Yoshijo knew that taking the clan out of Konoha wouldn't be easy, either.

His clansmen lived comfortably in Konoha, with everything they needed. If he suddenly asked them to leave for no good reason, only fools would follow him.

In the end, he'd be like Uchiha Madara, leaving Konoha alone.

In the past, Shiraishi Yoshijo might even have been happy with that outcome.

He could have told himself it wasn't his fault—that they had chosen not to follow him.

But now...

Shiraishi Yoshijo sighed. In the end, he was still human, still bound by human limitations.

He could toy with the prisoners in Butterfly Habitat Valley without feeling anything.

He knew he'd captured them for exactly that purpose.

If not for the experiments, he would have killed every last one of those prisoners during the mission.

But after spending the past few years with the people in his clan, he'd developed a different kind of attachment to them.

As Takemoto Shuichi had said, in a way, they were his property.

There was no reason to leave his property for someone else to exploit and mistreat.

A glint flashed in Shiraishi Yoshijo's eyes.

"Have you made up your mind?"

Takemoto Shuichi's voice sounded beside him.

Shiraishi Yoshijo let out a breath, then smiled. "I've made up my mind."

"I've told you what I think. Can you tell me what you think now?"

"I'm not going to fight for the Hokage position."

"Why not?"

"It's pointless."

Takemoto Shuichi sighed. "Looks like you're dead set on leaving."

Shiraishi Yoshijo remained silent.

"What are you going to do about your clan?"

"If I can take them with me, I will. If I can't, there's nothing I can do."

"Have you thought about what kind of life they'll face after you take them away?"

Shiraishi Yoshijo frowned.

Once they left Konoha, they'd be missing-nin. Konoha would undoubtedly hunt them down.

If he were alone, it wouldn't matter. But he couldn't do that with the clan in tow.

They wouldn't just have no guarantee of a decent life—they wouldn't even have anything to hope for.

Was what he planned to do really right?

Or should he build a village like Orochimaru?

When Shiraishi Yoshijo didn't answer for a long time, Takemoto Shuichi understood.

"Don't rush into a decision. Go back and think it over carefully."

"This is your era. The future will be yours to shape, too."

Shiraishi Yoshijo pushed him along a little farther, then took him home.